The document summarizes a workshop on using the content life cycle (CLC) to develop a unified content strategy for a technical publications team. Key points: - The workshop identified business requirements around personas and reusing content across products. - Attendees mapped out their content processes, tools used, and roles to understand how content is currently created and managed. - A published CLC model was developed that supports multiple delivery formats and publishing to 17 different audiences from a single source. - The results helped optimize content workflows, identify areas for automation, and prepare the team for a new content management system.

1. STC Summit 2013
May 8, 2013
Mollye Barrett
The Content Life Cycle
A Strategic Compass for People,
Products and Technology

2. Use the Content Life Cycle
The content life cycle is a process that includes
every content state and the tasks associated with
that state from discovery to delivery.
The content life cycle helps identify business
requirement for how content must be treated,
handled and processed.
Identify requirements for an end-to-end content
lifecycle with a focus on roles of people,
information products produced and technology
currently used.

3. Directional Wheel
www.cdgroup.com/EX2/images/Content_Lifecycle. gif

4. Circles with Arrows

5. Circles in Circles
http://www.langsolinc.com/cf/LANGUAGE/ContentFiles/Global%20Content%20Value%20Chain.png

6. Flowchart
http://metatorial.com/images/poster_big.jpg

7. Content Life Cycle Thought
Leaders
Authoring, Repository, Assembly, Delivery, Archive
Ann Rockley, Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy
Capture, Manage, Deliver, Store, Preserve
Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)
Authoring, Repository, Assembly/Linking, Publishing
JoAnn Hackos, Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery
Collect, Manage, Publish
Bob Boiko, The Content Management Bible
Creation, Editing, Publishing
Gerry McGovern, New Thinking
Production, Delivery
Tony Byrne, CMS Report

8. Using the CLC for a Unified
Content Plan
One Technical Publications team with 20 writers
covering 14 products used 48 tools to produce PDF,
HTML and HTML Help.
Learn what every content creator does in the course of
their normal day.
Not everyone views their work in the same way,
Work with a group to determine how they see their
work.

9. CLC Workshop
• Identify how focus content is treated, handled and processed.
• Listen for problems. Look to optimize activities. More than
authoring and publishing.
• Use workshop as a change management opportunity; let people
know what is coming. Frame business process with the content
lifecycle, not software functionality
• With information gathered, develop an impromptu content life
cycle. Discovery presents opportunities for automation, areas of
workflow improvement, ways to measure cost and a way to make
a tacit technical publication process explicit.
• Understand projects and prepare for a content management
system. Know what to look for!

10. Workshop: Products, Tasks,
Tools
Products ToolsTasks

11. Products: No Reuse

12. Products: Reuse

13. Products: Reuse, One Audience

14. Products: Reuse, 17 Audiences

15. editpeer reviewspeer reviewsplan/replanplan/replanweb designweb design
troubleshoottroubleshootreusereuse
SME
reviews
SME
reviews
conversionconversion
CLC Workshop: Tasks
manage
herd/nudge
quality
control
scripting
post
documents
proof
research
structure
track
organize
publish
estimate
system
admin
usability
design
rebrand
content
analysis
meetings
graphic
tweaking
queries
automate workflow/reports track/attributes/conrefs IA role
style sheets workflow/reports workflow automate styleadd structure
workflow transforms/workflow automateworkflow
version control IA role add role
add structure workflow/reports metrics SVGDITA
IA role
graphic
tweakingestimateorganize structure herd/nudge
scripting
rebrand
track
post
documents
publishmanage
queries
system
admin

16. CLC Workshop: Tools
Tumblr
RoboHelp
capture
ePublisher
Camtasia
WinMerge
Snagit
JAVA Saxon
PerlConfluence
Wordpad/
Notepad
HTML Help
Workshop
Rename
utility
SharePoint
TextCrawler
ANT
Subversion
Flash
Develop
Paint
Visio
RenderX
SQL
Shared View
AXCMWIN GrepFrameMaker
Inset Plus
AcrobatFlare
RoboHelpWebWorks
DITA OTK
Snagit
DITA OTK
oXygen
CMS
DITA OTK
oXygen
DITA OTK
oXygen
DITA OTK
oXygen
CMS
DITA OTK
oXygen
DITA OTK
oXygen
CMS
CMS
DITA OTK
oXygen
CMS
DITA OTK
CMS/Web
services
CMS
CMS
CMS CMS CMSCMS

17. Workshop Content Life
Cycle

18. Published Content Life Cycle

19. Published Content Life Cycle:
Roles

20. Published CLC Details

21. CLC Results
• Identified business requirements: personas and unified
content
• How content is treated, handled and processed: removed
content silos and publish from one source across products
• End-to-end content lifecycle: include published model that
supports Web Help, HTML Help, PDF
• Focus on roles:
• People – writers, information architect, system admin
• Information products – Online Help, User Guide, Admin
Guide, Forms Guide, Install Guide, Function Guide,
Quick Reference Guide, Form Builder, Report Builder
• Technology – Frame, Flare and RoboHelp to DITA with
automated publishing, 17 audiences for all information
products.

22. Discussion
Mollye Barrett
ClearPath, LLC
mollye@clearpath.cc