Objectoriented design

1
Object-oriented design

• Ann Rockley
• President, The Rockley Group Inc.
• rockley_at_rockley.com

2
The Rockley Group Inc.
3
The Rockley Group sample clients
4
Overview

• Why object-oriented design
• The role of IA in object-oriented design
• Content modeling
• Assessment of content standards

5
Why object-oriented design?

• Increasing prevalence of XML-based systems
• Desire for content reuse and multi-channel
  content delivery.
• Requirements to
• Reduce the time required to create, maintain and
  deliver content
• Reduce the costs of translation

6
The role of IA in object-oriented design

• IA is critical to object-oriented design
• IA includes
• Content modeling
• Metadata
• Reuse architecture
• Reuse governance

7
What is content modeling?

• The process of documenting the structure of your
  content
• What enables you to create guidelines, templates,
  structured frameworks such as DTDs
• The framework on which your reuse strategy is
  based

8
What is content modeling?

• The process of documenting the structure of your
  content
• Models enable you to create guidelines, templates
  and structured frameworks such as DTDs

9
Why model content?

• To structure content for greater
• Consistency
• Reusability
• Delivery control
• Media neutral content

10
Content analysis

• Figuring out what youve got and how its put
  together (an inventory)
• A discovery process about your content
• Identifying opportunities for reuse

11
Determine reuse

• Content reuse is where the content is reused
  across multiple information products
• A reuse map shows where each element is used

12
Components of a content model

• A product model defines what elements the info
  product contains
• lists all the elements
• contains information about each element
• An element model is a further breakdown of the
  product model
• contained in the same spreadsheet
• breaks down the elements further, based on
  granularity

13
Case study

• Large telecommunications company decided to
  implement enterprise content management
• They already had a web content management system
  but it couldnt be adapted to manage broader
  enterprise materials
• Many departments had requested content management
  support but the most pressing need for content
  management was in the call center, so they
  decided to start there first

14
Cont.

• The call center was using four legacy systems
  that contained overlapping and inconsistent
  information
• Time on call exceeded the desired 600 seconds.
  Sometimes it took that long to just find the
  right content to answer the question
• Incorrect information was being provided to
  customers, customers were irate, product returns
  were mounting
• The call center often heard about a promotion
  from customers, not from marketing
• Maintenance of content was horrendous, changes
  came in by phone, email, and often a by-the-way
  did you know that
• Content on the internet was different than
  content on the legacy systems

15
Solution

• Adopt ECM
• Analyze current content lifecycle
• Build a content inventory
• Create a unified content framework and single
  authoritative source to ensure that all content,
  regardless of where it is authored (marketing,
  product communications, technical support, call
  center, training) is designed for reuse
• Develop an information architecture
• Design a call center interface to authoritative
  source
• Migrate content to new structure and technology
• Educate everyone in the content lifecycle on new
  policies, content authoring processes, and
  technology

16
Element model Policy
17
Element model Description
18
Content reuse

• Content reuse is where the content is reused
  across multiple information products

19
Structural reuse

• When there are common information elements (e.g.,
  procedure) that are used in multiple information
  products then you have structural reuse

20
Determine granularity

• Reuse used to imply repurposing/multi-channel
  publishing
• Reuse now means the reuse of elements of content
• Granular elements can be as small as words,
  sentences, sentence fragments
• Too large a granularity may compromise your
  ability to reuse content
• Too small a granularity may impact the
  performance of your CMS and/or the productivity
  of authors, editors, and reviewers.

21
(No Transcript)
22
Following existing content models

• Some existing standards in place, such as
• DITA
• DocBook
• SCORM

23
DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)

• One of the most popular standards right now
• XML-based architecture for authoring, producing,
  and delivering technical information
• Focuses on content reuse, with a topic-based core
• Organizes and stores content as modular chunks,
  called topics that can be reused as building
  blocks
• Includes concept, task, and reference
• But, not all information needs can be satisfied
  with the types
• If you have additional types, you need to
  specialize DITA

24
DocBook

• Popular content model for software documentation
• Broad model that can accommodate most system
  software guides
• Includes many style sheets for output to HTML,
  HTML help, and PDF
• Contains over 300 individual elements, which
  makes authoring complex
• Must be customized to filter out the unwanted
  elements (customization layer)
• Biggest drawback is that it is a book-based,
  software documentation model

25
SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model)

• Used for representing course structures
• Describes how to created web-based learning
  content that can be delivered and tracked by an
  LMS
• Describes what the LMS must do to properly
  deliver and track learning content
• Not an authoring model and does not replace
  instructional design
• Specifies how learning content is delivered
  through web, described by metadata, organized,
  and packaged
• Still need to author with a sound pedagogical
  model

26
SPL (Structured Product Label)

• As of fall 2005 the FDA has mandated that the
  Pharma industry must start using SPL for
  preparing the prescribing information for
  labeling
• The FDA views SPL as a way to address limitations
  in the current submission format, and to play a
  role in better patient care through improved
  information management
• Europe has also introduced a standard called PIMs
  (Product Information Management )

27
Is a standard right for you?

• As always, it depends!
• Need to evaluate your content and content
  structures against standards to see if they will
  work for you
• Comparing also shows how you may have to
  customize the standard to be able to use it
• Create a model of your own content, they compare
  it to the structure defined in a model
• Todays models are very specific, if your content
  is unrelated to the content defined in a
  standard, you will need to create your own

28
DITA task element
29
DITA concept element
30
Reuse strategy

• The reuse strategy defines how you will create
  and maintain reusable content
• What is your level of granularity?
• How do you plan to reuse content?
• Opportunistic
• Systematic
• Cloned
• Nested

31
Types of reuse

• Two types of reuse
• Opportunistic
• Systematic
• Within each type, you can have content that is
• Locked
• Derivative
• Nested
• Cloned

32
Opportunistic reuse

• Most common form of reuse
• Authors make a conscious decision to find
  content, retrieve it, and reuse it
• Requires that authors be aware that reusable
  content exists and be motivated to go and get it
• Replaces copy and paste, but uses a pointer to
  the source content

33
Opportunistic reuse, cont

• Most flexible for authors, BUT
• Burden is on authors to know reusable content
  exists and to go get it
• There are no safeguards to ensure authors reuse
  content appropriately
• Guidelines and training for authors are critical

34
Example

• WriterA is creating a web content for a specific
  product
• They know that the product they are documenting
  is very similar to a previously documented
  product
• They go into the CMS and search for content on
  common functions
• They reuse the content that is appropriate

35
Systematic reuse

• Systematic reuse is automatic reuse
• Specific content is identified as reusable in a
  particular place and automatically inserted
• e.g., document is pre-populated with content
• Not dependent on author motivation or knowledge
  of reusable content

36
Systematic reuse, cont

• Provides the highest return on investment, BUT
• Can be perceived as overly restrictive
• Is costly to implement
• Requires much up-front planning and a dynamic
  content engine

37
Example of systematic reuse
38
Locked reuse

• Reusable elements are reused unchanged
• They are locked to prevent authors from altering
  them
• Only authors with appropriate permissions can
  change locked content
• Can opportunistically or systematically reuse
  locked elements

39
Derivative reuse

• When a reusable element is edited, it becomes a
  derivative
• Any element that is reused (opportunistically or
  systematically) can become a derivative
• Derivative elements remain related to the original

40
Derivative cont.

• A derivative element is a version of the
  original however, you set up relationship rules
• WriterA reuses elementC
• WriterA changes elementC and it becomes elementD
• If elementC changes notify me of the change so I
  can change elementD

41
Nested reuse

• Occurs when there are an number of reusable
  elements nested within one element
• The sum of all the elements makes up an entire
  element
• Allows authors to create content for different
  outputs
• (e.g., user guide, training, help) at the same
  time

42
Example of nested reuse
43
Reuse governance

• Reuse governance governs how content can be
  reused
• Who owns content objects/fragments?
• Who owns the document the content is reused
  into?
• Who is allowed to change an element (e.g., create
  derivative)?
• Who is allowed to reuse content and where can it
  be reused into?
• What are the notification/approval patterns for
  reusable objects?
• How does content which has been changed be
  promoted to source?

44
Questions?