Switching to Structured FrameMaker

[Art Campbell]

At one larger router company that uses XML and proprietary structure, it
takes 20-25% longer to create a document/manual than with unstructured FM.

Better tools and a more general structure may reduce the time, but....

Also, they discovered after several years of doing this that only 33-40% of
content was _ever_ resused.

YMMV, but make sure it's going to work for you before you commit.


Art Campbell
         art.campbell at gmail.com
 "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a
redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                                                     No disclaimers apply.
                                                              DoD 358


On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Writer <generic668 at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> We are still at a sort of fledgling phase of our conversion to DITA, but
> one of the things I like the most is how easy it is to create a variety of
> deliverables or reconfigure a deliverable quickly. For example, we thought
> we were supposed to create one large document for a project, but we found
> out at the last moment that the project required four smaller documents. It
> was so easy to create new ditamaps to reorganize the topics. It took us only
> a couple of hours to recreate the deliverables.
>
> Nadine
>
> --- On Wed, 12/9/09, Eichelberger, Mark <mark.eichelberger at fiserv.com>
> wrote:
>
> > From: Eichelberger, Mark <mark.eichelberger at fiserv.com>
> > Subject: RE: Switching to Structured FrameMaker
> > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> > Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 3:10 PM
> > As it turns out, I was about to ask
> > this list the exact same question.
> > We also have always used unstructured FM, but with the
> > recent
> > integration of documentation teams within multiple business
> > lines
> > throughout my company, I can see that structured FM may be
> > considered as
> > part of a solution for content reuse or for single
> > sourcing.  I too
> > would be interested in the responses to Nancy's questions.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mark
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
> > [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com]
> > On Behalf Of Nancy Allison
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 2:09 PM
> > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> > Subject: Switching to Structured FrameMaker
> >
> > Hi, all..
> >
> > With regard to structured FrameMaker, I am very late to the
> > party. In
> > fact, I have never used it yet. There's a good chance I'll
> > be asked to
> > investigate whether it would be useful to my current
> > client. I thought
> > I'd get a head start on the issues by asking for
> > information from people
> > who have made the switch. Here are my questions:
> >
> > --What was your documentation situation? (How many product
> > lines, how
> > many publications, how much single-sourcing, how much
> > translation?)
> >
> > --Why did you (or your manager) decide that it was time to
> > switch to
> > structured documentation? What kind of limit had you
> > reached?
> >
> > --What kinds of output do you create from structured
> > FrameMaker?
> >
> > --Has structured FrameMaker made your work easier or more
> > efficient? Has
> > it improved the responsiveness or quality of your
> > documentation?
> >
> > Feel free to tell me something else, if my questions don't
> > address your
> > situation.
> >
> > Thanks for all responses.
> >
> > --Nancy
> > _______________________________________________
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