RFP

Request for Proposal to Purchase a RoboHelp Replacement

Prepared by Radford Bean

Contents

Background......................................................................................................................1

Reason for request...........................................................................................................1

Evaluation process...........................................................................................................2

Features.......................................................................................................................2

Comparison of programs containing required features...............................................14

Customer service quality............................................................................................17

Pricing.........................................................................................................................17

Evaluating the software..............................................................................................18

Complexity..................................................................................................................19

Results of the Flare 3.1 evaluation.............................................................................19

Pros.........................................................................................................................20

Cons........................................................................................................................20

Results of the DoctoHelp Enterprise evaluation.........................................................21

Pros.........................................................................................................................21

Cons........................................................................................................................22

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................22

Appendix A.....................................................................................................................23

i

Background

The Communications and Media Group (part of the Customer Services Division within the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS)) purchased RoboHelp to develop help files members and employers could use to get information about member benefits, using EDX, reporting member demographics, and reporting employer and member contributions.

eHelp Corporation was the original developer of RoboHelp and was later bought by Macromedia, which in turn was purchased by Adobe. Adobe laid off the original RoboHelp customer support staff after purchasing Macromedia.

In January 2007, PERS staff discovered certain RoboHelp features in Suzanne Hein’s project did not work correctly. The decision was made to go ahead with creating other help files because the most serious and majority of problems appeared only when created by Suzanne, and she only created the one project.

After trying to resolve the problems in house for two months, and with ISD’s limited knowledge of RoboHelp, Clint Chrostopher (TOS manager at the time) made the decision to purchase Adobe tech support at a cost of $1,600 for the Gold Support Program. PERS purchased the Gold Support Plan from ASAP in March 2007 but did not receive the support license to take advantage of technical support. After repeated calls to ASAP (the vendor of choice for PERS) to find out why PERS had not received the support license, Joelle Beach, contacts and procurement administration assistant, finally heard back from Brad Hickey, ASAP inside account manager. Brad informed Joelle that because PERS had purchased the software more than 90 days ago, it was ineligible to purchase the Gold Support Plan unless it upgraded to RoboHelp Version 6. PERS went ahead and purchased the upgrade and installed it.

After installing the upgrade, another problem with the software appeared. Moreover, PERS was told no Gold Support Plan existed for RoboHelp Version 6. ASAP offered PERS a support program that covered only upgrades but claimed it was the only support plan the agency needed and would get PERS the technical support it needed to resolve the technical issues. However, Adobe did not recognize the product number ASAP gave PERS and claimed the agency had not purchased a support contract with them.

More calls to ASAP, which went unreturned, led to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) getting involved. After several months of DAS involvement, the problem with getting resolution from either ASAP or Adobe continues. So far, seven people at PERS have tried to get the RoboHelp issues resolved. These issues have now existed 11 months and continue to exist.

Reason for request

David Crosley, PERS communications director, asked me to look at other help authoring tools (HATs) to see if one exists that will do similar things RoboHelp does. He feels it will be better if we just cut the agency’s losses and purchase a substitute program from a company who will provide better technical support on its products.

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Evaluation process

I evaluated three HATs: MadCap’s Flare 3.1, ComponentOne’s DoctoHelp Enterprise, and Author-it Software Corporation’s AuthorIT. MadCap is a company founded in 2005 by previous eHelp Corporation employees.

Features

Content Management

Features/ToolsAuthorIT

EnterpriseDoctoHelp Enterprise

Flare 3.1

Check-in/check-out: dynamic Check-in/check-out: file (may need separate app)

Check-in/check-out: project Permissions: folders *

Permissions: groups *

Permissions: role-based Permissions: users *

Project file database Reports *

Rollback *Separation of content and presentation (ad hoc formatting allowed)

Separation of content and presentation (no ad hoc formatting allowed)

Status tracking User permissions (security) Version control Version control: maintenance View relationships between non-topic and topic objects in a project

View relationships between topics in a project

* With source control

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Context-Sensitive Help



Flare 3.1

Aliasing API Automatic mapping of topics Context-sensitive Help: .NET Context-sensitive Help: Web/Mac/*nix applications

Context-sensitive Help: Windows applications

Edit map numbers by topic Map number/context ID/map ID editor

Customizing the Outputs



Flare 3.1

Automatic navigational links (HTML): breadcrumbs

Automatic navigational links (HTML): browse sequences

Automatic navigational links (HTML): index (link to index in topic)

Automatic navigational links (HTML): sections (parent/children/sibling topic links)

Automatic navigational links (HTML): TOC (link to contents in topic)

Command line publishing Custom title page for print Customizable layouts (output): cascading style sheets

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Flare 3.1

Customizable layouts (output): HTML templates

Customizable layouts (output): WinHelp styles

Customizable layouts (output): Word templates

Glossary Margin notes Master page Output templates: customizable

Output templates: designer or wizard

Output templates: localized

Search in output: CGI (may require separate CGI script)

Search in output: DHTML

Search in output: natural Synonym support in search (HTML-based Help)

User-customizable: search

Database and Database Management



Flare 3.1

Content database: DB2

Content database: JDBC-compliant

Content database: JET Content database: SQL

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Database and Database Management

Database maintenance

Development Features



Flare 3.1

Automatic documentation from .NET assemblies

Code editor Color selection tool CSS editor (or ability to edit CSS style definitions)

CSS: multiple applied to topics *

Fonts: create list of favorites Full-text search (across projects)

HTML help controls Metadata: allowed in development

Metadata: fields in development

Metadata: in output Multi-authoring Project templates Scripting after publication

Scripting in application (for example, macros)

Structured authoring: enforced logically (headings assigned automatically)

Structured authoring: enforced technically (through DTD/schema/application)

Topic templates: built in Topic templates: customizable

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Development Features

Use regular expressions in Find and Replace

Visual structure bars



Flare 3.1

WYSIOP editor * Must specify in HTML topic template

Development Features - Extra



Flare 3.1

Additional modules available *

Author comments Custom mark-up language Flexible licensing **

Manage recent files list Menu/toolbars: Dreamweaver Menu/toolbars: FrameMaker Menu/toolbars: FrontPage Menu/toolbars: Microsoft Word

Multiple glossaries per project

Multiple TOCs per project ***

Remote access Roadmap available (upcoming features)

* Analyzer

** With Enterprise

*** Not necessary because all content is stored on the database

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Hyperlinks and Cross-References



Flare 3.1

ALinks (conceptual links)



Flare 3.1

Cross-reference: PDF (output direct from tool)

Cross-references: Frame output

Cross-references: Word output

DHTML: drop-down hotspots DHTML: inline hotspots DHTML: screenshot hotspots Formatted pop-ups Jumps Jumps to files Jumps to secondary windows KLinks (keyword links) Test: during development Text-only pop-ups: Dot Net Help

Text-only pop-ups: HTML Help

Text-only pop-ups: WebHelp Topic title and hotspot synchronization

URLs

Images



Flare 3.1

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Images

Image map/SHED editor (built in)

Movie-making application: separate but integrated

Output controlled by settings



Flare 3.1

Resize with template Screen capture application: separated but integrated *

* Requires optional module

Import Features



Flare 3.1

Batch import Context IDs (map IDs) in .h/.hh/.hm file

Context IDs (map IDs) in project

Generate images for anchored frames (FrameMaker)

Import profiles Import rules Link imported source files to project

Map inline styles to CSS styles

Map styles from HTML files Map styles from Word or FrameMaker files

Preserve source styles Reference documents (edited in original application)

Saved settings for referenced files

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Import Features

Split imported docs: character count

Split imported docs: style

Localization and Translation



Flare 3.1

Customizable language skins Development support (can have multiple languages within the project)

External translation support External translation support: generate XML file

Localized interface Select language for spell check

Support for: double-byte languages

Support for: RTL (right-to-left languages)

Support for: single-byte languages

Support for: UNICODE Translation memory: integrated

Reusable Content Across Projects



Flare 3.1

Alias files (content-sensitive Help)

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Flare 3.1

Browse sequences Character Conditions/conditional tag sets

Dictionaries File



Flare 3.1

Glossary/glossary objects Graphics Header file (for context-sensitive Help)

Hyperlinks Imported files Index entries Index/index objects Paragraph Publishing destinations Search filter sets Skins/layout design Snippets Targets Templates: external Templates: internal TOC/TOC objects Topic/topic objects Variables/variable sets: used in development

Variables/variable sets: used in output templates

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Reusable Content Within Projects



Flare 3.1

Character Conditions/conditional tag sets



Flare 3.1

File Frame text inset Graphics Hyperlinks Index entries Paragraph Reusable formatted chunks of content *

Templates: external Templates: internal TOC/TOC objects Topic/topic objects

* Snippets

Single-Sourcing Features



Flare 3.1

Automatic mini-TOCs for sections

Automatic related Topics/See Also links

Conditional content: flags or tags

Conditional content: inclusion/exclusion

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Single-Sourcing Features

Conditional content: styles Conditional output variables Embedded topics (nesting topics)

Modular Help



Flare 3.1

Variables, development: file object

Variables, development: list of values

Variables, development: system

Variables, development: text Variables: used in output templates

Support



Flare 3.1

Email list: private: (must register) *

Email list: public ** Email support (free) Email support (paid) Knowledge base Newsgroup/user forums Submission/contact form Subscription plan Support: incident Support: limited during evaluation

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Support

Support: unlimited during evaluation (typically email)

Telephone support: free (may be limited) ***

Telephone support: paid Training: from independents (consultants and trainers)



Flare 3.1

Training: from vendor Trial (evaluation) available: crippled output

Trial (evaluation) available: time limit

* AuthorIT users on Yahoo

** HATT, TCP, others

***30-day installation

System Administration



Flare 3.1

Clear locks Maintenance: groups Maintenance: users Search engine tuning Separate application (may be named)

Table Editor



Flare 3.1

Drag-and-drop columns Drag-and-drop rows

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Table Editor

Table properties Table styles editor

Workflow



Flare 3.1

Workflow (additional module) Workflow: setup (may require separate app)

Comparison of programs containing required features

The following chart shows the product features RoboHelp has I deemed necessary in any help authoring tool PERS chooses to purchase. These features will ensure backward compatibility with the help file projects already created, thus reducing the hours required to convert the help files to the new format.

Product Comparison of Necessary Features

Features/Tools AuthorIT EnterpriseDoctoHelp Enterprise

Flare 3.1

Content Management

Reports *

Source control View relationships between topics in a project


Automatic navigational links (HTML): browse sequences

Automatic navigational links (HTML): index (link to index in topic)

Automatic navigational links (HTML): TOC (link to contents in topic)

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Customizable layouts (output): cascading style sheets

Customizable layouts (output): Word templates

Glossary Output templates: customizable

Output templates: designer or wizard


Flare 3.1

Search in output: DHTML

Search in output: natural Synonym search in search (HTML-based Help)

Development Environment

HTML: built-in editor

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word 2007 Development Features

Code editor Topic templates: customizable

Development Features - Extra

Flexible licensing **Hyperlinks and Cross-References

DHTML: screenshot hotspots Formatted pop-ups Jumps Jumps to files Jumps to secondary windows Test: during development

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URLs Images

Image map/SHED editor (built in)

Screen capture application: separate but integrated ***

Import Content from..

Microsoft Word RoboHelp HTML projects


Flare 3.1

RTF (from Word) Import Features

Batch import Outputs

HTML-based Help (IE7 compatible)

PDF Print (Microsoft Word .doc)


Dictionaries Glossary/glossary objects Graphics Imported files Skins/layout design

Reusable Content Within Projects

Graphics Single-Sourcing Features

Automatic related Topics/See Also links

System Administration

Search engine tuning Table Editor

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Table properties * Will require purchasing MadCap’s Feedback Server program.

** With Enterprise

*** With Capture 2.0

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Customer service quality

Because of the poor technical support PERS has received by ASAP and Adobe, one of the evaluation criterion was customer service response time.

MadCap I waited less than 15 seconds on hold before a customer service representative at MadCap answered the phone. Though she was unable to answer my questions, she was able to transfer me to someone who could, and that process took less than one minute. MadCap staff answered my questions accurately.

ComponentOne I had to navigate through a two-step message system before reaching a live person, but response time was still under a minute. Technical support is outsourced. The technician (Gary) I talked to spoke with an Indian accent and was hard at times to understand. Customer service did not always respond in a timely manner. Note: In all fairness, it was a holiday week when I called.

Pricing

Pricing is based on direct purchase from the vendor. Since PERS is contracted to purchase software from ASAP, the price will be different. MadCap does not typically deal with third-party vendors, but they can make exceptions. From a cost perspective, DoctoHelp is the cheapest to purchase.

Cost to Purchase Product and Support

Product Cost

AuthorIT Product:

$2,000 - $10,000

Support:

Free for the first year. 19% of total license tally every year after.

DoctoHelp Enterprise Product:

Subscription: $624.95 (Includes software upgrades for a year (typically three) and license.)

Support:

Gold Support and software: $929.95 per license (competitive upgrade price)

Standard Support: Free telephone support

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Cost to Purchase Product and Support

Product Cost

for first 30 days. After that, support is handled on line.

Incident: $99 per incident. Can buy discounted packs of five and ten.

MadCap Flare 3.1 Product:

$842.70

Support:

Three support plans: Bronze, Gold, and Platinum.

Bronze: $415.62 ($99 telephone support charge per incident)

Gold: $519.79 (first six telephone support incidents are free)

Platinum: $839.58 (unlimited)

MadCap Analyzer $311.45

MadCap Feedback Feedback Server: $2,093.75

Feedback Service (12 months): $750

Evaluating the software

I ranked the software based on which one excelled in the 15 categories shown in the table on pages 14 - 16. Sometimes more than one software program excelled in a category. Flare 3.1 excelled in 12 categories, followed by DoctoHelp Enterprise in 8, and then AuthorIT in 6. Out of those 15 categories, I chose the ones that contained critical features. Again, Flare 3.1 excelled by topping eight categories, followed by DoctoHelp Enterprise, and then AuthorIT. AuthorIT contained few of the features we needed, so I decided to only evaluate DoctoHelp Enterprise and Flare 3.1.

Leading software program by category

Critical Categories Program(s)

Content management AuthorIT

Customizing the output DoctoHelp Enterprise and Flare 3.1

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Leading software program by category

Critical Categories Program(s)

Development environment DoctoHelp Enterprise and Flare 3.1

Development features Flare 3.1

Hyperlinks and cross-references DoctoHelp Enterprise and Flare 3.1

Images DoctoHelp Enterprise and Flare 3.1

Import content from.. AuthorIT, DoctoHelp Enterprise, and Flare 3.1

Outputs DoctoHelp Enterprise and Flare 3.1

Reusable content across projects Flare 3.1

Single-sourcing features AuthorIT and DoctoHelp Enterprise

Evaluating software is a time-consuming process, and given the amount of time (almost one year) PERS has spent waiting for tech support on RoboHelp and the need to get the issues resolved fast, I felt it best to first evaluate the most likely candidate for our needs based on the most critical categories—MadCap’s Flare 3.1.

Complexity

Complexity determines the type of learning curve a person will go through to learn how to use the software sufficiently to create help files. Everyone learns differently, so complexity and learning curve are somewhat subjective, but they do serve to give a rough estimate of how long it will take for someone to come up to speed on using the software. Someone with previous help authoring experience will be able to master the software quicker than someone with no prior experience. I took that factor into account when estimating the learning curve involved. MadCap Flare 3.1 struck me as being somewhat more complex than RoboHelp, especially in the way I had to create documents. DoctoHelp seemed less complicated to use than Flare 3.1. However, I was unable to determine the learning curve with DoctoHelp because of issues getting the program to function properly on my computer (see “Results of the DoctoHelp evaluation”).

Flare training is definitely recommended. With training, I believe an individual could sufficiently develop help files in one week; without the training and without the person having an understanding of html (style sheets) or structured language, I feel it will take an individual one and a half to two months to learn how to use the program adequately enough to create decent help files.

Results of the Flare 3.1 evaluation

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In my MadCap Flare 3.1 evaluation, I discovered some critical features were missing. In addition, I initially had trouble getting the software to function correctly. I had to contact technical support to resolve the problem. Tech support was timely and excellent.

Pros

Flare 3.1 did not require any special installation requirements. It was not necessary for TOS to grant me temporary admin rights in order to install the program and have it function correctly. This is because Flare 3.1 does not integrate itself with Word.

The program does import RoboHelp projects, but I had to make minor tweaks, mostly with the glossary, some external links, and text related to the RoboHelp interface. A section of the help file will have to be recreated because the interface and, therefore, the Getting Started section of the help file will change.

Flare 3.1 allowed me to create .net help files that, while not needed in the agency at this time, will allow PERS to keep up with current documentation trends (XML and .net) without having to spend more money later on down the road to invest in a new help authoring tool.

One really nice feature RoboHelp lacked but Flare 3.1 allows is the ability to create browse sequences in cross-platform help files that allow users to follow closely related help file topics.

Flare 3.1 does allow, albeit at an additional cost, the ability to pull reports on how help files are performing and how well members’ questions are being answered.

All the videos I created using DemoBuilder worked in the finished project.

Technical support is a toll-free call.

Cons

Flare 3.1 has a very crowded interface. There are several more toolbars in Flare 3.1 than in RoboHelp, and they are more cluttered. Some of the navigation buttons are difficult to see because of the background color.

Whereas RoboHelp uses Word as its editor, MadCap Flare 3.1 does not. It makes extensive use of style sheets and structured language as noted earlier, so there will be some learning involved. Note: This is only a con if the person using the program has no html or XML authoring experience.

In Flare 3.1, I created the topics and then created the TOC, basically it is a two-step process. In RoboHelp, creating a TOC is a one-step process.

There is no feature that allows me to print the documents I am working on in the XML editor. The entire help file must be published, and then it can be printed. (One caveat: Word 2003 with the latest service pack is required in order to publish help files as printed documentation.)

One of the features of the current help files members really like is the Form button. Flare 3.1 lacks a library of buttons and cursors and the functionality of placing buttons in a project and

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automatically assigning hyperlinks to them. That is not to say I cannot place a hyperlinked button in a Flare 3.1 project; however, I had to create the button outside of Flare 3.1 and then insert it in the project like a graphic. I then had to assign a hyperlink to the button. Subsequently, a graphics program is required for creating or editing buttons found elsewhere. (This program can be as simple as Microsoft Paint.) Flare 3.1 includes buttons, which the program uses, and I was able to locate those buttons in the Program Files directory to use in my project, but I still needed a graphics program to add text to the buttons.

Formatting text and paragraphs in Flare 3.1 requires editing style sheets. I found it downright impossible to edit a bullet’s position. Every time I wanted to left justify a numbered step, the number would disappear. Flare 3.1 would only allow me to have numbered steps if I allowed the program to indent the paragraph. I was able to create hanging indents, but the lack of tabs prevented me from placing space between the number and text—using the space bar only allows the text to move one space to the right. I was able to work around this issue by creating a two-column table and placing the step number in the first column and the text in the second—the same method I used in RoboHelp and the best way to avoid text not aligning properly when the help file window is resized. In fact, it is common practice to use tables in html programming for such a task. Note: This is only listed as a con because someone unfamiliar with html programming might struggle with achieving good formatting results.

To view a report of how well people are able to find the information they are looking for, it will be necessary to purchase either MadCap’s Feedback Service or Feedback Server product. Both are expensive. In addition, we will need to purchase Analyzer to test for broken links. This ability comes standard in RoboHelp, although Analyzer is a more robust diagnostic tool.

Like RoboHelp, help files developed using Flare 3.1 must be created and saved on the local PC and then either published to the Web server or certain files copied to the server (in the case of Windows .html help files).

Results of the DoctoHelp Enterprise evaluation

Before I could evaluate DoctoHelp Enterprise, I had to call technical support twice to resolve problems with the software’s functionality. I could not get the editor (Word) to work and got several error messages. I never did get the program to function correctly.

Pros

Technical support was fast and accurate.

DoctoHelp Enterprise has a very simple user interface, which requires minimal training.

DoctoHelp Enterprise can use Word as the editor to create help file documents. This allows someone with no html or XML experience to create documents much quicker than in Flare 3.1. It also allows more flexibility in using bullets and numbered steps.

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Cons

Technical support is outsourced, which means it may be difficult to understand the person over the phone. It is also a long-distance toll call.

After an hour-long tech support call trying to get the program to function correctly, technical support determined the problem was due to issue that I was not using FrontPage or Dreamweaver as my html editor. DoctoHelp Enterprise requires FrontPage or Dreamweaver as its html editor. I edit html documents in either Word or Notepad. (RoboHelp uses Word as its text and html editor, and Flare 3.1 has its own editor because it creates structured documents.)

RoboHelp files are not converted seamlessly. I wound up with missing file errors after the conversion, and hotspots and Flash videos would not work. Technical support told me that I would need to write html code if I want to incorporate Flash videos.

Installing the program requires TOS to grant temporary admin rights to the user so the software can be installed under his or her profile. This is because DoctoHelp uses Word as its editor, and the program will not integrate correctly with Word if it is installed under the network administrators profile—key files don’t get installed in the correct user directory.

DoctoHelp Enterprise lacks a reporting feature that would allow someone to view which help topics members are trying to locate but are unable to find, which topics are most commonly viewed, and how often the help file is being used. This feature is extremely valuable and one that David Crosley really likes. It is this feature in RoboHelp that stopped working when PERS upgraded the software.

Conclusion

I concluded from my evaluation that DoctoHelp Enterprise would be cheaper to purchase and easier to learn than MadCap Flare 3.1. However, I cannot recommend PERS purchase DoctoHelp Enterprise as a RoboHelp replacement because DoctoHelp Enterprise:

1) requires either FrontPage or Dreamweaver,

2) doesn’t support multimedia files,

3) lacks a reporting feature, and

4) must be installed with the user being granted temporary admin rights.

Because of the limitations I just outlined, I recommend PERS replace RoboHelp with MadCap Flare 3.1.

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Appendix A

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Documents

RFP