View
1.341
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Four years ago, FICO started on a journey to align the technical writing organization with several key business imperatives, which resulted in the documentation moving to DITA. Once the Technical Publications department sold their vision to the executives, how did the managers and writers shift to this new structured way of authoring? What were their steps to DITA adoption in record time? Learn about their key successes, the obstacles they overcame, and their current results. During the last three years, the DITA deployment has matured and the team is now looking at taking DITA adoption to the next level. This talk shares FICO’s past, present, and future vision with DITA.
Citation preview
Confidential. This presentation is provided for the recipient only and cannot be reproduced or shared without Fair Isaac Corporation's express consent.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. 1
FICO’s Journey to DITA The Shift from Unstructured FrameMaker to DITA and Beyond
Kathryn Mellos Mahoney Technical Publications Senior Manager FICO
February 24, 2012
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 2 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 2
Agenda
» The Problem
» The Solution
» The Shift
» Current Results
» Next Steps
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 3 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 3
―It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.‖
Albert Einstein
The Problem
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 4
The Journey Started Long Before FICO
» 1997—Word and RoboHTML
» Globalink Power Translator Pro and Simply Translating User’s Guides and Help » The two products share much of the same code, the latter including a
subset of the former’s features.
» 2000—More Word and RoboHelp
» HNC Falcon Fraud Manager Credit and Debit Data Specifications » The two documents are largely the same, with identical feed layouts but
different valid values and definitions based on the market.
» 2004—Unstructured FrameMaker
» Fair Isaac Falcon Fraud Manager Credit and Debit Data Specifications, for UNIX and Mainframe » The four documents have the same problem as before, but conditional text
alleviates some of the superficial problems.
» 2009—XMetaL with SDL Trisoft Bridge
» FICO...Same Data Specifications, Data Dictionary and Database Reference » Five documents created using Excel spreadsheets converted into DITA
topics with conditional text via Python scripts.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 5
The Destination
I need to get the best reuse, the most flexibility, and the greatest consistency out of my topics.
I want to do the work once and have it affect all of my deliverables.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 6 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 6
―Focus 90% of your time on solutions and only 10% of your time on
problems.‖
Anthony J. D’Angelo
The Solution
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 7
Why Did the Executives Choose DITA?
» Significant translation savings
» Automation: Efficient scripting, build integration achieved
» Flexible deliverables: PDF, Eclipse Help, platforms, re-branding
» Reuse: Fewer writer/reviewer resources, early consumption by next product, localization readiness, cost savings.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 8
What Did the Managers Think?
» ―YAY! REUSE!!!‖
» ―Be careful what you wish for...‖
» ―We will need training.‖
» ―This will be a challenge.‖
» ―How can I manage people through the change?‖
» ―I hope I don’t lose people because of this.‖
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 9
What Did the Writers Think?
» ―I like the tools we have.‖
» ―This looks too hard.‖
» ―I want to have control over the layout.‖
» ―The templates are too rigid.‖
» ―It will take longer for me to do my job.‖
» ―We don’t need it.‖
» ―We won’t have more than one person working on a single book.‖
» ―Our books are fine as they are.‖
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 10 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 10
―With great power comes great responsibility.‖
Thomas Francis Gilroy
The Shift
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 11
The Journey Begins in Earnest— DITA Implementation Timeline
» DITA/XMetaL training
» Workgroups develop essays to
find a common understanding
of their areas. Identify key
terms.
» Develop context-sensitive Help
delivery mechanism with
Common Components group
» Begin DITA department
standards, templates, output
scripts
» Committee charters, team
sites, communication
processes
» Initial issues lists, plans
» DITA conversion of usable
legacy documentation started
(used localization budget from
savings in DITA)
» Finalize Trisoft configuration
» Develop and document
department DITA standards
and procedures
» DITA Authoring Guide–
XMetaL and element usage
» Base DITA templates and
reusable components
» Initial writing style and
process guidelines checklist
» Initial DITA output scripts for
PDF in FICO ―look and feel‖
» Plan and develop common
topics –Content Specs
» Glossary terms
» Workgroups
» Trisoft Component Content
Management System
» Production environment ready
» Train department members
» DITA Authoring Guide–Trisoft
» Develop and review product-
specific and common topics
» Combine common and product
topics into deliverables for review
» Develop InfoCenter delivery
mechanism with Common
Components group
» Customize Antenna House for
Eclipse Help publication
» Topic automation via SDL Trisoft
API for data formats and
descriptions in Excel
» Finalize output scripts for PDF,
Help
»Final Falcon docs in review
»DITA Training
Q1, 2009 Q3, 2008 Q4, 2008
»Common and product topics
»Processes involving other departments
»Trisoft CMS in production
»Design
DITA processes
»Trisoft CMS setup
»Common Help component
»Combine topics
»InfoCenter
» Lessons learned: You can’t think through all of the problem details before you start. If you spend too much time up front speaking in generalities and predictions, you will have wonderful conversations that may have little to do with the practical nature of your information.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 12
The Journey Continues— Feature Implementation Timeline
» First release of deliverables
using DITA.
» Opportunity to reinvent the
documentation set with
Falcon 6.0.
» 40% of the documentation
set in DITA; focus on the
highest level of reuse.
» Introduce Python scripts.
» Reuse a common appendix
for Contacting FICO.
» Agree on a common set of
variable libraries, three levels
deep.
» XMetaL—Table macros
» Common topics for Case
Manager.
» Lessons learned: You don’t
have to do it all in one
release. Add complexity as
you master each skill.
» 100% of the documentation set
in DITA.
» Start freezing the publication
baselines or using source-
control management to archive
deliverable source.
» Send remaining FrameMaker
documents to the vendor for
conversion.
» Add simple conditional text.
» Lessons learned: It is
important to have your work
under source control so that
you can duplicate or tweak
books based on their final
published state.
» Tools upgrade.
» Start Insurance Fraud Manager
documentation in DITA.
» Convert existing FrameMaker
documents with third-party vendor.
» Start with high reuse documents.
» Second complete doc set in DITA.
» Synchronize book introductions.
» Introduce Context References
(conrefs) for overview topics that
have a high level of reuse.
» Add more Python scripts.
» Lessons learned: Get it in DITA,
then synchronize the topics.
»Second full doc set released in DITA
»First partial release in DITA »Second release in DITA—
Full doc set
»Tools upgrade
Q4, 2009 Q2, 2009 Q3, 2009
»Second product in DITA
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 13
Features Continue to be Added with Each Release…
»Customized placeholder topics
»Localization
1H, 2010 H2, 2010
»Add reltables
»Maximize screenshots
»Increase reuse across products
» Use placeholder copyright text to create custom
copyright files.
» Clean up UIElements, variables, etc.
» Add Relationship Tables (reltables)
» Add AuthorAssistant (terminology facilitator)
» Lessons learned: Do not use XML cross
references in topics. When they are used by
another publication that does not include the
topic, the links will break.
» Focus on Localization
» Considerations around screenshots. Use variables,
conditional text, or different topics?
» More products using the same topics.
» More conditional text.
» Lessons learned: Use conditions on entire
sentences, not phrases within sentences. Be
consistent with variable usage and stringing variables.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 14
…as our Expertise Grows.
» Introduce Context References (conrefs) for
system requirements. Create once and use in five
deliverables with two different formats.
» More information architecture. Sharing maps
across products and workgroups
» Lessons learned: Just because you can reuse
something, does not mean you should.
» Use a common copyright topic.
» Common organization for book types.
» Lessons learned: Just because something is
different, you don’t have to create a new topic.
»System Requirements conrefs
»Common copyright topic
1H, 2011 H2, 2011
»Add more Information Architecture
»Common deliverable
elements
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 15 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 15
―I believe that if you show people the problems, and you show them
the solutions, they will be moved to act.‖
Bill Gates
Current Results
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 16
Where we are…..
» Reuse exceeds 25% projection
» Falcon Fraud Manager—73%
» Insurance Fraud Manager Installation Guide—90%
» We have robust publications, rich with shared topics, conditional text, reltables, graphics, conrefs, and variables.
» Our output is consistent and reliable. Our centralized production allows for no lag time for updates.
» Our publications are being translated.
» Our tools provide us with quick access to previous versions of individual topics and publications.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 17 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 17
―It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems….Our
responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the
solutions, and pass them on.‖
Richard P. Feynman
Next Steps
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 18
…and Beyond
»DITA with Agile »New delivery methods
2012
»Adoption in other groups »Additional tools
» Use DITA in an Agile Environment.
» Explore DITA adoption in Development, Education, Scoring.
» Pilot XOpus/LiveContent.
» Reuse our DITA topics to deliver information in different methods.
» Create a richer and more defined experience for user assistance. Link to other media, including:
» user forums
» video tutorials
» examples
» knowledge bases
» real-time feedback on documentation
» receive documentation updates
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 19 © 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. Confidential. 19
―The message from the moon…is that
no problem need be considered
insolvable.‖
Norman Cousins
Confidential. This presentation is provided for the recipient only and cannot be reproduced or shared without Fair Isaac Corporation's express consent.
© 2010 Fair Isaac Corporation. 20
THANK YOU
February 24, 2012
Kathryn Mellos Mahoney 858-369-8445 [email protected]