Case Study: How USP moved from proprietary XML to DITA

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2 Case Study: How USP moved from proprietary XML to DITA Kate Meringolo Information Architect, USP Amber Swope DITA Strategies, Inc.

3 Agenda Who we are Who is USP Project goal Where USP started What USP did Consultant time What Amber did What USP did right What USP could have done differently What s next? 3

4 Kate Meringolo Master of Science in Technology Management Master of Business Administration Web Development certification 13 years with company Editor Product Support Information Architect CCMS management administrator 4

5 Amber Swope Over 20 years industry experience Consulting and implementation of best practices Information architecture for implementing DITA Masters in Professional and Technical Writing Conference speaker, co-author of the DITA Maturity Model, author of numerous articles and whitepapers, webinar presenter 5

6 Who is USP The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is a scientific nonprofit organization that sets standards for the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements manufactured, distributed and consumed worldwide. Content includes Monographs, Chapters, Reference Standards and more, each broken up into individual xml files Totaling over 8000 files for our larger publication Output xml to PDF and/or HTML 6

7 Project Goal USP creates and maintains content in a standard XML information architecture that separates content from formatting and style. 7

8 Where USP started Multiple proprietary DTDs Proprietary tools Deliverable-centric content Deliverable generation took days Manual process No common source No version control 8

9 What USP did Hired consultant to help with publishing strategy EVERYTHING on the table Selected DITA as base architecture Specialized DITA to accommodate publishing needs Selected CCMS to address all of the source directories and version control Converted smaller publication to start (about 2000 files) Published subset of product deliverables Engaged DITA consulting support when I took on IA role 9

10 Consultant time We started with no knowledge of the DITA standard Original DITA DTD created by one person with help from the DITA community Many approaches to understanding the standard Many approaches to creating specializations Needed guidance for our business needs 10

11 Define success Helped establish litmus test for success 11

12 Developed IA roadmap 12

13 Roadmap diagram 13

14 Documented IA Diagrammed existing support Diagrammed necessary support Mentored Kate on DITA from an IA perspective 14

15 Information Architecture Blueprint Parts Project Management Analysis Design Templates Spreadsheets Diagrams Checklists Conversion Implementation 15

16 Example diagram for a USP structure 16

17 Designed specialization update De-constructed specialized support Leveraged original design and added support Documented the specialization 17

18 Specialization diagram 18

19 What USP did right Got help with strategy Selected architecture before getting tools Performed pilot on smaller product Used progressive implementation Got training 19

20 What USP did right (continued) Specialized to get the support we needed Integrated with external database Leveraged our internal expertise Learned from first phase of implementation 20

21 What USP could have done differently Get DITA expertise earlier in project Have a content-centric focus in the IA work Broader analysis exercise initially Made too many fields required in CCMS 21

22 What s next? Conversion of larger product Implement sophisticated reuse (conditions/content references) Implement new delivery platform (user experience improvement) Train authors so they understand separation of content and style Collaborate with consultant as needed 22

23 Questions Kate Meringolo Amber Swope 23

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