February 2001

e.docs

XML Enables Dynamic Technical Publishing

by Lowell Rapaport

Standard generalized markup language (SGML) is a time-honored tool used by the government, the military and manufacturers to develop and manage technical documentation. However, advancing technology has created new challenges that call for more dynamic solutions.

"In just a few years, new cars will be available with computer screens capable of displaying text right inside the car," says Andrew Tweddle, vice president of Tweddle Litho, a Clinton Township, MI, company that produces manuals and technical bulletins for Ford Motor Company and other manufacturers. "We need to be able to make electronic versions of our manuals that can be displayed and updated as changes are made."

Tweddle handles end-to-end production of the manuals and books with Content@, from XyEnterprise, Redding, MA. This SGML-based solution integrates an object-oriented content management system, called the Parlance Content Manager (PCM), with third-party authoring software such as Microsoft Word and Adobe's FrameMaker+SGML. The object-oriented approach supports the demands of rigorous technical, legal and financial publishing applications.

Metadata Vendor: XyEnterprise Redding, MA, 781-756-4400 www.xyenterprise.com Product:Content@XML Description: XML-based content management system that supports production of electronically published documents with workflow, collaboration and robust security; includes Microsoft COM, Java and CORBA APIs. Third-party compatibility: Arbortext, SoftQuad, HyperWorx, Vignette, Interwoven, Broadvision and Enigma. Cost: $50,000 for 10 seats Product: XML Professional Publisher Description: XML composition system that imports and automatically formats XML and SGML content into PostScript and PDF files. Cost: $30,000 for 10 seats.

"Our manuals are highly modular," Tweddle says. "Many cars are very similar, particularly U.S. and foreign versions of the same car. Plus, different cars frequently use the same subsystems, like engines, radios, air conditioners, etc. When we develop manuals, we have to make them as modular as the cars we document."

To address the demands of today's more dynamic publishing environments, XyEnterprise has developed Content@XML. Content@XML supports XML authoring environments such as Arbortext Epic, SoftQuad's XMetal and HyperWorx, an XML authoring add-on for Microsoft Word. XyEnterprise has also developed XML Professional Publisher, an XML composition engine for creating PDF files from XML content. The PDF files can be printed or delivered electronically.

"With Content@XML, users have a choice of developing XML content with a variety of authoring tools and outputting to paper and PDF," says John Parsons, XyEnterprise's director of product marketing. "[Alternatively,] they can use a third-party content delivery tool like Vignette, Interwoven or Broadvision."

Content@XML retains the strengths XyEnterprise developed for paper document management over the years, providing a production environment incorporating workflow management, collaboration and integrated security.

"This is a system that can compete with products like Documentum, but without the high-end deployment costs," Parsons claims. Future plans for Content@XML include improving access security for use with the Internet. XyEnterprise expects to continue serving the legal and financial markets as well as its core base of industrial publishers such as Tweddle Litho.

"[Content@XML] will let us get used to using the new XML tools in advance of the new technology for storing and displaying XML in cars," says Tweddle, vowing to implement the system by midyear. "We'll also be able to create updatable electronic service and technical manuals for our customers."

Content@XML combines XML components in a comprehensive data management and workflow application. It supports a

number of XML editing applications and manages XML/SGML tagged data in a project-centric workflow environment.