Re: SMGL?

[Chet Ensign <Chet_Ensign%LDS -at- NOTES -dot- WORLDCOM -dot- COM>]

Janis writes:

> Other than HTML stuff and Winhelp type applications, what has SMGL been
> used for historically?

Anecdote. We were bidding on a big job, to build a authoring/document
management system that would support a large customer service database. SGML
design was required as the primary data language, but the project manager was
no more familiar with it than he was with any of the other fine details of the
system. He initially told us that we were competing against one other company.
But a week later, he approved our proposal. We asked what happened with the
competing company and he answered; "Ah, they didn't even know how to spell
'SMGL.'"

The acronym is SGML -- Standard Generalized Markup Language. SGML makes it
possible to write, store and manage document-based information as related types
of objects (eg, list items, keywords, command syntax definitions, paragraphs,
etc.) instead of as a continuous string of content with embedded formatting
instructions.

SGML is typically used anyplace that the structure of the information is a
critical component to successfully managing its creation and delivery. For
example:

** where  an organization needs to automate document management at any
arbitrarily precise level of the information, not just the 'file'
** where an organization has a high amount of redundancy across their published
information, and needs to control the associated costs by publishing out of a
common repository or database
** where an organization wants to distribute the writing, the managment and/or
the distribution of information across different platforms or operating systems
** where an organization wants to be able to push information down a variety of
different distribution channels without incurring the cost of manually
reformatting the data for each one.

For example, a pharmaceutical company publishes 100,000 page highly interlinked
new drug applications on both paper and on CD using SGML to support the
assembly of the final document. Six weeks of work by a dozen people is replaced
by an automated overnight assembly operation.
An aerospace manufacturer assembles technical specs, diagnostic and repair
manuals, etc. using SGML. They have an expert system shell that extracts all
the information it needs to run directly from the SGML info in the document.
The result is a fielded expert testing system that can run against any of their
Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals without customizing. They can give it
away for free.

An oil exploration and refining company uses an SGML system for developing the
engineering specs for refinerys and oil rigs. Project engineers have real-time
access to product spec databases as they generate the documents used to guide
the building of the refinery, they have precise guidelines in place in the
document system for each part of the project and they have a defined method for
overriding standards if they feel it is necessary. The main offices can isolate
and review localized customizations immediately and approve or request
supporting info. The savings on reducing the number of localized customizations
on construction projects pays for the investment in the system in less than a
year.

These are the sorts of things that it has historically been used for. With less
expensive, easier to use tools coming on the market, I think we'll see many
more innovative uses for structured information that are also less daunting in
their scope.

Best regards

/chet

Chet Ensign
Director of Electronic Documentation
Logical Design Solutions
571 Central Avenue                      http://www.lds.com
Murray Hill, NJ  07974                  censign -at- lds -dot- com [email]
908-771-9221 [Phone]                  908-771-0430 [FAX]