SUMMARY: FM to BookManager

[Keith Arnett <keith_arnett -at- RESTON -dot- OMD -dot- STERLING -dot- COM>]

     THE BACKGROUND:

     A couple of weeks back, I posted a request for comments/information
     from anyone familiar with using IBM's BookMananger document
     preparation and distribution format.

     The reason: we currently develop our documentation in FrameMaker, and
     distribute via print manuals, and PDF on CD-ROM.  Much of our software
     is used in the mainframe world, and the sales and customer service
     departments reported some requests for viewing our documentation
     directly on the mainframe as BookManager documents.

     A visit to the BookManager web site (http://booksrv2.raleigh.ibm.com)
     reveals a flashy and seemingly "now" presentation of BookManager as
     the solution to all your document distribution needs, positioned to
     compete with PDF and support HTML.

     Distributable viewers are inexpensive and available for all popular
     platforms (including MVS and CICS), and the software to convert from
     existing platforms (FrameMaker, MSWord, etc.) is reasonable in price.
     Hmmmm....looks interesting....

     THE RESPONSE:

     I received a total of five responses, only two of which were from
     current BookManager users.  As I posted this request on both the
     techwr-l list and the frameusers list, I took this as a sign that
     BookManager is, shall we say, not widely used.  All of the responses
     were valuable, however, and I wish to thank everyone who took the time
     to respond.

     Paul Nagai of Visa International truly saved the day.  Paul is an
     experienced BookManager user, and I am deeply grateful to him for the
     extensive insight and commentary he provided on this product.

     BTW, Paul is interested in hearing from anyone out there concerning
     BookManager products and strategies.  He can be emailed at
     pnagai -at- visa -dot- com -dot- 

     THE CONCLUSIONS:

     Aging mark-up language
     ----------------------
     BookManager is based on IBM's proprietary mark-up language,
     BookMaster.  With the pending release of XML, this aging mark-up
     language will be a couple of generations old.

     FrameMaker Book files
     ---------------------
     Many documents are constructed as FrameMaker books; BookManager will
     process FrameMaker book files, but manual preparation of the book file
     is required prior to conversion.  Usually you must also delete: title
     page, list of tables, list of figures, table of contents, and the
     index from the FrameMaker book file.

     Limited Graphics Conversion
     ---------------------------
     Graphics that were developed within FrameMaker (that is, using the
     FrameMaker drawing tools) are not converted by BookManager.  These
     graphics will have to be reconstructed as .GIF or .BMP files and
     re-integrated into the document.  This is also true for .EPS files,
     for composite graphics composed of several separate graphics, and for
     composite graphics combining graphics and TrueType fonts.

     Existing FrameMaker Templates May Be Unsuited to BookManager
     ------------------------------------------------------------
     It is likely that existing FrameMaker templates will be unsuited to
     BookMaster conversion.  In this case, an entire new set of templates
     must be developed for the conversion process.

     HTML Conversion
     ---------------
     A related application, IBM's BookServer, can be installed by the
     customer to make BookManager files available to any with a Web
     browser.  This means that BookMaster files are converted yet again to
     HTML for the Web browser, and due to the nature of HTML, discrepancies
     in layout in the document will result.  In the strictest sense, in
     addition to being checked with a BookManager viewer, BookManager
     documents should also be checked with a Web browser for quality and
     performance.

     However, to do so would require licensing and installation of
     BookServer, which is a costly undertaking: the license fee for
     BookServer for Windows NT is $4,995.

     Reiterative layout process
     --------------------------
     The BUILD component of BookManager is primarily a conversion engine;
     it does not allow for any post-conversion "tweaking" of the document,
     e.g. adjusting spacing, placement, etc.  This must be done in the
     source document, or via rulesets that are defined for BookManager
     BUILD.  In other words, document optimization is an iterative process:
     after running the conversion, the document has to be checked for
     conversion problems, and then the source document or ruleset has to be
     adjusted, and the conversion process run again.

     *****************

     We ultimately decided not to provide our documentation in BookManager
     format.  If anyone would like a copy of my feasibility study on
     BookManager, please let me know.

     Again, thanks to Paul Nagai for his invaluable assistance, and to the
     others who responded.

     Regards,

     Keith Arnett
     Techical Writer
     Sterling Software, Inc./Operations Management Division
     Reston VA USA