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Re: Automating documentation (a bit long, but I need your help!)
Subject:Re: Automating documentation (a bit long, but I need your help!) From:Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 22 Jul 1998 11:22:32 -0400
John David Hickey wrote
>My company would like to know if there's a process out there that would
>allow you to simply insert information about new features to a
task-oriented
>document when they become available rather than rework the entire document.
Yes, there is such a process. What you are looking for is a content
management system. A content management system automates the presentation,
and sometimes the synthesis, of stored content to create new information
products. The content is stored in a repository, not in a word processing or
desktop publishing file. The repository maintains relationships between
information components that make up the content and uses those relationships
to synthesize (select and order) material and then applies presentation
(formatting and behavior) to the synthesis to create an appropriate output
in an appropriate media.
When the sort of changes you describe occur in the product, you edit the
appropriate information components, or add new ones, and then push the
button that launches the synthesis and presentation processes.
There are a number of Content Management products available. Some are web
only, and some support other media. The company I work for builds, and sells
the tools used to build, sophisticated custom content management solutions.
Since you list yourself as a lone writer, this may be more than you need,
but you may want to check out some of the information on our web site at
www.omnimark.com, particularly the white paper on content management at http://www.omnimark.com/white/w_content.html.
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
