2. What will we be talking about?
How are standards developed?
What standards are relevant to technical communicators
What in content management should be standardized?
What’s in the draft ISO standard for Content Management—
draft 26531
Aimed at acquirers, users, and producers
Aimed at documentation of systems, software, and
services
Content management systems use systems engineering
and systems/services management
May 2013 2
Annette Reilly
3. Why have standards?
Support interoperability
Further world trade
Promote consistent products
Allow repeatable processes and process improvement
Basis for contracts and audits
Obtain ISO/IEEE standards at www.iso.org or
www.ansi.org or
http://www.techstreet.com/ieee
OASIS standards at
https://www.oasis-open.org/standards
May 2013 3
Annette Reilly
4. What is a technical standard?
―… [A] formal document that establishes uniform engineering
or technical criteria, methods, processes and practices‖
(Wikipedia)
Issued by a respected, authoritative entity
IEEE – Computer Society and Standards Association
Membership based
International Standards Organization (ISO)
Nation-based, Software and Systems Engineering documentation
standards from JTC 1/SC7
National standards organizations
American National Standards Organization (ANSI)
Other national organizations (BSI, Standards Bureau of Canada,
etc.)
National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
Project Management Institute (Guidance)
W3C (web standards)
OASIS--DITA
May 2013 4
Annette Reilly
5. When is it really a standard?
Covers a process or product
Not proprietary, tool-bound, or vendor-
specific
Open participation from all interested
stakeholders
The result of consensus agreement from
a balance of stakeholders
Maintained by a recognized, impartial
standards-producing organization
Normative (mandatory) or guidance?
May 2013 5
Annette Reilly
6. How do standards get
developed?
Project proposal and approval
Development and review of drafts by
a working group or fast-track
Ballot by interested parties
Revise and reballot
24-36 months start to publish
Publish, maintain, sell
Periodic reviews – update, withdraw,
stabilize
May 2013 6
Annette Reilly
7. ISO/IEC/IEEE suite of standards for
software, systems, services documentation
26511: Requirements for managers of user documentation
26512: Requirements for acquirers and suppliers of user
documentation
26513: Requirements for testers and assessors of user
documentation
26514: Requirements for designers and developers of user
documentation
26515: Developing user documentation in an agile
environment
15289: Content of life-cycle documentation (information
items)
Developed by STC members working with other technical
communicators
May 2013 7
Annette Reilly
8. Where does the working
draft come from?
Existing organizational, national, or international
standards
Book and article descriptions of best practices
STC Summit presentations
Working group discussions about best practices
For content management – draft by STC members
JoAnn Hackos, STC Fellow
http://comtech-serv.com//index.php?main_page=contact_us
Casey Jordan
http://easydita.com
Ralph Robinson, STC Fellow
ralphrobinson1@hotmail.com
May 2013 8
Annette Reilly
9. What’s in this new Content Management
standard 26531
Requirements and recommended practices for
Developing a content management strategy
Checklist for organizations – business case
Developing a workflow for content management
Content management system functions
May 2013
Annette Reilly
9
Not--
How to use DITA
Which CM system to buy
Publication late 2014
10. Business Case for content management
Current state of documentation
Customer benefits
Consistent, easy to find information
Reduction in support calls through self-service information
Finding same information through multiple devices and media
Cost reduction opportunities
Acquisition and implementation costs
Return on investment
Risks
May 2013
Annette Reilly
10
11. Content Management Processes
Business Case Development
Requirements Definition
Content Management
Planning – process and
project
Information Model Definition
Authoring Guidelines
Content Reuse Strategy
Workflow Specification
Quality Management
Content Review and Approval
May 2013
Annette Reilly
11
Metadata Model
Content Search
Content Conversion
Content Authoring
Graphics and Multimedia
Management
Content Localization
Release Management
Content Publication
Content Deletion
Content Archiving
12. Workflow for the content life-cycle
Project initiation – content conversion or authoring
Content editing and proofreading
Content technical review
Content testing
Content approval
Content translation
Content publication
Content sustainment and reuse
Content archiving after initial and subsequent releases
May 2013
Annette Reilly
12
13. What’s in the information model for
structured authoring
Document type definitions (outlines, templates)
Definitions of the information types
procedure, process, policy
Structure of the information type (content units and their
sequence)
Definitions of content units
paragraphs, lists, tables, illustrations, examples, warnings
Collections of content objects
chapters, parts, sections, books
Content object metadata
author, date, subject, version
Reuse mechanisms
File naming conventions for text and graphics
May 2013
Annette Reilly
13
14. Content Management system requirements
Repository management
Content object and asset management
Check-out, check-in, link management, search, versioning
Graphics and multimedia management
System administration
Authoring functions
Workflow functions
Content publication
Localization and translation management
System interoperability
May 2013
Annette Reilly
14
15. ISOspeak
ISO/IEC: International Organization for
Standardization/International Electrotechnical
Commission
JTC1/SC7: Joint Technical Committee 1,
subcommittee 7, responsible for software and
systems engineering standards
WG2: Working group 2, responsible for systems
and user documentation
http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink?func=ll&objId=8914719
May 2013 15
Annette Reilly
16. What is unique about
ISO/IEC standards?
Represent the efforts of experts from a
minimum of 5 countries
Iteratively drafted and balloted, with all
technical comments resolved
Published by ISO and widely adopted around
the world
The vast majority of WG members are volunteers.
May 2013 16
Annette Reilly
17. Getting involved with standards
Adopt a single-sourcing approach
Have models for your process and
products
Use standards at work
Support a capability assessment
Become a standards reviewer or editor
Join IEEE-Standards Association, OASIS,
W3C, PMI
May 2013 17
Annette Reilly
18. Your turn
Questions?
Comments?
Experience with content management
or other standards?
Obtain ISO/IEEE standards at www.iso.org or
www.ansi.org or http://www.techstreet.com/ieee
OASIS standards at
https://www.oasis-open.org/standards
Contact annette.reilly at computer.org
May 2013 18
Annette Reilly
