Genesys publishes up their technical content using Mediawiki and related extension - solving a host of content management problems using a query-based approach to structured authoring.

1. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 1
Content as Data
Developing Structured, Query-based Wiki Content
and Barry Grenon
Senior Manager,
Genesys
José Druker
Staff Technical Writer,
Genesys
Tues. June 23, 2015
1:00 PM in Franklin B
#stc15
@GrenonBarry

2. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 2
Who we are
Genesys is a software company that deals with solutions for contact centers.
Over 70 products -- big, customizable, multifarious.
Two types of customers: Enterprise and Cloud.
A Technical Publications team of ~40 writers, working out of two main offices in
the US and Canada: Daly City, CA and Saint John, NB.
Documentation that will look familiar to anyone in the telecom industry:
• Deployment guides
• Help content
• Reference information
Moving all our documentation online to a wiki.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 3
What we’ll show
• Why we’re doing this
• Conceptual outline of the model
• Examples from our wiki (docs.genesys.com):
• Glossary
• Configuration Options
• Benefits of the model
• Issues and lessons learned
• Links and references
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 4
Are you our audience?
Yes, if you’re a:
• Content engineer or information architect
• Documentation team manager looking to improve efficiency and quality
• Wiki admin or developer responsible for tools and processes for
documentation
• Technical writer interested in what goes on behind the scenes
In principle, our approach can probably be generalized to any situation where
you don’t want to go the full DITA/XML/CMS route.
The specific tools and technologies in this demo are for MediaWiki.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 5
What do we mean by...
• Content – The actual information that the writer wants to convey.
• Data – Information stored in chunks that are available for analysis and
retrieval by a computer system (stored in “a database way”).
• Metadata – Data that provides information about a piece of content
• Single-sourcing – Reusing the same content elements in different locations,
contexts, and combinations in the documentation on the wiki.
• Formatting – The visual appearance of content on the page.
• Query – The mechanism for retrieving information from a database, based on
specified criteria.
• Wiki – Our online platform for authoring and delivering documentation.
We do not make use of the collaborative and community aspects of wiki
technology.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 6
The problem – in a nutshell...
How to successfully manage thousands of pages of
unstructured content and make them into useful,
easy-to-find, richly linked web pages?
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 7
Background – Why MediaWiki?
In a nutshell, a pilot project to get content online, which snowballed.
We wanted to get our content on the web, in a way that looked the part:
• Topic-based
• Individual web pages
• Our full documentation suite delivered from a single, dedicated site
MediaWiki was an easy (free) way to get started immediately.
While we were still evaluating Content Management Systems, perhaps a more
formal DITA-type approach, and so on, the wiki pilot worked out well, and took
off.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

8. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 8
Background -- Books on our wiki
We use an extension called Ponydocs, which basically stitches together a set of
wiki pages into a “book” with a version, a product, and a table of contents to
navigate through the pages. Here’s what a book page looks like on our wiki.

9. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 9
Lots of reference material
We also have books that are strictly reference material – content that might be
used in more than one location, and requiring different levels of detail in
different contexts.

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“Articles” pages
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
We are moving in a new direction with some content, following Every Page Is
Page One (EPPO) principles. We have topics in books that can stand alone as
“articles” but that can also get pulled into cross-product documentation.

11. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 11
Behind the scenes
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Behind it all is MediaWiki markup:
• Time-consuming for anything beyond basic formatting (e.g., tables)
• Requires manual maintenance

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Challenge and opportunity
So, how to successfully create and maintain useful, easy-to-find, richly linked
web pages?
The challenges can be distilled into two main areas:
• How to handle the amount and complexity of enterprise-level content
• How to construct good web pages that work together (think EPPO)
The challenges are also opportunities to improve our documentation by:
• Taking advantage of what the web can offer
• Exploiting possibilities for reuse/repackaging/dynamically generating content
The “content as data” model we’ve developed helps us meet the challenges
and exploit the opportunities.
2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

13. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 13
Our model: Content as data
• Templates for formatting
• MediaWiki templates are standard wiki pages whose content is designed
to be embedded inside other pages.
• Typically used for single-source boilerplate.
• Think of them as mini-style sheets.
• Queries for dynamically generating links and content
Various extensions available – Semantic MediaWiki, Cargo, Dynamic Page
List (DPL). We will show DPL.
• Repository for single-source content (optional)
Regular wiki pages that are never exposed.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

14. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 14
Templates for formatting – writer’s view
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Writer enters this… ...to get this
Or this…
{{Procedure
|Title= Create a Custom Metric
|Prereqs=
*You require the privilege…
|Steps=
#In the Administration module…
}}

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Templates for formatting – admin’s view
<div class="procedure-wrapper">
=={{{Title}}}==
{{#if:{{{Purpose|}}}|
'''Purpose:''' {{{Purpose}}}|}}
===Prerequisites===
{{{Prereqs}}}}}
===Steps===
<div class="procedure-steps">
{{{Steps}}}
</div>
===Next Steps===
{{{NextSteps}}}
</div>
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Admin defines the template to control the output
• Anything in triple curly quotes
represents tagged content that
comes in from what the writer
enters on the wiki page or form.
• The {{#if}} statement in double
curly quotes is a parser function
that lets you provide conditional
formatting.
• Everything else is wiki markup for
formatting or else boilerplate that
appears on the wiki page.

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Templates = Structured documentation you can query
By setting the templates up to use named
parameters, we convert unstructured,
undifferentiated content into structured,
metadata-tagged content:
• The content becomes data.
• Like data in any other database, it can
be queried.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

17. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 17
Queries for dynamic links
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
{{PageHeader
|intro=Welcome to
Genesys Business Edition
Cloud. This Genesys
offering enables you to
get started today with
an all-in-one Genesys
contact-center platform.
|tag=Agent_actions
}}
Writer enters this… ...to get this
List of links is dynamically
generated by a query

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Templates for queries (dynamic lists)
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
<div class=“Header”>
==Related Topics==
{{#dpl:
|namespace=Documentation
|categorymatch=Tag:{{{tag}}}
|format=,n* [[%PAGE%{{!}}%HEADER%]],,
|count=4
|ordermethod=counter
|noresultsheader=&nbsp;
}}
</div>
Admin defines the query to generate and format the output
Our queries use the Dynamic Page
List (DPL) MediaWiki extension.
They are shielded behind templates.
Admin tells the query:
• Where to look
• What to look for – the {{{tag}}}
that the writer entered
• How to format the results

19. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 19
Queries to dynamically generate content
Writer enters this...
{{Template:RTME_ActionsTableDPL_
All|rel=8.5}}
...to get this
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Having previously created
repository pages like this...

20. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 20
Templates for queries (dynamic content)
“Actions” table template:
{{#dpl:
|namespace=Documentation
|titlematch=%RTME:ALibrary:%Source
|uses=Template:RTME_Actions}
|include={RTME_Actions}.dpl3
|table=class=sortable,-,Action,SS_c Mode,Regular DN/SIP DN
Objects,Agent/Place Media Channels,Mediation DN Objects,Ixn-
Related,Durable,Instantaneous (Momentary),Instantaneous (Retrospective)
}}
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Admin defines the query to generate and format the output
Admin tells the query:
• Where to look
• What to look for
• What to display and how -
controlled by
supplementary formatting
templates
(The queries and templates shown here have been simplified for conceptual clarity.)

21. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 21
Queries for job aids
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

22. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 22
Conceptual summary: Templates for formatting
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

23. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 23
Conceptual summary: Templates for queries + formatting
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

24. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 24
Demo 1: Glossary
Writer enters this...
{{Glossaryterm|term=Interaction Concentrator|text=ICON}}
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

25. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 25
Demo 2: Configuration Options
Writer enters this...
{{OptionsHeader|component=
Genesys_Info_Mart_ETL|section=
gim-etl|productshort=GIM|
compshort=GIM}}
Use this configuration section to set
general options.
{{OptionsPrint|component=Genesys_Info
_Mart_ETL|section=gim-
etl|productshort=GIM|compshort=
GIM}}
...to get this
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Having previously created repository
pages like this...

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Benefit – in a nutshell
A pragmatic, incremental, and flexible approach that gives
you the benefits of structured, dynamically generated
content where and when you need it, without content
management overkill.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

27. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 27
Other Benefits
The usual benefits of structured documentation:
• Separate formatting from content.
• Enforce information management policies and a structured authoring
approach.
• Apply keyword tags and other metadata to content.
 Enable targeted, intelligent content reuse within the wiki.
 Provide the potential to export to XML and publish to other formats.
Leverage developments in semantic web technologies.
Streamline conversion of legacy material and development of new content.
Free up writers to focus on writing, by removing the distractions of formatting
and the burden of maintenance.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

28. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 28
Gotchas and Complications
All complications can be worked through, with… work.
• Draft vs. Published
• The usual single-source issues
• Writer’s and the “black box”
• Skill set to make templates and build queries
Do the work once – efficiency compounds over time.

29. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 29
Biggest Lessons
Big things we learned:
• Simplicity increases complexity
• Use forms
• Enforce naming conventions – metadata FOR FREE!
• There is a whole community around Semantic MediaWiki.
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

30. Content as Data | STC Summit 2015 | #stc15 | @GrenonBarry 30
Technology References
MediaWiki tools and features
• Templates: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Templates
• Useful parser functions (e.g., #switch, #if, #ifeq, #explode, anchorencode):
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Extension:ParserFunctions
• Dynamic Page List (DPL)
• Overview: http://semeb.com/dpldemo/index.php?title=DPL:Overview
• Manual: http://semeb.com/dpldemo/index.php?title=DPL:Manual_-
_General_Usage_and_Invocation_Syntax
Ponydocs: http://www.splunk.com/
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Contact information
José Druker:
jose.druker@genesys.com
Genesys: http://www.genesys.com/
Genesys documentation wiki: http://docs.genesys.com/Documentation (login required)
© 2015, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
Barry Grenon:
barry.grenon@genesys.com
@GrenonBarry