The source for published content is often far outside the domain of subject matter experts, making it difficult to keep the experts engaged for timely content updates. This presentation is a case study in moving the authoritative source for API documentation out of a DITA repository and pushing it upstream through the development organization’s design/specification environment and into the code base itself. The result is increased ownership by subject matter experts, better collaboration, and more up-to-date and accurate published content.

1. Connecting Silos With Content Pipelines
Streamlining content across the organization
Presented at LavaCon Portland Conference 2017

2. Overview
Roger Hadley, Senior Technical Communicator at Fiserv
• Early implementer and practitioner of grass-roots DITA systems
• Context for presentation:
• Open standard, structured source format
• Bottom-up content strategy
roger.hadley@fiserv.com
2

3. Typical: Product-centric viewpoint
3
Each organization’s content comes from a different planet (silo).
Customers encounters multiple content “cultures” as they make their product journey.

4. Ideal: Content-centric viewpoint
4
All content from all organizations in a central repository
• Shared content reduces duplicated effort for authors
• Supports consistent messaging, terminology
• Allows customer-centric delivery

5. Vision: Customer-centric Delivery
5

6. Initial Attempts:
Trade Agreements for Content “Sharing”
6
Copying content and handing it off as a means of content sharing is problematic
• “Shipment” latency often results in stale content
• Manual processes lag when workload increases
• “Tweaks” to copied content create inconsistent branches
• Readers abandon content they find out-of-date or inaccurate

7. Incremental Improvement:
Automated Conversion Pipeline
7
Establish pipeline for ongoing conversion
• Get to know the “alien” content culture
• Authoritative source remains in SME domain. Collaborate rather than review.
• Content professionals influence and improve content across domains

8. Incremental Improvement:
Automated Conversion Pipeline
8
Robust conversion to publish-ready content
• No manual tweaking after conversion!
• Eliminates latency and process lag
• Has staying power

9. Potential: Gravitational Shift
9
As the scope of automated conversion grows, the content moves closer to the ideal
of a central repository
• Content analysis required for conversion applies to a content-centric viewpoint
• Content structure is maintained and enforced by the requirements of conversion
• Content professionals are in position to influence decisions

10. Automated Conversion of Development Content
10

11. Reuse of Automated Conversion Pipeline
11

12. Automated Conversion of Development Content
Next Generation
12

13. Starting the Gravitational Shift
13
• Establish a structured and open content source repository
• Invest in customized, automated conversion
• Strategy
• People
• Tools
• No manual steps after conversion! Discipline!
• Realize that in the alien culture, their content (silo) makes sense
• Employ user analysis skills to understand alien content culture and
workflow
• Identify a point where automated conversion can tap in to the alien
content flow - Make treaties - Start small
• Show working results
• Expand scope incrementally

14. Q&A
14