DITA・CMS Solution: Case Studies

DITA・CMS Solution: Case Studies

At Human Science, we have been providing solutions for effectively managing large amounts of documents to numerous customers for many years.

Human Science has been at the forefront of the industry in terms of technology and expertise in this field, with DITA & CMS being the key technologies for this purpose.


Our company has assisted a variety of clients, from different industries and company sizes, with various challenges. The processes required to solve these challenges have also been diverse.

At our company, we have been working on solving our customers' specific challenges using DITA & CMS-based methods in various cases.


Here, we will introduce in detail case studies of Human Science's DITA & CMS solutions.

In addition, although only a few case studies can be introduced here, there are many more available. For more information, please feel free to contact us.



  • 【Case 1】Yokogawa Electric Corporation: Supporting Topic Writing and Quality Improvement for DITA Promotion

  • [Case 2] Edison Co., Ltd.: CMS (Author-it) Implementation Consulting, Manual Creation

  • 【Case 3】Domestic Printer Development and Manufacturing for Company A: Structured Design for DITA Conversion, Topic Writing and Data Creation, CMS Proposal



    • Yokogawa Electric Corporation Logo

    【Case 1】Yokogawa Electric Corporation

    "Supporting Topic Writing and Quality Improvement for DITA Promotion"


    Yokogawa Electric Corporation (http://www.yokogawa.co.jp/) has adopted a CMS using DITA for document creation, achieving reduced typesetting costs and efficient translation management.


    Human Science has worked to improve the quality of writing under the theme of thorough topic-oriented writing in order to further advance its efforts.

    As specific measures, we evaluated and analyzed existing manuals from the perspectives of reusability of text, ease of understanding, readability, and ease of searching.


    ■Customer Challenges

    ①Introduced DITA and CMS, but the introduction effect is not sufficient

    The efficiency improvement through the reuse of text, which is a feature of DITA, was insufficient.


    ②Poor document quality

    There was room for improvement in terms of clarity, readability, and ease of finding information in the actual text.


    ■Process

    Process


    STEP1: Selecting the Target Manual

  • Select the manual to be analyzed for the cause of the issue with the cooperation of the customer's representative.

    • STEP2: Cause Analysis of Issues

  • Determine the perspective of the target manual and analyze the factors of the issue.

  • Perspective of Analysis

    • STEP3: Implementation of Reporting Meeting

  • The results of analyzing the causes of the issue were summarized in a report and a presentation was held for stakeholders.
  • Various stakeholders from different levels participated in the reporting meeting, which served as a forum for reaching a consensus on the direction of document improvement.

  • [Report Example]
  • Report Example

    • STEP4: Hosting Training Seminars

  • A training seminar will be held for writers who will actually be in charge of writing, using a manual that has been agreed upon as the subject.


  • [Training Content]
  • ・Training Schedule: 1 day
  • ・Text: Use your actual manual as training material for customers.
  • ・Main Lecture Contents: "Improving Table of Contents Structure", "Brushing Up on Writing Expressions", "Rethinking Layout", etc.
  • ・Group Discussion: Discuss with your group how to improve using the exercises as material.
  • ・Program: (Refer to the diagram below)

  • Program

  • >>【Related Solutions】Training and Seminars

    • ■Effect

    ①Acquiring Topic-Oriented Writing for Improved DITA Implementation

    Our instructors, who have many years of writing experience, conducted lectures focusing on improvement points from an objective perspective. As a result, participants were able to learn effective solutions and improvement points that may have been difficult to notice internally.


    We received feedback from our clients saying, "Although there was a vague awareness that the manual needed improvement, it was difficult to make fundamental improvements. However, through the seminar, we received objective feedback from documentation professionals, which led to fundamental improvements in the manual."


    ②Achieve efficiency and reduction of man-hours through process improvement

  • By incorporating a process of creating and sharing sample images, establishing guidelines for revisions, and sharing checkpoints during reviews, we have been able to smoothly reach agreements with stakeholders. As a result, we have achieved one of our goals of reducing workload through the implementation of DITA.



    • Edison Logo

    [Case 2] Edison Co., Ltd.

    CMS (Author-it) Implementation Consulting, Manual Creation


    Ryobi Systems Co., Ltd. (http://www.e-mall.co.jp/) develops and provides systems for waste disposal companies, management companies, industrial waste collection and transportation, and waste treatment companies.

    We provide manuals for each system for our users, but when developing the comprehensive management system "Environment Shogun R" for the industrial waste collection, processing, and recycling industry, we faced the following challenges.


    ■Customer Challenges

    ①The number of inquiries to customer support is not decreasing at all

  • All manuals for the old system were created internally, but the manuals were not being fully utilized by users, resulting in no decrease in the number of inquiries to customer support.

    • ②Reducing Manual Maintenance Costs

  • It took a huge amount of time to maintain the manual, and there was a need to significantly reduce the working time.

    • ③I want to easily customize manuals for each customer

  • In order to customize the system's functions for each customer, it was necessary to have a mechanism that allows manuals to be easily customized for each customer.


    • ■Process

    Process


    STEP1: Solution Proposal for Problem Solving

  • We propose the introduction of topic writing and CMS (Author-it *) as the optimal solution for solving your challenges.
  • * "Author-it" is a product of Author-it Software Corporation.

    • STEP2: Analysis and Evaluation of Old Manuals

  • We will evaluate the old manual and propose improvement plans focusing on ease of understanding, searchability, and maintainability.

  • Proposal Example 1

  • Proposal Example 2

  • Proposal Example 3

    • STEP3: Manual Creation with CMS Implementation

  • Designed a template with a focus on ease of understanding and ease of searching.
  • "Author-it" allows for writing topic-based content according to templates.

  • Author-it

    • STEP4: Manual Creation Education Training

  • Conducted training and education on CMS operation and management for manual production staff.

  • Operation Method Example

    • ■Effect

    ①Improved Productivity

    By utilizing the following features of "Author-it", we have achieved improved work efficiency.

    ・Easy to get used to during implementation due to its similar operability to Word.

    - Excellent for managing content on a topic-by-topic basis, making it easy to revise manuals and customize for each customer.

    - Multiple technical writers can write because they are capable of topic writing.


    ②Improved Maintainability

    By writing easy-to-understand articles by topic, sharing and reusing articles has become easier and maintenance has improved.

    In addition, we have held training sessions for those in charge of manual creation on how to use and operate "Author-it", reducing the burden of manual customization.


    ③Easy customization of manuals for each customer

    By using "Author-it", it has become easier to customize manuals according to customer-specific function support by sharing and reusing sentences on a topic-by-topic basis.


    ●Combination of necessary parts (explanatory articles) for each customer

    Description Article

    ●Bulk Update of Common Articles for Each Company

    Common Articles






    【Case 3】Domestic Printer Development and Manufacturing for Company A

    Structured design for DITA conversion, topic writing, XML (DITA) editing, English translation version deployment, and CMS proposal.


    The manuals previously created by Company A were in PDF format, using FrameMaker as the base.

    The production policy was re-examined and it was decided to switch to an online manual while utilizing existing assets. This also required the manual to be converted to DITA.


    ■Customer Challenges

    We needed to digitize and convert our existing manual data into DITA while utilizing it.


    ■Process 1: DITA Conversion

    Process


    STEP1: Structured Design

  • Create a structured standard document as a rule for multiple writers to create in parallel, following the DITA standard (rules).

  • Structured Standards Document Sample

    • STEP2: Topic Writing

  • Rewrite the existing manual text using topic writing based on the standards (rewrite rules, style guide) created in STEP1.

  • Rewriting Example

    • STEP3: XML (DITA) Editing

  • Adopted oXygen as an authoring tool.
  • oXygen was chosen for its ease of editing and its comprehensive features such as file referencing and search functionality.

  • oXyge Sample

    • STEP4: HTML and PDF Conversion Output

  • Using WebWorks ePublisher, perform style settings and output for HTML and PDF.
  • Using JavaScript and other tools, we have created visually appealing dynamic HTML files.

  • Output Example

    • ■Process 2: English Version Creation

    Process


    STEP1: Japanese to English Translation

  • Translated Japanese manual into English using DITA.
  • >>【Related Solutions】English Translation・Multilingual Translation

    • STEP2: XML (DITA) Editing

  • Editing using oXygen as an authoring tool.

    • STEP3: HTML and PDF Conversion Output

  • Using WebWorksPublisher, perform style settings and output for HTML and PDF.
  • Using JavaScript and other tools, we have created dynamic HTML files with a visually appealing design.

    • ■ Process ③: CMS Implementation Proposal

    Process


    STEP1: CMS Implementation Consultation

  • Analyze existing documents and select the best CMS from among many CMSs.
  • Verify the effects of CMS implementation.

  • Implementation Consultant

    • STEP2: Introduction of CMS

  • Implemented template design, structuring of unstructured documents, and data migration.

  • Case Studies

    • STEP3: Operation Training After CMS Implementation

  • Step-by-step level up of CMS operation and management for manual operators.

  • Maintenance Process

    • ■Effect

    ①Standardization of Manual Creation Methods

    By standardizing the method of creating manuals, we have achieved a departure from the traditional personalized manual creation method.


    ②Improved productivity with One Source Multi Format

    We have been able to significantly improve both speed and cost by being able to easily convert to multiple output formats such as HTML and PDF from a single source.


    Introduction to Human Science's DITA CMS Solution


    Estimated Cost

    We will provide individual estimates.

    Please feel free to contact us.