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14
SEPTEMBER 2007
collaboration
Improved content qualitythrough more effectivecontent management
 The advantages of content management systems are now being recognized by organizations as a way to distin-guish themselves from competitors by offering better, more reliable and personalized information in order to gaincompetitive advantage and increase profits. Content quality is improved when your organization’s information, andthose who create it, are effectively managed.
Photo: Christian Lagerek
 
15
SEPTEMBER 2007
By Scott Abel and Diane Wieland
With hundreds of systems now on the market,it’s important to understand just what vendorsare offering and what type of product is right foryour organization. Some new products now havefeatures that help users manage workflow andstaff in ways that improve the entire documenta-tion process. It’s also important to understand just what vendors mean when they use certainterms regarding content management systemsand what they can actually do to help you man-age your documentation.
A few terms to keep inmind
For example,
document management 
(DM) in-volves controlling files such as user manuals, pres-entations, web pages, annual reports, brochures,animations, and white papers. These are all typesof documents that need to be controlled, and areoften maintained in a document managementsystem. It is the process through which organiza-tions manage whole documents, move themthrough approval processes, control versions, andstore them.However, documents are comprised of smallerpieces of content called
components
. Managingcomponents of content – not just the completedocuments – allows organizations much moregranular control and helps them deliver the rightinformation, to the right people, in the right lan-guage, at the right time, and in the right format.So, effective
content management 
is really aboutmanaging all of the pieces of content (or com-ponents) that are used to assemble documents. Those documents can be physical documents– like printed user manuals – , or virtual docu-ments – like web pages or information deliveredto a mobile device.
Eliminating expenses
Profits can be improved when content is treatedas a business asset worthy of being managed ina formal, repeatable, auditable process. It’s not just selling more product that leads to increasedprofit, but reducing and eliminating unnecessaryexpenses also contributes to the bottom line. Thereturn on investment possible from effectivelymanaging content components is one of the pri-mary financial reasons why organizations moveto content management. Today most technicaldocumentation and training departments failwhen it comes to really managing their people,processes, and documentation projects becausemanagers lack the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. Technical documentation departments can learna lot from industries that have spent decades col-lecting and analyzing process information, indus-tries like the US fast food industry. The fast foodrestaurant McDonald’s has earned four billiondollars from operations the past three years. Thesuccess of McDonald’s was built on collectinginformation on its processes and finding ways toslash as little as six seconds from the time it takesto order and receive your food. A McDonald’smanager is far more likely to know the detailsabout his or her store than a tech doc, training, orsupport center manager knows about his or herdepartment. This is, of course, unacceptable. Inwhat other profession would such an absence of metrics and control be allowed? When you think about technical documentation and trainingmanagement in this way, it’s easy to see that wehave a long way to go.
 The effective manager
 Technical documentation managers are beingasked by executive management to provide realmetrics in order to justify documentation costs, orfind ways to cut costs. How is that possible with-out tools to collect those metrics? In organiza-tions that value content as an asset, managers areprovided with relevant training and the requisitetools needed to effectively manage their depart-ments and the products they create. You won’tsee managers in these organizations using an Ex-cel spreadsheet to track metrics manually. Nor willyou see them do dozens of other time-suckingtasks that most documentation managers haveto do by hand today. Being an effective managermeans having an understanding of exactly what’sgoing on in your department so you can deployand manipulate human, financial, intellectual,intangible, and material resources to accomplishorganizational goals. Managers need to stop us-ing less-than-efficient mechanisms for collectingmetrics and be given the ability to collect metricsthat can help make informed business decisionsbased on observable, measurable facts.Airplane pilots have a control panel in front of them that helps them make informed decisions. They can see where they are, where they are
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