Repository

A content repository has several different purposes:

• Store controlled versions of documents
• Store current versions of learning objects
• Store in-work versions of learning objects
• Publish content to web servers
• Publish content to other servers (LMS)
• Function as ISO Repository

The most important reason for having a repository is to to facilitate collaboration between content creators, editors and production staff. One mistake often made with a complex repository is to make customized views that are not shared between different team members. This can be frustrating and time consuming.

Once everyone has gone through the arduous task of chunking and labeling their legacy content, this content needs to be put into a repository where it can be easily accessed. The best way to do this, for instructional designers, is to put the content into a version control system that is linked to a database. ClearCase, for example, can present several different views of the repository for different uses. One view presents a virtual file server that contains all the most recent versions of the training documents. Another view presents selected documents to a web server or LMS. Yet another view presents the XML database elements.

Other views can be developed for specific uses, such as creating archives of content, presenting catalogs of approved artwork or source content for other servers such as Adobe Document Server or FrameMaker Server.

The road to XML content reuse is a simple progression of responses faced by learning organizations. Generally speaking, there are six steps taken on the path from no content sharing and reuse to a comprehensive XML repository system:

1. File Server - A "shared drive" accessible to all team members with read and write permissions to all.
2. Version Control System - A collection of documents, stored by document version to protect against accidentally overwriting files.
3. Document Manager - A software system that provides different levels of access to documents based upon selectable criteria.
4. Learning Management System(LMS) - A system that provides access to learning content for students, authors, and editors. The modern LMS usually provides some kind of virtual campus paradigm.
5. Learning Content Management System(LCMS) - A system that divides up learning content into manageable components, which can be dynamically revised in some or all of its instances in the curriculum.
6. XML Repository - A system that applies content taxonomies to organize content into associative, and structural classifications so that content can be created and managed with maximum efficiency.

Not every organization progresses through each step in an orderly manner. It is often the case that different groups within a learning organization implement different steps and different times and then face significant challenges integrating the results. The following table summarizes some of the objectives and limitations of each step in the progression:

Step	Objective	Limitation
File Server	To permit access and sharing of files between many users.	Slow, insecure and does not scale well
Version Control System	To maintain different versions of the same document so that the newest (best) can be identified.	Complex to maintain and difficult to use when additional features are added.
Document Manager	To automate more complex features (and rules).	Proprietary - software does not keep pace with new tools and processes.
LMS	To improve the efficiency of training content delivery and progress tracking.	Can limit designers in terms of format or delivery methods, may not accommodate editing and version control well.
LCMS	To improve the efficiency of training development through content management and reuse.	Often includes a poor user interface; extensive customization required.
XML Repository	To provide content reuse, multiple output formats, and extensibility to react to changing needs.	Requires rethinking of the development model by designers.

When computer networks became common in the workplace, people abandoned the file cabinet for the file server. They soon learned that file servers have their own defects when it comes to sharing important information. The next logical step was to try to remove the most glaring defects of the file server by implementing a version control system. The version control systems made it safer to put your documents onto the network and easier to find things, but when large numbers of people put large numbers of documents into the system, it became harder again. Enter the document management system, which made it simpler to find things, but which usually locked you into tools and processes, which rapidly became outmoded.

A good example of this last hurdle to progress is a large legal firm that implemented a complex macro-language driven documentation system that interoperated with their document management system. When the next version of MS-Word arrived, they were very upset to find that there was no backward compatibility. So, they remained with the older version of MS-Word for ten years.

Learning management systems (LMS) are student-facing applications, primarily. Their purpose is to present training to a student population and to provide tracking of student performance. Over time, more and more content management facets have been sneaking into these learning delivery platforms. That is not their core function². Although learning content management systems (LCMS) are designed to efficiently manage content, they suffer from a lack of flexibility and timeliness.

Everything that is true of the document management tools locking you into particular tools and processes is true of LMS/LCMS deployments, only much more so. Most LCMS systems have their own content creation tools, which may be very well intentioned, but which also fall very short of the functionality and finesse represented by other commercial applications. Of course, most will work with major content generators (more or less) such as MS-Word and Adobe FrameMaker, but they increase the complication of version upgrades by several orders of magnitude. This is a significant expense that must be factored into the cost of ownership and operation of these systems.

The best of the available LCMS systems are blended XML solutions. These systems use XML/XSLT technology as a tranformation mechanism, but retain a proprietary data architecture for database functions. In this way, they have many of the advantages of XML technology, such as interoperability, SCORM-compliance, and access to XML enhancements, and they can also customize the database engine to provide better system performance for content management functions. OutStart Evolution®, Aspen®, and learn eXact® are all examples of the blended XML systems.

Once you have an XML repository, your repository can inter-operate with other systems, such as LMS or even LCMS, but the content is organized for your exclusive needs and convenience. If your needs or tools change, so can the repository. You have created for yourself an "Open Source³" solution. For that reason, the XML repository is simpler and less difficult to upgrade than many proprietary solutions.

XML and SGML were developed specifically to provide a structure and methodology for content reuse. Many of the lessons learned from early SGML implementations were built into XML, which provides a more streamlined and less labor-intensive means of achieving high quality content reuse.