Implementing a Unified Content Strategy

The XML Content Reuse System (CRS) is composed of four parts:

• Content System - This is the repository. The repository is comprised of the database engine and may also include a version control system. In the accompanying diagram, the database component is shown as Oracle 11i, which is one of many possible choices. The most important consideration in selecting the database application to select is to ensure that the resulting database will have the capacity and throughput to handle your anticipated use. ClearCase and Perforce are both examples of version control systems.

• Parser / Query Engine - This is the selection of methods you have selected that allow users to get content back out of the repository and use it efficiently. In the diagram, Stored Procedures, XSLT, Perl, and Python are all examples of different means of serving complex queries to users.

• Authoring Content Management - This represents the user applications you have identified for authoring of new content. The examples listed in the diagram are FrameMaker, Epic Editor, Dreamweaver and Word.

• Delivery Outputs - Your deliver outputs encompass both the output formats (paper or on-line) together with the means provided to students for accessing the current instances, such as via a Learning Management System (LMS). Examples of delivery applications include Adobe Document Server, Adobe FrameMaker Server, or an LMS.

This diagram represents the four basic component areas of a content reuse system. The examples give could be included in any CRS that resulted from a unified content strategy.

Each piece of this larger system is associated with specific benefits and costs and must be weighed on its own merits, but also in the larger context of its performance within the larger system. System considerations can easily outweigh the benefits of any individual application choice. If the favored application, for example, does not play well with others then it will be of little use in the system. As discussed in the previous article in this series, a good example of an applications whose system behavior makes it a difficult choice is MS-Word. It is precisely because so many organizations are adopting content reuse strategies that Microsoft has intensified its efforts to make Word (and other Microsoft applications) XML friendly¹.

There are basically two ways of achieving such a system: build your own from available components or buy one that does most of what you want and then customize that. If your organization has many specialized requirements and diverse processes, and your organization has considerable expertise and experience developing, implementing and maintaining software solutions, you will probably not save any money by buying a proprietary solution and then customizing it. If, on the other hand, your organization has much more general requirements for training, fewer audiences and simpler outputs, purchasing an off-the-shelf system may be a better solution. An vendor-supplied solution may also be in your future if your organization lacks in-house technical expertise and you normally contract out such projects.