Content Management

The process of creating professional technical product information like technical documentation, sales documents, help systems, maintenance instructions, price lists, catalogs, etc. is highly complex and has tremendous potential for savings. A multitude of challenges like managing versions, product variations and multiple languages, complying with legal requirements, publication in various forms of print and online media make professional management essential. In many cases, several levels of approvals and changes must be integrated into the process.

In the face of these complex challenges, our more than 25 years of experience coupled with industry-leading software, notably the SCHEMA ST4 editing system, can lighten the burden. Our solutions focus on three areas:

Create relates to the start of the process, covering the planning, structuring, and standardizing of product information and the modular creation in an editing system.
The core elements of step two, Manage, are the modularization of content and the single source publishing method as well as the powerful SCHEMA ST4 editing system.
Finally, exactly the right information must be conveyed to the right target group in the right format and via the right medium. This area is addressed by step three: Deliver.

Create

Modularization and Single Source Publishing Enable Content to be Reused

Complex Documents

We refer to materials like technical documentation, technical sales documents, data sheets, help systems, maintenance instructions, price lists, catalogs, etc. as complex documents. They are not simply created and forgotten, but are instead living documents that are continuously revised, reapproved, and released. In other words, they move through a life cycle. Complex documents also exhibit the following characteristics:

They are large! Technical documentation in particular can fill files, boxes, and even pallets.
They are translated into multiple languages. It is not uncommon in Europe to see documents in over 20 target languages.
They need to account for product variations and customer-specific requirements, which means the content of individual documents often overlaps greatly.
They need to be published in a variety of formats, layouts, and media.
There are multiple versions to be maintained.
They have to be legally watertight.

The answer to these challenges is a professional editing system – SCHEMA ST4.

Structured Information

Individual information modules that are as easy as possible to manage form the basis of modern editing. These modules need to be easy to find, capable of being combined dynamically, and made “intelligent” using metadata. Separating layout, structure, and content simplifies matters by a large degree and increases efficiency. However, this requires precise planning and consistent implementation.

Editing with SCHEMA ST4

SCHEMA has been setting standards in editing systems for over 20 years. Their ST4 DocuManager meets the needs of small and medium-sized businesses and is based on SCHEMA ST4, the market-leading professional and scalable editing system in German-speaking countries. The SCHEMA product range covers all eventualities in day-to-day editing and content management work for companies of all sizes.

Acrolinx – Speak with one Voice

When it comes to creating and scaling first-rate content, seven of the ten most well-known brands around the world rely on Acrolinx. Use Acrolinx to plan, create, and analyze your content. Tailored to your target groups, it will be quick to find, easy to read, and engaging. Acrolinx is the only software platform that can “read” content and helps authors to improve it and find the right “tone of voice”.

Manage

Centralized Storage, Version Management, and Approval Let You Keep Everything in Check

Single source publishing is the right approach

When you first hear it, it sounds like a paradox: The solution to managing complex documents is to split them into smaller chunks, in other words to “modularize” them. This means creating even more individual elements from them. However, rather than simply “copying” documents and modules, an editing system manages them intelligently. Clear structures, templates, and projects assigned with metadata and lots of specific information can be used for searches and filtering by task. Only intelligently managed information modules constitute the essence of single source publishing. The basic idea behind this method is the targeted and traceable reuse of content modules, whereby technical linguistic content (such as a safety notice) is created and managed once, reused in all relevant publications, and versions are managed and maintained over time. Reuse of repetitive content keeps the volume of information manageable and provides a convenient and elegant solution to the challenges described above. The single source approach greatly increases the potential for savings, especially when dealing with multilingual product information, since reusable text elements are immediately available in all languages. In many cases, there is no need to even send an updated document to a translator. Instead, you can immediately release the document in the original and target languages.

Single Source Publishing

The fundamental difference between working with and without an editing system is the principle of single source publishing. This method breaks documents and publications down into information modules, which may then be used time and again in different locations, but are only ever managed centrally. Prolific copying and pasting is replaced by a neatly structured data base.

SCHEMA ST4 DocuManager

SCHEMA ST4 DocuManager sets new standards, and is yet a standard system with technical support and upgradeability. SCHEMA consistently “standardizes” recurring requirements from numerous projects. “DocuManager” is a standard configuration of the powerful ST4 system; a turnkey solution for simple projects and the perfect basis for complex enhancements.

The Advantages at a Glance

Technical content management systems should not simply be regarded as new software; they also enable you to reassess processes, writing methods, and documentation structures. While they are relatively quick and easy to introduce, a major benefit lies in how they will modernize your entire workflow. Here we have compiled some of the key benefits to justify your investment.

Deliver

Automated, Modular, and Personalized Content Delivery via Electronic Media

Constantly keeping information up to date is only half the battle of editing. The other is getting the personalized and modular updated content to sales, maintenance, and service employees as well as customers and partners. These groups are typically spread across all corners of the globe, but need the latest information for the respective system, service visit, or to make a sale. New electronic devices like tablets and smartphones have emerged as target media, and cannot be ignored since they are now gadgets many people cannot go without. If you can still manage to “push” the latest, precisely tailored content automatically, this is the ideal channel to use to provide employees, customers, and partners with information. At the same time it enables two-way communication: End users can send feedback and comments directly to the author! The answers to this challenge are the modern, dynamic print media and digital output formats from the SCHEMA ST4 editing system on the one hand, or alternatively the high-end solution from SCHEMA: The completely automatic and personalized distribution of content via the SCHEMA Content Delivery Server.

Dynamic Publishing

Separating content, structure, and layout in a CMS is the key to first-class dynamic publishing: Create different layouts from or customer-specific versions from the same source – cleverly controlled by metadata, with documents automatically produced from the data available in the ERP system. With all this and much more besides, the possibilities of SCHEMA ST4 are endless!

Interactive Information

The trend towards electronic media could not be stronger, with benefits such as faster updates, interactive presentations, and context-sensitive help being harnessed for applications such as website assembly and catalog production. SCHEMA ST4 offers an extensive range of publication options for both print but also electronic media, separating content from structure and layout.

Content Delivery

Your colleagues, partners, and customers need the latest information at their fingertips. How do you manage that in times of increasingly faster product cycles? How do you ensure these documents can only be used with proper authorization? SCHEMA´s Content Delivery Suite (CDS) intelligently supplies the different target systems – online and offline – via browser, tablet, or smartphone.

Structured Information

Individual information modules that are as easy as possible to manage form the basis of modern editing. These modules need to be easy to find, capable of being combined dynamically, and made “intelligent” using metadata. Separating layout, structure, and content simplifies matters by a large degree and increases efficiency. However, this requires precise planning and consistent implementation.

Editing with SCHEMA ST4

SCHEMA has been setting standards in editing systems for over 20 years. Their ST4 DocuManager meets the needs of small and medium-sized businesses and is based on SCHEMA ST4, the market-leading professional and scalable editing system in German-speaking countries. The SCHEMA product range covers all eventualities in day-to-day editing and content management work for companies of all sizes.

Single Source Publishing

The fundamental difference between working with and without an editing system is the principle of single source publishing. This method breaks documents and publications down into information modules, which may then be used time and again in different locations, but are only ever managed centrally. Prolific copying and pasting is replaced by a neatly structured data base.

SCHEMA ST4 DocuManager

SCHEMA ST4 DocuManager sets new standards, and is yet a standard system with technical support and upgradeability. SCHEMA consistently “standardizes” recurring requirements from numerous projects. “DocuManager” is a standard configuration of the powerful ST4 system; a turnkey solution for simple projects and the perfect basis for complex enhancements.

The Advantages at a Glance

Technical content management systems should not simply be regarded as new software; they also enable you to reassess processes, writing methods, and documentation structures. While they are relatively quick and easy to introduce, a major benefit lies in how they will modernize your entire workflow. Here we have compiled some of the key benefits to justify your investment.

Dynamic Publishing

Separating content, structure, and layout in a CMS is the key to first-class dynamic publishing: Create different layouts from or customer-specific versions from the same source – cleverly controlled by metadata, with documents automatically produced from the data available in the ERP system. With all this and much more besides, the possibilities of SCHEMA ST4 are endless!

Acrolinx – Speak with one Voice

When it comes to creating and scaling first-rate content, seven of the ten most well-known brands around the world rely on Acrolinx. Use Acrolinx to plan, create, and analyze your content. Tailored to your target groups, it will be quick to find, easy to read, and engaging. Acrolinx is the only software platform that can “read” content and helps authors to improve it and find the right “tone of voice”.

Interactive Information

The trend towards electronic media could not be stronger, with benefits such as faster updates, interactive presentations, and context-sensitive help being harnessed for applications such as website assembly and catalog production. SCHEMA ST4 offers an extensive range of publication options for both print but also electronic media, separating content from structure and layout.

Content Delivery

Your colleagues, partners, and customers need the latest information at their fingertips. How do you manage that in times of increasingly faster product cycles? How do you ensure these documents can only be used with proper authorization? SCHEMA´s Content Delivery Suite (CDS) intelligently supplies the different target systems – online and offline – via browser, tablet, or smartphone.

Small but Mighty!

Do you want to speed up working in SDL Trados Studio and SDL MultiTerm even further and customize it even more precisely to your needs? Then you should take a closer look at our little digital helpers: expertTools enable elegant processes and solutions that would otherwise be highly complex and time-consuming. Many of our expertTools are available both as a freelance and as a professional version.

COTI – Standard for Automation

COTI – Common Translation Interface – is a German standard for exchanging translation projects between a CMS such as SCHEMA ST4 and a CAT. Kaleidoscope has built this bridge for the world of SDL Trados Studio, GroupShare, and WorldServer, enabling standardized automatic data exchange between editing and translation management systems that can be implemented extremely quickly.

Consultancy & Workshops

While you can simply download and try out some of our products for yourself, larger-scale solutions such as SCHEMA DocuManager or SDL WorldServer have extensive configuration options. To enable us to tailor these systems to your individual requirements, we can offer you specialist guidance and workshops. This will give you a clear picture of the desired and perfect solution for you.

Rely On Our Support

Do you want tailored guidance and prompt support response times? Then you can rely on us! We provide support both for the SDL Trados products we market and for the software solutions we develop in-house, such as quickTerm, smartQuery, globalReview, and expertTools. In order to support the products from our other partners, we negotiate direct support and maintenance contracts on your behalf.