Content management 

A content-management system (CMS) is a software system that automates the gathering, creation, management and publication of information. The content, the design, and the structure can be kept separate with a content-management system. When the information has been gathered, the template determines the design. In this way the CMS can publish the information in whatever way it is wished. The content can be re-used because it stands on its own, so that information can be handled efficiently and savings can be made.

Advantages of content management

• Various output forms with the same content (hard copy and online)
• Greatest possible re-use of content
• Multilingual integration

• Lower translation costs
• Efficient ways of working
• Form and content are kept separate
• Topic-based
• Well-organised version control

Single-source publishing, sometimes just called single-sourcing, is a content-management method under which the same source content is used more than once for various media. The labour-intensive and thus hard work of processing content has to be done only the once. Corrections are made only the once in the source document, and implemented in all media.

Let’s take an example: a business has several products, each with its own instructions for use. All sets of instructions contain a common procedure. Instead of managing copies of this procedure (one for each manual), the instructions can share the content and bring it all together at the moment of publication. Eliminating duplicate content cuts maintenance costs and improves consistency, now and in the future. A change in the aforementioned procedure has to be made just the once, and will then appear in all results.

Within technical communication, topic-based authoring involves a modular approach to creating content, according to which the content is constructed around topics in various contexts. These topics can be mixed and re-used. Topic-based authoring stands in contrast to narrative content, such as we find in books, and which has a linear structure.

Topic-based authoring is used in technical documentation, because it is a really efficient method. The tools that support this approach store the content in the XML format, in such a way that the content can be re-used and a dynamic assembly of personalised information is made possible.

A topic is an individual piece of the content about one particular subject. It has a recognisable goal and can stand on its own (that is, it doesn’t have to be presented to the user in a given context in order to make sense). Topics are also re-usable. As long as they are put together well (independent of other content for their meaning), they can be re-used in any context where this is necessary.

MadCap Flare is software for authoring, publishing, and managing content. It is a complete solution for staff involved in technical communication and for content developers. It offers advanced functions in order to make writing and re-use as efficient as possible.

Whether you would like to create technical documentation for online help, or software documentation, policy and procedural manuals, or other types of manuals or repositories of knowledge, with MadCap Flare you can make, manage, and publish content in a variety of formats, including print, online, and for portable devices.

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Author-it is another content-management system for creating, maintaining and distributing single-source content. INSTRKTIV uses Author-it for its customers, such as Schneider Electric, who have it as a standard, and for whom we make electrical documentation and training materials with the aid of remote desktop and cloud applications from Author-it.