Rating: 
Summary: A must for Content Management projects
Review: This book is an absolute must for Content Management projects. It touches all of the important aspects: Technical, functional and process. There is something for all stakeholders in a EMS/CMS project.Especially good about this book is that the parts that are not your direct job are still very readable, understandable and interesting. It provides valuable insights in other peoples jobs and reasoning. Coming from the technical side and with a lot of experience in setting up systems and also information architecture and DTD design, for me this book contained several new insights and some very helpfull checklists. I am in the middel of a CMS project now, but I wish I had read it sooner.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for IT managers and architects
Review: This is not a programming book, but a book about the process of an organization has to go through manage content in one unified manner. This book explains the obstacles, business and technical, that needs to be overcome in order to have one unified process in information management. This book is divided into several parts. The first part covers the basic concepts of reuse of content. The second part covers how to analyze the business requirements of your content strategy. The third part of the book is more for IT people. It covers information modeling and using metadata to organize your content. Also, a section on using workflow system to interact with your content and what roles, responsibilities and process that needs to be addressed. The book in well organized and explains the concepts in an easy to follow manner. This book is for IT managers and architects, because in covers the process needed to distribute information and the technologies that support this process. The book covers the obstacles of distribution the information assets of a company. This book is a good resource for understanding the entire process from beginning to end, but other resources would be needed to understand how to implement these ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Content Management: Ready, Set, Go!
Review: We've heard the buzz about content management for some time now. And some of us have ventured into the content management waters, only to emerge more aware of the problem than the solution. Organizations, especially smaller organizations, are looking at content management and looking away. Few have the funds - or the staff - to sponsor content management and realize the results in a reasonable period of time. Managing Enterprise Content addresses content management in six sections. Each section builds upon the previous section as it presents the rationale for content management in what the authors term a "unified content strategy." Rather than presenting the tools and technology commonly used for content management, the authors save those for a later section of the book. Instead, they begin in the first section by explaining "the basis of a unified content strategy," then move to "determining business requirements" through a substantive content audit, followed by a section on design that addresses the fundamentals of information modeling and design of metadata, dynamic content, and workflow. With these concepts established, we are then offered a broad overview of the related tools and technologies, which include XML and the various systems for authoring, content management, workflow, and content delivery. In the final substantive section of the book, the authors recommend process changes necessary for a unified content strategy. A healthy resources section that includes, in addition to a glossary, index, and stout bibliography, other useful tools to aid the implementation of a unified content strategy follows this section. Part I, "The basis of a unified content strategy," offers a good review of the concepts surrounding this topic and presents a clear statement of the problem. In addition to presenting the standard phases of single sourcing in technical publications groups, the authors explain how other industries reuse content as well. The detailed analysis of the types of content reuse includes examples that I found helpful in gauging the status of my own organization's problem. The chapter covering return on investment (ROI) is a substantial contribution to the field. We now have solid figures we can attach to labor dollars to estimate what our organizations can expect to realize as a result of content management. When you reach Part II, "Performing a substantive audit: Determining business requirements," you'll agree that Part I was just a warm-up. Chapter 4 is where the authors really touch our points of pain. The dangers, opportunities, and strengths covered here give us a niche to begin dialogue with executive sponsors. These authors arm us with specifics we can use to make a solid case for a unified content strategy. Combine these arguments with the ROI details addressed in Chapter 3 and we've got a foot in our decision-makers' doors. But the authors go even further. Once we understand the problem and know how to convey it up the chain, they lead us in visualizing the unified content strategy that suits our organizations. From problem to vision to design, Part III leads us mentally to the place where we can begin to see the "how to" of content management. Many advocates of content management confront us with metadata and information models right from the start, but not this book. If the authors had begun this way, they would have lost their readers before they ever got to the checkout. There is plenty of material on metadata available today, but only the XML geeks and programmers really understand it from the outset. This book is about the journey, and the authors have to get us out of the driveway before we can comprehend the horsepower under our hoods. This section on the nuts and bolts of what goes into the design and implementation of dynamic content and related workflow is right where it needs to be - after we've bought into the solution. Part IV, "Tools and technologies," tells us how to use what we learned in Part III when we go shopping for tools and systems. There is an excellent section on dealing with vendors, which offers sound advice for vendor selection and management. Point by point, the authors offer ways to navigate around the "gotchas" that have proven fatal to many a content management effort. I applaud the recommendations on page 276 to "ask for a content-specific demonstration" and "conduct a proof-of-concept." I wish the authors had included brief cases in point - real-life scenarios of organizations that have learned the value of these actions. We can take the authors' recommendations at face value; it sounds like wise advice. But there's nothing like a true example to drive home the lesson. Part V, "Moving to a unified content strategy," is where it all comes together and we're challenged to apply what we've learned. Each theme expressed in this section clearly links back to messages conveyed earlier in the book. But this is where the "rubber meets the road" in content management. How are we going to go about this? Who is going to do what? How will our customers perceive this? What is our transition plan? This section helps us think it all through and put solid shape to the decisions we've made thus far. And the resources in Part VI equip us even further. I expected this to be a book that would speak to many of my questions and puzzles about content management, but I didn't expect a step-by-step implementation checklist, or a detailed list of criteria for matching content management tools to my organization's specific needs. I've been tempted to give up on content management, and possibly single sourcing altogether. Perhaps Managing Enterprise Content was published just in time to persuade me otherwise. It provides a roadmap to content management, acting as a guidebook to the steep cliffs and sharp turns along the way. If there is a route to define or a known course to navigate in the quest for content management, this book speaks about it. Consider it a tutorial in grappling with the entire breadth of the content management problem.
Rating:
Summary: Managing Enterprise Content delivers as promised!
Review: When I began to read the book Managing Enterprise Content, I had certain questions about what a unified content strategy was. Was it simply a repackaging of the old concepts of knowledge management or one source? Or was it something more? I also had the expectation that the book itself would address technical communicators only as its primary audience. This in itself is not bad, but in terms of "evangelical changes" to corporate documentation and training strategies, often "how to" books of this genre do nothing more than "preach to the choir." By the time I finished reading Managing Enterprise Content, I was excited! For me, the book answered questions about a unified content strategy on two levels: Not only did it address unified content strategy as a strategic business objective; it also unified the strategic directions that the umbrella of technical communication and training professions have been moving towards over the past decade: single-sourcing, corporate branding implementation, critical involvement in software or system development life cycle (SDLC) methodologies, and even implementation of ISO9000 compliance. Please allow me to explain further: * Unified content strategy is the next evolution of "one source." Unified content strategy itself is a "single-sourcing umbrella solution" to ensure timely, consistent, and cost-effective communication at all levels for your company's goods and services. Consistent means just that: the development and implementation of consistent communications, regardless of the number of creators (authors) or the number and types of output media. * Unified content strategy is about brand implementation. In today's marketplaces, I believe that effective branding can "make or break" a company. You may have the better proverbial mousetrap, but if your customers do not know it, it won't matter. VHS versus Beta illustrated this. * A unified content strategy merges the single-source concepts and the driving tenets behind ISO 9000 into a single, cohesive strategy. * Interestingly, a unified content strategy provides the methodology for developing the typical methodology deliverables required of a SDLC (software development life cycle). Until this, typical development projects let design drive content consistency, which would only be a byproduct if the project was lucky enough to have information designers as part of the team from the "get-go." The book Managing Enterprise Content does a beautiful job of defining the premises and corresponding values of a unified content strategy. But it does not stop there. With this publication, finally there is a book that defines one source (as a unified content strategy) holistically, answering all of the basic journalistic questions of who, what, when, where, why, and most important, how! * The "how" itself is through easy-to-follow step by step instructions supported by examples that encapsulate very typical business scenarios. * The "how" is about getting buy-in within your company of not only management, but of all the players. It provides tables and lists of questions to be answered, objectives to be met, and pitfalls to be avoided. * The "how" is also about getting the best mix of tools and technologies to meet your company's needs, especially by helping you ferret out the real strengths and weaknesses of third-party tools in terms of meeting your company's business requirements. In my opinion, here is the real proverbial "bang for your buck" offered by Managing Enterprise Content. The book itself provides a cohesive tool for technical communicators, instructional designers, and related publications and project management to help demonstrate the cost benefits of a unified content management strategy. In short, this book tells you not only how to do it, but how to get buy-in. Or, in terms of the vernacular of the book itself, it tells you how to qualify your goals (something that we typically have always been good at doing) and how to quantify your goals (something perhaps that most of us have not been so good at doing.) This has often been the stumbling block for authoring teams in the past? We knew what was needed and understood the values, but never translated the benefits into the languages of middle- and upper management - that of cost savings! More importantly, by taking all of these items into consideration, the book helps you realize that there is no "one size fits all" unified content strategy solution. Instead, the book focuses on your attaining a derived understanding of the best-unified content strategy solution for your company! In other words, the book "sets you up to succeed!" In summation, Managing Enterprise Content clearly defines what a unified content strategy is, how to develop one, and what the complete spectrum of benefits of its implementation would be in terms of deliverables quality, development time efficiency, and cost savings. This book provides a comprehensive business process that integrates technical communication, instructional design, and workflow into an easy-to-follow package that will provide a consistent and cost-savings family of content products. This book "practices what it preaches" in that it addresses the needs of all the players: management at all levels, technical writers and trainers, product designers, developers and testers, marketing and IT staff, and most of all - customers. Sincerely, Mark Hanigan,
Principle Consultant - On the Write Track
2000-2001 International President - Society for Technical Communication
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