CCMS Consulting Services and Workshops

At a very basic level, figuring out how to use a new component content management system (CCMS) might not be impossible. But mastering it? Chances are you need some instruction.

For issues that go beyond technical support, Vasont Systems provides workshops and consulting services for content management and related topics (e.g., XML, SGML, DITA). Consultations and workshops give clients access to Vasont Systems' expertise to provide in-depth assistance with any issue pertaining to their content management strategy. For example, this one-on-one time can be used to:

• Analyze your writers' content management system usage to provide suggestions for improvement or training opportunities. You can see what your employees do and when they do it, advising them on how they could get even more out of the CCMS.
• Analyze the potential for integrations with other business systems you use to create a more cohesive and efficient work environment. The more technology your employees have at their disposal, the more they’ll be able to accomplish. By utilizing interoperable solutions that bridge the gap between disparate platforms, they’ll be able to live up to their full potential.
• Review your Vasont CCMS configuration to provide suggestions for increased content reuse to save more time in writing cycles and lower translation costs. You need to be able to consistently figure out how to reduce costs without compromising on the quality of what you produce. When you leverage the Vasont CCMS, you can make sure that your content is always strong while saving time on its production.
• Determine a strategy for building workflow between multiple departments to work more effectively through content sharing and collaboration. Communication between departments can sometimes be a difficult task for some companies. Thanks to a modern CCMS, however, your company can realize a considerable amount of new efficiencies, resulting in increased productivity.

Inspire Success Content Management Consultation Workshop Series

Your landscape is changing – you are being asked to do more with less, add new deliverables, translations, or pipelines to your document production.  The goal is efficiency, but what is the path to reach the goal?  Do you need to change processes, change tools, or completely change the way you look at how your deliverables are authored, managed, and published?

This consultative workshop series will help you identify the issues involved and develop a path to reach your goal of increased efficiency.  Our consultants will help you define a strategy and requirements so that you are better able to communicate your needs to software vendors and evaluate their proposed solutions for those needs.

The duration of each workshop is one day – a day filled with valuable training, discussion, and advice on how you can change your content management strategy into one more streamlined. The results:  the ability to produce more work with the same resources, meet critical deadlines, develop quality content assets, and generate larger profits.

Contact us today at contact@vasont.com to schedule your workshops.

Workshop 1:  An Introduction to Technical Documentation Refinement

This workshop session introduces requirement-gathering techniques and describes key features of an effective documentation production system.

Before you begin buying software, you need a strong foundation and you need to define the boundaries of the system you want to create. Armed with this information, you will be able to communicate your needs effectively when the tool acquisition phase of a project begins.

The workshop session includes discussion of Extensible Markup Language (XML) – what it is and if an XML-based language is appropriate to address your specific documentation needs.  We will also discuss what it means to adopt an XML-based language for authoring and management of your information set.

Agenda:

• Introduction to concepts
• Introduction to XML
• Introduction to requirements gathering
• Q&A and/or sample requirements-gathering session

Workshop 2:  Component Content Management System (CCMS) Considerations

This workshop session discusses the features, uses, and benefits of Component Content Management Systems. A CCMS is one of three main parts of an automated documentation system; the other two – content creation and content presentation (discussed in other workshop sessions).

The CCMS is used to manage smaller components of an information set, rather than monolithic “documents”.  The point of using a CCMS is to reduce the amount of manual labor involved in selecting and managing the authoring and presentation units involved in producing the published deliverables (and may also be involved in managing the published deliverables themselves).

Agenda:

• Introduction to CCMS concepts
• Vasont CCMS demonstration

Workshop 3:  Authoring Considerations and Tool Selection

This workshop session discusses the interactions between the CCMS and authoring environments and considerations for selecting authoring tools.

An authoring tool is the part of a documentation system the author will be using most of the day – it ought to be as easy to use as possible, give the author help for repetitive tasks, and allow the author to focus on the task of writing.

In addition, the session will discuss the concepts behind authoring for effective reuse and whether or not that fits your needs.

Agenda:

• Introduction to structured authoring concepts
• Introduction to XML
• Introduction to DITA/S1000D/JATS/DocBook
• Demonstration of XML authoring tools

 

Workshop 4:  Information Presentation Considerations and Tool Selection

This workshop session discusses the interactions between the authoring, CCMS, and presentation environments and considerations for selecting presentation tools.

Information presentations are what your customers see – manuals, pamphlets, WebHelp, websites, quick reference cards (both hardcopy and electronic).  Technical documentation systems will usually be tasked with producing one or more kinds of output products.

The selection of appropriate content presentation tools has a number of complex variables. This session will discuss many of the variables to be addressed in the interaction of authoring and CCMS environments with presentation tools.

Agenda:

• Introduction to presentation system concepts
• Introduction to XSL
• Demonstration of interactive and non-interactive presentation tools

 

 

Invest in New Technology and Master Your CCMS

The decision to invest in new technology is a challenging one for any business. After all, it could take a considerable amount of time for employees to get up to speed on using new platforms effectively. However, after you decide to deploy the Vasont CCMS, you won’t have to worry about figuring out how to use it all by yourself. 

Instead, you can take advantage of our consulting services and workshops. They’ll help you learn the ins and outs of our CMS. You’ll then be able to effectively coach and train your employees on how the system should be used. You can stay on top of all the latest product developments, which means your employees will always know how to use the system’s most current features.

Consultations and workshops can be used to develop a CCMS strategy prior to implementation or to improve CCMS strategies that are already in place. Contact us to discuss your consulting needs.

When you choose Vasont Systems, you’re getting much more than just a product. We strive to build long-lasting relationships with our clients, making sure to go above and beyond in every instance. 

We want you to get the most out of our products. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions about our CCMS.