In my opinion, Rahul writes with better clarity than about 80% of America’s high school graduates and probably with better structure than I do.

He’s a professional and does quite well in an industry that the STC India figures show has consistently increased in wage by 20 - 30% between surveys.

From Rahul Prabhakar - when the muse strikes!: the new black gold of India

According to Prabhakar, Bangalore is the frontrunner amongst all Indian cities working on technical writing ’simply because most (technology-related) multinationals are based there’.

‘With no university courses, technical writers in India are left to the wolves. They are made to learn the ropes on their own,’ laments Prabhakar. But despite the lack of training possibilities, ‘India’s participation in the world of technical writing is something that everyone is talking about.’

I’ll be looking into trends of how the technical writing pipeline differs in India than in North America with later posts. Suffice to say, I think that there is real competition coming from India and it’s going to have an impact globally.

Continuing our discussion from eDMS Roshambo Part 1 | Reviving PnP Workflow and eDMS Online Content Management with Analyzer, Electronic Document Management Systems (eDMS) has a large presence in enterprise server software. Companies which rely on Policy and Procedure (PnP) compliance must handle and update internal documentation to comply with Federal, State and industry standards.

All of that costs money. These eDMS servers are not cheap. There are also SaaS models that keep it affordable, but the monthly cost is still fairly high. Most are direct enterprise models with onsite installation and maintenance. Integration of these eDMS systems is, as you might imagine, somewhat intensive.

Wikis versus eDMS / DMS - (Electronic) Document Management System

The power of wikis in a corporation is hotly debated, however the concepts of wiki collaboration are widely accepted. The question becomes how to get there.

Currently the position on Wiki collaboration has been carefully pushed back and forth - see How Wikipedia Works (Or Doesn’t) | Can Corporations Use Wikis? where the Stanford Business School sources put forth their objections to Corporate Wiki use.

Update Jan 21: My thoughts on Wikis in Corporations are disputed by none less than Stewart Mader!

Stewart’s book, Wikipatterns, is attractive and is first on my soon-to-read list. I actually stood in Barnes & Noble less than a month ago and my mom held it up and asked me if I wanted it. I couldn’t since I was unfortunately buried in research. Check out Stewart Mader’s well-worded rebuttal of my comments.

Now that Stewart has mentioned my site I’m holding out to buy an autographed version of Wikipatterns.

Let’s look at the eDMS collaboration workflow first.

From Wikipedia on Workflow within a DMS:

Workflow is a complex problem and some document management systems have a built in workflow module. There are different types of workflow. Usage depends on the environment the EDMS is applied to.

Manual workflow requires a user to view the document and decide who to send it to.

Rules-based workflow allows an administrator to create a rule that dictates the flow of the document through an organization: for instance, an invoice passes through an approval process and then is routed to the accounts payable department.

Dynamic rules allow for branches to be created in a workflow process. A simple example would be to enter an invoice amount and if the amount is lower than a certain set amount, it follows different routes through the organization.

From Wikipedia on Collaboration within a DMS:

Collaboration should be inherent in a EDMS. Documents should be capable of being retrieved by an authorized user and worked on. Access should be blocked to other users while work is being performed on the document.

This brings its own challenges, particularly if the document is large in scope, right? Which is where things tend to fall apart. Bringing all these different parts of a ‘document’ together, with the right styles in both appearance and verbage is where docs managers and info architects usually have job security.

It also happens to be where MadCap is targeting the usate of their improved MadPak with the Analyzer.

Rock Paper Scissors (RoShamBo): Wiki beats separate desktop tools & an eDMS

So here’s one blogger’s recent take on why to use a Wiki to do collaboration.

From Blog on Wiki Patterns: Why using a wiki instead of email or documents will multiply your collaboration effectiveness:

Because of its complex structure, the EDMS tends to compartmentalize content instead of letting relationships emerge, so it becomes a veritable black hole.

The wiki does a much better job because it allows emergent organization of content - people don’t have to decide which folder or section to put it in, they can tag it so it appears alongside other similar content. Also in a wiki, the fact that you put content directly on a page instead of uploading a file means it requires less effort for someone else to find it.

If it’s on a page, I can:

1. see it immediately, and
2. add to or edit it immediately.

The fact that I can see it immediately means I’m less likely to get distracted by the mechanics associated with downloading, opening, etc., so I’m more likely to remember something I might want to add. Then, the fact that I can edit it so easily means I’m more likely to make my contribution.

That’s the real power of the wiki.

I’ve already talked in a previous post about the disadvantages of PDF or other ‘black hole’ technologies with information.

Wikis provide a similar advantage to a help authoring workflow I was using five years ago with RoboEngine / RoboHelp and currently use MadCap Flare to author. So that’s nothing new, as long as that content can be repurposed and isn’t siloed the end user is helped quicker and it’s easier to update and distribute.

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