S1000D Legacy Transformation

One of the most time consuming and costly functions to be performed in any new S1000D project, is that of transforming; both re-organizing and converting, legacy content to match the S1000D-imposed structure and format. SiberLogic, the supplier of SiberSafe, one of the most advanced S1000D XML CMS available today, has developed a new legacy content transformation methodology.

This methodology has been field proven in reducing the time required for content transformation (including both conversion and re-organization) by as much as 75%, while simultaneously improving traceability and quality! This new methodology is based on the Semantic technology that is built into our SiberSafe S1000D XML CMS platform while leveraging the capabilities world’s most used word processing tool, MSWord with its recently introduced support for XML.

Most legacy content is either created in Microsoft Word, or like PDFs, can be easily converted to Word format. Using the normal manual transformation process, an average 500 page document takes approximately 3 man months to transform, including both changing the format and reorganizing the structure, and any automated scripts that are created to simplify the process, usually introduce numerous quality assurance issues requiring manual intervention.

With SiberSafe’s Semantic technology and the WordML mapping process, this function can be completed in 3 man weeks! The process is quite straightforward:

1. Open the legacy content in Word, import the appropriate schemas, and apply XML tags to each of the fragments in the document;
2. Create a component hierarchy and placeholders for Data Modules using SiberSafe’s Semantic mode;
3. Map each of the fragments to their corresponding S1000D data modules;
   1. Have SiberSafe automatically generate a content map that associates fragments with modules;
   2. Edit the automatically generated content map using Microsoft Excel: add S1000D metadata and publication chapter structure;
   3. Import the Content Map into SiberSafe, automaticallyinstantiating data modules and their mappings onto legacy content fragments.