Key
Component of "No Surprises"
Policy
BCA Conversion Services
offers planning services for
companies and organisations
looking to convert their legacy
data. This demand has been growing
growing among customers to provide
planning earlier in the process
as a separate service.
Legacy conversion is a big
portion of a company's investment
in a new document publishing
and delivery system. There should
be no surprises at conversion
time. The way to do that is
to lay out all the issues early,
which is just what our Pre-Conversion
Planning Service accomplishes.
It's also an invaluable opportunity
for the customer to estimate
real costs early in the process."
There are four aspects to legacy
conversions of technical materials:
- Data capture
- Format tagging
- Content tagging
- Document restructuring
Often, only the first two aspects
are dealt with effectively:
the ones that are critical for
replicating the capabilities
of the old system. Anything
else is usually left for later,
considered too complicated to
be handled up front. This
can be a costly mistake.
The many anticipated benefits
of SGML and XML (including HTML)
are only realized after the
latter two aspects are completed.
Content tagging is the process
of tagging such entities as
tools, processes, and cross-links
which allow you to automate
the delivery and retrieval of
this kind of information. Restructuring
allows older documents to fit
the new requirements and be
put to immediate use in the
new processes.
The key to this conversion
service is the planning phase
of their process. This phase
does all of the analysis required
to integrate steps 3 and 4 into
the conversion stage instead
of leaving them for later. In
addition to shortening the implementation
process, it also reduces overall
costs. With fewer processing
steps, the total process is
quicker and simpler. Overall
costs are further reduced since
review of converted documents
is needed only once on the final
documents rather than looking
through multiple intermediate
results.
Tasks done during this phase,
which are now part of the Pre-Conversion
Planning Service, include:
- review the Document Type
Definition (DTD) where applicable
- review a large volume of
input materials to generate
a catalog of difficult issues
- list data items needed in
the target conversion that
don't exist in the source
- materials
- correlate the DTD with the
legacy data to identify variations
- prepare an issues analysis
chart
- prepare a preliminary conversion
strategy report with alternatives
Pre-conversion planning typically
takes 1-3 weeks depending on
the complexity and volume of
materials that need to be examined
and is input to the development
of a pilot, which would be the
next step.
WE upgrade and reorganizes
legacy documents to the new
and more exacting requirements
of XML, SGML and Web publishing.
The Service supports all major
electronic formats including
FrameMaker, Interleaf, BookMaster,
Folio, Quark, MS Word, troff,
Xyvision, Ventura, WordPerfect,
HTML, etc. - plus paper and
microfilm.
We work in collaboration with
world class organisations on
shore or off shore with leading
conversion vendors who have
carried on this activity to
industries such as aerospace,
legal & reference publishing,clients. |
