I knew you would have this type of information. I'll pass it along
to the folks who are not on this list, but were asking about this.

Thanks.
-- In IndyDITA@yahoogroups.com, Scott Abel <abelsp@...> wrote:
>
> Diane:
>
> You can find some real numbers in almost any DITA case study or
> interview. In fact, on my site, the latest DITA interview is with
ICOS,
> a Belgian firm. They estimate they'll be able to reuse 80% of the
DITA
> Topics they created. They have not yet been able to measure
translation
> savings, which with so much reuse, will also be significant
(probably
> the largest savings).
>
> www.thecontentwrangler.com
>
> There are other examples...
>
> For instance, in another interview I edited, software maker Idiom
says:
> "We are currently reusing about 5% of our docset. In the next
release,
> we expect that figure to increase to around 60%, when we single-
source
> the guides and the online help (which are currently not
> single-sourced)...We haven't translated the docset yet. By the
time we
> do, there should be enough single-sourcing that translation cost
will
> be optimized because we'll only need to translate reused content
once."
>
> http://www.travelthepath.com/structure4.html
>
> In a similar interview with Adobe, the software maker estimates
it's
> able to reuse 25% of the content it first put into DITA. They also
saw
> these additional benefits: "We were able to focus on creating
content,
> not formatting it.
> Authors did not have to worry about formatting and could
concentrate on
> the structure of the content instead. Additionally, the schema
served
> as a guide to authors on what to enter next. Content re-use meant
less
> maintenance. Authors could place content references to shared
topics
> instead of copying and pasting them into different locations.
> Consistent output was a big benefit. We could build the same
output at
> the click of a button. There was no desktop publishing work
needed.
> And, we were able to use XQuery to run powerful searches across
the
> content. It was easy to write reports to check for missing images,
> broken cross-references, erroneous index terms, etc. "
>
> http://www.travelthepath.com/structure3.html
>
> In the near future, I'll be publishing more interviews with others
> using DITA to see what we can learn from them.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> The Content Wrangler, Inc.
> Scott Abel, Content Management Strategist
> 3421 Crystal Lakes Ct., Sarasota FL 34235
> abelsp@... 941-359-3416
> www.thecontentwrangler.com
> Via Skype: abelsp
>
> TheContentWrangler.com - Look there first!
> On Feb 23, 2006, at 12:14 PM, D Wiel wrote:
>
> > Another thing that I know you can probably answer is the
question of
> > how using DITA "pays."  This came up at the STC meeting last
> > month ("how does all that support my business/management
needs?") and
> > I thought you might know of some resourses that have shown a ROI
for
> > DITA. I thought IBM had some ficticious examples that
illustrated it
> > well, but are there any real numbers? 
> >  
> > Scott Abel <abelsp@...> wrote:
> >> Indy DITA Users:
> >>
> >> With all the chatter about the Darwin Information Typing
Architecture
> >> in technical communication circles these days, I wanted to
offer up
> >> this list of resources that might prove useful to those just
starting
> >> to learn about DITA.
> >>
> >> Scott
> >>
> >> 1) DITA 2006: March 23-25, 2006 - Raleigh, NC. Meet, mingle and
learn
> >> from IBM's Dave Schell, the creator of DITA, and other Darwinian
> >> luminaries at DITA 2006, March 23-25, 2006 in Raleigh, NC.
Hands-on
> >> workshops, case studies, and product demonstrations (including
a full
> >> vendor exhibition) will be featured along with white papers,
> >> presentations, and discussion groups. A call for papers is
expected in
> >> late August 2005 and a full conference schedule will be
announced
> >> shortly thereafter. DITA 2006 is being co-sponsored by OASIS
and will
> >> be the first event of it's kind -- dedicated entirely to
educating
> >> attendees about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture.
Learn
> >> more:
> >> http://www.travelthepath.com/dita2006.html.
> >>
> >> 2) DITA: An OASIS Standard. Link to the announcement that
spurred all
> >> the interest!
> >> http://www.oasis-open.org/news/oasis_news_06_01_05.php
> >>
> >> 3) Required Reading Resources:
> >>
> >> IBM’s Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing
Architecture
> >> includes a wealth of information about the history and usage of
DITA.
> >> Links to other online resources are also provided.
> >> Link:
> >> http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-
dita1/index.html?
> >> open&l=778,t=gr,p=xmlDITA
> >>
> >> DITA Downloads at IBM includes links to DITA DTDs, DITA schemas
and
> >> more.
> >> Link:
> >> http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-dita6/x-
> >> dita_downloads.html
> >>
> >> DITA Questions and Answers - Arbortext takes a look at some of
the
> >> common questions surrounding DITA and provides answers designed
to
> >> demystify the often misundersood concepts and issues.
> >> Link: http://www.arbortext.com/resources/dita_q_a.htm
> >>
> >> Specializing Domains in DITA provides guidance for those hoping
to
> >> "specialize" (i.e. customize) DITA for their own use.
> >> Link:
> >> http://wiki.astrogrid.org/pub/Astrogrid/
> >> DarwinInformationTypingArchitecture/DITA-domains.html
> >>
> >> DITA Users Group is a Yahoo! Group dedicated to the discussion
of all
> >> things DITA.
> >> Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dita-users/
> >>
> >> The Content Wrangler, Inc.
> >> Scott Abel, Content Management Strategist
> >> 3421 Crystal Lakes Ct., Sarasota FL 34235
> >> abelsp@... 941-359-3416
> >> www.thecontentwrangler.com
> >> Via Skype: abelsp
> >>
> >> TheContentWrangler.com - Look there first!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Yahoo! Groups Links
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
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