Intelligent Content for DITA

Many technical writing processes are based on antiquated and complicated tools such as XMetaL, FrameMaker and ArborText, etc. These tools are specialized and often require technical communications specialists. Non-technical users, often subject matter experts, find them difficult to use, and prefer working with Microsoft Word. Further, Microsoft is investing billions of dollars in bringing AI to Office 365. Ictect software enables you to use Microsoft Word, Office 365, Intelligent Content and advances in AI for your technical writing process. With this roadmap, your technical writing process will be on a modern track without much ongoing investment. See our case study on modernizing the technical writing process for the Army Publishing Directorate, and our offerings for technical publications.

There are many areas in DITA content lifecycle that are time-consuming and costly. For example:

• Converting content written by SMEs and non-technical authors into DITA XML
• Checking the quality of documents to make sure they are consistent with your style guides
• Reviewing and updating content written in DITA XML by SMEs and non-technical authors
• Converting legacy and ongoing content to DITA XML

Ictect software has proven to be useful in saving time and cost in these and other workflow bottlenecks in DITA content lifecycles.

In many cases, content creation in a DITA workflow starts in Microsoft Word. Our Word plug-in Intelligent Content Tools (icTools) provides tools for subject matter experts to check document quality and create DITA documents directly within Microsoft Word. It also provides tools in Microsoft Word for SMEs to review existing DITA content from your Component Content Management Systems (CCMS). This is both time-saving and cost-saving for enterprises because it leverages the investment in Office 365.

We offer Intelligent Content Server (ICS) for automated conversion of ongoing or legacy documents from various formats to DITA XML. Conversion, cleanup, review and update are often time-consuming and costly activities. We invite you to provide us a sample document to see the benefits of our software.

Saving time and cost also involves carefully analyzing your use cases and developing applications that bring operational efficiency. We work closely with our customers and our consulting partners to analyze workflows and propose appropriate solutions using our software. Because Microsoft Word is a commonly available software in enterprises, our ability to integrate DITA content with it solves many challenges in business situations. Would you like to discuss your needs?

Broadly speaking, authoring in DITA involves creating content and applying XML tags. There are different scenarios to be considered, such as:

• Working with in-house SMEs
• Working with in-house technical writers
• Working with external authors

We also need to consider the comfort level of the authors with DITA. With Ictect software, there are different solutions for different use cases. In some cases, authors can simply use Microsoft Word to create content, or begin with a template. DITA XML tagging can be applied behind the scene by icTools. In other cases, they can create content in Word and interactively apply tagging with icTools. With Intelligent Content Server, they can simply submit their documents and tagging gets applied by the software.

Depending upon the scenario and the number of authors, consideration is also given for the environment – is it Microsoft Word on Windows, Mac or is it Word Online with Office 365. While we’ve worked with Microsoft Word on Windows in the past, we are now deploying software on Word with Mac and Word Online as well – thanks to the Javascript support in Word Online Apps from Microsoft. The combination of icTools and ICS also offers compelling solutions for larger volumes of content or a larger number of authors.

We invite you to talk to us about your use case.

This has been a key feature of our software. We have two products that offer this functionality– icTools and ICS. The difference between them is that icTools does this on the desktop and ICS does it on the server. They both offer capabilities to clean up your documents, and check your documents before and after conversion. Depending on the workflow needs, we will suggest appropriate solutions involving icTools and/or ICS.

In the recent past, we have focused on two areas of AI applications for technical document lifecycles. They are:

• Use of AI to aid in the content creation process
• Use of AI with the content available in DITA XML

In the content creation process, AI and Copilot can be used within Microsoft Word for various types of content such as FAQs, product datasheets, brochures, etc. The combination of AI, Copilot and icTools offers better control on the quality of the content and minimizes the scenarios of AI running amok. Feel free to contact us to see demonstrations of Copilot, icTools and AI working hand-in-hand.

For the use of AI with DITA XML, several groups have conducted experiments that the AI chatbot answers are more precise with XML content. For example, Michael Iantosca and Helmut Nagy presented that the accuracy of the chatbot answers with AI is significantly higher compared to unstructured content. We are working with Joe Gollner with the Thunderbird sample set provided by Gnostyx Research to demonstrate the benefits of using DITA XML with AI. We invite you to participate.