Problems and process considerations when making the move from Adobe FrameMaker to MadCap Flare

1. ADOBE FRAMEMAKER TO FLARE
Process and problems
By Denise Kadilak
Information Architect
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2. BACKGROUND
Why we moved
After 11 years working in Adobe FrameMaker
(five of those years in structured FrameMaker)
Blackbaud decided the increasing demands
on the documentation team (content shared
between six overlapping product lines)
required a move to a topic-based
environment.
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3. BACKGROUND
How we moved
Over an 18-month period, we:
 Created a Flare testing team
 Tested Flare
 Authoring environment
 Workflow options
 Output options
 HTML-based online help
 PDF print
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4. BACKGROUND
How we moved
Over an 18-month period, we:
 Implemented a migration process
 Created the necessary templates
 Created a Flare workflow
 Moved content
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5. MAKING THE MOVE
Three primary steps
1. Prepare FrameMaker content
2. Create Flare import
3. Clean content imported to Flare
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6. PREPARE FRAMEMAKER CONTENT
Clean existing documents
 Remove unused formats
 Remove unused conditions
 Additional steps if in structured FrameMaker
 Convert attributes to conditions
 Change x-ref source type
 Fix broken x-refs
 FrameScripts are a big help
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7. PREPARE FRAMEMAKER CONTENT
Confirm existing content is ready to import
 Confirm content can be chunked into stand-
alone topics
 Determine how to handle duplicate content
 Consider creating “global” content from any
text insets
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8. CREATE AN IMPORT TEMPLATE
Flare’s Import FrameMaker Wizard
 Save import definitions
 Import books or individual files
 Option to link generated files to source
files
 Determine how to chunk existing content
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9. CREATE AN IMPORT TEMPLATE
Flare’s Import FrameMaker Wizard
 Create a new or associate the project with
an existing CSS
 Confirm/update paragraph style mapping
 Confirm/update character style mapping
 Confirm/update x-ref style mapping
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10. CLEAN IMPORTED CONTENT
Arrange topic and image files
 Topics and images import to one folder
 Output content mirrors Content Explorer
structure
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11. CLEAN IMPORTED CONTENT
Edit CSS created during import process
 Define any formats missed during import
 Create mediums for each output need
 Print
 Online
 Mobile
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12. CLEAN IMPORTED CONTENT
Create additional resource files
 Master Pages (online content)
 Page Layouts (print content)
 Snippets
 Table Styles
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13. CLEAN IMPORTED CONTENT
Create/edit project files
 TOC
 Variables
 Targets
 Conditional Text
 Skins
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14. SUGGESTION
Create a template project and use global link
 Condition tag set
 Images
 Master Page
 Page Layout
 Stylesheet
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15. SUGGESTION
Create internal documentation
 We used a Wiki
 Import process
 Working in Flare
 Globally link projects
 Template Instructions
 Notes and Issues
 Tips and Tricks
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16. PROBLEMS
 Binding to Team Foundation Server
 Stylesheet Editor awkward
 No control over “Contents” output structure
 Limited reporting functionality
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17. CONCLUSION
 Flare is a great tool with a lot of options
 It can overwhelm you
 Leaning it involves lots of trial and error
 Flare customer support very helpful
 Know that this is going to take time
 Be methodical
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18. QUESTIONS?
My contact information:
denise.kadilak@blackbaud.com
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