ADOPTING A STANDARD: A MORE AGILE APPROACH

Edwina LuiInformation Architect, Kaplan Publishing

1Thursday, September 19, 13

KAPLAN TEST PREP

Graduate ProgramsPreparation for business, medical, law, and

graduate admissions exams

Precollege ProgramsTutoring/test prep for K-8 state test readiness,

college prep, and K12 teacher resources

Health ProgramsProfessional licensing preparation programs for

doctors and nurses

Bar ReviewComprehensive and Multi-State bar review for

aspiring lawyers

Kaplan PublishingPrint and digital course and retail materials for KTP’s

strategic business units (SBUs)

2Thursday, September 19, 13

KAPLAN PRODUCTS (SOME OF THEM...)

Print Books EPUBs

Mobile Apps Qbanks

iBooks

Online Tests

Courses

Tutoring

3Thursday, September 19, 13

DITA XML

- Darwin Information Typing Architecture

- current official release: 1.2; upcoming release: 1.3

- open XML standard with large, active community

- free DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT) provides base publishing pipelines to many outputs

- open DITA for Publishers (D4P) project provides publishing pipelines and specializations specific to publishing industry

- mature model with broad existing tool support

4Thursday, September 19, 13

SHOPPING LIST

✓ specialized DITA 1.2 + DITA-OT

✓desktop XML editor

✓web-based XML editor

✓enterprise CCMS

✓custom XSLTs

✓digital asset management system

✓consultants (x5)

5Thursday, September 19, 13

SOUNDS GREAT, BUT...

6Thursday, September 19, 13

IS A STANDARD STILL A STANDARD IF YOU CUSTOMIZE IT?- 3 separate implementations of specialized DITA across Kaplan Inc.:

- Kaplan Test Prep: DITA 1.2

- Kaplan University: DITA 1.2 + QTI 2.1

- Kaplan Professional Education: DITA 1.3 + Learning & Training

- version management:

- DITA 1.2 released Dec 2010

- DITA 1.3 in development, release date TBD

- DITA 2.0 proposals being drafted, release date TBD

- specialization away from the open standard will mandate customization of tools, etc.

7Thursday, September 19, 13

“If you build it, they will come...right?”

- user onboarding is often more challenging than anticipated; e.g., varying levels of XML familiarity

- stakeholder readiness may be low due to current business requirements, legacy infrastructure, etc.

- midstream transitioning to new systems and standards is complex (to say the least)

- large-scale change can lead to crippling user fatigue, especially if multiple tools/processes/standards are introduced at once

- in eyes of stakeholders, long-term benefits may not outweigh short-term pain of transition

FIELD OF DREAMS

8Thursday, September 19, 13

THE KEY: EFFECTIVE CHANGE

MANAGEMENT

9Thursday, September 19, 13

MAINTAIN THE STANDARD

- internal governance of implemented standard with major stakeholders, including variants of standard

- active participation in open standard community

- regular reviews of standard against current business requirements

- ongoing training for active users, either as trainees or trainers themselves

10Thursday, September 19, 13

PACE YOURSELF

- don’t ignore “curmudgeons” in favor of early adopters

- fewer users left behind, more successful transition

- retain adequate support for existing processes if clean break not possible

- consider smaller improvements as part of the larger leap

11Thursday, September 19, 13

LOOK FOR MORE OPPORTUNITIES

- authoring style guide

- content model for authoring and/or storage

- legacy content files; e.g., InDesign

- bug reports and reporting process

- training documentation

- instructional design and pedagogy

12Thursday, September 19, 13

ONGOING FEEDBACK

- solicit feedback throughout implementation of new standard, not just at end

- actively seek out both positive and negative comments

- adjust training, documentation, implementation, etc. (easier if it’s done in increments)

- feedback is more constructive if it’s based on actual use of the new standard or system

13Thursday, September 19, 13

SEE? SIMPLE.*

Edwina LuiInformation Architect, Kaplan Publishing

elui@kaplan.com

*Not really.

14Thursday, September 19, 13