When a product is launched in a particular country, the document is passed to a third-party service for translation. Once the translated document has been reviewed and approved, a designer lays out the document for publication. Only then is the product information published in other countries - significantly later than the country where the source document originated and at greater cost to the business, owing to the delays and redundancies built into the process.

Now look at the same product information managed through a core, unified process and built on an integrated technology platform: A team of authors creates information modules in a format that’s not tied to any particular medium - Web or print. The organization uses a content management system to store product information and track revisions and enhancements. The unified process checks for preferred and forbidden terms, helps authors adhere to consis√Ǭ≠tent and approved style guidelines, and prompts authors for reuse of approved translations. Here, automated publishing eliminates manual design and layout work.

The module is then sped through the review and approval cycles, with only the changed module going to the translator. The translator only translates new content (helped by reuse of approved translations and terms) and it is returned for review and approval. Completion of the translation triggers automated publishing in all languages and on all media types, with variations produced automatically for all audiences-which ensures the simulta­neous launch of products and campaigns for all top-priority locales and markets. A unified process links all these activities and ensures consistency while automating and accelerating the actions and the connections between them.

By producing information components-not documents-which can be dynamically assembled into final documentation and published in different formats, the organization creates a “single source of the truth.” Single sourcing enables component reuse, reduces (or eliminates) inconsistencies, eliminates redundant information, and removes the need to update the same information in multiple places.

At the same time, the automatic design and layout of pages elimi√Ǭ≠nates external page design costs, ensures design consistency through automatic conformance to content and design rules, and results in the “holy grail” of Global Information Management: reduced time√Ǭ≠to-market for global content.

The rewards of automated publishing can be great. First, the Global Product Information system reduces the costs associated with authoring and publishing, while improving consistency and the quality of the source and destination language content:
•  Reuse and componentization minimize the creation of duplicated or redundant information; content is more easily accessed across different functional areas
•  Flexibility is available for publishing into multiple types of media, reducing the overall publication costs
•  Standard terminology and the implementation of style guides eliminate inconsistencies in authoring
Second, the cost of localization is reduced. Leveraging previously translated content when content is created and during the localization process increases productivity. Componentization allows translation processes to start before entire documents are complete, reducing the time to translate and lessening documentation overload, as no one must wait until entire documents are completed before the infor­mation is translated and staged for final publishing.

Third, organizations benefit from accelerated time-to-market. Faster access to high-quality content means that product and service information is shipped to new markets more quickly-for enhanced revenue opportunities. As the pace of global product introductions increases, the return on investment improves as well.

This is the new world of global product information.

A unified platform and process for global product information requires a Product Development System that is a comprehensive set of technologies integrated into a common technology platform, covering the complete product information lifecycle. The key technology building blocks are:
•  Product Design/Development
•  Authoring
•  Illustration
•  Content Management
•  Translation Management
•  Publishing

This Product Development System - combined with Global Information Management - provides numerous benefits for an organization creating products and product communications.

This article is excerpted from the White Paper, “Best Practices for Communicating Global Product Information,” contributed by PTC. The complete version is available for download at:
www.ptc.com/products/arbortext/