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Enter SoftCare's K4, a content management system (CMS) based in extensible markup language (XML), which Access Intelligence deployed in mid-2006. Because XML allows for one-to-many transformations, print files can be exported directly from K4's repository into multiple electronic destinations without invoking manual processes. Production editors can now post to the Web automatically as the next step in their editorial process. K4 also helps manage this workflow. Prompted by alerts, editors know what their next task is. "It makes the process far less manual," Paciorek says.
Other content management tools enable publishers to derive greater value from the content they have created. In 2004, O'Reilly launched Web-based SafariU, a custom publishing project that allows educators to combine course material on demand. Instructors can extract chapters from from Safari Books Online's 3,400 books and 5,000 articles to create print or digital textbooks. SafariU generates custom tables of contents, calculates author royalties and flows in different book fonts and trim sizes automatically.
To launch a project of this scope, O'Reilly turned to XML-based MarkLogic Server, which is designed to combine content through "on the fly" transformation while preserving original print formats, speeding the creation of products. Deployment costs of $250,000 to $500,000 are offset by the new revenue streams created from existing assets.
But MarkLogic doesn't just facilitate cost savings through asset reuse and faster time to market; it also shifts editorial control from publisher to user. With SafariU, educators dictate which materials they use and the format in which students receive them. Other SafariU features, like the ability to post editable syllabi, allow educators to dynamically create content and collaborate with another.
MarkLogic will also be central to HBSP's new custom publishing venture, enabling customers to purchase combinations of HBR articles, case studies and book chapters as PDFs. HBSP is still experimenting with the functions it will enable -- such as whether users will be able to combine materials and simultaneously calculate price -- but that's why it chose MarkLogic, whose open architecture allows for evolving requirements. "We can redesign as we find out how customers want to use content," Lubeck says. As HBSP "builds out," Lubeck envisions products "that we haven't even thought of yet," he says. "It's really a platform for experimentation."
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