XML Exchange Format and CMS Metric
In the field of technical communications, content management (CM) methods and systems (CMS) are usually introduced to achieve effective reuse of content. However, a systematic approach to measure and visualize the degree of reusability was lacking in the past.
In 2008, according measurement units have been established through the publication of the German online article „Metrische Untersuchung der Wiederverwendung im Content Management“ (Metric examination of reusability in content management). On this basis the REx format has been defined. It provides a standardized way to export data that is related to content reuse from CM applications so that they can be analysed.
Key Figures for Content Management
Redundancy is the most elementary key figure of the static key figures. Redundancy describes the share of content of a document that is already used in other documents or publications. The degree of redundancy can refer to the amount of modular units or– as module sizes can differ vastly –to content-based units (segments).
Another interesting static key figure is abundancy (utilization number). This key figure measures the frequency of object reuse (modules, media). Additionally, if CM applications are examined extensively, a multitude of key figures (document sizes, module sizes, redundancy, abundancy) can be determined and analyzed in terms of how they are distributed and correlated.
Further dynamic key figures additionally take the content life cycle of information entry and document creation into account. They are established by creating and visualizing the history and versions of CMS objects and can be correlated to the static key figures.
Technical Implementation
In 2009, Ziegler and Knopf published version 1.0 of the Rex format. They used anonymized analyses of productive CMS installations and presented their results on different occasions. For version 1.1 the schema definition was updated and the analysis program was further developed. By now, several CMS-specific implementations of key figures exist in individual systems.
The structure of the REx format is defined through two XML schemas (XSD files). Depending on the contained information the REx format is divided into two levels. On a basic level, a CMS can export reuse data as a report in the form of REx level 1. More detailed analyses and visualizations can then be created in cooperation as REx level 2.
Objectives
The objectives of the metric analyses and REx features are of a technical and a general methodical nature. They were developed to improve professionalization and operationalization of technical information management in the sense of a “content intelligence”. This comprises:
- Technical developments:
- Implementations of REx features (export mechanisms for level 1) in popular CMS
- CMS internal and external analysis options (level 2) through reporting and monitoring features (dashboards, cockpits and more)
- Company-specific content management methodology:
- Analysis of the degree of reusability and the dependencies (static key figures)
- Support and optimization of reusability
- Examination of the connection between product development and information development (dynamic key figures)
- Scientific studies:
- Analysis of industry-specific usage of CM systems
- Analysis of CM methods that improve the degree of reusability
- Benchmarking of CM implementations and developments of best practice scenarios