Single Sourcing

You may not have heard of single sourcing; or you may have heard of it and still be unsure what it is.

Single sourcing is a set of techniques for managing documents, content and for publishing information. The components of a single sourcing regime include:

• Content is stored in a managed repository, usually a database
• The content items consist of topics, graphics, links, document structures, and so on
• There is facility to import content from outside the system
• There is facility to edit and maintain content units in the repository
• There are facilities to publish documents from the repository
• The publish facilities support multiple output formats and media; print and online
• There is extensive reuse of content items.

Contrasts

Single sourcing is not document management. Document management stores units as documents and does not allow reuse of topics or content items. The base units in a single sourcing system are much smaller than in a document management system. Single sourcing content units are much finer in granularity than documents.

Single sourcing is a subset of content management. But most content management systems do not support single sourcing. Many content management systems only allow publication to one media, the web. Single sourcing allows the same topics to appear in print, online help, and web publication media.

Implementation

The successful implementation of single sourcing tools requires the standard list of ingredients:

• Tools
• Training
• Standards
• Planning

You can not implement single sourcing just by buying and installing tools. A single sourcing project is a combination of a technical communications project and a computer software project. The more people involved, the more effort must go into project management, planning and standards development.

Benefits

I've used AuthorIT for single sourcing at two out of five of the technical writing placements I've had in the last four years. I am convinced that I would have delivered a better product to the other three customers if they had adopted a single sourcing strategy for managing documentation.