SII

FrameMaker Migration Planning

Because other publishing platforms use very different approaches to producing your documents, SII's expertise and experience are invaluable resources in managing the migration to Frame. This migration can be a large and complex undertaking but SII's analysis will identify key problem areas to facilitate an accurate and complete migration.

SII's service bureau offers post-conversion services to edit and standardize the filtered documents. The migration process is a prime opportunity for clients to evaluate, standardize, and update their document presentation. SII offers a wide variety of services and software products, including automation processes, to support a high quality migration. SII tailors the migration process to meet the specific needs of each client to reduce the complexity, duration, and cost of such a project.

With a history of many conversions for large and small companies, SII has developed key elements for a complete project plan. Supporting such a complex project demands careful planning. (If you elect not to retain SII to perform these services, the following section provides a checklist of the steps that should be done before attempting a conversion to FrameMaker.)

Migration Planning is divided in to four major phases:

Project Planning

Planning is key to a successful migration. SII works with its clients to insure that a thorough and accurate project plan is in place. The following steps processes structure the Project Planning phase.

This should be an inventory of the documents to be converted. The inventory should identify the following items about each chapter such as:

Document migration schedules must be coordinated with any publication schedules so that document migration does not conflict with document revision.

Often, staff members must divide their time between migration-related activities and other projects. The client needs to determine:

SII works with the client to identify all the tasks that would be required to complete a successful migration to FrameMaker from the client's current publishing platform. Identification of tasks assumes the availability of an accurate inventory of the documents to be converted. A project plan includes the determination of the following information:

Task Precedence
the list and order of tasks to be performed

Task Duration
the estimated lapsed time for the tasks

Task Cost
the estimated cost for the task

The results of the project planning would be published in a formal project plan that includes:

Preconversion Analysis and Design

Document migration is also an ideal time to update and standardize document appearance and formatting. During Preconversion Analysis and Design, SII meets with the client to coordinate team analysis and design in order to architect a successful migration. Careful consideration of document formatting is necessary to accommodate the differences between the old platform and FrameMaker. The following processes structure the Preconversion Analysis and Design phase:

Successful migration requires identification of all formatting options currently in use. Issues to be discussed in this process include:

  • Fonts:
    Attention should be given to fixed fonts and special character set fonts (i.e. dingbats). Some fonts in current use may not be needed at all in FrameMaker with font standardization. However, a font conversion table, if needed, must be provided to SII before conversion can begin.

    SII recommends the use of computerized tools to aid the process of identification wherever possible. FileAid will list all occurrence of a given item within a file. Manual searches have proven to be inaccurate and time-consuming.

    • Paragraph formats and font styles used in existing documentation will be inventoried.

    The final appearance of migrated documents will be determined. Document features including margins, type fonts, paragraph and page numbering styles need to be resolved in this phase.

    High-quality templates are essential to a successful migration process and ensure the standardization of future document production with FrameMaker. SII will design custom templates and will produce a customized document design guide.

    Test Conversion

    To ensure that the templates and design elements chosen are accurate and suited to your documents, SII will perform a pilot conversion. Other document maintenance issues will also be considered. This is the "fine-tuning" phase of the migration process.

    Post Conversion Processing

    After documents pass through our filter software, manual document clean-up must be performed in FrameMaker. SII operates a service bureau to serve these needs.

    Significant work is performed by the filter software but thorough clean-up of the documents must be performed manually. This process is essential for producing excellent printer-ready documents. SII operates a service bureau to serve these needs.

    [ SII Home Page | Contact Us ]