Executive Summary

The requirement was to modernise the drafting of Bills and Acts of Parliament to meet new document design requirements. A team of Mekon consultants implemented a customised publication system, based on FrameMaker+SGML, and trained staff in its use. The users' expertise was fundamental to its success and their reaction to the system is enthusiastic.

Benefits

About the Counsel

Established in 1869, the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) is a specialised team of lawyers based in Whitehall who drafts Bills for introduction into Parliament. The Public Bill Offices in both the House of Lords and House of Commons also use the system.

During its passage through the Houses, a Bill may be subject to numerous amendments. The PCO accepts instructions from the responsible department and determines not only the wording but also aspects of detail and structure.

Objective

Henry Thring, the first head of the PCO, concluded 'that the proper mode of sifting the materials and of arranging the clauses can be explained; and that the form of expressing the enactments might also be the subject of regulation'. Since his time, the drafting process has been defined in detail and automated using an authoring system based on WordPerfect. However, this system could not accommodate recent major changes to the design of Bills and Acts. The PCO appointed consultants to identify suitable products for its complex authoring environment and selected FrameMaker. After making a detailed assessment of the document design and drafting process, Mekon proposed two solutions. The PCO chose the preferred option, based on FrameMaker+SGML, which avoided the need for a later migration to SGML.

Challenges

Solution

The document structure for Bills, Acts and amendments is very complex, with many conditional rules that change with context. Mekon's solution uses a structured language approach to this highly structured writing environment, which could readily be adapted to other government and civil service departments. It fully exploits the extensive functionality of FrameMaker+SGML and extends it through a range of customised templates, DTDs and plug-ins developed using the FDK.

Guided authoring

The new system guides authors
through the steps in the drafting
process and applies the appropriate
rules for Bills, Acts and amendments.
This ensures that correct paragraph
types and numbering levels are used
for inserted material.

Retained features

Mekon preserved popular features of the existing system. For example, clauses are still created as separate files that are then combined into one or more main documents - there may be as many as 600 clauses in a Bill. Similarly, as users were already comfortable with keyboard shortcuts, Mekon implemented a combination of standard and customised shortcuts to speed the drafting process.

Solution

Extended functionality

The tables of contents for Bills and Acts are known as arrangements. The format of these is closely defined and could not be implemented using the standard features of FrameMaker+SGML. Mekon wrote plug-ins to meet the requirements and provide hyperlinks to individual files.

The PCO's method of crossreferencing also required customisation of FrameMaker+SGML. Users insert references to clauses by typing the file identifier in braces ({}). When clause files are compiled into a Bill, these references are resolved into clause numbers in the Bill document. The plug-ins also allows users to browse for clauses to be referenced. References to other Acts are resolved in a similar way. A global look-up file defines all Acts for England and Wales. This can be supplemented by local look-up files, containing details of Acts passed recently or in Scotland and Northern Ireland. References to Acts are then resolved into their Chapter number.

Amendments

Amendments are created as separate documents, with formats defined using EDDs and templates. They can be exported in the PCO's proprietary Miles format.

Conversion

Migration of existing Bills into the new system uses a filter to convert WordPerfect files through SGML and into FrameMaker+SGML. As well as changing the file format, conversion translates Bills into the new document design. This requires changes to headings, cross-references and paragraph alignment.

The filter processes the WordPerfect files for a Bill (called a Joblist), generating a new book and its component files. New files are created for the cover, arrangement and endorsement using templates developed by Mekon. The filter is integrated into FrameMaker+SGML as an import option from a dropdown menu.

Glossary

DTD: Document Type Definition
EDD: Element Definition Documents
FDK: Frame Development Kit
SGML: Standard Generalised Markup Language

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