http://www.mekon.com/ en 2010-08-10T12:20:37+00:00 2010-08-10T12:20:37+00:00 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Expression Engine 60 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/20-mekon-customer-quotes/news/ Here is the next instalment of Mekon's 20-things series. This time we step back and let our customers speak for us. 1. Andy Scott, Elekta Service Engineering & Documentation Manager (Medical Devices) "Radical change to working practices can be met with resistance, and this was anticipated. However the Global Information Management program, and in particular the content management module, acted as a common denominator where everyone, irrespective of geography, language, culture and business unit has seen the collective benefits of the strategy. As Elekta will continue to grow, with Mekon we have implemented an information infrastructure that can respond to business demand just by adding new modules." 2. Team Manager, Data Capture Technologies, Biostatistics and Data Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline (Pharmaceuticals) "The Data Capture Technologies group has enjoyed working with Mekon and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to you. Throughout the project, Mekon adopted a proactive approach and quickly became a full member of the Project Team." "They gained a detailed knowledge of our requirements relating to CRF production and consequently developed an innovative bespoke solution that has resulted in significant reduction in the complexity of both document structure and printing." 3. Chris Hadley, User Information Manager, Micro Focus (Software) "As a market leader in application and modernisation software, Micro Focus is dedicated to delivering world-class information to its customers. We understood the business need for moving to a CMS, but on our own, we would not have been able to survey such a complex software market quickly or effectively. By combining our specific business needs with their project framework, Mekon helped us to make the most of our available budget and provided an unbiased view of the software available. As a result, we were able to make informed choices on how best to balance financial, resource and time considerations to provide maximum benefit to our customers." "Mekon were able to gather our requirements and produce a shortlist of potential vendors in a fraction of the time (and with a greater guarantee of success) than we would have been able to." 4. Mark Southee, Documentation Manager, SurfControl Plc (Software) "The Content Strategy Audit gave me confidence I was recommending the right solution and enabled me to provide the business with accurate return on investment information." 5. Verner Andersen - Radiometer (Medical Devices) "Noz was very responsive and adapted the [DITA XMetaL] course to our needs. Noz concentrated on teaching us the most important issues instead of trying to load us with as much information as possible. The checklists that we made for ourselves, the stylesheet developers and CMS people are invaluable. We did not get time to make a prioritized plan about in which order to proceed with our DITA project. The extensive after-course material may however, help us to get a clearer picture of the implementation steps." 6. Edexcel (Publishing) "The team from Mekon had a great customer focus. They quickly understood our business processes & needs and worked collaboratively & flexibly to overcome issues during the project lifecycle." 7. easyJet (Commercial Airlines) "Excellent overall service from Susanne Berg. Very helpful and always available over the phone or email if I ever require any specialist service. Always keeps us up to date with new services on offer from Mekon but never force sells anything." 8. Content Management and Forms Solutions Customer (Financial Services) "Getting timely information to our clients is very important to us. Using traditional methods to maintain complex data for our publications was slow and expensive. The new system means that work that formerly took two weeks can now be completed in a matter of days, and we can maintain accurate data right up to our publication deadline. The production time and delivery to our clients has been dramatically reduced." 9. Training Customer (Publishing) "Very specific skills were needed to take [our product] from a comic strip to a fully fledged weekly publication. We needed help from experts who were capable of providing hands-on, one-to-one training condensed down to cover the skills we needed to put the comic together under very tight deadlines. The training from Mekon Learning was just what we needed. It immediately gave us the practical skills we required to lay-out and design the new look Striker. We didn’t have a lot of time so I was pleased that Mekon Learning was able to train us so quickly and thoroughly." 10. Major UK Supermarket Development Manager (Food Industry) “I should like to thank your team, for the assistance, professionalism and expertise that they have shown in the advice and execution of this project and the way they have approached and tackled the difficulties.” 11. InDesign Training Customer (Health Services Industry) "I have been meaning to write to you for a couple of weeks. I took introductory courses to both InDesign and Illustrator with Carol in March, and was very impressed with Mekon - and Carol's teaching. As I work for a place which is funded by a charity, I also wanted to thank you and Vicki Poke for working with us to make it possible for me to take these courses. I feel I have learned a lot and can't wait to get the time to put what I have learned to good use!" 12. Content Management Solutions Customer (Aerospace Engineering) "I have always felt Mekon to be particularly aware of our, sometimes, unique problems as their customer, focusing on our needs rather than following a wider agenda. Even when Mekon may not be able to offer a particular service (i.e. translation) they take the trouble to help as far as possible in providing a viable solution and/or advice." 13. Aerospace Tools Customer (Aerospace Manufacturing) "In my experience Mekon have fulfilled all my expectations in a timely and professional manner." 14. Aerospace Tools Customer (Aerospace Engineering Solutions) "The support I have received from Mekon for the Eclipse S1000D application has been outstanding." 15. Aerospace Tools Customer (Defence) "Support staff have always been courteous and when required have sought advice from colleagues so as to provide a speedy solution in response to our needs thereby showing we are communicating with a team and not just an individual." 16. World-leading International Publisher (Business Info, Education and Consumer Publishing) "I would like to say thank you Keith Nicholson and Louise Poston as they are both true examples of fantastic customer support. Keith has been a prime example of what other companies lack, he has also dealt with all of my problems very quickly and answered queries in a very timely manner." 17. Mekon Training Customer "The overall service I have received from Mekon has been excellent - both in terms of the training I received and the support after the training." 18. Content Management and Forms Solutions Customer (Educational Publishing) "When I've contacted Mekon they've solved my problem immediately and when not possible they have done work and come back to me. They truly appreciate the necessity for speed in my work." 19. Aerospace Tools Customer (Aerospace Manufacturing) "We’re a long-standing client of Mekon, so we’re well aware of their expertise in the Aerospace and Defence industry. Mekon’s Eclipse Suite is the broadest and best range of applications for authoring in S1000D, providing an easy authoring environment that requires virtually no training to use. Naturally, they were always going to be the leading candidates for the F-35 documentation project." 20. Dan Smith, Senior Technical Author, Micro Focus (Software) "Just a note to thank you for your efforts in running the XMetaL Developer course I attended recently. I got a lot out of it, and I appreciated your efforts in customizing it for our requirements. It's the first time that I have been on a course delivered over the web, with participants across three countries, and it worked well. You certainly know your stuff with regards to the course content." 2010-08-10T12:20:37+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/20-mekon-customer-quotes/#When:12:20:37Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/free-webinar-creating-high-quality-consistent-content-featuring-spencer-gar/news/ 2010-07-27T13:10:13+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/free-webinar-creating-high-quality-consistent-content-featuring-spencer-gar/#When:13:10:13Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/free-learning-and-networking-opportunity-for-all-technical-communicators/news/ ISTC Southern local area group Tuesday 27th July 18:30-21:00 Raymarine offices, Marine House, 5 Harbourgate, Southampton Road, Portsmouth, PO6 4BQ Come and join the 3rd meeting of the ISTC Southern local area group. This is a FREE learning and networking opportunity for all technical communicators (NOTE you DO NOT have to be an ISTC member to attend)! Mekon's Mark Poston will be delivering a presentaion focusing on how XML-related technologies, such as XML native databases and XQuery, can be used to create more engaging deliverables for end users. Who those end users are and their different needs is discussed. Using relevant examples, Mark shows not only how these new developments provide a more efficient means of publishing content but also how content can be delivered in ways that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. In addition, Andrew Simpson from Raymarine will demonstrate, and give you the opportunity to play with, the WindchillCMS/Arbortext/DITA/AntennaHouse combination publishing system that they use for technical authoring and 16-language localization. Previous meetings have been well attended and received positive feedback. If you would like to attend please register here. 2010-07-21T10:55:45+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/free-learning-and-networking-opportunity-for-all-technical-communicators/#When:10:55:45Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/aiim/news/ Mekon were at the AIIM Roadshow last month as an integration and consulting partner of Quark. Feedback from Quark’s session "Supporting Dynamic Publishing in the Public Sector" covering subjects such as XML and eGov has been very positive. Several people came to see us afterwards to find out more about what is possible with XML, ECM and dynamic delivery and took an interest in the Mekon Content Strategy Audit to help answer such questions. Mekon are a vendor independent leading consultants focussed on increasing the effectiveness of your content creation, management and delivery. Experience with best practice in dynamic publishing best practice and all the ECM, XML, and DITA technology vendors gives Mekon a unique and un-biased insight into which technologies are suitable for specific client needs. Our customers include Parlimentary Counsel, UK Parliament and COI.       2010-07-07T13:05:02+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/aiim/#When:13:05:02Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/nldita-mark-postons-presentation-popluar-with-delegates5/news/ NLDITA 2010 in Utrecht provided an excellent event, offering high quality presentations with thought provoking content from the world of DITA. Feedback from Marks Poston’s session – DITA and Dynamic Publishing has been positive and enthusiastic with several people coming to see us afterwards to find out more about what is possible with DITA in their work environment. If you would like to discuss any of the aspects further please do not hesitate to contact us. Still looking to explore the world of DITA? Register for our free webinar Introduction to DITA. This beginners session will cover the basics of creating DITA topics, assembling topics using maps, creating relationship tables, and delivering it all to various media. DITA Training Mekon provide conceptual training in structured editing and information management techniques using the latest international standards including DITA. Find out more 2010-06-29T12:59:23+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/nldita-mark-postons-presentation-popluar-with-delegates5/#When:12:59:23Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/cancer-treatment-systems-firm-identifies-huge-reduction-in-technical-docume/news/ Elekta Estimate Efficiency Savings of up to £500,000 A Year Medical Technology Industry Is Wasting Up To Half Of Information Management Budgets, Warns Expert Clinical solutions firm Elekta has identified annual cost reductions of up to £500,000 a year in their technical documentation expenditure, following a comprehensive review of their documentation development and management processes. The human care company behind some of the world's most innovative devices for the treatment of cancer and neurological conditions recruited document management consultancy Mekon to identify and achieve efficiency savings in the way Elekta creates, manages, uses and delivers information for the large number of documents it produces. The result of Mekon’s Consulting and Implementation Process is a new Global Information Management (GIM) strategy which augments the high quality of Elekta’s documentation with keener global management, a holistic structure, and more dynamic delivery and deployment of information. The strategy is being implemented by a global project team lead by Nick Rowlands, Elekta’s Information Systems Architect, with Mekon’s assistance, and the support and sponsorship of Elekta’s senior management. Mekon worked closely with the various Elekta staff who share responsibility for creating and updating content that directly feeds technical, clinical and marketing documentation, including clinical applications specialists, product designers, field service agents, and support engineers. Mekon identified net efficiency savings of up to £500,000 per annum and enhanced Elekta’s control over the development of information, something that can inspire even greater confidence amongst the healthcare providers and patients that benefit from Elekta’s clinical advances. Mekon’s senior consultant, Noz Urbina, said that it was common for medical technology manufacturers to waste up to half of their information management budgets because they take an inefficient and unstructured approach to the way that they manage their data. Unless these firms implement a strategic approach to content management, they can be wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds or more every year, he warned. “Alongside their core product responsibilities, engineers of various types are expected to provide input into the huge amount of internal and external technical knowledge and documentation that accompany every complex diagnostic and therapeutic medical device, from MRI scanners to pacemakers,” said Urbina. The problem extends far beyond technical documentation. There are overlapping sets of operational and reference information in every organisation. Some is for internal use and reference, and some for external publication, such as marketing materials and manuals. Engineers rely on, and input information into, all such documents. If they are working for a firm that doesn’t take a strategic approach to content management, these engineers are typically wasting between 30 and 50 per cent of their content-related time on wasteful activities instead of accessing or creating valuable content. In most organizations, instead of pushing content through such an inefficient workflow, engineering content is lost or left inside teams instead of shared across the other teams or customers that need it. Urbina said, “Like Elekta, many medical technology firms operate in multiple world markets and need to publish content in multiple languages. Up to 50 per cent of internal content-related time can be taken up with performing manual tasks, such as formatting, translating, editing, and updating content across multiple outputs. What’s more, lack of automation adds extra process overheads, such as finding changes within a document or locating all the out-of-date files and performing quality assurance tasks manually. Localisation and translation costs are also often well over 50 per cent overheads that can be completely removed through application of best practices. The same infrastructure and skills upgrades that support the clinical product operational and technical maintenance information also benefit the product management, training and even marketing content.” Tom Beazley, Vice-President Services at Elekta said, “In a global, export-led market, we need tools that enable us to transform the way we deliver value to our customers. The development and deployment of information is key to delivering value to customers. The global information value chain starts with the inception of an idea, through to the development of intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that deliver positive patient outcomes, and ends with best-in-class delivery of information that healthcare providers can use with confidence to reassure their patients.” One of the major challenges facing medical technology manufacturers is information reuse and knowledge management, Urbina explains. Several different departments may be working on a particular technical document, such as a user manual, and it can be difficult to share locally-generated information with other departments, much less the outside world. This distributed base of information, held in local libraries rather than on a central, auditable, and access-controlled system, means that field experience and knowledge is rarely captured into official channels, making it much more difficult to share and reuse across a company. This can have a seriously detrimental effect on efficiency. For firms in the medical technology sector – who may employ hundreds of engineers working on numerous products and thus documents – the inefficiencies and associated costs can run into the millions of pounds. “And it’s not just about the money,” said Urbina. “There are also numerous ‘soft gains’ such as more consistent, more structured content; different navigation options; content syndication and change notifications; the ability to deliver content in customers’ desired format and browsable web-based instances of documents wherever they’re needed.” Beazley said, “Elekta’s acquisition strategy has seen incredible success and growth over the last seven years, but with this comes diverse working practices, technologies, storage and access points. Elekta was operating numerous servers, websites, document sets and knowledge bases. The diversity of processes and content that had to be managed across Elekta’s business units required a form of external consultancy, new technology and tools that were adaptable to the business, but based on a common platform and the latest industry standards to maintain document quality, enhance consistency, and deliver economies of scale.” “Mekon’s consultants worked with us to provide a cross-departmental understanding of how information management strategy can be improved and to identify potential cost savings.  They started with a day of on-site staff interviews to gather priorities, goals and a picture of the business from a process and priorities point of view. Mekon then analysed the information gathered and delivered a management-oriented presentation and report which demonstrated the benefits to the business, employees, customers, healthcare professionals and patients. This report helped us to raise staff awareness of content issues and options as well as illustrating how, why and where existing content creation, management and delivery strategies can be improved.” Urbina said, “Not many management teams offer the support and understanding like the senior management at Elekta gave its Global Information Management project.  Many struggle to let go of old processes or tools to recognise the potential and value that content and knowledge infrastructure investments have to offer. Elekta’s senior management connected with the vision, empowering Mekon’s Consulting and Implementation Process to structure the project for optimum success, meaning we were encouraged to recommend any new required technologies and facilitate change management in regard to working practices from the initial Mekon Content Strategy Audittm through to tool selection and implementation. Moving to a structure and reuse-based strategy paves the information highway to dynamic interactive publishing, intranet solutions and real cross-departmental collaboration platforms. Elekta’s employees and managers recognise the benefits of these tools to healthcare professionals and patients, not just the internal benefits to the company.” Andy Scott, Elekta’s Service Engineering & Documentation Manager, and the GIM Project Sponsor said, “Radical change to working practices can be met with resistance, and this was anticipated. However the Global Information Management program, and in particular the content management module, acted as a common denominator where everyone, irrespective of geography, language, culture and business unit has seen the collective benefits of the strategy. As Elekta will continue to grow, with Mekon we have implemented an information infrastructure that can respond to business demand just by adding new modules.” Note to editors For further editorial information or to arrange an interview please contact the Mekon press office at //= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ' ') output += "&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"; else output += unescape(l[i]); } document.getElementById('eeEncEmail_1O7Kio11TI').innerHTML = output; //]]> or telephone 020 7609 1900. About Elekta:  http://www.elekta.com/ Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even save patient lives, making the future possible today. Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 5,000 hospitals globally, and every day more than 100,000 patients receive diagnosis, treatment or follow-up with the help of a solution from the Elekta Group. Elekta employs around 2,500 employees globally. The corporate headquarter is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. About Mekon Ltd: http://www.mekon.com/ Founded in 1990, Mekon are leading UK consultants and systems integrators. We are focused on increasing the effectiveness of your content creation, management and delivery. Struggling with insufficient staff and ever increasing demand for output, organisations today require a customised roadmap to project success that incorporates best practice, risk management and ROI-led planning.  Mekon provide a well-defined, end-to-end methodology and service that balances strategic guidance and training with the technical capabilities to make a solution a reality. We specialise in systems that allow reuse and recombination of content for flexible, scalable two-way publication, across multiple formats. Extensive experience with the all major publishing, DITA, S1000D and XML technology vendors gives Mekon a unique and un-biased insight into which technologies are suitable for specific client needs. We are one of the few organisations to successfully implement XML (DITA) in both the non-technical enterprise content space and traditional technical and professional publishing. As a result Mekon are ideally placed to help you use your content as a strategic business asset. Most recently Mekon contributed the well received FrameMaker Adapter component for the DITA OpenToolkit and continues to provide leading Authoring products for the S1000D community. 2010-06-01T09:11:19+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/cancer-treatment-systems-firm-identifies-huge-reduction-in-technical-docume/#When:09:11:19Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-turns-20-services/news/ Here is the next instalment of Mekon's 20-things series. This time we again focus on better communicating the diversity of Mekon's work. As a vendor-independent consulting and integration firm, Mekon not only provide development and implementation, but help customers through the decision-making and solution design process.  Customers may need support narrowing down what it is they're after and what needs changing before things like customisation, training and templates even become relevant. In this newsletter's "20 Things" list you'll see services and case studies that range from ready-made solutions for standards like DITA and ASD S1000D. 1. Tool Selection Consultancy Buying a tool and getting sold a tool are different. We've helped many clients over the years make sure they're doing the former. 2. Mekon Content Strategy Audit (CSA) Approximately every other month, a new company opts to get help building their business case and formally reviewing how they collaborate on, create, manage, deliver and maintain content. Mekon have helped clients assess the technology landscape, win larger project budgets, and do it in less time than they could have alone. 3. DITA Training Did you know Mekon employs some of Europe's leading DITA trainers and can train using most leading authoring tools? 4. Mekon Project Scoping and Planning (PSP) Setting the scope correctly will be the life or death of a project. Did you know we have a standardised method for avoiding scope issues? 5. Conference Room Prototype (CRP) You test drive several cars before you buy one based on how you like. For a project with a value of 6 figures, various users (who might not yet even know to drive) you need to go even beyond that. The CRP is a structured, facilitated session to fit the right tool to solve a problem. 6. XSLT Development XSLT is the path XML goes through to become print (XSL:FO), HTML, CHM and many other formats. Here are some places we've helped clients walk the path. 7. Guided Authoring The bills and acts of parliament that govern the lives of all UK citizens are drawn up by some 80 lawyers in government using a guided authoring tools that Mekon implemented. 8. DTD Development Yes, DITA and S1000D usually negate this need, but now and then, a custom DTD can make sense. We've done the job at Eurocontrol, Oxford University Press (OUP), the Prescription Pricing Authority and more. 9. SDL Trisoft CCMS implementation SDL and Mekon both recognised the quality product offered by the Trisoft CCMS platform InfoShare. Mekon started working with Trisoft, SDL acquired them and it's now called SDL Trisoft CCMS. Here are the projects where we're working with Trisoft users. 10. XMetaL Author / Developer training and implementation Mekon has worked with XMetaL for years and employs Noz Urbina, who has trained and consulted on XMetaL solutions for the past decade. Did you know we offer evaluation and implementation support, and both Author training and Developer training. 11. Corena product implementation Corena is a recognised leader in tools to support military documentation content complying with the S1000D standard. Recently we've implemented a solution at a major Portuguese Dockyard and have also implemented Corena tools at BAE Regional Jets. 12. Forms design and development Sometimes a good-old fashioned form is the best way to control your data here are some examples of where we've 'thought inside the box'. 13. Antenna House implementation XSL:FO is the tool of choice for many projects and Antenna House XSL Formatter is one of the leading tools for rendering it. Here's some examples where we've made this high-speed work-horse run. 14. Ovidius TCToolbox implementation Manufacturers around the world rely on the component content management features of TCToolbox. Here’s a recent project where we worked together for a luxury car manufacturer. 15. Quark XML Author training and implementation XML in MS Word? Yes with a little external help MS-Word can produce XML. Key Note Research proved it. 16. SDL XPP implementation The division of UK Parliament called Hansard has to get every word of every parliamentary discussion out in print and web formats by the next morning, despite the complex pagination requirements, and the fact that the house often sits until well after midnight. Mekon implemented XPP to help them do it on time every day. 17. MarkLogic Server implementation When publishing highly complex, data-linked content but employing non-technical subject matter experts to write, how can you manage? 18. PTC Arbortext implementation Hundreds of authors around the world use Mekon's Eclipse tools on top of PTC Arbortext Editor and FrameMaker to comply with the militaries strict S1000D data standard. Mekon have recently increased our skills-base for Arbortext technologies to better support customers like LSC, Universal Engineering, TMS and Adep. 19. FrameMaker training and implementation Whether you're talking DTP or batch server-side processing of XML, Frame is still a publishing tool par excellence. Here are some recent clients where we've worked with FrameMaker. 20. MathML tool integration Complex mathematical equations have puzzled most of us for years. The national exam organisation Edexcel has some XML-based MathML tools we installed to help guide the next generation, and we've put in technology to help maths experts at Schlumberger, Edexcel, UK Parliament who already made the grade do their jobs more efficiently. 2010-05-31T12:46:14+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-turns-20-services/#When:12:46:14Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/learn-how-to-stay-ahead-at-the-aiim-roadshow/news/ The AIIM Roadshow is touring the UK from Glasgow to London. As full-fledged event on wheels, each roadshow starts with a key note speaker, followed by content solutions case study sessions providing the opportunity to learn, discuss and compare how you manage your information with best practice across the industry. In addition, the roadshow provides you with the opportunity to meet leading industry experts in the exhibition area. Visitors to the event will learn how best practice in document management, records management, ECM SharePoint and scanning, can help your organisation improve services, optimise business processes, get to grips with compliance, ease restructuring, and, last but not least, save money. Register for your free pass Learn more about the AIIM organisation Mekon at the AIIM Roadshow Mekon are Quark’s exclusive event integration partner for the AIIM Roadshow having demonstrated high capability in maximising value from Quarks XML Author. Mekon’s Paulo Newman will be available all week at the Quark booth to discuss your needs on a one to one basis. Established for 20 years, Mekon are the leading vendor independent systems integrator for intelligent content solutions. Capitalising on the Mekon Consulting & Implementation process to establish a solid business case for change, Mekon help companies introduce appropriate standards, technology and best practice. With clients identifying savings of ½ million or more pounds, Mekon consultants consistently help companies achieve maximum value of their component content management solutions and XML workflows.  Dates and cities 14 June, Glasgow – Stand 18 15 June, Bolton – Stand 3 16 June, Birmingham – Stand 21 17 June, London – Stand 32   We look forward to meeting you at a roadshow near you! 2010-05-27T11:14:22+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/learn-how-to-stay-ahead-at-the-aiim-roadshow/#When:11:14:22Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/looking-to-create-your-own-customised-processing-and-style-sheets-for-the-d/news/ Mekon’s DITA Open Toolkit Customisation Training provides the solution.  DITA Open Toolkit Customisation Training guides participants through customisation techniques and covers a selection of tools for developing them.  This intensive 2-day course comes with 1-day of follow-up online sessions and is designed to educate on the various features of: XSLT XPATH XSL:FO CSS and Ant build files With these, delegates can create customized processing and style sheets for producing HTML, HTML Help, Eclipse help and PDF output deliverables via :FO or Adobe FrameMaker. Delegates will also get an understanding of the DITA OT customization framework that will allow them to wrap-up their customization as a conformant DITA Open Toolkit plug-in. After completion of the course, participants will be able to create their own customizations for the DITA Open Toolkit and know how to package and distribute these customizations as plug-ins. DITA OT and FrameMaker Did you know that you can use the DITA OT to push documents automatically through your FrameMaker templates using the FrameMaker Publishing Adapter? Originally developed by Mekon in partnership with other leading technology vendors, the FrameMaker Publishing Adapter allows you to get value out of existing FrameMaker skills and assets, and publish top-quality PDFs without needing to learn XSL:FO.  Click here to request more information 2010-05-25T11:39:45+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/looking-to-create-your-own-customised-processing-and-style-sheets-for-the-d/#When:11:39:45Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/explore-the-world-of-dita-at-nldita/news/ At NLDITA 2010 (June 9-10) you can meet colleagues and other professionals in documentation and publishing. Come and explore further into the world of DITA the fastest growing XML standard for technical information, e-learning and corporate communications. NLDITA welcomes Team Leaders, Technical Communicators, Product Managers, Learning Content professionals and others who create, manage, market and publish content. Join this event and learn how to use DITA more fully and learn from industry experts including Mark Poston, Mary Speijer and Yves Barbion, who will share real life examples of the use of DITA, the use of products that enable it and the impact this will can have on your ROI. Mekon are able to offer a 200 Euro discount on the registration fee – simply quote Mekon200 when booking. Mekon staff will be available throughout the event in the exhibition area to share their mark-up technology and publishing experience on a one-to-one basis. If you would like to take this free opportunity to arrange a private meeting with Mekon and explore further into your organisation's DITA needs, email //= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ' ') output += "&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"; else output += unescape(l[i]); } document.getElementById('eeEncEmail_5rPb0591fO').innerHTML = output; //]]> . In addition to the main event, on 10 June NLDITA is offering interactive workshops, enabling individuals to explore further into the world of DITA. Marc Speijer will be delivering the DITA Open Toolkit Customization Workshop for those who need to create their own customized processing and style sheets for the DITA Open Toolkit. We look forward to meeting you at NLDITA! Find out more on the conference website. 2010-05-18T12:30:22+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/explore-the-world-of-dita-at-nldita/#When:12:30:22Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/join-the-best-for-three-days-of-learning-at/news/ Localization World Berlin 7-9 June 2010, offers you the opportunity to learn from highly knowledgeable presenters representing a rich mixture of leading companies and organizations. Localization World is the conference for global business know-how, providing dynamic tracks on business best practices, global websites, localization and translation. Come and see Mekon's Noz Urbina will be on the panel in Collision or Convergence? Managing the Intersection of CMS and TMS on 8 June. 2010-04-19T10:11:57+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/join-the-best-for-three-days-of-learning-at/#When:10:11:57Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/babies/news/ Here is the next instalment of Mekon's 20-things series. This time we wanted to have a bit of fun, so we're looking at 20 Babies that were born while the parents were on the Mekon team!  With 20 years behind us, we've seen many new faces.  Here's proud parents of the 20 most recent bundles of joy to arrive while the parents were (or are) working on the Mekon team. How many of these parents (or babies) do you know? The Babies! Currently, boys () are leading girls () - 13 to 7! Mark and Louise Poston: Senior Consultant and Technical Support Specialist Julian and Sam Murfitt: Managing Director and Financial Controller Rich Murfitt, Managing Director   Susanne Berg, Account Manager Carole Edwards, HR and Training Manager Laura Donnelly, Financial Administrator    Keith Nicolson, Project Manager And those who chose to remain anonymous: Training Manager A&D Manager Graphic Designer/Trainer  Trainer ATA Developer   2010-03-29T13:56:48+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/babies/#When:13:56:48Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/medical_technology/news/ Medical technology manufacturers are wasting up to half of their information management budgets because they take an inefficient and unstructured approach to the way that they create, manage, use and deliver data, a Mekon expert warns. Noz Urbina, Senior Consultant at Mekon, says that medical technology firms who fail to implement a strategic approach to content management can be wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds or more every year. Alongside their core product responsibilities, engineers of various types are expected to provide input into the huge amount of technical knowledge and documentation that accompany every complex medical device, from MRI scanners to pacemakers,” said Urbina. “There are overlapping sets of user and reference information in every organisation.  Some is for internal use whilst other information is used externally.  Engineers rely on both, and knowledge generated by engineers feeds into both is consumed by both internal and external clients.  If they are working for a firm that doesn’t take a strategic approach to content management, these engineers are typically wasting between 30 and 50 per cent of their content-related time on wasteful overheads instead of accessing or creating valuable content. In most organizations, instead of pushing content through such an inefficient workflow, engineering content is lost or left within teams instead of shared across the other teams or customers that need it.  With today’s heavy investments in LEAN methodologies and knowledge management, executive teams are more able to understand the impact of content-related inefficiency and staff performance than ever before,” said Urbina. To help complex device manufacturers out of this situation Mekon provides the Mekon Content Strategy Audit™, which looks at how organisations create, manage, review, reuse and deliver their content and data. Mekon recently completed a Content Strategy Audit for a client which identified minimum annual cost savings of £500,000, with savings potential of well over £1 million. For some firms in the medical technology sector – who may employ hundreds or thousands of engineers – the cost and efficiency savings can run into multiple millions of pounds. Mekon works closely with an organisation’s staff to provide a cross-departmental understanding of how information management strategy can be improved and to identify potential cost savings,” said Urbina. “We conduct a day of on-site staff interviews to gather priorities, goals and a picture of the business from a process and priorities point of view. We then analyse the information gathered and deliver a management-oriented presentation and follow-up with a report documenting it. This report raises staff awareness of content issues and options, as well as enabling decision makers to see how, why and where existing content creation, management and delivery strategies can be improved.” Find out how a Mekon Content Strategy Audit could deliver your business savings  2010-03-23T11:10:41+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/medical_technology/#When:11:10:41Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/publishing-expo-2010-clinic-results/news/ At Publishing Expo 2010, Mekon ran the XML Clinic. The Clinic offered free consultations with an XML expert on tools and solutions, in a new place to learn about XML. Feedback indicated that many visitors wanted to know more about where their industry peers are with XML and hear real XML examples from the publishing world. If you couldn’t make it, or want to know why people visited us, here are our findings: Attendees were: 62% New to XML and wanted to know whether XML was a magic cure-all. We helped them understand XML, and how it could help them facilitate ePublishing. 9% Already using XML and wanted to soundboard their strategy with an expert. We reviewed their approach to make sure that they were not missing out on additional benefits. 29% XML aware but wanted to understand how it simplifies eBooks, ePublishing and helps automate multi format delivery. Overall, people were looking for help in identifying opportunities to streamline their content creation, management and delivery strategies. Mekon are planning free follow-up webinars discussing these subjects. Please let us know if you would be interested in attending by emailing Paulo Newman, and if you have any specific subjects that you would like covered. 2010-03-23T10:22:48+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/publishing-expo-2010-clinic-results/#When:10:22:48Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-joins-adobe-to-debate-the-topic/news/ How Can Social Media Create a Super-Role for Technical Communicators? A recent survey conducted on behalf of Tech Guys showed that 7 out of 10 respondents did not get the full use of their technical devices because the language used in the instruction manual is too difficult to understand. For a Technical Communicator, this is a strong wake-up-call. Join Noz Urbina and David Farbey for a discussion on how Social Media can breach the divide between customer and information, creating a new super—role for Technical Communicators. Join the debate online on 13 April.  Spaces limited – REGISTER NOW. 2010-03-09T11:48:48+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-joins-adobe-to-debate-the-topic/#When:11:48:48Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/xml-advice-clinic-at-publishing-expo-2010/news/ February 24th and 25th 2010, Olympia 2, London UK. Event Homepage . Does thinking about XML cause you heartburn, tension, and stress? Did you know eBooks, ePublishing and multi-format delivery are enabled by XML. Get a content strategy health-check exploring how XML could cure pains old and new, and increase your publishing fitness. The XML advice Clinic offers visitors to this year’s event the opportunity to discuss your individual needs or challenges with expert consultants in the field of XML publishing workflows. If you're new to XML and want a brief overview of the concepts or you're an established user with specific challenges then our consultants will be able to help you understand your options and provide independent advice. Explore the commercial opportunities and real ROI potential of XML by considering some of the case studies available and avoid vendor biased perspectives of what can work for you. "We were impressed with Mekon's proposed strategy for carrying out such an audit and, in practice, felt that it worked very well in terms of teasing out our requirements, evaluating 'where we are now', understanding 'where we want to be in the future' and proposing 'how best to get there.'"- Mike Cunningham, Production Manager, Portland Press. Come and see us on stand A66 Click now to book a request for a time slot 2010-02-22T16:23:36+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/xml-advice-clinic-at-publishing-expo-2010/#When:16:23:36Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-is-pleased-to-announce-imminent-release-of-eclipse-bookbuild-version-/news/ Mekon is pleased to announce the imminent release of Eclipse Bookbuild Version 4. As with previous versions the installation of Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker is necessary for this application to work. The main additional features are indicated below. S1000D Issue 4 has been implemented in this new release. With the implantation of Issue 4 BookBuild can produce hard copy publications from S1000D Issue 1 Change 6 to Issue 4. With some limitations it is possible to mix S1000D Issues in the same publication. Several Page Sizes: Clients have, over a period of time, indicated their preference for page sizes other than A4. With this release BookBuild can now provide output, subject to suitable printers being available, at A5, A4, A3L, ANSI A, Index card in both single and double column. Where the foldout element has been implemented in the Data Modules BookBuild will automatically produce A3 Landscape pages when A4 pages have been selected, or A4L when A5 pages have been selected or ANSI B when ANSI A pages have been selected. Automatic generation of several standard pages: Eclipse BookBuild has for some time been able to automatically generate Tables of Contents for the entire publication as well as for Volumes/Sections when they are used as well as at the front of each Chapter. With Version 4 two new features have been added. The generation of a List of Acronymns The generation of an Index. List of abbreviations (AT01) List of terms (AT02) List of symbols (AT03) List of applicable specifications (AT04) User defined The Index can be placed within Sections/Volumes or at the end of the publication. A switch provides the selection between local collection of Index items and global. The full four levels of indexing are handled. The List of Acronyms has a switch allows the production of the following lists based on the acronym type selected. General Speed Improvements: A further speeding up of the application has been undertaken by removing more of the Book Material which is retained in Memory during the build process. Information about obtaining this upgrade to Eclipse BookBuild Version 4 is available from Mekon Ltd. To view demo of new release click here 2010-02-10T13:01:17+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-is-pleased-to-announce-imminent-release-of-eclipse-bookbuild-version-/#When:13:01:17Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-is-pleased-to-announce-imminent-release-of-eclipse-s1000d-for-framema/news/ S1000D Issue 4 has been implemented in this new release. With the considerable changes made to the S1000D specification there have been a large number of changes to the application to enable it to operate seamlessly with the other Issues of the specification. For those involved in a number of projects Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker now supports Issue 1 changes 6 to 9, Issue 2 changes 0 to 3, Issue 3 and Issue 4. Multiple projects business rules regarding ID configuration and Attribute values are supported with switching between the various rules being automatically handled by a User Defined method which is easy to implement. Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker comes configured with the default S1000D as well as the Bike Pack values. As part of the general work on Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker there have been a number of other changes/enhancements some of which are described below. Editing/Formatting options: The S1000D specification has a number of structures which are required to be displayed in tabular form even though they are not, in some cases the elements are moved around. The Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker enables the quick switching between the editing and formatted versions of the data to be achieved. Applicability: The method of handling applicability has been redesigned in S1000D Issue 4 and the Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker application has been provided with a new feature which makes the handling of this new method very straightforward using a ‘right-click’ menu option. Menu Redesign: The special Eclipse S1000D menu has been largely redesigned to make the various options and functions easier to find. Additional features include a simplified Applicability function to allow in-line applicability to be hidden or displayed. Page sizes: Over the years is has been suggested to Mekon that page sizes other than A4 would be useful addition. This has now been implemented and Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker can now support A5, A4, A3L, ANSI A, Index card in both single and double column. Text Formatting: Over the years compliance to S1000D text and page formatting has changed. In the Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker application several new formatting features have been included but still enabling users to access the legacy styles if required via a preferences panel. FrameMaker Versions: Issue 4 is an XML only specification and as such this particular version of S1000D can only be used with FrameMaker 7.2, 8 or 9. Similarly the XML versions of earlier versions of S1000D require the same versions of FrameMaker. The SGML versions of S1000D can be used with FrameMakers 7.0 through to 9. Operating Systems: Eclipse S1000D for FrameMaker can be installed on Windows XP, Vista and Version 7 in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. Windows NT and 2000 are no longer supported. Footnote: For those requiring an application that can produce a hardcopy output from S1000D Data Modules complete with Tables of Contents, Front Matter with different page size requirements, Mekon will shortly be releasing Eclipse BookBuild Version 4. Please contact Mekon for further information. To view demo of new release click here   2010-02-10T12:44:09+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-is-pleased-to-announce-imminent-release-of-eclipse-s1000d-for-framema/#When:12:44:09Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-announces-eclipse-s1000d-arbortext1/news/ Mekon announce an industry leading S1000D solution for PTC Arbortext Editor, especially designed for use by experienced Arbortext Editor authors creating S1000D Data Modules in a busy production environment. Eclipse S1000D builds on the exceptional power and usability of Arbortext Editor to provide the most powerful S1000D publishing solution on the market. Find out more 2010-01-21T12:21:13+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-announces-eclipse-s1000d-arbortext1/#When:12:21:13Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-celebrates-20-years/news/ Mekon turns 20 this year! For two decades our team has been evolving and diversifying to cover a variety of content-related technologies and applications. Looking back, we're happy to have the market we've worked so hard in recognise our skills with regular invitations to share knowledge in educational articles, and as featured speakers at major industry events on Content Management, DITA, S1000D, XQuery and related themes. Mekon's Achilles heel has always been communicating all the different things we actually do - even to customers who know us well.  Over the years, while establishing ourselves as leading UK vendor-infdependent consultants and systems integrators, we've been 'the FrameMaker people', 'the Aerospace-Defence people',  'the XML people', 'the Training people', and a variety of other nicknames or product-affiliations which fail to capture the spectrum of services we offer, or our commitment to provide our customers the best technology options for them, with vendor bias. Oh, How You've Changed Since 2000 and beyond Mekon has moved into new areas becoming a contributing member of the international XML community evangelising, training and implementing XML solutions on various open-source and commercial platforms. These solutions have been taken up across industries including engineering, aerospace and defence, government, publishing and technology and manufacturing.  Newly implemented projects include American Express, Micro Focus, Martin Baker, COI, BMJ, and Panasonic, who all partnered with Mekon because they recognised the benefits Mekon can bring to their organisation especially during the economic downturn. We're also pleased to see clients including GSK and the Civil Aviation Authority have remained repeat customers now for over a decade each. Communicating Differently Until very recently, Mekon has spent focussed so much on projects, clients and keeping on top of the latest technologies, we've had little time left to communicate our successes and lessons learned to the market at large. To counter this, recently Mekon have: relaunched a restyled and revamped Mekon.com started this bi-monthly newsletter and our blog developed and established X-Pubs, its website and ongoing on and offline events calendar to bring together global thought leaders and the community and recruited PR Company Parker Wayne and Kent to share our project experiences and news 20 Things You Didn't Know About MekonAs a bit of fun we will be sharing 20 things which you might not know about Mekon in this year’s newsletters.  To start us off, here's 20 projects of interest: Actis - Dynamic PDF forms-based process automation solution American Express - Dynamic PDF forms-based process automation solution A Luxury Car Manufacturer - Component Content Management System (Ovidius CCMS) consultancy and implementation Boeing - supplied Eclipse Bookbuild and Eclipse Create S1000D (Mekon packaged solutions) CaSE Insurance - eForms implementation streamlines processes Civil Aviation Authority - 10 years of ongoing service Elekta Medical Devices - Component Content Management (CCM) strategy, planning, and tool selection consultancy ENVC Dockyard - S1000D Systems integration and implementation (Corena Life*)  Eurocontrol - Europe-wide single sourcing XML project International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) - Template Development (FrameMaker) Key Note - XML for the non-Tech Author (Mark Logic, Quark XML Author) Legal and General - eForms implementation (LiveCycle Designer) Oxford University Press - Journal publishing implementation (FrameMaker) Schlumberger - DITA documentation implementation (XMetaL, MathFlow, AntennaHouse) Travelers - XSLT publishing development Parliamentary Councel - Authoring bills and acts using FrameMaker Pearson (Edexcel) - online review saves hundreds of thousands of £/year STMicroelectronics - Kicking off a DITA project for multi-million euro savings Symbian - Docato CCMS implementation UK Parliament (Hansard) - highly automated XMetaL, XPP-based publishing solution 2010-01-19T14:36:58+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-celebrates-20-years/#When:14:36:58Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/major-portuguese-dockyard-brings-mekon-on-board-to-manage-documentation-pro/news/ A major Portuguese shipbuilder has appointed a UK firm to save time and money by implementing the S1000D standard for the technical documentation on their latest warship. Mekon, the independent specialist in technical publications systems, are evaluating and implementing a technical documentation system for the new Viana do Castelo class of oceangoing patrol vessels, which are being built by the Estaleiros Navais De Viana Do Castelo (ENVC) dockyard.     The S1000D standard, developed specially for the Defence sector, helps to connect engineering processes with documentation, leading to significant efficiency gains and cost savings. Working with local engineering partners Certitecna, Mekon is implementing S1000D across the project to enable engineers and designers to create, edit and manage content in format-independent “modules” in a controlled, single source database.    The result is a far less time-consuming and much more efficient documentation management process. It also enables designers to produce documentation, such as descriptive, operational and maintenance documents, in a wide range of formats, from book-based printing to interactive electronic publications. Mekon used their proven analysis process, including the Mekon Content Strategy Audit, to evaluate which products best suited ENVC’s specific needs and concluded that Corenas Life* S1000D was the best fit for the project.   Mekon is providing implementation and integration services across the whole content management system, while its own long-running and popular Eclipse Suite for Adobe FrameMaker provides the applications for authoring documentation. The innovative Eclipse Bookbuild application enables authors to build and print multi-volume publications, and ensures that information contained in the documentation – such as lists, figures, tables – are automatically updated, ensuring that complex technical information is always correct. Mekon are also supporting the conversion of unstructured documents into S1000D-compliant data modules.    Mekon’s Director Julian Murfitt said, “What’s really significant about this project is that there was no existing documentation standard mandated on the Viana do Castelo project when Mekon were appointed. This enabled us to work with our local partners to implement S1000D across the project from the beginning.    “Mekon’s research found that design engineers who help to produce technical documentation are typically wasting between 30 and 50 per cent of their document-related time on unnecessary overheads instead of creating content. On a large project such as these vessels, that could translate into millions of dollars wasted. That’s why it’s vital to implement standards such as S1000D in an organised and strategic manner, with a proper understanding of how to use them efficiently.” 2010-01-14T13:52:08+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/major-portuguese-dockyard-brings-mekon-on-board-to-manage-documentation-pro/#When:13:52:08Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/join-mekons-julian-murfitt-at-technical-communication-summit-10/news/ May 2-5 2010, Dallas, Event Homepage. Mekon's Julian Murfitt will be presenting at this years Technical Communication Summit '10.  The event includes over 80 sessions, organized by nine tracks including: Emerging Technologies, Content Strategy Institute, Design, Architecture, and Publishing, delivered by industry experts.  In addition there will be an exhibition with more than 50 booths which will showcase products and services important to technical communicators.  2010-01-14T11:13:57+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/join-mekons-julian-murfitt-at-technical-communication-summit-10/#When:11:13:57Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mark-poston-to-present-at-content-management-strategies-dita-north-america-/news/ Following on from DITA Europe 2009, Mekon's Mark Poston has been invited to present at Content Management Strategies/ DITA North America 2010. In its 12th year, CMS/DITA NA is the premier conference for everyone who manages technical and business content in small departments and huge global enterprises.  Mekon’s Mark Poston will be presenting Delivering User Documentation in New and Dynamic Ways, which was highly rated and well attended at DITA Europe 2009.   2010-01-14T10:10:49+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mark-poston-to-present-at-content-management-strategies-dita-north-america-/#When:10:10:49Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/ipod-nano-winner-announced/news/ Thank you to all of you who entered our prize draw at Online Information 2009 earlier this month.  The event was a huge success and we look forward to meeting you at Online Information 2010. Congratulations to Phil Caisley from BSI, who was the winner of our iPod nano.  Our winner was selected randomly by using Andrew Hedges Random Number Generator.     2009-12-15T12:51:18+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/ipod-nano-winner-announced/#When:12:51:18Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/online-information-2009-ipod-nano-competition/news/ Mekon exhibited at the new XML Pavilion at the Online Information 2009 exhibition at Olympia last week.  All visitors who came to the Mekon stand to talk to us had their badges swiped, which automatically entered them into the draw to win an iPod Nano.  The winner of the draw will be announced on our website in the next couple of days and the lucky winner will be presented with a shiny new iPod Nano packed with the latest new features. The XML Pavilion was a great addition to Online Information, which gave the attendees the opportunity to gain a better understanding of XML from the leading solution providers and a dedicated XML theatre offering a full XML seminar programme. 2009-12-08T09:55:54+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/online-information-2009-ipod-nano-competition/#When:09:55:54Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/meet-mekons-noz-urbina-at-intelligent-content-2010/news/ Intelligent Content 2010 Feb 25-26 2010, Palm Springs, USA, Event Homepage. Intelligent Content 2010 is in its second successful year, bringing together a dynamic group of speakers to share their insights, case studies and solid suggestions for success.  Speakers include Mekon's Noz Urbina who will be presenting Integrating Information Intelligently Across Customer-Facing Services on 25 February. Experiencing problems getting the right content in the right format out the door in a way that engages your customer? Tired of slogging away with mountains of content? Does the proliferation of channels seem overwhelming? Need to find ways of doing more with the same? Then Intelligent Content is for you.  2009-11-25T12:11:32+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/meet-mekons-noz-urbina-at-intelligent-content-2010/#When:12:11:32Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-support-antenna-house-at-online-information-20091/news/ Mekon have been invited by Antenna House to support them at Online Information 2009. New for this year is the XML Pavilion which will host XML technologies and includes a dedicated XML theatre offering a full XML seminar programme. Meet Mekon for your Chance Win an iPod nano on Stand X03 Come and meet Mekon on stand X03 in the XML Pavilion and enter our prize draw to win an iPod nano.  Mekon staff will be available throughout the event, to share their mark-up technology and publishing experience and discuss your needs on a one-to-one basis.   If you would like to take this free opportunity to arrange a private meeting with Mekon and explore further into your organisations XML needs, email //= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ' ') output += "&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"; else output += unescape(l[i]); } document.getElementById('eeEncEmail_ftGsZTvDYK').innerHTML = output; //]]> . We look forward to meeting you in the XML Pavilion! 2009-11-24T09:47:50+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon-support-antenna-house-at-online-information-20091/#When:09:47:50Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/easing-the-documentation-demands-of-the-defence-industry/news/ For design engineers in the Aerospace and Defence (A&D) industry, time is at a premium. Alongside their core engineering responsibilities, they are expected to provide input into the vast volumes of internal and customer-facing technical documentation that A&D companies need to produce. Mekon’s research shows that engineers can spend as much as 15 per cent of their time dealing with documentation. These experts are under pressure to be more productive without an increase in resources, yet their documentation process often receives little to no investment or attention.   While there are technology standards specifically designed for the A&D industry which make document creation easier and more efficient, companies often fail to use them. The industry standard S1000D helps connect engineering processes with documentation, leading to major efficiency gains and cost savings. Yet many companies only implement the standard if it’s been mandated in their contract. Companies that only implement S1000D to fulfill contractual obligations are unlikely to understand how to use it to its full potential, resulting in considerably less efficiency and higher costs than usual.  These are the urgent issues facing engineers whose firms still cling to old-fashioned and inefficient documentation workflows, which take an unstructured approach to the way that they create, manage, use and deliver data. This is especially true when dealing with multiple information inputs and outputs, such as multiple equipment components and contributors feeding into many documents for various audiences. These demands are further multiplied when documentation must be delivered in various formats, such as print, web, PDF or other types of media.   The crux of the problem lies in the process of moving content around between teams, and is exacerbated by poor support from tools. Whenever a design engineer creates a new innovation, it immediately creates the need to update supporting information for that design variant. Engineers are the initial source for this content which is then passed to the technical documentation team to prepare externally-facing documents. External documents are reviewed extensively, and it is often at this stage that errors in the content are discovered. However, corrections rarely get made in the original source materials, meaning that mistakes are reused when variant designs are made or components of designs are reused, only to get caught again next time around.  Engineers thus spend much of their time cutting and pasting bits of content from old sources, with no tracking of the source or easy access to approved content held in technical publications. Because traditional publishing systems lack automation, all these processes have to be done manually – an extremely laborious process for design engineers and authors alike. Typical jobs include searching for changes within a set of documents, locating all the out-of-date files, updating shared content across all variants and versions, and re-writing or re-formatting documents for different contexts. Not only is this extremely time-consuming; it also gives greater opportunities for errors to creep in.  Mekon has helped many leading A&D firms to simplify their content management through its Aerospace and Defence division. Mekon’s research found that design engineers who help to produce technical documentation are typically wasting between 30 and 50 per cent of their document-related time on unnecessary overheads instead of creating content.  Mekon Aerospace and Defence helps its clients to stop this haemorrhaging of time and money by taking a holistic view of a company’s approach to content and document management.   Mekon works closely with an organisation’s staff to gather priorities, goals and a picture of the business from a process and priorities point of view. They then analyse the information gathered and deliver a management-oriented presentation. This report raises staff awareness of content issues and options; for example, showing how S1000D can be properly implemented to improve efficiency. The report enables decision makers to see how, why and where existing content creation, management and delivery strategies can be improved, saving design engineers time which they could spend on their core responsibilities.  Taking a structured, strategic approach can slash content budgets by as much as 50 per cent, delivering a clear return on investment for managers and significantly improved productivity for engineers. There are also numerous ‘soft gains’ such as more diversified, more structured content; different navigation options; content syndication and change notifications – all of which will make life easier for design engineers. 2009-10-14T12:45:05+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/easing-the-documentation-demands-of-the-defence-industry/#When:12:45:05Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/joint-strike-fighter-uses-uk-firm-to-ensure-document-compatibility/news/ Martin-Baker Choose Mekon to Create Document Authoring Application for F-35 Ejection Seat A British firm has been chosen to develop complex software which will ensure documentation compatibility on the revolutionary fighter aircraft that will equip the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers. Mekon, the specialist documentation management consultancy, will create bespoke software for creating and editing vital technical documentation concerning the ejection seat on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The software will simplify the creation and editing of technical documentation concerning installation, maintenance fault finding and repair; while also ensuring that these manuals are interoperable with all the aircraft’s other documentation. Mekon were selected by Martin-Baker, the world’s leading manufacture of crew escape systems, who are providing ejection seats for the F-35. The company’s ejection seats have saved the lives of more than 7,250 airmen. The application will be based on Mekon’s long-running and popular Eclipse Suite for Adobe FrameMaker, which contains applications for authoring documentation in the Aerospace and Defence documentation standard S1000D. The F-35 project will enable technical experts to write vital documentation according to the Joint Strike Fighter XML Document Type Definition – a heavily modified version of S1000D. Martin-Baker’s Documentation Manager Chris Morgan said, “We’re a long-standing client of Mekon, so we’re well aware of their expertise in the Aerospace and Defence industry. Mekon’s Eclipse Suite is the broadest and best range of applications for authoring in S1000D, providing an easy authoring environment that requires virtually no training to use. Naturally, they were always going to be the leading candidates for the F-35 documentation project.” The project will cater for three broad types of Document Management structure: Descriptive, Flight Reference Card and Procedural Data Modules. There is also a further requirement for the creation of Warnings, Cautions and Hazard Material communications, known as the Alert structure. Mekon’s Director Julian Murfitt – himself a leading aerobatic pilot – said: “Poorly conceived content management structures and tools can add millions of dollars to a project as complex as this. Fortunately, Lockheed-Martin has invested well in the development of a sound XML structure to ensure interoperability between the multitude of components that make up this astounding aircraft. Mekon’s authoring tools will dovetail seamlessly with the F-35’s other documentation processes, ensuring that authors can easily produce and update content in the right format, and get it right first time.” 2009-10-07T09:57:34+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/joint-strike-fighter-uses-uk-firm-to-ensure-document-compatibility/#When:09:57:34Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mazda-uk-award-mekons-julian-murfitt-a-british-aerobatic-association-baea-b/news/ Mazda UK Announces the British Aerobatic Association (BAeA) Bursary Award Winners Mazda announces nine successful candidates of the BAeA Bursary Award The BAeA Bursary is designed to encourage aerobatic advancement Mazda-sponsored BAeA Bursary Award provides candidates with coaching The Mazda-sponsored BAeA bursary has been awarded to nine pilots to help them move up a level and encourage advancement through the BAeA competition ladder.  Candidates were awarded based on their cumulative performance and points gained in the BAeA competitions during 2008. The BAeA awarded Mazda bursaries to four Standard, three Intermediate and two Advanced pilots to assist with their training and support moving up a level during 2009. The Mazda bursaries pay for coaching from the UK’s most experienced competition coaches and contribute towards the costs incurred in training. The successful candidates are all experienced aerobatic pilots with an ambition to progress.  At Standard level the bursary winners are: Phil Burgess, a Royal Air Force Avionics Technician from Lincolnshire; Andrew Barlow, director of a regional grounds maintenance contractor from Suffolk, David Kean, an airline pilot from Surrey, and Peter Rounce, a technical development manager from the New Forest. At Intermediate level the successful candidates are: David Jenkins, Managing Director of a fibre optic company from Suffolk; Brian McCartney, a director of a classical musical instrument company from Dorset and Adrian Willis, CEO of Raona UK from Essex. At Advanced level the successful candidates are: Julian Murfitt, a director of Mekon Ltd from Surrey - whose aim is pole position as a pilot in the World Aerobatic Championships in 2011 - and Stephen Madle, a software developer from London.  Julian and Stephen were both members of the British team that took the bronze medal in the 2008 World Advanced Aerobatic Championships in Oregon, USA. Chairman of the BAeA, Alan Cassidy commented: “Thanks to the support from Mazda nine aerobatic competition pilots at three levels have been able to move up the BAeA competition ladder.  I hope that the Mazda-sponsored Bursary winners will have the opportunity to represent their country in the British Advanced or Unlimited Teams in the future.  I would like to congratulate the successful candidates in their recent success as BAeA Bursary awardees. It has been a great pleasure to assist such talented competition pilots with their development in the sport.” 2009 Intermediate level Bursary award winner David Jenkins enthused: “It is a great privilege to receive the Mazda funding for coaching, which has helped me to move up a level in competition after being placed third in the Mazda British National Aerobatic Championships this month at Conington.” 2009-08-10T10:30:07+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mazda-uk-award-mekons-julian-murfitt-a-british-aerobatic-association-baea-b/#When:10:30:07Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/news-release-publishing-firms-waste-up-to-half-of-information-management-bu/news/ New research reveals that publishing firms are wasting up to half of their information management budgets because they take an inefficient and unstructured approach to the way that they create, manage, use and deliver data. Failure to implement a strategic approach to content management can result in an unnecessary overspend of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The new research comes from Mekon, the specialist content creation, management and delivery consultancy. While reviewing publishing firms’ content management strategy, Mekon found that authors using traditional publishing software are typically wasting between 30 and 50 per cent of their time formatting documents instead of creating content. For some firms which publish across a wide variety of different publishing formats and in multiple languages, up to 90 per cent of authors’ time can be taken up with formatting. Mekon’s Director Rich Murfitt said, “Publishing houses, analysts, research organisations and other publishers traditionally produce a very large amount of documentation and thus have a correspondingly large content management budget. In grim economic times organisations need to know that they aren’t throwing money away through easily avoidable inefficiencies. “Traditional publishing systems lack automation, forcing authors to waste time performing multiple manual tasks, such as finding changes within a document, re-writing content for each new context or re-formatting for different outputs. This is both labour- and cost-intensive, while also giving greater opportunity for errors to creep in.” Qualifications provider Edexcel identified savings of over £300,000 thanks to a Content Strategy Audit™ from Mekon. Mekon then achieved these savings by implementing a strategic approach to content and document management. Mekon works closely with an organisation’s staff to provide a cross-departmental understanding of how information management strategy can be improved and to identify potential cost savings. Even smaller organizations with only a few documentation staff have saved over £100,000 a year by coping with growth without needing to increase headcount. Mekon conducts a day of on-site staff interviews to gather priorities, goals and a picture of the business from a process and priorities point of view. They then analyse the information gathered and deliver a management-oriented presentation. This report raises staff awareness of content issues and options, as well as enabling decision makers to see how, why and where existing content creation, management and delivery strategies can be improved. “Not every Mekon content audit ends with a recommendation for change and there is no commitment to implementing the cost savings that we have identified,” said Murfitt. “But if you do decide to implement a structured content management strategy, Mekon can slash your budget by as much as 50 per cent or more, delivering a clear return on investment.” “And it’s not just about the money,” concluded Murfitt. “There are also numerous ‘soft gains’ such as more diversified, more structured content; different navigation options; content syndication and change notifications; the ability to deliver content in customers’ desired format and browsable HTML instances of documents wherever they’re needed, which all contribute to maximising customer satisfaction.”   2009-05-20T09:53:37+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/news-release-publishing-firms-waste-up-to-half-of-information-management-bu/#When:09:53:37Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/julian_murfitt_wins_gold_at_british_aerobatic_championships/news/ Mekon's Eclipse software packages are well known as leaders in the Aerospace and Defense market. They're used to create the kind of highly controlled structured documentation demanded in this arena. We're proud to announce that in another arena demanding control and precision, Julian Murfitt, Mekon's Managing Director, has won this year's British Aerobatic Championships Advanced Level champion title. The Advanced level competition comprised of 12 pilots flying 3 individual competition flights. The first one is a Free program designed by the individual pilots followed by 2 unkown sequences which are design during the competition. This means the combination of figures to be flown by the pilot is completely new and the only rehearsal they can do is mental preparation and a walk through on the ground, similar to show jumping. Competition this year was fierce with the top 3 pilots battling it out to the last flight. Julian Murfitt was victorious landing this years advanced level champion title. This is a great result following his recent win at Shobdon and placing 13th in the European championships held in Finland early this year. His win secures Julian’s place on the British Team who hopes to be competing in the world championships next year in the USA. (all sponsorship offers are welcome) About Mekon Mekon are enterprise publishing integration specialists with more than 15 years experience in single-source multi-channel publishing, document workflow design, information architecture, and standards such as ASD S1000D, ATA 2200iSpec, DocBook and DITA. Mekon helps organisations leverage the potential of XML for their content creation, review, management and publishing processes. Our systems enable businesses to increase the re-use, accuracy, flexibility and relevance of content, ensuring greater consumer satisfaction and reduced content generation costs. http://www.mekon.com/ Darwin Information Typing Architecture Resources Introduction to DITA http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-dita1/ 2008-02-10T22:08:08+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/julian_murfitt_wins_gold_at_british_aerobatic_championships/#When:22:08:08Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/dita_europe_20078_conference_selects_Noz_Urbina_and_Mark_Poston_as_speakers/news/ DITA Content and XML Content Management Consultancy with the UKs #1 DITA Europe is a forum for those using or researching the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard. Mekon's Noz Urbina and Mark Poston, were selected to deliver presentaions for DITA Europe 2008 conference in Munich,  Germany. Mekon also sponsored DITA Europe 2008, as it was an excellent place for organisations to meet experts from around Europe to learn about DITA and the latest technological developments in DITA 1.1. “To some, DITA's growth and development are being seen as a North American phenomena. DITA effects all organisations looking at structure and content reuse, and our DITA projects finished and starting have all been for international organisations, often based our of Europe. We look forward to providing our European perspective at this year's conference and contributing with not only Julian's keynote, but our top experts in the exhibition to give their advice and the benefit of their experiences with DITA XML,” says Noz Urbina, Lead Consultant, Mekon Ltd.. Mekon has been championing the use of the DITA standard in the UK and has contributed towards the DITA Open ToolKit by developing a publishing adaptor which allows users of Adobe FrameMaker to utilise the tools powerful pagination engine as part of their XML publishing systems. See XML FrameMaker for more. 2007-09-24T04:25:29+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/dita_europe_20078_conference_selects_Noz_Urbina_and_Mark_Poston_as_speakers/#When:04:25:29Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/dita_europe_2007_conference_selects_mekon_to_provide_keynote_speaker1/news/ DITA Europe is a forum for those using or researching the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard.Our Managing Director, Julian Murfitt, was selected to deliver the keynote speech for DITA Europe 2007 conference in Brussels, Belgium.We also sponsored DITA Europe 2007, as it was an excellent place for organisations to meet experts fromaround Europe to learn about DITA and the latest technologicaldevelopments in DITA 1.1. “To some, DITA's growth and development arebeing seen as a North American phenomena. DITA effects allorganisations looking at structure and content reuse, and our DITAprojects finished and starting have all been for internationalorganisations, often based our of Europe. We look forward to providingour European perspective at this year's conference and contributingwith not only Julian's keynote, but our top experts in the exhibitionto give their advice and the benefit of their experiences with DITAXML,” says Noz Urbina, Lead Consultant, Mekon Ltd..Mekon has been championing the use of the DITA standard in the UK andhas contributed towards the DITA Open ToolKit by developing apublishing adaptor which allows users of Adobe FrameMaker to utilise the tools powerful pagination engine as part of their XML publishing systems. See XML FrameMaker for more. 2007-09-11T22:12:59+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/dita_europe_2007_conference_selects_mekon_to_provide_keynote_speaker1/#When:22:12:59Z http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon_sponsors_dita_europe_2006_and_presents_real_world_dita_soulutions/news/ DITA Content and XML Publishing with the UKs #1 As part our commitment the XML based DITA standard, Mekon are proud to announce our sponsorship of the DITA Europe 2006 conference in Frankfurt, Germany. “We are pleased to be sponsoring DITA Europe, to be again working with the CIDM after our collaboration at X-Pubs 2006, and to be co-presenting with Schlumberger, our latest DITA solutions client. DITA Europe is a meeting point for thought leaders from around the world featuring top-quality content from a variety of industry speakers. It will be an excellent place for organisations to learn about real-world implementations DITA, and the latest technological developments. We also see this as a great opportunity to hear back from the DITA Community now that it has had a chance to work with the FrameMaker Publishing Adapter released earlier this year,” says Julian Murfitt, Managing Director, Mekon Limited. Mekon will be presenting a case study with John Cornellier - Documentation Manager, Schlumberger Geoquest, and presenting the FrameMaker Adapter, the DITA ROI business case, and on how companies can best approach migration and implementation. Mekon has been championing the use of the DITA standard in the UK and has contributed towards the DITA Open ToolKit by developing a publishing adaptor which allows users of Adobe FrameMaker to utilise the tools powerful pagination engine as part of their XML publishing systems. See XML FrameMaker for more. The FrameMaker Adapter can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=132728 and is freely available under the same open-source license as the DITA Open Toolkit. Clicker here for more on the DITA Europe Conference. About Mekon Mekon are enterprise publishing integration specialists with more than 15 years experience in single-source multi-channel publishing, document workflow design, information architecture, and standards such as ASD S1000D, ATA 2200iSpec, DocBook and DITA. Mekon helps organisations leverage the potential of XML for their content creation, review, management and publishing processes. Our systems enable businesses to increase the re-use, accuracy, flexibility and relevance of content, ensuring greater consumer satisfaction and reduced content generation costs. www.mekon.com   Darwin Information Typing Architecture Resources Introduction to DITA http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-dita1/ OASIS Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Technical Committee http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dita   2006-09-29T22:06:01+00:00 http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/company/mekon_sponsors_dita_europe_2006_and_presents_real_world_dita_soulutions/#When:22:06:01Z