As President of X.Systems, the firm he founded in 1991, CLcC's principal consultant, Barry Schaeffer, has led major projects in multiple industries and branches of government.
Here are just a few...
Project summary: The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Description:In a relationship begun in 1993 and continuing to the present, X.Systems under Barry's direction, developed a pioneering SGML/XML-based editorial and content management approach for this indutry-leading publisher of high-quality information products. During the project, Barry and his XSI team worked with editorial, technical and management staff at BNA to craft an editorial environment capable of supporting the firm’s nearly 800 profssional authors, creating over 200 information products on schedules from monthly reference updates to daily news publications with deadlines as tight as any major newspaper. The majority of this extensive output array is produced and delivered in paper, CD and multiple electronic deliverables including the World Wide Web, Lotus Notes Newsstand, Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw, etc. The BNA system, named "Publishing System 2000 (PS2000)", has been recognized worldwide as one of the most successful major electronic publishing projects ever attempted. PS2000's in-depth focus on the needs of the professional author was the first in any major automation effort and has paid significant dividends. url: http://www.bna.com
Project summary:Congressional Research Service Authoring and Publishing Analysis Description: CRS provides critical research and information products to Congress in support of legislative and investigatory issues. With nearly 500 research analysts, CRS works under intense time, performance and accuracy requirements. In a competitive procurement, Barry and the XSI team was chosen to provide a comprehesnsive analysis of current CRS systems, procedures and tools, leading to an evolution plan and schedule CRS can use to bring its operation to optimum state. The project required in-depth interviews with every CRS group, from research analysts to support groups to technology organizations. A key factor in the effort is the high-performance nature of the authoring population and the need to insure that contemplated technological changes do not diminish this productivity or make the analysts' tasks more difficult or complex.
Project summary:Army National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) Description: An XSI team under Barry's leadership was the primary authoring and content management support contractor for this key component of the Defense Intelligence community. NGIC provides rapid turnaround analysis and intelligence to Army battlefield units, relying on a force of several hundred expert subject matter experts working under extreme performance and accuracy demands.
XSI supported a hybrid authoring environment made up of word processing input with transformation to XML, as well as a direct XML authoring and revision capability based on Arbortext's Epic software tools. The relationship also included support and maintenance of XML schemas mandated by DoD as well as authoring templates for MS Word, transformation maps to convert this input to XML and integration of the environment with the internally-developed content management system used by NGIC to control content and production flow. The NGIC digital production environment is maintained as a fully installable software environment, supported by XSI with full source code and version control, automatic installation support and regular releases via a collaborative web site.
Project summary: Aerospace Firms; Pratt & Whitney Canada, Boeing Space & Defense, Sikorksy Aviation ...and others like them. In each of these projects, XSI's efforts were led and managed by CLcC's Barry Schaeffer. Description: Each of these major firms faced authoring and content challenges, the solutions to which had eluded them.
For Pratt & Whitney Canada, the initial challenge was the firm's need to create multiple audience variants for a single jet engine family, up to 18 from a single manual, without fragmenting the content into a blizzard of unmanagable pieces. PWC asked Barry and his XSI team to solve the problem. Within 2 weeks, the XSI team developed a workable approach that was then represented in software within 30 days. The concept, known as "Common Source Effectivity" was unique in the SGML industry and is still used extensively in multiple industries, many firms using XSI's resulting tool with their Arbortext editorial software.
Boeing Helicopter contacted XSI to help it meet a need to author and maintain links in complex technical data. As there was no tool available for this task, Boeing tasked Barry and his XSI team to develop one, combining ease of use, configurability, non-invasive relationship with the author and tight control on links once authored. This tool was installed at Boeing facilities in 1998 and is still in use there and at many organizations in numerous industries and government organizations. Under Barry's direct leadership, design efforts took the role, needs and limitations of the authors fully into account in the structure and operation of the resulting tool, working closely with client staff and responding to active input by editorial managers during the design phase.
Sikorsky Aviation contacted XSI in 1998 to meet challenge of authoring and compliance with AECMA Simplified English, the complex vocabulary specification mandated by many aircraft buyers. S/E, as it is often called, can be difficult and burdensome for authors to generate and check. Sikorsky tasked an XSI team under Barry's leadership with creation of a tool that would satisfy the requirement for accuracy and compliance while supporting author productivity and accuracy. The resulting tool, Language Manager, was installed in 2000 as an add-in to Sikorsky's Arbortext SGML authoring system. Language Manager makes the use of controlled language a fluid part of the authoring process, keeping the author fully in control and removing the most onerous parts of the process.
Project summary:Executive Office of the President/OMB: Description: X.Systems, with Barry Schaeffer as the lead consultant/architect, was selected by OMB to design and implement an XML-based editorial and production system for the Citizen’s Guide and budget submission volume to the United States Federal Budget. In addition, the XSI team was tasked to perform an analysis of authoring and data collection for the budget Appendix, and to develop a comprehensive plan to bring this process into a fully XML environment. These critical publications are produced under tight deadlines, using a variety of legacy software and manual processes. Their evolution to a fully XML baseline requires significant technological and cultural changes by OMB and the agency staffs responsible for development of budget data.
Project summary:Oklahoma Administration Code System
Description: Barry and his XSI team were selected by the State of Oklahoma to develop a fully automated, XML-based system for the collection, management and publication of administrative rules for 150 state agencies, using a variety of word processors to create and revise rule language. The system was based on Arbortext XML tagging, editorial and publishing software, and XSI’s GEM content management and other editorial tools. The project involved all phases of the rule-making and management process, supporting publication of semi-monthly Registers from agency filings, yearly cumulative supplements and periodic full republication of the 20-volume Administrative Code. In addition to the mandated paper publications, the system also makes all rules available on the Internet. Production within the system is highly automated replacing laborious and error prone manual procedures with “point and click” operations in a controlled work environment.
Project summary:World Book Publishing Description: X.Systems, with Barry at the project helm, was selected by the team of IBM and World Book to develop and support a fully XML-based authoring and content management system for the World Book worldwide electronic encyclopedia products, supporting American and English standard versions. XSI based the system on Arbortext XML editorial tools and Staffware workflow software as well as XSI’s own GEM editorial and content management tools. The system supports complex editorial workflow, authoring and management of complex multilevel references and sourcing in compound documents and multimedia production, delivering the final information product to the World Book website and output processes for other media including paper and CD-ROM. After implementation in late 2002 and until XSI's acquition in 2008 by XyEnterprise, Barry and the XSI team remained involved, planning and implementing enhancements as part of its ongoing support role.
Project summary:Florida Senate Information System
Description: In 2001, Barry Schaeffer, working directly with the Secretary of the Senate and Senate Office of Information Technology (OLITS) developed an approach to legislative automation that would address a series of problems that have plagued the Senate (and its counterparts in other states) for many years. Legislatures, facing unique challenges including frequent leadership direction changes, tight and unyielding schedules, complex interrelated information flows and the natural differences between House and Senate envisioned by our view of limited government, was facing a patchwork of legacy and "band-aid" technology falling increasingly behind the growing demands of e-government.
Barry, Secretary Faye Blanton and the OLITS staff developed a content-based approach to legislative automation designed to ameliorate many of the challenges of the past while providing a path to substantially improved operations in the future, all with a flexible migration approach that would allow the legislature to move toward the target environment without jeopardizing its ability to meet current requirements.
In early 2003, a team assembled by XSI received a contract from the Florida Senate to analyze the current legislative environment and design a new environment based on the content-based approach described above and approved by the elected and staff Senate leadership. XSI, with Barry as the overall project manager, was directly responsible for more than 40 interviews and all IT, migration and risk related portions of the plan as well as the XML data model development, publishing analysis and authoring migration approach. The plan was approved in late 2003 and was used by the Senate to issue a development contract for the first phase of the target environment.
With CLcC on your team, you can count on the experience you need, from strategic planning to "in the trenches" change and project management, backed by a unique and unequalled commitment to your success.
