Quality management considerations for implementing SGML

Quality management principles of customer focus, quality measurement, and continuous improvement can be used to bridge the gap between the theoretical promise of SGML as a tool for information owners and the practical compromises required to accommodate application limitations. Introduction SGML was originally developed to meet the requirements of publishers–that is, people who own information and need to process it in multiple formats and disseminate it in a variety of media. SGML was NOT developed to meet the requirements of the developers of the processing systems... nor of the owners of the distribution media.... Charles F. Goldfarb, "Entity Management in SGML", 1993, http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/goldenti.html In this paper we want to describe what happens when quality management principles meet markup technology in the area of technical publications. We will introduce some of the important principles of quality management and discuss their application to many aspects of technical publications. Our management goal is to improve the quality of technical publications at all levels and phases–production, storage, access, and delivery. Ultimately, the value of any information management system is determined by the degree to which it enhances or impedes communication among humans. We believe quality management principles, applied to standardized markup technologies, will help us meet our goal. Principles of quality management In this section we will introduce some of the principles of quality management and discuss how we have applied them in the area of technical publications. Communication is the product At the outset we must be clear about what is the real product (the ultimate goal) of technical publications. We don’t believe that it’s just a stack of manuals, or a CD-ROM, or a website. Those are means to an end. The goal is communication. In humans, the task of communicating is dynamic. The elements of sight and sound, independently or collectively, are what modify behavior as a result of communication. The stimulus we deliver to, for instance, five people could result in five different behaviors. In technical publications, Simplified English for instance, is one quality card in the playing deck. Can SGML implementation enhance the burden of technical writing with Simplified English? What types of authoring and behavior changes need to be in place to