Post on 25-Jan-2015
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Document Conversions, why we need it and what are the options?
Colin GardnerKaboodle Software
In this sessionFoundations• An Anatomy of Information Products• Information Product Media• The Document Lifecycle
Candidates for Conversion• Above, below and beyond the line• Format options, pdf, xps, ePub, wiki articles• The good, the bad and ugly about wikis• But what above IM Nirvana of currency and consistency?• Think renditions not copies
The Technology Options• Microsoft Client: MS Office• Microsoft Server: Open XML SDK, Word Services• 3rd Party Extensions (Muhimbi ,Adlib (demo), Aspose, Kaboodle (demo))
Summary and Conclusions• A few lessons learnt• Questions at the end or as we go
Foundations An Anatomy of Information Products
Information Product Media
The Document Lifecycle
An Anatomy of Information Products
TransientSemi-Permanent
Permanent
Impo
rtant
Stra
tegic
Team/DepartmentalOrganisational
External/Public
Trivial
LongevityValue
Scope
A few examples
Document Scope Longevity Value
Organisational Transient TrivialDaily Canteen Menu
Team/Dept. Transient ImportantSales Meeting Agenda
Team/Dept. Semi-Permanent ImportantMarketing MeetingTask List
Organisational Permanent StrategicHealth & SafetyPolicy
Organisational Semi-Permanent StrategicBoard Meeting Minutes
Organisational &
External/Public
Permanent StrategicCompany MissionStatement
External/Public Permanent ImportantContact Usweb page
Information Product Delivery Mediums
http://howtocreateinformationproducts.com/informationproducts/index.php/what-types-of-information-products-are-there/
Try to think of a document as information that is delivered in a container
Information producers have different needs to information consumers
Different containers are better suited for different purposes
So why would we use the same container for both producers and consumers?
Ideology Reality
Document Lifecycle
ProductionConsumption
Retention
Disposal
If it is accepted that needs of information producers and consumers are different (and archivists have their own needs as well) we have a business case for format conversion
Candidates for Conversion
Above, Below and Beyond the Line
Format options, Word, pdf, xps, ePub, wikis
The good, the bad and ugly about wikis
What about the IM Nirvana of Currency and Consistency?
Think renditions and not copies
Above, Below & Beyond the Line
Production
Utility
Retention/Disposal
Team authorshipRestricted distributionEmphasis on collaboration(below the line)
No authorshipWide distributionEmphasis on sharing and use(above the line)
No authorshipRestricted distributionEmphasis on preservation(beyond the line)
Production• MS Office formats mostly• Some specialist formats for CAD, images and multi-media
Consumption• Paper• Read only formats PDF, XPS, ePub• Read only web sites and wikis• Semi-read-only wikis and blogs (comments and ratings)
Retention• Paper• Microfiche• PDFa, TIFF
Format Options
Wikis: The Good the Bad and the Ugly(Wikis in general and SharePoint Wikis Specifically)The Good• Quick and ready
access• Easy search• Easy cross linking• Decentralised
authorship• More dynamic• Great for tacit
knowledge
The Bad• Got to learn the
syntax• Easy to change
means easy to make errors
• Cross linking within the same library only
• OOTB no self cross referencing
• OOTB no TOC• Decentralised
authorship might not fit with the business culture
The Ugly• The authoring
experience is disappointing
• Too often the need to hand craft HTML
• Importing existing content is just plain nasty
• Need to upload (or otherwise make linkable embedded content e.g. images)
Many organisations have tried to move their Permanent/Semi-Permanent Organisational/Strategic information into wikis and most have failed because of the Bad and the UglyIf we can find a way to remove the bad and the ugly and keep the good then we have a chance of making wikis work
Wiki Woes for Content Authors
What I want
What mycompany wants
This is a fight you cannot win, so don’t even try!
The Nirvana state of Information Management is a single source of truth for then we have:
• Currency: Everyone is working to most up to date information
• Consistency: Everyone is working with the same information
But surely if we create different copies of documents (as we have to if we want them in different formats) then we risk compromising currency and consistency
IM Nirvana: Currency and Consistency
IM Nirvana can be preserved if you have good governance and good technology to support it
You can still have a single source of truth if:• You stop thinking copies and think renditions• Renditions are a presentation layer of the same source information• Renditions are read-only (or semi-read-only)• Think music recitals, they may very different but its still the same
score
Then we can work below the line for production and use renditions to work above the line for consumption
Think renditions not copies
Technology Options
Microsoft Client: MS Office
Microsoft Server: Open XML SDK, Word Services (demo)
3rd Party Extensions (Muhimbi, Adlib (demo), Aspose, Kaboodle Converter (demo))
Kaboodle Word to Wiki (demo)
This is the manual way• Approve the changes to the source Word document below the line• Download/Save As the approved document to a file share as a pdf• Upload the pdf to the right library, above the line
The problems with this are• It relies on the end user knowing to do the right thing• Can result in (file share) copies• It is easy to make mistakes• Labour intensive – a complete cycle for a typo
Some OOTB assistance for copying but not conversion• Record Centre Routing• Send to
Microsoft Client: MS Office
Open XML SDK for document assembly• Still not very easy to work with • Got to deploy the assembly to SharePoint GAC• Limited support for VS 2012/13• Not sure that it is still alive – Brian Jones last blog was 2 years ago!
Word Services for conversion• You needed SharePoint Server it’s not available in Foundation• In SP2010, conversions where asynchronous only and source
documents needed to be in SharePoint• In SP2013, conversions can be synchronous and now supports file
streams
Notes• No OOTB solution - you’ve got to write code• The conversion code is fairly simple but you have to develop the UI • In SP2013 you also get PowerPoint Services
Microsoft Server: Open XML SDK and Word Service
Word Service Demo Synchronous conversions of Word documents
Sadly no CSOM support
Scot Hillier REST Service Solution
3rd Party Offerings
Pros• Great reviews• Good price• Been around for quite while• WF Support with Nintex/K2
support• 30 Day trialCons• Office on the server!• Does InfoPath forms pdf
conversion• PDF output only• Home page screen shots are in
SP2007!
Muhimbi
Pros• 400+ input formats supported• Free on line app (beta)• Been around for quite while• WF Support with Nintex/K2
support• Not just Sharepoint• Convert and assemble• WatermarksCons• PDF output only• POA which means expensive!• On line app security?• Does not seem to be a
downloadable trial version
Adlib
Adlib Demo O365 New App Model
Currently a beta, so currently free
Pros• Provide SDK and not just
products• Output to several formats not
just PDF• Input support for Word,
PowerPoint, Excel, Images and Email
• Been around for years• Convert and combine• 30 Day free trialCons• 1K to 34K licensing • These guys are not really
SharePoint focused
Aspose
Pros• Uses Aspose SDK• Works cross farm• Support O365/SPO as target
location• Automated conversions• Synchronous and Asynchronous
conversions• Variety of output formats
including PDF/PDFa/XPS/TIFF/ePub
• Metadata mapping• Dirt cheap starting at ~$1K/WFE• Publishes Word to wiki pages• Free unlimited trialCons• Does not currently do document
assembly• New kid on the block
Kaboodle
Kaboodle Renditions Converter Demo
Takes source Word Documents and converts them individually or in balk to various output formats (PDF, XPS, TIFF, ePUB, DOCX)
Can map metadata
Can publish to the same farm, a remote farm or to O365
Can automatically update targets
Can automatically delete targets
Smooths and automates the transition from Production to Consumption
Renditions Word to Wiki
Takes source Word Documents in SharePoint libraries
Publish them as SharePoint wiki web pages automatically or on demand
Strips out images, saves them to SharePoint and automatically stitches back up the HTML
Can map metadata, automatically delete
Can publish to the same farm, a remote farm or to O365
Can set things up so that authors have nothing to do other than keep the source Word documents up to date
Great for sharing specific content with partners or the public.
A family of 5 products that convert Word documents and archive or replicate documents of any type
Is a commercial product but has a free unlimited trial
Word to Wiki is the only product (I know of) that:• Converts Word documents to SharePoint Wiki pages without pain• Can automated conversion process• Works cross farm and to SPO/O365 with zero footprint at the target
location• Works in both SP2010 and SP2013 with all SKUs, Foundation
included
Find out more and view my cheesy YouTube videos from here http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/renditions
Download it from here http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/downloads
Renditions – in Summary
Wrap-up Some lessons learnt
Q&A
References
Contact
Session feedback
• Not all information is the same so don’t treat it the same• Try to classify your information into what’s important and long lived and
what is trivial and transient• Devote as much effort thinking about how to get stuff out of SharePoint
as you spend trying to get stuff into SharePoint – especially the trivial, transient stuff
• Think about the stages of the document lifecycle (Production, Consumption, Retention) and the formats best suited to each
• Think of a document as information and not as a file or web page• Think about the needs of users who work with documents above, below
and beyond the line and what formats suit their needs• Preserve the IM Nirvana by think it terms of renditions (small r) and not
copies• Don’t take on a battle you can never win… • … the way to win is to make information presentation a technology
challenge not a business process or user challenge• Technology is out there to help so evaluate products to find those which
best suits your needs• The cost can be very modest and the payback is hugely scalable
A few lessons learnt
Question and Answer
Blog PostsThe case: http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=8Wiki Woes: http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=9Overview: http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=13 Part 1: http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=10 Part 2: http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=11 Part 3: http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=12
This PresentationLink from http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin
Demo Solution (.wsp)http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/downloads/2013
Source Code (.zip)http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/downloads/2013
References: Blog Posts and Downloads
Word on the server – don’t do ithttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757
What’s new in Word Automation Serviceshttp://blogs.office.com/2012/09/26/whats-new-in-word-automation-services/
Open XML SDKhttp://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=30425 http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/home?forum=oxmlsdk
Scot Hillier - REST Servicehttp://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/SharePoint-2013-Convert-1e0578a1#content
References
Muhimbihttp://www.muhimbi.com/products/pdf-converter-for-sharepoint.aspx
ADLIBhttp://www.adlibsoftware.com/products-and-solutions/solutions/document-to-pdf.aspx
Aspose http://www.aspose.com/sharepoint/total-component.aspx
Kaboodle Renditionshttp://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/renditions
References: 3rd Party Products
Come see me at SPC14Santos Case StudyIntegration of SharePoint with Oracle Spatial
Contact details:colin@kaboodle-software.com
Kaboodle Homepage:http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com
Kaboodle Colin’s Bloghttp://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin
I don’t Twit!
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Caitlin Gardnerhttp://www.caitlingardner.com.au
When I was Little