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Embracing XMLThe NetDoktor Story
Ronny SchererDirector of Development
XML-enabled Content Management,Marcus Evans, Brussels November 28.-29.
2001
Europe’s Leading Health Communications Company
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
UK
Germany
Austria
France
SpainItaly
Country No portal operation yet
CountryNational NetDoktorhealth portal exists
1 mio. unique users / month15 mio. page impressions / month
Three year track record- NetDoktor.dk launched June ’98- 500+ freelance doctors- 30,000+ proprietary content assets- Funded by Apax Partners & Co
Brief History
• Founded in Denmark in 1997 byDr. Carl Brandt and journalist Rune Bech
• Based on a study by Carl Brandt on”Smoker’s lung”*
• Funded by Apax Partners & Co since 1999
*) Published in The Lancet 1997; 349 (9047): p253
”We believe that an educated patient, who understands his or
her illness is better suited to take part in the treatment than one that
does not”
NetDoktor’s Value Propositions
Health Care Services and E-Care Solutions
Cost Efficiency & Quality
PatientSatisfaction /Quality of Life
High Level Portal Overview
Content offerings
Diseases and conditionfact sheets
Medicine fact sheets
Featured articles(health advice)
Services
Newsletter
News
Chat transcripts
Q&A postings
Quizzes and tests
Meta data and information architechture
Name roulette
Q&A (Ask the expert)
Discussion
Chat
Poll
Visuals (design)
Navigation hubs and features
SearchQuizzes and tests
Sample Integration Architecture
Encyclopedia
New s & Features
Com m unity
Services
TravelSex and
RelationshipsAsthm a Etc...
Serv
ives
TopicsPossible
IntegrationPoints
Content Categories(consumer)
Muscles and Joints Lungs Childrens's Health Health Sector
Neurology Teeth and Mouth Sex and Relationships Complementary Medicine
Skin and Hair Asthma and Allergy Weight Management Pregnancy and Birth
Eyes Mental Health Drug and Alcohol Abuse Senior's Health
Liver and Kidney Cancer Sports Smoking Cessation
Digestive System Diabetes Travel Medicine Accidents and First Aid
Heart and circulation Infections Women's Health Immunizations
Ears, Nose, ThroatSexually transmitted
diseasesMen's Health Genetics
Growth & Metabolism Examinations & Procedures Medicines & Supplements
Pain management
Working with FrontPage and HTML
Pros• Very fast time to market• Near flat learning curve• Easy to customize for
each country• Cost effective… short
term• Good performance
Cons• Unscaleable. Unstructured.
FrontPage quality HTML = poor quality. Did not support content syndication
• Hard to manage intellectual properties
• No version control• Different implementation in each
country• Flat and uncontrolled file
structure• Diverse branding and graphics
design
Business Requirementsand Priorities
1. We will enable our content assets to be licensed to third parties
2. We will cut cost by streamlining and aligning our production and maintenance workflows across all languages.
3. We will improve quality while doing it…
The Extreme Way
• Early, rapid feedback• Assume simplicity• Incremental change• Embracing change
Extreme Programming (XP) is a lightweight, customer driven, efficient, low-risk, flexible, predictable scientific and fun way to develop software
The Planning Game
1. We will enable our content assets to be licensed to third parties
What’s most important?• Flexibility. Different
customers, different needs. Flexible and media independent format.
• Simple delivery and short implementation cycle
• Standards based delivery
• Unify content across all languages
• Quality assurance through version control
2. We will cut cost by streamlining and aligning our production and maintenance workflows across all countries
Create once, publish many• Single source for all content assets • Effective distribution to NetDoktor portals and
syndication partners
Why XML?
• Flexibility– Easy to transform in to any format
• Seemed to be a sure thing– Strong early adapter development community– Support from W3C and the software industry
• Good tools• Cost effective• Multi-lingual by nature (UTF-8)• No real alternative
Lessons From The First Iteration
– The 30 Days Challenge• Time boxing is good for focus and results
– 500 UK articles, five people, 30 days• Slice the elephant – first things first• Assume simplicity• A good metaphor is crucial
Content Delivery System Metaphor
Conceptual Business OverviewDEPLOYMANAGECREATE
CreateContent
CMSSubscriptionManagement
CustomerManagement
X-form Deliver
Maintenance
Editorial Sales Operations
Portal / Site Management
Content Management
DEPLOYMANAGECREATE
CreateContent
CMSSubscriptionManagement
CustomerManagement
X-form Deliver
Maintenance
Content Delivery System Technology Components
DEPLOYMANAGECREATE
XMetaLC
VS
Cu
mu
lus
XML config
MultiMark
J avaXSL-T
SMTPFTP
HTTPHTTPS
ICE
J ava / XSL-T
Editorial Sales Operations
Success From The First Iteration
– The 30 Days Challenge• Delivered on time• All stakeholders were involved early• The first DTD was based on best-practices from the
Oasis DocBook and the W3C HTML specifications• Self-contained articles (all meta data included)• Open standards and COTS
– SoftQuad XMetaL• Rich and easy to learn user-interface (rich Windows client)• Insured quality and unified structure
– Concurrent Versions System• Straight forward version control system (rich Windows client)• OpenSource
– Java, XML, XSL-T, HTTP…
Meta Data and Taxonomies
• Meta data and taxonomies defines the context and integration points
• Simple (from a technical point of view) and very powerful
• Required by syndication partners• Can be used e.g. to map and group content across
themes and interest groups and put a given piece of content into a context
• Samples of use are ATC, UMLS, site structure andsearch engine optimisation
Sample Integration Architecture
Encyclopedia
New s & Features
Com m unity
Services
TravelSex and
RelationshipsAsthm a Etc...
Serv
ives
TopicsPossible
IntegrationPoints
Dealing with Imagesand Rich Media
• An image tells a thousand words… But we still need good meta data.
• Image and meta data management usingCanto Cumulus.
• Deployment using cached production copies.
Next step
• Taking our own medicine• First things first (n x m cost
principle)• Refining and automating
distribution• Improved support for meta data• Second DTD
Bottom line – XML rules!• Get your own experience. Know your process and needs. Base
investments on your experience – not a vendor or consultant report.
• Focus – start simple.• Saved / postponed major IT investment while still reaching
targets and meeting customer demand.• We created a repository in 6 months (5.000+ articles in 7
languages)– it actually scales.
• Extreme principles (XP) has proved impressive results.• Workflow and content quality has improved dramatically.• Streamlined content production and delivery environment
across Europe.• Short delivery cycle.• Major savings in production cost (up to 60%).• All stakeholders has to be involved.• Investments in XML and COTS has more than met
expectations.