Approach and estimation for a cleanup/conversion product - Word docs to FM and OLH

Subject: Approach and estimation for a cleanup/conversion product - Word docs to FM and OLH
From: "Tammy Van Boening" <info -at- spectrumwritingllc -dot- com>
To: "TechWhirl List" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:19:11 -0600

All,



A client has just approached me with a request for a ballpark (+/- $5000)
estimate of a cleanup/conversion project. In a nutshell, the materials that
I am inheriting:



1.) Three separate product lines - desktop based and each with a
corresponding web component

2.) Each product line has as a User's guide of approximately 200 pages and
a Configuration guide of approximately 200 pages for the desktop piece and a
QRG for the web component at approximately 50 pages.

3.) EVERYTHING is in Word without the benefit of a template or styles -
all overridden normal.



The client wants each guide and each QRG converted to Framemaker with the
same look and feel and "chunking" approach that I provided for a different
product line in a previous project and along the way, it also means (as we
both know it will), a thorough clean-up and scouring of the current content
(lots and lots of extra verbiage, poor wording, bad grammar/syntax) without
truly rewriting the content and the client wants an online help system for
each product as well. The OLH will not be context-sensitive, so we are
looking at 9 guides and 6 OLH systems (1 for each desktop application and 1
for each web-based application.)



If I had the luxury of having Word documents that used styles, I was hoping
to involve a copy and paste into a Framemaker document with identical style
names and then running a Framescript for a cleanup and use the FM documents
to single source for OLH, but. . . .



I know that there are many gurus and guru-esses out on the list who have run
into this issue - of that I am sure - and any and all advice about how to
approach this conversion/what techniques to use so that I could give a
better than "ballpark average" figure on the estimate would be so
appreciated.



Thanks!





Tammy Van Boening

Owner/Principal

Spectrum Writing, LLC

email: info -at- spectrumwritingllc -dot- com

web: www.spectrumwritingllc.com



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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