CALS/SGML IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

["Lawrenson, Steve" <steve -dot- lawrenson -at- CANADA -dot- CDEV -dot- COM>]

Looking for/Willing to Share CALS/SGML Implementation Issues/Experiences

Our Company is currently in the process of implementing CALS (SGML) as part
of our documentation process for the Canadian Department of Defence. This is
the first time we have seen this requirement as part of a formal contract; we
anticipate that the majority of our ILS deliverables will be delivered to
this standard in the coming years.

Some of the issues we've had to addressed during the course of this
project include:

   Developing a CALS compliant Technical Publications Plan for the first time.
   Determining the cost of CALSing our manuals as a opposed to our
traditional publications process.
   Determining a low cost CALS/SGML solution to co-exist with our existing
Publications process (our proposed method costs less then $50k and cover both
text and graphics).

If your in a similar situation: you need to, or have become CALS compliant;
only have a limited budget (one that restricts you from going the Interleaf
route); your currently equipped with Macintoshes or PCs for your Publications
Requirements; then let's talk. I'm willing to share my limited expertise and
experiences if you'll do the same (lets do a mutual sanity check).


Steve Lawrenson
Supervisor - Technical Documentation
Computing Devices Canada

(613) 596-7252
steve -dot- lawrenson -at- cdev -dot- canada -dot- com

Disclaimer: The opinions reflected in this E-Mail are my own and do not
represent my Company's opinions.