developing a collaborative team: lessons learned from ge healthcare
TRANSCRIPT
Developing a Collaborative Writing TeamMy Experience at GE HealthcareJeannette EichholzGE HealthcareClinical SystemsUltrasound
2 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Imperatives Within Corporate Medical Writing EnvironmentMUST • Meet Global Regulatory Requirements • Control Costs• Ensure Quality• Launch Products Simultaneously to
Global Markets• Within Shorter Project Cycle TimesWith Flawless Execution
3 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Imperatives WithinGlobal Regulated Environment• FDA Regulations require that we all follow the same processes and SOPs
– Compliant– Increased Quality and Consistency– Verifiable– Repeatable– Cost-Effective
4 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
CMS ImperativeImperative to standardize processes globally to meet regulatory requirements and to improve processes to meet business requirements to reduce costs and cycle time to reach global markets simultaneously. From• Content Developed on their own PCsTo• Shared Content Management System
5 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
GE Ultrasound successfully implemented a CMS for its user documentation.
In 7 years we’ve gone from 2 products to 30 products and from 10 languages to 31 languages.
6 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefits of Implementing a CMS
Reduced overall translation costs by 50-60%Translation costs even over past 7 years
7 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Reduced Translation Cost -- JME
$0$100$200$300$400$500$600$700$800$900
$1,000$1,100$1,200$1,300
1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
Total (LOGIQ Only) inthousands of dollars
2 Systems10 Languages
22 Products31 Languages
8 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefits of Implementing a CMS
Global Simultaneous Product Launch in all Required Languages (31 and counting)
9 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Simultaneous Global Rollout
1999 2001 forward•Collaborative•Simultaneous•Reusable•Translate incrementally
ProgramStart
Clinicals
ProductLaunch
FullProduction
•1 Writer works serially on each product•Translate as complete book
TranslationComplete
AFTERProduct Launch
TranslationReady at ClinicalRelease
ProgramStart
Clinicals
ProductLaunch
FullProduction
10 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefits of Implementing a CMS
Increased Market Coverage
11 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Reached more markets JME
0123456789
101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
1999 2002 2004 2007 2008
Languages Supportedby GE Ultrasound
12 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefits of Implementing a CMS
Established Collaborative Writing Team
13 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
User Documentation Paradigm
USIsrael Norway
ChinaKoreaJapan
India8 Product Centers
Collaborative Global Effort
VIVID Content
LOGIQContent
StructuredSGML
Content Management System
IndividualProducts
Germany
Xslt Conversion
PDFs
eDOCs
Translate
Online Help
1-Step Process
Paper Docs only on Request
1-Step Process
Increased Consistency
31 Languages
No Desktop Publishing Cost
Via F1 on Scanner
eDOCs
Decrease Cost
Electronic Documentation
Ship Complete
Leveraged Translation Memory
Austria
14 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Why has GE’s CMS Implementation been Successful? A CMS implementation CANNOT succeed without a successful collaborative writing team. Indeed, our collaborative team is the cornerstone to our successful CMS implementation.
15 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
What Did We Overcome?
Let’s take a look, Before, and After.
16 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
“Before” Scenario, without CMS• Writing Silos – Mfg Centers in US, Japan, Korea, China, India, Norway, Germany, Austria, Israel• Used tools where sharing or single sourcing was impossible• Content / Templates started out the same, but diverged over time• New acquisition assimilation difficult
17 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Redundant, Cumbersome, Expensive L700 L500 L400 L200 L100
Help
Paper
CD-ROM
SpanishFrenchGerman
ItalianPortuguese
SwedishDanish
RussianTurkish
Greek
Each Documentation
Set wasTranslated
into 10 Languages
18 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Writing Silos Collaborative Team
Stand-Alone WritersAuthor-Controlled ContentTweaked TemplatesIndependent Budgets“Their” ContentContent on Writer’s PC
Collaborative Writing TeamTeam-Controlled Content ; Controlled “Brand” IdentityShared BudgetCorporate Intellectual CapitalContent in Controlled Content Management System
19 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
What improved and how did it get better when we moved to this environment? We learned that there are a lot of benefits to having a collaborative writing team.
20 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Shared Content Reuse Strategy• Eliminated Redundant Content Development in Each Manufacturing Center• Develop Reuse Strategy – Plan Yearly• No Duplication of Effort / No Redundancy• New features written by writer where new feature was developed – Migrated to product line as feature added to product’s feature set
21 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Shared Costs
• Share Template Development Costs (FrameMaker, Online Help, Translated Templates)• Share CMS and CMS Customization Cost• Share Automated Tool Cost• Share Translation Cost• Centralized Control & Management
22 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Wrote Collaboratively
• Write Content Once – Reuse Many Times• Write Generically to Fit Multiple Products• Consistent Content – Changes Decided Upon as a Team• Content Easily Migrated Across Product Lines• Content Reviewed Continually
23 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Developed Automated Publishing Tools• Manually created FM Books, TOCs, Indexes, PDFs, Online Helps vs Using automated tools• Now automatically generate FM Books, TOCs, Indexes, PDFs from sgml file• Use Batch File to generate 30 translated files• Online Help auto generated from sgml xml xslt transformation html help
24 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Standardized within GE Brand• Controlled Templates• Controlled Content• No more copying and pasting• Change content in one place; updated in every reuse• Assures content integrity• Achieves Brand
25 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Increased Consistency, Accuracy, & Quality Content• Consistent Content• Accurate Content• Tested Content• Subject Matter Expert Verified Content• End User Validated Content
26 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Re-Purposed Content
• Can re-purpose content to be used by Marketing, by Training, Help Desks• Single source content for pdf and chm files Automatic (Not a Separate Effort)• Can re-purpose same content into different manuals• Multi-functional purposes: training, marketing, across product lines
27 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Writers’ Jobs Didn’t Go Away, They Evolved• Content Analysis, Metadata Strategy• Reuse Analysis and Strategy• Tool / Techology Selection, Upgrade, Migration• Concise Source Content – Editing Skills, Testing, Verification with SMEs, Validation with End Users• Template, CSS Management, Automated Processes • More Techno Savvy (sgml, xml, sgml, DITA, language encoding, unicode…)• Better, Smarter Writing, NOT More Writing
28 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
ContentDevelopm ent
NewProcesses
Pegasus
DatabaseManagem ent
New Structure
W rite C ontent
510(k) D ocum entW eb Version
Add C ontentto D atabase
TranslateC ontent
Assem bleD ocum ents
PublishD ocum ents
D istributeD ocum ents
G lobal D ocum entR eview P rocess
Translation/ValidationProcess
D ocum entation/Softw areIntegration Process
D ocum entation/Softw areVa lidation Process
D ocum entationU pgrade P rocess
Set U pBack-upProcess
Add C hrystalB ridge to
Fram eM akerC ontent
Set U pLingua
LearnLingua
Set U p AstoriaSoftware/H ardw are
& ArchitectureLearn
C hrystal
C rea te/M ainta inFram eM aker
Tem plates
W rite D ocum entdtd 's
Ana lyzeD ocum entStructure
Train W riters to U seTem plates/Structure
C reate D ocum entAssem bly
InstructionsM ainta in /U pdateStructure
G lobal D oc TeamProcess
29 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Benefit: Leveraged Translation Memories – THIS IS HUGE!!!• No longer unique product documentation sets, generating multiple sets of translation memories -- Now only one set of Core Content• One Core Content • One Core Content Translation Memory• One TM Leveraged across Multiple Products• Consistent, Correct, and Clean TMs
30 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Without WithCollaboration Collaboration$.25 Per Translated WordEach Page = ~250 WordsOr $62.50 Per Translated Page X 1000 Pages = $62,500X 30 Languages = $1,875,000X 15 Productsor $28,125,000 Additional Writers Required
$.25 Per Translated WordEach Page = ~250 WordsOr $62.50 Per Translated PageX 1000 Pages = $62,500, X 30 Languages = $1,875,000, /5 Manufacturing Centers, or $375,000No Additional Writers RequiredEXCEPT that it’s even less. We only write
and pay to translate the delta. So, the actual cost yearly is now $400,000 per year, or $80,000 per mfg ctr.
31 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
And that’s not even counting the time savings… Faster Turnaround Time (1000 page manual ‘written’ in ~ 2 weeks, ‘translated’ in ~ 1 week, ‘dtp’d’ in 1 week, validated and released in 1 week. Start to end, ~5 weeks, in as many languages as you want.
32 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Translation Notes
• Only pay to translate the delta in the database (fuzzy + no matches)• Over the past 7 years, the budget has remained constant, between $250,000-$350,000 even though we’ve gone from 10 to 30 languages and from 5 to 16 products • And this $250,000 - $350,000 cost is divided by the number of manufacturing centers• So each manufacturing center pays roughly $70,000
33 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
So, Finally, Let’s talk about what it takes to get a Collaborative Team Off the Ground • Definition• Getting Buy-In• Planning Your Team• Operating Mechanism• Developing and Nurturing Your Team•Team Meetings
• Tracking Progress• Standardizing Tools/ Processes• Sharing Budgets• Accountability• Escalating Issues• Hiring for a Collaborative Team
Group Hugs
34 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Definition
A Collaborative Team is a group of individuals who share common beliefs and work towards common goals. They meet regularly over an extended period of time. Team members share decision making, flexibility, and creative problem solving strategies.
35 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Getting Buy-In
• From Managers• From Writers• From Finance• From Marketing• From Program Team Leaders• From HR
36 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Planning the Team
• Need to convince team members of the value of working on a team. • Share templates and develop together• Develop standards• Validate translations• Automate processes
37 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Operating Mechanism
• Communicate almost daily• Meet every 2 weeks• Plan, collaborate, strategize, analyze, write• Always Improving processes• Ensuring integrity of one set of content
38 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Developing & Nurturing Your team • Changed the way we wrote• Train on an on-going basis• Empower each team member• Know each person’s strengths & rely on them
39 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Team Meetings
• Regular, Scheduled• Work from an Agenda• Prepare a Standard Status Report• Communicate Issues• Track Progress• Give / Take
40 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Tracking Progress
• Celebrate Wins• Track Progress / Changed Milestones• Communicate Issues in Plenty of Time
41 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Standardizing Tools/Processes
• Keep infrastructure up to date• Ask team members to research new tools• Plan future together• Communicate issues as they occur• Agree on templates
42 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Sharing Budgets
• Prepare yearly budget• Determine program requirements, deliverables, translations resources• Track costs• Report out
43 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Accountability
• Team members must do their own work• Must prepare content on time• Must follow due diligence (review, validate, follow style guide, abide by template rules)• Be a good team member
44 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Escalating Issues
• Some teams only show up when they need something or when their project is active• Have an escalation process (go to their direct manager, or to the program leader, or to your manager)
45 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Hiring for a Collaborative Team
• Need to hire team players• Not just looking for technical skills or industry knowledge• Interpersonal skills near the top of the list• Screen out lone wolves, the not-so-nice• Involve the team in the hiring process
46 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Group Hugs
• Thank everyone for their hard work• All for one, one for all• Celebrate each other’s successess• Recognize hard work• Recognize good work
47 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Conclusion
The Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts• Each writer learns from everyone’s strengths• Together as a team, we accomplish more, cheaper, faster, with increased quality and consistency• Can generate a 1000-page manual as quickly as 2 days, but normally within 2 weeks• Can translate a 1000-page manual into pdfs and online help within 3 weeks
48 /GE Healthcare /
05/02/23
Collaborative Team Success Transfers directly to your company’s bottom line.Enabling global content on time – no longer a cost center, but a corporate asset
Information becomes capital when it is employed to produce profit.
Developing the Content Management System to manage our corporate knowledge assets allows us to easily find, use, and re-use content in a way that maximizes its value to our organization and minimizes the cost to create, maintain, and assemble it for a particular business need.