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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

http://www.muhimbi.com/products/pdf-converter-for-sharepoint.aspx

http://www.adlibsoftware.com/products-and-solutions/solutions/document-to-pdf.aspx

http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/renditions

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

http://www.adlibsoftware.com/products-and-solutions/solutions/document-to-pdf.aspx

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



http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/downloads

http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/downloads

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

http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=8













http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin



http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/downloads/2013





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

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757

http://blogs.office.com/2012/09/26/whats-new-in-word-automation-services/



http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=30425

http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=30425

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/home?forum=oxmlsdk



http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/SharePoint-2013-Convert-1e0578a1#content




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






http://www.aspose.com/sharepoint/total-component.aspx

http://www.aspose.com/sharepoint/total-component.aspx



Come see me at SPC14Santos Case StudyIntegration of SharePoint with Oracle Spatial

Contact details:[email protected]

Kaboodle Homepage:http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com

Kaboodle Colin’s Bloghttp://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/colin

I don’t Twit!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.kaboodlekonnect.com/



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Caitlin Gardnerhttp://www.caitlingardner.com.au

When I was Little