The next generation of technical publications

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The
next
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of technical publications
Lower costs, greater value
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Producing technical publications such as owner
manuals, repair manuals, and parts catalogs
constitutes a major effort for automotive and industrial
manufacturing companies, one that often is riddled
with excess costs and inefficiencies. The process gets
especially complicated for a vehicle or machinery sold
in many markets around the world. Accenture works
with clients to streamline any or all parts of their
publications process. By serving as a trusted third-party
integrator, Accenture can oversee the entire process
more efficiently and at higher quality, which allows
clients to focus on their core business of designing
and manufacturing.
2
Engineering and customer service
executives in the manufacturing
sector face intense, yet perhaps
unappreciated, challenges with their
owner manuals, repair manuals, parts
catalogs, service bulletins, and other
technical publications.
To start, the number of products is
proliferating and product development
cycles have grown shorter. Both trends
compress the schedule of associated
publications. Many companies now
operate on a global stage, requiring
publications to be translated into 20
languages or more. In addition, when
companies or partnerships collaborate
on product platforms that span
different geographies, that raises the
need to share technical publications
processes and data across geographic
and corporate boundaries.
Consumers, meanwhile, are demanding
higher-quality publications, as well
as electronic formats such as DVDs
and online versions. Yet producing the
publications involves the management
of increasingly complex IT systems and
many suppliers, each doing just one
piece of the puzzle. As a result, this
can be a cumbersome and expensive
process, consuming a large amount
of resources.
Some companies have been taking
measures to significantly reduce
the cost of publications while also
providing higher quality and therefore
greater value. For example, they are
starting to integrate the different
phases of publication – authoring,
illustration, translation, and so
on – through the use of technology,
so that the flow of data is more
automated. That means content
can be reused or updated with less
rework and fewer manual steps.
Companies are also moving to a
central governance model that ties
together far-flung operations.
And some companies are outsourcing
noncore technical publications
activities so that they can rationalize
the process and concentrate on their
core strengths of designing and
producing vehicles.
These moves make a lot of sense.
Given that the typical automotive
or industrial original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) spends between
$10 million and $20 million per year
on technical publications, there is a
major opportunity to reduce costs and
improve value.
Others are sourcing labor from
countries such as India to take
advantage of lower wage rates
and a strong supply of engineering
talent. That allows them to
improve cycle time and to align the
publications model with a more global
product delivery model.
3
Accenture’s outsourcing services:
flexibility and a global reach
Automotive and industrial
manufacturing companies can
entrust their technical publications to
Accenture as a third-party integrator
with a global operating model, the
most trusted available publications
software, and service metrics that help
to improve performance. We build on
deep experience in the automotive and
industrial manufacturing industries,
combined with engineering and
technical publications expertise.
We offer solutions along the spectrum
of outsourcing and co-sourcing.
Companies that have made recent
investments in the latest technology
may want to keep various steps of
the publications process in-house.
For them, we offer services that mesh
with and can enhance their technology
platform. Other companies prefer to
turn over all or most of the process
to our team and our own hosted
technology platform.
Accenture was rated No. 1 by Gartner
in 2010 for managing process,
complexity, improvements,
and controls in outsourcing. We were
rated the No. 1 outsourcing provider
by the International Association
of Outsourcing Professionals in 2010,
marking our third consecutive year
at the top of this ranking.
Technical publications support
is part of Accenture’s engineering
services outsourcing business, which
operates from our delivery network
that includes 50 centers across
the globe. So we can match the
client’s priorities to the appropriate
outsourcing center location.
Either way, Accenture’s team works
closely with the client’s product
experts and makes sure that the client
maintains decision-making control.
Tangible benefits that clients
can expect
Automotive and industrial
manufacturing companies can realize
the following benefits by engaging
Accenture as an integrator:
•Reduced operating costs of 30 percent or more over the lifecycle
of technical publications
•An integrated and standardized publications process and technology solution framework
•Defined, measured service model that emphasizes continuous improvement, high quality,
and on-time delivery
•A global delivery model with scale economies and access to top engineering talent
•Close collaboration and integration with the client’s engineering and technical publications staff and select suppliers
•Co-investment to raise the level
of innovation
•Onsite project management expertise with the local language and culture
Figure A - Accenture Global Delivery Network
Riga
London Almere Warsaw
Prague
Nantes
Toronto area Montreal
Chicago Detroit
Madrid Turin Bratislava
Málaga Naples Bucharest
Cincinnati
Wilmington
Atlanta
San Antonio
Casablanca
Monterrey Houston
Mumbai
Mexico City
Pune
Bangalore
São Paulo
Rosario Buenos Aires
4
Chengdu
Delhi area
Hyderabad
Chennai
Port Louis,
Mauritius
Dalian
Shanghai
Guangzhou
Manila
Cebu
5
6
Moving from Model T
to Formula 1
The typical technical publications
function is a sprawling and somewhat
disjointed effort. It involves many
different departments within the
manufacturer, various suppliers
providing information on their
particular component, and many third
parties executing a part of the process.
The people charged with, say, a parts
catalog rarely communicate directly
with those doing a repair manual.
Communication can be confusing and
full of redundancies, and changes take
a long time to ripple through each
stage of the process.
What’s worse, eking out improvements
in the publications process yields no
improvement in the manufacturer’s
core products. It will always be a
sideline – albeit an expensive one – to
that central mission of designing and
manufacturing products.
Accenture takes over management
of the entire system to give clients
peace of mind. We work side by side
with the client’s internal publications
team to integrate them into our team.
We renegotiate rates with third-party
suppliers in order to reduce costs.
And we coordinate all the moving
parts in order to further gain
efficiencies, shorten time to
publication, and raise quality
(figure B).
Determining whether
this is right for your company
Our initial assessment, over four
to eight weeks, analyzes existing
publication capabilities and makes
specific recommendations for
improvement, as shown in the figure C.
Figure B - Accenture Technical Publications Outsourcing Solution
•
Physical prototypes
Native CAD
•
Eng. Prints, markups
•
Photos, renderings
• Pencil Sketches
•
•
•
Repair Manuals
Owners Manual
• User Manuals
• Parts Catalogs
• Service News
• Campaigns
• Other Publications
•
•
Collect
Information
Plan
Author/
Illustrate
Manage
Content
Translate
Publish
Bills-of-materials
Process information
Figure C - Accenture Technical Publications Assessment Approach
Analyze
existing capabilities
Scoping
Kick-off meeting
Discussions with key
stakeholders
• Agree on scope, timeline,
and participants
• Adjust assessment approach
•
•
Prepare data request
template / questionnaires
• Gather data regarding
technical publications
headcount, operations,
and key metrics
• Perform interviews
with subject matter experts
• Confirm current capabilities
•
Identify improvement
opportunities
Compare capabilities
to leading practices
• Assess opportunity
for improvement
• Determine approach
and focus to achieve
improvements
•
Report results
and recommendations
Develop assessment report
Summarize capabilities,
gaps to leading practices,
and opportunities for
improvement
• Identify recommendations
for achieving improvements
•
•
7
Key attributes of Accenture’s
managed service approach
The traditional approach
to outsourcing involves
parceling out pieces of work
to a multitude of vendors.
That leads to high costs
in management overhead,
and prevents companies
from standardizing their
workflow. By contrast,
an integrated approach
encourages standardization
and reuse of work for such
steps as authoring and
translation. Accenture’s
approach also reduces
the risks inherent in
consolidating vendors
through our strong
governance and a global
footprint.
Characteristics of Accenture’s
approach include:
• A commitment to service levels and continuous improvement
in quality and turnaround time
• Close coordination and integration with the client engineering leads
• Reduced management overhead:
- Accenture’s onsite coordinators manage the interactions between client engineers and the offsite Accenture technical publications engineers.
- The offsite Accenture technical publications lead manages
resource assignments, workload, service levels, and quality checks.
- Accenture produces service management reports to track
volumes and associated service levels.
- Accenture manages its resources to bring the right people with the right skills to bear on the
project. We make sure that staff turnover, onboarding, training
and other normal personnel issues don’t cause any service interruption.
• Reduced training overhead:
- The initial knowledge transfer establishes a baseline for procedures, cookbooks, and training using
a train-the-trainer model.
- Accenture trainers perform
the bulk of the offsite team training.
- Accenture onsite coordinators support ongoing training and
knowledge transfer activities,
reducing the client’s time spent
on such activities.
8
Figure D - Engineering/Technical Publications Managed Service Model
Client
Sponsorship
Assign work
Final Acceptance
Design Responsibility
Accenture Onsite Coordination
Onsite Coordination
Monitor Work Standards
Perform Tech Pubs scope
Quality Checks
Accenture Engineering Offsite Team
Perform Tech Pubs scope
Manage Offsite Delivery
Quality Checks
Service Level Reporting
9
Identifying and mastering
the best tools available
We support our clients’ technical publications
functions with leading software applicable
to each phase. Because we have mastered
the best-in-class tools, we can train clients
in the tools, and our licensing arrangements
allow us to share them cost-effectively.
The figure below shows some of the software
applications available for each phase
of the technical publications process.
Figure E - Accenture Technical Publications Process & Infrastructure Framework
1. Collect information
Engineers, experts
• Operating Instructions
• Repair Instructions
• Service Bulletins
• Warranty Information
• Recall Notices
2. Author and illustrate
Arbortext IsoDraw / Epic Editor
PTC Windchill / Arbortext
Auto-Trol Tech Illustrator
SDL Contenta / Trisoft
Adobe Illustrator, FrameMaker,
Photoshop
Siemens Teamcenter
for Content Management
MS Office
PDM System
• Drawings
Right Hemisphere
• Product
Data
• Parts Lists
• Bills-of-materials
CATIA, Pro-E, UG-NX, etc.
XML, SGML Architecture
Reusable, structured writing
PULL
• Blogs
• Wikis
Content management
PUSH
Print
Web
PTC Arbortext
SDL Trados
CD / DVD
Handheld
SDL XPP
MultiTrans
Enigma 3C
SysTran, etc.
J2EE n-Tier, XML infrastructure
6. Customer service
10
Other Tools
MCAD, ECAD Tools
• Pricing
• Google
3. Manage content
5. Publish
Reusable translations
4. Translate
11
Copyright © 2011 Accenture
All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.
For more information on Accenture’s
technical publications services,
please contact:
Patrick Weir
+1 415-537-4531
patrick.e.weir@accenture.com
Jason Coffman
+1 313-887-2522
jason.p.coffman@accenture.com
Ken Taormina
kenneth.taormina@accenture.com
+49 89-93081-60611
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services
and outsourcing company, with
approximately 211,000 people serving
clients in more than 120 countries.
Combining unparalleled experience,
comprehensive capabilities across
all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the world’s
most successful companies, Accenture
collaborates with clients to help them
become high-performance businesses
and governments. The company
generated net revenues of US$21.6
billion for the fiscal year ended Aug.
31, 2010. Its home page is www.
accenture.com.