Metso, a global leader in mining technology, evolved from Microsoft^® Word to MadCap IXIA CCMS to streamline its documentation process.

Drivers for Adopting a CCMS

Leading up to the selection of MadCap IXIA CCMS, Metso faced several pain points in their previous documentation environment that made it difficult to streamline the documentation process.

These included:

• Struggle to produce consistent, harmonized documentation
• Difficulty maintaining content (lots of repetition, tracking versions)
• Limited searchability for writers and users
• High printing costs (some documentation contained 100,000+ pages)
• Silos between geographically dispersed departments and teams within the company
• In addition to wanting to overcome their pain points, the company had other drivers that led them to adopt MadCap IXIA CCMS:
• Needed to localize to 20-30 different languages while increasing localization efficiency and decreasing costs
• A greater need for accuracy within documentation, especially handling product variants
• Wanted to promote consistent branding across all documents and platforms
• Desire to cut down on DTP costs for source and translated content

Metso, one of IXIASOFT’s European customers, is a global leader in mineral and metal processing technology. It comprises more than 15,400 employees, a global network of service centers and research facilities, and sees annual sales reaching almost four billion (EUR). The company works to provide technologies and services to encourage the sustainable use of the earth’s natural resources. Over the past few years, the company has developed numerous breakthrough technologies and innovative solutions for industrial water treatment, the utilization of alternative energy sources, and the chemical industry.

Before its merger with Metso and when its digital transformation began, Outotec operated in two main business areas: minerals processing and materials, and energy and water. Each area was divided into seven product groups, containing a total of seventeen product lines, with each product line holding dozens of products. In total, the company offered more than 1,400 solutions.

Prior to adopting a CCMS, the company, now Metso, used Microsoft^® Word to create and manage documentation. In an industry that often involves dealing with large, complicated, and high-risk equipment, abiding to local laws and regulations is crucial. One small error can cause a 100-degree sulfuric acid leak…or worse. Creating consistent, maintainable, user friendly, and accurate content was challenging, especially as the company continued to grow and expand. In 2019, this company deployed MadCap IXIA CCMS. Here is their story:

Why MadCap IXIA CCMS?

Greater Control of Content

One reason for adopting MadCap IXIA CCMS was to gain more control over content, particularly in the production of IOMS (installation, operation, maintenance, service) manuals for proprietary equipment and service workbooks for both customers and internal audiences. These equipment user manuals cover the entire lifecycle of a product. Each manual is split up into 10 sections including: description of equipment, safety, transportation and storage, installation, operation, maintenance, de-commissioning, and disposal with a perfect opportunity for reuse.

Dynamic Release Management (DRM)

The company describes IXIASOFT’s DRM module as the “deal maker” in their CCMS selection process. At the time of selection, the company had 19 flotation cell projects on the go. Each project contained multiple sizes of flotation cells, and each cell contained multiple variables, and had its own unique delivery. Other CCMS suppliers’ solutions required a total freeze of the structure each time something was published, thus duplicating content and multiplying versions checks. With DRM, the company can branch out variables from its master manual, which provides a much more efficient solution and more control on updates.

Possibility to Localize Efficiently to Multiple Languages

MadCap IXIA CCMS facilitates not only the production of manuals, but the localization process as well. Localization was another essential point for this company. By law, the company is required to deliver content in the user’s language. With this essential component , the company can deliver documentation in up to 30 languages in a robust, cost- and time-effective way.

Simple Interface

Another component that attracted the company to MadCap IXIA CCMS was its simple user interface. Compared to other tools they had considered, the dashboard layout was intuitive for users who had never used DITA before.

Why Move to Structured Content DITA?

This company, having previous in-house experiences with DITA, did not think twice about the decision – DITA was a must. The company chose IXIA CCMS because it would provide them with an “off the shelf” solution. They wanted to choose a CCMS that offered an abundance of features so they could pick and choose which ones to use throughout the documentation journey. They recommend DITA and IXIA CCMS for any company looking to scalable content architecture and toolset.

Looking Into the Future

As Metso progresses through its documentation journey, it plans to use MadCap IXIA CCMS to its full advantage to continue to produce high quality documents for customers, and to help build the brand in a consistent manner across all publications.