Migrating DocBook to Uncharted Waters
Ari Nordström, Jean Kaplansky · Balisage series on markup technologies · 2022
Kaplan North America (KNA) is migrating all XML source content across business lines to a new technology stack. The stack uses Alfresco Community Edition and Componize for Component Content Managent System (CCMS) capabilities, and Oxygen XML Web Author for editing and authoring new content. Approximately 50 GB of content scheduled for migration exists in DocBook 4.0 and MathML 3.1 . All XML content is stored in Arbortext Content Manager (ACM), a content management system built by PTC, and based on the Windchill Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software. This article aims to document the XSLT and XProc pipeline solution built to migrate KNA's content and, further, to create HTML with metadata for ingestion into KNA's Learning Management System (LMS) as a product. No project is perfect, however. As a result, we experienced a few hard-learned lessons as consultants while we worked our way through the project. We were excited to work on a DocBook project with XML tools — work we greatly enjoy — which led to a over-confidence that rendered us slightly stuck in the project's human variables. We learned (and continue to learn) valuable lessons about consulting and acting as trusted advisors throughout the project.