Quickly Create Variants

Thanks to reuse, SCHEMA ST4 makes it possible to create, maintain and publish variant-rich documentation. The variant management is supported by versatile standard functionality and is thus highly efficient. Whether you have 3, 300, or 30,000 variants, SCHEMA ST4 allows you to have all of them in hand.

The quickest way to create a variant is by creating a new compilation. From all modules or from a search result you can reuse via drag-and-drop. You can also copy similar compilations and change them as needed. Reuse is preserved, as is the automatic update functionality.

If you have many similar variants, it’s easier to create a compilation that contains the superset of all required variants. With the help of filters, a specific variant is then calculated. The filters use metadata for this. This process is especially helpful if you can filter your publications based on attribute sets or parts lists.

When configuring variants, all modules are consistently classified, e.g. according to PI classification. Thanks to this metadata, SCHEMA ST4 can automatically populate templates with the appropriate modules. Gaps are detected automatically. This process is helpful when the superset of all required variants can’t be specified and new variants need to be created flexibly.

Your variant management once set up, you can publish the current version at the touch of a button. And even the touch of the button can be automated. SCHEMA ST4 then receives the necessary filter settings from another system (e.g. SAP, Teamcenter, Windchill), calculates the variant, publishes it in the desired output format, and hands it back to the other system.

Translation Under Control

SCHEMA ST4 offers many features which make working with multilingual content easier, including, for example, multilingual storage of document structures, clear presentation of the respective translation statuses, management of multilingual image variants or even the smallest multilingual text variables. Of course, documents for complex languages such as Japanese or Arabic can be produced as well with SCHEMA ST4, since the content is stored in SCHEMA ST4 after translation.

Thanks to Author Assistance, SCHEMA ST4 suggests existing phrases during text creation. In addition, Author Support checks specialist terminology during text entry. This increases the quality of your source text, as the same concepts are described with the same words.

Normally, content is translated externally. For this reason, SCHEMA ST4 supports external translation without the translator needing access to SCHEMA ST4. The exchange of content is in XML, a format that is easier to handle for many translation providers than DTP formats such as Adobe InDesign or MS Word.

Professional translators work with translation memory systems. Together with other manufacturers, we have standardized interfaces to these systems. Based on COTI, any translation memory system can be integrated into your translation workflow. Via TBX and Excel, terminology inventories can be exchanged with other systems.

Publishing in All Channels

Publishing in SCHEMA ST4 is of central importance. Many customers accompany their own products with documents that have been generated in SCHEMA ST4. Appearance is therefore very important. You can create professional publications with SCHEMA ST4 automatically and without layout programming.

 

 

The data format of SCHEMA ST4 is XML. XML separates layout, content, and structure. If the look changes or the content is needed in a different format, only the layout is changed and the content is simply published again.

In conventional authoring systems you need a separate layout for each output format such as Word, PDF, or HTML, which is partially controlled via scripts and programs. With the interactive SCHEMA ST4 Page Layout Designer and Online Media Designer this is a thing of the past. Without the need for programming, you can define flow-oriented layouts for user guides, as well as frame-oriented layouts for complex data sheets, extensive catalogs, forms, or folded boxes.

Layout automation usually produces documents that do not need postprocessing. However, for special requirements with sophisticated layouts, for example marketing flyers or packaging, postprocessing of the automatically generated publications may be required. With Layout Recall, you can make small changes to individual publications, for example adjusting the column width in a table, inserting page breaks, or changing line spacing. All changes are saved and reapplied for the next production.

Today, editing processes don’t end with the production of your publication. How can you distribute information specific to different target groups and appropriate for mobile devices? Whether web site or app, SCHEMA ST4 offers you excellent integration with the content delivery platform SCHEMA CDS.

For Professionals, But Easy

Technical authors keeping complex documents up to date appreciate the graphic and intuitive user interface of SCHEMA ST4. Its information model focusses on the essential requirements in technical documentation. All this with a flexibility technical authors master easily themselves.

Thanks to node and link classes, SCHEMA ST4 offers great flexibility for professionals without programming knowledge and for teams without XML experts. Whether for PI classification or topic types like in DITA: SCHEMA ST4 can fulfill the basic requirements of modern information models, frequently without any customization. The information model is linked to the graphical interface so that changes, e.g. new metadata or languages, are automatically incorporated.

SCHEMA ST4 has integrated MS Word as fully functioning editor. This not only saves license fees and training effort, but makes it easy to incorporate information from colleagues assisting with tasks. For those who prefer to work with an XML editor: You can also use Adobe FrameMaker or JustSystems XMetaL. Even a mixed use of these three editors is possible.

SCHEMA ST4 isn’t just focused on the core advantage of information reuse, but instead intends to cover all the usual requirements of an authoring system. Thanks to the large feature set, it’s often possible to realize even complex new requirements without system configuration. For an overview of its functionality, we recommend the detailed SCHEMA ST4 product guide.

An essential advantage of XML authoring systems is layout automation. However, XML and DITA standards require programming. With SCHEMA ST4, you as user can realize complex layouts without programming.

  • Quickly Create Variants
  • Translation Under Control
  • Publishing in All Channels
  • For Professionals, But Easy

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on the web

Do you and your colleagues work remotely? SCHEMA ST4 also runs on the web, of course. The cloud gives you several advantages in addition to distributed working: Data always remains your secure environment, but at the same time is accessible from any device with a browser. Our solutions are scalable and can therefore be flexibly adapted to any digitization strategy of your company. Want to know more? Get in touch with us!

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Customers who rely on SCHEMA ST4

Bizerba SE & Co. KG
Solutions

Bizerba SE & Co. KG

„Thanks to the high level of functionality combined with user-friendliness, we master all challenges of our everyday work with SCHEMA ST4. Projects with Quanos are consistently professional, and the collaboration with the project manager is always constructive. Quanos handles and solves questions and requests in no time at all.“

Markus Strittmatter, Bizerba SE & Co. KG - Global Information Technology

Bühler Group
Solutions

Bühler Group

„Our requirements for interfaces and migration, for example, are taken up by Quanos in an uncomplicated and timely manner. Throughout, I had personal and open contact with professionals from the business - technical writers and project managers who understand what I need. New requirements could be implemented without updates or interruption of the operative business due to the professional support of Quanos.“

Daniel Ott, Bühler Group - Digital Product Information Lead

adcubum
Solutions

adcubum

„The employees of the Quanos Solution department I was in contact with were very competent and always work in a solution-oriented manner. Fitting requests are usually implemented promptly and to a high standard of quality. Interpersonal communication is always very pleasant and uncomplicated, people appreciate each other and meet as equals.“

Sven Schmitt, adcubum - Documentation Lead

Pilz GmbH & Co. KG
Maschinen und Anlagenbau (en)

Pilz GmbH & Co. KG

„Above all SCHEMA ST4 makes our routine work easier so that the editorial department can focus on its actual tasks.“

Sabine Gernhard, Pilz GmbH & Co. KG - Team Leader Technical Documentation

BSH
Maschinen und Anlagenbau (en)

BSH

„We chose SCHEMA ST4 because most of our BSH requirements are included in the ST4 standard.“

Saskia Miller, Christina Steidle, BSH - Technical Writers

Klopotek & Partner GmbH
Informationstechnologie (en)

Klopotek & Partner GmbH

„Already after a short training period the staff members see the advantages that SCHEMA ST4 provides for their work and the company.“

Inga Willers, Klopotek & Partner GmbH - Head of Department Internationalization and Documentation

Agilent Technologies
Medizintechnik (en)

Agilent Technologies

„For us it is a strategic advantage to be able to count on direct communication and to know that the partner understands one's needs and will implement them.“

Thomas Richwien, Agilent Technologies - Program Manager

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Our products can already do a lot in their standard designs. For particularly individual requirements, we can also adapt SCHEMA ST4 and SCHEMA CDS to your specific requirements.

 

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