Getting started

Before you can start implementing templates in KCM, you have to analyze the documents that you need to create in order to benefit fully from the features that KCM offers.

Step 1: Identify the data requirements

In this step, determine how the data should be offered in the documents. Starting point is that the data needs to be prepared for the documents so that it can be used in a simple way.

The application data used in documents differs in various documents. To create the connection to the data, you need to know which data is required. The goal is to define the Data Backbone, the interface between the business application data and the templates data.

For more information on creating Data Backbone, see Work with data.

Step 2: Identify shared content

KCM allows you to benefit from sharing parts of documents -- you can reuse content components that are common to a group of documents. Sharing is important because it increases the maintainability of documents. That means that you have to analyze your documents to determine which parts can be shared.

Some reusable content is reused within the documents that use the same Data Definition, some reusable content is used by all documents. The first content is just created as components within a KCM Repository project, the second content is created in a KCM Repository shared project.

For more information on how to share content, see Work with content.

Step 3: Apply corporate style

The previous steps concentrate on what documents share in content and data. This step concentrates on what they share in look and feel.

Decide on the corporate style that has to be applied to all of the documents. Examine the fonts that have to be used, the company logo and its position on the page, headers and footers, margins of the documents, and so on. Find characteristics that apply to every document. Find characteristics that apply to the subsets of documents you created in the first step. Decide which styles you need and the characteristics of the styles.

Microsoft Word styles play an important role in KCM documents. We advise that you use styles as much as possible to lay out documents. Consistent use of styles guarantees a consistent layout of the result documents. Furthermore, consistent use of styles speeds up the maintenance of the document and can prevent unexpected layout of the result document.

For more information on using and creating styles in Microsoft Word, see the Microsoft Word documentation.

For more information on how to work with document layout in KCM, see Work with document layout.

Step 4: Setting up the KCM Repository structure

Determine how you want to organize your content. Develop a structure of folders. Content that uses the same Data Backbone belongs together in a project. Start with ordering documents using the same Data Backbone in sets of documents that belong together, department-wise, function wise, or for another reason. The idea is to design a structure that is simple enough to be usable and complex enough to allow for future growth.

Step 5: Develop the building blocks

In this phase, you are going to produce the projects/folders and building blocks you identified in Steps 1, 2, and 3, and test them.

Step 6: Develop the style

In this phase, you are going to produce the Style Documents you need and test them.

Step 7: Develop templates and content

With the structure of projects, folders, Includes folders, Includes, Style projects, and Style Documents in place, you can start developing your templates and content or import existing documents and adapt them to the new structure.