Can AuthorIt and Flare co-exist?

[eklisiewicz]

Hello, My group was in the process of migrating from Frame to Flare when our company was acquired. The new company uses AuthorIt. At first, this was not a concern because our groups were still working on existing product lines, but now it appears we'll be working on projects collaboratively. So the question arises as to whether the two different tools can share content seamlessly. I have tried sending the other users output from Flare in WebHelp format, but I am not sure that is the best way to exchange information.

I would like to hear if other folks have experienced this, and what your conclusions were. Thanks.

[Nita Beck]

I could be wrong (and I'm sure someone will pipe up if so!), but I suspect that the programs are not interoperable, that their source files are sufficiently different that they cannot be maintained with both. I suggest that the best folks to ask are MadCap. If you don't have a maintenance contract, perhaps ask your sales rep.

[eklisiewicz]

Hi Nita, thanks for the quick response. we do have platinum maintenance, so I will call this in. I suspect we will end up using AuthorIt as I have no say on what tools are used.

[RamonS]

You need to see if the project files can be shared, not the output. I do think as well that sharing isn't an option. Too bad that you have no say in which tools you use. This is like telling a carpenter which hammer to use.

[SteveS]

It'll be interesting.

I seem to remember when we tested AuthorIT, before deciding on Flare, that AuthorIT keeps all its source within a database.

[wbrisett]

Hi Elizabeth!

AuthorIT is now using DITA, so that's a plus. However, trying to live in a DITA world and Flare world is a tough act. Mostly because Flare does a great job of importing DITA, but a pretty poor job of exporting DITA. If you're using any of the key options in DITA 1.2 (conkeyref, keydef, etc.), you can get those to import into Flare, but there is no way to export those (makes me wonder if Flare isn't still using a DITA 1.1 DTD). If you have no choice, I'm going to say that AuthorIT is going to win. In the past I've never had great success in getting Flare adopted. In many ways even though I think Flare holds some very distinct advantages over DITA (especially in the output arena), once companies move to DITA it becomes very difficult to move out of it. Mostly because management has sunk tons of money into CCMS systems, time and personnel to get the systems working, and most don't want to see the project fail.

We looked a bit at AuthorIT when I was at my previous employer, it reminded me a lot of Flare, just surrounded by the restrictions you have in DITA topic structures. If you do have to migrate again, it may not be all that difficult.

Wayne