Virpi Lyytikäinen

Putting documents into their context in a document analysis

In trying to achieve document standardization the goal is to find more effective, consistent, and standardized ways to utilize information technology. The specification and implementation of document standards may take several years requiring a profound analysis and understanding of document management practices. Document standardization does not concern documents only: it concerns workers, their work, business partners, and future systems as well. In this paper we discuss two ways of describing the work context of documents: process modelling and life cycle modelling. In process modelling, documents are regarded as resources produced and used in inter- or intra-organizational business processes. Different types of documents are typically produced and used in a business process. In life cycle modelling work related to processing of a document of a specific type is described. The modelling methods have been tested in an SGML standardization project called RASKE during the analysis of four case domains: the enquiry process in the Finnish Parliament and Government, national Finnish legislative work, budgetary work, and the Finnish participation in EU legislative work. This paper discusses the modelling requirements in document analysis and describes the techniques used in the RASKE project.

Experiences of SGML standardization: the case of the Finnish legislative documents

The SGML standardization in the Finnish Parliament was activated in 1994 when a project called RASKE was commenced in cooperation with the University of Jyvaskyla. The project carried out a careful analysis of document management and designed 15 preliminary SGML Document Type Definitions for legislative documents. The work has been followed by implementation projects where selected companies have developed and implemented SGML solutions for a specific subset of documents, and the Parliament and ministries have redesigned their work processes. The effects of the standardization have concerned documents, document production, archiving practices, information distribution, and inter-organizational collaboration. From the point of view of a citizen the major effect of the new solutions is in the improved accessibility to legislative information through the Internet. The capabilities offered by the structured form have motivated the Ministry of Justice initiating the design of a database for consolidated legal text.

Usability evaluation of a structured document archive

The paper describes usability evaluation of a prototype archive in a project where SGML-based solutions for the Finnish Parliament and ministries have been developed and studied. The archive consisted of three types of parliamentary documents in SGML format. A usability inspection was preceded by an extensive analysis of the document management in the Finnish legislative and budgetary work. The analysis covered the documents, their use, user roles, tasks, and needs. The inspection method was tailored from an earlier design-oriented evaluation method to be used especially for the evaluation of structured document archives. A grammar-based layered model was used to facilitate the detailed analysis of the application. In the paper we discuss implications of the study to the future design, implementation and evaluation of structured document archive application.

SGML for e-governance: the case of the Finnish Parliament

The public sector as an information-intensive area has the characteristic feature that a major portion of its information management consists of document management. Hence, a critical factor in the implementation of electronic governance (e-governance) is effective implementation of electronic document management. SGML and its subset XML are definition languages by which standard document structures for both e-commerce and e-governance can be defined. The paper describes the ongoing SGML standardisation in the Finnish Parliament and outcomes of the standardisation. The standardisation has been a major redesigning and rethinking effort. The paper shows that the SGML standardisation on the way to e-governance has not only technological effects but also effects on workflows, cooperation within and between agencies, and democracy.

Graphical information models as interfaces for Web document repositories

In interorganisational processes, documents are used to record information created during the processes. Legislative processes involving several legislative organisations, or manufacturing processes involving complicated networks of companies and officials are examples of such processes. In the contemporary computerised environments a great deal of the recorded information is scattered in different kinds of Web repositories with different kinds of interfaces. The repositories should serve as valuable knowledge assets but their use may be difficult and even the knowledge about the kinds of repositories available may be insufficient. The paper presents a method for improving information management in interorganisational processes. In the method, the interorganisational processes are first analysed and the metadata related to the production of documents in the processes is collected. Then the metadata is visualised as graphical models by which documents created in the processes can be accessed. To support a generic solution, an XML specification for the metadata is developed. The method has been used to create visual interfaces for European legal information repositories. The interfaces are currently under testing in the EULEGIS project, which belongs to the Telematics Application Programme of the European Commission.

Analysing Requirements for Content Management.

The content to be managed in organisations is in textual or multimedia formats. Major part of the content is, however, stored in documents. In order to find out the needs of the people and organisations producing and using the content a profound requirements analysis is needed. In the paper, a novel method for the requirements analysis for content management purposes is introduced. The method combines different techniques from two existing methods, which were used in various content management development projects. The paper also describes a case study where the new method is exploited.