Content management is the means by which we can publish material either in text or on the web to optimise access, editing and storage. Echelon has developed a bespoke content management system (CMS) designed specifically to produce attractive and easy to assimilate learning.

The benefits to a client in having material published in this way are:

Our CMS enables a client to publish material in the form of a text book and/or in parallel for the web. So for clients without access to the internet or who prefer their learning to be in hard back content can be digitally printed. For those learners who prefer portability or global availability, the ability to access material via the web is an attractive alternative.

XML allows for material to be searched within a document and a site and to link to relevant material externally stored. For example a student focusing on distance learning material can access the appropriate page of a relevant textbook stored in electronic form externally. Likewise if a paragraph in another chapter within the same learning has relevance the student can hyperlink to it at a time of their convenience. These functions allow the student a much more efficacious way of learning.

Our CMS enables material to be readily stored, indexed and managed. During the publishing process this enables authors, editors, proofreaders and authorized users to be able to get access to material at progressive stages during the project and to revert back to a previous stage if required. For the client it offers a daily project management report as to the progress of each document or the project in its entirety.

For material which needs to be updated or edited on a regular basis publishing via a CMS provides significant cost reductions and speed advantages. Changes are made electronically and can be automated. This costs roughly one fifth of manual changes and is infinitely faster.

Material produced for one purpose can be easily repurposed for another. So for example distance learning produced for students can be rapidly converted into CPD for members through automated instructions.

Echelon’s CMS processes Microsoft Word documents into XML. The system is written in c# for the Microsoft .NET Framework. The XML is stored in a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database. The CMS utilises a series of algorithms constructed using a combination of languages, primarily XSL:T (Extendible Style Language Transformations) and Regular Expressions, to process the XML into client specific content and a supporting website. The content can be output as HTML or as XSL:FO for conversion into PDF, and can include graphics. HTML content can also include multiple choice questions with adaptive feedback. For the client the specification offers flexibility of output, cost effective update and a means of tracking complex projects.