Ricoh North America
Half a million files.
A faster way to work.
How Ricoh moved its DITA content into XDocs and gave writers more time for the work that matters.
files moved into a purpose-built DITA CCMS
Authoring, localization and content delivery connected through XDocs.
Time saved for a typical routine action in Ricoh’s calculation.
Estimated savings from efficiency gains and process improvements.
The content was structured.
The work was still hard.
Ricoh North America used PTC Windchill for hardware product lifecycle management. As part of this ecosystem, the Ricoh Commercial Print and Graphic Communications business unit had been authoring DITA XML content using Windchill’s content management capabilities and embedded authoring tool, Arbortext, for over a decade.
The team had a vast library of content – over half a million DITA topics – that was locked into an aging, unwieldy system with poor usability and limited functionality.
With cumbersome, complex procedures to accomplish simple things, the productivity hit every day across a team of 20 writers, many publications, and many languages was huge, costing Ricoh thousands of dollars and making it very challenging to provide quality documentation on schedule.
Ricoh North America provides digital business services and printing solutions. The original case study described its global parent company serving Digital Services, Digital Products, Graphic Communications and Industrial Solutions in around 200 countries and regions.
This customer story describes the Commercial Print and Graphic Communications team’s implementation. Product names, customer roles and reported outcomes reflect that original account.
Too many steps to start writing
Using Windchill presented many problems. The system was designed not as a Component Content Management System for authoring technical documents but as a documentation add-on to Windchill with basic functionality focused on hardware assemblies and CAD documents. Windchill was ill suited to managing XML files – simple tasks like locating and checking out DITA files required a writer to make up to 17 separate clicks, multiple times every day.
Publishing that consumed weeks
Publishing documentation for the flagship software product Ricoh ProcessDirector in seven languages required a lengthy, labor-intensive manual process in the old system.
Manual work behind every translation
Windchill’s translation module was practically unusable – a poorly designed afterthought with a myriad of manual steps, not a core part of the software architecture. Tasks such as sending out project documents to Localization Service Providers for translation took up to an hour per language; writers needed to manually identify every changed topic in order to send only changed content for translation. In addition to the huge overhead, this process introduced many opportunities for human error.
the implementation
A large-scale migration.
A deadline that mattered.
The Ricoh Commercial Print and Graphic Communications unit needed a modern DITA Component Content Management System (CCMS) with a fully integrated, world class editing environment. Ricoh needed a robust, scalable system. With a sophisticated, hands-on implementation team, they also needed the system to be open, accessible, and easy to configure, with excellent guidance and support for a fast, aggressive rollout. On a tight budget, they also needed a vendor that was prepared to work with them to find an affordable solution.
After careful review of the options on the market, the Ricoh team chose Bluestream’s XDocs DITA CCMS. The authoring team attained the crucial capabilities it needed.
With Bluestream’s training and technical support, Ricoh migrated more than half a million files from Windchill into XDocs. The implementation was completed in less than 60 days, in step with product-release schedules.
Bluestream’s support team is phenomenal! In my 24 years in this business, working for IBM and Ricoh, I’ve never experienced a support team this responsive, personable, and laser-focused on solutions in such a timely manner
If you’re looking to simplify and streamline content development and management, the XDocs suite is hard to beat.
Bill Duncan
Principal Solutions Architect, Development Tools and Infrastructure Engineering
Ricoh North America
Less administration.
More flow, from author to reader.
XDocs DITA CCMS gave Ricoh a DITA authoring and content management environment built from the ground up with simplicity for authoring and usability in mind. The team could simplify everyday tasks, manage content relationships, prepare translations and connect delivery.
Work where the content lives
Writers could easily open and edit content in Oxygen Author, fully integrated with XDocs DITA CCMS, and simplify everyday editing tasks in an intuitive, fully featured authoring environment.
Sophisticated file references, where-used reporting and link management helped writers identify all topics and graphics in a publication, along with every location where a file was used.
Keep releases connected
Branch and merge capabilities supported release management. Subscription-based event notifications kept teams informed when files changed.
A substantive, open API enabled automation and integration with other systems, including Ricoh’s third-party content delivery platform.
Send the right changes
The XDocs Localization Module identified changed files, automated transfers to and from Localization Service Providers, exported and imported content, and synchronized localization files with the source version.
Writers could continue working on content in the source language after sending it for localization.
The open API changed the delivery story.
Using XDocs’ open API, Bill Duncan, Ricoh’s Principal Solutions Architect for this project, created Sync Commander. The software used XDocs’ advanced search capabilities and export API to provide atomic exports of production-level product libraries.
The tool then uploaded the documents directly to Ricoh’s online platform, Titania Delivery, removing the previous manual publishing process for Ricoh ProcessDirector.
Small moments saved.
A substantial cumulative impact.
With the XDocs DITA CCMS, Ricoh was able to quickly attain all its key goals.
By calculating the time taken to accomplish routine tasks, Ricoh demonstrated that XDocs saved about 20 seconds of a writer’s time for a typical action. The team performed a detailed calculation based on the number of those tasks its writers performed every day, all year.
Saved on a typical writer action
The case study reports approximately 20 seconds saved for a typical routine action. Repeated across the working day, these improvements reduced the effort spent managing content.
Estimated savings over five years
At the time of the case study, Ricoh’s most conservative calculation estimated that the efficiency gains and process improvements from moving to XDocs DITA CCMS would save at least $1.7 million over five years, with the potential for greater savings. This remains a historical five-year estimate, rather than a report of already-realized savings.
How to read these results: These figures describe the Ricoh implementation in Bluestream’s published customer story. The time saving concerns a typical action, not every task. Outcomes for other organizations depend on their content, workflow and implementation.
Key to Ricoh’s success was the training and technical support provided by the Bluestream team to help navigate a complex document migration and implementation process. Bill Duncan described the result:
The investment in XDocs has yielded huge dividends for Ricoh, after migrating half-a-million files out of Windchill and into XDocs. The entire implementation was completed in less than 60 days, aligning with product-release schedules. The resulting time-savings can be measured in person-weeks of time annually.
The integrated tools suite combining authoring, review, CCMS, publishing, and translation management, was designed specifically for XML, which is extremely important. There was no forcing poorly matched software meant for other purposes into this suite. It was clearly purpose-built. The authoring team was thrilled to save several-hundred thousand clicks per author per year, compared to Windchill.
Bill Duncan
Principal Solutions Architect, Development Tools and Infrastructure Engineering
Ricoh North America
Inside the Ricoh implementation
Why did Ricoh choose a dedicated DITA CCMS?
Ricoh’s Commercial Print and Graphic Communications team needed an easier way to manage its large DITA library. XDocs brought integrated Oxygen authoring, content relationships, localization tools and an open API into a system designed for structured technical content.
How much content moved, and how long did it take?
The published case study reports that more than half a million files were migrated from Windchill into XDocs. The implementation was completed in less than 60 days, aligned with Ricoh’s product-release schedules.
What does the $1.7 million figure represent?
It is Ricoh’s estimated saving over five years, based on its calculation of time saved across routine writer tasks. It is not a statement of realized savings or a guaranteed return for every XDocs customer.
How did Ricoh connect XDocs with its delivery platform?
Ricoh’s Bill Duncan developed Sync Commander using XDocs search and export APIs. The tool exports production-level product libraries and uploads them to Ricoh’s Titania Delivery platform.
How did localization change?
The XDocs Localization Module identifies changed files, automates transfer to and from localization service providers, and synchronizes localized content with source versions. Writers can continue working in the source language after content is sent for translation.
Was AI part of the Ricoh implementation?
The published case study does not report an AI deployment. It describes structured DITA content, integrated authoring, localization and API-based delivery. These are documented project capabilities, rather than evidence of an AI outcome.
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