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How do Knowledge Center users manage tracking shared topics?

Rhonda Fitzgerald

For example, both Bob and Sue are reusing Topic A in their map. However, there is no visual indicator in either Oxygen or Pub Mgr that Topic A is used in more than one map (or publication). If Sue updates Topic A, for example, to document a new feature, then at Publication time, Bob needs to be sure his Publication is using the latest version Topic A (if his product supports the new feature), or maybe he needs to use a previously released version of Topic A because his product doesn't support the new feature yet.  If there were a visual indicator in Pub Mgr, Bob and Sue could check their "shared" topics in their publication's baseline before they publish to make sure they are using the correct version of the shared topic.  If there were a visual indicator in Oxygen, before they update a shared topic, they will be reminded that other people are using this topic so the change will affect other publications. 

Otherwise, writers have to perform a Where used on a topic to see where it is used, which is cumbersome because they won't necessarily know (or remember) which topics are reused in other places. Is there any mechanism in Pub Mgr or Oxygen that would let a writer know that the topic is used in multiple maps/publications?

How are other people managing this? 

Thanks.

PS we are using Build 12.0.2417.0 with Oxygen 17.1.
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  • I'll start by stating I think every SDL customer would benefit from a more robust "where used" report. It has been a focus of the customer group and some solutions have been proposed. I appreciate SDL's attention to this area as reported has been stated to be an area of focus for Tridion Docs+.

    Our current solution to mitigate this is a bit complex and it's feasibility depends on volume but when a user attaches a topic or conref we attach some metadata that can later be filtered through query or searches. It will vary from organization to organization but at my company our content is product or model specific. The procedure is to attach appropriate product meta to topics when you attach it to a map/publication. We then query for that product or model and then find all content related to it.

    If you want to verify that users are using the 'latest and greatest' for shared content then short of writing some sort of script with ishremote to browse the database the best option, that I've found, is to periodically audit baselines looking for "newer version available." Appropriate use of the "Changes" field here is incredibly valuable as it allows users to see why versions were created without too much digging.

    Hope this helps.
  • in reply to David Autry
    Thank you David.

    - If don't mind sharing, what metadata specifically are you adding? Are you adding metadata to the topic <prolog>, something like:
    <prolog>
    <metadata>
    <othermeta name="shared" content="yes" />
    </metadata>
    </prolog>

    - How do you ensure writers add or update the metadata in their shared topics?

    - Prior to doing a final Publish of their content, I am instructing writers to look at their Baseline and do a Clean Up, and then review the versions of the topics being used to make sure they are using the appropriate version. This becomes critical when sharing topics obviously.

    - We are not currently using the "Changes" field, thank you for pointing that out. I cannot add it as a column in my baseline, is there a way to see this data without having to view the topic Properties and selecting the Version tab?
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  • in reply to David Autry
    Thank you David.

    - If don't mind sharing, what metadata specifically are you adding? Are you adding metadata to the topic <prolog>, something like:
    <prolog>
    <metadata>
    <othermeta name="shared" content="yes" />
    </metadata>
    </prolog>

    - How do you ensure writers add or update the metadata in their shared topics?

    - Prior to doing a final Publish of their content, I am instructing writers to look at their Baseline and do a Clean Up, and then review the versions of the topics being used to make sure they are using the appropriate version. This becomes critical when sharing topics obviously.

    - We are not currently using the "Changes" field, thank you for pointing that out. I cannot add it as a column in my baseline, is there a way to see this data without having to view the topic Properties and selecting the Version tab?
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