Category Archives: S1000D

Launching Tools Page on the OptimistWriter.com

S1000D

When I published my first book on S1000D “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” last year, I have offered a Microsoft Excel® file along with it, which contained the main content of the book and offered a possibility for projects to copy-paste and use its content in their business rules Excel files.

I released “S1000D® Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map” this year and took it with me to the S1000D User Forum in Amsterdam. Almost immediately after learning about the new book, several participants who knew and used the “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” asked me, whether I made a similar Excel file for the new book.

My answer then (June 2017) was that no, I didn’t create such a file since the new book contained the information the first book lacked, and for which I primarily created the Excel file. This purpose was the references to the chapters and paragraphs of the specification where the Business Rules Decisions Points (BRDP) are defined.

Later I realized that the Excel file based on my S1000D books could not only be used to track references inside the S1000D text but also for its application as a template for the BR definition. That is why S1000D working groups offered the BRDP Index in Excel format in the S1000D download package of Issue 4.1 in the first place. And I recalled that the BRDP Groups / S1000D Topics I have identified in the books I compiled, were utterly useful to filter the BRDP relevant for the projects and organizations in each stage and context of their S1000D implementation.

So I decided to create a Tools page on my website offering a variety of content both on S1000D and other topics.

The S1000D content both for Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 is now available for purchase and use.

I am working now on a resource based on my book “Take Control of Your Business” which introduces the notion of business rules to the general public. Later I will add further content on various topics including self-gamification and writing.

You can find more details on this new page here. I hope the information you will find there will help you in your projects and undertakings.

Un-publishing “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled”

S1000D Books by Optimist Writer, S1000D Business Rules

In a book I published earlier this year I wrote the following:

“Not many want to think about terminating the existence of their product or service, hoping it will be there forever.

But it won’t. At least not in its very first shape or version. Besides, the updates might be so crucial that at some point you will have something entirely new and different than merely an upgraded product or service.

I can guarantee that sooner or later you will need to discard one (and most probably more) of your products or services or various parts of them.”

“Take Control of Your Business: Learn what Business Rules are, discover that you are already using them, then update them to maximize your business success.”

I didn’t think I would need to terminate one of my books that soon after the start of my business (not yet two years), but I know it is a correct decision.

What happened is the following. Last year I published a resource for the S1000D community titled “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled.” It arranged 552 Business Rules Decisions Points (BRDP) defined by the specification and also added several new ones into a sequential chain for the S10000D implementation. The book was very well received by the community.

This year I have published a follow-up resource named “S1000D® Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map.” It could not serve as a new edition of the “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” because this time the book covered two issues of the specification and also showed the relationship between them when it came to the Business Rules Decision Points.

The “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” continued to sell after the publishing of the second book. I realized that it only sold because of its lower price and that situation didn’t feel good.

If we compare the “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” and “S1000D® Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map,” it is clear that the former is of the lower quality than the latter. Therefore, I have unpublished it.

To compensate for the possible inconvenience, I have considerably reduced the price for the “S1000D® Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map.”

You can find the reasons of un-publishing “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” and the new prices for the “S1000D® Issue 4.1 and Issue 4.2 Navigation Map” on the “S1000D Issue 4.1 Untangled” page here.

Contributing to Mekon’s Bitesize on Business Rules – 10: The S1000D community is a big family – an S1000D project is a big family too

S1000D Business Rules

When I gave my presentation at the S1000D User Forum in Amsterdam in June this year, with the title “How to Accelerate S1000D Implementation by Slowing Down”, I have mentioned that users working with it sometimes complain about too many players in an S1000D project. I then named several of the many different roles involved in or related to a project implementing S1000D.

This statement was met with nods during the presentation. Later at the coffee break, several participants at the forum stressed how true this statement was and how this fact was sometimes forgotten, ignored, or even that many in a department or organization implementing S1000D were simply not aware of that.

This recent memory of discussions at the forum moved me to write a short article for the Mekon‘s Bitesize on Business Rules series to point this out again and also explain why knowing who is involved in the S1000D implementation process (even if remotely) is so important, also for business rules definition.

Click the title of the article to find out more: “The S1000D community is a big family – an S1000D project is a big family too.”

(Credits: Photograph ©librestock.com under the keyword “family”)
  

P.S. These two books were displayed at the User Forum (click on the image to check out the book details):

Contributing to Mekon’s Bitesize on Business Rules – 9: Exploring brdoc Schema – Why there is a dedicated element for a business rule decision and none for a business rule decision point

S1000D Business Rules

As the new brdoc Schema gets explored and implemented, I receive questions on the intention of one or another construct in it.

I have written an article in frames of the Mekon‘s Bitesize on Business Rules series to share the reasons behind the structures and element names in the Schema for the primary business rules constructs: Business Rules Decision Points and the Business Rules Decisions. There is a seeming discrepancy in the way we (at the Business Rules Working Group, BRWG) have structured it: one having a dedicated element and the other not. But the deliberate and conscious decisions on the part of those who developed and reviewed the Schema stand boldly for the reasons behind this and I wanted to share them with all who might be interested.

Click here to find out more: Bitesize Business Rules: Exploring brdoc Schema – Why there is a dedicated element for a business rule decision and none for a business rule decision point.

At the end of this article, you will also find an invitation to a webinar (planned for June 28) with the title “S1000D is More than a PDF file, default BREX, and XML Schemas.”

Click here to find out more: “S1000D is More than a PDF file, default BREX, and XML Schemas.”

(Credits: Photograph ©librestock.com under the keyword “decision”)

P.S. Check out the two new books on Business Rules and S1000D Issue 4.1 & Issue 4.2.

Contributing to Mekon’s Bitesize on Business Rules – 8: What is more important, or what comes first – business rules or implementation?

S1000D Business Rules

I used to think of S1000D business rules and S1000D implementation separately. I did think business rules definition to be a part of the whole S1000D implementation process. But other than that I couldn’t think of a connection between them. Implementation was always something big, and quite the unknown. The business rules, on the other hand, were more concrete and therefore easier to grasp.

Little did I know that someday I would find an entirely different connection between them, without intending this. Only after publishing my book “Take Control of Your Business”, where I give a simple introduction to business rules, I discovered that I had attributed the rules of implementation processes to be a part of a complete set of business rules.

In the eighth article to Mekon‘s Bitesize on Business Rules, I have shared the whole story, told how I discovered the business rules definition and implementation processes to be entangled more than I have expected, and also about the recognition why they never should be considered separately.

Click here to find out more: Bitesize Business Rules: What is more important, or what comes first – business rules or implementation?

At the end of this article, you will also find an invitation to a webinar (planned for May 24 and June 28) with the title “S1000D is More than a PDF file, default BREX, and XML Schemas”.

Click here to find out more: “S1000D is More than a PDF file, default BREX, and XML Schemas”.

(Credits: Photograph ©librestock.com under the keyword “business”)

P.S. Check out the two new books on Business Rules and S1000D Issue 4.1 & Issue 4.2.