The future content imperative: The role of PDF in content lifecycles

White Paper The future content imperative: The role of PDF in content lifecycles Table of contents Executive summary 1 Executive summary Content demands of the twenty-first century require organizations and markets to rethink 2 Meeting the format challenges of twentieth-century perceptions of content. E-paper, e-forms, regulatory compliance, the modern content lifecycle collaboration, and new content media formats are all placing new demands on organizations and 5 Choosing the right format for the right job their content lifecycles. 8 A format standard for the future Today, content lifecycles have grown more complex to include more review cycles across multiple 9 Conclusion organizations. Documents must be able to present diverse content to multiple audiences, each with different needs and goals; and they must be able to be preserved over a long period of time, as technology evolves. There is no single content file format that is ideal for every purpose or stage of the content lifecycle. The execution of content lifecycles requires different file formats, each optimized for certain lifecycle stages. The PDF standard (ISO 32000) and the various PDF-based standards are file formats that can serve a variety of roles throughout the content lifecycle, especially during the review, publication, and archival stages. The use of PDF has become ubiquitous, with billions of files in existence. The standardization of PDF helps ensure that it will remain an important standard file format into the indefinite future. Its key strengths are high-fidelity content rendering, multiplatform systems support, robust forms technology, support for rich media and interactivity, strong security features, and digital signatures. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is not a file format but rather a standard language for representing various styles of structured content. The main benefit is that there are common rules and tools for processing XML files, even if the schema structure is different. Searching can typically be done on XML files without understanding the details of the particular schema being used. PDF supports the use of XML for exchange of information among processes and information systems such as in forms automation. Open Document Format (ODF) and Office Open XML (OOXML) are content authoring formats which employ XML. PDF is complimentary to both ODF and OOXML. Companies and governments are rejecting proprietary approaches to content technologies as they realize content tools change too often to ensure the longevity of associated proprietary vendor file formats. Electronic records in particular require some reasonable assurance of format longevity. PDF has already withstood the test of time. The first PDF files created 15 years ago are still viable electronic records today. Now, with PDF under the control of standards organizations, independent software vendors, private and public sector organizations can be reassured of their investments in PDF. Meeting the format challenges of the modern content lifecycle Content demands of the twenty-first century require organizations and markets to rethink twentieth-century perceptions of content. Today, organizations must meet the following content requirements. • Content often needs to be preserved at multiple stages within a content lifecycle, not just the final output. • Paper documents are no longer the only final output. • Document collaboration outside organizational boundaries is common and as a result content lifecycles frequently span multiple organizations. • Content automation requires that formats must be process and machine friendly, not just people friendly. • Everyday documents have evolved to include every conceivable content element, beyond just text, pictures, and artwork, such as multimedia and 3D. • Industry and regulatory requirements for content lifecycles and documents have emerged which include detailed content format standards and archival requirements. • The execution of content lifecycles requires different file formats, optimized for different lifecycle stages. The PDF specification was first published in 1993 with the introduction of the Acrobat® applications of Adobe. and PDF quickly became a de facto document publishing and distribution standard in both public and private sectors. Its ability to exactly reproduce original document fidelity with fully searchable text enabled companies to quickly adopt PDF as their preferred electronic document format for customers, suppliers, partners, and employees. Governments across the globe standardized on PDF as the preferred format for citizen-facing documents and forms. As rich media, new collaboration paradigms, and the Internet drove new document metaphors, Adobe continued to innovate and update the PDF specification while preserving backward compatibility with previous PDF documents. Adobe led the direction of PDF for 15 years. Now, PDF is an open standard (ISO 32000), helping to ensure it will continue to evolve to serve the global content revolution as a nonproprietary format. Content lifecycle diversity breeds complexity Content lifecycles used to be discrete treatments of content within organizations with simple workflows and a single electronic content format such as Word, WordPerfect, Wang, and so on. Today, content lifecycles have grown in complexity to include more review cycles across multiple organizations, electronic workflow automation, different formats tailored to different lifecycle stages (for example, authoring versus electronic publishing), automation of some content creation, an explosion of industry and regulatory workflow and content structural requirements, and the integration of newer forms of content (for example, drawings, audio, video, form fields and data, and 3D objects). Documents must be able to present diverse content to multiple audiences, each with different needs and goals, and they must be able to be preserved over a long period of time, as technology evolves. PDF is an ideal document format versatile enough to satisfy this need. 2 While each industry can define a unique content lifecycle, a basic content lifecycle (as shown in figure 1) can be found within every type of organization consisting of these stages: creation, review, publication, utilization, and archival. Let’s explore the challenges of each generic content lifecycle stage and see where PDF adds value throughout this lifecycle. Content lifecycle 1. Creation CAD LESSON ODF XML DOC The start of the content livecycle; when people put ideas to any type 5. Archival of media. 2. Review PDF/A ARCHIVE PDF Data or content is stored for Comments are captured long-term retention. electronically to facilitate more efficient reviews, and create an audit trail. 4. Utilization PDF 3. Publication PDF PDF www. @ PAPER FORM FORM PDF PDF Intended audience engages or Final content is distributed to transacts with the content.