Example 1

Example 1 shows how a medical devices company compares content across information products for blood glucose monitoring meters.

Top-level analysis

The table below represents the top-level analysis of their materials.

Comparing information products for blood glucose monitoring devices

	Information product
Content	Owner’s Guide	Quick Reference Card	Quick Start Guide	Press Release	Web Site	Brochure	Product Package	Label (package insert)
Company logo	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Contact information	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Important (read the Owner’s guide before...)	X	X	X		X		X	X
Product description	X			X	X	X	X
Setting up the meter	X	X						X
Testing the meter	X							X
Sampling the blood	X		X					X
Inserting the test strip	X	X	X					X
Interpreting the results	X	X						X
Caring for your meter	X
Solving problems	X	X

The top-level analysis shows areas that warrant closer examination. For example, the company logo and contact information are used in every information product and the product description is used in all but three. In addition, a number of topics related to the setup and use of the product are repeated throughout. This top-level analysis shows the findings for just one product—the blood glucose monitoring meter. Expanding the analysis to look at other products in the same family shows that up to 80% of the content could be reused. Looking even further to other related product lines shows additional commonality in conceptual information about the company and its products.

In-depth analysis

The results of the top-level analysis are used to drive the in-depth analysis. In this case, the top-level analysis shows similar information in the setup and use of the product as shown below

Analyzing content further

*Owner’s Guide*	*Quick Reference Card*	*Quick Start Card*
Step 1 Insert the test strip. Make sure the contact bars go in end first and facing up. The meter will turn on automatically. - - - will appear briefly on the display. Note: The bars must be all the way into the meter to avoid an inaccurate result.	Step 1 Insert the test strip. Once inserted, meter turns on automatically.	Step 1 Insert a test strip to turn on the meter.
Step 2 Apply the blood sample...	Step 2 Apply the sample...	Step 2 - - - will appear on the screen.
		Step 3 Apply the blood sample...

Interpreting the findings

There are subtle differences in the first two samples (Owner’s Guide and Quick Reference Card), but the third sample (Quick Start Card) has a different second step. Are the differences necessary or will they confuse users? Quick Reference Cards provide concise information so the shorter steps are appropriate. The same holds true for the Quick Start Guide; however, the second step isn’t really a step. The differences in the steps should be reconsidered.

Conclusion

Although this example shows just a small portion of content, it illustrates the seemingly insignificant, yet critical variations that can occur in content. In this case, the content would benefit from a unified strategy to ensure that each time the same information appears it is consistent. The core steps that apply to all information products would remain the same; if some steps require supplementary information (e.g., based on user analysis), it can be “nested” within the core. (See Chapter 2 for types of reuse.) Regardless of how the core steps are supplemented, they remain consistent.