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Products
HelpServer™ is a web-based
single-source help authoring tool and CMS for Help & Documentation.
HelpServer™ enables you to create and deliver dynamic content
tailored to a user profile and deliver context-sensitive embedded
help, manuals, and knowledge bases. |
Features
HelpServer™ is one of the most comprehensive end-user support
management systems in today’s market. Next is a list of the main features.
Task-based knowledge
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With HelpServer, you are
able to control and distribute knowledge in the context
of a company’s individual requirements by organizing
customer- and business-critical information in an active
central repository. |
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HelpServer’s content-management
capabilities are flexible and extendable. You can deliver
accurate and consistent information to each department within
a company or to any business process that relies on content. |
Application integration
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HelpServer’s API
enables integration with web and desktop applications. Its
standard help functions support application assistance on
multiple levels: the application, the windows, the panes,
and the fields. An application’s help can be extended
by an index, a library, a FAQ, and search facilities. |
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Furthermore, HelpServer’s open standards allow companies to build custom integrations. |
HelpServer Assist
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HelpServer Assist is a
new HelpServer feature to guide users as they do their work
on web applications. As the user moves through a web application,
HelpServer Assist displays vital information in a separate
browser window. This window is a central location for help
and support services, for troubleshooting and tutorials. |
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In addition, as the mouse
moves over important fields in the target application, contextual
information appears automatically as a tooltip over the
field. This kind of contextual information can also be displayed
at the bottom of the Assist window. |
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Future releases will support this functionality on desktop applications. |
Multiple content formats
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HelpServer provides a
fast and simple way to add and organize all kinds of existing
documents: text, engineering drawings, images, audio, video,
HTML, PDF, and so on. For some types, metadata for search
and retrieval is automatically created. For other types,
such as Word™ documents, the files can be granulated
to form discrete chunks of information with the hierarchic
structure and the styles preserved. |
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The ability to handle new content formats in the future is a core feature of the system. |
Importing files and folders with drag
and drop
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You can import entire
folder trees and all the files from your desktop by means
of drag and drop. The entire folder tree is recreated and
the files are kept in HelpServer’s database under the control
of the integrity mechanism. Active links to files are registered. |
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The ability to handle new content formats in the future is a core feature of the system. |
Project Gallery
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A HelpServer Project Gallery
holds all the images and files. Authors who have permission
are able to upload all images/files in batch just by dragging
and dropping from the windows explorer into HelpServer.
Afterwards authors can use and reuse all these media (for
instance series of screenshots, images, video) and files
within topics by picking them from the project gallery.
If a file from the gallery is updated or changed then it
will be immediately active in all the topics where it is
used. |
Exporting multiple output formats
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Any HelpServer folder
or topic can be extracted from HelpServer’s database into
a fixed PDF, XML, structured HTML, Html Help, or Java Help
file. HelpServer uses PDF to support printed documents.
Future releases will support other output formats. |
Conversion of RoboHelp projects
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You can convert RoboHelp
projects created with RoboHelp Classic or RoboHelp for Word
to HelpServer folders and topics preserving links and context-sensitive
help. After convertion you can edit and maintain the information
in HelpServer. Converting projects from other tools in future
releases is foreseen in the system. |
Conversion of Winhelp projects
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Existing WinHelp projects
can be converted to a HelpServer content folder. You simply
drag and drop the Winhelp project file on the HelpServer
Workbench and it will be converted into a full application
help project or a documentation project. |
Conversion of Word documents
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Word documents can be
easily granulated to form discrete chunks of information
with the hierarchic structure and the styles preserved.
The ability to granulate other kinds of files or documentation
projects in the future is a core feature of the system. |
Conversion of AuthorIT XML
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You can convert XML from
existing AuthorIT projects by dragging the XML file and
dropping it on the HelpServer Workbench. |
Smartcontent & personalization
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HelpServer uses "smartcontent" to deliver relevant and focused knowledge.
Intelligence can be added to any content object on the basis of, for example,
an enterprise’s business units, the roles people have in a company, or the experience level people have in performing a task.
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Users can further personalize the information by adding their own comments or notes to a content object,
which are then stored in HelpServer’s database. |
Auditing
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HelpServer’s auditing facilities enable
an administrator to verify/log the actions performed on the content over a period of time.
This allows administrators to answer questions such as:
- Who is using which content?
- What are people searching for?
- What is the authoring activity on a content object?
- What actions did an author perform on the content?
- Etc…
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Conditional paragraphs
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Small pieces of text or one or more paragraphs that
need to be displayed or printed conditionally can be marked with special tags. |
Server-Side PDF generation
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PDF files are created on the spot when
requested from your visitors/customers during their visit.
This means that whenever content changes your authoring
team does not need to go through the whole hassle of exporting
all the changed content into new PDF files.
- Server-Side PDF generation guarantees always up-to-date
PDF files
- Enables you customers/visitors to decide from which
level of entry they want to start printing.
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Globalization
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Multiple languages can
be made available in the same HelpServer installation. The
multilingual authoring environment then enables translators
to keep all translated topics tightly together to facilitate
the translation process. |
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Documents may combine localized content with content in a "fall back"
language, such as English. If a content object is not available in a specific language
then it is automatically replaced by its generic counterpart. |
Translation support
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Content can be submitted
for external translation to translator companies of your
choice. The content is extracted from the HelpServer platform
and can be automatically passed to language suppliers or
agencies where it is translated. As soon as the translation
has finished the translated content is automatically retrieved
and is moved back into HelpServer’s lifecycle. |
Localized interface in French, German, Dutch, or Japanese
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HelpServer’s interface
is by default available in English. But it can be provided
in French, German, Dutch, or Japanese, and other languages
on request (delivery time is 1 month after request). |
Spelling checking
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HelpServer uses a spelling
checker equipped with lexicons in American English, British
(international) English, Canadian English, and 11 European
languages. These lexicons can be extended by special domain
lexicons and customized lexicons. |
Versioning
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HelpServer’s versioning
system enables you to save and to restore older copies of
content. On publish a new copy of an object is created and
linked to the original object. The copy is tagged with a
timestamp and you can provide a version number or a name.
The trail of previous copies is preserved and can be tracked,
viewed, restored, or removed. The versioning can be switched
on/off. It can be manual or automatic |
Metadata
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Metadata are field/value
combinations that are attached to content so that it can
more easily be managed, retrieved, and searched for. Those
fields/values are defined by the administrator and linked
to folder and topic classes. |
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When authors add folders
and topics they can be prompted to assign or select values
for one or more of the fields. Some of those values can
be assigned automatically. If allowed, the metadata can
be changed in the folder or topic properties afterwards. |
Ticketing
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HelpServer is equipped
with a feature to create ticketing mechanisms that assign
unique ticket numbers to new folders and topics. This ticket
numbers can then be used as references in for example a
customer support related context. |
Templates
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You can create templates
to determine the structure, security, style, content, and
properties of other objects. The ability to base new objects
on a template can be switched on/off in the folder and topic
classes. A template can be preselected in a class or the
author can select a template on creation of a new object. |
Separation of content and structure
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HelpServer’s object
model enables content to be organized and assembled into
multiple virtual documents without duplication of information.
Changes made to any of the content objects are immediately
active in all of the documents. |
Cross browser/cross platform
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Information is presented
in the web browser. The pages are in plain HTML that conforms
strictly to W3C recommendations. This means that HelpServer
can be used with virtually any commercial browser of recent
history. |
Customizable look and feel
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HelpServer uses schemes
to specify the way in which the information is laid out
and presented to the user in his web browser. Even more,
every user or group of users can have a specific interface. |
Reusable and shareable components
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Applications, customers,
and business partners share a single knowledge source. The
same piece of content can be reused in several assets without
losing visibility of the impact of changing it. This prevents
redundancy and thus enhances manageability. |
Simplified team authoring
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Authoring is performed
in an environment designed to enhance and ease maintenance
of content by non-technical authors working in a team. No
actions are required to create platform specific files that
need to be distributed. A simple click enables the authors
to publish their work as soon as it is finished. |
Structured authoring
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You can control the kinds
of items that can be added at a specific point in a document
structure. By enforcing structure rules, the authors are
guided through the available items while creating documents.
This helps them work more efficiently and it enables formatting
according to company standards. |
Web-based authoring
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Authors are able to change
topics displayed in the web browser "on the spot"
simply by switching to HelpServer’s edit mode, which invokes
the integrated environment in their web browser. This feature
allows immediate reactions to sudden, perhaps temporary
conditions. |
Collaborative authoring
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HelpServer provides a
team-authoring environment with an automatic and/or manual
check out/check in procedure with exclusive locks for editing.
Authors simply cannot work concurrently on the same object
(folder, topic, etc). While an author makes changes, others
are only able to view the changed object. When the author
has finished, he can release the object(s) for use by others. |
Server-based content
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All data are stored as
objects in a database. Each data request is responded to
immediately from this data source. HelpServer manages its
records automatically from creation through destruction.
This approach ensures integrity, eliminates broken links,
and enables data to be easily kept up to date. |
Offline content
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Users can export the content
they are viewing into files stored on their local disk.
This ‘offline content’ can than be used when they the online
access to HelpServer’s database is temporary unavailable. |
XML support
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All content objects are
stored in XML format. XML has become the standard for inter-enterprise
collaboration. It ensures multipurpose use of knowledge
and enables an entire suite of customers, business partners,
and employees to be supported. HelpServer also applies this
language to integrate with legacy data. |
Scalability
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Scalability is a critical
issue since the amount of information in an enterprise increases
every year. HelpServer’s underlying architecture is
designed to accommodate virtually unlimited growth. In a
multiserver environment, HelpServer takes full advantage
of techniques such as load balancing to provide high-performance
responds. And for huge-volume transactions, HelpServer’s
multiplatform technology enables the mainframe as an environment. |
Security
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HelpServer’s security
model is simple and effective. It uses a permission mechanism
to determine what functions can be executed by whom, and
user-based and role-based permissions can be assigned to
define precisely who can read, change, or delete specific
content objects. |
Import user accounts
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You can import user accounts from other resources such as Window’s Active Directory to the HelpServer database. This prevents the administrator from redefining these accounts.
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Workflow Management
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With HelpServer's workflow mechanism administrators define the flow of tasks to be performed on folders and topics.
People who need to perform a task indicate whether the task is completed, rejected, or skipped which then triggers task transitions.
On each task transition notification messages are send to the assigned contributors of a project to make sure they know when to start their part of the work. Assigned contributors can generate task lists, which tell them exactly what tasks to perform.
As soon as the entire workflow is completed, the project is locked against unauthorized changes.
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Annotations
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HelpServer allows reviewers and approvers of a project to add annotations (=remarks/comments) to topics and folders.
These remarks allow authorized editors to correct and to improve the provided content.
If annotations are combined with notifications, the authorized authors will be automatically warned when annotations are added.
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DITA Support
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HelpServer allows you to import content from files that have the .dita or the .ditamap extension. You can also generate output that produces DITA files.
Note however, that HelpServer does not yet validate against the DITA scheme. However, you can use a third party tool such as XMetal to create your structured DITA files.
If you import content from DITA files you can further develop it and generate various types of web-based and print-based output.
You can of course send the HelpServer content back out to DITA to import it in another tool.
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Snippets
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Snippets are pre-set chunks of formatted content that can be reused in topics of a HelpServer project. This prevents redundancies and errors.
Snippets can be used in a multitude of ways throughout your help & documentation projects:
- Snippets can be suggested while Authors are typing.
- Authors are able to search the content for phrazes and replace a phraze by a snippet.
- Authors can simply select a snippet object from the project gallery to insert it in the content.
Snippets are in fact topics that are create and maintained in a HelpServer project gallery.
Besides text a snippet topic can include any object that can be inserted in a regular topic such as text, images, hyperlinks, variables, etc.
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