There’s no denying that it was a true eye-catcher at the SCHEMA Conference: visitors to the Nuremberg exhibition centre were greeted by the sight of a bright orange Audi touring car parked right in front of the entrance. And with good reason, too. Many of the components inside this thoroughbred racer are supplied by Bosch Motorsport, who have been using our Component Content Management System SCHEMA ST4 to prepare parts documentation for 11 years now.
Touring cars have only one seat – naturally for the driver. Ulrich Michelt is also the sole pilot in charge of the technical writing responsibilities for the Bosch Motorsport product range. He manages manuals for nearly 50 products, plus approximately 200 data sheets and a 400-page product catalogue. The latter is made available in both printed and digital form.
Ulrich Michelt is therefore a one-man editorial team – and is hardly uncommon in this respect. He and several of our customers are proof that even a tiny technical writing team can harness the quality and efficiency improvements offered by professional component content management systems such as SCHEMA ST4.
The products for which Ulrich Michelt prepares the documentation at Bosch Motorsport are just as special as the car drawing such admiring glances at the SCHEMA Conference. They are all products that you would find in a “normal” road car, but which have been designed for the unique demands of motorsport. Injection valves, throttle valves, ignition coils, sophisticated driver displays – Bosch Motorsport supplies electronic components to customers around the world, includingboth factory teams and private customers.
But how did ST4 come on board? When Ulrich Michelt started in the technical writing department at Bosch Motorsport, he initially used Microsoft Word – an experience he shares with many other technical writers. As part of a collaborative project with a sister company in the Bosch Group, he was able to switch to SCHEMA ST4 in 2008. Since 2018 he has been enjoying his “own” ST4. This clearly shows that not only Ulrich Michelt, but also those in charge of allocating financial budgets at the company, have been thoroughly impressed by the lasting benefits of procuring ST4.
After 11 years of experience, what would Ulrich Michelt say are the most important arguments in favour of SCHEMA ST4 as a content management solution?
Right at the top of this list is the ability to systematically reuse content. No piece of text or image has to be maintained in multiple locations – all print and online channels can be supplied with content from a single data source. Without ST4 it would also no longer be possible for a single person to take care of the documentation workload that has grown over the years.
In a similar vein, Ulrich Michelt particularly appreciates the exceptional variant management feature, as virtually none of the products are produced in just one form. Thanks to the modulization approach adopted by SCHEMA ST4 and the graphical user interface, this is an easily manageable subject for Ulrich Michelt.
A third point that is important to Ulrich Michelt is the high degree of automation that he is able to achieve with SCHEMA ST4 as the component content management system. The effects of this are particularly pronounced in the efficiency gains he has been able to make with automated layouts. All he needs to do is enter the data without giving a second thought to the layouting. It is only when the publication is being created that preconfigured layouts convert the media-neutral data into an appealing information product.
Of course this all takes place at the push of a button. Just like starting a racing car.
