Determine Cost to Setup FrameMaker 2015

[jbuenger]

Our company is switching from Word to structured FrameMaker 2015. I need to understand the process and costs associated with hiring a company to setup FrameMaker 2015 and convert 250 Word documents to FrameMaker 2015. I'm new to FrameMaker and I know I'm not aware of what the process is, what steps I should take, information I should be aware of to make the transition as easy as possible, and how to evaluate the costs. I've searched a number of websites, but can't seem to find a basic guide on hiring another company to setup FrameMaker 2015. Any ideas on resources I could use?

Thanks.

[Gorly · Accepted solution]

Hi,

this is no trivial task, as your workflow might change a lot.

There are quite some companies out there, that do exactly what you are asking for. If you are from D-A-CH, I could commend some guy to you, who would perfectly fit to your needs.

Question is always: how much time and money do you want to throw at this. If your company isn't going to spend a lot of money, they need to spend a lot of time (yes we all know, that is money too - but hey, it's an internal ressource). You could perfectly gain all the needed knowledge by yourself and do the work without external help. But that takes time - a lot.

If you are going this route (and you should at some point), everybody in here will gladly help you out.

But starting from scratch with no examples and no basic knowledge is pretty hard and painful.

My personal opinion is, that you should have a working process, proper training and start then to dive deeper into the matter.

This will save you a lot of expenses, time and frustration later on.

-Cheers Alex

[Russ Ward]

jbuenger,

I think Alex has described the situation well. It is exceptionally difficult for somebody out here to make specific recommendations, when the need is so open-ended. There are so many variations, including the type of structure that you want to use. For example, the scenario is very different if you plan to build your own structure definition, versus use an existing standard like DITA. I would have dozens of additional questions before I could really give any answers.

Maybe you don't have the time, but I'd strongly suggest that you will have much greater chances of success if you learn FrameMaker, then build the workflow yourself. It is much more likely to serve your needs and furthermore you would be able to maintain it.

Russ

[jbuenger]

Russ and Gorly,

Thanks for the response. You are both correct, it does depend on time, money and knowledge and I will be using the information you two provided to determine how our company should move forward.

Thanks for the help

jbuenger