Version control for DITA indexes within a content management system is vital to manage changes, updates, and the history of the index. It ensures that all team members are working with the most recent and accurate version of the index. Here’s how version control is managed:

Content Management System (CMS): A content management system serves as the central repository for DITA content and indexes. The DITA index is stored within the CMS, which provides version control features.

Versioning: The CMS maintains a version history of the DITA index. Each update or change is recorded, and different versions of the index are accessible, allowing teams to roll back to previous versions if needed.

Check-In and Check-Out: Team members check out the DITA index from the CMS to make edits or updates. When they check it back in, the CMS records the changes, along with the user responsible for the modification.

Collaborative Workflows: Version control within the CMS is tightly integrated with collaborative workflows. When team members collaborate on the index, version control ensures that changes are tracked and recorded accurately.

Example:

Consider a team working on a DITA index for a product documentation project. The index is stored in a content management system. When a writer needs to add a new entry to the index, they check it out from the CMS. After making the necessary changes, they check it back in. The CMS records the changes and maintains a version history. If there are any issues, the team can revert to a previous version of the index using the version control features of the CMS.

<!– Example of version control in a DITA content management system –>

<index>
  <title>Product Documentation Index</title>
  <indexterm>
    <primary>Installation Guide</primary>
  </indexterm>
  <indexterm>
    <primary>User Manuals</primary>
  </indexterm>
  <indexterm>
    <primary>Troubleshooting</primary>
  </indexterm>
</index>

In this example, the content management system effectively manages version control for the DITA index, ensuring that changes are tracked and recorded accurately.