Content review and approval in DITA involves a structured workflow with defined roles, responsibilities, and processes. The goal is to have a systematic way to verify that DITA tables meet specific criteria, including correctness, consistency, formatting, and adherence to company guidelines.

The key components of content review and approval are assigning roles and responsibilities, reviewing workflow, following checklists and guides, using collaboration tools, and maintaining clear communication.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Define roles such as authors, reviewers, editors, and final approvers. Each role has specific responsibilities and tasks in the review and approval process. These roles are authors, reviewers, editors, and approvers.

• Authors: Authors create and submit DITA tables for review. They are responsible for ensuring tables meet content and formatting guidelines.
• Reviewers: Reviewers assess the content against predefined criteria. They check for correctness, consistency, adherence to guidelines, and overall quality.
• Editors: Editors perform a final review and ensure that reviewers’ feedback is addressed. They have the authority to accept or reject content.
• Approvers: Approvers are the final decision-makers who can either accept or reject content based on the recommendations of reviewers and editors.

Review Workflow:

Develop a clear workflow that outlines the sequence of steps for content review and approval. This includes submission, review, revisions, and final approval. The workflow begins with the author submitting content for revision. The reviewers examine the content based on the project criteria. Editors and authors collaborate to bring content into compliance with the reviewers’ suggestions, if required. Finally, the approvers give the final say on publishing the content.

Checklists and Guidelines:

Create review checklists and guidelines specific to DITA tables. These documents help reviewers assess content against predefined criteria. Reviewers and editors refer to these checklists and guidelines that outline what to look for in DITA tables, which can include aspects like accuracy, clarity, consistency, and adherence to styling guidelines.

Tools and Collaboration:

Use tools and systems that facilitate collaboration and track changes during the review process. This can include version control systems, content management systems, or specialized DITA authoring tools.

Communication:

Establish communication channels between team members for discussions, feedback, and clarification. This can include emails, comments within authoring tools, or dedicated review meetings.

Example:

In a technical documentation team, an author creates a DITA table for an upcoming software manual. The author submits the table through the content management system. Reviewers, including a technical expert and a documentation specialist, examine the table based on predefined guidelines. They provide feedback through comments within the system.

The editor then reviews the feedback and the table itself. They ensure that all issues identified by reviewers are addressed and that the table meets the company’s documentation standards. After any necessary revisions, the editor approves the table for publication.