Conditional processing in DITA plays a crucial role in tailoring manufacturing documentation for different drug manufacturing facilities, production batches, and quality standards. It allows pharmaceutical organizations to create modular and adaptable documentation that can be customized based on specific requirements, ensuring that the right information is presented to the right audience.

Modular Documentation

With DITA, pharmaceutical manufacturers can break down their documentation into smaller, reusable modules known as “topics.” These topics contain discrete pieces of information, such as manufacturing procedures, quality control measures, and facility-specific details. Conditional processing attributes, such as “audience,” “product,” or “facility,” can be applied to these topics. For example, a manufacturing procedure may have different variations for different products or facilities.

Targeted Content Delivery

Conditional processing allows organizations to filter and assemble topics dynamically based on specific conditions. For instance, when creating documentation for a particular production batch, DITA can be used to include only the relevant topics related to that batch’s characteristics. Similarly, when documentation needs to comply with different quality standards or regulatory requirements, conditional processing can ensure that the appropriate content is included while excluding irrelevant information.

Example:

Here’s an example of how conditional processing can tailor documentation for different production batches:

<topic id="manufacturing_procedure">
  <title>Manufacturing Procedure</title>
  <content>...
  <conditions>
    <audience>BatchA</audience>
  </conditions>

In this example, the DITA topic represents a manufacturing procedure. The “conditions” element specifies that this topic is intended for “BatchA.” This means that when documentation is generated for BatchA, this specific manufacturing procedure will be included, ensuring that documentation is tailored to the needs of that production batch.