Services
Document conversion requires experience, expertise, and a team relationship between the conversion vendor and the customer. Pentecom brings the world's leading conversion experts to each project avoiding costly delays that can be introduced by novices who often underestimate the intricacies and issues involved in legacy conversion tasks. Many vendors can create markup that parses but the assigned tags may not match the textual content of the document.
Our experience on your project is what makes the difference.
Document Conversion
We convert paper, microfiche, microfilm, and electronic data to any of the following formats and data types:
- HTML – Hypertext Markup Language
- SGML – Standardize General Markup Language
- XML – eXtensible Markup Language
- PDF – Portable Document Format
- Scanned & Indexed Images
- Vector (CAD) Graphics
- Word Processor (WordPerfect, Word, and various other formats)
- Desktop Publisher (FrameMaker, Interleaf, Quark, PageMaker, InDesign)
Output is provided on all popular media types.
Technical Consulting
- Analysis of conversion project requirements
- Prototypes and studies to help set customer expectations
- Training and overviews of conversion technology
- Document analysis and DTD/Schema development
Programming – Devlopment
- Automated conversion software development
- FrameMaker template development
- Web site development
- Customized programming solutions for automated document conversion
The Pentecom team consists of employees with over 11 years of direct production experience in successful SGML conversion projects. These projects include commercial as well as government projects. The majority of our employees participated in the conversion of nearly 200,000 pages of U.S. Army technical documentation and millions of pages of U.S. Air Force Technical Orders to a legacy, structure-based DTD (MIL-M-38784D Legacy).
Our team also includes personnel who have been involved in the development of the U.S. Department of Defense IETM specifications, including the international standard S1000D, for the past 13 years. Our services and activities include:
DTD Development and Testing
Pentecom participated in the development of the U.S. military's standard technical manual DTD beginning with a 64 document legacy conversion test of MIL-M-38784B for the U.S. Air Force CALS Program Office.
Two years after testing 38784B, Pentecom employees were involved in the testing of a legacy DTD for MIL-M-38784D. At this time, Pentecom worked with the U.S. Air Force to reconcile U.S. Army input regarding legacy concerns discovered in conversion of Army documents using 38784D as a basis. Tagged examples of actual Army documents were provided to the Air Force for use in testing the legacy DTD and a corresponding FOSI using a variety of SGML publishing systems including the Datalogics Composer, ArborText Publisher, and Interleaf SGML.
Technical Document Standards Committees
Pentecom continues to participate in development of the U.S. military's electronic publishing standards, through representation of government clients, in a variety of policy making forums. Such interests and technical contacts have evolved from membership in the CALS Industry Steering Group (CISG) Standards Division as members of the CISG Electronic Publishing Committee, US Specification Implementation Group (USSIG), Electronic Publications Working Group (ASD S1000D EPWG), and the Hypermedia Special Interest Group.
U.S. Military Specifications Development
Pentecom is also involved in the development of the U.S. military specifications, MIL-M-87268 and MIL-M-87269, and has worked closely with these specifications for over 12 years. Pentecom has also developed a number of content-based DTDs in support of a variety of DoD weapon systems and in addition has worked closely with commercial organizations in the development of DTDs based on commercial standards such as ATA.
Automated Markup Routine Development
Development of support routines for tagging software requires training, experience, and development time. Pentecom developers have experience developing INSPEC and LOUISE routines to support automated markup using FastTag. These routines were developed for MIL-M-38784 as well as a number of U.S. Air Force Instruction DTDs, content-based DTDs and commercial DTDs such as those based on ATA and AAP.
Development of these routines involves review of the DTD for legacy data considerations, coding, and testing. Typically, this development process is lengthy; however, Pentecom employees' experience in developing these routines ensures that routines can be implemented quickly for any project.
Offshore Keying Companies
In cases where offshore keying is permitted, Pentecom clients have significantly reduced conversion costs. Pentecom works with specific offshore keying companies that are trained in preparing keyed text for input to Pentecom's automated tagging and quality checking processes.