Glossary · 5 · Content lifecycle and AI
Content lifecycle
Also known as: Content life cycle, Content lifecycle management, Documentation lifecycle
In technical communication and content management, the content lifecycle is the sequence of stages a piece of content passes through from planning to retirement — typically planning, creation, review, approval, management, translation, publication, use, maintenance and retirement — together with the roles, rules and records that govern each transition.
- Content lifecycle
- Technical documentation
In one sentence
The content lifecycle: the stages content passes from planning and creation through review, release, translation and publication to retirement.
Example
A safety topic for a palletizer is planned from the risk assessment, written, reviewed, released, translated into eight languages, published, revised after a design change and finally retired when the model is discontinued.
How it applies
- Established descriptions: Rockley, Kostur and Manning describe the content lifecycle as create (with planning, design, authoring and revision), review, manage and deliver, as the basis of a unified content strategy. IEC 82045-1 describes document management principles and metadata for documents throughout a life cycle from the conceptual idea of a document to its deletion. IEC/IEEE 82079-1 sets requirements for the process of preparing information for use, not only for its result.
- Status in metadata: Each stage is reflected in a lifecycle state or a status value such as iiRDS ContentLifeCycleStatus, so that systems and readers can tell a draft from released content.
- Machinery and software documentation: Content follows the product through design changes, variants and software releases; change control and version control link each content version to the product version it describes.
- AI functions: When AI functions draft, translate or answer from documentation, each of these activities sits at a stage of the lifecycle. Generated output enters the lifecycle like any draft — it is reviewed and released before it is reused — and withdrawn content is also removed from what AI functions retrieve.
Content lifecycle vs. product lifecycle
The product lifecycle runs from the idea of a product to its disposal. The content lifecycle is shorter and repeats: one product version can need many content versions, and content can outlive the product, for example for spare parts and service. The two are coupled through change control.
External references
- Rockley, Kostur and Manning, Managing Enterprise Content (Google Books): https://books.google.com/books/about/Managing_Enterprise_Content.html?id=61WSVFLVVn8C
- IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019 (IEC Webstore): https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/29075
- IEC 82045-1:2001 (SIS): https://www.sis.se/en/produkter/standardization/technical-product-documentation/iec8204512001/