Years of collaboration
2024 – present
Context
Performance analytics databases for the AI-era
For over 30 years, KX’s data analytics tools have been deployed globally by customers in multiple sectors, including healthcare, finance, banking, and telecoms. The suite of tools has evolved significantly, with powerful new AI-enabled capabilities driving growth and attracting new customers.
Aim
An established documentation system and a trained team to maintain it
KX documentation was handled internally, with each product development team approaching their documentation in their own way, without specialist technical writing expertise involved. The result is a few published sites, with over 20 separate sources that had inconsistent formatting, tone, and style.
KX recognised that this was becoming an issue and invested in a documentation team and a MadCap Flare content strategy. They also recognised they needed outsourced expertise to support with analysing content models, building custom templates, migrating valuable legacy content, filling critical gaps in their documentation, and developing a modern portal hosted in Flare Online. Also, they needed help training their internal team.
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Challenges
Many sources of legacy content, a need for a bespoke portal, and an internal team to train
KX had legacy Markdown content that was distributed across 20 repositories. Beyond the repository volumes, an additional challenge arose from the custom Markdown flavour used to generate their MkDocs static site.
KX needed this content migrated into a new developer portal that had to meet KX’s high standards in terms of branding and UX/UI expectations. The design also had to consider the technical writers’ workflow, as the team required greater control over the quality and structure of documentation.
The internal teams would also need training on how to use the portal and to maintain and publish content as KX Systems databases evolve.
Solution
3di created a bespoke developer portal from migrated content and handed it over to the KX internal technical writing team
The 3di team:
- Migrated legacy content from multiple sources, restructured topics according to the new content strategy, and made essential adjustments to transform the imported files into fully functional developer-focused content.
- Designed a Git Flow-style workflow that met the needs of both 3di and KX teams: 3di, handling content migration and frontend development, and KX’s documentation team, responsible for adding new release content, reviews, and publishing the migrated product sites.
- Created a fully customised portal using MadCap Flare. These customisations included replacing Flare’s default search functionality with a third-party engine that supported faceted search implementation and met the developer requirements, as specified by the customer, as well as adding third-party analytics tools, such as Maze, Delighted, and Google Analytics, as specified by KX Systems.
- Provided training to the KX Systems internal technical writing team so that they could successfully maintain the portal.
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Result
A showcase of a developer portal
The new documentation system enhances KX’s developer experience by providing a unified, modern portal that consolidates fragmented content previously scattered across multiple repositories. With technical writers now owning the documentation process, KX ensures consistent, up-to-date content that supports easier developer onboarding and reduces time-to-value for the users of their AI-enabled data analytics tools.
The centralised MadCap Flare system enables version control and unified content management, allowing KX’s growing customer base to access reliable, current documentation. This professional documentation infrastructure directly supports KX’s business growth by enhancing customer experience and enabling the company to deliver developer-focused data analytics solutions.
The project’s success is evidenced by its selection as a showcase on MadCap Flare’s website, demonstrating the quality and impact of the transformation.