Cisco

Program Management

Contiem has been supporting Cisco Systems’ technical documentation needs for over 15 years, working for a variety of departments. One of the groups we support is responsible for the publication of technical content to Cisco’s internal technical staff and its worldwide network of resellers. Supporting this effort is a Contiem project team that is trained on Cisco’s processes and systems and works closely with Cisco subject matter experts (SMEs) worldwide.

The Contiem project team is made up of personnel with the skills and capabilities to support the wide variety of tasks and content types Cisco requires. The team is led by the Contiem Project Manager who has overall program responsibility, including the program’s key performance indicators (KPIs) which were set jointly by Cisco and Contiem. One of these KPIs, unit cost, measures the cost of publishing each type of deliverable, the objective being to identify and implement ways to drive cost reductions.

As part of this program, Contiem tests website content and develops, updates, and publishes the following types of content:

• Technical Support Documentation and Field Notices
• Technical Newsletters
• HTML Web Content

Contiem initially worked with Cisco to understand its business objectives and KPIs to determine the best method for tracking and reporting progress, analyzing and improving publication process efficiencies, and maintaining communication with various stakeholders. The management reporting Contiem provides gives Cisco stakeholders visibility into the status of their projects, budgets, and unit costs.

Contiem manages and supports over 2,000 deliverables for Cisco on an annual basis, providing management reporting and ongoing recommendations for process improvements. By the end of the first quarter of the program, Contiem reduced unit costs by an average of 7%, while reducing the time to publish new content by almost 20%. Contiem continues to work with Cisco to support an ever-changing workload while supporting Cisco’s goal of getting technical content to its internal and external customers on a timely basis while continuing to drive down unit costs. Contiem makes it easy for Cisco to manage its technical content.