CHANNELADVISOR BASES NEW ONLINE HELP ON FLARE FROM MADCAP SOFTWARE
Leading Online Marketing Solutions Provider Uses Flare to Convert FrameMaker Content
into State-of-the-Art Online Help Systems and Documentation
San Diego, CA, USA – March 12, 2007
— MadCap Software, the leader in
multi-channel content authoring and a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Visual Studio 2005 showcase
company, today announced that ChannelAdvisor Corporation has implemented MadCap Flare to
deliver state-of-the-art online Help and user documentation. ChannelAdvisor is a leading
provider of channel management solutions for online marketplaces. The company is using Flare,
the first native XML content authoring application for single-source, multi-channel
publishing, to transform content created in Adobe FrameMaker into online Help systems and
a range of PDF documents. Flare's transparent single-source capabilities are enabling
ChannelAdvisor for the first time to provide updated online Help every two weeks and create
customized Help systems for customers.
ChannelAdvisor, headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC, is empowering industry-leading
retailers and manufacturers to sell their products across multiple ecommerce channels,
including eBay, Amazon.com, Google, Shopping.com, Shopzilla and many others. In 2006,
ChannelAdvisor managed over $1.6 billon in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of its
customers. The company's flagship product is ChannelAdvisor Merchant™, an on-demand platform
designed to give retailers an automated way to manage and grow their sales on online
marketplaces. Recently, the firm added SearchAdvisor™, a paid search marketing solution for
managing large, complex search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns across multiple search
engines.
In August 2006, ChannelAdvisor decided to enhance its customer support by providing a
context-based online Help system that would complement the company's print documentation.
Because much of the documentation had been created in Adobe FrameMaker, integration with
this product was a top priority. After confirming that Adobe RoboHelp lacked direct FrameMaker
integration, ChannelAdvisor evaluated several content authoring products, including MadCap
Flare. The firm then evaluated the products and obtained counsel from several technical
communications experts. Ultimately, ChannelAdvisor selected MadCap Flare for its
XML architecture, which facilitates single-sourcing, and the modern look of its output.
"We are providing retailers with state-of-the-art solutions for marketing and selling
on some of the world's most prestigious ecommerce channels, so it's important for our online
Help and print documents to have a modern look that is in keeping with what they see on their
websites," said Rebecca McMurry, a documentation product manager with ChannelAdvisor.
"MadCap Flare provides the attractive, up-to-date image we're looking for, and it is
very easy to color-code our Help content in line with our branding: orange for Merchant and
red for SearchAdvisor. Flare is also the most intuitive product we evaluated, and the
integration with Adobe FrameMaker is very clean."
ChannelAdvisor had committed to deploying its online Help system in Fall 2006, so choosing
MadCap meant starting the Help system with the beta version of Flare 2.0 in order to get
the FrameMaker integration
and complete the project on time. There also was the
learning curve of using a new product. As a result, MadCap Software's superior support and
fast response to ChannelAdvisor's inquiries played an important part in the company's
ability to meet its deadline.
"Going with the first version of Flare to support FrameMaker might have been considered
a risk, especially with a major deadline fast approaching, but we wanted to put in place the
right solution for the long-term," said Ann-Marie Grissino, a technical communications
consultant working with Ms. McMurry. "Flare has the right functionality, and equally
important, MadCap has some of the most knowledgeable experts in the industry. With MadCap's
support, we made our deadline, and the ChannelAdvisor developers were so excited by Flare's
cool, colorful context-sensitive Help that they immediately started suggesting new projects."
Ms. McMurry added, "The whole MadCap team was very supportive and provided a strong
complement to Ann-Marie's expertise. I don't think we could have met such a tight project
deadline working with another vendor."
Since launching the first Flare project in October 2006, ChannelAdvisor has been able to
achieve some important firsts within the company. In support of its new SearchAdvisor
solution, ChannelAdvisor has rolled out its latest Help project in record time, taking
just six weeks from original content development to publishing the online Help system and
PDFs. The company also can now publish updated online Help content for ChannelAdvisor
Merchant every two weeks in line with the on-demand solution's bi-weekly enhancements.
In the past, Help documentation updates were only published with major releases.
ChannelAdvisor also is beginning to deliver customized online Help for its customers.
Key enabling functionality in Flare includes the use of variables that allow ChannelAdvisor
to make a change once and then with the click of the re-import button have it automatically
replicate throughout a Flare project and all of the output, whether to ChannelAdvisor's
online Help system or any number of its PDFs. Also important is the ability with Flare to
create a connection between a source FrameMaker document and a Flare project during the
import process, retaining the ability to continue editing content in those source files.
Any changes to the source documents are re-imported into the project automatically and
included in Flare's output. As a result, ChannelAdvisor has been able to take conditionalized
text in FrameMaker and link it to variables within a Flare project to automatically select
which content will be published across the different outputs.
"As one of the world's leading solution providers for online marketing, ChannelAdvisor
recognizes the value of content that is timely and tailored to the needs of Internet
retailers," said Anthony Olivier, CEO of MadCap Software. "We are honored to play a role
in ChannelAdvisor's delivery of right-time, best-in-class online Help and documentation through
Flare, which provides an important bridge between the power of single-source, multi-channel
publishing and the rich legacy content in applications like Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft
Word."
About ChannelAdvisor Corporation
ChannelAdvisor Corporation provides technology and services that enable industry-leading
retailers and manufactures to sell their products across multiple online marketplaces such as
eBay, Amazon.com and Overstock.com, comparison shopping engines such as Shopping.com,
Shopzilla, Nextag and Froogle, and search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. In 2006,
ChannelAdvisor managed over $1.6 billon in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of its
customers. ChannelAdvisor solutions combine best practices, innovative software applications
and integration technology to dramatically accelerate online channel sales. ChannelAdvisor's
customers include Nokia, GSI Commerce, Sears and Motorola. ChannelAdvisor Corporation is
headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC with offices in Seattle, the United Kingdom and
Germany. For more information, visit,
www.chaneladvisor.com.
About MadCap Software
MadCap Software, headquartered in San Diego, is just a new name for a group of familiar faces
that have been leading the technical writing community for over a decade. With its flagship
product, MadCap Flare, MadCap Software is once again leading the world of content creation
and delivery into the future. Today more than 1,000 companies including Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
are customers of MadCap's native XML software for content authoring and multi-channel publishing.
MadCap is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the
industry, including many former core members of eHelp® Corporation, creators of RoboHelp®.
Learn more about MadCap Software and its documentation authoring suite at
www.madcapsoftware.com.