Hundreds or thousands of authors need to apply XML metadata to documents before saving them in your organization's document library, but their current authoring tools do not provide a way to do that. Changing to new software is not practical, and the extensive customization required to make their tools XML-aware is out of the question.

You could use a cumbersome forms package or custom develop an application for each type of document to be saved – encountering not only the initial costs but future maintenance requirements as well. What you really need is a solution that allows you to continue using the tools your knowledge workers are familiar with, while making it possible to create custom "catalog cards" for each item in your document library through the use of a simple, purpose designed tool.

The answer is Xpress MetaCard.

Xpress MetaCard is a fully customizable add-in for Microsoft Office and other desktop applications that provides a quick and easy way to assign metadata to a document and store the document and its catalog information in your document library. You have complete control over every aspect of the tool, including the metadata fields to be presented to the user, and how they will appear, through a simple GUI designer.

Xpress MetaCard adds completely configurable commands to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel tool bars and menus. These commands launch the MetaCard application and save the card with the document. These commands do not affect normal activities within the authoring environment. In addition, MetaCard can easily be integrated with other applications outside of the Microsoft Office Suite.

Xpress MetaCard can be integrated with any document or content management system, and the menu commands are editable to reflect your organization’s environment. A document library named “Reports”, for example, might be the target of a Save to Reports button or menu item.

Xpress MetaCard is targeted toward large enterprises that may use more than one document or content management system, or multiple repositories within a single system. Tailored buttons and menu items can be added for each target repository or system.

When the author is ready to enter document metadata, the Launch MetaCard command displays the MetaCard, a fully customizable window that contains each metadata field assigned to the document class. A User Profile button provides access to a second screen with user information.

No two organization’s requirements are alike, so Xpress MetaCard allows you to configure what metadata fields appear on the MetaCard. The MetaCard can display any combination of text boxes, combo boxes, and list boxes.

Data entered into the MetaCard is persistent between sessions. If an author enters metadata information and saves the document locally, the data is retained the next time the document is opened for editing. When saved to the repository, these properties are retained as part of the document file in addition to being stored in a separate, related XML file.

Each login is associated with a unique user profile. The profile information is used to populate the User Profile screen, so that authors need only input personal information once, and the data will be applied to every document they create. In addition, Xpress MetaCard can be configured to capture user profile information via LDAP or through Microsoft Active Directory Service. Like the fields on the MetaCard, User Profile fields can be grouped by category, and can use any combination of text boxes, drop-down lists, or check-boxes for data entry. These fields, too, are completely customizable for your organization’s exact needs.

Once a document is saved to the document library, its properties are automatically read from the MetaCard and inserted into the document library as a separate, related XML document. This allows XSLT transforms to be run against the metadata so that it can be displayed as HTML or converted to other formats. For example, here is MetaCard output for the DoD DDMS: