How Much Does Document Conversion Really Cost?
A Guide to Conversion Cost Variables

By David Skurnik
Data Conversion Laboratory, Inc.

About the author:

David Skurnik is with Data Conversion Laboratory, Inc. (DCL). He has been in the conversion business for over 15 years, and has extensive experience in military/aerospace, technical, medical, and legal publishing.

About DCL:


In business since 1981, Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL) specializes in content reuse analysis and document conversion to XML standards. DCL is a trusted vendor of all branches of the US military, and has to date converted over six million documents to military standards.

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Whether to boost efficiency or to maintain compliance with industry or defense standards, members of the defense and commercial aerospace communities are increasingly turning to XML or SGML specifications for their documentation needs. XML/SGML specifications include general standards like S1000D, and also service-specific standards like Army MIL-STD-2361, Air Force MIL-STD-38784, and NAVSEA Class 2 (C2)—to name a few.

Common XML/SGML Standards
S1000D
Air Force MIL–STD-38784
Army MIL-STD-2361
Marine Corps USMC V1
NAVSEA Class 2 (C2)
NAVAIR MIL-STD-3001

But gauging just how much it will cost to convert your documents to XML or SGML is no simple task; a multitude of factors interact to determine the per-page price of any conversion project.

Complicating the matter are the various avenues you may pursue in order to get your documentation into XML/SGML format. For instance, how do you know when it is best to rewrite, or when automated conversion tools might be your best option?

It seems as though misconceptions regarding conversion costs have discouraged many from reaping the benefits of XML/SGML documentation. Too often, I have heard conference attendees say that document conversion would cost them $300 a page and is therefore too expensive. This price is a great exaggeration of the cost of the typical conversion project, and the mistaken belief that it represents an average conversion price stonewalls many worthwhile projects and does a disservice to all those who stand to benefit from more efficient, more functional data.

The misinformation regarding conversion costs runs both ways; it's also not uncommon to find those who think that automated conversion tools are magic bullets that allow for perfect conversions to be performed in-house at the push of a button, and for only the cost of the software itself. This too is misleading.

In reality, documentation conversions are neither as costly nor as inexpensive as many people seem to believe. A $0-per-page conversion done with an automated conversion tool is little more than a mirage; even the best conversion tools necessitate considerable investments in other resources before they can yield useable conversion results. Fortunately, the document conversion that costs $300 a page is also largely mythical—the conversion that costs hundreds of dollars per page is exceptionally rare.

The pervasiveness of these misconceptions has inspired me to write this paper, which I hope will finally bust the myths of fantastically expensive (or inexpensive) document conversion prices. This paper’s objective is to serve as a resource for both military and non-military institutions that are planning an XML/SGML conversion or trying to determine whether documentation conversion may be a cost-effective option.

How much does conversion actually cost?

Document conversions can range from a few dollars to several hundred dollars a page, but the vast majority of domestic-only conversions cost the client no more than $10–20 per page.

Note: The prices cited in this paper are for “domestic-only” conversions; that is, they apply to conversions of data that cannot leave its country of origin. This would apply to most military materials and other materials with specific security considerations (e.g., ITAR compliance). For conversion projects that can be sent offshore, expect your per-page price to be one half or less of the per-page prices listed in this paper.

The prices cited in this paper apply to conversions which must be performed domestically.
For conversion projects that can be sent offshore, expect your per-page price to be one half or less of the prices listed in this paper.

In this paper, we will consider the following:

  1. From what kind of source material are you converting?
  2. What is your target format?
  3. What type of document are you converting?
  4. Does your conversion require the review of a content expert?
  5. Do you require graphic conversion or content reauthoring?
  6. When are automated conversion tools appropriate?
  7. What other costs are associated with conversion?

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Consideration #1: From what kind of source material are you converting?

As a rule, the more sophisticated the source format, the cheaper it will be to convert. Simpler source formats like paper and image-only PDF are the most expensive, since they require extra steps to extract text from the documents. On the other hand, source data in a more advanced format, like that found in documents produced by a word processor, does not require these extra steps and will be less expensive to convert.

  • Paper, Page Images, and Image-Only PDF. These are the most expensive source formats to convert from because they require the additional production steps of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and proofreading.
     
  • PDF Normal. These are the PDF files usually produced by word processing and publishing systems. Unlike image-only PDF files, which are just scanned images of pages, PDF Normal (also known as “searchable PDF”) files do contain the full text of the document. Since there is no need for OCR and the need for subsequent proofreading is largely eliminated, converting from PDF Normal costs less than converting from paper or images. If the above considerations are the variables that can raise or lower the overall cost of your conversion project, then the three items that follow are the constants—that is, costs associated with every conversion project.

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