Bluestream Uses DeltaXignia to Deliver Accurate Multi-Variant Content Merging

Summary

Bluestream faced challenges managing complex branch-and-merge workflows in XDocs, where edits in both the trunk and branch of a file risked errors or lost information. In traditional version control, “branching” allows teams to create separate lines of development, for example, maintaining multiple product variants or documentation sets, while “merging” combines these separate branches back into a unified version. However, when edits occur in both the main (trunk) and branch versions, the process becomes more complex, risking the loss of critical updates or the introduction of inconsistencies.

While XDocs already offered many powerful documentation management features, Bluestream recognised that customers needed a more reliable way to handle growing complexity, especially when edits occurred in both the trunk and branch of a file. To address this, Bluestream integrated DeltaXignia’s Merge technology, combining its unmatched accuracy with XDocs’ powerful documentation workflow management and achieved:

• Safe, reliable branch-and-merge across content variants
• Stronger value proposition for Bluestream
• Faster time-to-market and product development for customers
• Accurate and preserved critical technical information

With DeltaMerge seamlessly embedded, XDocs now gives users full control over reviewing, accepting, or rejecting changes, delivering a complete, accurate, and efficient branch and merge solution. DeltaMerge has become integral to Bluestream’s ability to offer enterprise-grade documentation management, addressing the increasing complexity and risk in managing multi-variant product documentation.

The Challenge

For many of the enterprises working with Bluestream, technical accuracy and version control are non-negotiable. Bob Murray, Director of Solutions at Bluestream, leads a team focused on delivering efficient, future-ready documentation solutions. Before adopting DeltaXignia’s technology, his team faced two key challenges: managing complex conditional variants in product documentation and preventing information loss during critical workflows. These issues led Bluestream to seek a solution that ensured precise and reliable content merging.

Complexity of managing conditional variants in product documentation

Large enterprises, particularly in software, manufacturing, and organisations with multi-product lines, face increasing complexity when maintaining documentation across multiple variants of the same product. Different features may be released in one version of a product but not in another, leading to branched documentation that must be managed and reconciled over time.

“There are various industries that use merge. It’s pretty common in software, for example, for the command reference guide, or any documentation where you have different variants of the product at different stages in its development cycle, and you’re introducing features. Some features are only shipping in one product but not the other.”

Without a sophisticated approach to manage branches and merges, enterprises risk inefficient processes, duplicated work, and delays in product documentation. For organisations operating in fast-moving sectors, this can become a barrier to releasing accurate documentation on time, directly impacting customer experience and even product adoption.

When managing complex documentation with multiple product variants, Bluestream’s customers faced challenges in keeping track of changes and merging updates across different documentation branches. Without a reliable solution, merges could overwrite important edits or lose critical information.

Risk of information loss when merging documentation

Bluestream handles technical documentation for customers from a wide range of regulated and safety-critical industries, such as automotive, aviation, manufacturing and medical devices, where the accuracy of technical documentation is critical. For such organisations, managing change in their documentation presents significant risk when edits have been made both in the trunk and the branch of a file. Without an intelligent merge and approval process, changes from one version can overwrite changes from another, leading to critical information loss.

“Users would merge and they would override changes they had made on trunk. And that could be catastrophic, it could render the product useless or even introduce risk, if the lost information was related to safety features or just technical accuracy.”

In these scenarios, the inability to give users clear visibility and decision-making authority during the merging process creates the very real possibility of information loss, a risk that enterprises cannot afford when dealing with complex product documentation. This risk of information loss not only jeopardises product safety but also exposes organisations to potential regulatory fines, recalls, and reputational damage.

Recognising the gravity of these challenges, Bluestream sought a solution that would enhance their offering and enable accurate branch and merge to address these challenges. This led to the implementation of DeltaXignia's advanced merge technology into their XDocs DITA CCMS platform.

The Solution

To overcome the challenges of managing complex product documentation and mitigating the risk of information loss, Bluestream integrated DeltaXignia’s merge technology into their XDocs platform. DeltaMerge was chosen for its unmatched ability to handle structured content, such as XML and DITA, as well as its ability to track and merge changes across multiple versions, a capability that standard code or text-based merge tools simply cannot replicate.

DeltaMerge offers powerful features that make it particularly well-suited for Bluestream’s needs. Its ability to perform 3-way and N-way merges allows teams to track multiple edits simultaneously, while automated conflict detection flags potential issues for review. Customisable merge rules and precise control over complex conflicts ensure that changes are applied accurately, preserving the integrity of critical technical information.

By combining DeltaXignia’s advanced merge algorithm with XDocs’ powerful end-to-end documentation workflow management, users now have a complete solution that allows them to review, accept, or reject changes with full control, minimising the risk of errors or lost information.

“Many change detection tools struggle to discern changes in markup (XML elements and attributes) from textual changes. DeltaXignia can elegantly and precisely separate and discern those different types of changes.”

This integration has enabled Bluestream to enhance XDocs’ branch and merge capabilities, allowing customers to manage documentation across multiple versions safely and efficiently.

Solution Tailored for Optimal Performance

The effectiveness of XDocs branch-and-merge functionality is also demonstrated by one of Bluestream’s clients, QAD. Using XDocs DITA CCMS, QAD automated workflows for Business Process Workbooks, enabling efficient management of multiple documentation versions, reducing duplication, and accelerating release cycles. The implementation resulted in an 80% reduction in the time taken to create these custom Workbooks, highlighting the tangible benefits for large enterprises handling complex content.

This example of real-world success emphasises the value of content management and advanced branch-and-merge capabilities in XDocs, a task that DeltaMerge is designed to handle with speed and precision. With DeltaMerge embedded, Bluestream strengthened XDocs’ ability to deliver enterprise-grade documentation solutions, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and compliance for customers in highly regulated and fast-moving industries.

DeltaMerge change detection within XDocs showing changes flagged for review

The Result

The integration of DeltaXignia has delivered significant benefits to Bluestream’s platform and its end users.

• Significantly reduced time-to-market for Bluestream customers.
• Enabled safe and reliable branch-and-merge workflows.
• Strengthened Bluestream’s value proposition.
• Accelerated Bluestream’s development roadmap by addressing a key requirement with proven technology.
• Supported efficiency in multi-variant product documentation

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