Novatek recently completed a project where two manuals were written in FrameMaker and then ported (cut and pasted)  into RoboHelp. The process wasn't elegant or perfect– the authors had to perform manual fixes when pasted content lost link information. Changes came in after the Help program was published, which still required double edits. But it was an effective solution.

"If only we had a single-sourcing publishing platform, we could have automated."

The assumption that the investment in a single-source publishing system is required to enjoy the benefits of the approach is incorrect. There are many practices and workflows that can be put into place to realize aspects of single sourcing without any changes or additions to existing software. It does require a commitment to adhere to the conventions, practices, and workflows that allow content to be reusable. It would probably be a powerful change exercise to have a publishing group work this way prior to installing a software-driven, single-source system.

Building a publishing practice around certain aspects of single sourcing without going after the entire system is a worthy approach. For our small project, we couldn't justify any investment in additional software. But it would have been wasteful and expensive to completely rewrite the content for each use. We found a practical, if not perfect, way to get the job done. We also consciously worked in alignment with single-source principles in our limited application. We find that this builds competence, tests readiness, and helps gauge expectations. It also helps us to prepare customers for maintaining the documentation we create.