Andrew Lewellen's Writing Samples

Andrew Lewellen

Writer & Content Strategist

e: [email protected] ph: 312-316-5888

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Writing Samples Table of Contents: Abbot MyFreestyle.com Landing Page ………………………………………………………………………... 2 “Opioid Update for Pharmacists” E-Learning Course Script …………………………………………… ...3 Article for Stet: The Newsletter of the Independent Writers of Chicago …………………………………7 Article for the Carbondale Times ………………………………………………………………………………10 Novel Excerpt from “The Father, The Box, and the Holy Cowboy”………………………………………11 9 Database User Guide for WHITTMANHART Interactive…...……………………………..…...……………18

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Coach: Pain is devastating and debilitating. For patients in hospitals, it can complicate and pro-long recoveries. For people in the community, it can hamper the most basic activities. As a pharmacist, what is your role in treating pain? When you receive a prescription for an opioid, how do you know it’s appropriate? What do you do if you have concerns? How can you ease patients’ suffering? Welcome to "Opioid Update for Pharmacists." I'm Robert Adams, a PharmD, and I'll be your coach throughout this course. This learning module will update you about your responsibilities as a pharmacist in prescribing opioids. In the module, you will work with four patients taking opioids for pain: an elderly woman struggling to recover from a hip replacement; a woman battling arthritis; a former substance abuser fighting the pain associated with her spine surgery; and a young man trying to overcome pain that has resulted from a motorcycle accident. These patients are depending on you. Their doctors have prescribed them opioids. But are the prescriptions safe? Are they appropriate? Will they work? These are just some of the questions you’ll need to answer in order to help these patients. But before you start the scenarios, two pain management experts, Dr. Russell Portenoy and Michael Inzerillo, will bring you up to speed about opioids and your role in prescribing them.

Course Introduction

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Hospital Scenario #2: Coach: Mrs. Peters is suffering from arthritis. She has been prescribed opioids to treat her pain, but she's concerned that taking the medications will turn her into an addict or a zombie. She’s come to Hammet’s pharmacy, where Sarah Jenkins is trying to figure out how best to help her. You will assist Sarah in making decisions about answering Mrs. Peters questions and filling her prescriptions. Only the most prudent and well-informed decisions will ensure that Mrs. Peters has her pain relieved. Sarah: Mrs. Peters, I want to help you, but I have to address this issue of your needing to refill the prescription early. First of all, were you taking this medication to help your pain? Mrs. Peters: Of course I was taking it to help my pain. That’s why I. My knee was really bad. Sarah: And were you taking extra medication everyday? Mrs. Peters: Well, for the past ten day the pain was really excrutiating, so I was taking two pills instead of one. Sarah: And did it help your pain? Mrs. Peters: It helped it somewhat. It reduced it, but it’s still there. Sarah: Did you experience any side effects to this medication when you took more? Such as constipation, mental cloudines or anything else. Mrs. Peters: No. I didn’t have any of those things, thankfully. Sarah: Well, have you experienced the same pain the whole time? Mrs. Peters: Well, the pain in my knee had gotten worse, and the medicine helped it somewhat. Sarah: And did you tell Dr. Pilari that you were taking more pills each day? Mrs. Peters: No. I didn’t want to bother the doctor. I just figured I had the pills, so I would take them. Sarah: So the only reason the pills are gone is because you took more? Mrs. Peters: Of course. Why else would they be gone?

Scenario Introduction

Scenario Excerpt

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Sarah: Well, Mrs. Peters, I have to tell you, you really shouldn’t take medication like that, without talking to your doctor. It’s not safe. And you can do significant damage to your body when you don’t take pills as prescribed. It’s important for you to contact Dr. Pilari if the pain is getting worse so that he can tell you what to do, and so that you can take these pills safely. Mrs. Peters: So, are you saying that they’re not safe? Sarah: I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying the complete opposite. The drugs are absolutely safe. If you take them as prescribed. Mrs. Peters: Okay… (looks upset) Question: Based on what Mrs. Peters told Sarah, what should Sarah do? Coaching Text: When a patient reveals important health information to you, you need to make a good decision about how best to help them. You should be able to take action that will aide in relieving her pain. Choices:

1. Give Mrs. Peters a few pills to tide her over until the refill date.

2. Tell Mrs. Peters to come back in a week, when Sarah can refill the prescription.

3. Call Mrs. Peters' doctor about the prescription. Choice 1 Playout: Coach: This is illegal. Sarah cannot do this. Feedback: Coaching Text: If you dispense a medication that has not been authorized by a physician, you could face legal and professional consequences.

Decision Point

Feedback

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For more information on this issue, review the support information below. What you said: Sarah should give Mrs. Peters a few pills to tide her over until the refill date. Why this was not the best choice: It is illegal to dispense a prescription that a physician has not authorized. Doing this could result in legal and professional consequences. Choice 2: Playout: Coach: Without medication, Mrs. Peters would be in extreme pain. Feedback: What you said: Sarah should tell Mrs. Peters to come back in a week, when Sarah can refill the prescription. Why this was not the best choice: You have an obligation to ensure that Mrs. Peters's pain is treated. Allowing her to leave the pharmacy in pain and without medication does not fulfill that obligation. When you have identified that a patient is experiencing difficulty with a medication, it is important to communicate with her physician and try to help. For more information on this issue, review the support information below.

Playout:

Coach: Correct!

Feedback:

What you said: Sarah should call Mrs. Peters' doctor about the prescription. Why this was the best choice: You have identified that Mrs. Peters seems to be experiencing a change or increase in her pain. The next step is to speak with her physician and see how she might want to treat it.

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To Pound the Pavement or Tap the Keys: Adventures in Research

By: Andrew Lewellen

Stet: The Newsletter of the Independent Writers of Chicago, April 2009

How much research is required to determine what year a building burned? For journalist Robert Loerzel, the answer was seven years—or four minutes.

While writing his 2003 true-crime book, Alchemy of Bones, (University of Illinois Press) about the 1897 murder trial of Adolph Leutgert, who was charged with murdering his wife (and possibly disposing of her body in a vat of chemicals in his Chicago sausage factory), Loerzel needed to determine a crucial piece of information: when and if the Leutgert factory burned downed. Eventually, the information only occupied about a paragraph of the 352-page book. But after initially finding conflicting information—some sources said the factory burned down in 1902, others 1904—Loerzel realized he needed to do more research to determine the correct information. So he began his search the “old-fashioned way,” primarily relying on libraries and other institutions.

Loerzel explained in great detail his quest to discover the true fate of the Leutgert factory during his presentation to March IWOC meeting, “Enrich Your Writing with Research.” He talked of seven years of pounding the pavement, scanning microfilm (including an entire year of the Chicago Tribune), contacting descendants of Leutgert, even studying turn-of-the century maps of Chicago fire routes, and frequently finding more conflicting information. In the end, he determined that the majority of sources had been wrong: a fire burned the factory in 1902, but the factory was not destroyed.

Several years after he ended his original search, Loerzel utilized Google Book Search to look for the same information. He found the accurate information in a manner of minutes.

The disparity in time and effort of Loerzel’s two searches for the same bit of information highlights the drastic way the Internet has changed how people can conduct research. Literally, what once took years now takes minutes.

Loerzel said you might have different reasons to do research—you might need to determine an essential fact, or you may just want a lively anecdote. Whatever your reason, good research is essential to great writing.

Of course, the key to a successful research on the Internet is finding good search engines and web sites. Loerzel mentioned a few in particular:

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Google Book Search. Allows you to search the contents of all books scanned into the Google archives. The search is free, but you may have to pay to read a book in its entirety.

Newspaperarchive.org. Contains archives of most prominent newspapers. Charges an annual fee of $99.

ProQuest.org. Provides access to newspaper, journal, magazine and other articles. Charges per article.

Although these technologies provide efficient access to vast resources, users should be aware of shortcomings. Loerzel mentioned one instance when he found a page from a book about Leutgert mistakenly scanned into a Botony book. And though newspaperarchive.org provides access to archives of most prominent papers, it does not include all papers, such as some of the turn-of-the-century Chicago papers.

Along with using these search engines, Loerzel mentioned some other excellent ways to use the internet for research. One good source of information is Wikipedia—not the entries, which can be unreliable, but the links to sources at the end of the entries, which do provide accurate information. To find people who might be relevant to your research, use Google or White Pages, or look for Genealogy sites. And you can research obituaries to find other information about subjects or their descendants.

Another strategy to gather information is to create an actual website for your project, which might attract people who are looking to share information they have.

But even with the convenience of the Internet, it’s important to keep in mind that a successful Internet search might refer you to a book or periodical you need to get at a library. Or you still may yearn to pound the pavement, touch old archives with your own hands, or scan microfilm.

In these instances, Loerzel suggested the following libraries and institutions: the Chicago Public Library—particularly the extensive microfilm collection on the 9th floor of the Harold Washington Library; the Newberry Library; university libraries, such as the ones at Chicago or Northwestern (though university library policies regarding public access libraries can vary); the Library at the Art Institute of Chicago, which has the papers of people like Louis Sullivan; the Cook County Law Library; the Daley Center; the National Archives; and even the Illinois State Archives, which has documents of legal cases that advanced to the Illinois State Supreme Court.

If you do conduct research at libraries or institutions, photographing documents, taking good notes, and making photocopies are ideal ways to create hardcopies of your efforts.

Of course, once you’ve gathered information, you need to organize it a way that makes it easily accessible. For hard materials, accurately labeled and well-organized manila folders work well. For electronic materials, most operating systems have good quality organizing software, and you can always pay more to upgrade to better filing software.

Loerzel also suggested a few ways to make historical stories relevant to current readers. One strategy is to time the publication of an article or book with the anniversary of an event you’re writing about. Another approach is to connect a historical story to a current issue, which Loerzel did when he published “The Smoking Gun,” an article about Lucy Page Gaston, who nearly achieved banning cigarettes in Illinois a hundred years ago, in the January 2008 issue of Chicago magazine, when a smoking ban was taking place in Chicago.

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Whatever the topic or information you’re researching, be ready to dig deep and think critically. As Loerzel’s laborious search for one small piece of information illustrates, when searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack, even the most bright and shining bit of information may turn out to be just one more piece of flimsy straw.

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THE FATHER, THE BOX, AND THE HOLY COWBOY

Chapter 1

When Nick stepped onto the porch of the brothel, he still wasn’t sure

he could tell Janelle that he was in love with her, and that he wanted her to

run off with him. He studied the eye slit in the cracked front door. On the

other side was the grimy house, the spent women. But Janelle was there, too,

the only woman at the place he had visited, the woman he loved.

A gust of wind blew, the house groaned, and the stench from the nearby

garbage dump drifted to him. The brothel, Deborah’s, was an old rotting

farmhouse just south of Ann Arbor, Michigan, not far from the city dump. The

brothel had no “official” name and was called Deborah’s simply because that

was the name of the sturdy dame who managed its affairs. The house sagged

slightly, leaning to the west. The front was blackened with age and waste.

Paint peeled and flecked from its sides, whole chunks dangled from the eaves,

and several shutters hung crocked on the facade.

Before he could decide whether to knock on the door, the eye slit

snapped open, and Olivia’s small, angry eyes appeared.

“You don’t give up, do you,” she hissed. She snapped the eyeslit shut

and opened the door. Nick stepped into the vestibule.

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The smallness of the vestibule made him feel too intimate with her.

She was only nineteen or twenty and had the nasty arrogance of a girl who’s

been given more power than she deserves. She wore a red dress of some cheap

thin fabric that fit tight over the curves of her young, healthy body. Her

long blonde hair was combed straight, her face painted with makeup.

“You know she sees other people, don’t you?” Olivia said.

“Yes, I am aware of what goes on her.”

“Maybe you should try breaking in somebody younger.”

The image of her naked and moaning flashed through his mind. “Maybe

that is something I should consider.” She stared at him, ran a hand down

her taught thigh, then turned and opened the door.

The waiting room was an old parlor with couches, wooden chairs, and a

few coffee and end tables scattered around it. An odd, wonderful mixture of

men filled the room: suited businessmen, clean and polished, sharing wornout

couches and wooden chairs with garbage men and construction workers, one bum,

factory men still sullied with oil and grit picking at BandAids on their

fingers. The room was dimly lit and smelled of smoke and stale beer, and the

air felt tortured with the energy of men trying to drink and talk and fuck

out their problems.

Deborah stood at the bottom of the wide, rickety staircase, one thick

arm resting on the newel post. She eyed the room, ready to make people happy

and quell trouble. She smiled at Nick and summoned him with outstretched

arms. When he hugged her, he could feel the strap of the gun holster she

wore to conceal her .38 revolver. She kissed him and in her hearty voice

said: “You’re so devoted. You better be careful you don’t fall in love.”

She laughed but Nick did not.

“I never came here looking for love,” he said.

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She cast an uncertain glance up the stairs. “Go get a beer,” she said

with a shooing motion of her hand. “Janelle should be ready for you in a few

minutes.”

While Nick walked to the bar, passing by the men and greeting none of

them, anger boiled in him. He tried to find a man in the crowd wearing the

smug look of somebody who’s just gotten laid, but all he saw were desperate,

longing faces.

The old wooden bar stretched across the back wall of the parlor. Liz,

the bartender, stood behind it, shining glasses. Nick asked her for a beer,

and she took one from the refrigerator and slid it to him. He set a few

tattered dollars on the bar.

“You have to wait tonight?” she said. A wry smile twisted her lips.

“That must be tough on you.”

“I’m patient.”

“Sure you are. Patient as a cock in a hen house.” She smirked and took

a rag from a bucket and started wiping the bar.

The cold, bitter beer soothed Nick. He stood alone, drinking his beer,

watching the stairs, waiting for a man to come down them. But nobody did.

After a few minutes, Olivia approached him. She gripped his bicep, urging

him to come with her. “She’s ready.”

He followed her up the creaking staircase. His position behind her

placed the round hump of her ass just inches from his face. He tried to look

away, but an ass is an ass. He could see the muscles flex beneath her dress.

He brushed his fingers across it, and it felt it strong and tight beneath

them. Olivia turned, smiled, and then walked on.

He followed her down the dark hallway to Janelle’s room. Her’s was the

fourth on the right, in the middle of the seven rooms. From behind the

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closed doors of the other rooms came the angry sounds of fucking: slaps and

grunts and screams.

At Janelle’s door, Nick listened for similar sounds. But he heard none.

Olivia knocked on the door.

From inside the room came Janelle’s voice—it was tired, weak. “What?”

“It’s your favorite customer,” Olivia said. At these words, Janelle

usually rushed to the door. But tonight, Nick did not hear the excited

patter of her footsteps. Instead, she padded slowly across the floor—a dull,

tired sound. The deadbolt grated, and the door groaned open a few inches.

Through the crack, Nick could see her. She faced away from him, her head

hanging down. Her curly black hair lay across her back and shoulders in a

ragged mass. An old gray sweatshirt hung loosely from her body, concealing

the lovely curves of her shoulders and hips. Nick went in and locked the door

behind him. He walked to her, reached for her, but she stepped away from his

touch.

The room smelled of sex—of sweat and cum. The sheets on her double bed

were twisted and tousled. The armchair that usually stood by the window lay

overturned in the middle of the floor. Clothes were scattered across the

dingy carpet: stockings, a bra, a black thong, a wool skirt, the tan cashmere

sweater Nick had given her for Christmas.

“What happened to you?” he asked.

Janelle stared out the window. In the distance, beyond the bare, snow

covered farmland, the hills of the garbage dump rose toward the sky. “For

two years now,” her voice trembled, “I’ve come here, to this room, and

looked out at that garbage dump.”

“It’s not forever,” Nick said. “You can move on.”

“To what? Move on to what?” She turned to him. Tears streaked her

face. Her eyes were swollen from crying. “I have tried. I have tried to

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save money. I have tried to make things better for myself. And I’ve failed.

I’m just stuck here, bound to this place, this shitty, grimy, awful fate.”

Nick scanned the room again: the twisted sheets and scattered clothes,

the upturned chair.

He reached for her again. She collapsed into his chest. “What

happened?” he said “Tell me what happened, and I’ll take care of it.”

“You don’t want to know, Nick. You’ve told me that before.”

“Just tell me.”

She stood back from him now. Her lips and chin trembled. “You want to

know? The same shit, Nick. That’s what. Some guy fucked me. I’m not

talking about sex. I’m talking about fucking. He fucked me. He grabbed me

and pulled on me, he bent me over that chair and he fucked me.”

Rage choked Nick. It felt like his mind was burning.

Janelle went on. “What’s worse is that I just let him do it. I let him

fuck me.”

“Who was it?”

Janelle shook her head in defeat. “Just some guy,”

“Who was it!” Nick yelled.

“Just some guy, Nick. Just another dick, another nobody. Another guy

who needed his cock stroked.”

Nick felt a need to hit something. He punched the wall. His fist

cracked through the plaster. A pain flashed in his hand. Janelle screamed.

He grabbed his hand. Blood rose from a gash in his knuckles. But the pain

helped to weaken his anger.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I just can’t stand the thought of you feeling

trapped. I know how it feels. I know how it feels to feel trapped and

confined, bound to something. And I hate to know you feel that way.”

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Janelle sat down on the bed, slumped over. She hugged herself. A tear

glimmered on her cheek, then fell of her chin. She was shaking. The ends

of her hair, the folds of her sweatshirt, quivered with her shaking. Nick

rushed to her, kneeled before her and grasped her shoulders. The blood from

his knuckles ran down his hand.

“You know how we talk about leaving?” he said. “About how what if we

just ran off, left without telling anyone. Just disappeared. Took on new

names, lived new lives. Just…left.”

She didn’t respond, just wiped the cuff of her sweatshirt across her

nose and cheek.

“What do you say we do it?” Nick said.

Janelle got up from the bed and began pacing. Nick’s heart sank, and

sadness seized him.

“You don’t want to do it?” he said.

“Nick, listen –”

“So it was all a lie?”

“Not a lie.”

“Don’t you understand? I love you. It’s all I know. There’s nothing

else for me. I grind through things, through the day. The only pleasure,

the only happiness in my life is you. You always say you want to leave.”

“I do,” Janelle said, as though recalling a memory.

“So then do it. Can’t we just do it? Leave? Stop waiting? Stop

waiting for the right time or the right day or the right amount of money.”

“Just leave,” Janelle said. Her voice sounded stronger, fortified.

“Yes.”

“But where?”

“Anywhere. Everywhere. Wherever we want.”

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She looked out the window again. The moon came out from behind a cloud,

and its light showed her standing upright, with her shoulders back, her chin

up, her body fixed in a rigid, defiant pose. Joy rushed into Nick’s heart.

“I love you,” he said, but the words felt as light and weak as smoke.

She turned to him. Behind her, outside, the moonlight glowed on the

massive hills of waste in the garbage dump.

“Yes,” she said in a stern, familiar tone. “Yes. Let’s leave.”

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User Guide for MY10 Data Admin Tool

Contributors: Andrew Lewellen, Brian Welter, Stan Carrico, John Larson, Ryan Tucker

Last Revision: August 17, 2009

Table of Contents

I. Overview.......................................................................................................................................2

II. Accessing the Tool and Using the Different View Options.....................................................3

III. Editing Data.................................................................................................................................7

IV. Notable Issues .........................................................................................................................15

V. Further Information.................................................................................................................17

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I. Overview

a. Purpose

This document is a High-Level How-To Guide for the Data Admin Tool that WhittmanHart developed to store, manage, and edit the data for the motorcycles included in Model Year 10 project. The guide should provide a user new to the tool with adequate information to access, view, and edit the data in the Tool so that desired front-end changes to the data can be made

b. Background

The data for the Model Year project—including items such as bike availability, key features, wheel options, and specifications—has high variability across international markets. Along with these variations, all copy—including family copy, model copy, key features, and keywords—is translated into a minimum of eight languages: English, Mexican Spanish, French Canadian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch. English can have as many as five variations, though most often, only two variations, American English and British English, are used.

The Admin Tool was created to store the data and copy and simplify the back-end changes required to produce accurate front-end implementation. The data is organized in the tool—and the use of the tool structured in such a way—to reflect the variations, in regard to both data and language, that are represented in the MY Content Spreadsheets.

c. Structure of the Data

The data and copy are stored in the tool according to two separate hierarchies.

In terms of data, there is a “Market Hierarchy.” There are four levels of hierarchy, levels that reflect the variations of content in the Content Spreadsheets: Default level, Market Level, Regional Level, and Country level. The database has been built this way to simplify and limit the need to make specific changes to content at region and country levels.

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Much like the Market Hierarchy, there is also a Language Hierarchy. The highest level in the Language Hierarchy is Default. Each major language—English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, and Italian—are at the second level of the hierarchy. These languages are “Parents” and each can have a “Child” that is specific to a country that uses a variation of that language. The “child” languages most commonly used are es_MX and fr_CA.

d. Data Reference Documents

The MY10 Admin Tool has been populated with data from the list of spreadsheets below, which also details which Spreadsheets should be referenced for which data and copy changes: (All documents are stored in eRoom)

i. Compare Bikes Footnotes & Disclaimers – Reference for Spec footnotes and disclaimers copy and organization.

ii. Features and Benefits Copy – Reference for Key Feature Copy. iii. Asset Matrix – Reference for asset variability, asset disclaimers, bike color

variability, and color copy. iv. Keywords and Wheels – Reference for Wheel Copy, as well as Navigation and

Localization Keyword copy. v. Marketing Copy – Reference for Family and Model Copy. vi. Models Online Matrix (MOM) – Reference for market breakdown, bike

availability, wheel options, and paint options. It also contains lists of New Bikes. vii. Pricing – Reference for pricing. viii. Promotional Variability – Reference for Promotional Variability. ix. MY10 Specs – Reference for Specs.

II. Accessing the Tool and Using the Different View Options

a. Accessing the Tool

The Tool can be accessed at the following site:

http://mil-roadking:8080/hd_my10prod/

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Upon entering the Tool, you will see a main screen that gives you three options for viewing and editing content: Model – Detail View; Model – Tree View; and Copy View. (Note: Currently, the Model-Tree View is not functional.)

(Figure 1)

b. Model – Detail View

This view is used to edit a particular set of data for a single bike in a level of the market hierarchy. In this view, there are three drop down menus. The left-hand drop down allows you to select a bike, the middle a level in the hierarchy, the right-hand a category of data. (Note: Bikes are listed in alphabetical order.)

Once you have selected the bike, market, and data you wish to view, you will see a view that looks like this:

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(Figure 2)

On the left-hand side of the view, you will see the data objects. (In the example above, the Features for the Road King Classic are displayed.) Many of these data objects have copy associated with them. If you click on the data object, you will be taken to the Manage Copy View, which will allow you to edit the copy you selected. (See Figure 3.)

On the right-hand side of the view, you will see the Exceptions Field. The Exceptions field allows you to Include or Exclude any Feature, Asset, or other data object at any level of the Market Hierarchy (more on this later.)

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c. Copy View

This view allows you to edit any copy item—feature copy, wheel name, color name, etc. There are three dropdown menus in the copy view. In the left dropdown, select the type of copy you want to edit. In the right dropdown, select the specific item of copy to edit.

(Figure 3)

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III. Editing Data

As stated before, the Tool has been constructed to accommodate four levels of hierarchy, levels which reflect the variations of content in the Content Spreadsheets: Default level, Market Level, Regional Level, and Country level. The database has been built this way to simplify and limit the need to make specific changes to content at region and country levels. Most default settings reflect the data for the US market. Exceptions to this default setting (which are created by way of a process that is explained later in this guide) can be made at the regional level—Domestic, HDE, and HDI—and the country-specific level: United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, etc.

There two primary ways to edit the data: 1) Creating Exclusions and Inclusions, and 2) Editing Copy.

a. Levels of Hierarchy and Creating Exclusions/Inclusions

The data for MY10 has high variability across international markets. To accommodate for the high variability of data across international markets and allow for fairly simple management of it, the Tool allows for Exceptions and Inclusions of data at any level in the hierarchy.

Note: Exclusion cannot be overridden. If an item is excluded at the Default level, including it at a lower level will not enable the data to be exported. In cases where a data object needs to be included in only one country, it must be included at the Default level and excluded at all other levels that do not need that data. The Sidecars, which are US only features, are good examples of this. The sidecars are included at the Default level and excluded at the Canada/Mexico and International levels.

b. Creating an Exclusion

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To create an Exclusion for data at any level, click on the “Edit” link on the right hand side of the View. A light box will appear.

(Figure 4)

A light box will appear. In the Exception Type dropdown, select “Include” or “Exclude.” Then Click “Submit.”

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(Figure 5)

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Notice that the text under “Exception” has changed from “Include” to “Exclude.”

(Figure 6)

For the most part, data has only been excluded at the Default level in cases where Harley Davidson has asked that a feature not be displayed in any markets. Most often, Exclusions are made at the Market or Country level. Notice in the below view of the Road King Classic in Canada and Mexico that the Side Car Feature has been excluded.

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(Figure 7)

c. Managing Copy

As stated before, copy can be accessed two ways: via a data object in the Model Detail view or by using the Manage Copy View.

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This is the view of the copy for a bike Feature. Notice a field for both the feature name and the feature copy, as well as the levels of the language hierarchy.

(Figure 8)

To add a copy item, select “Add Copy” just above the upper right-hand corner of the Copy View. From the drop down, select the language you want to add. Enter the copy. Then click “Submit.”

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(Figure 9)

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To edit an existing copy item, click “Edit.” A lightbox will appear. Edit the copy, then click “Submit.”

(Figure 10)

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IV. Notable Issues

a. Character Encoding

When the data was first imported, there were significant issues with character encoding. The source of the problem was found to be the actual copy in the spreadsheets. The Tool now displays character encoding errors, so the characters you see stored in the tool will be the same ones you would see on the front-end.

To avoid further character encoding errors, it is important to ensure that any new copy imported into the database be encoded in UTF-8. To do this, use J-Edit software (it can be downloaded for free.) Copy text into J Edit. In the “Utilities” Menu, select “Buffer Options,” then select UTF-8. Once this action has been performed, copy the text into the appropriate field in the Tool.

b. Superscripting Characters

The Tool does not automatically superscript characters. In order for a character to appear superscripted on the front-end, a double colon must be placed on either side of it. For example, all the trademark symbols for fr_CA—MC and MD—have double colons on either side: ::MD::.

Note: Contact Brian Welter before making any superscripting changes.

c. The English Language Hierarchy

The English language has a particularly unique parent/child hierarchy. Though the Content Spreadsheets have copy for five translations of English—en_US, en_CA, en_GB, en_AU, and en_XX—most often, only two translations of English are used: American or British. Currently, the translation, American or British, that is used in the most locales is set as the Default English copy. That translation is set also set as the Default copy for any particular copy object. So if American English is used for the majority of the translations, the American English is the Default English translation and en_GB is made a child of English.

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If British English is the dominant language, then it is used as the default English and both en_US and en_CA—because the US and Canada most often use the same translations—must be set as children of English. If either of these countries is not made a child of English, then it will receive a British translation, an obvious error.

However, in the case where bike specs are included in the copy—in the case of certain key features—then en_CA will have different copy than en_US—because it uses metric measurements. It must still be made a child of English.

Another important note is that en_GB copy is to be used for all countries receiving HDE specs. For clarification, reference the “Markets” tab on the Models Online Matrix.

d. Editing Specs and Pricing

For the most part, bike specs outside of the US are all the same. Unfortunately, they are stored and managed at the market level of the hierarchy, which means that changes in bike specs need to be made in all applicable markets. In HDE, bike specs are stored for every language, so if you need to make a change to bike specs in HDE, he must make a change to all languages. (Eventually, the specs may be moved to the Default language level, but for the time being, specs must be changed in all languages.)

While specs are market specific, Pricing is country specific. Pricing will show up at the bottom of a bike’s specs, and because it is set as an inclusion for every country, the fields should be gold and easy to see. Pricing is not organized in a unified way in the Specs section of the Manage Copy View, so while it is somewhat time-consuming, it is often easiest to edit the prices by selecting the data objects in the Model – Detail View.

e. Differentiating between Domestic and International Assets

As the Asset Matrix details, certain bikes have both a Domestic and International Asset. Shalini Chadha, the Asset Manager for MY10, instructed us that the only feature that distinguishes a domestic bike from an international one is reflector above the rear wheel, which can be seen in the Right Broadside Asset. Domestic bikes have a red reflector, International bikes an orange one.

Front-end variations between International and Domestic Assets are controlled via the Colors in the “Family and Availability” section of data available in the Model – Detail View.

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If an International Asset should display for a bike, create an Inclusion for the all the colors at the International—or applicable—level of the Hierarchy.

This process does become difficult if an international country uses a Domestic asset. Setting an Inclusion for an asset at the country level will cause the data to look for a country-specific asset, which will most likely not exist. To avoid this problem, Inclusions will have to be made at a level that won’t affect the country requiring the Domestic asset. For example, if Australia/New Zealand requires a domestic asset, set Inclusions for the Colors at the HDE level.

f. Keywords

There are a large number of keywords. It may be difficult to know which keyword to edit to make the desired front-end change. If you have questions, contact Brian Welter or Stan Carrico.

V. Further Information

If during use of the Tool you encounter problems or have any questions, contact Brian Welter or Stan Carrico.

If you have any questions or need clarification about any information in this document, please contact Andrew Lewellen. You can reach him here:

Email: [email protected] Phone: 312-316-5888 AIM: alewellen9

mailto:[email protected]

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