Onkopedia Case Study

The Client

The German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO e.V.) is a renowned medical professional society that serves as a competence center for hematological and oncological specialties. As a leading institution, it focuses on high-quality training and continuing education of physicians and medical professionals while taking a pioneering role in the development and publication of evidence-based medical guidelines.

In collaboration with leading professional societies, the DGHO operates the groundbreaking guidelines portal Onkopedia. Since its launch in 2010 by Andreas Jung and ZOPYX, the portal has evolved into the central reference platform for hematological and oncological treatment guidelines. The technical foundation is built on the proven open-source Content Management System Plone in combination with the specialized Produce & Publish authoring environment.

Through this innovative platform, editorial workflows could be significantly optimized and accelerated while ensuring immediate access to the latest medical guidelines. The sophisticated system enables medical authors to continue working with familiar Microsoft Word environments while content is seamlessly integrated into the CMS and automatically converted to professional HTML and PDF formats.

The Challenge

In 2014, the DGHO commissioned ZOPYX with a comprehensive modernization and automation of the entire publication workflow. The growing complexity and steadily increasing volume of medical guidelines required a scalable, future-oriented solution for efficient document management. A central project goal was the development of innovative distribution channels and seamless integration with external healthcare systems, particularly Hospital Information Systems (HIS) and other medical specialty applications.

The challenge was to develop a media-neutral publishing infrastructure that both respects the proven working methods of medical authors and implements state-of-the-art technological standards. The goal was to realize single-source publishing principles and create flexible multi-channel distribution capabilities.

The Solution

ZOPYX developed a highly innovative, fully XML-based publishing solution that serves as a reference implementation for modern medical professional publishing. The core of the system consists of a specialized XML data architecture that stores all content in a structured, semantically enriched format. This enables precise API-based queries and exceptionally flexible processing capabilities for various output channels.

The innovative authoring workflow is based on custom-designed Microsoft Word templates that integrate intelligent validation mechanisms and automated reference generation. Lossless DOCX-to-XML conversion is performed via the specialized C-REX.net web service platform, while HTML and PDF outputs are generated fully automatically. For professional print layouts, PDFreactor is used in combination with CSS Paged Media standards, ensuring publication-ready document quality.

All medical professional information is semantically structured and stored in a highly developed XML database, enabling targeted search queries and intelligent cross-references. A sophisticated metadata management system automatically links guidelines with relevant studies, treatment protocols, and further medical information resources, creating a coherent knowledge network.

Architecture & Technology

The technical architecture is based on a highly advanced Plone 5 implementation in combination with the specialized XML Director extension, providing a powerful platform for storing and managing complex XML content in heterogeneous storage systems. This flexible architecture supports both browser-based user interfaces and programmatic API interfaces for seamless import and export of medical content.

The system is characterized by its openness and integration capabilities: it supports external editors, implements granular role-based access management, and offers comprehensive integration possibilities with common office software and external healthcare information systems. The central XML data storage serves as a single source of truth and enables fully automated, media-neutral publishing workflows for various output formats and distribution channels.

Onkopedia Highlights

Holistic Approach & Third-Party Utilization

The consistently standardized document structures and unified master data frameworks enable exceptionally agile adaptations and system extensions. This flexibility proved particularly valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic when time-critical medical guidelines and treatment recommendations could be implemented and distributed within the shortest possible time. The media-neutral XML storage architecture opens unlimited output format possibilities and seamless integration into external healthcare systems such as Hospital Information Systems (HIS), patient information systems, and specialized medical applications.

Automation & Editorial

A highly developed automation framework takes over complex editorial tasks: intelligent linking algorithms, precise DOI reference validation, comprehensive consistency and link integrity checks, and metadata-driven cross-reference generation. These technological innovations significantly relieve the editorial team while ensuring the highest quality standards and operational efficiency in medical literature publication.

History & Facts

Benefits at a Glance

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