Specifications
The following lists some of the features and capabilities of our IETM (Interactive Electronic Technical Manual) application:
| Functional Requirement | Promaxis Comments |
| Physical Media | The Promaxis IETM can be distributed via DVD/CDROM/USB/ZIP as it does not depend on third-party software installation and operates using Internet Explorer. |
| Network Distribution | The Promaxis IETM can be distributed via network through shared folders, web servers and SharePoint distribution. Each method provides end-user environments different methods of update and access control. |
| Diagnostics – User determined entry to data | Given the structure of the authored content, users are able to directly select the maintenance procedure, fault/symptom and/or wiring diagram from which to execute their required maintenance task. |
| Wire/Fluid system tracing | Users are able to select designators in the publication text and have the associated components or region of a schematic/diagram highlight. |
| Pan, zoom, expand, magnify | Pan – when images are larger than the viewable area in the browser, panning is implemented through scrolling.
Zoom/magnify – when the mouse is hovered over an illustration, plus/minus magnifying glass icons are displayed in the top left Expand – the Illustration pane used to display all images can be expanded to occupy the full content area. |
| External References | The Promaxis IETM provides the ability to link to external data modules whether they are part of the same publication module or not. URN resolution, as defined in S1000D, Chapter 7, is implemented to support all link resolution.
When links are followed to other data modules, a “Return” button is provided to return the users to not only the previous data module, but to the link that was traversed. The paragraph containing the link is temporarily highlighted to give the user a visual indication of where they were. |
| Internal References | Links to other items in a data module are displayed in blue text and will scroll the content window to the appropriate location. Links to figures and tables will open the figure/table in the illustration pane (as opposed to scrolling) to ensure the user is always able to follow the given procedure/description without having to lose their place. Illustrations are always visible adjacent to the relevant reference text. |
| Hot References | Users are able to select links in the text to display and highlight a region of a particular graphic. |
| TOC, List of Figures, tables and photos | The Navigation Pane provides a table of contents, list of figures/tables and generated Index (based on SNS/information code structure) as different methods of navigating the IETM content. |
| Hot Spotting | Users are able to select objects in a graphic to navigate to other graphics or text in a publication. |
| Next and Previous Navigation | The main menu bar provides Next and Previous navigation buttons used to traverse sequentially forward and backward through the authored structure of the data modules. |
| Return (Chronological) | Traversal of links from one data module to the next (even if the data modules are from separate publications) maintains a chronological history. A “return” button enables backwards traversal to previous link locations. The paragraphs containing the traversed links are temporarily highlighted to provide the reader with clear indication of where they were before viewing linked information. |
| History of traversed links | The Navigation pane maintains a history of traversed data modules for the current session and displays them beneath the table of contents. This history groups according to different publications as well. |
| System/Subsystem Navigation | The Promaxis IETM will automatically generate a SNS/Information code index based on a defined SNS structure in the BREX data module. |
| Restore Initial Navigation View | The IETM interface consists of a Navigation pane (left), Content pane (center) and illustration pane (right). Each pane is expandable/collapsible in order to enable the user to maximize the viewable area of the content they are focussed on. The expand/collapse functionality enables users to easily alter and restore the layout of the interface. |
| Graphical Navigation | Graphical Navigation is addressed through hot spotting and authored links. Authors can link portions of a CGM (or raster image given the required business rules) to other data modules or illustrations. |
| Search – Full text | The Promaxis IETM supports full text search capability across all publications included in the IETM distribution structure. Search results are grouped by publication and data module and users can click on the result to link to the highlighted word in the data module. The full text search also supports simple wild card searches using an asterisk at the beginning or end of the word. |
| Search – User Defined Boolean | The full text search capability utilizes the keywords NOT, AND and OR to filter search results. |
| Simultaneous display of multiple objects | Separate content and illustration panes enable readers to always be able to view figure or table content adjacent to the procedures and descriptions being used with no unnecessary scrolling. |
| Tear off window | Tables and Illustrations viewed in the Illustration pane remain persistent as the reader navigates to other data modules and can be recalled via an icon along the right side of the illustration pane (or removed by the user). This method of tear off provides a more organized and user-friendly approach to illustration persistence as it does not produce extra windows that can become hidden on the desktop. |
| Data Module Specific Printing | Data modules and the images referenced by that module can be printed. A Print Dialog is provided that enables the user to preview the print context and decide whether or not to include figure/tables and linked data.
Content is printed with a timestamp and destruction notice at the beginning and end. |
| Print Linked Data | In the Print Preview dialog, users can choose to pull in the content of any data modules (and associated images and tables) that are referenced from the current data module. |
| Warning and Cautions | Warnings and Cautions in the IETM are presented with red/white or yellow/black hatch mark borders (per S1000D specification). |
| Photos | Photographs in the IETM are handled the same way as line-art illustrations. |
| Passive Change Indications and Markings | The Promaxis IETM will automatically produce a RECORD OF CHANGES data module that lists all data modules by title (TECHNAME/INFONAME), issue number and issue date. Each entry is linked to the data module content. |
| Active Change Indications and Markings | Change markings are indicated by a black border along the right margin of the content pane. When the user hovers over the content indicated by the black border, the changed words/content will be highlighted. Change markings are supported for add/modify changes. |
| Full Change | All change distributions, whether a full change, block cycle or near real time, are handled through the distribution of the XML data modules, graphics and updated indexes used by the IETM package to resolve searches and URN resolution. |
| Block cycle and urgent updates | All change distributions, whether a full change, block cycle or near real time, are handled through the distribution of the XML data modules, graphics and updated indexes used by the IETM package to resolve searches and URN resolution. |
| Near real-time updates | All change distributions, whether a full change, block cycle or near real time, are handled through the distribution of the XML data modules, graphics and updated indexes used by the IETM package to resolve searches and URN resolution. |
| Web browser viewable | The Promaxis IETM is viewed using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser (v9+). |
| Stand-alone mode | The IETM files (data, images and stylesheets) can be deployed through a DVD/CDROM/USB distribution. Launching the IETM is a matter of double-clicking the index.htm file. |
| Network Connectivity | The same IETM files can be deployed using a web server (ie, IIS, Apache, miniHTTP) or a more managed solution such as Sharepoint. |
| Additional Functionality | To meet Canadian Government requirements for technical publications, the Promaxis S1000D solution also meets the following requirements: |
| Bilingual toggle | Given a bilingual (English/French) dataset, the IETM is able to toggle between English and French data modules and Navigation Panes (TOC, LOF, Index) at the click of a button without having to exit and re-enter the IETM. Full-text search capability is also language specific. |
| AG-006 presentation support | Due to Canadian Government presentation requirements, the presentation layer of the IETM also supports numbering and formatting consistent with C-01-100-100/AG-006. |
| Grouped display of modules | When navigating through the publication module structure in the table of contents, the information presented in the Content pane will group according to the context selected in the navigation pane. This is similar in context to what you have listed as “Print to selected node” in your requirements matrix (under print linked data) only it also gives the user the ability to view that context on screen, not just print. |