GRIPS S1000D
The ASD S1000D is an international specification for the creation of technical documentation using a Common Source Data Base (CSDB). The goal is to develop a uniform documentation standard for multinational defense projects that allows for a modular and distributed creation of the necessary technical documentation.
The S1000D standard was originally used primarily for military documentation; however its methods are equally applicable to civilian projects.
Documentation according to S1000D consists of data modules that are originally generated and saved without redundancy in the CSDB, using the markup languages SGML and XML. Uniquely-defined modules are assigned to each part of the system to be documented.
These modules are defined according to the system breakdown. The specification makes available various basic document types using corresponding SGML DTDs and XML schemas.
Each S1000D data module can be identified unambiguously thanks to a “Data Module Code” (DMC), which means that it can be managed in the CSDB.
GRIPS' S1000D Support
GRIPS supports S1000D and any other industry standard in two ways:
1) Product information is stored in GRIPS by using a specific industry standard structure (e.g. S1000D DTD, DITA DTD, etc.), from where only stored DTDs can be generated for any media.
2) Product information is stored in GRIPS by using pure semantic GRIPS structures, from where any industry standard (e.g. S1000D, DITA, etc.), any DTD in general can be generated for any media.
The second approach provides greatest flexibility in respect to data re-use. The approach selected depends on the customer's objectives. STAR's GRIPS consultants can help find the right solution for a specific situation.
S1000D in GRIPS
When the customer decides to store product information in the S1000D structure, GRIPS offers – due to STAR's long-term experience with S1000D – additional features that assists technical writers in better handling S1000D data, for example:
Project-neutral data management environment
Higher data modularization resulting in higher data re-usability
Intelligent content structuring
Deployment of semantic GRIPS structures combined with S1000D
The publication and export of the data modules or documents occurs automatically and in the appropriate media, e.g. Paper, PDF, HTML, etc. GRIPS supports IETD (Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation), IETP (Interactive Electronic Technical Publications), and IETM (Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals) standards, and ensures that data can be exchanged, or re-used, and that it is available for future, unforeseeable application needs.
GRIPS Value Proposition:
Provide a distributed, collaborative environment for rapid, global concurrent development.
Support different S1000D versions simultaneously: GRIPS guarantees the import, transformation, and export of the data modules from different versions, as needed.
Interface with Illustrated (Spare) Parts Catalogs (e.g. IPC).
Offer technical writers and editors the ability to preview publications. Using this function, they can easily detect errors or violations of the guidelines and take early appropriate action to correct these, as necessary.
Provide intelligent image management.
Eliminate labor intensive and expensive desktop publishing.
Automatically and completely create paper editions, Electronic Data Environment (EDE), and IETM distributions of documentation in all languages.
Provide an intelligent Feedback Engine taking field information back to the product data source, improving a company's overall warranty costs, while increasing the quality of the customer experience and their satisfaction.
