Rossitza Setchi

Intelligent Product Manuals: the Technical Documentation That Delivers Up-to- Date, Accurate and Relevant Information to the Right Person Rossitza Setchi

This book helps to bridge the gap between conventional product manuals and the paradigm of just-in-time knowledge delivery, which enables corporate knowledge to be captured and delivered when, where and in the form users need it. The book introduces Intelligent Product Manuals (IPMs), which are computerised product support systems that employ product life-cycle information, expert knowledge and hypermedia to provide just?in?time support to users during the life of a product. Next, the book concentrates on the need for adaptive product support and promotes the Adaptive IPMs that respond to user information goals by generating user- and task-specific information. Finally, the book suggests a concurrent engineering approach to the authoring of these manuals and introduces an integrated authoring environment, which facilitates the collection and integration of product information, and the maintenance and updating of product documentation. The solutions proposed in the book are illustrated with examples based on prototypes developed for a manufacturer of all- terrain fork-lift trucks as part of a project funded by the EC.