A review of the benefits of using hypermedia manuals

							A Review of the Benefits of
Using Hypermedia Manuals

 Richard Crowder,Y W Sim, Gary Wills
 Richard Greenough
Why….
           Volume of information
           Referencing.
           Updates and
            modifications
           Information recorded in
            an individual’s log book.
….but…….
   Wide range of applications
   Benefits
   Assessment criteria
       Mean time between failures.
       Mean time to repair.
..applications…
       Domain           Environment
     Automotive          Acrobat/PDF
 Cable manufacturing      Microcosm
  Dynamic machinery       Toolbook
   Light electronics       HTML
  Power generation     Special purpose
   Robotic systems     Microcosm + CBR
…so.
   Review assessment criteria across a range of
    applications to provide a set of criteria that
    can be applied to industrial applications.
   Restricted work to maintenance support
    applications
Maintenance
   The importance has long been
    underestimated within industry.
   Poor appreciation of the strategic importance
    of maintenance in the boardroom
   Lost production may be as much as 15 times
    the direct cost of maintenance.
   Needs electronic support…
Recent Industrial Trends
   Computerised Maintenance              Management
    Systems (CMMS)
       Support the management of the maintenance
        process
   Electronic manuals
       Task support tools for the maintainers themselves
Life-cycle Support
   Open standards
   Product Life-Cycle Support
   Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle
    Support
   STandards for the Exchange of Product
    model data
Paper v Hypermedia(1)
   Paper based information system
       Factory floor users are treated as passive
        recipients of information.
       Created by specialist or experts in the related
        field.
       Multi-copy, multi-version
       Disseminated to workers as finished product at
        design time.
       Top down, assumes specialists create the system
        and users receive it.
Paper v Hypermedia(2)
   Hypermedia.
       Users are reflective practitioners, who need to
        understand and solve problems
       Learning is intrinsic to problem solving because
        problems are not given but must be framed and
        solved as a unique instance.
       Users of the system system, create knowledge at
        user time.
       Knowledge is a side effect of work.
Summary of Perspectives
                Paper based        Hypermedia
Creation        Specialists only   All users
Integration     At design time     At user time
Dissemination   Decontextualised On demand

Learning        Knowledge          Knowledge
paradigm        transfer           construction
Working style   Standardise        Improvise
Information     Closed, static     Open, dynamic
Perceived Benefits(1)
   Empowerment of semi-skilled users, allowing
    skilled users to focus complex tasks.
       Increases maintenance productivity .
       Increases motivation.
   Improves understanding of process through
    animations and easy access documents
       Increases maintenance quality.
       Fewer breakdowns.
Perceived Benefits(2)
   Shared knowledge through repository of
    single point lessons and preventative
    maintenance procedures
       Increases maintenance quality.
       Fewer breakdowns
   A repository of preventative maintenance
    procedures
       Better quality preventative maintenance tasks
        leading to reduced life-cycle costs
Success Criteria

….For information systems to be
successfully introduced into all areas, the
engineering information management
strategy must enable personnel with
different and varying computer skills
effective and controlled access to the
required information.…
Concluding Remarks
   Hypermedia is not a panacea to all industry's
    information management problems.
   User community must drive the implementation
   Integrated into the overall information strategy.
   Organisational culture must and will change.
   For hypermedia to be successfully implemented,
    strong leadership from senior management is
    required.
   But….
“105% Rule”
                 Systems fail
                 100% hypermedia
                 5% paper