Contextual Instructions: Why we should bother
Imagine yourself being the operator of a complex technical installation. Your daily routine exists of dozens, perhaps hundreds of checks. What do you do when one of your systems is not responding or provides you with an error code? Right, you check the operator manual which is available as a PDF on your workstation. You search for the error and go back and forth through thousands of pages to solve the issue and get the installation back working again. Apart from the time spend on finding the right solution, there are many context variables that determine the success rate of the procedure.?
Wouldn’t it be great if we could make the daily work of (field) engineers, service operators and maintenance technicians easier by providing them the experience they deserve: documentation that is tailored to their need, presented in a non-linear way in multiple formats and on multiple devices? Think of a step-by-step workflow that would guide them through the diagnosis and repair and automatically update the bill of materials and maintenance record, and all of this based on the right combination of (existing) content and data.
Imagine the impact on the daily work of operators and engineers, the time savings and quality improvements that would come from having the right instruction always in front of you.
This is why Contextual Instructions in my opinion are not just a nice gimmick, a nice-to-have and futuristic development, it is a must giving the increasing complexity of many products and installations.
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How can we do it?
During my presentation at the STC Summit 2023 in Atlanta, I will start with the demonstration of a prototype of a web-based app that assists engineers through the process of diagnosis of a problem and solving it by following step-by-step instructions, using a publicly available maintenance manual. Next, I will give a step-by-step explanation of how we - as authors - can transform the content in our Component Content Management Systems (DITA, S1000D or any other XML format) to this application output.
My articles are my own views and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer, Accenture.