IETM stands for Interactive Electronic Technical Manual. It can be defined as a portal that allows individuals to manage technical documentation, including volumes of text into CD-ROMs or online pages along with sound and video. It also allows readers to locate needed information rapidly than paper manuals. IETM has gained a lot of attention in the year 1990 as huge technical documentation projects for the aircraft and defense industries as well.
Interactive Electronic Technical Manual – History
In the US, the United States Military began to look at alternative ways to provide technical manuals. With the advent in computer technology, it was conceived that sending technical manuals to an automated format could be affordable and permit better incorporation along with other logistics systems and better usability of the technical material.
A research performed in 1970 and 1980 showcased that all US military branches get data on what the aims should be to meet the automated technical manuals requirements. Early research took place at the Army Communicative Technology Office at Ft. Eustis, the Air Force HR Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and the David Taylor Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland. And, the program created by the Navy, Navy Technical Information Presentation System and the Air Force, Computer-based Maintenance Aid System. This program was used with user reviews, technology analysis, as well as design studies to come up with normal ideas for IETMs.
Based on field tests with technicians keeping military equipment, the tests recognized that performance was upgraded and effective improvement occurred for unskilled people. There was a questionnaire that 90% of the specialists preferred electronic manuals and said that they are easy to use and easy to manage.
Interactive Electronic Technical Manual Classes
The functionality of the IETM system is divided into six classes. These classes embrace a range of features with most real-world IETM products divided into two classes.
Type I
Class 1
It follows the structure and format of a printed book that comprises indexes and tables of contents can be hyperlinked into the content of the text. This class also consists of a scanned book with some links.
Class 2
It consists of more hyperlinks than Class I such as tables, figures, and section references. A hyperlinked PDF text is the most common example of Class 2.
Class 3
The major difference between Class 2 and Class 3 is similar to the difference between PDF book and an online portal. The structure of the book is unwanted that document is organized more freely following the logic of the content.
Type II
Class 4
It is now expected to be kept in a relational database that gets the advantage of data integrity and the elimination of data redundancy. Relationships in the content are planned directly to relations in the database schema. Content can’t be printed in a linear format of the document.
Class 5
In class 5, the documentation is united with expert systems that may affect the display of content. For example, the IETM or IETP system may summarize data from users input and feed that to the skillful system to examine it, and then the result gets feedback to the user via the IETM system.
Class 6
In this class, a network model database was used. The vigorous multi-destination system was used. It comprised troubleshooting, system-oriented layers, assembly and disassembly aspects, and more. The Advanced Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) was an R&D AR version of the system planned to help guide the standards used in the mark-up of the documentation.
