Enigma Delivers Electronic Content to Techs

Now that most aviation manufacturers are providing technical information in electronic format, how is an aircraft operator supposed to use all of that information efficiently? Data is delivered in different formats depending on the manufacturer, and there is little integration of this data from manufacturer to manufacturer.

A company called Enigma has figured out how to solve this problem, and customers such as Goodrich Aerostructures, United Airlines, and KLM have adopted Enigma's solution to great benefit.

What Enigma does, according to John Snow, vice president marketing and business development, is "provide them with an aircraft encyclopedia. It's a combination of all maintenance manuals, all service bulletins, all illustrated parts catalogs, all component manuals, everything that a mechanic might need for information."

The information--in digital form--is already available, thanks to content-creation companies like Arbortext and Right Hemisphere (see pages 21 and 26), but, Snow said, "collecting all the information doesn't solve the mechanic's problem. What's critically important is not just to collect that information and make it available to the mechanic, but to interrelate that information by tail number."

By working with Enigma's software, an airline can make it possible for a mechanic to look up tail number-specific maintenance data. "You can punch in the tail number and a fault code," Snow said, "and you'll have the recommended procedures for that specific 737. Also, service bulletins that relate to that tail number will be displayed."

The normal way that maintenance is done calls for frequent reference to the maintenance manual. But, as Snow noted, "the maintenance manual doesn't know about service bulletins. I want to look at the service bulletin against a procedure to see if it's going to modify my decision on how to maintain it. I'm not constrained in how I can navigate all of this information, [and I can] quickly get an accurate picture of how to maintain this aircraft."

KLM used Enigma's software to build its own solution called MBox. Enigma is tied to KLM's document-management system. An example of how this works is for a process created by KLM's engineering department. The process is likely different from the OEM's original maintenance manual procedure, and once the engineers release the new process, it automatically hooks into the Enigma content-delivery system so it is now part of the ongoing maintenance documentation. Instead of modifying the maintenance data, the new engineering process becomes a key part of the maintenance manual.

KLM claims a 5 percent improvement in maintenance productivity since implementing Enigma at its Schipol, Netherlands base, according to Snow, which translates to huge savings in maintenance costs. KLM is now looking at deploying Enigma to line maintenance stations.

Now that KLM and Air France have completed their merger, Enigma is working on persuading the Air France side of the house to adopt the Enigma solution, too. "We're having ongoing discussions about Air France," Snow said.

At Goodrich Aerostructures, the return on investment for the Enigma implementation was about six months, Snow said.

In the case of United Airlines, Enigma was asked to develop a solution quickly for the airline. What UAL wants is for Enigma to adhere to the airline's existing standards and present maintenance information in a way that mechanics are used to seeing, Snow said. "Once that's done, we'll hand over the keys and they will be responsible for it," he said. An added benefit is that Enigma's J2EE architecture makes it easy to link with UAL's back-office computer system.

During the final quarter of this year, UAL plans to deploy Enigma at one or two locations, then roll it out to all line stations in the first half of 2005, according to Snow. When the full system is running, more than one million pages of maintenance information will be accessible in real-time. "Mechanics will type in the task number and `boom,' they'll be off and running," he said.

Enigma offers additional benefits, such as the ability to allow mechanics to collaborate, sharing information learned on the job, information that might not be found in official documents. "Historically," said Snow, "they write on paper, keep it in their pocket, if they ever document [these problems], or keep it in their head. Meanwhile, [other mechanics] have the same problem." With Enigma, mechanics can jot notes in the maintenance "encyclopedia, sort of in the margin," he said, "and dictate who it gets shared with." If a mechanic is commenting about a particular maintenance practice that might not be correct, for example, the maintenance crews can elect to share the margin notes with engineers and technical writers at the manufacturer that created the original document.

"The minute it's jotted down," he added, "when the next mechanic goes to do that task, not only is he informed of applicable service bulletins, etc., he's also notified that there's a mechanic's note against this. That way you're able to disseminate knowledge and experience. It cranks up efficiency.

"We don't create documents," Snow concluded. "We leave that up to the Abortexts. We're providing tools that for the first time address the needs of mechanics and field service engineers." -- By Matt Thurber

As aircraft manufacturers incorporated computers into every aspect of their companies in the past two decades, some important but tedious tasks finally saw improvement with the application of automation.

An excellent example is the development of maintenance documents when a new aircraft, engine, or component is designed and manufactured. Design is all done on computers, which means that data--drawings and design information--are in electronic format.

When it comes time to write the maintenance and parts and other manuals, wouldn't it make sense to use as much of that electronic data as possible, without having to rewrite everything?

A company called Arbortext (www. arbortext.com) saw the opportunity for doing just that, creating content for manufacturers to speed the process of documentation development and enhance safety by allowing fewer errors and quicker updating of content.

"There is growing appreciation within many industries," said P.G. Bartlett, Arbortext's vice president of product marketing, "of the amount of waste in their processes for capturing and sharing information."

In 1991, Arbortext won a contract to develop a system to help the U.S. military create documents for weapons systems for aircraft, tanks, radar, and other systems. This work showed manufacturers that it was possible to create easily shared information using computers. And manufacturers then began requiring vendors to provide information on their products in an exchangeable digital format, which began as sgml (standard generalized markup language) and is now transitioning to xml (extensible markup language).

"There is growing appreciation within many industries of the amount of waste in their processes for capturing and sharing information," said Bartlett. "A bigger driver is to be able to do more things with that information."

The aviation industry has jumped onto this documentation bandwagon. "The aviation industry has been one of the few early adopters," he said. Arbortext customers include Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Cessna, Embraer, General Electric, Gulfstream, Hamilton Sundstrand, Pratt & Whitney, Pratt & Whitney Canada, and Rolls-Royce.

Airlines are also seeing opportunities for cost reduction by employing Arbortext's technology, including Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa, United Airlines, and US Airways. US Airways uses service documentation provided by Airbus and Boeing to create task cards. Instead of having to cut and paste information from the OEMs' maintenance documents into a US Airways task card, the airline simply references the OEM information on the task card. When the OEMs' information is updated, the link on the task card automatically directs the technician to the new information. This saves a lot of time and ensures that important safety information is passed on quickly.

Hamilton Sundstrand uses Arbortext to help it meet the demand by the manufacturers that it works with to provide easily exchangeable information. The transition began in 1998, when one of the OEMs for which Hamilton Sundstrand builds components specified in a product-support agreement that component maintenance manuals be provided in sgml format.

An early attempt to write manuals in sgml using a simple word processor, Microsoft's Notepad, resulted in huge expenditures of time, according to Don Kelley, a Hamilton Sundstrand technical writer. The time that used to be needed to create eight pages of text now produced only one page, an eight-to-one ratio. Clearly, there had to be a better way of creating exchangeable documents, in this case, by contract it had to be in sgml format.

After researching the available products, Hamilton Sundstrand selected Arbortext to help technical writers like Kelley create component maintenance manuals.

An immediate result was halving the content-creation ratio, and that ratio continues to drop as the technical writers gain skill using Arbortext's Epic authoring environment.

The Epic environment helps writers place sgml information correctly within the document, Kelley explained. The Arbortext software uses document-type definition to provide the validated structure of a document, sort of like a template to ensure that documents are created in the correct format. "After the author is done composing," he said, "he can check through Epic and it will make sure that it is a valid document. And it will also indicate to the writer any errors. It's really a handy tool."

Kelley admitted that having to create exchangeable documents is more work for writers. "But" he added, "we gain efficiency through revision cycles because of re-use capabilities." Certain text items that are used frequently but also need to be revised, such as a warning notice, can easily be updated throughout a document. "If I have to change that," he said, "then that content is changed throughout the library. It's immediate, and technicians get that data as soon as it's released."

The bottom line, concluded Arbortext's Bartlett, is that the software helps manufacturers "deliver better information in a more efficient way." -- By Matt Thurber

When it comes to teaching maintenance techniques and practices, there are two schools of thought. One claims that knowledge of the subject matter is key, and in this case, the trainers are often subject-matter experts who have adapted to the teaching role. The other approach is that taken by a new company called Gradient e-Learning: instructional development using sound instructional technologies. Gradient eLearning's focus is on the best way to transfer knowledge. "Our core skill," said Hugh Kremer, division director, "is instructional design, not the technology."

Gradient eLearning launched a year ago August with a team of seasoned instructional designers and developers with the goal of changing the way mechanics are trained and how they use maintenance documents to perform their jobs. Gradient also serves other markets besides aerospace.

Existing maintenance documents, according to Kremer, have too many flaws that prevent efficient use. Many electronic maintenance documents, for example, are published in the Adobe pdf format. But the page numbers of the documents themselves don't match the pdf page numbers, making it hard for users to navigate. And often, when a mechanic finally finds what he or she is seeking, there still are many questions about whether the manual is referring to the correct configuration of the aircraft. In one case, a military mechanic had to change a component, which required moving some cables. In the maintenance documents, the procedure referred to moving cables that were flexible, but in the actual aircraft, the cables belonged to a different version, and the mechanic broke an expensive set of hard cables that had to be replaced.

"There's still too much tacit knowledge required," Kremer noted. "When experts do training or write manuals, they tend to gap fill."

Gradient eLearning designers and programmers start by doing field events, where they analyze tasks by observing mechanics to see how they use existing maintenance documents. While the company's experts have strong technical backgrounds, including mechanical engineering, they are not A&P mechanics and have little direct knowledge of aircraft maintenance. "We're content-neutral," said Kremer. "And that gives us an advantage. We work with subject-matter experts, and we'll capture that knowledge by spending [time] with an expert."

To create content, Gradient's designers work with CAD (computer-aided design) data and they will also use digital photography (still and video) to enhance the training material. For a maintenance manual procedure, for example, a 3D CAD model of a component can easily be shown from any angle on a computer monitor, so the mechanic can see all sides, where and how wires attach, and other useful perspective cues. Many manuals simply have photos or diagrams with an arrow pointing behind the unit, but they never show what the arrow is actually pointing at.

Another useful feature is a typical warning or caution note in a maintenance manual. In Gradient eLearning's manual, the mechanic can't read past the warning note until acknowledging having read the note.

Users can zoom in on different areas of the aircraft to get a closer look and to help with orientation. "It's a one-to-one correlation between the screen and the real world," said Kremer. And this also saves the training organization from having to obtain expensive actual parts.

A typical Gradient maintenance manual takes up very little space--about 180 megabytes for an EA6B module that Gradient developed--and thus is highly portable, easily fitting on a USB memory device or CDROM disc.

In addition to basic maintenance documents, Gradient eLearning's programmers have also created sophisticated assembly instructions, with rich 3D views of the component and individual parts. The user, following instructions given by the system, can move parts into place and assemble complicated components on the computer, without risking destroying an expensive part and before getting near any actual hardware.

Gradient eLearning has also developed training modules for testing hardware. Before a technician performs an operation with a test set, he or she can learn exactly how to perform the test using a Gradient simulation. "We're actually simulating from setup through results," Kremer said. "You can do the procedure first with cues, then practice it." By sending a CDROM ahead of time to the test set user, the test equipment maker receives far fewer technical support calls.

All of these efforts are geared toward promoting what Kremer calls problem-based learning, where students begin with a problem and work their way back to the solution, adding knowledge along the way. "If they find an answer by connecting to the problem," he said, "they will remember better. If everything were as easy as following a manual, we wouldn't need training. We're connecting training and the maintenance manual."

None of what Gradient eLearning is doing is aimed at eliminating the teacher, it is about enhancing the learning experience and adding efficiency to the process. "It's not meant to replace the instructor," Kremer said, "but it makes training much more productive. [Students] are getting directly into problem-solving." -- By Matt Thurber

Aircraft Technical Publishers (www.atp.com) released Navigator V, a comprehensive update to its maintenance data access software in May. ATP's Navigator has long been the access point to ATP's software-based regulatory information, and the new version aims to extend that model into a future where a user can access any kind of maintenance data from one software platform. Since the first release, ATP has upgraded to version V.1.

To make it more efficient to grow the Navigator platform, ATP's developers built the Navigator V system around Microsoft's .net architecture. The .net system is more attuned not only to faster development cycles but is more useful for Internet-based features. One of Navigator V's major features, which isn't due until later this year, will be data updates delivered via the Internet instead of on disk. When this is available, users will be able to set their computer to automatically update at a specified time so the data is always fresh.

Installing Navigator V takes some time, more than an hour in my case, because the entire library is installed on the host computer. A full installation of the entire ATP regulatory library takes up about four gigabytes of hard-drive space. Updates are delivered on CDROM disks and contain only the updated material, which will also keep data downloads quick when that service becomes available. A new feature of the networked installation of Navigator V is that only the server needs the CDROM update. Updates are then delivered to each client as the clients log on and check their status.

Navigator V features a clean and utilitarian look, less graphically splashy than older versions of Navigator but pleasantly modern and easy-to-use. Instead of clicking on the desired "book" to search in previous versions, Navigator V simplifies the search process by allowing the user to select from multiple volumes and sub-areas within each volume at the same time. Thus, a user can search in airworthiness directives, advisory circulars, and FARs, or subparts of each of those sections, all at the same time. This makes much more sense and takes advantage of the power of computers to deliver answers that might contain similar information from different sources. The FAA publishes tons of information, and some of it might have a different impact on a maintenance company, depending on whether it is advisory or regulatory in nature. Better for the user to find every source instead of having to search through each volume of material separately.

Navigator V has some excellent new features, including one file for compliance and profile records. In older versions, two separate files had to be maintained. Users can now add their own compliance records, too, and export compliance files to many popular formats such as Microsoft Word and Excel and Adobe pdf. Users can also filter compliance records and can hide or duplicate compliance items such as individual ADs. And, users can now track service bulletins by themselves without having to find the ADs that service bulletins are attached to.

One of the biggest changes is that ATP finally is fully supporting all Microsoft Windows printers, and printing is much more standard. With older versions, users could print only entire documents and many Windows printers could not be used. Now users can use Print Preview to see what the printout will look like and select exactly which pages to print.

In Navigator V, the file standards are similar to the tree structure used in Windows, which most personal computer users are familiar with. This makes it easier to navigate the data. But it also allowed ATP to add a terrific new feature, a User Document folder where users can store documents that they created or any other document to which quick access is needed. Users can set the path to their User Documents folder in Nav V's Preferences menu.

The User Documents folder is a fantastic addition, but there is one glitch in its implementation in this version of Navigator V.

After I created an icon on my computer's desktop for my User Documents folder and added a few of my own documents to see how it worked, I found that I couldn't right-click on the User Documents folder in Navigator V and do anything with the mouse's right-click menu beyond expand and contract the folder. And, you can't drag-and-drop files into the User Document folder within Navigator V, you have to go back to Windows to remove and add folders. This is something that should be fixed, because to a user, a folder is a folder and it should act like a Windows folder in terms of how the user interacts with it, even if it's in another program like Navigator V.

One more drawback with User Documents is that you can't create sub-folders in the User Documents folder. Well, you can create sub-folders, but Navigator V can't see them, so if you place files in sub-folders in User Documents, they aren't accessible in Nav V. This needs fixing because a maintenance operation with many user documents will need a way to organize them instead of placing them all in one messy folder.

The search function, by the way, can't see into User Documents, so don't expect your docs to appear during a search.

You'll notice that one of the choices in the Advisory Publications volume listed on the opening menu Bookshelf is NSTB Accident Reports. You can view what this is by putting a search term in the search box and clicking the check mark next to NTSB Accident Reports. But once you pull up that information, it is just a link to the NTSB's accidents query web page.

One of Navigator V's strengths is the ability to take the user out of his or her local computer into the grand and glorious Internet; eventually, maintenance manuals will be accessible with an easy click of the mouse, with instant access to up-to-the-minute data. But, this is also something that ATP has to be careful about. While Navigator V does take the user to the web, it does so within a hobbled browser window that pops up to bring you to the web page. This web view doesn't have any of the traditional browser controls, so you can't move back and forward, refresh, or do anything beyond clicking on the links on the page. It may make more sense here for Navigator V to simply pop up a regular Internet Explorer window so the user has full access to web material, and ATP's Jeff Seiler said that this was a feature that is being worked on for future releases.

Since releasing Navigator V, ATP has received a lot of feedback from users and has made many changes, thanks to the .net architecture allowing faster upgrades. One such feature is automatic backup, which users can set in the Preferences menu. This automatically saves a copy of the user's files when shutting down Nav V.

Users like the ability to move columns in the data window so they can view data the way they like, but now those moves remain even after shutting down so the same view is there next time they run Nav V. The history records are changed, too, so that historical tracks are kept and don't disappear over time as they used to. Users can set the number of documents to keep in the history; the default is 20.

The date filter on the What's New page is new, now allowing users to check for content changes as of previous dates instead of just for the most recent update.

ATP is taking advantage of all the space on modern hard-drives and adding new content as it becomes available, such as Transportation Security Administration regulations and information.

"We're really interested in improving Navigator from a functionality and capability standpoint," said Seiler. "As we make improvements, we can get them to the field quickly. In an ideal world, Navigator will be as ubiquitous as Internet Explorer on people's machines. They will pull it up as often as any other application."

-- By Matt Thurber