Users Forum

I have had a slightly belated look at the S1000D User forum which is taking
place this week - indeed as I post this it is already Day 3 with plenty still to
come. I know that we have several people attending this event and I
have no doubt that they will be very pleased to see you (Mekon Stand).

What has interested me quite a lot is that S1000D does seem to be catching up with work carried out in the UK under the banner of the MoD Def Stan 00-60 specification. In that document the link was very firmly made between the ILS LSA (Mil Std 1388), S1000D Technical Documentation, and parts handling and organisation via S2000M.

Another interest which is highlighted by some of the sessions at the S1000D User Forum is the direction and some of the thinking behind some of the 'new features' of S1000D Issue 4 more of which another time.

Integration of Documentation

As part of the work with the UK MoD it became obvious fairly early on that the Def Stan 00-60 view of the processes involved in documentation was not as straightforward as originally intended. The content of the LSA database was nowhere near comprehensive enough for publications, it was in the wrong format and there was no space to store the data modules when they had been created. Several companies within the UK modified their LSA offerings to accommodate this information. I guess that yet again (flag waving here) the UK led the way and hopefully lessons learned here helped make the work coming up much easier and less painful.

Use the Forum Time Wisely

I guess what I will miss by not being at the User Forum is that networking with suppliers of technology and users.

There will be developments which I know I would have found exciting (but not be carried away by - perhaps I am a cynic at heart), users who have solved problems in novel ways who are prepared to talk about them and just those who are attending so that they can try to get to grips with this S1000D Specification.

When I go to exhibitions or conferences and look at what is on offer I have the following golden rules in place:

• do not always believe what you hear
• look carefully at what you are being shown
• ask your obvious questions that closely affect your work
• if something does not say that it does something then it almost certainly does not (first law of software supply - from bitter experience)

Enjoy!

US S1000D Event in October 2009

An email Received here on Friday notified me of an S1000D event in the US. Called the 2009 S1000D User's Forum it is due to take place between 12th and 15th of October in Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA. It is being organised by the Aerospace Industries Association, one of the bodies responsible for the maintenance of the S1000D Specification.

Spread over the four days there are, as usual, several sessions and tracks.

Tracks

Day one is mainly set for tutorials and it will be interesting to see what topics they are to cover.

On day two one of the Tracks is focused on "Creating the Vision for Integrated Logist" (For those of you not familiar with this last word I looked it up to discover that it means "To perform logistics functions or processes. The act of planning, organizing and managing activities that provide goods or services" There is even a verb "to logist" - for those who wish to look further I have provided a link to the online source of my information at the bottom of this item.)

At long last it would seem that years after Def Stan 00-60 in the UK documented the links between the ILS world in the guise of Mil Std 1388, the S1000D specification and S2000M specification there is a public focus on the interoperability of these and other specifications. Sessions are given over to the linking of these and other specifications (S3000L, S4000M & S5000F. The session which covers the links between the various S Specifications ends in one called "How does the technical publication production benefit from the ASD suite of ILS Standards?" If there is not already one perhaps this session should form the basis of a specification in its own right which documents properly the links between them.

As one might expect there are reports (on the morning of day three) into updates on the progress(?) of S1000D.

Link

The above are some of the programme sessions that have caught my eye on a quick read through but if you wish to look at this more closely then the link to the 'front page' is "http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Invitation.aspx"

Attendance

I have heard reports from contacts that attendance of both the ATA and the previous S1000D conference was down from normal. I guess that if this is the case it reflects the hard economic times that we are going through.

Attendance at the full conference is shown as $450 (for a limited time) but of course one has to get there - a quick search reveals that from the UK a return flight would cost around $750.

Here in the UK the people who would most benefit from exposure to a conference of this type are employed by relatively small companies (e.g. < 100 staff). There is just not the spare money in circulation here to pay for this visit or even to warrant the loss of production which would happen from a person attending this event. UK technical publications contractors tend to be very lean organisations where every penny counts and where generally money is spent for the support of a contract.

My experience has been that any attempt by a contractor to introduce 'efficiencies' has been met with a corresponding demand from their clients to reduce the rates that they pay for the work to be done. I agree that this is short sighted. I would be interested to hear if this observation is still relevant (it was fairly recently supported in a conversation that I had).

I guess that this conundrum is something that we have to mull over and try to come up with some suitable answer.

UK Event

I have heard rumours on the grapevine that the UK even (recently postponed) has been rescheduled. More details when I get definite information.

(Logist - Link to WWW Virtual Library "http://www.logisticsworld.com/logistics/glossary.asp?query=Logist&search=exactterm&form=show&acr=show&ref=show&rel=show&srl=show&llk=show&wiz=show&num=&hst=show&mode=")

Preston Event Cancelled

It has come to my notice that the S1000D event scheduled to take place in Preston later this month has been cancelled.

This is a pity because in these straightened times it is very difficult for most of us involved in the S1000D community to travel outside the country in which we live.

I understand from a contact that the AIA event which took place in the States this year had an attendance which was quite a bit down on last year. Indeed I understand the the numbers were roughly half what they had been (I hope my information is more or less correct). Clearly the economic situation has affected pretty well all of us. (There are some notable exceptions in the UK of course - if you have been following the UK press revelations).

If there are any other conferences or get events that I hear about that are in any way related to the S1000D community, I will, of course, be putting details on this Blog. If you know of any which are taking place please let me know.

In the meantime we have noticed an increasing interest in S1000D here in the UK so perhaps the next level of users are rolling out - something positive in contrast with some of the doom and gloom of today.

An S1000D UK Event in May this year

This Blog has been relatively quiet just lately. Not that there has been a dearth of things to comment on but mainly due to the generally busy-ness of your scribe. There are only so many hours in the day and I have to sharpen the chisel from time to time to start on a new block of stone.

I could not let this upcoming event go by without comment. Although I have nothing to do with its organisation I do recognise the value of these events.

In this time of financial uncertainty it is good to know that there is to be this event in the UK which is going to include the subject of S1000D as part of it's programme.

TechInfo 2009 is scheduled to take place on Monday 18th May and Tuesday 19th May at the Marriott Hotel in Preston. For a change the cost of the full package, both days and overnight accommodation, looks to be within the scope of probably most companies. The per day cost is extremely reasonable too. OK, so those not in the UK will need to get the the venue but it is not all that far from Manchester Airport (under 50 miles) to which most major airports have linking flights.

Although there is only one track through the conference it looks as if delegates will certainly find subjects to match their requirements. Of course one of the major factors making these events so useful is the 'Networking' which goes on outside the various sessions. There is always plenty of genuinely good unbiased advice available.

For those who want more details they can obtain more details by looking at www.techinfo.org.uk. I did notice that this link has been put onto the Blog page by Google ads.

Hopefully I will see you there.