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Today's military weapons systems are accompanied by tons of information. For instance, the original Bradley Fighting Vehicle's technical manuals consist of more than 17,000 pages of text on diagnostics, maintenance, and repair. More than 60 percent of this information is common among the other Bradley versions, and more than 50 percent of the information can reused to develop a new version of the Bradley.
Until recently, it was not possible to take advantage of all the common information in a weapons system. Now, through an innovative program, the Army Publishing Directorate (APD) is making reuse of the common information possible by changing how publications information is developed and made available throughout the Army.
Through APD's Army Publication Content Management Program (APCMP), it is possible to develop this common information and share and reuse it for different purposes such as technical manuals (TMs), interactive electronic technical manuals (IETMs) and, training publications and products.
APD's mission is to produce, procure, and distribute information throughout the Army. To accomplish its mission, APD has a major initiative underway for digital development and delivery of Army information.
Digitized information saves the Army paper and storage space. Now, APD is going a step further by developing a capability to organize and categorize data so it is easily accessible and available to everyone--across differing hardware and software--On Demand and On Line.
Under APCMP, source information is grouped by function into task-sized modules called work packages. Because Army organizations focus on specific tasks, structuring its information into task-size modules makes the source data available for many uses. By applying Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags to this information, specific tasks can be easily accessed even from a very large database.
The Document Type Definitions (DTDs) feature of SGML/XML further categorizes the work packages' technical content and breaks the information down into categories such as maintenance procedures or operating instructions. The Formatting Output Specification Instances (FOSIs) are used with the DTD to establish the documents' style and format. FOSIs can adapt the same data into a paper presentation or a computer screen display.
DPD is based on capabilities specified in the Continuous Acquisition and Life Cycle Support (CALS) SGML/XML and is also compliant with MIL-PRF-28001 and International Organization for Standards, ISO 8879.
APD's innovative programs for data reuse will speed timely, accurate information to those who need it. From the soldier in the field to the classroom, information is becoming accessible...On Demand and On Line.
APCMP is already a proven success across systems. The technical manual segment has been proof-of-concept tested across systems by both Government and industry. The tests were successful, and APCMP is now being used to develop TMs and IETMs from common source data. Now, several Army program management offices for major weapons systems are planning to implement APCMP. Soon it will be the standard by which business is done.
Developers will have one common sources of data to work from that is accessible across hardware and software systems. Manuals and training material will only have to be authored once and can be reused in all products requiring the same information. Working with one standard database for all technical publications will simplify and improve the revision process and speed cross-revisions as well.
Commercial contractors and vendors will also benefit from the common source data, as it becomes a corporate asset to be used and reused throughout the enterprise, creating significant savings of time and money.
The most important user, the solider, will derive the maximum benefit from the new process. APCMP gives the soldier access to very specific information on tools, skills, parts, procedures and logistics-information that is always accurate and current. With APCMP, soldiers are able to achieve peak performance, confident in the information provided, and confident in their ability the Access the Army.
