Case Studies
Heavy Equipment Manufacturer
Appliance Manufacturer
Hobart
Case Study — Heavy Equipment Manufacturer
In 1999, O'Neil & Associates was contracted by a major client, a global manufacturer of heavy equipment that markets under two brands, to provide a technical documentation solution for their company.
Starting in 2000, O'Neil performed data analysis and then converted all of their current production information for parts and service manuals (more than 50,000 pages) to SGML/XML. Troubleshooting and Operating manuals were added in 2004 and 2005. We designed and created a complete authoring and publishing environment that operates over a wide area network. We have more than 15 authors at two satellite offices and the home office contributing content. This database approach allows sharing of information in the repository which has greatly reduced costs (over three times the data for the same cost) and time-to-market with updated information (ECN backlog is nearly 10 percent of what it was in 1998).
Parts, Service, Troubleshooting, and Operating manuals can be deployed from the environment to paper publishing or comprehensive Web-based IETM environments with the push of a button because of the automated work flow we have incorporated. To support the language translations, we have worked with our translation subcontractor to develop a translation memory system. This allows our system to get smarter with every manual we create and has dramatically reduced translation costs.
Using the information from the data repository, we created a unique Web application for each unique brand. This Web application is filtered by region (Americas and Europe) and dealer vs. end customer views and is available in five languages (English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian).
We provided interoperability with their ERP systems and engineering data to allow serial number-specific parts manuals to be generated on the fly. We also related parts-to-service kits, suggested spares lists, material safety data sheets, service bulletins, custom conversion kits, special equipment design (more than 30 percent of the products manufactured contain special equipment), parts availability, software downloads, and similar information.
The Web environment includes a help and comprehensive feedback system for error reporting and support by subject matter experts. Implementation of this feedback system has reduced the level of support required of its subject matter experts dramatically.
The above-described system was developed for current production models. Some legacy products were covered in third-party proprietary software platforms and were encrypted with significant elements of the data compiled with the code. Without the benefit of the source code, our customer's data was extracted and migrated into a Web environment without loss of functionality. We have also incorporated and related other legacy information in the form of static HTML and PDF files.
The environment is housed within our highly available, Web-hosted infrastructure which has maintained greater than 99.9 percent uptime since inception. This architecture was closely coordinated with our customer and features an array of load-balanced Web servers, multiple load-balanced T1 lines, multiple firewalls, and 24/7 support infrastructure. It averages more than 10 million hits per month and has evolved into a key support system.
Our customer refers to this custom-designed system as "a world-class product support environment" and is well pleased with all aspects of our effort for them. Our efforts have broadened to include: developing wrapper programs for their diagnostic software DLLs, developing comprehensive wrapper and installation programs for all of their new diagnostic software, and by taking over maintenance and enhancement of the computer-based interactive training (CBIT) projects.
In addition to the innovation the O'Neil team has brought to this project, the other key driver for success is the collaborative manner in which we work with our client's management team. On a quarterly basis, we meet to brainstorm and budget for future enhancements and functionality for the product support system and typically keep a 3-year plan for updates and features, in addition to continually adding more content. This is an excellent example of how we constantly look for ways to bring greater value to our customers.