S1000D Industry Vendors have gone out of their way to not only make the topic sound complex and scary but also to make you feel that this is such a specialization that you need to make sure you are ready to write lots of zeroes on the end of the investment check.
In a nutshell S1000D is an international specification for technical publications. Despite what you might have been told, S1000D is like any industry specification or standard, no easier or more difficult than when you might have first worked with the ATA 2200 iSpec, or one of the US MIL-STD’s. In fact, if you have worked with one of these industry standards, then that experience will help you transition very nicely into S1000D.
Simply consider S1000D as a tool that helps you with the guidance and development of your technical publications. Yes it was originally developed for the aerospace industry but nowadays it can be used for any industry. One of the biggest benefits of S1000D is the ability to reuse the content for multiple purposes. You break your content down into much smaller components. Instead of the traditional book/chapter, you look at the content and break your chapter into much smaller individual files; think subject description, overview or procedure to remove, as individual data module topics.
S1000D allows you to generate technical content for operators, maintainers and the training department. The delivery can be a PDF or an Interactive Electronic Technical Publication (IETP/IETM)
Because S1000D is a specification and not a standard, any Industry Standards that you must comply to will always override the information that is contained in the specification. The S1000D community offer many ways to have a better understanding of what S1000D is and how it might assist you with the development of your technical publications, don’t hesitate to visit www.S1000D.org, www.absolutedata.com/resources/everything-s1000d/ or www.onestrand.com/6-steps-to-s1000d/ to further your education for free.
Reeta Nye
