The documentation process is dynamic, as is widely known. After a project is completed, various external factors may impact documentation throughout the product’s life cycle. A change in parts, tools, references, consumables, a client request, or new regulatory requirements all necessitate updates or adjustments to the documentation (RFU).
The key question is no longer whether the documentation will be impacted over the product’s 20-30 year lifecycle, but how quickly and precisely this impact can be visualised.
IMPACT ANALYSIS
Impact analysis identifies the documentation units (data modules) affected by a change, enabling assignment to specialists for updates. This extends to any change in support elements essential for task execution, such as items, ingredients, test equipment, location, warnings, or signage.
In the best-case scenario, the modification may be limited to updating the reference of the relevant tooling. However, as mentioned just before, changing a tool, even if it serves the same purpose as the previous one, can impact how certain tasks are carried out.
Impact analysis meets the crucial need to quickly and easily identify all the documentation units (data modules) that reference this tooling, enabling an assessment and, if necessary, assigning them in batches to specialists who can update them.
This type of impact can be extended to any changes in the support elements required to carry out tasks, whether it be an item, an ingredient, a test device, a change of location, a warning message, a hazard, signage, a label, etc.
In a system where configuration management is an important component, the Search and Analytics module enables specific configuration searches and provides a list of documentation objects matching these configuration criteria.
BULK CHECKS
Similarly, the Search and Analytics module enables bulk checks on the entire document base. In the case of a modification affecting a greater or lesser number of document units (DM), it allows verification that all the document units that needed modification have indeed been updated, and that the entire revised base aligns with the impact analysis.
It is also possible to perform a search to extract Data Modules with their reason for update (RFU), to ensure none have been overlooked. As a result, an exhaustive list of all RFUs per document unit can be obtained.
CONTEXTUAL SEARCHES
Another way to make use of this module, outside of impact analysis, is to develop and execute contextual searches within the document’s XML structure. For example, you can search for a word within an ‘Abbreviation’ tag, rather than searching for that word independently of its semantic context.
A small revolution, the Search and Analytics module greatly enhances the search and analysis capabilities of the document base, offering new possibilities to users and managers, who can now easily and quickly anticipate, quantify, and monitor all update tasks.