The subject of Metadata is currently very popular. This is due to different tendencies in technical documentation. On the one hand the trend in the creation of documents is strongly going towards modularization. In order not to lose track, metadata is used to classify and organize as well as to find and filter the individual modules.
On the other hand metadata play the main role in two new standards, which deal with delivery and transfer of documentation: VDI 2770 and iiRDS.
Finally metadata is useful in reducing content redundancies. The modularization will eventually reach its limits. Therefor single modules still have a variety of variants. Here, metadata is helping to keep them apart in a module and to filter if needed. Two of our customers make extensive use of this.
The new VDI-standard regulates the transfer of product-related documentation from the manufacturer to the customer. The centerpiece is a fixed set of metadata per document. These Metadata classify the document, create a clear reference to the product and contain additional descriptive information.
In addition the VDI 2770 determines the transfer format of the documents and their organization in containers, even across supply chains.
VDI 2770 is an initiative of the process industry. However, it can also be used in many other sectors.
iiRDS stands for Intelligent Information Request and Delivery Standard and comes from the iiRDS consortium under the umbrella of tekom.
iiRDS standardizes the transfer of product-accompanying information with the focus on user support. An iiRDS package contains the information itself as well as the metadata of these informations.
The metadata defined in iiRDS cover a wide range of topics. Examples are information objects, product life cycles phases, necessary qualification, event or product components. Most metadata is optional. This allows, for example, the use of iiRDS, even if not all metadata is available yet.
The user wants a manual, which only explains his product variant, the manufacturer prefers a manual that explains all 7 product variants. Like this he has to maintain common content only once.
Again metadata is the key to dissolve the supposed contradiction. If you qualify the variant specific content with suitable validities in a general user manual, the instructions for specific variants can be automatically “filtered out“.
Our customers Audi and Siemens Healthcare make extensive use of this technology.
PI-Mod is a concept for structuring of technical documentation with main focus on mechanical and plant engineering. It developed from a cooperation of different companies and can be used free of charge.
One core of PI-Mod is the modeling of metadata, which are distinguished between product-specific (“P“) and information-type-specific (“I“) metadata. PI-Mod assumes from documentations which are constructed of single modules, to which the metadata is assigned.
The principle of PI-Mod is used today in many applications and editing systems.
