When speaking of what qualities constitute a great IETM / IETP solution, the first thing that may come to mind may possibly be robustness or stability. Indeed, choosing faultless, well-tested software is extremely important to your operations when functioning as a key player in the aviation supply chain. However, what largely separates a modern IETM / IETP solution and a relative “legacy” one is its viewer, where data is consumed by users. Modern tech publication platforms are usually engineered utilizing a more recent framework, allowing enterprise-grade extensibility to their architecture. With deeper integration, organizational systems and workflows, the contemporary viewer design aspect may bring greater stability to the exchanges of mission-critical data.
However, in this day and age, great modern aviation IETM / IETP viewers can (and should) be more than just the fact it works. For example, the Viewer should not just be able to display content, but should be well-engineered with various features to assist unique groups of users (including fleet operators and MRO engineers) with the tasks at hand. In fact, the ability to access a multitude of both common and highly specialized tools provide a significant advantage to using digital manuals and publications over paper-based formats.
For those reasons, other than being able to build a reliable platform, the designer of these viewers must clearly understand the distinctive work of the final consumers of aviation technical data – an important prerequisite for the ability to design features, tools and digital experiences that can effectively assist those highly specialized workers.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, in the next 20 years, 25,000 new aircraft will be added to the current 17,000-strong commercial fleet. About 480,000 new technicians will be needed to maintain these aircraft and over 350,000 pilots to operate them. This indicates demand will soon far exceed training capacity, including software training for the mass of non-IT end-users. However, the technical learning curves of user software can easily be allayed with thoughtful UI/UX designs and easy-to-use features, making a good case for the adoption of modernly designed IETM/IETP viewer solutions. When features and tools are intuitively accessible from within the viewer’s interface, newly hired workers may be able to start performing their tasks without the usual, heavy initial training. This can be a huge benefit for MROs (and airlines) when hiring new workers, particularly after an extended period of massive downsizing due to COVID. Sparing end-users from a steep software learning curve can assist with change management to a large extent.
IETM/IETP Viewer – features and tools to aid the end-users of aviation
Navigation features (bookmarking, indexing, applicability, and search bars) are essential for locating mission-critical data that are relevant to the task being performed. As some of the most extensively utilized tools by the final consumers of IETM / IETP, they must be smart and intuitively designed to help users access the exact data they need and when they need it. Similar to the experience of a modern web browser, search and other navigation bars/buttons should always remain the most visible tools across the user interface indicated with unique icons. Users should be able to easily locate the navigation tool for their intended action, without too much guesswork.
For a variety of reasons (e.g communication), users such as maintenance engineers may want to annotate and highlight information in the documentation which is deemed critical to their tasks. An interactive Viewer should provide both freehand and guided annotations. For example, the NIVOMAX IETM/IETP Viewer Annotation menu allows various options for creating graphic annotations that can be shared. The tool allows a high extent of illustrative freedom, users may select from resizable shapes and drawings to highlight any information, type text, or even make free drawings over the content being consumed.
Features such as Online Part Ordering (OPO) can also be a great addition to allow the end-users (maintenance engineers or OEMs) to become more proactive in the part procurement process. When engineers can make orders online in real-time, OEM and MRO organizations may achieve more efficiency in the procurement process, reducing the extra layers of communication while ensuring the accuracy of the orders. In fact, this feature may help MROs fare better during supply chain disruption of post COVID, and possibly gain an upper hand when trying to obtain scarce parts. For example, from the NIVOMAX Viewer, OPO is a Sales Order extension that can be initiated with the “Add to cart” button. Engineers working in MRO positions (and OEMs) may use the built-in OPO feature anytime to order parts and supplies, as needed.
A configurable view is also often overlooked in many “legacy” IETM/IETP applications. As part of modern UX/UI, the viewing experience should automate intelligently within the platform the Viewer is being operated on, whether via a web browser or a mobile app. Viewing tabs should be resized and dragged easily to create a personalized content view. For instance, while using the NIVOMAX Viewer, both MRO engineers and fleet operators can freely manipulate the viewing tabs to optimize a focused view of content (individual tabs, side-to-side, etc). The view will also intuitively adapt to the content being displayed whether it is graphics or a text document.
The average aviation end-user is utilizing more devices than ever in the workplace, ranging from personal tablets to multi-screen computer systems. To meet these requirements, the IETM/IETP viewing solution should be at least accessible via multiple mobile devices and web applications. The device-switching features, such as NIVOMAX Job-Sync can also be an excellent addition, assisting users in working on the same tasks between different devices. Users may switch devices at any time when they feel a large or more screen(s) is needed, or if a specific feature functions better via another type of device (Desktop).
As can be seen, intuitive navigation and feature-rich design are the extremely overlooked factors that can directly impact the user’s workflow and processes. A great modern Viewer must comprise the highly unique tools and flexibility to accommodate all of its various user groups including fleet operators, MRO engineers and OEMs.
Looking for an IETM/IETP solution?
NIVOMAX by SYNAXIOM is one of the first user-centric IETM/IETP solutions engineered with intuitive modern designs and features. Catering to both next-generation S1000D and legacy standards (ATA), NIVOMAX promises to bring unparalleled efficiency to the data collaboration between the partners of the aviation vertical supply chain.
With over a decade of technology implementation for long-term aviation partners including one of the world’s top three commercial aerospace manufacturers, SYNAXIOM is an expert who can help you address any concerns regarding interactive electronic technical publications and manuals, and affordable management solutions specific to your requirements and mission-critical systems.