Web content management systems - example

CMS systems span a wide variety of needs, from small systems with almost no workflow for small user-groups and such, to large database-based systems for running large, very active web sites.

Airlines Content Challenge

Not only is aircraft maintenance content lengthy and voluminous, but also this product content is complex in a number of ways :-

• The content is technical in nature, requiring expensive and expert creation and review.
  
  
• The content is technical in nature, so it is complex to publish (e.g., charts, tables, equations.)
  
  
• The content contains specialized formats (e.g., procedural task lists, cautions, warnings and notes, troubleshooting charts)
  
  
• The content is tied to regulation, so additional review, overhead,
  workflow, considerations must be undertaken

Great volumes of information come in from the airframe manufacturer (Boeing, Airbus, etc) and the engine manufacturer (GE, Rolls Royce). Information is constantly changing to reflect changes to the systems, subsystems, and individual parts and materials used, as well as to procedures because of changes in regulation and model configurations. For example, Boeing may be now advising airlines to perform a certain test or modification on a certain system or part based on something changing in the factory, or being changed because of regulation or safety concern from the FAA.

However, information as delivered by the manufacturers may or may not be suitable to be put to immediate use by the airline itself. The airline usually needs to take the manufacturer's information and develop more specific instructions based on many different factors, including:-

• The airline's particular equipment and configurations
• The facilities and locales in which these procedures will take place
• The specific personnel who will perform the tasks and perform the inspections, either because of seniority, or levels of qualifications, or certifications required to perform certain tasks

What do these changes in the manufacturer's content look like at the airline level? Here are a couple of examples out of tens of thousands of possible iterations and conditions:-

• An engine maintenance procedure done as part of a maintenance overhaul may presume that the entire engine compartment has already been exposed, whereas a specific maintenance procedure may begin with the steps the mechanic has to take in order to expose that particular part.
  
  
• An airline may have made a modification that is not yet reflected in the general maintenance information provided by the manufacturer.
  The manufacturer may have a modification left to the airline's discretion, which the airline has chosen not to implement, yet the general maintenance information already shows the modification.