3 Signs Authoring Your Tech Pubs is Harder Than it Should Be

Although recognized for its important role in safe and compliant airline operations, the authoring of technical publications still remains complicated and sometimes unwieldy. A variety of factors such as unique document formats and different editing tools per OEM have historically challenged the simplification of tech pubs authoring. However, technology and consequently the solutions available have advanced quite a bit within the last few years, enabling tech pubs manual software.

If you’re not happy with your current systems or processes, there’s no reason to stick with the status quo. In fact, you may have some compelling reasons to make a change.


DO ANY OF THESE TECH PUBS CHALLENGES SOUND FAMILIAR?

1. MULTIPLE AUTHORING TOOLS, PROCESSES & PEOPLE

Airlines rely on an average of 5-7 disparate and disconnected systems or external service providers to manage the authoring of their tech pubs. Most commonly, different authoring tools and processes are used for:

• OEM vs. company manuals

• Different fleet types

• Tech Pubs department vs. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

This means the complexity, time, and level of effort in managing revisions increases with every manual and every update. If you are a multi-fleet operator and/or responsible for multiple AOCs or subsidiaries, routine revisions take weeks or months without a common content management solution that sets consistent processes and enables content sharing across manuals.


2. THE REVISION PROCESS FEELS LIKE A MYSTERY

Regardless of the document or the particular update, unfortunately, content editing bottlenecks are the norm and should be expected. Your non-Tech Pubs content contributors – like SMEs – spend 50% or more of their time creating mark ups and manually comparing PDFs. This means Tech Pubs manages an inefficient revision management workflow that includes email and paper-based exchanges between Technical Writers and SMEs. Your SMEs don’t have the skills required to use the same authoring and editing tools as Tech Pubs. And it doesn’t make sense to train them like a Technical Writer on one or more of these tools.


3. YOU DON’T SEE WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT XML

Driven by the OEMs, XML is fast becoming the standard for operational manuals. Sure, XML has its benefits – such as giving structure and organization to complex information including operational manuals. However, even if you haven’t already out-sourced your OEM revision management, the benefits of an XML-based content management solution seem limited to your Technical Writers. The steep learning curve for XML, on top of potentially multiple systems and processes to cover your entire operation, prevents realizing the full-efficiency and accuracy of a next generation standard.

TRY A NEW APPROACH TO CONTENT AUTHORING & DISTRIBUTION THAT’S DESIGNED TO SIMPLIFY & STREAMLINE

Having seen the above challenges firsthand, we partnered with organizations like yours to explore pain points and unmet needs in detail. As a result, we’ve designed an end-to-end content management and distribution platform that streamlines revision management to serve as the single tech pubs manual software solution across multiple manual and fleet types.
With aviation’s first XML-based and truly universal authoring solution, Tech Pubs departments can author and distribute entirely on their own. Through unified document management, the Comply365 platform provides a single, end-to-end authoring and revision management solution across manuals, fleets, AOCs, and departments.

If you’ve wondered if there’s a better way, consider this:


If you’re facing one or more of these Tech Pubs challenges, let’s schedule a time to meet and simplify your authoring experience.

Comply365