CENTUM CS 1000/CS 3000 Electronic Document

The complete documents should be structured such that their readability is the prime purpose. They should not stick to such a structure as the conventional system block for each function of the development specifications or for each software package.

Tools and devices suppress the increase in documentation man-hours required due to the production of electronic documents or the usage of new techniques.

DOCUMENT PLANNING

 Figure 3 Body Layout Example 

It was the first attempt to put thousands of pages of control system documentation into online manuals. Prior to starting this documentation a significant amount of time was spent on document planning. For readability that is compatible between documents on a CRT and paper, it became necessary to examine the following guidelines.

User interface including startup and link.

Structured documentation appropriate for browsing information.

Expression of indexes, lead sentences, reference cues, etc., that are understandable at a glance.

Rules for producing characters, figures and tables, templates, etc., and rules for data storage.

Information management of version numbers, documentation date, etc., that are interchangeable for each page.

Expression of security, PL measures, trademarks, and copyrights.

Taking these guidelines into account, we listened to users in various fields, identified all the described items, then devised a detailed plan and design for the entire documentation policy and structure including the table of contents for each document. In planning, the emphasis was put on the following items.

To offer the necessary information to those who need it, the intended readers should be clearly defined, such as engineers, plant operators, and maintenance personnel.

To remove the duplication of descriptions and browsing difficulties by defining the positioning and contents of each document, a simple and comprehensible document system should be established. (See Figure 1, CS 1000/CS 3000 document map.)

The documents should be clearly categorized by their objectives— one that must be read, and ones for reference, thus reducing the number of documents that must be read.

The documents should be well structured so that they are easy to read and easy to revise if the product specification is modified or if the documents are to be altered for use with other product models.

The documentation development methodology should adopt the structured programming methodology of s

CS 1000/CS 3000 documents should be prepared so that they can be provided on CD-ROM. These documents should also be laid out with consideration for bookbinding and the printing of specific pages on demand.

PDF should be employed as the data format of electronic documents. While making the most of PDF files, a function equivalent to situation-dependent help is implemented. Acrobat Reader supplied free from Adobe Systems Inc., is redistributed with the CD-ROM for use as the PDF browsing software. Each PDF file is designed such that the standard Find function of Acrobat Reader can be used.

To improve the browsing performance for retrieving the desired information, an electronic document should be provided with link settings (linking to related information), which is a convenient PDF function. Link resettings may be required if document revision increases or reduces the number of pages; unnecessarily complex link settings should not be made.

The information required first by the user and the designation of PL, trademarks, etc., should be presented with paper documents accompanying the CD-ROM.

Revisions to each document are informed to respective overseas offices and translated into various languages, and hence they should be supplied in detail to users all over the world.

DOCUMENTATION DESIGN

 Figure 5 Calling Relationship between Online Manuals 

 Figure 6 Startup from the Windows Start Menu 

One point of the documentation design is to achieve the "Create Once Use Many Times" concept and also to be aware of the data structure that can be utilized in the future. It is a matter of course that the design conforms to the basic rules of technical communication associated with general documentation.

Sharing the Document Source Data

We rolled out the CENTUM CS 1000, and then CENTUM CS 3000 within a short period of time. They have many common functions in their control systems, and both models have a significant amount of descriptions overlap in their documents. We applied the concept of "Use the same source for all applicable purposes" and isolated common functions from functions, which differed between the models. In the development of the CS 3000 we restructured the document map (Figure 1) to common manuals and individual manuals, compiling the CS 1000 and CS 3000 documents into one set of documents.

Additionally, the pictograms that indicate each definition shown in Figure 2 are used in documents so as to denote at a glance CS 1000 and CS 3000 specific parts. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of the next revision and to greatly reduce the number of pages.

Layout Design

The page layout is designed in consideration of browsing a manual on a CRT, printing the necessary pages on demand, or reading the manual as a book-bound document.