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 Bartlett  PG 
 

Caterpillar Inc's New Authoring System

 

Abstract:

 Caterpillar, Inc. has developed a new document information system that emphasizes the reusability of Information Elements (shared objects) in multiple documents, the automatic compilation of objects in to a document, and the reusability of documents of multiple media. Based on ISO and military standards, the new information system will improve accuracy, consistency, efficiency, timeliness and costs. This paper describes the issues that led to the system's design, pitfalls in its implementation and operations, and details and anticipated benefits
 

Introduction to Caterpillar Inc.

 

Raw Material

 We often hear that information is our company's most important asset. As writers, editors, managers, and engineers, we are responsible for converting information from its intangible state to a tangible form that can be packaged and sold. Information is the raw material we use to build our information products.
 
 

Business Overview

 Caterpillar is the world's leading producer of earth-moving equipment and industrial gas turbine engines and a leading global supplier of diesel engines. Caterpillar sells over 300 products with a service life as long as fifty years or more. To support distributors in over 120 countries, Caterpillar communicates in 35 different languages.
 Several years ago, Caterpillar decided to develop the most sophisticated and highly automated publishing system that they could envision. Caterpillar's New Authoring System is now on-line and probably the state of the art in publishing and information management. Caterpillar's new system is based on CALS and it relies on what Caterpillar calls “Information Elements.” Information elements are reusable text and graphic objects that can be shared in multiple documents, automatically compiled into a document, and automatically published in multiple formats.
 
 

Application Overview

 The division implementing this new system is Caterpillar's Technical Information Division (T ID) which has worldwide responsibility for producing the documentation needed to operate and service its products. TID's 300 authors and illustrators produce 800 new pages of English documentation every business day -- and Caterpillar routinely translates those 800 pages into as many as 14 languages. Today the TID group is made up of 15 groups with over 400 writers total, a total of 600 writers is expected by the end of 1997.
 Caterpillar's TID authors produce a variety of Parts Manuals and Service Documents including:
 
  • Maintenance Manuals
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  • Operation and Troubleshooting Guides
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  • Disassembly and Specifications Manuals
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  • Assembly Manuals
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  • Testing and Special Instructions
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  • Adjustment Guides
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  • Systems Operation Bulletins
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    Limitations of Caterpillar's Previous Publishing System

     
     

     Although at the time of it's creation the previous publishing solution was a leading-edge system pioneered by Caterpillar which automatically and electronically combined text and graphics to build parts manuals, Caterpillar decided to implement a new solution not only because of the limitations of their old system, but also to take advantage of newly-emerged standards.
     Some of the limitation of the previous system included:
     
    1. Authors seldom reused existing information because it was difficult to find, so they would recreate the information. And when they did find information within a document that they could reuse, they had to paste a copy of that information. Each additional copy of the same information increased Caterpillar's costs for review, translation, storage, and revisions.
    2. Individual authors worked on individual documents because there was no support for collaborative authoring. The task of authoring all of a large document requires an author to be too general in their knowledge, which reduces their effectiveness and lengthens the project.
    3. Translation into other languages was inefficient because each new revision of a document was translated in its entirety regardless of the scope of the revisions.
    4. There were inconsistencies across documents as a result of different authors writing styles, and inconsistent terminology and inconsistent format.
    5. Caterpillar was operating and maintaining two completely independent systems for producing parts manuals and service documents. Sharing data between these two systems was rare because it was difficult, so authors typically recreated information instead of sharing it, leading to higher costs.
     

    Caterpillar's New Authoring System

     Caterpillar decided to build a "New Authoring System." based on open standards that would allow them to deliver an unprecedented level of efficiency through reuse and automation. The objectives of the new system were numerous and included the following criteria:
     
  • Comply with industry standards
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  • Protect information from obsolescence
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  • Share data with customers
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  • Easily reuse data
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  • Develop common tools
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  • Support output to paper, CD-ROM and microfiche
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  • Improve quality and consistency with a single base of information
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  • Improve translation efficiency
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  • Eliminate manual processes
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  • Enable research
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  • Redline electronically
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  • Enable voice and video
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  • Adapt to future needs
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    Components of the New Systems

     Caterpillar's New Authoring System is based on standards. They selected SGML for text and documents; TIFF, IGES, and CGM for graphics; and output specifications based on MIL-PRF-28001 for page composition. Through the use of these standards, Caterpillar was able to integrate tools from multiple vendors to support their ambitious goals. To implement their solution Caterpillar chose:
     
     
  • ArborText ADEPT Editor for Service Documents authoring
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  • ArborText Command Language was used to create a forms-driven GUI interface for the Parts Editing Tool and Parts Caption Tool.
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  • ArborText ADEPT Publisher for Composition
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  • InterCAP Graphic Systems Illustrator II and CatEdit, a customized version of InterCAP Graphic Systems QuikEdit for Illustrations
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  • UES KI Shell for workflow
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  • Exoterica OmniMark for Conversion
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  • CTE and AMT: Carnegie Group project for translation
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  • ArborText Electronic Review for electronic redlining
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  • OpenText for full text search and retrieval
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  • Oracle 7 as the database
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    Keys to Making the New Authoring System Work

     Caterpillar saw the following items as key requirements to making their system successful.
     
    1. Adopt a modular approach to information creation: Through the use of "Information Elements," which are small modules of information that can be shared across multiple instances and multiple types of documents, Caterpillar expects to achieve a greater rate of reuse. This rate of reuse slashes not only the cost of creating that information but also the cost of reviewing, revising, and translating it. Caterpillar produces revisions to entire documents by revising, reviewing, and translating only those Information Elements that are affected.
    2. Promote collaborative authoring: Multiple authors can work simultaneously on the Information Elements that belong in a single document, which improves time to market. This new approach has enabled Caterpillar's authors to become more expert in a narrower range of subject matter which improves both the efficiency and quality of their work.
    3. Generate multiple forms of information from a single data source: Caterpillar generates printed, electronic, and microfiche versions of its technical documents automatically from a single SGML database. Caterpillar even provides their information in SGML to those customers who need it. When the time is right, Caterpillar can easily and automatically distribute their information on the World Wide Web.
    4. Automate wherever possible: Caterpillar has fully automated their typesetting, page layouts, and paste-up. To create a new document, Caterpillar enters model number and serial number information. Their software automatically extracts the appropriate Information Elements, assembles them into a valid SGML instance, automatically lays out attractive pages, and generates a PostScript file complete with text and graphics. This process does not even require inspection!
     

    Pitfalls and Payoffs

     When they began planning the system that would meet all their requirements Caterpillar wanted to do what had never been done before, so they along with the vendors were faced with the challenge to measure up. Being on the bleeding edge was costly and there were many risks and unknowns that they had to be willing to accept and deal with to achieve the payoffs of gaining a competitive edge and higher productivity. This new system was a massive undertaking by Caterpillar that required new software and custom development, a tremendous increase in development staff, document workflow and analysis, DTD design, style sheet design and legacy conversion. The process required extensive requirements gathering and specifications. Due to the size of Caterpillar even small improvements can mean large savings.
     In addition to making the system work, Caterpillar has to insure that their staff understood the new processes and tools, this required extensive internal selling for employees and dealers. They new that adopting a new system creates an initial loss of productivity due to training and process changes, but they believe that productivity soon improves dramatically and remains stronger indefinitely.
     

    Benefits of the New System

     As a result of all their effort Caterpillar realized the benefits that they had planned and expected. They now have one common system for the creation of Parts Manuals and Service Documents that allows them to:
     
     
  • Reuse information elements in multiple documents
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  • Create new documents by recombining information elements selectively
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  • Access nearly 1 million pages of legacy data now converted to SGML
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  • Use automatic machine translations
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  • Lower the cost by improving author productivity, consistency and accuracy
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  • Generate multiple outputs from a single source to paper, CD-ROM and microfiche
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  • Support multiple inputs for workgroup authoring
    •  Caterpillar has experienced dramatic improvements in the productivity of their authors while improving the consistency and accuracy of their information. Adoption of the CALS philosophy and a new system approach has been of tremendous benefit to the company. Caterpillar's smashing success convincingly demonstrates the potential of the CALS approach in the commercial marketplace.
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