AECMA S1000D is an International Specification for Technical Publications initially developed by the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) [former European Association for Aerospace Industries (AECMA)]. utilizing a Common Source Data Base (CSDB) and is used for the procurement and production of technical publications. Whilst the title restricts its use to technical documentation it has been demonstrated that the principles of the specification can easily be applied to non-technical documentation. The specification adopts and profiles ISO and WWW standards. Information generated is in neutral format, which means it can be used on disparate IT systems. It is this feature together with the modular approach to data creation and storage that makes the specification so acceptable to the wider international community.

S1000D is currently at Issue 2.2, with a release date of 31 May 2003. It incorporates a methodology for storing data in electronic form and provides the capability to output information both in electronic and, if required, paper format. The standards and DTDs for the XML IETP-X are also included.

The information types that can be handled are:

• Descriptive
• Fault Isolation
• Process
• Procedural
• Fault
• Crew/operators
• Maintenance schedules
• IPD (The Illustrated Parts Data)
• WRNGDATA

How does it work?

Data produced to AECMA S1000D is presented in a modular form (data modules). A data module is defined as "a self contained unit of data.“ Individual data modules are identified by a logical and specific numbering system, the Data Module Code (DMC), which permits the use of a database to store and manage the complete information set.

Data modules have two sections: one containing the content, which is the data required by the user e.g. the description or procedure, the other is the Identification and Status section, which contains all the metadata necessary to control the data module and its configuration. Each item of information, therefore, carries all its own configuration data.

A project’s complete technical publications information set is held on a Common Source Data Base (CSDB). The combination of data module code, information types and DM metadata allows a selection of subsets of information to be chosen by query or table of contents designed to meet a specific users needs. Graphic standards are supported with CGM4 (ATA profile), CALS Raster Grp 4, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PDF and TIFF.

The use of a DMC ensures that information is not duplicated in the CSDB. Items of information, which are repeated in different contexts, for example, warnings, opening and closing procedures, can be stored once as a single data module and can be used many times in different contexts. This provides considerable savings in data maintenance and enhances data configuration control. When change is required only the single DM needs to be changed whilst the changed information appears throughout the output, an example of the fundamental CALS philosophy of “create once, use many times”.

The specification contains electronic output that is independent of IT platform ensuring data neutrality from the building block of the data module to the output in whatever form is required.