FAQs of IETMs – Code And Pixels

Interactive Electronic Technical Manual.
Let’s understand what the meaning of IETM is. IETM is a Manual or softcopy of any book. Even PDF scanned files can also be called IETM. Any books, documents that are in digital format are IETMs.
Because if the book is seen in computer or whatever the manuals we see in a digital device is called Electronic Manual. If this manual is technical then it is called ETM, Electronic Technical Manual.
If this manual is dynamic or has multiple references in the form of hyperlinks, hotspots,etc, it is called Interactivity.

Whichever Manual is digital has technical information and contains cross-references are called Interactive electronic Technical Manual.

Many people think that IETM is a separate format like MS Word (.DOC) or Portable Document File (PDF)IETM is a technical term used to represent but not a format. Even PDF file is also ETM. Normal scanned images compiled together is Level -1 IETM and PDF has hyperlinks, cross-references, indexing which means interactivity is called Level -2 IETM.

Level -3 IETM uses XML or HTML and makes it much dynamic than PDF. Level -4 is database-based IETM. All the manuals are converted into the MYSQL database and stored. A viewer is used to access the data based on the user request, data will be pulled from the database and displayed to user.

Level-1 and LEVEL -2 its PDF file. Level -3 HTML-based web application, LEVEL 4 is Databases based web application.

IETM Viewer is software that is used to see the manuals that are converted into a database.

Level 1,2 does not need any IETM viewers because they are PDF files. Level -3 is HTML based. A complete manual is converted into HTML/XML files page-wise like we create a website. Images, illustrations will be placed in a folder. HTML/text, Images, Illustrations, Images,etc are called media assets.

Using IETM Viewer, one can see all the files in a structured way. IETM Viewer is a piece of software that is used to view the documents and also used for interactivity and switch between topics, subtopics, cross reference, hyperlinks, etc.

In the case of Level -4 this viewer is very powerful and gives full power to the user for quick access.

IETMs are basically used in the defense system. A couple of years backs OEMs used to deliver many sets of hard copies to end-users (Navy/Army/IAF) if the number of pages is less, in this case, it is easy to refer for troubleshooting or operational procedures, etc.
For complex systems i.e. Missiles, Defence vehicles, communication, and non-communication systems where many systems and subsystems are involved, which makes the document count goes in thousands.
In such cases when the issue arises it will be very difficult to do quick referring. In such cases, IETMs are very very effectively used.

These IETMs are now made as mandatory deliverables along with actual equipment by the Indian defense.
This IETM follows Indian defense guidelines, standards JSG 0852:2019 which gives guidelines for IETM structure.

When the electronic revolution started in 1990, PDF files were used as IETM till 2000. They used to be scanned images/raster images. Searching and hyperlinking indexing were not possible in those raster images. These are called LEVEL -1 IETM
Advancement in technology, use of OCR, and other features was added in PDF files. Thus PDF was made with selectable text, images, tables, hyperlinks, and indexing etc. Cross-references hyperlinks made PDF more interactive and user-friendly. These were called LEVEL -2

In level -2 there was one limitation. If the user manual or PDF file is single, then LEVEL 2 worked well. Hyperlinks inside a single PDF were possible but refereeing multiple PDFs i.e. cross-reference between manuals was again a challenge. For instance, let us assume that a user is looking for troubleshooting of some device and the troubleshooting requires the user to see the operational manual and technical manual etc.
Cross referring to multiple manuals was a problem. During that time HTML 5 has very strongly emerged as technology (2012). Taking advantage of technology, all these files are converted into HTML -5 and an IETM viewer is a piece of software program developed to see the files. This is LEVEL -3.

When the documents were thousands in number and ultra-quick navigation is needed for user inputs. In this scenario LEVEL, -4 was evolved. Level -4 is Database driven software which is way ahead powerful than all the previous levels.

This IETM was initiated in US defense having MIL-PRF-87268A number (MIL-M-87268, 87269) Based on these MIL standards, the Ministry of Defense, Directorate of Standardization, Joint service Guide (JSG) has framed guidelines which is 0852:2019.
Code and Pixels IETM framework is developed based on the Indian defense standard.

IETM is not freeware and not open-source. It’s customized software developed as per the defense guidelines. This IETM framework or software is designed using Angular, Node.Js, MYSQL databases.
IETM software has 3 Login modes. User, Admin, and Super Admin or authoring tool.
Users can see the manuals and Admin can create users and monitor user activities and super Admin can be used to create IETM content/database. Super Admin is also called as Authoring mode

If you want to edit IETM level -3, you need basic HTML. Edit means you can edit the IETM developed by us. Similarly, if you want to edit IETM Level -4 you need not have any programming skills. We have inbuilt text editors to edit the content and easy to use GUI to update the content.

There is no specific standard for IETM ARMY. For Indian defense, there is a single standard used. May it be for ARMY IETM, NAVY IETM, or AIR FORCE IETM. The standard id JSG 0852.

The way JSG 0852 is the standard of Indian IETMs, S1000D is the standard for defense IETM.
Usage may be similar, but the Complete structure of IETM is entirely different from Indian standards.

S1000D uses XML files whereas JSG uses MySQL as a database. S1000D is a very costly solution. Users/Navy need to have S1000D CSDB studio to get all the documents converted as per S1000D.

If the navy /airforce does not have an S1000D suit or a CSDB studio then going for S1000D is absolutely no use. It is just like going for Level -3 IETM of Indian standard.