scope:

This specification prescribes the requirements for an Interactive Electronic Technical Manual Data Base (IETMDB) to be constructed by a weapon-system contractor for the purpose of creating Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETM). The requirements herein cover the specification for the IETMDB and are intended to apply to one or both of two modes as specified in a contract: (1) the interchange format for the data base to be delivered to the Government; or (2) the structure and the naming of the elements of the data base created and maintained by the contractor for purposes of creating IETMs which are in turn delivered to the Government.

This specification contains paragraphs and specific requirements which are applicable to all Services. Such paragraphs or requirements are prefixed to indicate the Services to which they pertain: (A) for Army; (N) for Navy; (M) for Marines; and (F) for Air Force. Beneficial comments (recommendations, additions, deletions) and any pertinent data which may be of use in improving this specification should be addressed to: HQ AFMC/ENCS, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-5001; by using the self addressed Standardization Document Improvement Proposal (DD Form 1426) appearing at the end of this document, or by letter.

The following introductory material is included in this specification in order to fully acquaint offering contractors with the new requirements and characteristics of a data base developed specifically for IETMs.

For complex weapon systems and other types of military equipment, adequate logistic support in all its forms requires an enormous amount of current, readily accessible, accurate, and highly detailed data, consisting of Technical information (TI). This information has been traditionally prepared and distributed to the end user in paper form; but with new technology it can be better and more effectively displayed or presented electronically and interactively to an end user. The material presented is derived from material stored in textual, graphical, audio, or video form in a revisable data base which is composed of logically connected but randomly accessible IETM data elements. It is this starting point of the IETM electronic data chain that is specified in this document. The concept that the Services can either acquire and maintain large scale data bases of this type, or acquire access to such data bases, maintained continuously by a contractor, is an integral part of the IETM concept and in the larger arena of the Department of Defense (DoD) Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistic Support (CALS) program.

An IETMDB is a complete collection of data base elements relating to a weapon system or other equipment acquired by the Government and constructed in a standardized manner in order to provide the following capabilities:

a. The IETMDB can serve as the basis for construction and update of the entire suite of weapon system electronically displayed IETMs through the use of automated authoring systems.

b. Government activities or DoD contractors concerned with logistic support for the weapon system involved can access the data base directly to obtain needed logistic support information for specific purposes.

c. The IETMDB, or portions of it, can be interchanged by means of standardized formats and procedures throughout the DoD and its supporting contractors when needed for any purpose.

Acquisition of IETMs may be carried out by one of several optional approaches. This specification provides requirements for a standardized IETMDB which will permit the Government to acquire TI by applying any of the following contractual options:

a. Acquisition of only the final form IETMs which are required. Although the author (equipment prime contractor) will need to establish an automated equipment or weapon-system (source) data base, this data base will not be acquired by the Government, but will be maintained, used, and controlled by the contractor, both for the preparation of IETMs and for other purposes. The Government under this specification requires that the data base be structured and the individual data elements named and attributed in a standard manner. However, an explicitly tagged data file need not be prepared for delivery as no data base delivery is required.

b. Acquisition of the IETMDB. Acquisition of the IETMDB may involve either of the following options:

(1) Delivery to the Government in standardized form and subsequently maintained by the Government (with or without update information supplied on a continuing basis by the contractor).

(2) Title acquired to the IETMDB by the Government, but with the data base retained and maintained in standardized form in the contractor's plant. The Government could be provided with on line access to the data base.

c. Acquisition of fully constructed IETMs (fully prepared and validated by the contractor), as well as the IETMDB upon which they are based. Acquisition under this option may involve either option (1) or (2) as given in 1.3.2b above.

The IETMDB will consist of an assemblage of data elements, including a listing of the specific attributes possessed by the data elements; and a list of explicit relationships providing logical links among the data elements. The relationships incorporated into the data base by the IETMDB author provide the basis of the technical structure of the IETMs and other logistic support TI which will be extracted from it. The IETMDB will not, however, contain format directions in the sense of arrangement of text and graphics on a display screen for presentation to the end user. The IETMDB itself will, of course, require a "format" (data base structure) but this specification does not impose structural requirements on the actual Data Base Management System (DBMS) methodology to be employed (e.g., the data base may be either relational or object oriented). The exterior view of the data base to be used for updating, adding cross references, producing tagged output files, etc. must conform to requirements of this specification.

Elimination of formatting requirements for the IETMDB reduces the overall magnitude of data base and data interchange standardization effort, and permits use of a less complex DBMS by the contractor which is, in turn, less expensive and easier to modify. The "format-free" nature of the IETMDB is intended to provide the Government the capability to:

a. Acquire or access the data in a variety of ways (IETMS, other types of logistics reports; training TI, etc.);

b. Subsequently format and style the data in a variety of ways for electronic display options.

Since one of the functions of the IETMDB is to provide direct on line data access to a variety of users and to a number of automated logistic support and management information systems throughout the Services, establishment of standard identifiers, data entity relationships, and multiple path access routes to individual data elements is an important part of IETMDB design and construction.

intended Use: