What is ASD S1000D?
Specification S1000D is an International Specification for Technical Publications utilising a Common Source Data Base and is used by the UK MOD for the procurement and production of technical publications. Whilst the title implies its use is restricted 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, hence promoting interoperability that has lead to MOD Policy requiring its use on new equipment programmes.
What are the benefits of S1000D?
- It is based on internationally agreed neutral standards
- It reduces maintenance costs for technical information
- It allows sub-sets of information to be generated to meet specific user needs
- It allows transfer of information and electronic output between disparate IT systems
- Many different output forms can be generated from the same base data set ensuring strong, efficient data configuration control at the user interface
- The S1000D data module concept can be and has been applied to legacy data
- It is non-proprietary
- It allows neutral delivery and management of data
- It uses the philosophy of "create once, use many times"
- It is in daily use over many national and international projects
- The modular approach is ideal for web delivery
- Responsive to emerging technology.
The full specification can be found at:
http://www.s1000d.org
The ASD home page is:
http://www.asd-europe.org