www.eapstra.org

The official EAPSTRA project closed with the end of the year 2005.
Nevertheless, these forums will stay alive. Please feel free to post
new enquiries or start new discussions.

Dirk Müller
Project Manager

You may well be wondering what an IPSS (Intelligent Product Support System) is? Well here's a description:

A conventional paper-based product manual ensures that users and maintainers of products are provided with adequate information and guidance for simpler products that are operated and maintained by qualified users, working in close co-operation when needed with the manufacturer and supplier of the product.

Technological developments that have taken place over the past years coupled with the increase in globalisation and international trade have begun to draw attention to the deficiencies of paper-based product support. Issues exist with the hierarchical structure of paper manuals, the quantity of information contained in them, and the lack of direct communication between the user and the manufacturer or supplier. Weakness were also exposed in the processes for collecting and integrating product data (including the downstream reuse of product design data), maintenance of product data (including fault data) and presentation of data