Solution 04 · Technical documentation

Modular operating manuals: change it once, up to date in all your documentation

With myDoku you maintain standard texts in one place instead of in every file. A correction to a safety notice reaches every operating manual that contains it, in every language. And you see beforehand which ones those are.

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An operating manual built from content blocks. One block shows that a newer version is available.

Why operating manuals drift apart: every machine, another Word copy

The manual for the new machine comes about the way it always does: someone copies the Word file of the last similar machine and changes what is different. It is quick, and it works. Until something changes that appears in every manual.

The same safety notice then sits in dozens of files. A correction would have to be made in every single one. In practice, that happens in the manuals someone happens to think of. One language version has the old wording, another an even older one.

Then come the questions nobody likes to hear. Which revision belongs to the machine that was delivered years ago? Who approved it? Which photo of the control cabinet on the network drive is the current one? This is not a failing of your technical writing team. Word knows files, not content blocks.

The result

What changes for your technical writers

Four situations from technical writing, and what myDoku changes about them.

Today

One correction, dozens of files, and still flawed documentation

The permitted pressure in the safety notice was stated incorrectly. Now someone is digging out every manual that contains the paragraph.

With THDS

You correct the content block once

Standard texts live as content blocks in a library. When you release a minor correction, the operating manuals that use the block are brought up to the new revision. Beforehand you see the list: which ones will be updated and which will be skipped because someone is currently working on them.

Content extensions and major revisions are deliberately not applied automatically. The affected documents are marked in the list, and you decide one by one.

Before the release, it is clear which operating manuals receive the correction and which do not.

Today

New variant, more retyping

The machine is almost the same as the last one. Even so, someone goes through the copied file page by page and replaces the machine name and serial number by hand.

With THDS

Duplicate the project, set placeholders

You duplicate the project including its operating manual, and the original stays unchanged. Machine name, serial number and other details sit in the text as placeholders and are set once per project. Whatever is different, you drag in from the library as a content block at the right place.

Today

The translation lags behind

The source text has been corrected. Whether the other language versions have caught up is only known to whoever lays the files side by side.

With THDS

You see which language is still missing

Every revision of an operating manual contains all its languages. When you save, the system warns you if a language has not been updated yet. A new language version takes over the structure of the operating manual, with missing texts marked. Checklist content blocks can be filtered by “language missing”.

Today

Which revision belongs to which machine?

The file name “Operating_manual_final_new” does not tell you. Who changed what and who approved it is in an email at best.

With THDS

Every release has a number and a note

Draft and release are kept separate. Every release gets a version number and a note on what has changed. Older revisions remain readable but can no longer be changed. In the project you see the machine and the current revision of its operating manual at a glance. Only one person works on an operating manual at a time, and everyone else can see who.

What else is included

From the documentation all the way to the machine

An operating manual does not end with the PDF.

Checklists and cards for the machine

Checklists for operators, cleaning and maintenance are also built from content blocks: with interval, time window and validity. Maintenance, cleaning and wear cards are attached to the project, each in a released version. On request, we connect an app at the machine. Released checklists then reach the operator.

QR codes on the assembly

For every assembly you generate a QR code that leads straight to the right chapter. The code is stuck on the machine, on the control cabinet or on the feed unit. Operators and maintenance staff scan it and land in the right chapter without searching the operating manual. If a chapter is renamed or removed, myDoku shows you before export which codes no longer fit.

Images and videos maintained once

A media library instead of network drive folders. Every image gets an image description on upload, plus chapter, name and, if needed, the machine number. Images marked as outdated no longer appear in the normal selection.

Behind it

How it works: from content block to released operating manual

myDoku runs in the browser. Every release is either a minor correction, a content extension or a major revision.

  1. 1

    Create and release content blocks

    Texts that appear in many manuals become content blocks. Each one is assigned to categories: chapter, function, machine type and assembly. That way it can be found again later. Without these details, there is no release.

  2. 2

    Compile the operating manual, set placeholders

    You drag the content blocks into the order you want and add whatever applies only to this machine. The preview shows the text with the values of the project.

  3. 3

    Release, export, bring it to the machine

    Once the revision is ready, you release it. Out comes what you need: the PDF, a text file, the QR codes. Or a link to the online view of the operating manual: it is available at any time and always shows the current revision. Whoever has the link has the current version, without anyone having to send out a new PDF.

  4. 4

    Change: one content block, one release

    If a standard text changes, you change the content block, not the operating manuals. After the release, all affected operating manuals are updated or marked for review.

Are we a good fit?

Who it suits. And who it does not.

It fits when a lot repeats itself

You build machines in variants, and a large part of every manual is the same. You deliver in several languages. You want to be able to say which revision is released. Maintenance and cleaning should not just be in the PDF but reach the machine.

It does not fit when Word is enough

You write a handful of manuals a year, without variants and without translations. Then Word with a good template is the right tool, and we will tell you so. The same applies if you expect a system that writes texts itself, translates them or checks them against standards. myDoku does not do that.

Rollout with THDS

We set it up with your technical writing team

myDoku is not a package you have to fill on your own. We set it up with you and adapt it to your machine types, your assemblies and your chapter structure. We migrate existing texts together with you in a workshop, starting with those that appear in most manuals.

We come from machine building. So we understand what an operating manual has to achieve and why the serial number on the cover page should be right. We still let you show us how your technical writing team works.

Whether this pays off for your company, we clarify beforehand, for example in the potential analysis.

See how the potential analysis works

Frequently asked questions

What you want to know about software for operating manuals

We write in Word. Do we have to re-enter everything?

No, at least not all at once. It makes sense to start with the texts that appear in almost every manual: safety notices, transport, cleaning, maintenance. They become the first content blocks, and the next operating manual is already put together from the library.

Older manuals stay as they are until they need to be touched anyway. We do the migration together in a workshop: we go through your manuals with your technical writing team, decide what becomes a content block and bring the first texts into the system.

Does this replace a technical documentation system (CCMS)?

It covers the core of what machine builders buy such a system for: content blocks instead of copies, versions with approval, multiple languages, variants through placeholders, output as PDF. On top of that come checklists and maintenance cards that reach all the way to the machine.

What about standards and mandatory content in the operating manual?

The system does not check whether a manual complies with a standard. What goes in and how it has to be worded is still decided by your technical writing team and the experts you already involve today.

What the system does: a text that has been checked once reads the same in every operating manual, and a correction does not get stuck in individual files. That is not a legal assessment, and we do not provide one.

Where is our data stored?

Wherever you want. Either we run myDoku for you in a data centre in Germany, or it runs on your own servers in-house. We agree with your IT on what suits you before the first text goes into the system.

What does it cost?

myDoku is a finished product. It is not developed from scratch for you. The price depends mainly on whether we run myDoku for you or it runs in-house at your company. On top of that comes a one-off workshop in which we migrate your first texts. We will give you a concrete figure in the initial call.

Feel free to weigh that against what a correction costs you today when someone has to update it in dozens of files and three languages.

Related

Are your operating manuals drifting apart?

Tell us where things get stuck. We will tell you honestly whether software pays off at that point and whether we are the right people for it.

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