How do automotive organizations ensure that pre-delivery documentation remains up-to-date and aligned with vehicle configurations using DITA?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Keeping pre-delivery documentation up-to-date and aligned with various vehicle configurations is critical for automotive organizations to provide accurate and relevant information to their customers. DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) offers several strategies to ensure that pre-delivery documentation remains current and consistent with different vehicle configurations over time.

Conditional Processing

One of the primary mechanisms used in DITA is conditional processing. Automotive organizations can create conditional content that is selectively included or excluded based on specific criteria, such as vehicle models, trims, or options. This ensures that the documentation generated for a particular vehicle aligns with its configuration. For example, maintenance instructions for a hybrid vehicle can be conditionally included in the manual for hybrid models but excluded from manuals for non-hybrid versions.

Content Reuse

DITA encourages content reuse through the creation of modular topics. Organizations can create reusable content components that are shared across different documents. When a change is needed, it can be made in one central location, and all instances of that content are automatically updated in all relevant documents. This approach helps maintain consistency across documentation and reduces the risk of errors due to outdated information.

Automated Publishing Workflows

Automotive organizations often implement automated publishing workflows that integrate with their product configuration systems. When a new vehicle configuration is defined, the corresponding documentation can be generated automatically using DITA-based templates and conditional processing rules. This ensures that documentation is always in sync with the latest vehicle configurations, reducing the manual effort required to update documents.

Example:

Here’s an example of how conditional processing and content reuse can be used in DITA to maintain alignment between pre-delivery documentation and vehicle configurations:


<!-- DITA Content with Conditional Processing -->
<topic id="vehicle_manual">
  <title>Vehicle Owner's Manual</title>
  <body>
    <section id="introduction">
      <title>Introduction</title>
      <p>This manual provides important information about your vehicle.</p>
    </section>
    <section id="maintenance" conkeyref="model:hybrid">
      <title>Maintenance Schedule</title>
      <p>Follow this schedule for regular maintenance of your hybrid vehicle.</p>
    </section>
    <section id="warranty" conkeyref="model:sport,trim:special">
      <title>Warranty Information</title>
      <p>Warranty coverage details for your special sport model.</p>
    </section>
  </body>
</topic>

In this example, conditional processing based on vehicle model and trim ensures that the maintenance and warranty information is included only for specific vehicle configurations, maintaining alignment with different vehicle options.