Pilot training company goes XML route

U.K.-based Skyblue Aero Services, which provides training to pilots, has upgraded its documentation capabilities. The company has implemented XMetaL, a content life cycle solution from JustSystems.

Skyblue CEO Andy Foan says, “We knew that XML was the way forward in documentation, but as a smallorganization we could not afford a long learning curve, and certainly not a long drawn-out deployment with its inevitable costs.”

Koala Publishing, also located in the United Kingdom, helped Skyblue Aero Services make the transition. Gordon Dennis, Koala’s commercial director, says, “Koala introduced Skyblue to DITA, which is an open standard built on the foundation of XML without having to be experts in XML.” XMetaL has a comprehensive DITA capability, implemented with an intuitive user interface.

Foan says, “We were able to get up to speed very quickly, vindicating our decision to use DITA and XMetaL Author. The fact that XMetaL has such a well established user base in aerospace and aviation, and that Koala is very experienced in our industry, also played a part in our decision.”

Skyblue Aero is using Koala’s Modulux 2011 content management system for topic management, version control and permissions management.

Foan says, “Documentation within the aviation industry is safety critical and so has to be 100 percent accurate at all times. One of the key aspects we were concerned to get right was the traceability of document modifications, which Modulux provides for us.” (To read the page with Armenian translation, visit: http://www.fatcow.com/edu/kmworld-news-am.