Intelligent product manuals are designed to allow product users to utilize a product as easily, effectively and with as little additional care as possible while minimizing support costs for manufacturers and suppliers. It is first shown how intelligent product manuals address these objectives by utilizing electronic, multimedia and knowledge-based technologies to provide active assistance to the user of the product during tasks such as installation, operation and maintenance. An architecture for the creation and deployment of an intelligent product manual is then proposed and general design considerations are outlined. Finally, four implementation approaches, based on XML, SGML, HTML and PDF technologies, are compared against a set of selection criteria. It is concluded that simple, low-cost solutions are available, which can provide significant benefits for appropriate businesses, including smaller companies.
