Product Lifecycle Management for Performance Support

This paper shows how product lifecycle information can be utilized to assist people engaged in product lifecycle tasks, in particular those concerned with product support. A progression of product data management methods based on knowledge engineering techniques is presented to allow the creation and delivery of effective, personalized performance support information. The product data management methods discussed include semantic hypermedia authoring, automated construction of product documentation, automated diagnostic module construction, and adaptive product support generation. These methods are utilized to improve the performance of product lifecycle actors, while reducing the time, knowledge, and input required from them, through increased task support and automation.