User assistance in IBM Maximo Asset Management 7.5Maureen Hern14 December 2011

Agenda

� Improvements to user assistance in Maximo® 7.5

� Screen changes: embedded assistance and more help

� Technical library: the consolidated information center and search improvements

� Technical and delivery changes

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� Technical and delivery changes– Help menu links– Field help links– Help grid links– New framework and system properties– File delivery and location

� Exploiting the new features

Improvements to user assistance on the screen

� User assistance defined– Any help that enables users to accomplish their goals while using the

software

� More support for current tasks while working in the product. Better user experience– Embedded and contextual assistance

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– Embedded and contextual assistance• Inline text (field labels, help grid text, default values)• Control-level assistance (field help) • Improved system messages

– Collaborate on design of UI

Help in the Maximo user interface

� Where you see it

� How it is coded to link to more help

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Field help

� Field help window (ALT+F1) – no longer has a help button by default – Can add “More Information” button to lead you to a specific help topic – Work with Application Designer to make the changes– Changes are made to the presentation XML

Default window With link to help topic

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Help grid and link to more help in the info center

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Help menu links

� New link to top-level information about the product– Similar to version 6

–Product help link is new

–One for each base product

–Application help link –Label matches name in the

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–Label matches name in the database

Linking from field help to Infocenter help topicsDefault window App Designer property

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<checkbox dataattribute="GENASSETDESC" id="main_grid2_6" moreinformation="com.ibm.mbs.doc,assetcat/c_classify_item_desc.html"/>

With more information

Presentation XML

Linking from help grid and menu help to Infocenter topics

� “More information” links for Help Grid controls are changed– New format: morehelp=<plug-in name>, <path and file name>.<extension>– <helpgrid...

morehelp="com.ibm.mam.doc,somefolder/somefile.html“/>

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� Application help link in presentation XML file<presentation apphelp="com.ibm.mam.doc, asset/c_asset_overview.html"beanclass="psdi.webclient.beans.pmbcmrp.pmbcmrpAppBean"

id="pmbcmrp" mboname="pmbcmrp" resultstableid="results_showlist" version="7.5.0.0">...

</presentation>

Redundant help links removed

tablehelplink

dialoghelplink, libraydialoghelplink, lookupdialoghelplinkRemoved

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Conditional UI supported by embedded and contextual user assistance

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Conditional UI embedded assistance

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Conditional UI contextual assistance

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The new information center

� What’s new

� Layout and features

� Help topics

� Printing

� Searching

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� Searching

� PDF docs

� Troubleshooting information

Improvements to user assistance in the information center

� If users want to leave the UI for help, we lead them to a technical library

– Technical content is now installed and consolidated in one information center

– Local information center includes content for all the customer’s Maximo products

– Information is more often organized by user tasks or goals

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– Previous information was separated by application and often split between online help and PDF guides

– Search improvements: performance, ranking, filtering– Contents of PDF guides searchable with the same search

Information center contents and topic pane

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Searching for topics in the information center

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Printing topics in the information center

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Troubleshooting for all products and collaboration options

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PDF guide content now appears as HTML� All content appears in the information center as HTML topics

� Some content also has a convenience PDF▪ Planning for Multiple Sites: from the Multisite Administrator Guide▪ Administering…: part of the System Administrator Guide▪ Developing applications: from the Application Developer Guide▪ Integrating data…: from the Integration Guide▪ Implementing workflow…: from the Workflow Implementation Guide▪ Installing the product

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▪ Installing the product

� Some V7 PDF content in HTML only – in these sections in the information center TOC:

▪ Migration Manager: from the Migration Manager guide▪ Financial processes reference: from the Finance Manager Guide▪ Product overview, Getting started…: from the Product Reference Guide▪ Modules and applications: from the Product Reference Guide

Summary of technical changes in 7.5

� Changed– Help links have changed– Format of help links from UI are different (in presentation XML files) – New system properties to link UI framework with help system– Delivery of online help is different

� Unchanged– Online help is file-based

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– Online help is file-based– Online help is presented in a browser– Online help is delivered as an EAR file– Field Help remains in database

Delivery changes for online help

� Moved from a RoboHelp-based help system to an Eclipse-based system: IBM User Interface Help System– No backward compatibility for products on earlier Maximo product releases

(split at 7.5)

� Organization – Help system is delivered through a new EAR file

•EAR file built and deployed as part of a fully automated install

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•EAR file built and deployed as part of a fully automated install

•EAR file contains the WAR version of the help system

– Help content is delivered as doc plug-ins•Help content for Tpae included in common install

•Help content for products delivered with product install

� Delivery process1. Help system and common content installed with first product

2. Maximo doc plug-in installed with Maximo license file

(same time as common content if Maximo is first product)

3. Doc plug-ins for add-ons to Maximo installed when that license file is installed

(assumes Maximo plug-in is there)

Delivery changes—location of doc plug-ins

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Help properties moved to database

� The mxe.help system properties connect the UI framework to the information center in version 7.5

� The values in the mxe.help properties must match the help system you deploy to make online help available

� Advantages to using properties– Changes don’t require a rebuild and redeploy of ear files

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– Changes don’t require a rebuild and redeploy of ear files• Some properties can be live refreshed (without shutting down the server)

– Simplifies configuration for clustered environments• Don’t need a webclient.properties file for each server instance, the database

provides instance specific property settings

� Properties can be accessed and configured from the UI– Go To > Administration > Platform Configuration > System Properties

application– Filter on mxe.help

Default mxe.help system properties

Property Description Default entrymxe.help.protocol Protocol of the IBM User Interface Help System (http or http

The protocol, host, port, and path property values create links to the product's information center

<help.protocol>://<help.host>:<help.port><help.path>index.jsp?topic=/<plug-in>/<path_to_filename.extension>&lang=<language>

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mxe.help.protocol Protocol of the IBM User Interface Help System (http or https)

http

mxe.help.host Host name or IP address of the IBM User Interface Help System

mxe.help.port Port of the IBM User Interface Help System (WebSphere default=9080; WebLogic default=7001)

mxe.help.path Path to insert between help.port and topic /help/

mxe.help.maximohelplink Product help link for Maximo Asset Management. The property name must match the event value in the menus.xml file.

com.ibm.mam.doc,welcome.html

mxe.help.viewsearchtiplink The plug-in name and file name for viewsearchtiplink available from the list tab of most applications

com.ibm.mbs.doc,mbs_common/c_advanced_search_tips.html

Modifying user assistance

Modifying embedded assistance is similar to v7.1– In Application Designer, change some of the embedded assistance, for

example• Add or modify Help Grid text

• Add or change the More Information links from Help Grid to topics in the library

• Add or change the More Information links from Field Help to topics in the library

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library

– Use database tools to update other parts of embedded assistance, for example• Help content in the Field Help window

Reference

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My contact info:Maureen Hernmhern@us.ibm.com

Where help appears or provides links

� User interface– Text embedded in the UI (field labels, Help Grid text on tabs and

dialogs, field help, and system messages)• Sometimes has a “More information” to a specific topic

– Two links from the Help menu: both go to the information center• Maximo Asset Manager help (product help link)

• Application-overview help (application help link)

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� Information center– One information center for all products built on Tpae– Installed info center includes help for all installed products– Info center on ibm.com includes help for all Maximo products

Linking to product help

� Product help link in menus.xml file<menuitem id="tophelp" label="Maximo Asset

Management Help" event="maximohelp" value =

"mxe.help.maximohelplink"

image="menu_icon_apphelp.gif"

licensekey="EAMTOPHELPMENU"/>

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– Controlled by license– Value attribute must match system property– Licensekey attribute must match license package

Learn more about the information center and help system

Maximo Asset Management 7.5 information center

� http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v49r1/topic/com.ibm.mam.doc/welcome.html

Introduction to Eclipse user assistance

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� http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-eclipse-ua/

Learn more about DITA

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information– IBM donated DITA to the OASIS standards organization in March of 2004

– DITA now managed by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee– One open-source tool you can use with DITA is the DITA Open Toolkit, or

DITA-OT.

Resources

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Resources

� “Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture”– http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-dita1/

� DITA World, a list of DITA resources: http://www.ditaworld.com/

� OASIS DITA Technical Committee: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/dita/

� DITA Open Toolkit: http://dita.xml.org/wiki/the-dita-open-toolkit