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Article in Motor Age Magazine, click to view: Motor Age Article
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Business Editors/Technology Writers
SARASOTA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 10, 2000
Intelliworxx, Inc. (“Intelliworxx”) (OTCBB OTCBB
See OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB). :IWXX), a Florida mobile technology corporation, announced it has received a contract from BAE SYSTEMS BAE Systems
British manufacturer of aircraft, missiles, avionics, naval vessels, and other aerospace and defense products. BAE Systems was formed (1999) from the merger of British Aerospace (BAe) with Marconi Electronic Systems. , the global systems, aerospace and defense company, to produce a Maintenance Mentoring System for the Royal Navy’s 1007 Radar System.
The 1007 equipment is a complex radar system used for navigation and helicopter control throughout the Royal Navy fleet. The value of the contract is $320,000 US and should be completed by September of this year.
This contract is a key milestone with significant implications for Intelliworxx and its Mentoring Systems division led by Jim Roach .
, formerly of General Motors Service Technology Group. BAE SYSTEMS has a global presence with in-depth skills in naval platforms, military aircraft, electronics and other technologies for which MentorWorxx is ideal.
The development of mentoring applications for the Royal Navy’s 1007 Radar System marks the beginning of a pilot program within the Royal Navy. It provides Intelliworxx the opportunity to demonstrate the efficiency, cost savings and productivity improvements in maintenance activities that result from the deployment of its proprietary mentoring technology. The sales potential is extensive in that the Royal Navy has a vast number of military systems for which mentoring solutions can be applied.
The MentorWorxx system is a voice-interactive, multimedia mentoring solution that provides mobile workers with comprehensive data and learning at the point of use, with an easy-to access, human-to-human interface. The MentorWorxx solution includes the conversion of legacy data into MentorWorxx applications and brings data from disparate sources into an intuitive and easy to use format. It is best delivered via the Intelliworxx speech driven VoiceTablet(TM), a rugged handheld computing computing – computer device designed for mobile environments.
Lieutenant David Joyce, of the Royal Navy said, “We learned of MentorWorxx through our counterparts in the U.S. Navy. We believe this technology has great potential and are looking forward to implementing the initial 1007 Radar System project.”
Richard Skedd of BAE SYSTEMS commented: “We play an increasingly vital role in our customers’ on-going systems maintenance and training. Point of use performance support using these tools has considerable potential in both military and commercial sectors.”
Jim Roach, Vice President of Mentoring Systems for Intelliworxx, stated: “Our unique blend of mobile technologies are gaining wider acceptance in performance support everyday. We are pleased with the opportunity to work with the Royal Navy and BAE SYSTEMS.”
BAE SYSTEMS is the 2nd largest Defense contractor, in the World. With a world-class prime contractor capability across leading defense sectors and the skills to manage the most complex of high level systems tasks, BAE SYSTEMS serves defense and civilian customers with over 100,000 employees from 60 UK sites and home markets in 9 countries.
Intelliworxx, Inc. creates, develops and markets mobile multimedia computing solutions for commercial and government use. Specializing in voice-activated systems, the company’s core technologies include portable computing devices for wired, wireless, and web environments, interactive MentorWorxx (Performance Support) software systems and other computing solutions aimed at vertical industries where user mobility is crucial. Intelliworxx products and technologies are sold on a worldwide basis through key resellers and strategic partners. For additional information visit www.intelliworxx.com.
Intelliworxx corporate offices are located at 1819 Main Street, 11th Floor, Sarasota, Florida 34236.
Product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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Era 4 Troubleshooting Systems from Intelliworxx
Jim Roach is Vice President, Mentoring Systems at Intelliworxx, the company offering the first (to my knowledge) working Era 4 Troubleshooting tool. In case you’re new to Troubleshooting Professional, Era 4 refers to an expert system with a built in valid Troubleshooting Process. Here’s how it gets its Era 4 name:
| Era | Name | Range | Description |
| 1 | Observational Troubleshooting | From invention of the bow and arrow until the invention of the steam engine (8000 BC to 1700’s) | Observation only. Systems under repair have all components visible, so the problem is obvious. Little diagnosis needed. On the other hand, repair/replacement of component requires precision, one of a kind work. |
| 2 | Intuitive Troubleshooting | From invention of the steam engine until the 1970’s | Observation and non-rigorous diagnostic process. Systems under repair still contain only a few components, though some aren’t visible to the naked eye. Diagnosis required, but doesn’t need to be rigorous. Replacement parts likely to be available from a vendor, but may be difficult to replace. |
| 3 | Process Troubleshooting | From 1970’s until the present | Observation and rigorous diagnostic process. Systems under repair contain many (>10,000) components, most abstract or invisible to the naked eye. Non-rigorous diagnosis produces circular search and rework. Rigorous diagnosis required. Replacement parts available from a vendor, and due to modularity often easy to install. Software components are often replaced in five minutes with a few keystrokes. |
| 4 | Technologically Enhanced Troubleshooting | From now until the next era | Observation and rigorous diagnostic process, aided by context-relevant technology-served information (Troubleshooting process aware smart manuals). Systems under repair are now hugely complex, not always completely modular. Observation and rigorous diagnostic process alone takes too long, because no human can have the complete Mental Model, manual and diagnostic information in his or her head. Replacement parts are stock. |
I met Jim when he emailed me in 1996, wanting some advice on placing a Troubleshooting Process in an automated diagnostic system. At the time he was a highly placed training executive in GM. If it had been anyone else I would have chalked it up to “another expert system marketed to replace a human Troubleshooter”. But Jim knew his stuff, and it was obvious he understood Troubleshooting Process through and through. So we talked frequently throughout 1996 and the first half of 1997.
But I really didn’t understand the finished product. I’d heard so much about it, but didn’t understand what the finished product would be like. Until 1999, when I tried it in at a conference. It was incredibly easy to use. Jim Roach gave several demos where people used it to find bugs (intentional malfunctions) placed in a Cadillac.
This Troubleshooting Process is highly optimized for situations in which the vendor has provided voluminous service documentation, including quickchecks, error code documentation, predefined diagnostics and the like. The process starts out with symptom acquisition and reproduction. Next what would be called General Maintenance in the UTP, including tech bulletins, diagnostic codes, and the like. This is followed possibly by a divide and conquer session, guided to the extent possible by existing predefined diagnostics. The final step is repair and testing.
So far it sounds like the Universal Troubleshooting Process. But if you look at the details, the Intelliworxx model assumes that most problems will be solved with the help of existing documentation, and that the Troubleshooter won’t need to devise his own diagnostic tests. Given the volume of system information in the smart manual, for the first time this becomes a viable assumption. Indeed, combined with a smart manual on a voice actuated, ruggedized hands-free computer, the Troubleshooter has instant, just in time access to exactly the necessary information. At every stage of the game, the first priority is to look at existing documentation. That documentation is a smart manual (or as Intelliworxx would call it, a mentoring application). Only when all documentation has been delivered to the Troubleshooter, without a solution being found, does the Troubleshooter go “offroad”, creating and testing his own hypotheses. At that point, the well equipped Troubleshooter would know the Universal Troubleshooting Process, which is optimized for those times when relevant system documentation is not available.
Authoring such a smart manual is costly, but so is a truly detailed paper manual. This Troubleshooting Process enhanced, voice actuated, hands free smart manual, is the first tool integrating effective, low cost information lookup with Troubleshooting Process. For the first time it’s quicker to follow predefined diagnostics than to create your own. In industries providing detailed, accurate and timely system information (the automotive industry is a perfect example), it can multiply productivity.
Contrast this with an industry like proprietary computer equipment and software, where documentation is incomplete and scattered. In software diagnosis, if you haven’t found the info in 10 minutes you’re probably better off diagnosing it yourself. We software guys can only dream how fast Troubleshooting could be if we had instant, as needed access to all accumulated knowledge of the machine or system.
A link to the Intelliworxx website appears in the URL’s section of this magazine.
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