Test and maintenance information management standard

The extensive collection of data documenting equipment maintenance history by piece, type, end component type could provide helpful information for both future maintenance and design modification. Providing the data collection was comprehensive enough, and included the individual test results obtained during diagnosis, a complete dependency model (giving the relationship between failure modes and test results) for a particular type of equipment could be generated end then used to expedite diagnosis. A dependency model of that sort could also help increase the endurance of new versions of that equipment. Such data cannot be widely distributed without being converted into standard format. Once converted, the information gathered can be shared and used over the Internet by maintenance sites around the world. The Test and Maintenance Information Management Standard (TMIMS) Committee within Standards Coordinating Committee 20 of the IEEE is working to develop a standard for data exchange. The work has been designated IEEE P1389. The proposal P1389 consists of two parts, a formal data model in EXPRESS and a set of services which can be invoked on TMIMS data encapsulated by the system at a maintenance site. This paper summarises the current status of IEEE P1389 and gives details of EXPRESS for TMIMS