Industry 4.0 - General Overview

The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work, and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by technology advances that are commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions, and which are merging the physical, digital, and biological worlds in ways that create both promise and peril. The speed, breadth, and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries should develop, how organizations create value, and even what it means to be human; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations, to harness technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centred future.

Industry 4.0 is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing^[1][2][3][4] and cognitive computing. Industry 4.0 is commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution.^[5]

Industry 4.0 fosters what has been called a "smart factory". Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real-time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain.^[1]

Industrial revolutions and future view. By ChristophRoser. Please credit "Christoph Roser at AllAboutLean.com". - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47640595

Name

The term "Industry 4.0", shortened to I4.0 or simply I4, originates from a project in the high-tech strategy of the German government, which promotes the computerization of manufacturing.^[6]

The term "Industry 4.0" was revived in 2011 at the Hannover Fair.^[7] In October 2012 the Working Group on Industry 4.0 presented a set of Industry 4.0 implementation recommendations to the German federal government. The Industry 4.0 workgroup members and partners are recognized as the founding fathers and driving force behind Industry 4.0.

On 8 April 2013 at the Hannover Fair, the final report of the Working Group Industry 4.0 was presented.^[8]. This working group was headed by Siegfried Dais (Robert Bosch GmbH) and Henning Kagermann (German Academy of Science and Engineering).

As Industry 4.0 principles have been applied by companies they have sometimes been re-branded, for example the aerospace parts manufacturer Meggitt PLC has branded its own Industry 4.0 research project M4. ^[9]

Design principles

There are four design principles in Industry 4.0. These principles support companies in identifying and implementing Industry 4.0 scenarios.^[1]

• Interconnection: The ability of machines, devices, sensors, and people to connect and communicate with each other via the Internet of Things (IoT) or the Internet of People (IoP)^[10]
• Information transparency: The transparency afforded by Industry 4.0 technology provides operators with vast amounts of useful information needed to make appropriate decisions. Inter-connectivity allows operators to collect immense amounts of data and information from all points in the manufacturing process, thus aiding functionality and identifying key areas that can benefit from innovation and improvement.^[11]
• Technical assistance: First, the ability of assistance systems to support humans by aggregating and visualizing information comprehensively for making informed decisions and solving urgent problems on short notice. Second, the ability of cyber physical systems to physically support humans by conducting a range of tasks that are unpleasant, too exhausting, or unsafe for their human co-workers.
• Decentralized decisions: The ability of cyber physical systems to make decisions on their own and to perform their tasks as autonomously as possible. Only in the case of exceptions, interferences, or conflicting goals, are tasks delegated to a higher level.

Meaning

The characteristics given for the German government's Industry 4.0 strategy are: the strong customization of products under the conditions of highly flexible (mass-) production.^[12]The required automation technology is improved by the introduction of methods of self-optimization, self-configuration,^[13] self-diagnosis, cognition and intelligent support of workers in their increasingly complex work.^[14] The largest project in Industry 4.0 as of July 2013 is the BMBF leading-edge cluster "Intelligent Technical Systems Ostwestfalen-Lippe (it's OWL)". Another major project is the BMBF project RES-COM,^[15] as well as the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries".^[16] In 2015, the European Commission started the international Horizon 2020 research project CREMA^[17] (Providing Cloud-based Rapid Elastic Manufacturing based on the XaaS and Cloud model) as a major initiative to foster the Industry 4.0 topic.

Effects

In June 2013, consultancy firm McKinsey^[18] released an interview featuring an expert discussion between executives at Robert Bosch – Siegfried Dais (Partner of the Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG) and Heinz Derenbach (CEO of Bosch Software Innovations GmbH) – and McKinsey experts. This interview addressed the prevalence of the Internet of Things in manufacturing and the consequent technology-driven changes which promise to trigger a new industrial revolution. At Bosch, and generally in Germany, this phenomenon is referred to as Industry 4.0. The basic principle of Industry 4.0 is that by connecting machines, work pieces and systems, businesses are creating intelligent networks along the entire value chain that can control each other autonomously.

Some examples for Industry 4.0 are machines which can predict failures and trigger maintenance processes autonomously or self-organized logistics which react to unexpected changes in production.

According to Dais, "it is highly likely that the world of production will become more and more networked until everything is interlinked with everything else". While this sounds like a fair assumption and the driving force behind the Internet of Things, it also means that the complexity of production and supplier networks will grow enormously. Networks and processes have so far been limited to one factory. But in an Industry 4.0 scenario, these boundaries of individual factories will most likely no longer exist. Instead, they will be lifted in order to interconnect multiple factories or even geographical regions.

There are differences between a typical traditional factory and an Industry 4.0 factory. In the current industry environment, providing high-end quality service or product with the least cost is the key to success and industrial factories are trying to achieve as much performance as possible to increase their profit as well as their reputation. In this way, various data sources are available to provide worthwhile information about different aspects of the factory. In this stage, the utilization of data for understanding current operating conditions and detecting faults and failures is an important topic to research. e.g. in production, there are various commercial tools available to provide overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) information to factory management in order to highlight the root causes of problems and possible faults in the system. In contrast, in an Industry 4.0 factory, in addition to condition monitoring and fault diagnosis, components and systems are able to gain self-awareness and self-predictiveness, which will provide management with more insight on the status of the factory. Furthermore, peer-to-peer comparison and fusion of health information from various components provides a precise health prediction in component and system levels and forces factory management to trigger required maintenance at the best possible time to reach just-in-time maintenance and gain near-zero downtime.^[19]

During EDP Open Innovation conducted in Oct 2018 at Lisbon, Portugal, Industry 4.0 conceptualization was extended by Sensfix B.V. a Dutch company with introduction of M2S terminology. It essentially is characterizing upcoming service industry to cater to millions of machines, managed by the machines themselves.

Challenges

Challenges in implementation of Industry 4.0:^[20]

• IT security issues, which are greatly aggravated by the inherent need to open up those previously closed production shops
• Reliability and stability needed for critical machine-to-machine communication (M2M), including very short and stable latency times
• Need to maintain the integrity of production processes
• Need to avoid any IT snags, as those would cause expensive production outages
• Need to protect industrial know-how (contained also in the control files for the industrial automation gear)
• Lack of adequate skill-sets to expedite the transition towards the fourth industrial revolution
• Threat of redundancy of the corporate IT department
• General reluctance to change by stakeholders
• Loss of many jobs to automatic processes and IT-controlled processes, especially for blue collar workers
• Low top management commitment
• Unclear legal issues and data security
• Unclear economic benefits/ excessive investment
• Lack of regulation, standards and forms of certifications
• Insufficient qualification of employees

Role of big data and analytics

Modern information and communication technologies like cyber-physical system, big data analytics and cloud computing, will help early detection of defects and production failures, thus enabling their prevention and increasing productivity, quality, and agility benefits that have significant competitive value.

Big data analytics consists of 6Cs in the integrated Industry 4.0 and cyber physical systems environment. The 6C system comprises:

1. Connection (sensor and networks)
2. Cloud (computing and data on demand)
3. Cyber (model & memory)
4. Content/context (meaning and correlation)
5. Community (sharing & collaboration)
6. Customization (personalization and value)

In this scenario and in order to provide useful insight to the factory management, data has to be processed with advanced tools (analytics and algorithms) to generate meaningful information. Considering the presence of visible and invisible issues in an industrial factory, the information generation algorithm has to be capable of detecting and addressing invisible issues such as machine degradation, component wear, etc. in the factory floor.^[21][22]

Impact of Industry 4.0

Proponents of the term claim Industry 4.0 will affect many areas, most notably:

1. Services and business models
2. Reliability and continuous productivity
3. IT security: Companies like Symantec, Cisco, and Penta Security have already begun to address the issue of IoT security
4. Machine safety
5. Manufacturing Sales
6. Product lifecycles
7. Manufacturing Industries: Mass Customisations instead of mass manufacturing using IOT, 3D Printing and Machine Learning
8. Industry value chain
9. Workers' education and skills
10. Socio-economic factors

An article published in February 2016 suggests that Industry 4.0 may have a beneficial effects for emerging economies such as India.^[23] The aerospace industry has sometimes been characterized as "too low volume for extensive automation" however Industry 4.0 principles have been investigated by several aerospace companies, technologies have been developed to improve productivity where the upfront cost of automation cannot be justified, one example of this is the aerospace parts manufacturer Meggitt PLC's project, M4. ^[24]The discussion of how the shift to Industry 4.0, especially digitalization, will affect the labour market is being discussed in Germany under the topic of Work 4.0.^[25]

Technology road map for Industry 4.0

A "road map" enables whomsoever in industry to directly realize each move and what act need to be accomplish, who needs to make them and when. This method is decoded into a project plan, defining the characteristics of activity in each of the accompanying stages of formation. Considering an internationalized world, the need to actualize development strategies that can secure the sustainable competitiveness of establishments is the main issue. It is in this topic that Industry 4.0 road map grants itself as a visually pictured clear trail to boost the competitiveness of organizations.

The key benefits of technology road mapping

• Setting up coalition of technical and commercial master plans
• Making better communication across teams and companies
• Inspecting prospective competitive strategies and ways to carry out those strategies
• Competent time management and mapping out
• Conceptualizing outputs including goals, activities, and progresses.^[26]

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Hermann, Pentek, Otto, 2016: Design Principles for Industrie 4.0 Scenarios, accessed on 4 May 2016
2. ^ Jürgen Jasperneite:Was hinter Begriffen wie Industrie 4.0 steckt in Computer & Automation, 19 December 2012 accessed on 23 December 2012
3. ^ Kagermann, H., W. Wahlster and J. Helbig, eds., 2013: Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative Industrie 4.0: Final report of the Industrie 4.0 Working Group
4. ^ Heiner Lasi, Hans-Georg Kemper, Peter Fettke, Thomas Feld, Michael Hoffmann: Industry 4.0. In: Business & Information Systems Engineering 4 (6), pp. 239-242
5. ^ Marr, Bernard. "Why Everyone Must Get Ready For The 4th Industrial Revolution". Forbes. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
6. ^ BMBF-Internetredaktion (21 January 2016). "Zukunftsprojekt Industrie 4.0 - BMBF". Bmbf.de. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
7. ^ "Industrie 4.0: Mit dem Internet der Dinge auf dem Weg zur 4. industriellen Revolution". Vdi-nachrichten.com (in German). 1 April 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
8. ^ Industrie 4.0 Plattform Last download on 15. Juli 2013
9. ^ "Time to join the digital dots". 22 June 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
10. ^ Bonner, Mike. "What is Industry 4.0 and What Does it Mean for My Manufacturing?". Retrieved 24 September 2018.
11. ^ Bonner, Mike. "What is Industry 4.0 and What Does it Mean for My Manufacturing?". Retrieved 24 September 2018.
12. ^ "This Is Not the Fourth Industrial Revolution". 29 January 2016 – via Slate.
13. ^ Selbstkonfiguierende Automation für Intelligente Technische Systeme, Video, last download on 27. Dezember 2012
14. ^ Jürgen Jasperneite; Oliver, Niggemann: Intelligente Assistenzsysteme zur Beherrschung der Systemkomplexität in der Automation. In: ATP edition - Automatisierungstechnische Praxis, 9/2012, Oldenbourg Verlag, München, September 2012
15. ^ "Herzlich willkommen auf den Internetseiten des Projekts RES-COM - RES-COM Webseite". Res-com-projekt.de. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
16. ^ "RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries" - English". Production-research.de. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
17. ^ "H2020 CREMA - Cloud-based Rapid Elastic Manufacturing". Crema-project.eu. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
18. ^ Markus Liffler; Andreas Tschiesner (6 January 2013). "The Internet of Things and the future of manufacturing | McKinsey & Company". Mckinsey.com. Retrieved 30 November2016.
19. ^ Mueller, Egon; Chen, Xiao-Li; Riedel, Ralph (2017). "Challenges and Requirements for the Application of Industry 4.0: A Special Insight with the Usage of Cyber-Physical System". Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 30 (5): 1050–1057. doi:10.1007/s10033-017-0164-7.
20. ^ "BIBB : Industrie 4.0 und die Folgen für Arbeitsmarkt und Wirtschaft" (PDF). Doku.iab.de (in German). August 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
21. ^ Lee, Jay; Bagheri, Behrad; Kao, Hung-An (2014). "Recent Advances and Trends of Cyber-Physical Systems and Big Data Analytics in Industrial Informatics". IEEE Int. Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN) 2014. doi:10.13140/2.1.1464.1920.
22. ^ Lee, Jay; Lapira, Edzel; Bagheri, Behrad; Kao, Hung-an (October 2013). "Recent advances and trends in predictive manufacturing systems in big data environment". Manufacturing Letters. 1 (1): 38–41. doi:10.1016/j.mfglet.2013.09.005.
23. ^ Anil K. Rajvanshi (24 February 2016). "India Can Gain By Leapfrogging Into Fourth Industrial Revolution". The Quint. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
24. ^ "Time to join the digital dots". 22 June 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
25. ^ Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Germany (2015). Re-Imagining Work: White Paper Work 4.0.
26. ^ Sarvari, Peiman Alipour; Ustundag, Alp; Cevikcan, Emre; Kaya, Ihsan; Cebi, Selcuk (16 September 2017), "Technology Roadmap for Industry 4.0", Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing, Springer International Publishing, pp. 95–103, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-57870-5_5, ISBN 9783319578699

Information mapping

Information mapping is a research-based method for writing clear and user focused information, based on the audience's needs and the purpose of the information. The method is applied primarily to designing and developing business and technical communications. It is used as a content standard within organizations throughout the world.

Overview of the information mapping method

The information mapping method is a research-based methodology used to analyze, organize and present information based on an audience's needs and the purpose of the information. The method applies to all subject matter and media technology. Information mapping has close ties to information visualization, information architecture, graphic design, information design, data analysis, experience design, graphic user interface design, and knowledge management systems.

Components of the method

Information mapping provides a number of tools for analyzing, organizing and presenting information.

Information types

Some of Robert E. Horn's best-known work was his development of the theory of information types. Horn identified six types of information that account for nearly all the content of business and technical communications. The types categorize elements according to their purpose for the audience:

Information Type	Description
Procedure	A set of steps an individual performs to complete a single task
Process	A series of events, stages or phases that occurs over time and has a specific outcome
Principle	A statement designed to dictate, guide or require behavior
Concept	A class or group of things that share a critical set of attributes
Structure	A description or depiction of anything that has parts or boundaries
Fact	A statement that is assumed to be true

Research-based principles

The information mapping method proposes six principles for organizing information so that it is easy to access, understand, and remember:

Principle	Description
Chunking	Break up information into small, manageable units
Relevance	Limit each unit of information to a single topic
Labeling	Label each unit of information in a way that identifies its contents
Consistency	Be consistent in use of terminology as well as in organizing, formatting and sequencing information
Accessible detail	Organize and structure information so those who need detail can access it easily, while those who don't can easily skip it
Integrated graphics	Use graphics within the text to clarify, emphasize and add dimension

Units of information

Documents written according to information mapping have a modular structure. They consist of clearly outlined information units (maps and blocks) that take into account how much information a reader is able to assimilate.

There is an essential difference between an information unit and the traditional text paragraph. A block is limited to a single topic and consists of a single type of information. Blocks are grouped into maps, and each map consists only of relevant blocks. The hierarchical approach to structuring information greatly facilitates electronic control of content via content management systems and knowledge management systems.

Advantages of information mapping

The information mapping method offers advantages to writers and readers, as well as to an entire organization.

Advantages for writers

Information mapping offers these advantages for writers:

• An easily learned systematic approach to the task of writing that once learned, enables writers to minimize down time and start writing immediately
• A subject-matter independent approach that can be applied to all business-related or technical content
• A content standard that greatly facilitates team writing and management of writing projects
• Enhanced writer productivity, with less time required for both draft development and review, and
• Easy updating and revision of content throughout its life cycle

Advantages for readers

Information mapping offers these advantages for readers:

• Quick, easy access to information at the right level of detail, even for diverse audiences
• Improved comprehension
• Fewer errors and misunderstandings
• Fewer questions for supervisors, and
• Shorter training cycles, less need for re-training

Advantages for organizations

Also an entire organization can benefit from using a content standard like information mapping if the method is used with the following objectives in mind:

Revenue growth by reducing time to create content and accelerating time to market

• Cost reduction by capturing employee knowledge, increasing operational efficiency, reducing support calls, and decreasing translation costs
• Risk mitigation by increasing safety and compliance

History[edit]

Information mapping was developed in the late 20th century by Robert E. Horn, a researcher in the cognitive and behavioral sciences. Horn was interested in visual presentation of information to improve accessibility, comprehension and performance. Horn's development of the information mapping method has won him recognition from the International Society for Performance Improvement and the Association for Computing Machinery.

Review of research

Many independent studies have confirmed that applying the information mapping method to business and technical communications results in quicker, easier access to information, improved comprehension and enhanced performance. It also facilitates repurposing for publication in different formats.^{[citation needed]}

Doubts have been raised over the strength of the research Horn uses to justify some of his principles. For instance, his chunking principle requires lists, paragraphs, sub-sections and sections in a document to contain no more than 7±2 chunks of information.^[1] Horn does not state where he got this principle, but an Information Mapping website stated that the principle is "based on George A. Miller's 1956 research".^[2] Miller did write a paper in 1956 called "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information", but its relevance to writing is tenuous.^[3] Miller himself said that his research had nothing to do with writing.^[4] Insisting that lists, paragraphs, sub-sections and sections throughout a document contain no more than 7±2 chunks of information paradoxically assumes that the size of what is not read in a document can influence a reader's ability to comprehend what they do read.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ^ R.E. Horn, Developing Procedures, Policies & Documentation, Info-Map, Waltham, 1992, page 3-A-2.
2. ^ "Mapping FAQs". Infomap.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Geofrey Marnell, Essays on Technical Writing, Burdock Books, Brighton, 2016, pp. 111–155).
4. ^ See http://members.shaw.ca/philip.sharman/miller.txt, Viewed 14 January 2011.

Further reading[edit]

• Robert E. Horn. Mapping Hypertext: The Analysis, Organization, and Display of Knowledge for the Next Generation of On-Line Text and Graphics. ISBN 0-9625565-0-5
• Robert E. Horn. How High Can it Fly? Examining the Evidence on Information Mapping's Method of High-Performance Communication. Note: This publication is available for download on Horn's website: Chapter One and Chapter Two.

Information Mapping is a documentation methodology, developed by Robert E. Horn in 1972. Documents developed according to the Information Mapping methodology have an instantly-recognizable visual style. This is probably because most authors (or organizations) adopting the methodology focus on the style of the Information Mapping documentation itself, copying the style used by Information Mapping Inc. for their own documentation on Information Mapping. However, Information Mapping really stipulates the structure of the information, rather than the visual display of it. It is perfectly possible to adhere to the methodology but use a visual style that is markedly different to what is commonly thought of as 'Information Mapping documentation'.

Information Mapping is built on seven key principles. These are:

1. Chunking;
2. Relevance;
3. Labeling;
4. Consistency;
5. Integrated graphics;
6. Accessible detail;
7. Hierarchy of chunking and labeling.

Chunking

The methodology states that:

"Writers should group information into small, manageable units."

Information Mapping defines a 'manageable unit' as "no more than nine pieces of information", which is based on the oft-quoted 'seven-plus-or-minus-two' rule. Information Mapping dictates that this should apply to all levels of documentation - so a manual should have no more than nine chapters, and a bulleted list should have no more than nine list items. However, as discussed in Writing user instructions, this is not always practicable or necessarily desirable. That said, this principle - that information should be grouped into small, manageable units - is good advice from a comprehension perspective.

Relevance

The methodology states that:

"Writers should make sure that all information in one chunk relates to one main point based on that information's purpose or function for the reader."

Put simply, this rule states that a block of information should contain only one type of information. This means that you should not mix (for example) instructions with descriptions. Obviously both of these types of information are permissible (and often necessary) within the same publication. Information Mapping just states that they should be in separate 'blocks' within the document. So you may have a section called "How the XYZ works" and another called "Replacing the widget on the XYZ".

Labeling

The methodology states that:

"After organizing related sentences into manageable unit, writers should provide a label for each unit of information."

This rule states that each 'chunk' of information should have a 'label'. Many proponents of Information Mapping think that this label should appear (traditionally) on the left of the block of information, and word-wrapped within the label column. However, this is not strictly necessary. It is perfectly valid for the label to appear as a 'normal' heading that stretches into the 'content' column. In this context, 'labeling' is best interpreted as providing adequate headings, although headings will typically appear much more often in documents developed according to the Information Mapping methodology than in 'regular' documents.

Examples:

1. 'Traditional' Information Mapping block:

Company policy for system Userids

All users are required to keep their password secret. Users must change their password the first time they log onto the system, and then once a month thereafter. If a user does not change their password for 35 days, they will be prompted to do so by the sytem when they attempt to log on.

2. Adapted Information Mapping block:

Company policy for system Userids
	All users are required to keep their password secret. Users must change their password the first time they log onto the system, and then once a month thereafter. If a user does not change their password for 35 days, they will be prompted to do so by the sytem when they attempt to log on.

The important thing to remember is that labels must stand out from the text, to allow quick scanning (navigation via the labels). For this reason, it is recommended that the 'content' is always significantly indented (as shown in Example 2 above).

Consistency

The methodology states that:

"For similar subject matters, writers should use similar words, labels, formats, organizations, and sequences."

Consistency should be adhered to on two levels:

• Consistency in language;
• Consistency in format and structure.

Consistency in the language used within a document and across multiple documents within the same documentation set is important, as readers will rapidly become accustomed to the language used and will not have to 'decipher' the text. That is, they will not have to think about the meaning of a word, but will know intuitively (based on their earlier intraction wih this word) what is meant. If you use different words or phrases for the same thing, the user will be required (perhaps subconsciously) to decide each time whether this actually is the same thing as was referred to previously, or is something different. This will increase the time it takes them to assimilate the information.

Consistency in the format and structure of a document is also important. Within a single document, headings should be used consistently. This includes using the same size and typeface for headings at the same level, and also using headings at the same level of granularity. Across documents, consistency can be thought of as providing the same information in the same type of document. For example, if you are developing a suite of user procedures, then every user procedure document should contain the same information, at the same point in the document, and using the same headings and labels.

Integrated graphics

The methodology states that:

"Writers should use diagrams, tables, puictures, etc. as an integral part of the text, not as an afterthought added on when the writing is complete."

This simply means that graphics should be included wherever they are useful. This rule was probably included as a reaction to the prepondency for text-only documents. Integrating graphics typically gives a document a 'lighter' (less-dense) feel, and therefore facilitates comprehension. There are also times when a picture can show instantly what it would take several paragraphs of text to explain.

However, graphics in technical communications must always be functional. The Information Mapping documentation states that "approximately 50 percent of the adult population learns better from pictures and other graphics than from words", but this means that approximately 50% learn better from text! Therefore, graphics should always be in support of the text, and not as an alternative to it.

Note that Information Mapping considers tables to be 'graphics' as well - which explains their extensive use in Information Mapping. However, given that most tables contain text only, it is better to exclude tables from the definition. This allows you to better focus on 'real' graphics (including photos, technical illustrations, and charts and graphs) and identify opportunities for including these in a document.

Accessible detail

The methodology states that:

"Writers should write at a level of detail that makes the information the reader needs readily accessible, and makes the document usable for all readers. In other words, put what the reader needs where the reader needs it. Include clearly labeled overviews, reviews, descriptions, diagrams, and examples for all "abstract" presentations. Place the diagrams, and examples close tothe text they illustrate."

This principle can best be interpreted as simply providing information to a level of detail that is useful to the readers, and then making sure that the readers can easily-locate the relevant detail.

For example, in a set of maintenance instructions, saying simply "Remove the spigot shaft" may not be sufficient. Perhaps the reader does not know how to do this. Consider providing instructions explaining exactly how to remove it. Perhaps the reader is even unfamiliar with exactly what a spigot shaft is, and where it is located. So provide a diagram of one, and/or a photograph of a spigot shaft in-situ. Then clearly label each element - the instructions, the diagram and the photograph - so that users can directly locate them and understand what the element is showing.

Hierarchy of chunking and labeling

The methodology states that:

"Writers should organize small, relevant units of information into a hierarchy, and provide the larger group(s) they have created with a label(s)."

At its simplest, this rule simply means that:

1. A document should have a title (label in Information Mapping terminology);
2. The document should be split into sections (maps);
3. Each section should have a title (label);
4. Each section should be split into units of information (blocks);
5. Each unit of information should have a title (label).

Some authors struggle with Information Mapping, thinking that there are only three levels within this hierarchy: document, map, and block. This assumption is largely borne out of using the Information Mapping documents as an example, and using the Information Mapping templates which indeed only include these three levels.

However, if you consider this rule in conjunction with the 'chunking' rule, it effectively supports as many levels of the hierarchy as is necessary - as long as each node in the hierarchy has no more than nine sub-nodes.

It is also often assumed that heading numbers are 'no allowed', but again, this is a fallacy. In a three-level hierarchy, where the document is the highest level, and there are no more than 9 nodes at each level, there is not really a need for section numbers. However, once additional levels are inroduced, or the number of nodes is increased, heading numbers - and specifically hierarchical heading numbers (1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2, 2.1....) can greatly aid navigation. Information Mapping does not explicitly forbid them, so they can be used where it helps.

Example:

Corporate Security Policy
1. Controls on system access
1.1 System userids	Each user will be granted a unique password-protected userid which will allow them access to all (and only) functions required to perform their job. Userids must not be shared with other users, under any circumstances.
1.2 System passwords	All users are required to keep their password secret. Users must change their password the first time they log onto the system, and then once a month thereafter. If a user does not change their password for 35 days, they will be prompted to do so by the system when they attempt to log on.
2. Controls on physical access to buildings
2.1 Card key	etc.