Dynamic Interaction Widgets for Digitized Procedure Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Field workers in mission-critical industries face inefficiencies and errors due to the need to manually navigate through large volumes of paper or digitized documents to find relevant procedures and instructions, which reduces 'wrench time' and increases the risk of user errors, and existing solutions for interactive procedures are costly and difficult to adopt.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a computer-implemented system that uses interaction authoring tools to overlay interaction widgets on digitized documents, creating structured metadata for computer-guided navigation and integration, allowing for dynamic user-computer interactions and application integration, reducing the need for significant changes to existing processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If field workers use paper documents or digitized documents (PDF) for procedures and instructions, then the information can be accessed and carried to job performance sites, but the workers must manually navigate through large volumes of information to find relevant steps, reducing wrench time and increasing user errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time feedback to workers during procedure execution by monitoring their location in the procedure and dynamically displaying only the relevant information and next steps. The computer device receives worker actions and responds by updating the display to show only pertinent information, eliminating the need to manually search through irrelevant content.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and displays only the relevant portion of the procedure information at any given moment based on the worker's current step and context. Instead of presenting the entire procedure document, the system pulls out and displays specifically the current step, related diagrams, and necessary instructions, filtering out all irrelevant information.
2Reliability
If field workers manually navigate through volumes of information to find applicable steps and instructions, then they can access the information, but this process is time-consuming and may lead to unintentional user errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors worker actions and provides feedback by automatically advancing to the next step or displaying relevant information based on detected worker actions. This feedback mechanism ensures workers follow procedures in the correct sequence without manual navigation, reducing errors while minimizing time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs automatic navigation and information retrieval without requiring manual intervention from the worker. The computer device autonomously determines which information to display based on procedure logic and worker actions, eliminating the manual searching process entirely and preventing navigation errors.
3Productivity
If interactive procedures and application integration are implemented, then user efficiency and accuracy improve, but significant changes to existing processes and tools are required, leading to high change management costs and user resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The system is designed to work with existing procedure formats and can deliver multiple types of content (text, diagrams, fillable forms) through a single unified interface. It integrates with existing work management systems and can accommodate different procedure types without requiring separate systems, thereby improving productivity without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary layer between existing procedure documents and the worker, adding interactive capabilities without fundamentally changing the underlying procedure content or existing authoring tools. This mediator approach enables enhanced functionality while maintaining compatibility with existing processes, reducing change management burden.
4Device complexity
If non-interactive written procedures are used, then the system is simple and easy to implement, but job monitoring can only occur after completion based on employee reports
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements real-time feedback mechanisms that automatically capture and transmit job status information to supervisors and work management systems as workers progress through procedures. This feedback is generated automatically from worker interactions with the system, providing continuous visibility into job status without adding significant complexity to the delivery system.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments described in this disclosure relate to methods and computer-based systems that implement those methods for overlaying or superimposing computer-user interaction widgets and application interface widgets on top of content blocks contained within digitized documents which represent written procedures or instructions, instructional manuals and fillable forms, in order to support means of providing dynamic user-computer interaction and computer guided navigation, as well as application functions and data integration, driven through structured interaction and integration metadata definitions, as it relates to said content blocks, during job performance.