What does IETM stand for?
IETM stands for Interactive Electronic Technical Manual. It is the electronic, interactive successor to the paper technical order (TO) and the static PDF manual. Instead of flipping through pages, a maintainer navigates, searches, and filters procedures, diagrams, parts data, and troubleshooting logic on a screen — on a laptop, tablet, or handheld device.
How is an IETM different from a PDF?
A PDF is a fixed electronic page image. An IETM is structured data: procedures are broken into steps, parts link to illustrated parts breakdowns, wiring links to schematics, and content can be filtered to the specific tail number or configuration a maintainer is working on. That structure is what makes an IETM interactive — it can hide irrelevant steps, surface only the applicable warnings, and capture what the maintainer does as they do it.
What are the IETM classes?
IETMs are commonly described in classes that reflect how interactive and database-driven the content is:
- Class 1 — Electronically indexed page images (scanned paper).
- Class 2 — Electronic scrolling documents.
- Class 3 — Linearly structured, hierarchically linked electronic documents with hyperlinks.
- Class 4 — Hierarchically structured content driven from a database, eliminating redundant data.
- Class 5 — Integrated, context-sensitive presentation with interactive, AI-aided diagnostics.
- Class 6 — As defined by MDDV, extends beyond Class 5 by adding integrated digital wiring, fleet-wide analytics, AI-powered troubleshooting, automatic maintenance logging, and training in a single zero-footprint platform.
What is the difference between an IETM and an IETP?
IETM (Interactive Electronic Technical Manual) and IETP (Interactive Electronic Technical Publication) describe closely related formats; the distinction comes down to structure, navigation, and resource use. Both support illustrations, hyperlinks, tables, and multimedia. MDDV provides full IETM and IETP capability from S1000D, SGML, and DITA source data.
