IEC PAS 63485:2023

IEC PAS 63485 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-10
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Intelligent Information Request and Delivery – A process model for the exchange
of information for use
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IEC PAS 63485 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-10
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
SPECIFICATION
colour
inside
Intelligent Information Request and Delivery – A process model for the

exchange of information for use

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 01.040.01; 01.110 ISBN 978-2-8322-7254-1

– 2 – IEC PAS 63485:2023 © IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Fulfilment of requirements . 8
5 Intelligent information . 8
5.1 General . 8
5.2 Quality of intelligent information . 8
6 Information flow model . 9
7 Metadata model . 10
7.1 Classification of metadata . 10
7.2 Match at the interface . 11
7.2.1 General . 11
7.2.2 Coding level (content, descriptive code, packaging) . 11
7.2.3 Shared metadata . 11
7.2.4 Shared semantics . 11
Annex A (informative) Metadata . 12
A.1 General . 12
A.2 Information Units . 13
A.3 Product Metadata . 14
A.4 Information Type Metadata . 15
A.5 Functional Metadata . 17
A.6 Administrative Metadata . 18
Annex B (informative)  Scenarios for Information Exchange . 19
B.1 General . 19
B.2 Self-Service Information . 19
B.3 Automated Integration of OEM Documentation into Operator Information . 20
B.4 Utilization of multiple request and delivery sources . 20
B.5 Exchanging DITA Content Using iiRDS . 21
Bibliography . 23

Figure 1 – Visualization of the Information Flow . 10
Figure A.1 – High level concept of iiRDS. 12
Figure A.2 – Sample excerpt of iiRDS metadata in open source ontology editor Protégé . 13

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
INTELLIGENT INFORMATION REQUEST AND DELIVERY –
A PROCESS MODEL FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION FOR USE

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
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A PAS is an intermediate specification made available to the public and needing a lower level
of consensus than an International Standard to be approved by vote (simple majority).
IEC PAS 63485 has been processed by IEC technical committee 3: Documentation, graphical
symbols and representations of technical information.
The text of this PAS is based on the This PAS was approved for publica-
following document: tion by the P-members of the com-
mittee concerned as indicated in the
following document
Draft PAS Report on voting
3/1606/DPAS 3/1612/RVDPAS
Following publication of this PAS, which is a pre-standard publication, the technical committee
or subcommittee concerned may transform it into an International Standard.

– 4 – IEC PAS 63485:2023 © IEC 2023
This PAS shall remain valid for an initial maximum period of 2 years starting from the publication
date. The validity may be extended for a single period up to a maximum of 2 years, at the end
of which it shall be published as another type of normative document, or shall be withdrawn.

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INTRODUCTION
According to the strategic business plan of IEC TC 3 as of 2019-07-12, standardization in the
field of documentation covers rules, principles, and methods focusing on machine-readable
representation of information, including ontologies for the definition, co-ordination, and man-
agement of the information required during the whole life cycle of a device, system, or plant.
This document approaches information for use that covers the life cycle stages of the use of
products in B2C and especially B2B environments, for example for technicians who assemble,
mount, operate, maintain, repair, or disassemble technical assets.
In a digitalized world, (printed) documents no longer support the information needs of people
who are used to accessing all kinds of information quickly according to their need, either in their
private life or in their professional contexts, on the internet, mostly on mobile devices. Especially
in the context of smart manufacturing or the industrial internet of things, where any kind of
technical objects are mirrored by their digital twins, all information regarding the efficient, ef-
fective, and safe use of technical objects or products (compare IEC 82079-1:2019) needs to be
connected to these virtual objects in a dynamic way. Users do not want to search for technical
information in huge documents. They want information matching their concrete use cases in-
stead, according to their personal requests. Together with real-time descriptive and operational
data, they need information at any time that helps them to interpret these data and to take
adequate actions to guarantee smooth operation of the assets.
Where the traditional context of linear documents is lost, the metadata ontology of the Intelligent
TM1
Information Request and Delivery Standard (iiRDS ), maintained by the iiRDS consortium,
helps to couple digital twins with the technical information needed in concrete use cases.
Such semantically supported information processes guarantee real-time delivery of the right
information, at the right time, on the right place, to the immanent need of the users. It helps
avoid huge costs for the operators of any kinds of assets, caused by wrong, outdated, or not
easily accessible and understandable information.
To make sure that all information providers and information consumers can benefit from the
practical and economic advantages of iiRDS, this specification defines a standard information
flow (Clause 6), a metadata model (Clause 7), and a set of core metadata (Annex A) that shall
be applied to facilitate this approach.
Within the ecosystem of IEC TC 3, iiRDS uses some administrative metadata according to
IEC 82045. All other relevant standards in the field of information management have been eval-
uated as well to make sure that no unnecessary overlap occurs.
IEC 61355-1:2008 defines a general document classification framework that covers technical
documentation at its lowest level but lacks a more granular categorization. iiRDS defines a
metadata framework tailored to technical documentation which enables a more granular infor-
mation access as a basis for intelligent information processes. iiRDS can, therefore, be consid-
ered as a domain-specific supplement to IEC 61355-1:2008.
Whereas IEC 62656-8 defines a product ontology, iiRDS sets requirements for information
products (compare IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019), also using a different technology for specifying its
requirements. Thus, iiRDS adds new aspects to the representation of technical information with
respect to information for use of products.

___________
iiRDS is the trade name of a product supplied by the iiRDS consortium. This information is given for the conven-
ience of users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by IEC of the product named. Equivalent
products may be used if they can be shown to lead to the same results.

– 6 – IEC PAS 63485:2023 © IEC 2023
INTELLIGENT INFORMATION REQUEST AND DELIVERY –
A PROCESS MODEL FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION FOR USE

1 Scope
This specification addresses creators of information for use of products. Examples of infor-
mation creators are information architects and technical communicators.
The document defines requirements for electronic request and delivery processes for any kind
of information for use. Such processes are needed to bridge the gap between objects in the
real world and the information needed by their dedicated users, especially in the context of
smart manufacturing, industry 4.0 and the industrial internet of things. This document specifies
processes in order to enable n:m relations between information sources and information users
when there is no explicit agreement between information provider and information consumer.
This document also specifies metadata.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amend-
ments) applies.
IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, Preparation of information for use (instructions for use) of products –
Part 1: Principles and general requirements
tekom (2020), iiRDS – The International open source standard for Intelligent Information Re-
quest and Delivery. Available at https://iirds.org/material-downloads/iirds-version-1-1/
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following ad-
dresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
creation application
software system which supports the creator in creating intelligent information
Note 1 to entry: Usually the application consists of an editor for structured authoring and managing metadata as
well as a repository in which information units are stored and from which units can be retrieved and used for gener-
ating information products. A creation application also includes automatically generated content, for example gener-
ated texts generated by artificial intelligence or information products generated out of third party systems.
3.2
creator (intelligent information)
person who analyses, conceptualizes, and compiles information requirements and design

3.3
generator
system that processes output according to a defined exchange format
3.4
information for use
information provided by the supplier that provides the target audience with concepts, proce-
dures, and reference material for the safe, effective, and efficient use of a supported product
during its life cycle
EXAMPLE Step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting information, service information, operation and maintenance
instructions, and assembly instructions.
Note 1 to entry: "Instructions for use, procedures for the safe, effective, and efficient use of a supported product",
was the term formerly used to include all the content defined as part of information for use.
Note 2 to entry: Excludes supplementary information, which is outside the scope of information for use.
[SOURCE: IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, 3.17]
3.5
information flow model
model to describe the flow of information from the creator to the user and vice versa
3.6
information unit
digital entity containing content for the user and metadata for the management of the conveyed
information, e.g. a topic
3.7
intelligent information
structurally and semantically enhanced information that enables interactive and adaptive hu-
man-machine or machine-machine communication
3.8
information integrator
system that receives and integrates output from the generators and provides it for user appli-
cations
3.9
product knowledge
knowledge needed to identify the product for which information is requested
3.10
semantically rich metadata
data models that deliver contextually rich information, properly tagged and targeted to provide
an enjoyable user experience
3.11
technical information creation
process of applying information design to create technical content and assign metadata
Note 1 to entry: Usually the task of information creation can be fulfilled by a human, by systems, or a combination
of both.
Note 2 to entry: Information design is the process of developing content that meets the needs of the audience.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017, 3.1947]

– 8 – IEC PAS 63485:2023 © IEC 2023
3.12
user application
HMI (human-machine interface) or MMI (machine-machine interface) for the presentation of the
information
Note 1 to entry: A role which is performed by a system.
3.13
use context
environment that affects the user's ability to understand and apply information
Note 1 to entry: The user context can include the location (geographic region), consumer or worker use, use at
various stages of the product life cycle (installation, operation, maintenance), and preferred media for receiving
information.
3.14
user
person who interacts with the product
Note 1 to entry: "User" can include persons who install, operate, service, maintain, or dispose of the product.
[SOURCE: IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, 3.47]
4 Fulfilment of requirements
A claim of fulfilment of requirements with this document shall only be made if the requirements
are fulfilled with respect to the following aspects:
• allocation of processes, tasks, and organizational units as specified in Clause 5.
• information flow and information flow model as specified in Clause 6.
• metadata model as defined in Clause 7.
• match at the interface format as specified in 7.2.
5 Intelligent information
5.1 General
Intelligent information request and delivery shall enable applications to provide users with suit-
able information at the right time, according to their context and their tasks with the product, in
an efficient and natural way. Intelligent information’s scope is technical information, like product
information, operating, troubleshooting and service information. A piece of intelligent infor-
mation is always bound to some product or component or function, and some information use
context.
5.2 Quality of intelligent information
Regarding the quality of contents of intelligent information, the requirements of
IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, Clauses 5, 7, 8, 9 shall be fulfilled.
The quality of intelligent information can be assessed with regard to different aspects. Intelligent
information shall have the following properties:
1) be structured according to rules and in a topic-oriented way.
a) Each topic shall focus on answering only one specific question. This enables applica-
tions to provide the right minimal information.
b) Intelligent information topics shall address specific user groups.
c) Users shall get information that matches their roles and skill levels.

d) Technical information shall be comprehensible to the user or the machine.
2) follow a style guide of content rules.
3) use consistent terminology.
4) be format-neutral, so it can provide a representation on a variety of devices.
5) information units shall be tagged with semantically rich metadata.
6) be related to product and product components and functions as well as information usage
scenarios (such as product lifecycle phases, user clearance) and information types (such
as task, concept, or reference information).
7) metadata shall apply standardized ontologies and/or taxonomies to enable collection, as-
sembly, delivery and usage of information from different sources.
NOTE A high-level view of an ontology is available in Annex A. A comprehensive ontology is available at the
iiRDS website www.iirds.org.
8) all contents should be tagged with specific elements.
6 Information flow model
Intelligent information request and delivery processes shall be designed according to this infor-
mation flow model.
1) There shall be at least one information creator who creates several information units by
means of one or more systems which in this context is defined as the creation application.
This is an iterating process that may accumulate a large number of information units in the
creation application.
2) The generator shall be a system that stores use-case-oriented information units of different
formats that may originate from one or more creation applications. The generator sends
packages to the information integrator in the form of a standardised interface. The generator
shall be ready to give feedback to the creation application if information requests cannot be
answered. The generator shall be ready to negotiate with any information integrator system
and respond to its requests.
3) The information integrator shall integrate use-case-oriented information
...