Overview

While EzParts provides full functionality for accessing, viewing, searching and using your knowledgebase as a support and training tool; EzData provides visual knowledgebase building and maintenance capability. Using the visual environment, database managers can quickly define complex hierarchies and relationships and make resources available to knowledgebase users. No previous knowledgebase management or database skill are required.

EzData uses an interface similar to EzParts visual environment. Point and click tools guide you through the importing and linking process. Content is, whenever possible, included in the knowledgebase in its native format. This prevents expensive and complex conversion processes. With the EzParts System and EzData you can include virtually any format of data in your knowledgebase. Examples of just a few of the most common native content types you can include are:

• Training Video and Audio(Windows Media, Flash, AVI, WAV MPEG, MP2, MP3, and more...)
• Documents (Adobe PDF, IBM Rich Text Files, TXT, ASC, MCW, ANS, WPS, Word DOC, XML, HTML, Shockwave and more...)
• Presentations (PowerPoint, Harvard Graphics, Freelance)
• Graphics (GIF, JPEG, BMP, EPS, RAS, TIFF, EMF, CGM and more...)
• Spread Sheets (Lotus, Excel, HTML Tables, XML...)
• 3D Modeling and Virtual Reality (WRL, Cult 3-D)

By concentrating on building the relationships between the data, and not converting the data itself, EzData provides an easier to manage user interface, and lower maintenance costs. The EzParts System already knows how to read and process hundreds of file types, automatically displaying the appropriate content to the user.

The EzParts System is a non-proprietary open architecture system, meaning your investment is secure. EzData does not convert the data imported into the knowledgebase into a proprietary format. This means you will always be able to read and access your data. In addition, by maintaining the original file format, updates and revisions become easier to maintain and require less time. Content included in the knowledgebase can be published to CD or to the internet. The knowledgebase is CD and Internet Ready. Using the Publishing wizard you can, in minutes, create a CD ready publication, Define both price tier and cost passwords as well as CD expiration dates. All that remains is to cut a CD using your CD burning software. Knowledgebase's can in many cases, be extremely large. EzData manages and allows you to span multiple CDs allowing you room to grow as needed.

Likewise the CD(s) can be inserted or copied onto your Web Server and the knowledgebase added to your existing web pages. Building the initial knowledgebase's Internet site, or adding the knowledgebase to your existing content only requires 20 to 60 minutes. After the initial site is built, updating your knowledgebase is as simple as swapping CD's or publishing to your web server.

EzData's capabilities include special tools that allow you to define hotspots on your graphic images. These hotspots can be linked to both parts and resources. Using EzData you can build and maintain complex part and where part is used information automatically by using the hot-spotting features. Hot-spotting an image also allows you to link to detail sections and part explosions. Providing drill down capability on the schematics themselves, even linking to audio, video and manuals. Additional functionality allows you to extract, cut and paste images from common file formats like PDF files and include them in your knowledgebase for preview and hot-spotting.