We have been in the business of creating technical manuals for more than 30 years. During this time we have produced a wide range of user, maintenance, parts, and training manuals for both commercial and military clients.

Our expertise can help you regardless of whether you need a small operator manual or a large-scale suite of integrated support documentation.

From self-contained manuals to individual data modules, and from PDF to XML, we can help. We also have our own XML content editing tools to streamline editing and to further reduce costs.

We have extensive experience in producing technical documentation such as:

Installation Manuals

We can create anything from single-page pictorial guides to step-by-step words and pictures – as simple or as complex as you required.

Operating Manuals

From simple equipment to complex equipment, our focus is on making the equipment understandable and easy to use – always keeping the end-user in mind.

Workshop Repair Manuals

Technical accuracy, proper warnings and cautions, and quality illustrations ensure that your equipment is properly maintained throughout its lifecycle. Manuals can be paper-based or cost-effective, interactive, electronic manuals.

Illustrated Parts Catalogues

You determine the level of repair - what can be repaired, and what must be replaced, and we prepare the exploded views, part numbers, quantities, and descriptions. Supportability is critical for both the manufacturer/supplier and the client.

Training Documentation

We develop cost-effective training packages to suit your requirement. From simple wallcharts to fully interactive computer-based training (CBT).

Our technical authors (writers) are specialists experienced in the production of product support documentation written to a wide variety of military and commercial specifications.

The production of technical manuals is often left to engineers, programmers, and designers. This approach can result in manuals that miss the skill level and capabilities of the intended audience – leading to frustration on the part of the end-user and poor support and implementation of the product.

At Sigma, our technical authors are technically-qualified people who have the capabilities to turn raw source material into cost-effective manuals that accurately and safely support your product.

Our writers analyse data and source information to create logical, usable, end-user targeted material that properly addresses health and safety, and the defined levels of maintenance. We have experience with a wide variety of commercial and military specifications or can tailor one to meet your specific needs.

We have experience in all of the current software packages such as Adobe FrameMaker, InDesign, MS-Word, and XML editors.

From commencement to final product, there is on-going liaison with the client to ensure that well-written, well-illustrated, user targeted manuals are the end product. Final output can be on paper, on screen or both.

Whether your requirement is for installation guides, operator manuals, maintenance manuals, spare parts manuals, training manuals or a customised solution; we have the personnel, the skills, and the experience to help you.

Whether you require top-quality graphics to market your product or technical illustrations to support your authored technical material, we have the technical illustrators who have the skills and experience to meet and exceed your requirement.

Our technical illustrators use the latest software, including Isodraw CADprocess, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, and CorelDesigner to create detailed illustrations for use in spare parts catalogues, operator handbooks, workshop repair manuals, training aids, and in marketing and promotional material.

Flexibility is our strong point. We offer a wide range of styles, from 2D exploded and cut-away line illustrations to full colour 3D models, and from basic flow charts to the most complex assembly drawings.

Our technical illustration process is thorough, and involves consultation with our clients to gather photographic detail, CAD data and legacy documentation. From the information gathered and the input from the technical writer, we will create technical illustrations which will enhance the written content and effectiveness of your documentation. This in turn will create a greater understanding of your product and how it should be used correctly and safely, thereby reducing down time and improving productivity.

Through maintenance engineering and logistic support analysis, we develop structured support to lower operating and life cycle costs. Structured content is compiled into managed databases to ensure data integrity and relationships.

Support engineering is an integrated and iterative process for developing a support strategy that optimizes functional support, leverages existing resources, and guides the system engineering process to quantify and lower life cycle costs. This is achieved by decreasing the logistics footprint, thereby making the system easier to support.

Selected quantitative methods are applied to identify and justify the resources required to support a system. The main activities include:

We analyse and structure existing or newly developed support information to be used in technical publications and management information systems. Configuration management includes configuration identification, change control and reporting of configuration status to ensure integrity of baselines.

By performing detail assessments of existing logistic material, management information systems and business processes, we can:

Our Asset Management Solutions provide you with a single point of control over all types of assets. These solutions manage physical assets on a common platform allowing organizations to share and enforce best practices, inventory, resources and personnel.

We provide real time calculation of an asset’s configuration and the life of each component of the asset. This helps to accurately perform system and component analysis and reporting leading to improved reliability and lower maintenance costs.

This enables you to accurately track the current and historical views of transactional changes to the configuration of assets and their components, assisting in increased reliability and accountability.

Our all in one solution includes six management modules in an enhanced service-orientated architecture:

Configuration Management is the discipline of identifying and controlling the physical and functional characteristics of systems and their configurable items. It includes configuration identification, change control and the reporting of configuration status to ensure the integrity of baselines.

If you have a problem managing change control, we can help. We can assist you in identifying configurable items and in managing the status and change control process to ensure the integrity of your baselines. The main activities addressed are as follows:

We develop cost-effective training packages to suit your specific requirements.

Sometimes a product user guide just won't do the job. Overlooking the importance of your staff training may lead to misuse and possible damage to expensive equipment.

Let us develop a training solution that allows your staff to fully understand the functionality of the equipment to be operated.

From simple training aids like wall charts and learner guides to fully interactive Computer Based Training (CBT) modules that allow learners and instructors to track their progress through a Learning Management System (LMS).

We develop packages that include interactive text, graphics, sound, video and animation to enhance the learner's experience making studying a lot more enjoyable and productive.