X-Hive Corporation's Aircraft Maintenance Documentation System (X-Hive/AMDS) is an XML based content management and delivery system for aircraft maintenance documentation implemented according to S1000D.

X-Hive/AMDS is a customization of X-Hive/Docato for the Aerospace and Aviation industry. S1000D is an international specification for the production of technical publications. It is adopted by major airliners and aerospace manufacturers.

IDC believes that major airlines can realize savings of $25-30 million over five years by implementing an AMDS

Manufacturers are beginning to supply manuals for newer planes in S1000D format: Boeing, for example, is supplying documentation for its 787 in S1000D. But manuals for older aircraft may only be available in SGML or proprietary formats, and many manuals (for example component maintenance manuals) are only available in paper form.

A key capability of the X-Hive/AMDS is its ability to "ingest" content in many different formats and migrate it to S1000D so that it is restructured for reuse and repurposing.

The X-Hive/AMDS contains two parts, a content creation part, X-Hive/AMDS-CMS and a delivery system, X-Hive/AMDS-DS. In the CMS manuals, tasks and work cards are authored and published. In the delivery system engineers can view cards, visits and manuals and are able to print work card for specific visits. Both the CMS and the delivery system have extensive search possibilities to enable end-users to search through the content base based on tail numbers, planned checks, or by context-based full text search.

Key benefits are:

• Savings from labor efficiencies, for both hangar and line maintenance. Line maintenance efficiencies offer the greatest opportunity for cost savings, because nearly all line maintenance activities are non-routine, so the ability to dynamically generate job cards with tailored work instructions for line technicians and mechanics is particularly valuable.
  
  
• Additional savings by accelerating line maintenance activities at the gate (thus reducing flight delays). The more quickly one can put relevant and current documentation directly into the hands of the mechanic at the gate, the more quickly the mechanic can fix the problem and release the flight.
  
  
• Improving overall processes for managing and distributing technical documentation, including:
  
• the ability to eliminate hard copy manuals (and the hand processing required to image and distribute them),
• the ability to route documents via a workflow process rather than via manual routing,
• the ability to manage the airline's component maintenance manuals (and electronically distribute them to the airline's maintenance vendors),
• and the ability to deliver current, customized, and complete content on demand over the Web – ensuring that the airline's maintenance sites, service vendors and outsourcers remain in compliance with its current revisions in accordance with government (FAA) regulations.