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The perception of organisational knowledge assets often varies greatly across industries and regions. Historically, in many organisations, these crucial resources were primarily viewed as a mere obligation or an unavoidable expenditure – just “good enough” for basic stipulations, rather than a key strategic element. This approach frequently stemmed from an intense focus on rapid product creation and delivery, where the profound worth of clear, user-focused information wasn’t fully grasped.

However, this mindset is rapidly changing. A growing number of progressive enterprises globally are now recognising the immense strategic benefit of their content, moving beyond simple adherence to stipulations and leveraging it as a crucial competitive edge. Does your organisation view its internal and external written resources as a drain or a driver? The answer could profoundly shape your path to success.

Far too many companies still classify their content creation as just another administrative outlay – a box to tick for inspections or financial reviews. Yet, this perspective leads to considerable unmeasured repercussions:

• Operational Inefficiencies and Bloated Costs: Unclear or incomplete knowledge assets frequently trigger a surge in user queries, leading to frustrated customers and an inflation of customer service outlays. Simultaneously, new team members encounter unnecessarily protracted adjustment periods when self-serve knowledge bases are lacking, hindering their full productivity and impacting team morale for months.
• Heightened Compliance Risks and Penalties: Substandard reference materials expose your business to greater risks of regulatory non-compliance. This isn’t just about minor headaches; it can lead to significant financial penalties and substantial damage to your corporate reputation in highly scrutinised markets.
• Impeded Market Performance and Adoption: When individuals encounter confusing directions or manuals, they struggle to utilise your offerings effectively. This directly results in user frustration, diminished engagement with your products, and ultimately, missed opportunities for successful product launches and market penetration.

Conversely, consider the transformative advantages when written resources are regarded as a fundamental investment:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency and Cost Savings: Empowered users who independently find their answers mean a dramatic reduction in inbound support tickets, freeing your valuable teams to focus on innovation and complex problem-solving rather than repetitive queries. Internally, comprehensive, readily available information dramatically shortens onboarding times, enabling new team members to contribute productively much sooner.
• Boosted Client Loyalty and Market Expansion: Clear, concise instructions enhance the user journey, cultivating trust and encouraging repeat business and positive referrals. Furthermore, well-structured information facilitates a smoother entry into new territories by providing consistent, high-quality support and understanding to diverse markets.
• Strengthened Compliance and Risk Mitigation: Investing in quality knowledge assets proactively ensures robust adherence to international benchmarks and mandates. This not only minimises the risk of penalties but also builds a reputation for reliability and professionalism, strengthening your position in a competitive global landscape.

The Verdict: Written assets are not merely an expense centre. They are your silent engine for operational excellence and sustained advancement.

If your approach to managing these vital resources remains reactive or an afterthought, you’re likely overlooking significant prospects and leaving tangible value untapped.

Unlock Your Knowledge Assets

Ready to transform your documentation from a cost centre into a strategic growth engine? Utilise ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English to achieve unparalleled clarity and efficiency in your content.

Encourage your team to explore Shufrans Techdocs worldwide online instructor-led training sessions. Our programmes equip your professionals with the practical skills to implement this standard, enabling them to create precise, compliant, and highly effective knowledge assets. Plus, you’ll benefit from 120 days of post-training support to ensure lasting success.

🗓️ View our training calendar.

In an era of rapid technological advancement, the role of clear and accurate technical communication remains paramount. While artificial intelligence (AI) and the allure of complex, sophisticated technology may offer seemingly efficient solutions, they often overlook the fundamental importance of human expertise. ASD-STE100, or Simplified Technical English, is not merely a tool; it’s a skillset that empowers the human writer – the technical communicator, engineer, or developer who possesses the crucial subject-matter knowledge.

Beyond Automation: The Value of Human Expertise

AI, despite its capabilities, cannot replicate the nuanced understanding and critical thinking that human writers bring to technical documentation. While AI can generate text, it lacks the contextual awareness and ability to make informed judgements about the accuracy and suitability of information. Complex language, conversely, creates barriers to understanding, hindering effective communication.

• Reduced Misinterpretation: By eliminating ambiguity and promoting clarity, ASD-STE100 minimises the risk of misinterpretations of STPA findings. This reduced risk of misinterpretation leads to more accurate and effective risk assessments and subsequent risk mitigation strategies.

Simplified Technical English, instead, provides a structured framework that enhances the human writer’s abilities. It’s a skillset that equips writers with:

• A Controlled Vocabulary: Limiting word choices to reduce ambiguity while allowing the writer to select the most precise term.
• Clear Grammatical Rules: Promoting consistent and easily understood sentence structures.
• A Focus on Clarity and Precision: Ensuring that information is conveyed accurately and efficiently, without sacrificing the writer’s voice.

How This Skillset Empowers:

• Ownership and Control: Writers retain full control over their content, ensuring accuracy and reflecting their expertise.
• Enhanced Clarity: Simplified Technical English facilitates the creation of documents that are accessible to diverse audiences, including non-native English speakers.
• Improved Efficiency: Clear writing reduces revisions and clarifies, streamlining the documentation process.
• Preservation of Expertise: ASD-STE100 allows organisations to capture and retain the valuable knowledge of their human experts through a consistent method.

The Human Writer at the Forefront:

The essence of Simplified Technical English is not about replacing human writers with automated systems, but rather about providing them with the skillset necessary to excel. It recognises that human expertise is irreplaceable, especially when it comes to complex technical information. By empowering the human writer with this skillset, organisations ensure that technical documentation is not only accurate and clear but also reflects the knowledge and insights of the individuals who created it.

In conclusion, ASD-STE100, as a core skillset, is a testament to the enduring importance of human expertise in technical communication. It empowers writers to create clear, concise, and accurate documentation, ultimately fostering better understanding and more effective communication.

🔗 Learn more about this international writing standard: www.asd-ste100.net.

🔗 Ongoing STE workshops: https://www.shufrans-techdocs.com/online-ste-workshop-2-day-training-course/

STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis) is a relatively new hazard analysis technique based on an extended model of accident causation. In addition to component failures, STPA assumes that accidents can also be caused by unsafe interactions of system components, none of which may have failed.

This article explores how ASD-STE100 (Simplified Technical English or STE) can be effectively applied within the framework of System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA). While STPA primarily focuses on identifying and analysing hazards within a system, the incorporation of ASD-STE100 principles ensures that all documentation generated throughout the process is characterised by clarity, conciseness, and unambiguous language.

The Role of ASD-STE100 in Effective STPA:

• Clear Hazard Descriptions: ASD-STE100’s emphasis on precise language and the avoidance of ambiguity is crucial in ensuring that identified hazards are described clearly and unambiguously within STPA documentation. This clarity is essential for effective hazard communication and subsequent risk assessment.

• Consistent Terminology: By promoting the consistent use of terminology throughout the STPA process, ASD-STE100 facilitates a shared understanding of key concepts and terms among all stakeholders, including engineers, safety analysts, and project managers. This consistency minimises confusion and ensures that all parties involved interpret information in the same manner.

• Improved Communication: The clear and concise documentation facilitated by ASD-STE100 significantly improves communication and collaboration among all stakeholders involved in the STPA process. This enhanced communication fosters a better understanding of the identified hazards and facilitates the development of effective risk mitigation strategies.

• Reduced Misinterpretation: By eliminating ambiguity and promoting clarity, ASD-STE100 minimises the risk of misinterpretations of STPA findings. This reduced risk of misinterpretation leads to more accurate and effective risk assessments and subsequent risk mitigation strategies.

Specific Applications of ASD-STE100 in STPA:

• Hazard Identification: When documenting identified hazards, the use of clear and concise language, devoid of ambiguity, is paramount. This ensures that all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the nature and scope of each identified hazard.

• Control Structure Diagrams: The labels and descriptions within control structure diagrams should be clear, concise, and easily understandable. This ensures that the diagrams effectively communicate the system’s control logic and potential interactions between system components.

• Hazard Analysis Reports: The principles of ASD-STE100 should be rigorously applied when drafting hazard analysis reports. These reports should be written in a clear, concise, and easily understandable manner, ensuring that they are accessible to a wide range of stakeholders, including those without specialised engineering or safety expertise.

• Risk Mitigation Strategies: The documentation of risk mitigation strategies should adhere to ASD-STE100 principles, ensuring that they are presented in a clear, concise, and unambiguous manner. This clarity facilitates the effective implementation and monitoring of risk mitigation measures.

In essence, ASD-STE100 serves as a valuable tool for enhancing the overall quality and effectiveness of STPA documentation. By ensuring that all documentation related to the STPA process is clear, concise, and unambiguous, ASD-STE100 contributes to a more robust and effective hazard analysis process.

While generative AI offers exciting possibilities for streamlining STE content creation, it’s crucial to understand its limitations and the enduring value of human expertise.

AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement: Generative AI excels at tasks like:

• Drafting and Editing: Automating repetitive tasks, suggesting alternative phrasing, and identifying potential inconsistencies.
• Enforcing Standards: Checking for adherence to ASD-STE100 and other standards.
• Improving Clarity: Identifying areas of ambiguity and suggesting clearer language.

However, AI cannot fully replace the critical thinking and nuanced understanding that human writers bring to the table.

Addressing Missing Information:

• Human Expertise: Technical writers, with their deep domain knowledge and understanding of the target audience, are essential for identifying and addressing crucial information gaps.
• Thorough Planning: Careful planning, including detailed requirements gathering and thorough subject matter research, is paramount to prevent missing information from the outset.

• Human Review: Even with AI assistance, meticulous human review is necessary to ensure all mission critical information is accurately and comprehensively conveyed.

The Importance of Human Judgement:

• Nuance and Context: STE requires understanding subtle nuances, interpreting complex technical concepts, and tailoring the information to the specific needs of the audience. These tasks demand human judgement and expertise.
• Ethical Considerations: AI models can sometimes exhibit biases or generate inaccurate information. Human oversight is crucial to ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI in STE.

Generative AI can be a valuable tool for technical writers, enhancing efficiency and improving the quality of STE documentation. However, it should be viewed as an assistant, not a replacement. The unique skills and expertise of human writers, including critical thinking, domain knowledge, and the ability to understand and address complex technical issues, remain indispensable for creating high-quality, effective, and trustworthy STE content. By leveraging the strengths of both AI and human expertise, we can create a synergistic approach that maximises the benefits of both while mitigating the risks.

The Challenge: Unifying Clarity in a Complex Digital Landscape

Veeam Software stands as a global leader in data protection, backup, and disaster recovery, operating at the forefront of virtual, physical, and cloud-based workloads. In an industry where precision is paramount, and a single misinterpretation can have significant consequences for data integrity and business continuity, the clarity of technical documentation is not just beneficial—it is fundamental.

Veeam faced the challenge of ensuring its comprehensive suite of solutions, from Veeam Backup & Replication to Veeam ONE, was explained with absolute consistency and unambiguous language across all documentation. This complexity was amplified by a rapidly evolving technological landscape and a diverse global customer base. Without a unified standard, there was a risk of:

• Ambiguity in complex technical explanations, leading to user errors or support queries.
• Inconsistency in terminology and style across different product manuals and guides.
• Inefficiencies in the documentation workflow, impacting authoring and review cycles.
• Potential for misinterpretation of critical recovery procedures, jeopardising data resilience.

Veeam sought a solution that could standardise its technical language, ensuring every instruction and explanation was understood unequivocally, regardless of the reader’s technical background or native language.

The Solution: Tailored STE Training for Enhanced Precision

Shufrans TechDocs partnered with Veeam to deliver a focused ASD-STE100 (Issue 8) training programme. Recognising the varied expertise within Veeam’s content creation ecosystem, the training was specifically tailored for nine key individuals, comprising mostly technical writers, senior technical writers, a crucial data scientist, a handful of Knowledge Managers, and a technical writing lead.

The programme focused on equipping these professionals with the practical rules and vocabulary of STE, enabling them to:

• Apply STE Principles: Learn and consistently implement the core rules of ASD-STE100 for all their documentation.
• Simplify Complex Concepts: Translate intricate data protection methodologies and software functionalities into clear, concise, and unambiguous language.
• Leverage Personal Pronouns: Understand and effectively utilise “You” and “We” to create direct, actionable instructions, particularly vital for user guides and procedural documentation.
• Standardise Terminology: Adopt a controlled vocabulary to ensure consistent use of terms across all documents, reducing confusion.

The inclusion of a data scientist and a Knowledge Manager in the training was particularly strategic, highlighting Veeam’s commitment to clarity even at the intersection of advanced analytics, information organisation, and practical application.

The Results: Elevated Documentation Quality and Operational Efficiency

By investing in ASD-STE100 training with Shufrans TechDocs, Veeam achieved significant, measurable improvements in its technical communication:

• Enhanced Documentation Clarity and Precision: The application of STE principles led to documentation that was easier for Veeam’s global customers to understand, reducing the potential for misinterpretation of critical backup and recovery procedures. This directly contributes to higher operational reliability for their clients.
• Streamlined Authoring Efficiency: Technical writers benefited from the structured approach of STE, leading to more efficient content creation, reduced rework, and greater consistency across their document portfolio.
• Improved Comprehension of Complex Solutions: For the data scientist, STE provided a framework to articulate complex data models and analytical insights with greater clarity, ensuring that even highly specialised information was accessible and actionable for its intended audience.
• Unified Documentation Standard: The technical writing lead gained a powerful tool for enforcing a consistent, high-quality standard across the team, facilitating better internal collaboration and a more cohesive documentation suite.

Veeam’s proactive investment in STE training with Shufrans TechDocs has transformed its technical documentation into a strategic asset, reinforcing its commitment to delivering clear, reliable, and high-quality data protection solutions worldwide. This success story underscores the power of targeted communication training in ensuring operational excellence and customer satisfaction in the rapidly evolving technology sector.

If your organisation faces similar challenges in achieving uncompromising clarity and operational excellence through precise communication, discover how Shufrans TechDocs can help. Learn more about our ASD-STE100 training and consulting services:

🗓️ View our training calendar.

The Challenge: Precision in the Digital Edge

Akamai Technologies stands at the forefront of powering and protecting life online, delivering and securing digital experiences across its vast global network. In an environment where milliseconds matter for performance and a single vulnerability can have widespread impact, the clarity and precision of technical documentation are not just important—they are critical to operational integrity, security, and user adoption.

Akamai faced the challenge of ensuring its comprehensive suite of solutions—spanning content delivery, cybersecurity, and cloud services—was explained with absolute consistency and unambiguous language across all documentation. This complexity was magnified by the rapid pace of technological innovation and a diverse, global customer base ranging from developers to enterprise IT professionals. Without a unified standard, there was a risk of:

• Ambiguity in complex technical explanations, potentially leading to misconfigurations or security vulnerabilities.
• Inconsistency in terminology and style across various product guides, API documentation, and security advisories.
• Inefficiencies in the documentation workflow, impacting authoring and review cycles for new product releases.
• Challenges in effectively onboarding users and partners to Akamai’s advanced platforms.

Akamai sought a solution that could standardise its technical language, ensuring every instruction, explanation, and security guideline was understood unequivocally, regardless of the reader’s technical background or native language.

The Solution: Targeted STE Training for Digital Clarity

Shufrans TechDocs partnered with Akamai to deliver a focused ASD-STE100 (Issue 8) training programme in November 2022.

This was an online training delivered to colleagues in Chile, Poland, Germany, and India. Recognising the pivotal role of clear communication in Akamai’s operations, the training was specifically tailored for technical writers, technical enablement managers, and instructional designers.

The programme focused on equipping these professionals with the practical rules and vocabulary of STE, enabling them to:

• Apply STE Principles: Consistently implement the core rules of ASD-STE100 across all their documentation.
• Simplify Complex Concepts: Translate intricate network architectures, cybersecurity protocols, and cloud functionalities into clear, concise, and unambiguous language.
• Leverage Personal Pronouns: Understand and effectively utilise “You” and “We” to create direct, actionable instructions, particularly vital for user guides and procedural documentation.
• Standardise Terminology: Adopt a controlled vocabulary to ensure consistent use of terms across all documents, reducing confusion and enhancing searchability.

Documentation Types and Job Roles That Benefited:

The STE training had a direct and positive impact on several critical documentation types and enhanced the capabilities of the participating job roles:

Documentation Types That Benefited:

• Product Documentation: User manuals, installation guides, and configuration guides for Akamai’s CDN, security, and cloud computing products became significantly clearer and easier to follow.
• API Documentation: For developers integrating with Akamai’s vast array of services, STE ensured that API calls, parameters, and responses were described with unparalleled precision, reducing integration errors and accelerating development.
• Security Advisories and Bulletins: Unambiguous language in these high-stakes documents became vital for conveying security threats, vulnerabilities, and precise mitigation steps, directly impacting customer security posture.
• Training Materials: Instructional designers applied STE principles to create highly effective and unambiguous training content, crucial for onboarding users and partners to Akamai’s complex platforms and solutions.
• Solution Briefs and White Papers: Explaining intricate technical solutions to a broad audience, from technical experts to business stakeholders, became more concise and impactful.

Job Roles That Learnt a Lot:

• Technical Writers: Gained mastery in crafting consistent, clear, and concise documentation for all of Akamai’s product lines, from web performance to advanced security.
• Instructional Designers: Elevated their ability to design and develop highly effective and unambiguous training content, ensuring that users could quickly and accurately learn to utilise Akamai’s complex digital experience platforms.

The Results: Elevated Clarity, Enhanced Security, and Streamlined Global Operations

By investing in ASD-STE100 training with Shufrans TechDocs, Akamai Technologies achieved significant, measurable improvements in its technical communication:

• Enhanced Clarity for Global Users: The application of STE principles led to documentation that was easier for Akamai’s global customers to understand, directly improving the reliability of their CDN services, the effectiveness of their cybersecurity defences, and the usability of their cloud solutions.
• Improved Efficiency in Content Creation: Technical writers and instructional designers benefited from the structured approach of STE, leading to more efficient content creation, reduced rework, and greater consistency across their documentation portfolio.
• Strengthened Security Posture: Unambiguous security documentation meant that critical security advisories and mitigation steps were understood precisely, enhancing Akamai’s and its customers’ ability to defend against sophisticated cyber threats.
• Optimised Content for Translation: The inherent consistency and reduced ambiguity of STE-compliant source text facilitated faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective translations, crucial for Akamai’s global reach.

Testimonial

Kasia Lelonek, Technical Enablement Manager at Akamai Technologies, shared:

“The STE training was a truly eye-opening experience that definitely met my expectations. The trainer’s delivery was exceptionally professional, respectful, and flexible, adapting seamlessly to our specific needs. I particularly valued Rule 4.1, which focuses on writing short and clear sentences, as this is incredibly helpful when considering our diverse audience and their language proficiency. What stood out most was the trainer’s professionalism and readiness to tweak the material on-the-go, making the learning experience highly effective and engaging.”

Conclusion

Akamai’s proactive investment in STE training with Shufrans TechDocs has transformed its technical documentation into a strategic asset, reinforcing its commitment to delivering clear, reliable, and high-quality digital experiences worldwide. This success story underscores the power of targeted communication training in ensuring operational excellence and customer satisfaction in the rapidly evolving technology sector.

If your organisation faces similar challenges in achieving uncompromising clarity and operational excellence through precise communication, explore how Shufrans TechDocs can help. Learn more about our ASD-STE100 training and consulting services:

🗓️ View our training calendar.

www.shufrans.com

Course fee includes exercises, learning aids, certificate of completion, and 90-day post-training support.

Give those STE muscles a much needed stretch

Simplified Technical English (STE) or ASD-STE100 is a controlled technical English language that is used to write technical manuals in a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate. Often a formal requirement for aircraft and defence maintenance documentation, STE can easily be adapted to all technical industries and beyond. Ms. Shumin Chen will help participants advance their technical writing skills in the correct and effective use of STE across industries and provide a customised learning experience at the same time.

The introduction was a good and concise way to familiarise yourself with STE basics. I’ve a background in plain language, so for example the rule on noun clusters makes perfect sense. I’m all about simplification, so substituting verbs like “eliminate” for verbs like “remove” or “stop” will be my new quest. The STE exercises were helpful in getting to grasp with STE during the training workshop. I’d very likely recommend this course to anyone planning to introduce STE as it’s got a great practical angle. Jenni Virtaluoto, PhD, Senior Lecturer, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Certified STE Masterclass Course Outline*

This 2-day Certified Simplified Technical English (STE) Masterclass includes cross-industry case studies and in-depth analyses of participants’ own documents.

• Day 1: Classroom Training with Exercises
  1. Business case studies: Benefits of adopting the STE international writing standard
  2. Writing rules and how to apply them across different documentation types
  3. How to use STE for various documentation types
  4. Customising your industry-specific terminology.

• Day 2: STE Application & Review 
  1. Implementing STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation
  2. Half-day rewriting workshop session of own documents
  3. Review, edit, and present own documents for learning reinforcement
  4. Group discussion and review of own documents.

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

Who should attend this Certified STE Masterclass?

Course participants must have fulfilled basic Simplified Technical English training organised by Master TCLoc, Shufrans TechDocs, TCTrainNet, or have prior experience working with this technical writing language standard.

• Compliance managers
• CIO, COO, CTO
• Customer support managers
• Documentation managers
• Editors
• Engineering managers
• Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
• Graphics specialists
• ILS managers
• Maintenance managers
• Operation managers
• Product managers
• Project managers
• Quality managers
• Software research engineers
• Technical illustrators
• Technical writers
• Translation managers
• Translators.

What technical writing outcomes to expect?

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

• Author more efficiently
• Communicate more effectively with a global audience
• Improve operational safety
• Reduce AOG / downtime
• Facilitate modular writing and reuse
• Facilitate teamwork
• Facilitate translation
• Maximise consistency
• Optimise product lifecycle support
• Reduce the cost of creating and maintaining technical publications.

ASD-STE100 Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 200 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their STE and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, she found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industrial sectors ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

**Course fee includes exercises, learning aids, certificate of completion, and 90-day post-training support.

Summary of Simplified Technical English (STE)

Simplified Technical English (STE) or ASD-STE100 is a controlled technical English language that is used to write technical manuals in a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate.

STE Rule 1.3 Use approved words only with their approved meaning is my go-to rule. My favourite STE verbs are “examine”, “measure” and “make sure”. I always use the non-approved verbs of “check” and “inspect” before. I highly recommend this course to other people. If most people write with STE, technical work steps will become clearer and easier for understanding. Kevin Zhao Kai, Vibration Analyst, Maersk Drilling

STE Course Outline*

This 2-day Online STE Workshop includes interactive training and exercises.

• Day 1: Classroom Training
  1. Practical overview of Simplified Technical English
  2. How STE helps both native & non-native speakers of English
  3. Benefits of adopting the STE international writing standard
  4. Writing rules and how to apply them in practice
  5. How to use the general vocabulary.
  6. Approved and non-approved words discussion and the rationale behind.

• Day 2: Application, Review, & Exercises
  1. How to deal with industry-specific terminology
  2. How to use STE for various documentation types
  3. How to implement STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation
  4. Practical workshop session for applying STE rules to your own documents
  5. Review, edit, and discuss participants’ own documents to reinforce learning
  6. Classroom presentation of own documents.

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

Good explanation with history and background of STE to illustrate the importance of using STE in the aircraft industry. Rule 6.1: To give information gradually is my favourite. My favourite verbs are DO, PREPARE, REPLACE, REMOVE and STOP.

I am now conscious of writing in shorter sentences for better clarity and getting the point across. Before STE100, I tend to include too much information for fear that the message was misinterpreted. These verbs are commonly used and I agree that the intrinsic meaning of these are sufficient to get the message across efficiently.

There were good practice sessions to reinforce the essence of the respective rules. I would most certainly recommend Simplified Technical English as a standard to maintenance related fields since I personally do not like to read instructions in a disorganized manner. JD Hong, Maintenance Superintendent, Maersk Drilling

The introduction to ASD-STE100 has offered me some helpful insights into the theoretical background of this technical language standard. The STE rules are governed a logical flow of technical information. I would certainly recommend this course to writers who are interested in changing the way of technical writing with buy-in from the company. Overall, I have enjoyed Shumin’s presentation! Markus Burri, Project Manager, ZetaVision GmbH

Who should attend this STE technical writing workshop?

• Compliance managers
• CIO, COO, CTO
• Customer support managers
• Documentation managers
• Editors
• Engineering managers
• Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
• Graphics specialists
• ILS managers
• Maintenance managers
• Operation managers
• Product managers
• Project managers
• Quality managers
• Software research engineers
• Technical illustrators
• Technical writers
• Translation managers
• Translators.

What technical writing outcomes to expect?

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

• Author more efficiently
• Communicate more effectively with a global audience
• Improve operational safety
• Reduce AOG / downtime
• Facilitate modular writing and reuse
• Facilitate teamwork
• Facilitate translation
• Maximise consistency
• Optimise product lifecycle support
• Reduce the cost of creating and maintaining technical publications.

ASD-STE100 Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 200 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their STE and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, she found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industrial sectors ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

*Course fee includes exercises, learning aids, certificate of completion, and 120-day post-training support.

⁺⁺A group discount of up to €500 is applicable when two or more participants sign up for the same event. Send us your questions: enquiry@shufrans-techdocs.com.

🏷️ A €210 fee discount is applicable when you also sign up for 🆕 Certified STE Masterclass | US Canada Online.

Summary

Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language that is used to write technical manuals in a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate. Often a formal requirement for aircraft and defence maintenance documentation, STE can easily be adapted to all technical industries and beyond. Ms. Shumin Chen will show participants how to correctly and effectively use STE in practice. She will also address some of the mistakes commonly found in technical writing and the frequent incorrect use of common STE writing rules.

Course outline*

We’re committed to providing the highest quality learning experience in all our online workshops. Therefore, we’ve made the decision to cap all our online workshop session sizes at just five participants, starting 5 May 2025.

This intimate virtual environment fosters richer discussions, more personalised feedback, and a greater overall impact on your understanding and application of key technical communication standards like Simplified Technical English. Learn better, communicate better, across all our courses. This three-day Online STE Workshop includes interactive training, exercises, and a 120-day post-training consultation.

• Day 1: Classroom Training
  1. Practical overview of Simplified Technical English
  2. How STE helps both native & non-native speakers of English
  3. Benefits of adopting the STE international writing standard
  4. Writing rules and how to apply them in practice.

• Day 2: Application & Exercises
  1. How to use the general vocabulary.
  2. Approved and non-approved words discussion and the rationale behind.
  3. How to deal with industry-specific terminology
  4. How to use STE for various documentation types.

• Day 3: Review, & Exercises
  1. Practical workshop session for applying STE rules to your own documents
  2. Review, edit, and discuss participants’ own documents to reinforce learning
  3. How to implement STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation.
  4. Classroom presentation of own documents.

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

What customers are saying..

I was looking forward to the training and was not disappointed. I think that the training was valuable and would recommend that my colleagues take the training either on line or in person. Being able to send a sample document and then working on it together using my new STE skills was very helpful and valuable. Shumin was extremely knowledgeable and gave many practical examples. I hope to be able to make use of the support period post-training. Deborah Tonkin, Technical Information Engineer, Komatsu

Why select a Simplified Technical English training with Shufrans?

The introduction to ASD-STE100 was good and informative for someone like me with zero knowledge of the STE standard before. Rule 6.3 in STE writing summarizes the best of what I can take with me. There was quite a lot from the STE exercises to consume regarding grammar. Nevertheless, the worksheets were very good and helpful. I gained quite a lot of knowledge from them and they were the best part of this training workshop. Shumin was very professional and sharp as a razor. The best takeaway for me from her workshop is to give more thought to how I build my sentences rather than focussing on specific ‘allowed’ or ‘approved’ words. Jeppe Friis, Technical Inspector, Maersk Drilling Maintenance Support

Who should attend this ASD-STE100 workshop?

• Compliance managers
• CIO, COO, CTO
• Customer support managers
• Documentation managers
• Editors
• Engineering managers
• Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
• Graphics specialists
• ILS managers
• Maintenance managers
• Operation managers
• Product managers
• Project managers
• Quality managers
• Software research engineers
• Technical illustrators
• Technical writers
• Translation managers
• Translators.

What ASD-STE100 workshop training outcomes to expect?

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

• Enhanced Communication & Efficiency: Authors will gain the skills to create clear, consistent, and easily translatable technical documentation, facilitating effective communication with a global audience and streamlining the writing process.
• Improved Operational Safety & Reduced Downtime: By mastering STE principles, teams will produce unambiguous documentation that minimises misunderstandings, directly contributing to improved operational safety and a reduction in costly AOG/downtime.
• Optimised Lifecycle Support & Cost Reduction: Training will enable modular writing and content reuse, leading to maximised consistency, optimised product lifecycle support, and a significant reduction in the overall cost of creating and maintaining technical publications.

ASD-STE100 Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 180 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their STE and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, Shumin found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industries ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

*Course fee includes exercises, learning aids, certificate of completion, and 120-day post-training support.

⁺⁺A group discount of up to €500 is applicable when two or more participants sign up for the same event. is applicable when two or more participants sign up for the same event. Send us your questions: enquiry@shufrans-techdocs.com.

🏷️ A €210 fee discount is applicable when you also sign up for 🆕 Certified STE Masterclass | Asia Pacific (APAC) Online.

Rediscover clarity in documentation with STE

Simplified Technical English (STE) or ASD-STE100 is a controlled technical English language that is used to write technical manuals in a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate.

ASD-STE100 is mandated by several commercial and military specifications (MIL-SPEC) that control the style and content of maintenance documentation. Military defence standards (MIL-SPEC / MIL-STD) such as MIL-STD-3048, as well as technical documentation standards like S1000D and ATA iSpec 2200 recommend the use of ASD-STE100. In ASD-STE100, technical authors are encouraged to keep sentences brief and paragraphs short, while ensuring the completeness of information.

Often a formal requirement for aircraft and defence maintenance documentation, STE can easily be adapted to all technical industries and beyond. Ms. Shumin Chen will show participants how to correctly and effectively use STE in practice. She will also address some of the mistakes commonly found in technical writing and the frequently incorrect use of common STE writing rules.

The ASD-STE100 workshop conducted by Shufrans TechDocs made for a very good introduction to STE for new as well as intermediate users of the STE writing standard. The presentation on rules was very clear and I liked the emphasis on the fact that the rules are weighted and how one can use them flexibly. The exercises completed during this training were good and provided real world examples in technical writing in a practical way. I’d very likely recommend this course to someone else. This course is a must for any new technical writers or technical publication employees. Neil Winson, Technical Writer, Airbus Helicopters

MEA Online STE Workshop Course Outline*

We’re committed to providing the highest quality learning experience in all our online workshops. Therefore, we’ve made the decision to cap all our online workshop session sizes at just five participants, starting 5 May 2025.

This intimate virtual environment fosters richer discussions, more personalised feedback, and a greater overall impact on your understanding and application of key technical communication standards like Simplified Technical English. Learn better, communicate better, across all our courses. This two-day Online STE Workshop includes interactive training, exercises, and a 120-day post-training consultation.

• Day 1: Classroom Training
  1. Practical overview of Simplified Technical English
  2. How STE helps both native & non-native speakers of English
  3. Benefits of adopting the STE international writing standard
  4. Writing rules and how to apply them in practice
  5. How to use the general vocabulary.
  6. Approved and non-approved words discussion and the rationale behind.

• Day 2: Application, Review, & Exercises
  1. How to deal with industry-specific terminology
  2. How to use STE for various documentation types
  3. How to implement STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation
  4. Practical workshop session for applying STE rules to your own documents
  5. Review, edit, and discuss participants’ own documents to reinforce learning
  6. Classroom presentation of own documents.

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

Who should attend this Simplified Technical English training?

• Compliance managers
• CIO, COO, CTO
• Customer support managers
• Documentation managers
• Editors
• Engineering managers
• Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
• Graphics specialists
• ILS managers
• Maintenance managers
• Operation managers
• Product managers
• Project managers
• Quality managers
• Software research engineers
• Technical illustrators
• Technical writers
• Translation managers
• Translators.

What training outcomes to expect?

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

• Enhanced Communication & Efficiency: Authors will gain the skills to create clear, consistent, and easily translatable technical documentation, facilitating effective communication with a global audience and streamlining the writing process.
• Improved Operational Safety & Reduced Downtime: By mastering STE principles, teams will produce unambiguous documentation that minimises misunderstandings, directly contributing to improved operational safety and a reduction in costly AOG/downtime.
• Optimised Lifecycle Support & Cost Reduction: Training will enable modular writing and content reuse, leading to maximised consistency, optimised product lifecycle support, and a significant reduction in the overall cost of creating and maintaining technical publications.

ASD-STE100 Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 200 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their ASD-STE100 technical writing and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, Shumin found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industries ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.