Discontinuation of the Paper Distribution of

Technical Information Bulletins (TIB’s)

A 6Sigma project was launched in 2005 to determine the value of the paper distribution of TIB information. As with all
6Sigma projects, the Voice of the Customer (VOC) was a key contributor to the outcome. In order to gather the VOC
related to the paper distribution of TIB’s, a survey was distributed to key Caterpillar and dealer personnel.

Results from the survey led to the conclusion that there is little value to the paper distribution of TIB’s. As a result, the
paper distribution of Technical Information Bulletins to all current recipients will be discontinued after the July
27, 2005 distribution.

Based on some of the customer feedback that was gathered in the survey concerning the primary usage of the TIB
information, the following best practices for utilizing the TIB information that is available in SIS are being provided:

Locating TIB’s in SIS

Printing TIB’s in SIS
Generating a Paper Index of TIB’s for Distribution

Please refer to the appropriate section of this document to review the desired learning material concerning TIB
information in SIS.
 Locating TIB’s in SIS:
Use the following process as the best method for locating TIB’s in SIS:
1. Select “Advanced Full Text Search” (B) from the main SIS screen.
Note: If you want to view the latest TIB’s for a specific serial number or prefix, enter the serial number information
in the “Type serial number or prefix” field (A) before you select “Advanced Full Text Search.”

B
 Locating TIB’s in SIS:
2. Select “Technical Information Bulletin” (E) from the list of “Information Types” on the left side of the screen. Also,
under the “Publication Dates:” heading (F), select the starting date and the ending date for the date range that you wish
to view. In this example, the starting date is 2005-03-21, and the ending date is 2005-03-28. After you have selected
the correct date range, press the “Search” button (G).
Note: If you want to view the latest TIB’s for multiple serial number prefixes, enter the serial number prefix information in
the “Serial Number Prefix:” field (C) before you press the “Search” button (G).
Note: If you want to view the latest TIB’s for a specific sales model, enter the sales model information in the “Sales
Model No.:” field (D) before you press the “Search” button (G).

E
F

G
 Locating TIB’s in SIS:
After the completion of Step 2, a screen similar to the following example will be displayed with the results
from the search criteria that were entered in Step 2. For this example, all of the TIB’s that were entered into
SIS between 3/21/2005 and 3/28/2005 are displayed in the “Information Types/Titles” frame (H) on the left
side of the screen.

H
 Printing TIB’s in SIS:
Use the following process as the best method for printing TIB’s in SIS:
1. Select the TIB that you wish to print from the list of “Results” that you received from “Locating TIB’s in
SIS.” For this example, we will be printing the “The 165-9590 Plug In The Control Valve Group May Become
Loose On Certain Excavators 2005/03/23 TIBU4374” TIB article (I).

I
 Printing TIB’s in SIS:

2. The title of the selected TIB article will appear on the right side of the SIS screen under the “Information
Available” heading (J). Click on this title in order to open the individual article in SIS.

J
 Printing TIB’s in SIS:

3. Once the TIB article is open, select “File” and “Page Setup.”
 Printing TIB’s in SIS:
4. This will launch the “Page Setup” dialog screen. In the lower left hand corner of this dialog under
“Orientation” (K), select “Landscape” and then select “OK” (this will allow you to print the TIB article without
having any of the graphics cut off on the right side of the page).

K
 Printing TIB’s in SIS:
5. After you have set the appropriate orientation for printing, mouse click anywhere inside the content of the
TIB article on the right side of the screen. Then, click on the print icon (L) on the tool bar at the top
center of the screen.

6. This will print a copy of the TIB article in the landscape orientation.
Note: The landscape orientation for printing will be maintained until the Internet browser session is closed or
until you set the orientation back to “Portrait” in the “Page Setup” dialog.
 Generating a Paper Index of TIB’s for Distribution:
Use the following process as the best method for generating a paper index of TIB’s in SIS:
1. Once you have established a list of TIB articles from “Locating TIB’s in SIS,” mouse click under the
“Information Types/Titles” heading (N) on the left side of the screen.

M
N

Note: Before printing the index, verify that your print orientation is set to “Portrait” using the “Page Setup”
dialog. Refer to steps 3 and 4 in the “Printing TIB’s in SIS” portion of this documentation for more
information.
2. Then, click on the print icon (M) on the tool bar at the top center of the screen which will print an index
of the TIB articles that are listed.