How to Add Prerequisite Guides
Overview
Prerequisites are guides that contain instructions for one part of a process. For example, let's say that you have two work processes to perform. One is replacing the Home Button on your iPhone 5c, and the other is replacing the front-facing camera, microphone, and sensor cable assembly.
Both of these processes require you to take off the front panel assembly of the iPhone. Instead of rewriting the instructions for removing the front panel assembly of the iPhone, you can create one guide, a prerequisite guide, on this process and link it to both of these processes.
All How-To Guides
How to Use Prerequisites
As the name implies, prerequisites are often used to import the steps from another guide that occur at the beginning of the new guide that you are creating or editing. This method is particularly helpful for introductory procedures, safety protocols, or the beginning stages of multiple procedures.
Additionally, prerequisites save time in guide maintenance. Learn a new way to start the process that will help other community members with their repairs? Update your Prerequisite Guide and see the changes that take place across ALL other guides using it. No more updating the same information across multiple places!
Important Note: Guides must be published before they can be used as a prerequisite guide.
Guide Modules
If many of your guides, procedures, or work instructions include identical steps or sub-procedures, use the prerequisite guide tool to create more modular content that saves you a ton of time and effort.
The first step is outlining all of your procedures with repeatable steps or sub-procedures. Next, define the unique vs. repeatable sections of these processes. Then you create individual guides for each of these sections; these will be your Guide Modules. Depending on your procedures, they may be as short as a single step or have several steps.
To keep these guide modules separate from other guides in the same Category, consider adding the "Prerequisite Only" flag. For more information, see the corresponding section below.
Now, you can create your first "Container Guide" which imports the steps from all of your prerequisite Guide Modules.
Here is an example:
Prerequisite Guide List for a Container Guide
Dynamic Work Instructions
As mentioned above, updating a prerequisite guide module also updates ALL other guides using that prerequisite. This saves you time and effort when maintaining and updating your repair guides.
Importing Tools
Once you have added prerequisite guides, you can also choose to import all of the tools used for every prerequisite you added:
Managing Prerequisite Guides
Prerequisite Only Guide Flag
To sort and display the guides used as Prerequisites separately from the other guides within the same category, use the "Prerequisite Only" flag. This flag appears at the top of the guide to warn viewers:
Flagging a Public guide as a "Prerequisite Only" also moves the guide to a separate section on the Category page:
Furthermore, this flag also sets the Privacy of the guide to Private. Even though the Prerequisite guide is marked as Public in the Editing interface, the "Prerequisite Only" flag hides the Prerequisite guide from other community members.