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Mercedes-Benz workshop information systems

Revision 1

by llandowtuninguk@gmail.com
Publish WIS, XENTRY TIPS, parts information and operation times as workshop information, separate from diagnosis.

This is a historical revision. Read the current page or return to its history.

Page organisation in this revision
Page type
Technical article
Subject
Reference
Parent
Section level
Applies to
No ECU-specific applicability
Tool groups
None
Manufacturers
Mercedes-Benz

Information packages beside the tester

Mercedes-Benz workshop information is a separate set of publications from the diagnostic tester. XENTRY Diagnosis communicates with the vehicle. WIS, XENTRY TIPS, parts information and operation times describe how to repair it, which part to order and how long the operation is listed as taking. A diagnosis screen can link to those publications. Opening a wiring diagram does not read fault memory, and a parts catalogue does not program a control unit. The hardware and diagnostic applications are on the factory diagnostic equipment page.

Mercedes-Benz UK’s repair-and-maintenance navigation lists WIS, XENTRY TIPS, XENTRY Operation Time and Parts Information as information products that eligible workshops can obtain through B2B Connect. Diagnosis equipment is requested separately. Offerings and eligibility depend on the country.

WIS and XENTRY WIS

WIS, the Workshop Information System, is the repair and maintenance library: descriptions, work instructions, wiring diagrams, safety information and maintenance sheets. Mercedes-Benz Canada describes the Canadian WIS as covering Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, light trucks and vans, and smart, back to 1994, including troubleshooting and tool information.

XENTRY WIS is the later online application. Mercedes lists these additions relative to the earlier WIS client: use on a tablet, no Java or OWS client, and DWD (Dynamic Wiring Diagram), which shows the wiring relevant to the entered FIN or VIN. The same product page includes Wheel Alignment Online, the Maintenance Service System, WIS Classic for older cars, and WSM service media. Service information of the traditional WIS kind remains in XENTRY WIS. XENTRY TIPS does not replace it.

XENTRY TIPS

XENTRY TIPS is the web-based complaint and known-fix database for Mercedes-Benz and smart cars and vans. Mercedes says it is opened in a browser, is not installed on the workshop PC, and does not work offline, because the point of the system is that new topics can be published quickly. Search paths described by Mercedes include model and function group, VIN plus symptom, free text, and control unit or fault code. The UK product page says service information is not stored there; that stays in XENTRY WIS.

Older documents and some diagnosis screens still say “TIPS” or “XENTRY Tips” for the same family of repair-case information. A TIPS document can contain screenshots of DAS or XENTRY for one repair. Those screenshots illustrate that repair. They are not a general map of the diagnostic software.

Parts information and operation times

The parts catalogue has been published as the EPC (Electronic Parts Catalog) and, in the current B2B Connect material, as XENTRY Parts Information. Mercedes-Benz Canada’s description of EPC is the replacement-parts list for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, light trucks and vans, and smart. The current parts-information product adds FIN/VIN filtering, diagrams and weekly updates. Treat EPC and XENTRY Parts Information as successive names for the parts catalogue unless a particular document is clearly about a different publication.

Labour operations were published as ASRA. The current application is XENTRY Operation Time (XOT). Mercedes’ comparison says XOT adds FIN/VIN filtering, use on a mobile device, and search by fault location, WIS document number and part number. The Mercedes-Benz developer description of the repair-time API still calls that data “ASRA data”, and the model-based feed “former ASRA data”. An operation item can link onward to parts, WIS documents and damage codes. The time in the catalogue is the published operation time, not a measurement of a particular job.

What these packages do not do

None of these publications is a vehicle interface. They do not select K-line, CAN or DoIP, and they do not write coding. Diagnosis Lite, Pass Thru and the dealer kit are the products that talk to the car; their limits are on the XENTRY page. Engineering access through Vediamo or DTS Monaco is a different class of software again.

Sources

Curated reference notes. Applicability follows the cited sources; hardware testing by this wiki is not implied.