Welcome booklet "Welcome... The keys to your success" — Hydraulic Expert Notebooks

In this document

Presentation and operation of the training

This welcome booklet is intended for a participant who has just enrolled in the Hydraulic Expert Notebooks distance learning course from Citroën, after returning the "Challenge Quiz" p. 4. The first shipment arrives "at your dealership or branch", with subsequent ones potentially delivered directly to the participant's home upon request p. 4.

The announced pace: "Every three weeks for four months", one notebook out of six is sent, to be read in about a fortnight, for an effort estimated at approximately "one hour per week" p. 4. The document advises to "plan the date when you will be available and have peace of mind" p. 4.

Quizzes and follow-up

Each notebook includes a "carbon paper questionnaire called a Quiz": you must return the original of the previous Quiz to receive the next notebook, while keeping the copy; an answer key is then sent to the participant p. 4. "Memory aid" boxes punctuate the notebooks to prepare for these Quizzes p. 4.

Support and feedback

A "Support Line" is offered, managed by Françoise Perbos and her team, for any questions about the courses or organization, at the number "(16 1) 49 45 43 56" p. 5. The document also invites comments on each shipment via a space provided on the Quizzes p. 5.

The six-notebook program

The booklet is published by the Centre International de Formation Commerce (C.I.F.C.), located at 61 rue Arago in Saint-Ouen, with a dedicated fax and telephone contact for participants p. 6.

Context

This booklet is part of the history of Citroën in the 1990s, a period when the brand sought to disseminate internally, to its commercial network, the mastery of the hydraulic technologies it had developed since the 1950s — hydropneumatic suspension, then Hydractive, variable-assist steering (DIRAVI) and ABS braking.

These technologies have their origins in the work of Paul Magès, a Citroën engineer and inventor of the hydropneumatic suspension, whose technical legacy still permeated the entire range at that time (DS, then XM mentioned in the illustration on p. 4).

The pedagogical formula — notebooks sent by mail, quizzes to be returned, telephone support — is typical of corporate distance learning systems before the widespread use of the internet.

Archivist's perspective

This document does not directly fall under the technical work of Paul Magès, but it testifies to how his inventions were transmitted, decades later, to the Citroën commercial network.

It constitutes a valuable complementary piece for understanding the complete training system: it sheds light on the general instructions for use, of which Hydraulic Quiz No. 5 and No. 6 are the concrete application, as well as the general presentation of the CIFC training.

The six-notebook program p. 5 seems to confirm the structure mentioned in the handwritten note listing the six notebooks to be published, found in the same file.