Hi
I would appreciate comments from developers , analysts et al on the best
method of setting up manuals.
We have produced heaps over the years using everything from Wordstar, Word,
Jet to Pick Items. Invariably they act as a safety blanket for management
who do not actually use the system and sometimes they even make a sale look
more likely.

However we design the screens to contain 95% of the info required to
complete a job so operators rarely use them. What we realised a long time
ago is that everyone uses a package differently and the sensible ones
incorporate specific decisions in their QA manual. The rest re-invent the
wheel every time an operator leaves. In fact some even dream up incredible
scenarios such as printing the screen with the order and credit card details
and manually doing the charge. This instead of installing the bank's new
software update and continuing to use our automatic facility which does it
in seconds. Yes there are hundreds of entries required, and yes he knew how
to run the software as he had done so for years and we only found out when
he was fired.

What is needed is a "How do I Fix This" section that would be best served by
being added to by the operator fixing the issue. One simply cannot dream up
all the ways that a person will dream up to pull the gearstick out by the
roots. I am considering many ways ,PDF could be possible with amendments
from Word but this requires knowledge that operators do not necessarily
possess. I thought of blogs, perhaps Tony or Dawn have knowledge of easy
and cheap packages to do this. I would want to lock our bit and allow
additions at will.

This would also have the advantage that we could occasionally check what
they were up to.

Thanks in advance
Peter McMurray

On Apr 20, 7:51 pm, "Excalibur" <excalibu... (AT) bigpond (DOT) com> wrote:
The first issue when setting up any form of documentation is to
understand the audience and work back from that perspective. Then
again, with your background I'm sure you already know this.

We just installed a web forum called the Simple Machines Forum for
this very purpose. We've wanted to provide support for a variety of
different vendor packages, but have regularly run aground with vendors
who are more concerned about the potential for competition rather than
providing real support and answers for their customers. So we're
setting up our own support forum to see if we can help folks that way
without the politics and threats from vendors.

My hope is that we'll get lots of feedback from these customers and
will start to recognize trends that we can use to streamline our
support so that everyone gets what they need quickly, efficiently, and
affordably. Please take a look at http://www.PrecisOnline.com/forum
to see what we have so far.

(And the best part, SMF and every component needed to run it is free.)

Hi
Thanks Kevin, I hadn't thought of setting it up in that manner.
Peter McMurray
"Kevin King" <kevin (AT) precisonline (DOT) com> wrote

On Apr 21, 11:51 am, "Excalibur" <excalibu... (AT) bigpond (DOT) com> wrote:
We have tackled this issue a number of ways.

#1 Users have the ability to add their own site-specific help to any
field/process on this system. This stays in place between successive
updates, so we can update the "common help", and they keep their site
specifics in place

#2 We have added a "How do I"/knowledge base - once more, sites can
add their own entries, PLUS we update based on real issues coming
through the support line. The important part to close this loop is
amending entries as/when/if the underlying process changes! Searching
is simply by keyword (eg: "debtor terms" - we also have a word
equivalence so "customer terms" would give same result

#3 Consider linking #2 to a simple "Solution Wizard" - just about as
brainless as the ones that Microsoft has - do a step, see if that
solved problem, if not then ask next question ... when no more questions
then put in a call (and YOU then add the extra step(s) to the Wizard)
We don't have complex trees/graphs to navigate, just a simple series
of steps/questions, so easy to move things up in the list so that
solutions are achieved sooner ... oh, and allow wizards to be linked/
called so that you don't have to repeat steps like "Check power
connected/Turned on/Cable connected to back of device/Wall" etc

In all cases, by tracking the "site specifics" that someone has added,
makes it possible for us to easily update the common core when
necessary

HI Ross
That is the way I am thinking. Did you write it all yourself in Pick or do
you use a package?
We have a dictionary specific help line and then a second level manual
explanation. It is adding meaningful site specific stuff that I want to
imporove. Plus printing /editing in Pick is a pain compared to modern text
editors such as notepad, context, word,Star Office etc. In fact Star office
sends bells ringing, does anyone know if one can distribute it without some
complex legal procedure? It claims to be free!
Peter McMurray
"Ross Ferris" <rossf (AT) stamina (DOT) com.au> wrote

On Apr 23, 9:15 am, "Excalibur" <excalibu... (AT) bigpond (DOT) com> wrote:
Peter,

Essentially everything is Pick based (a bit different with Visage in
the mix, 'cause then I get to natively use fonts/colours etc). Rather
than text being "dictionary specific", we can also be "process
specific" (in data entry you enter/edit a customer code - an enquiry
on the same file & you just get to see it)

On the "green side" of the family, we then have a process that goes &
generates a stack of HTML documents, including pictures of screens,
which are derived from process definitions - we support a few more
target formats out of Visage, but in both cases the information is
also available "context sensitive" from the application - I assume you
are the same?

Assuming clients are windows PC's, I'd suggest WordPad over "Notepad"
for editing if you are looking at things like font control .... and
the price is right;-) To edit just write to a known/unique location/
name & read when complete ... fairly straight forward

HTH

Excalibur wrote:
I thought there was a fee involved for Star Office. On the other hand,
Open Office is a descendant of Star Office and is definitely free. Go to
www.openoffice.org - however, it is about 80 MB so it isn't a trivial
distribution.

Cheers,

Brian

<snip>>
I should have said our Global Application Dictionary. Every field that a
user sees is defined in an Application Specific dictionary. We do not have
the problem of a field eg COMPANY being defined in one file as 2 decimal and
in another as 3 alphanumeric. Naturally we relate the Pick dictionaries and
File definitions to the Global Application dictionary. I must admit I have
never understood why people even bother to generate screens from Pick
dictionaries. In the first place they are retrieval definitions not input
definitions - and I love them for it. Secondly they can be fudged by any
twit. Thirdly when people do this they invariably seem to add a delete
function which is the last thing that you want users to have. Lastly why
should the actual file layout have anything to do with the presentation
layer?

On the "green side" of the family, we then have a process that goes &
I must learn to generate HTML docs from Pick. I know it is easy maybe this
is the trigger.

AH! Yes Wordpad you are quite correct. Lazy me always uses Notepad and says
yes if it squawks about size.
Thanks for the response. Chatting things out is a great development tool
for me.
Peter McMurray

Hi Brian
Thanks. I had confused the two. I have never come to grips with the
something for nothing ideas.
Peter McMurray

These days a lot of software links to features that are not
specifically application related. Examples include Online Chat with a
Help Desk, and Check for Updates. For a GUI I'd recommend a standard
button (toolbar/menu, etc) that allows the user to jump to a web form
where they can lookup and contribute to tips on a specific window/form
or procedure. Using AccuTerm (wIntegrate?) you can easily launch
browser windows from a green screen too.

A forum allows for discussion, but isn't very good for finding
content, as anyone who has searched for info in CDP will attest.
Material like this needs to be audited for later consumption - you
don't want people doing data entry to waste time searching through
forum commentary. For forum discussions and for the feature above, I
recommend someone with app knowledge should be assigned to summarize
inquiries which is then provided in both standard docs and the online
help to which someone would later jump before posting a forum inquiry.

The process might be like this:
- User clicks button and jumps to more help on the current screen.
- When the help is exhausted they can send a note to Support or post
to a company/app-specific forum.
- When the issue is resolved or more info is available, the first help
screen gets updated. A link could be posted back to the forum for
related questions, but this will break if/when the forum changes.

With a central repository of inquiries and solutions, both the IT
staff and developers can see what problems people are having, and they
can proactively make product and process improvements. This is good
for end-user morale too because they get changes by asking questions.
As we see here and elsewhere, most people have no problem asking
questions but they are often very reticent to request changes. Seeing
their feedback incorporated into the product makes users feel like
they are contributing, which helps to deal with the "us and them"
relationship often present between users and IT. I'm not saying this
should replace a support desk but that it's another resource which
allows everyone to work better.

BTW, these same features should be available for the DBMS as well as
in applications. It would be easy to add a web service to any DBMS
where developers can ask questions of their Support provider (VAR or
DBMS provider) simply by typing HELP followed by a question. This
stuff isn't rocket science but so far no one doing it. *sigh*

I can help to implement these processes if anyone is interested.
Stay tuned for the Nebula Remote Support Environment which will have
this feature - and much more...

TG@ removethisNebula-RnD.com

"Excalibur" wrote: