Re: Useful Manuals

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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1177281833.704346.38890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Apr 21, 11:51 am, "Excalibur" <excalibu...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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

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



.

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