MISSOURI SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Exam 1
Technical Communication
Dante Marsano 2/25/2013

Online help and documentation are tools used to organize information to help users understand a system or a website. The effectiveness of these tool can be ensured by following a series of structured steps: Analyze the audience; develop high level and detailed specifications; perform task analysis; build and evaluate a prototype help system; write, edit and review help topics; test the help; release the help with the product; evaluate the help and plan for improvements A. Plan the project and analyze the audience At the beginning of all projects, there has to be a planning period, where all the steps, resources and time will be accounted for. This step is the most important because it is at this point that the budget and other important metrics are decided. If changes need to be made on the fly, this will become expensive and delay the project. At this step of the process, the right audience for the help system needs to be identified and the tools that are going to be used for this system need to be compatible with the audience. For example, if this is a website for seniors, the help system needs to be simple to use, with large font and probably hearing aids. On the other hand, if the help system is for youths, the information has to be concise, without too many words or users will not find it useful. B. Develop high level specifications At this step, we have to define the high level specifications. These specifications deal with topics such as compatibility, connection with other systems, tools needed, help topics required, etc.

The information from the previous step about the audience and the plan is used to complete these specifications. That information is the basis that constraint and limit the system, meaning that if a specification is outside the planning information, either the plan has to change, or the specification is incorrect. Before this step is complete, is important to get the clients approval of the specifications to ensure that the online help system that is being designed meet their expectations. C. Detailed Specifications The detail specifications identify the specific needs to implement the help system. They go about the details of related documents, writing conventions, terminology, layout, navigation and project specific styles that will shape the final product. After the detail specification is completed, the developer would only need the task analysis done to be able to design the help system. For this reason, this is one of the most important steps in the online help project. D. Task Analysis In order to fully understand the uses of the system, a detail task analysis must be perform and the targeted audience must be involved in this step. This analysis include use cases, user scenarios, etc. that could help identify the required tasks needed from the help system E. Build and evaluate a prototype A prototype will help refine the details regarding the tasks and also help define the interface. It is at this step that the ideas that were specified earlier pass a reality test. Sometimes, these ideas work well in practice but do not work when in real situations. The

interaction and feedback from users will help the developers refine ideas and finalize the details for the help system. Prototypes can be used in several steps of the process, and will always be helpful at gathering details from users and deciding whether an approach will work or not. F. Write, edit and review help topics This is the step were all the content is written and edited. In case the software is usable, the writer and editor should test the content on the system with the functionality that is available. Along with the content there has to be an index, which as a recommendation should be done manually to ensure its consistency and accuracy. After the help content has been uploaded in the system, there needs to be a revision of the help topics by different parties such as clients, managers, SMEs, etc. All these revisions and changes need to be tracked by using change-control procedures. G. Test Help The help should be tested for usability with and without the software product. This test should be done considering the specifications outlined before and ensuring that it meets all the expectations of the user. Testing can be done in several stages of development such as planning, prototyping, early draft and production. For each stage there is an item to be tested and a purpose of testing. Refer to the next table for details.

H. Release help with product After finishing with the content, editing, reviewing and testing of the help system, it can be release for the first version. Consider that at this point there have been many hours put into this project and that it has involved all stakeholders. The end product is ready to use and it has a fully completed index with help topics organized and shown in logical order in windows. I. Evaluate the help system and plan for improvements All systems need to be reviewed and updated because of many reasons: updated information, software changes, changing requirements, etc. In the case of the online help system, all these could factor into releasing a newer version with revised content or functionality. However, before any changes are made, these need to be evaluated for gaps or problems with the design, collect feedback from users and review current trends. After the analysis is complete, a gap analysis can be made and a plan for a future release developed.