Our consultancy service is tailored primarily to assist those organisations wishing to set up their own in-house documentation facility, or to upgrade an existing one. According to your requirements, we can offer advice on, and assistance with, the entire documentation process, or on individual aspects, which include:
- Needs Analysis - A detailed assessment intended to determine exactly what type of documentation you need to produce, and the resources needed to produce it. We analyse the products or services to be documented, the market in which they operate and the nature of the users to determine the main characteristics of the documentation. We then consider factors that influence the nature and extent of the required resources, such as the volume and complexity of documentation, likely frequency of updates, and anticipated final production methods.
- Information Capture Methods - An assessment of the most appropriate means of obtaining source information for the documentation. We consider what information is required, where in your organisation it exists or can be generated, who is available to generate or capture the information, and what procedures are most appropriate for doing so.
- Document structure/content - Once the overall requirement for documentation is established, we can create, or advise on, appropriate chapter/section/heading structures for the individual document types, and define the specific contents for each section.
- Presentation formats - An analysis of the relative merits of different layout and binding formats for the required document, taking account of potential market perception, user preferences, working environment, cost, production methods, and packaging constraints.
- Standards - We can create, or advise on, the standards to be adopted for your documentation, including the nature of information and level of detail to be provided, the language style to be used, conventions for terminology, and all aspects of page design – from the selection of typefaces to the rules for using your company name and logo.
- Tools - Every documentation requirement places different demands on the necessary software applications such as word processors, DTP packages and drawing/illustration applications. We can advise on the most appropriate and cost-effective applications, taking account not only of the documentation requirements, but also of factors such as existing experience within the organisation.
- Training - We can offer training for engineers, developers and other staff in the techniques of information capture, effective structuring and presentation of information, and the use of documentation-related software.
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REDBOX DESIGN