Success Stories

Scenario
The client, a product development firm, required updates to documentation that showcased the capabilities of its products. The legacy product documentation was in the form of a PDF file set.

The key problems in the documentation were:

• Inaccuracy of data
• Lack of clarity in screenshots and graphics
• Inconsistency in language
• Improper structuring of content

Approach
To create a professional document from the PDF file set, Collabis revamped the content in the following ways:

• Re-assessed the document for accuracy and corrected erroneous data
• Elaborated on subjects that lacked adequate content
• Structured the information in a hierarchical framework so that:
  • Content is easy to read
  • The document is easily navigable
  • Data is easily accessible
  • Key features are highlighted
• Enhanced the language to improve readability and facilitate comprehension
• Replaced screenshots to improve clarity and highlight relevant visual information
• Used authoring templates to provide a professional look and feel for the project

Business Challenge
The client designs business intelligence solutions, specifically for the healthcare sector to support data analytics. When one product, rich in features and capabilities, was being developed, this client approached Collabis for documentation support. The project offered the following challenges:

• Because the client had no internal documentation resources, Collabis needed to manage and deliver a turnkey documentation solution.
• The project involved working in close coordination with the development team in Czechoslovakia and the training team in the US. This required working with people in different time zones and having team members with varied comfort levels with English.
• Documentation had to be in step with product development to facilitate the release of the user guide along with the product.
• The client required a set of printed manuals that could be used both as training material and as online help.

Key Considerations
Collabis had to ensure that the project met the following needs:

• Clear communication to ensure members from all involved countries are in-sync
• Maintenance of high standards of quality in documents while keeping up with aggressive delivery schedules
• Maintenance of style and standards across all documents
• Involvement of the client at every step of the process to ensure current feature updates are documented
• Reconciliation of authoring with the differences in the target audiences for each document

Solution
Collabis drew upon its experience in handling offshore clients and established procedures and practices in the initial phase of the project. Because Collabis has offices in the US and India, our team easily bridges the gap that culture-related issues can create.

Having set a strong foundation of processes, Collabis devoted a project manager and two technical writers to the project. Collabis developed the content in Adobe FrameMaker that was converted to the PDF for the product documentation and RTF, HTML, and CHM formats for the training materials.

Results
By partnering with Collabis for its documentation needs, the client benefited in the following ways:

• Production of hassle-free documentation without having to allocate managerial resources
• Development of quality technical documents within a stipulated time frame
• Development of graphics-intensive documents in different formats to suit different purposes
• Shipment of manuals along with the product
• Significant cost saving as a result of the low-cost production processes in India

© 2009 Collabis Corp.