Re: How is documentation distributed with your application?

["Suzette Leeming" <suzette -dot- leeming -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Our software is installed on clients' servers and the online help and
appropriate PDFs are installed as well, for the various modules. When a user
selects Help, the "Welcome" page of the help file has an icon to get the PDF
file, which the user can then print. Also, we send our documentation to
licensed clients on CD, if requested.

Updates to the documentation are installed with each service pack. As well,
we have an online Knowledge Base and Information Centre on a secure server
for which clients must register to access.

We may not be the norm though, as we create software for financial
institutions and our software is only available to customers who have been
"qualified".

A new version of our software is available on a yearly cycle, and we (I)
attempt to have the documentation ready at the same time. The reality
though, is that there is usually a bit of a gap between the release and the
first sale/schedule install, so I theoretically have until then to have the
documentation final stage.

I have worked in other environments (developing documentation for in-house
software development) where the documentation was always ready to be
released simultaneously with the application, but I started even before the
coding had started, from the design docs.

Suzette Leeming
Stouffville, Ontario


On Dec 6, 2007 11:14 AM, TECHWR-L Administrator <admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com> wrote:

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>
> My company like to distribute the documentation after the code and
> testing has been completed. I have been striving to change this
> mentality and get the documentation released with the application.
> However, there is a great deal of resistance to this. The application is
> released to manufacturing (RTM) and before it goes out to customers, the
> documentation is completed. However, there is always a "catch up"
> situation going on and the documentation is proof-read but not always
> thoroughly tested.
>
> At present some documentation is released with the product and the
> remaining documentation is obtained by downloading the documentation
> from the company's website. I think this means that customers do not
> always have the up to date versions of the documentation and the
> documentation is not always in the folder structure which is required to
> use Adobe Catalog.
>
> My questions to you all are as follows:
>
>
> 1.       Does your company release the documentation with the
>    application or after the application has been completed?
>
> 2.       How do customers obtain documentation ?
>
>   a.       With the application
>   b.      From the company's website
>   c.       A combination of a. and b.
>   d.      Other
>
> 3.       Is it reasonable to expect the documentation to be distributed
> at the same time as the application?
>
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
>
>
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Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
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Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
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