User Documentation Written

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User Documentation Written

• Audience Analysis

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• Once I was given a documentation assignment by
  a large national company. Management said they
  wanted a policy-procedure manual, definitely not
  a how to do it manual. During this definition
  stage I travelled to many locations where users
  were hard at work. The message on the shop floor,
  was emphatic the users wanted how to do it
  manuals. They wanted to know what key to press,
  what information to fill in for each field, how
  to respond to every prompt. If I had listened to
  management only, I would have written the wrong
  manual.James Crown, Effective Computer User
  Documentation

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What is an Audience Analysis?

• An Audience Analysis assess the needs of each
  potential user group to determine their skills
  and knowledge requirements.
• It is conducted as part of the Client
  Requirements Analysis (CRA)

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What does an Audience Analysis contain?

• An Audience Analysis
• Identifies the different groups and number of
  users for a product
• Determines the task they perform with a product
  and how critical, complex or frequent these tasks
  are.

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What does an Audience Analysis contain?

• Assesses the skills and knowledge of each group
  according to the categories
• Novice
• Intermediate
• Expert
• Transfer
• Casual
• Parrot
• Assesses extra special needs of the users

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Audience Analysis Matrix
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Audience Analysis Matrix

• From this the required manuals are
• A Sales Management and Customer Service Manual
  addressed to intermediate and expert users
• A Distribution Manual written for novice users

Why?
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Deciding the number and types of documentation

• Users prefer documentation which
• Meets their needs
• Are smaller and portable rather than big and
  intimidating
• Easy to handle and easy to use
• Accessible where the product is being used