06/12/07– 07/01/07 Technical Writer (contract)

Lynx Aviation
At Lynx Aviation, a new subsidiary of Frontier Airlines, updated all types of aviation manuals with comments from subject matter experts and FAA reviewers.  Prepared manuals for the FAA certification process. The documentation set included Business Operations, Flight Operations, Customer Service, and Maintenance manuals. Documented the publications department’s processes and procedures so future writers would know the Lynx way of doing work.
 

12/06 – 05/07  Technical Writer

Newmerix Corp.
Updated Release Notes, Install Guide, User Guide using FrameMaker, and used Webworks to create online help for two product lines. The products are used to help companies using SAP and PeopleSoft determine the impact of SAP and PeopleSoft patches/upgrades so they can decide which updates to implement. Also edited marketing materials such as data sheets, reviewed company web site updates, and updated internal documents such as the new employee orientation guide.

04/96 – 05/2005
Technical Writer,
Web site developer,
Webmaster
Online Help Developer,
Sarbanes-
Oxley writer

AT&T Wireless, Inc./Cingular
For 5 years, I worked exclusively with the Air Data Technical Assistance Center (ATAC) technicians who were responsible for monitoring and maintaining the wireless telephony voice and data networks. I helped the department solve many problems; including distribution, validation, maintenance, and version control of technical content.

Problem 1: The troubleshooting, notification/escalation, and policy documents originally were distributed as paper.  It was difficult to ensure that the technicians were using the latest version. Revision control of source files was not being used.  There was no consistent format for presentation.  These problems allowed network maintenance mistakes to occur, which cost the company lots of money, and caused frustration among the technicians and customers.

Solution:

• Helped develop templates, and applied the new template to existing documents

• Designed a web site for presenting the information.  I worked with the clients to analyze their needs and get their approval of the design

• Helped the writing department define and document the revision control process and procedures.

• Used Documentum, SOLAR, and other tools to get the document source material under version control

• Developed and documented the process used for obtaining source files, and the process for validating, and posting information to the web site. I made sure the customer agreed to and followed the new process.

Benefit:

•  A consistent format made the documents more predictable and easier to follow.

• The web site provided a central location for finding information and its organization made it easier for technicians to find information quickly, which translated to money saved.

• Revision control of source files and the creation / acceptance of a formalized process for controlling access made it easy to track changes, eliminated duplication of effort, reduced content errors, and saved the company time and money

Problem 2: The technicians had no idea what they needed to learn to advance to the next job level. Each region had a different way of performing a task/duty, which caused problems when a technical issue was handed off from one region or group to another.

Solution:

I worked with the training department to help the customer define and document the Mastery program (DACUM) procedures. The Mastery program helps groups identify the tasks needed to fulfill a duty, identify critical tasks that require certification, define the best practices for performing technical tasks, and define the certification tests. I helped develop the technical content and designed how the information was to be presented. I was responsible for posting Mastery content updates to the web site. I also shared content with the Instructional Designers for inclusion in CBTS and certification tests.

Benefit:

• The development of “best practices” procedures made it easier to train and test technicians in their knowledge. The procedure standardization among regions made it easier to analyze network problems when trouble tickets were handed off from region to region, or department to department. It also saved lots of time, training, and money when the regions were centralized.

• Identification of the duties, tasks, certification tests, and levels of expertise needed for different job functions made it easier for technicians to see a career path in their department. They knew exactly which training was required and had a timeline to follow in order to train for promotions. This gave the managers the means to eliminate “dead wood” – people who were not functioning at the expected level. It also reduced turn-over in the department since people could see a clear career path, which saved the company lots of money.

Problem 3: For years, software developers created solutions and gave our department short notice of pending releases and expected us to come up with documentation and training solutions within days. We were constantly reacting to emergencies and the customers were getting short-changed regarding their training/documentation needs.

Solution:

• Worked as a project team member early in the software development phase to ensure that the customer’s documentation and training needs were considered and met.

• Performed project assessments in the early design phase to determine / estimate the documentation and training needs, define the scope, and propose solutions. Shared the information with my department and the customer.

• Created numerous software user guides and tutorials using functional / design specifications as source material. Had the programmers and customers review and test the documents

• Used software early in the design phase. Suggested improvements to error message and dialog box content, and suggested improvements to the user interface

Benefit:

• Our department could plan and budget for projects in advance and determine which projects needed to be outsourced.

• Our department could analyze the customer’s needs and determine the best documentation / training solution and had more time to implement the solution. Our department could suggest design improvements early in the design phase. This resulted in customers getting better documentation / training in a timely manner, which reduced stress, reduced errors, and provided a better solution

• Our department expanded the scope of our work and increased our chances of doing value-add work, instead of just reacting to emergencies and doing “band-aid” solutions. We increased our visibility and our value to our customers.

Problem 4: Written documentation or pdf online files were not providing the ultimate solution for learning how to use software.  The documents were often cumbersome and the customer had trouble finding the tidbit of information they needed - fast. It sometimes took a long time to update a document.

Solution:

• Analyzed the customer’s needs and determined that online help was the appropriate solution. Proposed the solution to the customer and to my manager, and got buy-in for the solution

• Our department purchased Robohelp, and then I attended 3 days of training to learn how to use the tool. I also attended online help design training.

• Created online help (using Robohelp 5.0) for the company-wide trouble ticketing system that was used to track problems with the wireless data and voice network. Worked extensively with a user forum to make sure the user’s needs were represented. Also created online help for another project

• When our department first began creating online help, I defined and documented the online help development process and helped define the look and feel standards for help projects to be done by our department. The standards and procedures could later be used to outsource the work

Benefit:

• Customers could find the information they needed – faster

• It was easier to develop and maintain online help topics rather than large, cumbersome user guides / tutorials. This saved the company time and money.

• The formalization of the process for developing and maintaining online help projects made it easier for anyone in our department to start an online help project or take over a project begun by another writer.

• The development of look and feel standards made it easier for customers to navigate the online help, which saved time and money

Problem 5: When updating document content, customers edited old copies of documents they had on file instead of coming to our department for the source files. Customers didn’t understand the process for requesting updates. They didn’t know how to get obsolete documents out of circulation. They also weren’t aware of what value-add our department was providing for them.

Solution:

• Helped define and document internal processes in several departments; including the document certification/publishing process, and how to decommission obsolete documents. Documented tool tips to share with co-workers and customers

• For our department’s library web site, documented several customer-facing processes, including how to determine where a document should be published, how to request document updates, how to request removal of a document from the online library, and other useful tips.

• Facilitated customer meetings to document their work flow process and help determine where improvements are needed.

• Created process narratives / descriptions for several access management systems. The processes included how to add or remove users from various systems / applications, and how to conduct periodic reviews. The narratives were used by the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) auditors to complete their tests. The process descriptions were for the end-users to use to learn the new processes and what they had to do to comply with SOX requirements. Created and edited Visio flow charts of the processes.

Benefit:

• Customers understood the process for getting documents into / out of the library, so they supplied us the necessary information up front. This saved time and reduced customer frustration.

• Helped streamline / simplify customer’s processes, which made training and maintenance easier and saved money.

• Customer’s had a better understanding of our value-add, so they came to us with problems and projects instead of doing the work themselves and doing a poor job. We increased documentation quality and provided better solutions.

01/95 – 03/96
Technical Writer
online help developer

ABC Technologies, Inc.
Worked on a software project from engineering design through product release (which was 6 months from initial concept to First Customer Ship).  Worked with the Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support departments through all phases of the product development.  Created draft user guides and tutorials based on information in the functional specifications and by using the preliminary software.  Tested the software in all development phases and suggested user interface changes.  Also created the on-line release notes and on-line help using Robohelp and Winhelp Office/Hyperviewer.  Tested the hypertext links in the on-line documentation.  Helped create the first draft of a training course for the new product, including creating/testing the lab exercises.

Used Tiffany and FullShot screen capture programs.  Also used Aldus Freehand, Visio, FrameMaker, and PowerPoint to add callouts to screen shots, and create new graphics.  Updated existing PowerPoint presentations used by the Engineering, Training, and Marketing departments and helped create new presentations.

10/93 – 08/94
Technical Writer

Intersolv
Updated a command-line reference manual for a version control software product.  Rewrote several topics that had previously confused the customers.  The customer support personnel repeatedly asked for copies of my rewrite to send to customers in advance of the release of the revised manual.

Wrote installation procedures for a version control software product that ran under Excel and Word for Windows.

Converted Word for Windows documents to on-line help using Word Basic macros.  Tested the hypertext links and edited the RTF files to fix problems with the help files.  Also identified bugs in the conversion macros, edited the macros, and updated the instructions on how to use the help conversion macros.

10/89 – 12/92
Technical Writer

Intel Corporation
Installed all the SVR4 Version 3 UNIX software on a workstation, partitioned the hard disk, and configured the system for multi-user and networking use.  Documented the user/system interface, and how to do the basic system configuration, troubleshooting, and system-tuning procedures.  The resulting guide was used by UNIX System Labs for the Version 3 release of the product, and was used as the base for their Version 4 product release of the guide.

Documented the configuration procedures for the Version 4 release of the software.  The procedure has been used by software engineering technicians to configure PCs for department personnel.

Wrote "Dear Customer" letters and several software upgrade procedures for the Customer Support group.

Searched the project database for corrected software bugs and used the data to write release notes for several products.

Co-wrote postscript printer configuration procedures.  Read existing system administrative documentation, and worked with a programmer to determine how to perform the procedure.  The procedure was published in a customer service newsletter, and was sent to UNIX System Laboratories (USL) to include in the next release of their System Administration Guide for System V Release 4 (SVR4) UNIX.

04/89 –  08/89
Technical Writer

FPS Computing
Converted troff-coded documents to SGML (a standard coding) so manuals could be imported to the Docupro word processing system.  Wrote a UNIX shell script and emacs macros to automate the code conversion.

03/87 – 04/89
Technical Writer

Amdahl Corporation
Extensively rewrote System V Release 3 UNIX User Guide tutorials.  Interviewed programmers and engineers to gather information, and performed the procedures to validate them.

Created the maintenance release notes that documented software bug fixes.  Read C programs and shell scripts to determine how the previous release notes were created, then suggested ways to modify the process to meet current needs.  Fully documented the new process so others could duplicate my efforts.  The new process was adopted as a template for other departments/products.  Received an award for improving the maintenance release process.

07/86 – 11/86
Technical Writer (contractor)

GE Calma
As a contract employee, I rewrote three system manager manuals so that the information common to all three manuals was the same and was correct.  Converted narrative text to procedural format.  This enabled the engineers to discover that the manuals had been incorrect for several years (they finally understood and reviewed the manual).  I also made technical corrections based on engineering input and customer feedback. The documents were produced using UNIX mark-up coding.

06/85 – 07/86
Technical Writer

Culler Scientific Systems
Wrote an operator guide for an array-processing computer (4.2 BSD UNIX).  Wrote new information based on programmer and engineer input, incorporated procedures from Fujitsu manuals into the operator guide (and rewrote the Fujitsu text).  Also updated programmer, user, and error message reference manuals with input from engineers and programmers.

05/84 – 04/85
Technical Writer

Loral Instrumentation
Updated serial bus analyzer operator guide with technical information from engineers.  Rewrote miscellaneous test and calibration procedures based on interviews with technicians.  Determined ways to cut production time and reduce margin of error for hardware manuals.

08/83 – 05/84
Technical Writer and Editor

Syncrotech Software
Interviewed shipboard operators of Naval computerized message processing system to determine the problems with the system's Operator Guide.  Interviewed the system programmers to determine new input.  Rewrote the operator guide and validated all the procedures using a system mock-up.

04/82 –  08/83
Editor and Publications Coordinator

Hughes Helicopters
Edited Army's Apache Helicopter Maintenance Manual.  For nine months, I was editor/publications coordinator for the Independent Research and Development group.  This involved editing the progress reports/proposals (70 reports from 40 engineers), making sure the reports/proposals contained all required information, submitting the reports to the engineers for corrections, and proofreading the final reports.  I also submitted the engineer's rough draft art to the graphics department, and made sure the accuracy of the final art was validated.  Also wrote a SAS program that tracked the progress of the reports in the publications process