Word Tips and Tricks

Checklist for Business Letters November 20, 2006

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Checklist for Business Letters

Be sympathetic to the reader’s situation. Acknowledge their frustration and any previous queries they may have made. Don’t rush into the letter without first mentioning any correspondence they’ve sent you or conversations you’ve had in relation to this business matter.
Include a short, positive introduction when opening your letter. Try to strike the right now from the start.
Use one idea for each paragraph. Don’t confuse the reader, or yourself, by mixing multiple ideas together. Prioritize the most important points.
Use headings to divide the letter into logical sections. This also makes it easier to scan. Most people read only the sections that interest them. Using headings to assist them in locating the relevant information.
Use white space to organize text. Avoid large, dense paragraphs. It’s very intimidating. No-one likes blocks of text. However, if used correctly, white space can emphasize the key sections in a document and give it more breathe.
Use bullet lists to identify key points. Use short sentences. Number items if action have to be performed in sequence. Avoid garish bullet points. Aim for a clean professional design.
Use tables to represent data. Strive to balance the ‘text to images’ ratio. Provide labels for each table. Consider using alternating stripes to add some color to the document.
Avoid using condescending language or adopting a patronizing manner. This will only infuriate the reader even more. Avoid using phrases such as, “As I’m sure you’re aware…” or “As you must know…” Always try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes.
Help the reader understand YOUR position. For example, why your product may have malfunctioned or how they can help you understand their situation more clearly.
Show your appreciation for the reader’s time, especially if they have already written to you.
Don’t refer to the reader as a ‘user’. It’s a horrible phrase. No-one wants to be called a user. In technical documentation, it may be acceptable but in business letters, avoid at all costs. Refer to them for what they are – a person.
Talk about the reader’s needs rather than your company’s products. Don’t harp on about your commitment to quality and so on. Get to the point. How can you fix their problem? How can you make their life better? Why should they ever buy your products again?
Avoid the passive voice. Use the active voice. It will give your letter more direction and help avoid ambiguity.
Vary the length of your sentences without disturbing your writing style, ie the rhythm of the letter.
Be succinct. Revise your letter and remove all extraneous information. A small word of warning, though. Don’t be too curt. It you perform too much surgery on your letter, you may inadvertently cut out its heart. Try to get a balance.
Read the letter aloud. Improve the writing until it sounds natural and easy on the ear.
Get another opinion! Ask a colleague to read your letter. Ask them the three things they dislike most about it. The third thing is usually what they really don’t like. The first two were the sugar-coating, but watch out for the third one…
Use positive language. The tone you adopt effects the reader’s response. Use positive words and phrases to stress the key points, while avoid a tendency to be over-zealous or excessively optimistic in your choice of words.
Cut out clichés. Review your document and remove all tacky, jaded phrases. Improve your writing by using more direct, clear communications. Clichés insult people and will not win you any favors with the reader. It smacks of laziness.
Make yourself available for further assistance. Include your email address, office phone number, and extension if possible. Don’t hide behind voice-mail or the secretary.
Provide a Call to Action so the reader knows what to do next.

How to Write a Report? November 16, 2006

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To succeed as a report writer, you need to appreciate the mindset of your readers. Report writing is very specific. It’s there to help people make decisions. When you understand this, your approach to writing repots becomes much simpler. Instead of writing reams and reams of pages, you focus on the reader’s needs.

Report writing in a nutshell:

Start with a specific purpose.
Describe the problem.
Provide facts, figures and data that relate to the topic.
Draw conclusions.
Recommend a course of action.
Reports are highly-structured. They rely on headings, and sub-headings, to introduce topics while also providing direction to readers. Tables, charts, and diagrams also enhance the findings.

7 Step Plan On How To Write A Report

Consider the aim of the report and its intended audience.
Planning - Decide how you will gather information, for example, interviews, surveys, and questionnaires.
Information - Gather the information, then organize it and start analyzing it.
Conclusions - Decide your conclusions based on the information you have read.
Recommendations - Decide your recommendations and, where appropriate, the best course of action for the readers to take.
Start the writing phase. Refine the report through a series of drafts.
Edit and publish the final copy.

As you write your report, keep an eye on the following areas:

Check the accuracy of the facts, figures, and other research data.
Check cross-references and links to other sources of data.
Check that links to websites are ‘live’ as broken links will reflect poorly on your report.
Check that your conclusion and recommendations align with the data you have presented.
Avoid using industry terms or jargon. Provide a glossary where necessary.
Put charts, diagrams and statistics in context by providing some supporting text.
Use a consistent writing style throughout the document. Choose a positive language, write in the present tense, and prefer simple rather than complex words.

Basic report format:

Title Page
Give prominence to the official name of the report. Underneath this enter the name of the author, the publication date and copyright notices.
Table of Contents
Enter the table of contents, using heading 1 only. In some cases you can also use headings 2 entries, though it’s best to avoid going any deeper than this level for most reports. Keep the reader focused on the main points.
Executive Summary
In the opening paragraph introduce the main topic or issue that you’re about to discuss. If relevant, explain why this report has been commissioned. Avoid clichés, jargon or archaic words at all costs. It sets the wrong tone and you’ll lose all credibility with the reader.
Next, put the report in context by informing the reader of the methodologies you used when gathering data, research you performed, interviews and surveys carried out and so forth.

Your ability to demonstrate a commitment to the topic in question may significantly influence the reader’s opinion. Alternately, if the reader feels that you lack interest in the subject matter they will hardly be encouraged to turn the next page. Would you?
Finally, summarize your main findings and outline the key recommendations. Keep this succinct. Providing too much detail will discourage the reader from continuing. Stimulate their interest.

Keep this to one page!

Tip: the Executive Summary is like a standalone document. People should be able to read this as it stands and understand the essence of your report.

Introduction
You’re now into the document proper.
Outline what you’re going to cover in this report. For larger reports, you may want to list the main chapters and describe what each one will cover. However, for most reports you can stick to:
-Background. Does this follow from previous reports? It this part of a larger project? Will additional reports follow?
-Role. Outline its value to the reader and why they should study its findings. What does this report discuss that other reports have overlooked? Does it break new ground? Are its authors uniquely qualified?
-Objectives. Describe your objectives in writing this report, for example, to investigate the success of online banking in Asia. Describe how successful you were to achieving this and obstacles you encountered, such as data protection, legislation, or language issues.
-Scope. Clarify the boundaries of this report by defining what’s within scope and also, most critically, areas that are out of scope. This is important to address as the reader may have expectations or assumptions that could color their thinking. By defining the scope, you reduce the likelihood that your report will be mis-interpreted and remove any ambiguity that may exist in the reader’s mind.
-Limitations. Similar to the point above only. Highlight areas that were not covered, or not covered in sufficient depth, due to restrictions placed on the report’s authors. Examples of this could include financial restrictions, lack of technical resources, time constraints, access to data sources, or legal issues.
Heading
This is where you start the main discussion. In the following chapters, use headings and subheadings to organize your data. Provide data in tabular format (tables) where appropriate. Label and number all tables, figures, diagrams, charts, and other such pieces of information.

2.1 Subheading
2.2 Subheading
2.3 Subheading
Heading

3.1 Subheading
3.2 Subheading
3.3 Subheading
Conclusion
After presenting your case to the reader in the previous chapters, draw your own conclusions by interpreting the data as you see fit. Explain to the reader why you have come to these conclusions while also acknowledging any limitations or concerns you may have with the research findings, sources of data, or validity of information.
But, don’t mince your words. The reader has made the effort to get this far. They deserve to know where you stand on the matter.
Recommendations
This chapter dovetails from your conclusions. Recommendations outline the course of action based on data you’ve analyzed. When making recommendations, give consideration to the following areas:
Actions that are required
Individuals who will perform these actions
Guidelines to quantify the success or failure of the proposed actions
Warnings, threats, or dangers that may arise if these recommendations are not implemented.
References
Provide a list of all resources, (individuals, companies, books, websites etc) mentioned in the document.
Appendices
Attach supporting documentation to the report where appropriate. This could range from datasheets, technical specifications, to surveys, statistics, market research, or charts, diagrams, and other types of illustrations.

Sticking to a Schedule; Time Management Tips November 16, 2006

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Here are some tips for managing your schedule, especially if run your own business:

Create a Schedule – if you run a small business, chances are that you have an endless to-do list. It can be very stressful, and unproductive, to manage these unless you have a plan.

Here’s a suggestion. Don’t try to keep everything in your head. Open up Excel, create five columns for each day of the week, and give each day a specific task. You can use the template at this url to get you started. Once you have this in place, print it out and keep it on your desk. Stick to this schedule as close as possible. The more consistent you are, the more productive you’ll become!

PS – refine the schedule every now and then based on your overall workload.

Make your aims smaller – most of us don’t achieve our aims as they are too large. Create small bit-size aims. You will achieve more in the long run by using this approach instead of tacking massive 5 year plans.

Make your aims even smaller – try to create 1 minute aims. That’s an aim you can achieve in 1 minute. For example, delete all the newsletters, ezines, and promotions from your inbox. A clean inbox will help you focus and concentrate on what needs attention. Get rid of the clutter. Print out the schedule. Keep it on the wall where you can see it. Don’t make appointments or arrange meetings without first checking your schedule. This will help give your business more structure. It will also make you feel more professional as you are working in a more structured and organized environment.

Clean Desk policy – throw out all magazines, newspapers, printouts, bits of paper, post-it notes that clutter your desk. Scan in those you MUST keep. Otherwise, get rid of the rubbish. You deserve to work in a clean, organized environment. A clean desk may seem difficult at first, but once you get into the habit, you will be amazed others don’t the same!

Evaluating Proposals November 16, 2006

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I was asked recently how to evaluate a proposal that had been sent to over 200 bidders. The Proposal Writer was thinking of developing a checklist and using this to score the bids. While this does make some sense, in reality such as checklist should have been prepared long before the RFP was published. Writing proposals in one thing; knowing how to evaluate them is another. Let’s look at how this process works.

My first question when I spoke to the writer was if the RFP had included a scoring matrix. It hadn’t. The second was how the bidders could tell which of the requirements was the most important. While the Executive Summary alluded to these, it was couched and vague terms.

From a neutral’s point of view, it was hard to know exactly what the government agency (i.e. those who issued the proposal) wanted to achieve. Vague requirements create vague proposals. How could it be otherwise?

How to evaluate proposals ?

What we did in this case was: Reviewed the RFP and made a list of all the requirements. 40 requirements were found.

Created an Excel file, made three columns, and divided the requirements into three groups: Must Have, Would Like To Have, and Not Necessary. Divided the total points to be awarded into three sections: 70% for must have, 20% for would like to have, and 10% for not necessary.

Once we had this nailed down, we started to examine the bids. It became clear that some bids had totally missed the mark. Their proposals focussed on technologies and services that had little value for the agency, though in the bidder’s defence, the RFP hadn’t provided much direction. With 200 documents to read, we had to weed out the weaker bids fast. This allowed us to concentrate on the better ones. Several days later, we had boiled down the list to 4 bids.

Next, we prepared a second checklist. This checklist had five columns: Understanding of Requirements, Proposed Solutions, Pricing, CVs, and Track Record.

In reality, this second checklist should have been used when evaluating all proposals. However, with over 200 bids to work though this was not going to happen. Instead, we focused on the better bids and read these line by line several times.

Who Evaluates the Proposals?

I’ve worked on small projects where it was possible to write, publish, and evaluate each bids. This is not practical on large-scale proposals where you need a broader range of skills and industry knowledge to evaluate the bids. For a recent project, the evaluation team was made of five individuals. Each was an expert in their own field and could be trusted to analyse their portion of the bid accurately.

The team members were: Project manager – studied the project plan, looked for risks and issues that would impact the deliverables. Necessary for interviewing bidder’s pm at presentations.

Finance Officer – checked the final bid prince, daily rates, breakdown of costs, company financial background, soundness etc. Necessary for negotiating, especially costs associated with change control. 2 x Technology Experts – examined the solution proposed by the bidder. Having two experts allows you to get contrasting opinions, especially when the solution is very complex. It also protects you from scenarios whereby one reviewer has an inclination towards a particular software technology.

Bid manager – reviews the bid against the original RFP. Ensures it addresses all requirements and that no (mandatory) requirements have been overlooked or misinterpreted. Drives the project, coordinates reviewers, and schedules the final presentations. As mentioned above, the first set of activities in the evaluation process include:

Using checklists and scoring matrices to assess bids, i.e. define how close the proposals match the requirements Compiling the scores from all evaluators. Preparing a final evaluation report. Outline the strength and weakness of each bid.

After you’ve completed this first phase, you then need to: Schedule presentations with bidders who have been short-listed. Bring in 3-5 at the most.

Allocate 5% approx for presentations. Update the proposal’s scores based on the presentations. Award the bid.

Inform the successful (and unsuccessful) bidders of your decision. Hold debriefing sessions with the unsuccessful bidders.

The final step is very useful as it helps these bidders understand your reasoning, improve their bids and increase competition by setting the standard for all future proposals. If you don’t provide feedback to the bidders, they’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes in the next round of proposals.

Making Money from Case Studies November 12, 2006

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The first question is why bother to write case studies at all?

After all, white papers seem to be more hip and trendier. Entire websites are dedicated to white paper marketing. Even Penny Marshall now offers courses on using white papers for strategic advantage. Editors seem to think they have more gravity than the plain ol’ case study. And, in some ways, they’re right.

But case studies have one advantage over white papers – they demonstrate success.

Robert F. Abbott makes this point, “If you want to persuade others to adopt your point of view, buy your product, or vote for you, a useful tool is the case study, which will put your reader or listener in the shoes of a decision maker.”

Whereas white papers can be abstract and theoretical, case studies are practical, no-nonsense, down-to-earth documents. At least, they should be.

For business people involved in decision-making roles, case studies make very interesting reading. Remember these people are short on time. They’re under pressure to make decisions quickly. They want directness. They want facts. And they want proof.

You can address all of these in a case study.

- What’s involved in a Case Study?

There are three main strands to this document. To make the case study successful, you’ll need to show:

Who in the organization and/or public benefited?
What was the client’s dilemma before they used your product?
When were benefits seen?
Where benefits were gained, both from a technical and business perspective?
How you solved the problem?
How you quantified its success, i.e. faster customer service, fewer complaints, more online mortgage applications?

For a professional writer, case studies offer many lucrative business opportunities.

- Who Wants to Pay For Case Studies

The people you want to target are Marketing Managers, Finance Directors and Proposal Managers. All of these people have valid reasons to use case studies.

Remember: case studies are mostly used for sales and marketing. They’re slow-burning documents with a long shelf-life. You can post them on websites, append them to press releases, use them as supporting documents in proposals, and give them out at trade shows, presentations, and workshops. For such a small document, they have many uses.

- Who Else Is Interested?

Contact mid-size companies many of whom have no sales collateral. They are desperate for quality material that’ll promote their products. Tell them you can write a sharp, professional case study in less than ten days. Maybe five!

They’ll know they’ll never get anything written in ten days. They’ve tried it over the years (believe me, they have) and still can’t get around to it. Take the pressure off them.

For example, say, “If I start on Tuesday, it will be ready by next Wednesday.” Most people will jump at this.

Don’t mention fees until they agree to take you on. And, of course, you have to deliver!

How To Write The Case Study in Five Days November 12, 2006

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An in-depth tutorial is beyond the scope of this newsletter, but the main points are:

Show the client examples of high-quality case studies. They don’t even have to be yours. But you need to paint a picture so they understand what you’ll need from them to make this work.
Ask them what they like, dislike, things that stands out, and color schemes they enjoy. If they have company templates use them, otherwise build new templates in the same style of what you’ve shown them.
Agree on the technology (or service) the client wants to demonstrate. This should be very clear. If you can’t agree on this, stop.
Get a list of customers who’re willing to provide endorsements. Don’t expect them to write compelling 20 word quotes. That’s your job. Write these quotes and send it to them. Get the approval and re-write where necessary. Recycle the unused quotes for other publications – let nothing go to waste.

Tip – always keep you eyes peeled for examples of great writing. Copy any quotes you find on brochures, magazines, and websites into a resource file. Use this for inspiration when you need to keep things fresh.

Get the Project Sponsor (i.e. the person who hired you) to gather screenshots, company logos, tech specs, datasheets etc. You’ll need these for the glossy PDF.
Start interviewing people. Ask them: what was the problem, how was it solved, and what difference it has made. Ask specific questions and you’ll get specific answers. Have your list of questions ready before you call them. Don’t make it up on the fly.
Compile the facts, statistics, and market research. This gives your case study more weight.
Send it out for review. Good, bad or indifference. It doesn’t matter, but you have to get feedback! Refine the material and then publish it. Never send out a publication without getting another person to check it first.
Send a PDF of the Case Study to every person who helped you with a thank you note (and business card) enclosed. Thank them for their efforts and encourage them to publish it on their website.

Tip: Remember this is an opportunity for you to generate more leads by demonstrating your professionalism. Contact everyone in person by phone – not email – and confirm that they got the PDF.
If you want, tell them how great it looks when printed and ask if you can send over a hard-copy. In this way, get your nice, shiny case study onto their desk!
Generate enthusiasm. Share whatever positive feedback you’ve received from journalists, partners, and customers. You want them to feel that their business must also have a case study. And who’s going to write it for them?
http://www.communication-newsletter.com/

How to Write a Report in 30 Minutes November 12, 2006

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The ability to write a compelling report is highly-valued in the business world. For those involved in project management or decision-making process, understanding how to produce a report is essential if they want to advance.

However, for most people, the idea of simply having to write another report brings on indigestion. What is it that makes report writing so unpleasant?

Well, like most things in life, if you can’t see where all the pieces join together, you’re bound to feel a bit nervous. Thus, that unpleasant feeling you get as stare at a blank page and start biting your nails. “Now, where do I begin…?”

Krouwerconsulting.com suggests the following exercise, “Select a report that you have written and give it to three people. Ask them to read it (often a challenge in itself). Then, ask everyone to state the recommendations and conclusions of the report. Do these match what you intended?”

In this article, I’ll give you a framework that you can use for writing reports. Once you have the framework in mind, it easy to get started. So, let’s start at the top.

Creating reports involves organizing data. The trick is that you can’t write the report until you’ve gathered data. Likewise, you can’t gather data unless you know what you’re looking for.

Sounds like an earful, but it’s really quite simple when you see how all the parts fit together.

The first two steps are to work out:

What’s the purpose of this report? How will the readers use it?
Who is the target audience? What benefit do they get from reading it?

Clarify the purpose of the document in one sentence. Poorly-written reports are vague. They meander from topic to topic. Keep it focused. If a colleague asked you to explain your report, your answer would be: “this report discusses…”

After you’ve hammered this out, you can get into the nitty-gritty of writing the report. This involves carrying out the following five steps:

Identify the topic.
Gather the data.
Analyze the data to produce findings.
Analyze the findings to make recommendations.
Make recommendations and back them up with stats, facts and figures.

Keep these five points in mind and then start on the table of contents.

Get Started Now

The Table of Contents is the skeleton around which you write your report. List the main topics for your report. Let’s say there are five chapters.

To get things moving, pick the topic you’re most comfortable with and begin writing. You’ll finish this very quickly. Move onto the next topic, get it over with and start the next. Before you know it, half the report is finished. You don’t have to start with the introduction and plough through relentlessly. Once you understand the framework, writing the report is like Lego. You pick the pieces you want and assemble them in your own good time. Write your document around the reader’s needs. Ask yourself what the reader needs to know at each stage of the report.

Is the subject clear?
Have statistics and supporting data been supplied?
Are the relationships between different parts of the report clear?
Are the recommendations easy-to-understand? Are they persuasive?

Use Headings to Guide the Reader Through The Report

As the most effective reports are reader-centered, use a series of headlines to guide the reader through the report. Headlines are like sign-posts. They allow the reader to skip and jump through the document as they please. Readers are under no obligation to read every sentence in your report. Like a bored child at dinnertime, they pick and choose the best parts and ignore the rest.

Blend Sections Together

After you’ve written the chapters, put them aside. Try to get some distance. Move onto something else for a while.

Next up, refine the material. Try to make your arguments more compelling. Use facts, figures and statistics to persuade the reader that your recommendations are sound and based on real evidence. Write in plain English. Avoid clichés, hyperbole and flowery language. Use positive words and phrases to inject some enthusiasm into your report. Reinforce your arguments with quotes and references where most appropriate.

You’ve finished writing. Examine the document and see where you can blend the sections together. Ideally, words, sentences, and paragraphs should blend into each other quite smoothly.

Read the report aloud and you’ll hear where it jars. Your ear will pick up where the tone is insincere, sentences become disjointed, and the writing is strangled. Don’t be too hard on yourself, as it’s easy to get distracted while writing. Changes in tone, voice, and style appear from one section to another. Work on blending these together as otherwise the report will start to ramble or have an odd stilted feel to it.

Making the Last Cut

This time you have to start at the top and work your way through!

Print out the document. Don’t do this on the computer.

With a pen in hand, read the report once for voice and for voice only. Then go back and do the same for style, spelling, grammar, layout, cross-references, and so on. It takes as much time to edit as it does to write.

So, don’t try to do everyone at once. It can’t be done. The only person you’ll fool is yourself – but the reader will always know the difference.

One final tip: write in the afternoon and edit in the morning.

Scoping the Size Of A Project November 12, 2006

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One of the classic mistakes novice writers make is to start writing without looking at the overall picture. Planning the scope of your project is key to its overall successful.
So, before you start writing, identify everything involved in the development of the project. By the way, this applies to any type of project, whether it’s writing, development, design, or cooking…. You must have a plan.

For a documentation project, Identify the;

Software Templates and Style Guides
Access to IT Systems
People resources, such as graphic designers

that need to be in place so that you can write the documentation.Don’t assume these will be ready!

A lot of this may seem very obvious, but based on experience, client often underestimate the resources you will need to have in place. They tend to overlook system access, passwords, swipe cards, parking spaces, technical resources and other such requirements. Without these you can’t accomplish your tasks.

Encourage your client (gently but firmly) to ensure they‘re in place; otherwise your schedule will be knocked off balance. Don’t wait until you arrive at the building before asking if there is a test system you can use. Ask these questions in the warm-up meetings before you start on-site.

Here are some areas to consider before starting your project:

Does the Writer have access to Test Systems?
Is the Writer is provided Training on the system that they are to document?
Will the Writer be working on site during the project?
Will the Writer have access to SMEs?
Will new Change Requests occur once the project has started?

Creating a Project Plan

Examine the following areas so you can define a project plan that reflects the amount of work that’s involved:

Training required for you to understand how the system works – eg 2 days
Gap Analysis between current documentation (if it exists) vs. proposed documentation - eg 2 days
Review current documentation (if it exists).
Can any material be reused or do you need to write everything from scratch. Re-writing existing material can be very time-consuming as you have to modify the tone, style, and phrasing to match your writing style. You also need to test the integrity of their documentation as you can’t assume the instructions are correct. eg 5 days
Agree on the Document Format – this will affect the workload if the document needs to be delivered in multiple formats, such as MS Word, Adobe PDF, Online Help, or Web Help.
Determine the number of pages that will be written per day, for example:
5 pages per day
100 page output
= 20 days documentation
Number of SMEs to review documents (allow 1 week turnaround) and provide feedback:

If you assume there will be 25% changes to the documentation (20 days) then the total project is increased to 24 days approx.

Note: SMEs are Subject Matter Experts, i.e. individuals with in-depth knowledge who can review the documentation accurately.

Getting Prepared

Speak to the client’s Project Manager and make sure you have access to the following:

Company image library for product screenshots, samples of training material etc.
Graphic designer to create illustrations, complex screenshots, splash screens, box shots.
Style Guide or, if none exists, agree on using an established guide such as the Microsoft Style Guide for Technical Publications.
MS Word Templates – make sure these are available before you start. If not, factor their design and development into the project plan.

This list is not exhaustive by any means.

The key thing is to think ahead and anticipate any areas which may undermine the project’s success.

Writing User Guides November 12, 2006

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Some points to consider when choosing software for writing user guides and technical documentation:

Requirements – make a list of what you want the software to do. You won’t need all the features that come with FrameMaker, Interleaf or other specialist writing packages. So, instead of investing in these products upfront, define your publication requirements and then start looking at the products – not the other way around! For example, if you don’t know much about FrameMaker, try to determine if its features are relevant to your project – maybe they’re overkill for what you’re trying to achieve - and then make your decision. Create a Product Features spreadsheet and use this to evaluate the products before you buy anything.
Single Sourcing – this is the holy grail of many Publications Departments. Single sourcing means that you create one ‘master’ version of the content, which you can then export to other file formats. Instead of reformatting text, layout and images, you can click a button and it’s available in whatever format you want. Do you really need single sourcing? Most companies don’t and can get by with MS Word documents, which can be converted into PDF or HTML. Two features that MS Word can easily handle. Granted, the HTML won’t be perfect, but you can refine it in a HTML editor if you need to.
Qualified Trainers – before you select a new product, or a product that your company has no used before, check with the local training companies and see if they product such training. Otherwise, you may not be able to train your team with this product and will have to invest considerable energy in learning how it works. Not very practical if you’re running a busy Publications Dept.
Qualified Writers – as in the previous point, check with the local recruitment agencies to see if they have writers with these skillsets on their books. We recently wanted to hire a RobeHelp / RoboHTML content developer. These folks were very hard to get, so we outsourced the work to a specialist company. Lots of time, effort, money…
Support – this sounds boring, but if you can’t get support when the wheels start falling off, you’re in real trouble. Many times I’ve had to trawl web forums and BBSs for an answer because the Tech Support couldn’t answer my question or the answer they provided was inadequate. MS Word gets a lot of criticism but, in its defence, it goes to great length to provide workarounds to the many issues you’ll find in any piece of software.
Testimonials – speak to other people who work in technical publications and other areas related to professional writing. Go to the most popular writing forums and ask for their opinion.Tip: try to be specific. If you ask a general question, you’ll get a general answer.
Templates – if you’re choosing a new product, see if templates are included on the CD. You can use these to get up and running fast. Starting from scratch can be very expensive.
Trial Versions – download the 30-day trial versions and start testing. Before you download anything, define the areas your want to test. List them in order of priority. Have sample documents ready for the testing. Make sure you have enough time to do the testing before the trial period expires!
Price – what is the licensing costs associated with the product, especially if you need to get multi-licences copies. For example, Adobe FrameMaker costs close to 700 USD, so five copies will cost 3500 USD. Wonderful though the product may be, this may be outside your department’s budget.
Making the Final Decision – after testing all applications, sit down and compare the products using a spreadsheet to calculate the results. Try to be as objective as possible and avoid being influenced by glossy brochures, free tools, and other extras that you probably will never use.

If you are buying on behalf of your company, ask yourself: if this was my own money, would I buy this product?

Creating a New Style November 12, 2006

Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Style, Templates, Recommended, Troubleshooting, Microsoft Office News, Tips , add a comment

To create a new style, follow these steps:

From the Format menu, choose Style and Formatting, and then click New Style.
In the Name box, enter a name for the style, for example, Paragraph Text.
In the Style type box, choose Paragraph.
In the Style Based on box, select No Style. If you base it on another style, then, when that style is changed, you’re new style will also be changed. No Style makes sure it is a ‘standalone’ style that can’t be changed as it has no associations to other styles.
Click Format and select formatting options such as Font and Paragraph.
Click OK.
Click Add to template if you want these styles to be incorporated into the template this document is based on, which is usually Normal.dot.

The new style now appears in your “Styles” list.

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