Primary Tools Used: SnagIt, MS SharePoint, MS Office, MS Teams,

Dates: July 2023 to October 2023

Deliverables: MS Word files with screenshots to be printed out and used for training end users

Wrote printable docs for training end users on Infor/M3 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. This new system would handle all the sales, accounting, inventory and order fulfillment for branches of a national company selling construction supplies and services.

This project was still in the early stages of testing before being rolled out. My role was to document how typical tasks in one division would be handled in the new system. To do this, I:

• watched screencasts of previous software demos by Subject Matter Experts (SME) and the Implementation Team
• Re-created these steps using beta versions of the Infor software
• Created screenshots with SnagIt to capture the various steps of completing a certain task.
• Wrote instruction sets for these tasks — accompanied by relevant screenshots.

Also: prepared an early draft of a style guide to be used by other technical writers and occasionally proofed other people’s docs for accuracy and consistency.

Work Samples (Diagrams): Process Flow Diagram Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3

Work Samples (Technical and Conceptual Overviews): Identity Management and Person Maintenance in CSMART (PDF)

Primary Tools Used: Microsoft Office, SnagIt, Gimp, LibreOffice Draw, TestComplete.  Also used: Enterprise Architect, Share Point,  Team Foundation Server, SQL Server Management console

Dates: April 2011 to April 2012.

As part of the training team, I prepared system docs and user docs for a case management software being designed by an outside IT company (Sogeti)  for the City of Houston Municipal Court System. I interviewed software developers, testers, subject matter experts and business analysts for information. My deliverables included an installation guide,  5-7 page technical overviews on  selected topics, process flow maps and reference guides.  I also prepared a “freshman orientation” packet of introductory information for new developers and IT staff on the project.

I supported other instructional designers with various tasks. One important task was using TestComplete software to load data automatically into the software for classroom exercises. I wrote automation scripts, documented the process and worked closely with other trainers to estimate  data needs for future classes. I also assisted in the training of new trainers.

The backend technologies behind the software product being developed  were .net, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), SQL Server, Object-Relational Mapping (with Entities Framework), Onbase Enterprise Content Management as well as several internal systems for the City of Houston.

For managing my own deliverables, I used Share Point every day and DropBox for file syncing and backup.

Technologies Used: XML Oxygen Author, Docbook 5, SnagIt, Subversion,  XEP PDF Processor, Personal Brain mindmap software, iAnnotate PDF, Visio

Samples: Here and Here. (More available upon request).

Linkedin Testimonial: CEO Alan Runyan

Dates: 2/2010 to 9/2010; 2013. 2nd Revised edition from  5/2013 to 10/2013.

I wrote a 246 page technical book User’s Guide to Plone 4. It was a total rewrite of the prior edition (which I  helped to edit). For the Plone 4 edition, I wrote 100% of the content (including the interior artwork, layout, glossary and index). Besides the cover art and technical review, I did the planning, formatting and organization of the content, plus most of  the editing. I did it as a work-for-hire with my previous employer, and provided camera-ready copy to Amazon’s Createspace for print publication. (A PDF version is also for sale at a reduced price).  The target audience was the beginning/intermediate  end user for Plone, an open source content management system.

I wrote the content entirely in an XML language for publishing  called  Docbook 5. I wrote an XSLT customization layer that used the XSL-FO Docbook stylesheets for producing a PDF. In this customization layer, I specified layout features, title page features, font defaults and simple XSLT transformations to make the content presentable.  I used the XEP PDF processor from RenderX. Using the SnagIt tool, I made print-ready screenshots and did light editing of graphics for it. Through experimentation, I devised a method and minimum requirements for producing graphics. Using diagrams I also created original diagrams to illustrate workflow states in the Plone content management system.  Also, I had to import a small amount of information from the previous edition which was produced using LaTex.

The subject of the book was already something I was relatively familiar with. I’d written Plone documentation for Enfold for 2 years, but for this project, I had to identify newbie issues and explain lots of areas that typically give problems to end users. Plone 4 was a major version change with new features, and my company’s goal was for the book’s release to coincide approximately with the release of the software. During the writing of the book, I was working with “beta software” and had to deal with numerous bugs, interface idiosyncrasies and things which had never been documented. To gather information, I did a lot of testing on my own, but I followed developer mailing lists and user forums for information. During the whole process, I filed about a dozen bugs with the software project.

Here are some details about the overall production process:

• Outlining and Information Gathering using Personal Brain mindmapping software. I chose chapter subjects after extensive discussion with Enfold staff.
• Regular checkins into a subversion repository using Tortoise SVN.
• Although I worked mainly from home, I gave project reports weekly with Enfold managers.
• We did project tracking using a customized version of JIRA. I assigned questions and tasks to Enfold developers, and Enfold people assigned tasks and bugs to me. Technical review & editing were managed 100% on JIRA.
• I used Oxygen XML Author to author the XML directly. Even though it supports a WYSIWIG view, I decided to use iPad’s iAnnotate app to do proofreading and edits directly on the PDF (which I would later transfer to the XML).