The Pinged Hobbit

Software support is one the major aspects of my work. Out side of installing new systems I spend a lot of time dealing with customer queries over the phone and via email. I am sure it is the same for most people who deal with software support. One thing that is noticable after a short while spent dealing with support is how important a role the help documentation for the software can drastically reduce the amount of support calls. If you are supporting a software with very little documentation for end users you will find that the majority of the calls you deal with are related to the basic operation of your software and a lot of them may even be repeat calls from the same customer asking the same question over and over again. No matter how good the software trainers are (if you have them) there will always be things that people do not take in.

Good documentation will not only make it easier for your clients to use the software, it will also free up the time of your support team. Allowing them more time to concentrate on the more important support problems that come in that really require the attention of a trained support person. There are a few things that is useful to keep in mind when creating help documentation:


• Use clear language – You want people to use your documentation, nothing puts a person off when reading a manual that flowery/descriptive language which merely hides the information you are attempting to convey. Keep the language clear, use technical terms only when they have already been clearly explained.
• Consider layout – Just like the language used can put people off, so can poor layout. If the documentation looks messy and confused how can you expect your users to find it helpful.
• Have more than one level of helpfile – Not every user needs the same level of information about the software. Some will only want what is a essentially an easy user guide, while others will want a full in depth manual detailing how the software is setup from scratched. There is nothing wrong with keeping the information seperated.
• Screen Shots – A picture is worth a thousand words. This is very true when it comes to documenting software. Adding screen shots can save you from having to describe a screen in the manual when you refer to it. One screen shot can keep the size of your manual down.
• Don’t be over concerned with keeping it short – You don’t want your documentation to be too long as this will only put people off using it. But at the same time, don’t make it so short that you cut out half of the needed information.
• Make things easy to find – People want to find the information they need quickly, they don’t want to have to spend an age looking through the pages to find what they want. Make it easy to find things, include a comprehensive contents and index section that are laid out in an easy to use format