Introducing KnowledgeDoc's methodology

Over the past decade, KnowledgeDoc has developed a consistent professional approach to documentation projects. Like any project, a documentation project is a success when all parties understand and agree to the requirements, timelines and end goals.

The twelve steps outlined here have enabled KnowledgeDoc to deliver excellent value and quality for customers such as a major Australasian retailer, GlaxoSmithKline, SPC Ardmona, Computing Directions Australia and Monash University.

KnowledgeDoc's twelve stage methodology (KDM)

Overview

1. Initial meeting
2. Initial scoping
3. Proposal
4. Collect all relevant existing documentation
5. Detailed scoping and design
6. Interview subject matter experts
7. Write first draft
8. Review cycle
9. Sign off
10. Publish
11. Project review
12. Ongoing maintenance

Details

1 Initial meeting

We have an initial meeting to:

• meet you and other stakeholders
• gain an understanding of the project and your requirements
• show you samples of our past work and present ideas.

2 Initial scoping

The scoping process is critical. Depending on the size of the project it may be divided into two stages: initial and detailed.

The scoping involves a member of the KnowledgeDoc team:

• gaining an understanding of the aims of the documentation project
• identifying all the pieces of work that are required
• identifying all the different types of output required
• collecting together all existing relevant documentation
• identifying existing documentation standards and styles used in your company
• developing and agreeing with you a table of contents for each piece of work
• identifying deadlines and dependencies.

3 Proposal

On completion of the initial scoping stage, we will present you with an initial proposal for the work, containing:

• details of our approach
• resourcing requirements
• tools used
• project timelines
• quality deliverables
• proposed rates and payment terms
• an estimation of costs for each piece of work that has been identified in the scoping process, including the number of review cycles
• details of our quality guarantee.

4 Collect all relevant existing documentation

This involves:

• reading all the existing documentation that is relevant to the piece of work
• finding out how current and complete it is
• extracting all the relevant information into the new document.

5 Detailed scoping and design

This involves:

• more detailed scoping work if required, as outlined in the initial scoping section
• designing the look and feel of the output
• getting feedback so that the output meets your organisation's needs.

For example, the style and layout of the printed document is developed. If you already have in-house standards, we can conform to these. Alternatively, we can develop new standards to meet your printed document needs.

We can develop a prototype for online content, that is available on your Intranet or to complement a software application. The prototype gives you an opportunity to review and suggest changes to meet your online needs.

6 Interview subject matter experts

Once we have a basic framework for the document using the table of contents and information from existing documents, we fill in the gaps by interviewing the subject matter experts (SMEs). We expect that you will allow them dedicated time to spend with us to explain their area of expertise. We always try to keep these interviews short, usually around an hour and a maximum of two hours.

7 Write first draft

During the writing stage, we need to have ongoing access to the SMEs to clarify particular points and to fill in gaps. We generally only need short sessions and always try to minimise interruptions to their work.

We usually write the document in chapters or sections, after interviewing a SME. We can then give individual chapters or sections to the SME for review.

8 Review cycle

At the start of the project, we agree with you how many reviews each piece of work will go through and who will be involved in the review process.

9 Sign off

Once the document chapter or section has achieved the agreed standard, it can be signed off by the relevant stakeholders and SMEs.

10 Publish

The finalised content is published to the range of agreed outputs. This may include:

• printable versions available as PDFs
• online content available as web pages or compiled help files.

Publishing can be as simple as copying web pages to your Intranet, producing a CD, or organising printing and binding.

11 Project review

At the end of the project, we meet with you to review the project. Our goal is to exceed your expectations, so we want to know if there is any issue with the service we have provided.

We guarantee the quality of our work. Click here...

12 Ongoing maintenance

We can organise ongoing maintenance of the documentation if required. This ensures that it stays up to date. If you choose to maintain the documents in-house, we can provide a style guide to ensure that your staff can update the documents in a consistent manner.

At KnowledgeDoc, our technical writers are seasoned, experienced business and technical writers, with years of business experience. We are available to support you every step of the way to produce clear, concise and on-time documentation to assist you and your organisation.