Computerwise JoAnn Hackos courses page

In addition to conducting work in its own right, Computerwise also provides training courses in a variety of aspects of technical communication. This includes making use of a close working relationship with Dr JoAnn Hackos, (author of Managing Your Documentation Projects and other works) who is President of JoAnn Hackos & Associates and Comtech Services. Dr Hackos conducts public and inhouse seminars internationally on subjects such as designing effective interfaces and manuals, developing standards for procedures, online documentation, computer based training, useability testing and managing documentation and proposal processes.

It is with great pleasure that we present the course which has been the basis of Lasotell's and Computerwise's project and documentation management for so many years.

You will learn to:

Assess the level of process maturity of your technical publications organisations

Who should attend

Course Outline

During the two-day seminar, you will plan a complete documentation project and learn how to take it through to completion. You'll start by estimating the number of pages and costs, then calculate the dependencies affecting the project, set up a schedule, and learn how to keep the project on track. The objective: to manage documentation projects so that they come in on time and within budget.

You'll learn to establish project specifications, define the audience and their tasks, and evaluate design implications.

Planning the project

You'll learn to create information plans and specify the contents of manuals, training, and other information product deliverables.

Estimating

We'll show you when to estimate a project and assign a project team. You'll also learn how to estimate hours per page, develop a budget, and plan a schedule.

Keeping it on track

How to develop detailed project specifications and use tracking tools to manage the project successfully.

Keeping records

You'll learn to build forms to help you track progress and to estimate the percent complete throughout the project.

Quality

We'll show you how to determine the quality level of a project and how to build and maintain quality in the process.

Wrapping up

You'll learn how to prepare a project wrapup report and how the information helps you estimate and manage future projects.

Assessing project maturity

You'll review a checklist and judge the level of your organisation in using a publications development methodology.

Table 1 — Companies that have previously benefited from JoAnn Hackos's seminars

AMP	HCi	Tactics
Andersen Consulting	Hewlett-Packard	Telectronics
Australian Securities Commission	IBM	Telstra
AWA Limited	Intext Systems	Toshiba Int.
CCK Treasury Systems	Lumley Technology	Transfield Technologies
CSIRO	MLC	Unisys
CSC	Optus	University of Western Sydney
Digimedia	Pacific Power	University of Technology
Digital Equipment Corp.	Sterling Software
First State Computing	Sydney Electricity

JoAnn Hackos & Associates reserves the right to alter this programme without prior notice to attendees

Developing a Content Management Strategy

Who should attend?

Others interested in streamlining the way they create and distribute information to employees, customers, and those with a need to know.

You will learn to

Develop an information blueprint by examining authoring and publishing requirements

The Program

A Roadmap to Content Management

What opportunities exist to make content management a viable option for your organization? Examine the advantages and disadvantages of a content management approach.

Database Design

What do we mean by database publishing? Consider database, component, and link management.

Phase 1: The Information Audit

Learn how analyzing your audience, information, and processes aids you in planning a content management strategy. Consider the needs and requirements of your audience. Examine your current information design. Determine what resources your organization needs.

Content Management Tools–Making Good Decisions

Tools now exist that can make content management easier. Review the features of existing tools and consider your budget. Choose a tool that meets the needs of your organization.

Phase 2: The Customized Information Blueprint

Create an information blueprint that is flexible and powerful. Specify the output required by your users and develop an authoring environment that supports the output. Define your information types and consider the dimensions of your information elements: medium, platform, user, product, and so on. Translate your information model into a metadata structure.

Phase 3: The Content Management Model

Learn about developing a working model to test the effectiveness of your design. Turn your working model into a fully-defined prototype.

Phase 4: The Content Management Construction

Select a content management pilot project that tests your model. Create a project team and learn about working in a new, collaborative environment.

Phase 5: The Content Management Guide

Take into account the changes in the editing and review process for your content management project. Develop content management guidelines for your organization.

Staffing a Content Management Project

Each member of your team has a role in the content management project.

Learn how a content management project should be managed so that it will succeed. Consider how to develop teamwork, to establish consistency, and to maintain creativity and personal motivation in a new working environment. Learn about establishing working relationships with other parts of the organization that need to take advantage of content management opportunities such as documentation, training, advertising, Web-development, systems development, and so on.

Calculating Return on Investment (ROI)

Address the concerns of management that content management tools seem expensive. Make a business case. Learn how to calculate a return on your organizations business.

About JoAnn Hackos

Dr JoAnn Hackos is President of Comtech, a Denver based information design firm, which she founded in 1978; Director of the Center for Information-Development Management, a member sponsored organization for information development and training management issues; and co-founder and partner of the SingleSource Associates.

JoAnn is called upon by major corporations to consult on the design of their information packages, including interface design and online documentation, and the assessment of their customers' satisfaction with products, processes, information, and training. For more than 20 years, JoAnn has conducted seminars internationally on subjects ranging from project management, designing effective interfaces and information, minimal information products, usability testing, online documentation and computer-based training, to managing the information-design and development process.

JoAnn's book, Managing Documentation Projects, was published by John Wiley & Sons (1994). She co-authored Standards for Online Communication with Dawn Stevens (Wiley 1997). She is co-author of User and Task Analysis for Interface Design with Ginny Redish (Wiley 1998). JoAnn is a Fellow and Past President of the international Society for Technical Communication (STC).

Copyright 1999 Lasotell Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please email us your comments, criticisms or to report of any problems with this page. Thank you.
This page can be found at www.lasotell.com.au and was updated 29/9/2004.

Computerwise and N&H Communication presents: