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Nancy Allison asked:
>
> If your company ships physical products, where do you put the
> checklist of items they should receive?
>
> I've inherited a project that puts the list in a user manual.
> On page 10 of a 40-page manual it tells the reader to inspect
> each item and check it against a list of standard items
> (which is printed right there on page 10).
>
> In the old days of physically bound manuals, that always
> seemed especially awkward because the only way you could be
> reading the manual was to have opened the box and taken
> everything out. It seemed unlikely that the very first thing
> anyone would do was dive for the manual and scan it for a
> list of shipped components . . . people were much more likely
> to look at the packing slip and no more.
>
> Nowadays, with manuals shipped as a PDF on a CD, or
> downloaded from a web page, I find it even less likely that
> anyone will have printed and skimmed the PDF in anticipation
> of opening the box and checking off its contents against a
> list in the User Guide. I still think they'll look at the
> packing slip and no more.
>
> My questions are these:
>
> 1. Do you include any section in your user guides discussing
> what to look for when the customer opens the shipping container?
>
> 2. If not, how do you handle the issue of clients checking
> that they've received the correct items and that everything
> looks like it's in good shape?
Our Quick Start Guide for each product of this division
is a booklet that fits inside the front of the DVD case
that carries our software and docs CDs (or DVDs).
It's largely pictorial, starts with a list (pics and a
brief description and a quantity) of what you should
have received.
Next is a list of other items you need (you either ordered
them separately or already had on-hand). Again, pics
and a few words to describe each.
Last is a picture-and-text procedure to mount the
device (in a rack, on a table...), connect the
cables and any peripheral devices, and go find the
software and docs CDs so you can really get started.
Common Criteria evaluated products also have a one-page
procedural checklist to ensure that you ordered what
you got, got what you ordered, etc., to establish a
legitimate paper trail for our cryptographic appliances.
That's also in the Quick Start.
- Kevin
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