Re: Troubleshooting Documentation

[Renee Harper <sashrs -at- STUFF -dot- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM>]

We do a LOT of troubleshooting/tips documentation in my group.  We've found
that
different products and different user groups require a totally different
organization
of the information.  Since your user group is internal, you should be able to
ask them
what will work best for them.

We have produced three different types of troubleshooting documentation:

1) the academic approach (hasn't met with much success)

   This approach assumes that there is a very specific order to solving
problems, AND
   it assumes that readers of the guide will start at the beginning and read
all the
   way to the end (or until they find the solution that works for them).

2) the FAQ approach

   This approach lists all the problems as customer/user questions.  For
example:
   "Why can't I use X while Y is running?"  Lots of users like this approach,
   but as I writer, I find it hard to write these questions (unless I have
actually
   received the questions from users). You can find many FAQ examples on the
Web.

3) the problem statement approach

   This approach is very similar to the FAQ, but describes the problem or
behavior.
   It can take many forms such as the one suggested earlier (a table with
columns for
   "if you see this" and "then do this").  We are about to release a
troubleshooting
   guide that uses this approach.  We didn't use the table method though.  We
grouped
   the problems in logical groupings, listed all the problem statements at the
top of
   the file, then provided the sollutions down below.  We also link into the
existing
   user documentation for more details.

   You can view our latest TS guide from our Web site starting Monday,
   August, 10.  The URL is www.sas.com/rnd/web/java/tshoot.html.

I really suggest asking your Help Desk support for input on what will be the
easiest
for them to use.  You could also locate a few different examples, maybe on the
Web,
to show them.

Hope this helps!

Renee


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