The projects I've undertaken in 2004 have included:

• Developing Word templates and a customized editing environment for a software company, to support the creation, editing and management of project documentation such as functional specifications, design documents and release notes.
• Word consultancy for a UK government department.
• Designing database reference documentation for an IT department, and assembling and editing the initial content. The document covers an in-house reporting system which brings together information from the sales transaction databases and the playout logs of a radio advertising organisation using SQL Server Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages, Crystal Reports and OLAP cubes.
• Designing and formatting course module manuals for the training wing of a software consultancy company. The design allows two versions of the manuals, with and without interleaved instructor notes, to be produced from a single source set of files totalling around 1000 pages of text and graphics.
• Implementing a set of corporate templates for a PR company. In this case, the company already had a well-defined visual design, but needed reliable Word templates and customization work to enable them to edit a variety of documents quickly and consistently.

Other recent activities include language editing work, maintaining this Web site, and writing some articles and FAQs.

The following sections give some more examples of projects completed for direct and indirect clients and for past employers:

• Customized corporate Word editing environment
• Online Help and software documentation
• Other work

Customized corporate Word editing environment

Between 1998 and 2002 I was responsible for development and support of a set of corporate Word templates, including creating a customized editing environment which was eventually used by over 500 staff in the UK and USA. The document templates provided a consistent set of style-based layouts for formal reports, letters, agenda and so on. The editing environment was implemented as a global add-in template containing customized toolbars and menus and about 3000 lines of VBA code.

The main purpose of the global template was to simplify and standardize common document editing actions. For example, inserting a landscape section into a run of portrait pages was reduced to a single operation. I also provided a tutorial, an online Help system and a Web site on the company intranet. The introduction of the environment dramatically reduced document corruptions and formatting problems, and was very well received by the large majority of users.

Online Help and software documentation

HTMLHelp

During the first half of 2002 I worked on a large HTMLHelp system for an integrated toolset that is used to generate CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications for financial institutions. I researched and wrote help topics for one of the tools from scratch, and designed an overall structure to bring together new and existing material in a single Help system. I also had responsibility for development and maintenance of FrameMaker and WebWorks templates for the author team.

WinHelp

Most of my recent WinHelp projects delivered end-user Help for financial CRM applications, covering tasks such as setting up customer accounts and handling share buy and sell orders. An important requirement for these systems was to provide context-sensitive Help on the application dialogs, as well as access to topics from contents list, index and word search. The structure and writing style therefore had to allow topics to be read 'bottom up' starting from the dialog and referring to background information, or 'top down' from task to dialog detail. I also needed to design for ease of maintenance and testing, so that the Help could be kept in step with the software over future releases.

Before these CRM application projects I worked on online Help for a script generation tool.

OFX Internet Banking Server documentation

In 1998 I worked on the documentation of server software based on MIFST (Microsoft Internet Financial Server Toolkit) and using the OFX format. I edited and organized technical reference documentation such as the C++ class and interface definitions, and rewrote descriptive material to provide a clear explanation of the concepts, architecture and functional behaviour.

User guide for a babywear design and procurement system

Also in 1998 - and about as far from Internet banking servers as it gets - I designed and wrote a user guide for a company that produces clothing for babies and children. The company had developed its own software which was used to manage the procurement lifecycle from initial design, through manufacture in several countries, to customer delivery or warehousing of final stock. The system was very specific to the client, and the document I produced combined company procedures together with instructions for using the software itself.

Other work

PRICES project deliverables

In 1997 I helped assemble the final deliverables of the PRICES project. This project was part of the DTI/EPSRC R&D Programme in Safety Critical Systems, and had as its focus the improvement of productivity and integrity in the software development process by attention to human factors and 'safety culture'. The work included editing, restructuring and rewriting the text of a Code of Practice and its supporting Theoretical Justification documents. I also helped create a package of publicity resources, working with cartoonists and providing some creative input of my own.

My work for the PRICES project was commissioned by the Open University, and followed from my earlier involvement in the final project report from the Glossasoft project and its resulting published book.