Documentation to meet your needs.

TITLE: The Practical Guide to People-Friendly Documentation

AUTHOR: Adrienne Escoe

ISBN: 0873895045

PUBLISHER: American Society for Quality 

PUBLICATION DATE: 2001

LENGTH: 260 pages

PRICE: $50 U.S.

SOURCE: www.amazon.com

Documenting polices and procedures is a necessity for all records and information management (RIM) professionals. The challenge we all face is to create documentation that is simple yet clear, complete, and concise. The Practical Guide to People-Friendly Documentation by Adrienne Escoe provides a framework in which to determine how to format and present documentation that meets the needs of your organization and individual users.

Although at first glance technical writers appear to be the audience, drilling deeper into the book one finds tips and tactics that all managers, regardless of specialization, can use. Chapters 4 ("Usability") and 5 ("Electronic Options") are particularly informative. Escoe walks the reader through a lengthy review of formatting options available, including narrative, play scripts, and flow charts. She discusses the types of formats in which users, depending on their role in the organization and their learning style, would prefer to receive information. For example, those whose job functions revolve around process probably would like to see information presented in a flow-chart format. Others may understand better if videos or play scripts are employed. Regardless of the methodology chosen, the discussion is helpful so that readers can tailor their presentation of RIM policies, for example, in the best way to achieve understanding and, more important, compliance.

A large section of the book is dedicated to ISO and those engaged in total quality management (TQM). Escoe provides the reader with numerous examples and checklists to help determine whether they have met either ISO requirements or TQM standards.

Chapter 9 deals with "Documentation Relatives" including records management, automated forms, and the legality of digital signatures. For the RIM section, the author excerpts heavily from attorney Donald Skupsky--who specializes in and writes about records retention issues--and uses his methodology as an example for formatting retention schedules. Some readers may want a broader discussion for this approach. Nonetheless, the tools throughout this publication can be used by all to help format retention schedules to meet the needs of a RIM professional or an organization.

Because all RIM professionals deal with dwindling resources and time constraints, well-written, concise documentation that informs users of what information they need, when they need it, and in a format that they can relate to is of utmost importance. The Practical Guide to People-Friendly Documentation provides the strategies, tactics, and tools RIM professionals need to evaluate or, perhaps, re-evaluate, the best delivery of information.

Paula Harris, CRM, is Records Manager at NetStock. She may be contacted at paulah@netstock, com.