Manual Analysis and Evaluation Case Manual In-house Support

Challenges of Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Yokogawa Electric provides not only products in the fields of control, measurement, and information, but also offers total solutions that target the entire corporate activities from management to production sites.

They also handle the production of product manuals in-house and are actively working to improve the manual production process and enhance individual technical writing skills. They have also introduced a CMS using DITA to reduce typesetting costs and improve translation management efficiency.

This time, we used our consulting services to objectively verify the results of improving our manual creation skills that we have been working on so far.

In addition, you have a challenge of wanting to improve the quality of your writing and are looking for tips on how to thoroughly implement topic-oriented writing.

Human Science Solutions

First, we selected the target manual and evaluated and analyzed the existing manual from the perspectives of clarity, readability, and ease of searching. During this process, we thoroughly examined whether the sentences were written in a way that makes them easy to reuse, as one of the evaluation and analysis criteria. This is an important element for effectively utilizing DITA.

We shared our recognition of the evaluation results by gathering all stakeholders in a reporting meeting, and reached an agreement on improving the manual.

And, we have conducted training for writers who are actually in charge of writing.

Training Content

・Use actual customer manuals as training texts.

・Due to the large number of participants, the same course will be offered in two separate sessions.

- Based on the manual analysis results, the lecture will focus on points such as "improving table of contents structure", "brushing up on sentence expressions", and "reconsidering layout", while incorporating exercises.

- Discuss with your group how to improve using the exercises as material.

Educational Materials Image

For more detailed information related to this case study, please see below.

Manual Creation and User Manual Creation

Manual Creation In-house Support Service

Manual Evaluation, Analysis, and Improvement Proposal Service

DITA・CMS

Results Obtained through Consulting

Through evaluation and analysis, we were able to clarify the current issues and improvement points in manual creation. In addition, through training, we were able to share specific methods for improving manuals, allowing us to establish a system for making rapid improvements within our client's company.

In particular, by planning and implementing individual training using the client's actual manual, the level of understanding and commitment of the participants can be completely different. This time, we were able to achieve results that were clearly different from training using generic materials.

Customer Feedback

“

Using the manuals that we actually produce at our company, you explained the points that need improvement in a concise and easy-to-understand manner. Thank you very much.

The comments on the existing manual covered in the exercise were very helpful and made me understand again.

I was able to hear objective opinions that have become the standard in the industry from the perspective of a "production company", which broadened my perspective and helped me understand points that are difficult to notice when working in-house. It was a very valuable learning experience.

Even if you feel that improvements are needed in the manual, it can be difficult to decide how to unify them with existing descriptions and to coordinate with developers. I was struggling with what kind of improvements would be effective. In response to this challenge, I received advice to reach an agreement with stakeholders in advance regarding the revision policy and review checkpoints, and to create a sample that can share the completed image. I definitely want to incorporate this idea in our company.

Through group discussions, we were able to break down the issues raised by the participants and explain improvement plans, which was very easy to understand and helpful.

”

From Human Science representative

We conducted a seminar using four manuals as material, including both hardware and software.

Our team of writers who are well-versed in product specifications were in charge of creating the manual, so the current description was accurate and sufficient. However, they needed further insights to thoroughly organize information and achieve topic-oriented writing.

In this seminar, we were able to conduct workshops for participants on topics such as "improving table of contents", "brushing up on writing", and "reconsidering layout", and share problem points and improvement points.

We were able to consider an approach to make it easier to reuse existing manual text within the constraints unique to DITA.

For those in charge of creating their own company's product manuals, it is not often that they have the opportunity to learn about the approaches taken by other companies or production companies. As a production company, we hope to be able to assist with in-house production by sharing various customer case studies and know-how.

Related Services

Manual Creation and User Manual Creation

Manual Creation In-house Support Service

Manual Evaluation, Analysis, and Improvement Proposal Service

DITA・CMS