user manual and reference manual guidelines

8/14/2019 User Manual and Reference Manual Guidelines

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REVISION HISTORY

S.No.

Version /Revision no.

Date ofrelease

Revised Sections Remarks

1 1.0 25-04-98 1st release


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Rev No. 1.0 Header not to be changed 02-01

INTRODUCTION

Purpose

This document provides the user a set of standards to be followed during theprocess of writing a user and reference manual. It maintains all the guidelines

applicable for the user and reference manual prepared for the in-house projects.

Scope

This document describes the matter related to the content formatting in terms ofpage setup, layout, fonts, indentations etc. These are pertinent to the guidelines

developed in the making of user and reference manual for the concerned software

projects.

Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations

Definitions

Manual preparation cycle

The time lag is from the initiation of the manual writing to its despatch tothe customer. The cycle includes a series of phases, namely,

understanding the product for which the manual is to be written, collecting

the material, compiling the material and organizing it, capturing bitmaps,keying in the contents along with the addition of bitmaps, reviewing the

contents, fixing up the changes, delivering the copies to the customer and

maintaining versions for future updations.

Acronym

Not Applicable

Abbreviations

Not Applicable

References

Not Applicable


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STANDARD/GUIDELINE

General guidelines for preparing the user and reference manual are explained

below.

User Manual

1. To begin with the manual, first make the cover page comprising of themanual title, type and the Company address. This will be followed by the

Copyright document.

2. Design the table of contents displaying the topics covered chapter-wisealong with their respective page numbers. Make use of the user-defined

format Table for the table of contents. The standard table of contents will

display only three levels of headings.

3. Compose a document, which details on welcoming the user to the system.

4. Arrange the relevant topics of the software chapter-wise. Chapters willcover all the tasks related to the software. These tasks will explain all the

various ways of carrying out the operations.5. Introduce the user to the system with the first chapter on Introduction.

This will also describe the essential features of the software.

6. The next chapter will primarily talk on the installation of the software.Prior to the installation, the recommended hardware and software

requirements for the product are covered. Installation will be explained

depending upon the kind of setup the software supports. If the software can berun both on client and network platforms, the installation would cover both

the client and network setup. Otherwise, the standalone setup is briefed.

7. Similar to the first two chapters, assort the other chapters task-wise andkey in the contents. To make the manual user-friendly, make use of thescreens.

8. All the screens should be placed uniformly with the size of 75% (height

and width) which would be aligned centrally in the document.9. Define the footer in all the chapters for the odd and even pages. In the

footer, the user enters the chapter number-page number along with the title

of the manual or the title of the chapter.10. At the end of the manual, make a chapter on Index, which would list down

all the topics along with their page numbers to be referred to in the manual.

11. Glossary is optional which can furnish the relative description of all the

technical words used in the chapters. It is assorted in the alphabetical orderand appears as a part of the Appendix section of the manual.


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Reference Manual

1. To begin with the manual, first make the cover page comprising of

the manual title, type and the Company address. This will be followed by

the Copyright document.2. Design the table of contents displaying the topics covered

chapter-wise along with their respective page numbers. Make use of the

user-defined format Table for the table of contents. The standard table ofcontents will display only three levels of headings.

3. Compose a document, which details on welcoming the user to the

system.4. Arrange the relevant topics of the software chapter-wise. Chapters

will cover all the functionalities related to the software. These

functionalities will be explained through the menu options, which in turn

will familiarize the user with the basic operations.

5. Introduce the user to the system with the first chapter onIntroduction. This will also describe the essential features of the software.

6. Similar to the first chapter, assort the other chapters menu-wiseand key in the contents. To make the manual user-friendly, make use of

the screens.

7. All the screens should be placed uniformly with the size of 75%(height and width) which would be aligned centrally in the document.

8. Define the footer in all the chapters for the odd and even pages. In

the footer, the user enters the chapter number-page number along withthe title of the manual or the title of the chapter.

9. At the end of the manual, make a chapter on Index, which would

list down all the topics along with their page numbers to be referred to inthe manual.10. Glossary is then formed as a part of the Appendix section to

furnish the relative description of all the technical words used in the

chapters of the manual. All the technical words are assorted in thealphabetical order.

11. Error messages that appear in the software are also included in the

other section of the Appendix.12. Prepare a list of the hardware devices with which the software is

compatible and cannot function without it. This will again be a part of the

Appendix.

ANNEXURE 1 - STANDARDS FOR NEWGEN OFFICE, OCX DOCUMENTVIEWER , NSMS, CENTRAL IMAGE MANUAL AND NEWGEN OFFICEADDONS

The font name and size for the

Normal Style - Times New Roman, 11.Heading 1 - Arial, 18, Bold, Underlined, Grey 3 pts


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Heading 2 -Arial, 14, Bold


Description -Times New Roman, 11, BoldNotes -Arial Narrow, 9, with lines above and below the text.

Footer -Arial, 9, Italics

Paper Size -Letter 8 `` * 11``

Margins:

Top 2.25``

Bottom1.25``

Left 1.48``

Right1.78``

Header 2.06``

Footer 1.06

Layout

Start with Odd Page

Different Odd and Even Pages.

Different First Page.

ANNEXURE 2 STANDARDS FOR NEWGEN GOLD REPORTS

The font name and size for the

Normal Times New Roman, 12Heading 1 - Arial, 18, Bold, Underlined, Grey 3 ptsHeading 2 -Arial, 14, Bold


Chapter -Arial, 10Description Times New Roman, 12, Bold

Notes -Book Antiqua, 9, Regular, with lines above and below the text.

Footer -Arial, 9, ItalicsPaper Size -Custom Size 7.5`` * 9``

Margins:

Left 0.75`` Right 1.25``

Mirror Images:

Inside 1.0``

Outside 0.75``

Header 0``

Footer 0.75``


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Margins

Top 1``

Bottom 1``

Left 1.25``

Right 1.25`` Header 0.5``

Footer 0.5``

Layout

Start with Odd Page.

Different First Page.

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