Twb position paper_tech_publications_in_electric &electronic industry_v2
1. Position Paper on
Value of Technical Publications in the
Electric and Electronic Industry
The Writers Block www.twb.in 1
2. Installation Manual User Manual
Quick Reference Guide
Product Demo
Release Note
Online Help
Troubleshooting Guide
The Writers Block www.twb.in 2
3. Introduction
This paper presents the value and need for quality TWB’s presence as a Leading Technical
Technical Publications in the Electric and Electronic
Industry.
Documentation Outsourcing Company
Technical publications in Electric and Electronic TWB is a leading technical publisher with an excellent
Industry include a wide variety of documents such as record of providing unmatched technical documentation
user guides, online help, reference guides, to many major companies.
administration guides, standard operating procedures,
installation manuals, troubleshooting guides, release TWB is the ideal choice for leading vendors of Electric
notes, quick reference guides, research reports, and and Electronic products. TWB helps customers with all
product demos. their technical documentation needs such as user
guides, administration guides, installation manuals,
The electric and electronic industry has experienced process and workflow documentation, configuration
enormous changes in the last few decades, and the documents and training materials.
pace of its evolution is increasing. This industry has
grown because of government's thrust on it and also TWB works closely with client teams located globally,
due to overall economic growth. and assists them in meeting their worldwide product
announcements and launch deadlines. We work round-
The industry has seen a growth of 20% and should the-clock with client teams and help them with quick
continue at the same level for the next few years. responses that facilitate timely distribution of documents
These changes necessitate documentation of the around the globe.
updated processes and workflows, along with the
creation of user manuals for the product, and product-
specific configuration documents.
“Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility and
Thus there is tremendous potential for technical competitive advantage. Knowledge is more relevant to
documentation in the electric and electronic industry. sustained business than capital or labor. And yet
knowledge remains the most neglected asset of a
Due to the rapid growth of the Electric and Electronic business. TWB helps you unlock and share your
Industry, the use of the electric or electronic products technical knowledge with the world.”
makes quality documentation important to both the
vendors of these products and the end users. The
documentation needs to be simple and
comprehensible to end users, which necessitates the
involvement of technical documentation specialists in
the creation of documents relevant to this industry.
“TWB believes that no technology can be
effectively used without being communicated
efficiently.”
The Writers Block www.twb.in 1 1
4. Electric and Electronic Industry – Technical Publications
Growth and Penetration of Electric and Challenges and Solutions
Electronic Industry in India
This sector has been growing at a rapid pace with the
invention of innovative technologies and an ever- Some of the greatest documentation challenges that
increasing customer inclination towards electronic goods most companies face today include:
and services.
Lack of documentation during a product release or
India has positioned itself as one of the front-runners of launch.
the rapidly growing Asia Pacific Region. This industry is Managing large amount of information for new
one of the fastest growing industries in the country and product releases.
is driven by growth in key sectors such as IT, Consumer Applying cost-cutting measures while serving many
Electronics and Telecom. vendors.
“The Indian electronics industry today stands at US
$ 25 billion. It is ranked 26th in the world in terms of Creating and maintaining documents specific to this
sales and 29th in the world in terms of production. It industry involves enormous capital investment in labor
is growing at over 25% CAGR and is expected to be and technology. TWB provides documentation
worth US $ 158 billion by 2015.” solutions for creating and maintaining product and
process documents.
Growth and Penetration of Electric and The invention of innovative technologies in this
Electronic Industry in Global Market industry leads to a lot of changes. These changes
have to be documented and revised frequently. TWB
The global electric and electronic industry is highly provides continuous support to update product
fragmented, comprising of various auxiliary sectors documents regularly with changing technology
namely electronic components, computer and office advancements.
equipments, telecommunications, consumer
appliances, and industrial electronics. Attaining the quality standards require huge capital
investment. Cost-cutting measures play an important
According to BCC Research, The global market for function in increasing capital gains for companies.
power electronics was worth $9.8 billion in 2007. This TWB provides technical documentation solutions that
is expected to reach $10.2 billion by the end of 2008 are at par with the industry standards, and within the
and $17.7 billion in 2013, for a compound annual budget.
growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7%.
The U.S.market generated $2.1 billion in 2007 and is
expected to generate $2.2 billion in 2008. This should
Benefits
reach $3.9 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 12.1%.
Worldwide and US Demand for Power For a leading electric and electronic company,
Electronics, 2007-2013 ($ Billions) association with TWB has benefited them immensely
in saving costs and producing professional
20
documentation along with:
15
Transferring complex technical data into easily
$ Billions
10 understandable language
Protecting technical and commercial data of newly
5
developed products
0
Managing knowledge management and content
2007 2008 2013
management solutions, and single sourcing.
US Only Worldwide
The Writers Block www.twb.in 2
5. Value of Technical Publications
Technical Communication for Communication for Different Levels of
Transferring Product Knowledge Technical and Product Knowledge
The purpose of technical communication is to transfer In technical publications, audience is the focal point.
product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible Hence, the style, language, and content must vary
manner. The strategies of communication and levels of depending on the type of audience being addressed. It
information vary depending on the type of product and is because every user has a specific role in the
audience. implementation and usage of technology. Therefore, it
is important that documents be created keeping in
mind the role of the person who will use the document.
Providing end users with information about a product’s
operation and maintenance is critical to the market
performance of the product. Hence, the need for quality For example, when you document a software
documentation is imperative. application designed for highly technical users, it is
sufficient to provide the users with quick reference
information to use the application.
In today’s business scenario, technical publications are
often developed as an afterthought. This usually results
in inaccurate and incomprehensible documentation, For users who start without technical or product
which, in turn, renders the users incapable of using the knowledge, it is important to provide detailed product
products. information along with instructions on how to use the
product.
Accurate, readily understandable, and quality documents
determine how a product sells in the market and result in
increased customer satisfaction. Attractive Publications as Useful
Marketing Tools
Faulty Assumptions that Result in
Problems in Documentation Besides transferring knowledge, technical publications
are also used for marketing a product. Before a
The faulty assumptions listed below result in product is released in the market, information about
incomprehensible documents: the product needs to be effectively communicated to
the customers.
Developers know their products better than anyone
else – due to time constraints and limited resources, Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
many companies assign their documentation tasks to marketing collaterals increase the market prospects of
the programmers. This more often results in the a product and reduce support costs.
creation of technology-centered information, while
end users require task-oriented information.
Documentation of complex applications requires a
longer learning curve for the writer - learning the
product will not be a major obstacle for writers with
the right technical background.
The Writers Block www.twb.in 3 3
6. Conclusion
The Importance of Electric and Electronic Industry: The worldwide electric and electronic industry is
experiencing phenomenal and remarkable changes these days. The future seems prosperous for this industry in
terms of the expected surge in global demand and upsurge in investments. Increased foreign investments have
resulted in the accelerated growth in terms of electronic production and exports. Foreign companies are now
making huge investments and are installing extensive production capacities in developing countries. The rapid
pace of innovation in electronics technology is resulting in a consistent demand for newer and faster products
and applications.
Value of Technical Publications: Technical Publications are very essential for transferring product knowledge
to the end users. Provisioning of proper material to use the technology and products enables the user to accept
and efficiently use the product. Faulty assumptions about documentation lead to inaccurate and hard-to-
understand material. This also reduces the changes to be made for marketing the products in the global
markets. On the other hand, good documentation is clear, easy to read and simple to understand. It helps the
user operate and maintain the system with ease. Good documentation allows products to be used effectively.
Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity and growth involved in the electric and electronic
industry requires that companies look at outsourcing their documentation needs to well-established Technical
Publications Solutions providers. This helps the company cut costs and at the same time deliver their products
with quality documents.
The Writers Block www.twb.in 4
7. TWB Services
TWB is India’s leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that allows
our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWB’s customers range from
Global 500 – including Cisco, Accenture, McAfee, LG, Samsung, Citrix, SAP, Siemens, AOL, Intel; Indian technology majors –
including Infosys, Wipro; Global defense majors - Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, DRDO, HAL; and exciting technology startups.
TWB's expertise in technical communication ranges from IT Products and Outsourcing, ITES, Banking, Financial, Aerospace,
Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing.
TWB’s services include:
Technical Marketing Technical Product Documentation Quality
Solutions Documentation Management
Datasheets
Administrator’s Guide
Datasheets Copy Editing and Proof Reading
API Document
Cheat sheets Managing Writing
Configuration Guide
Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures Editing Services
Functional Specifications Document
Presentations – Products/Corporate Layout and Design
Profile Installation Manual
Creating SLAs
Brochures and marketing collateral Interface Document
Web content Interactive Electronic Technical Manual
(IETM)
Business Documentation
Audio and video scripts
Maintenance Manual Business Proposals
Press releases
Online Help Legal Disclaimers
Direct mail
Operation Manual Policy Manuals
Newsletter design copy
Product Demo Style Guide Design
Sales catalogues
Product Specifications Document Template Design
Sales sheets
Product Overview Document
Quick Reference Guide
Business Communication Content Management
Release Notes
Short Reports Requirement Analysis Document
Single Sourcing
Proposals SDK Document
File Version Control
Case Studies Troubleshooting Manual
Document Naming Conventions
Lab Reports User Manual
Consistent Document Formatting
Memos Open Source Documentation
Data Transformation
Progress/Interim Reports Programmers Guides
Writing for Electronic Media Functional Specifications Document
Use Cases Web site Development
Illustrations Online Help /Context Sensitive Help
Web 2.0 development
Troubleshooting Guides
Graphic Designing Web content
Info graphics Web applications
Qualitative Analytics for
2D & 3D animation
Decision Support Translation and Localization
Line drawings and illustrations
Services
Economic Business Research
Process Documentation Industry Analysis Software Translation Services
Workflows Market Opportunity Analysis Document Translation Services
Standard Operating Procedures Competitive Business Analysis Localization (L10N) Testing
ISO Documentation Company & Prospect Profiling Internationalization (I18N) Testing
CMM Documentation Reporting Solutions
Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Records Management
Deployment and Support Status and Potential of Technologies
Document Management Solutions
Benchmarking of Strategies Vs
Competition Record Management Storage and
Installation and Configuration Guides
Retrieval
Operations Manual Forecasting
Sales Force Effectiveness
Market Assessments
Competitive Intelligence
Opinion Leadership
Emerging Markets - evaluation and
research
The Writers Block www.twb.in 5 5
8. TWB Software Tools Expertise
Our technical proficiency in software and authoring tools includes:
Unstructured Content XML Structured Editors Multimedia /Authoring
Development
Epic Adobe Flash®
Microsoft Word® FrameMaker+SGML Adobe Dreamweaver®
Adobe FrameMaker® X-Metal® Microsoft FrontPage®
Adobe InDesign® Adobe Captivate®
QuarkXPress® Macromedia Captivate
Adobe PageMaker® Graphics/Animations
Multimedia /Authoring /
Illustrations Adobe Flash® Supporting tools
Adobe Photoshop®
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Adobe Fireworks® Adobe Flash®
Adobe Illustrator CS3 Adobe Flex®
CorelDRAW Online Help Adobe AIR®
Microsoft-Expression Graphic Adobe Dreamweaver®
Designer Adobe Acrobat®
Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux) JavaHelp
Microsoft Silverlight®
CuteDraw Adobe RoboHelp 7.0
Adobe Authorware®
Publisher3D(for animation) HelpScribble
Adobe Director®
Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector WebWorks Publisher
Adobe Captivate®
graphics) PowerCHM
Trivantis Lectora®
Techsmith Camtasia Doc-To-Help
ASP.NET
Arbortext IsoDraw (technical WinCHM
JSP
illustrations for 2D and 3D) HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows)
JAVA
Fast-Help
MadCap Flare Standards
Graphics/Animation Help-Server
NVU Help
SCORM 1.2 / 2004
Adobe Flash® AICC
XML
Adobe Photoshop® W3C
Adobe Illustrator® Section 508
Adobe Fireworks® XMetal® QTI XML
Microsoft Silverlight® Microsoft Word 2003®,
Microsoft Word 2007®
Databases Development and Publishing
tools
CMS/ LMS
Microsoft Access XSLT/XSL
Microsoft SQL Server EDD
Sharepoint®
Moodle
Flowcharting Joomla,
WordPress
Microsoft Visio Media Wiki
iGrafx CMS Builder
EDraw Author-it (formerly AuthorIT)
RFFlow Alfresco
Flowbreeze
Smart Draw
The Writers Block www.twb.in 6
9. Industries Served
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge-driven industries, helping them meet their markets better. These include:
Banking, Insurance and Financial Services ITES/ KPO/ BPO
Consulting and Business Services Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries
Education and Learning Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation
IT, ITES Telecom and Digital Communications
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
The TWB Building US Office:
No: 4062, 19th Main Road, TWB
HAL 2nd Stage, 11701 Norwegian Wood Drive
Bangalore – 560008 Austin, TX 78758
India.
Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers
Telephone: Telephone:
+91.80.40741400 / +91.80.41256367 +1.512.586.8357
Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in
The Writers Block www.twb.in 7 7