Position Paper on

Value of Technical Publications in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

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Introduction

This paper presents the value and need for qualitative Technical Publications in companies providing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. Technical publications include a wide variety of material such as Process and Workflow Documentation, User Guides, Online Help, White Papers, Classroom Training Materials, Reference Guides, Administration Guides, Standard Operating Procedures, Installation Manuals, Web-based Training Materials, and Product Demos. ERP implementation in an organization results in extensive changes in staff and work practices. These changes necessitate documentation of the updated processes and workflows, along with the creation of user manuals for the software and its modules, training material for employees, and product-specific configuration documents. Industry analysts predict that every major manufacturing company will purchase and implement the software, with leaders redirecting 50% to 75% of their R&D budgets to e-commerce. Further, the rapid growth and evolution of ERP has led to the development of ERP II, which is intended to help businesses gain a competitive edge. However, despite the rapidly increasing popularity of ERP solutions, the complexity of the implementation of the software makes quality documentation important to both the vendors of ERP solutions and those organizations that purchase them. The documentation needs to be simple and comprehensible to end users, which necessitates the involvement of Technical Documentation Specialists in the creation of these documents. In this paper we will discuss the importance of technical publications to ERP, to facilitate the growth, implementation and evolution of ERP solutions.

TWB Leading Technical Documentation Outsourcing Company

TWB is a leading technical communication outsourcing company that provides services in technical documentation. TWB is the ideal choice for leading vendors of ERP solutions. TWB helps customers with all their technical documentation needs such as user guides, administration guides, installation manuals, process and workflow documentation, configuration documents and training materials. TWB works closely with client teams located globally, and assists them in meeting their worldwide product announcements and launch deadlines. TWBs documentation services enable customers launch their products with world-class documentation. Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more relevant to sustained business than capital or labor. And yet knowledge remains the most neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you unlock and share your technical knowledge with the world.

TWB believes that the technology cannot exist without being communicated effectively.

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ERP Industry Technical Publications

Growth and Penetration of ERP in India
ERP software in India was originally treated as support software and used for back office functions. As companies began to understand the diverse applications of ERP, it was shifted from maintenance of back office functions to the whole of the company.
Asia-Pacific

Challenges and Solutions

Some of the greatest documentation challenges that most companies face today include:

15.10% Projected CAGR

Timely availability of quality documents during product release Cost cutting in a multi-vendor business environment Managing large volumes of documentation for new products releases

12.40%

Asia-Pacific

10.10%

An enterprise system is implemented to develop a business or make it more effective. This is a large investment, and with competition increases and lower profit margins, keeping implementation costs low is important. Up to 80% of the total cost for an ERP system is connected to maintenance activities. A major factor that affects the maintenance of the system, positively or negatively, is the quality of documentation. If the documentation is not satisfying, it needs to be restructured, which leads to a sizeable increase in maintenance effort and total costs. TWB provides documentation with professional quality. Further, ERP systems are standardized systems, which often need modifications to suit the requirements of a specific organization. It is essential for the documentation to be updated accurately and effectively, to reflect the changes made after customization.

2008

2009

2010 Year

2011

2012

The Indian ERP market experienced CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 25.2 during the period of 2004 2009. The market was $83 million in 2004 and is projected to be over $250 million in 2009, according to a research report.

Growth and Penetration of ERP Globally

The first marked increase in the ERP market was in 2004. The 14% increase made ERP a USD 23.6 billion business. The total revenue increased to over USD 28 billion by the end of 2006. It is of note that ERP license revenue increased by 18% in 2006, according to AMR Research Inc.s ERP Market Sizing Report 2006-2011. Overall, this is the healthiest the ERP and enterprise applications market has been since the 1990s. Jim Shepherd, Vice President, AMR.

Benefits
For a leading vendor of ERP systems, association with TWB has benefited them immensely in saving costs and producing professional documentation along with services such as:

The ERP license revenue increased markedly in 2007, growing to 19%. The sale of ERP packages remained stable to small, medium, and large businesses alike.

Transferring complex technical data into easily understandable language Protecting technical and commercial data of newly developed products Managing knowledge management and content management solutions, single sourcing, and data migration.

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Value of Technical Publications

Technical Communication for Transferring Product Knowledge
The purpose of technical communication is to transfer product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible manner. The strategies of communication and levels of information vary depending on the type of product and audience. Providing end users with information about a products operation and maintenance is critical to the market performance of the product. Hence, the need for quality documentation is imperative. In todays business scenario, technical publications are often developed as an afterthought. This usually results in inaccurate and incomprehensible documentation, which, in turn, renders the users incapable of using the products. Accurate, readily understandable, and quality documents determine how a product sells in the market and result in increased customer satisfaction.

Communication for Different Levels of Technical and Product Knowledge

In technical publications, audience is the focal point. Hence, the style, language, and content must vary depending on the type of audience being addressed. It is because every user has a specific role in the implementation and usage of the technology. Therefore, it is important that documents be created keeping in mind the role of the person who will use the document. For example, when you document a software application designed for highly technical users, it is sufficient to provide the users with quick reference information to use the application. For users who start without technical or product knowledge, it is important to provide detailed product information along with instructions on how to use the product.

Attractive Publications as Useful Marketing Tools

Besides transferring knowledge, technical publications are also used for marketing a product. Before a product is released in the market, information about the product needs to be effectively communicated to the customers. Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive marketing collaterals increase the market prospects of a product and reduce support costs.

Faulty Assumptions that Result in Problems in Documentation

The faulty assumptions listed below result in incomprehensible document:

Developers know their products better than anyone else due to time constraints and limited resources, many companies assign their documentation tasks to the programmers. This more often results in the 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.

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Conclusion

The Importance of ERP: An ERP system provides support by combining different internal and external organizational functions. These systems are often customized to meet the specific needs of specific organizations. Documentation in an ERP project serves two functions: first, to specify the changes that have been made to the standard ERP package; and second, to help the users operate the system. Good documentation is clear, easy to read and simple to understand. It helps users operate and maintain systems with ease. Good documentation allows the ERP system itself to be used effectively to enhance the business and its processes. Value of Technical Publications: Technical Publications are very essential for transferring product knowledge to 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 decreases the chances of marketing the products in the global market. Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity involved in implementing an ERP system requires that vendors and purchasers consider 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.

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TWB Services
TWB is Indias 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. TWBs 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. TWBs services include:

Technical Marketing Solutions

Datasheets Cheat sheets Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures Presentations Products/Corporate Profile Brochures and marketing collateral Web content Audio and video scripts Press releases Direct mail Newsletter design copy Sales catalogues Sales sheets

Technical Product Documentation

Business Communication
Short Reports Proposals Case Studies Lab Reports Memos Progress/Interim Reports Writing for Electronic Media

Illustrations
Graphic Designing Info graphics 2D & 3D animation Line drawings and illustrations

Datasheets Administrators Guide API Document Configuration Guide Functional Specifications Document Installation Manual Interface Document Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) Maintenance Manual Online Help Operation Manual Product Demo Product Specifications Document Product Overview Document Quick Reference Guide Release Notes Requirement Analysis Document SDK Document Troubleshooting Manual User Manual Open Source Documentation Programmers Guides Functional Specifications Document Use Cases Online Help /Context Sensitive Help Troubleshooting Guides

Documentation Quality Management

Copy Editing and Proof Reading Managing Writing Editing Services Layout and Design Creating SLAs

Business Documentation
Business Proposals Legal Disclaimers Policy Manuals Style Guide Design Template Design

Content Management
Single Sourcing File Version Control Document Naming Conventions Consistent Document Formatting Data Transformation

Web site Development

Web 2.0 development Web content Web applications

Qualitative Analytics for Decision Support

Economic Business Research Industry Analysis Market Opportunity Analysis Competitive Business Analysis Company & Prospect Profiling Reporting Solutions Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Status and Potential of Technologies Benchmarking of Strategies Vs Competition Forecasting Sales Force Effectiveness Market Assessments Competitive Intelligence Opinion Leadership Emerging Markets - evaluation and research

Translation and Localization Services

Software Translation Services Document Translation Services Localization (L10N) Testing Internationalization (I18N) Testing

Process Documentation
Workflows Standard Operating Procedures ISO Documentation CMM Documentation

Records Management
Document Management Solutions Record Management Storage and Retrieval

Deployment and Support

Installation and Configuration Guides Operations Manual

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TWB Software Tools Expertise

Our technical proficiency in software and authoring tools includes:

Unstructured Content Development

Microsoft Word Adobe FrameMaker Adobe InDesign QuarkXPress Adobe PageMaker

XML Structured Editors

Epic FrameMaker+SGML X-Metal

Multimedia /Authoring
Adobe Flash Adobe Dreamweaver Microsoft FrontPage Adobe Captivate

Macromedia Captivate Graphics/Animations

Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop Adobe Fireworks

Illustrations
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Adobe Illustrator CS3 CorelDRAW Microsoft-Expression Graphic Designer Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux) CuteDraw Publisher3D(for animation) Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector graphics) Techsmith Camtasia Arbortext IsoDraw (technical illustrations for 2D and 3D)

Multimedia /Authoring / Supporting tools

Adobe Flash Adobe Flex Adobe AIR Adobe Dreamweaver Adobe Acrobat Microsoft Silverlight Adobe Authorware Adobe Director Adobe Captivate Trivantis Lectora ASP.NET JSP JAVA

Online Help
JavaHelp Adobe RoboHelp 7.0 HelpScribble WebWorks Publisher PowerCHM Doc-To-Help WinCHM HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows) Fast-Help MadCap Flare Help-Server NVU Help

Standards
SCORM 1.2 / 2004 AICC W3C Section 508 QTI XML

Graphics/Animation
Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe Fireworks Microsoft Silverlight

XML
XMetal Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007

Databases
Microsoft Access Microsoft SQL Server

CMS/ LMS
Sharepoint Moodle Joomla, WordPress Media Wiki CMS Builder Author-it (formerly AuthorIT) Alfresco

Development and Publishing tools

XSLT/XSL EDD

Flowcharting
Microsoft Visio iGrafx EDraw RFFlow Flowbreeze Smart Draw

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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 Consulting and Business Services Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing Education and Learning IT, ITES

ITES/ KPO/ BPO Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation Telecom and Digital Communications

TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:

The TWB Building

No: 4062, 19th Main Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560008 India. Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers Telephone: +91.80.40741400 / +91.80.41256367 Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in

US Office: TWB
11701 Norwegian Wood Drive Austin, TX 78758

Telephone: +1.512.586.8357

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