2   Development Process

Approving the Document Plan

Now that you’ve completed your needs analysis, manual specification, and project work plan, put them together into a document plan that you can circulate for review. If you’ve been circulating the components of the plan as it was being developed, you shouldn’t encounter significant objections. The document plan can either be a loose collection of the materials you’ve produced this far, or a formal report complete with table of contents and introduction. The plan should include the following:

• brief description of purpose, objectives, and intended audience
• outline and page estimates
• prototype section
• reference to the styleguide that you intend to follow
• process flowchart (optional)
• names and roles of team members
• description of word processing and online authoring software you’ll use
• activity breakdown and time estimate, including assumptions
• printing and other production costs
• schedule

Make sure that all members of the team, including representative users, reviewers, and the person who must approve the manual, have a chance to review the document plan and comment on it. If there’s a difference of opinion about any aspect of the manual, resolve it now before the writing gets underway.

Many organizations require that reviewers sign off the document plan once they’ve read it, either as is or with changes marked. That way, once work gets underway, everyone will share the same set of expectations about the manual.

Once your document plan has been reviewed, and you’ve made any changes necessary to obtain approval, you’re ready to start writing the manual.