HELP?!? The Evolution of BookRunner®Help
By Andrew Schnell - Business Analyst, RiskAdvisory
Since the introduction of RiskAdvisory BookRunner®, it has always been a top priority to ensure that there was a solid product support system to accompany the software. This support system involved an interactive online help system, as well as a hard-copy user manual. As with most products, especially software, the help system needs to evolve to ensure its ease of use to the end user. This article will often refer to BookRunner® Help, which references both the online help, as well as the user manual. The following is the evolution of BookRunner®Help, from the pastto the present (soon to be)...and on to the future.
Past
In the past, BookRunner®'s product support system was available via two means: an online help system and a hard-copy manual. The online help system was created using a Microsoft Help tool that was more or less a how-to of BookRunner®. The hard copy manual was utilized more as a reference manual for users. These two methods were developed independently from one another, which in turn proved to be a cumbersome approach when it came to updating the two help systems. If the online help system needed to be updated, then the user manual required updating separately as well.
Present...Soon
Now introducing BookRunner®Help. BookRunner®Help is the new help system developed by RiskAdvisory using a new third party software tool. This application will enable RiskAdvisory to use a single source Help development environment to create an online help system, as well as a user manual simultaneously. BookRunner®Help will be delivered with BookRunner® in a browser-based format called WebHelp and will essentially have all of the previous content as before, with the addition of newly updated features, including:
- user-friendly navigation;
- a new help system content layout;
- a thorough glossary of terms;
- a powerful search engine;
- and a more professional look.
With this new approach to developing BookRunner®Help, RiskAdvisory will have the ability to update both systems at more frequent intervals. Note: This new BookRunner®Help system is slated for release by the end of 2004.
Future
The future of BookRunner®Help is online. This doesn't mean just having the online help without a manual (the hard-copy user manual will still be available), but actually having the online help system completely browser-based and accessible over the Internet. This would entail that the BookRunner®Help system resides on a RiskAdvisory web server and be accessed over the Internet. By clicking on the Help icon on the toolbar in the BookRunner® application, users would access BookRunner®Help via a web browser (which is loaded from the RiskAdvisory web server). However, this would not be the only way to access help in BookRunner®; RiskAdvisory is looking to incorporate a system known as Airplane Help. Airplane help is a method of help where there is a help system completely online residing on a web server, in addition to a help system stored locally. When a user clicks on the Help icon within BookRunner®, the system would launch a web browser and attempt to locate the BookRunner®Help on the RiskAdvisory web server. If the browser cannot connect to the web server, then BookRunner® falls back' and links directly to the locally stored help system. The name Airplane help stems from the ability to access a product's help system while traveling on an airplane where an Internet connection is not available. This would ensure that the BookRunner®Help users are pointing to the most up-to-date version as possible, and in-essence a real-time Help system. We are also looking at other ways to improve BookRunner®Help, such as: a separate System Administrator manual, a separate Table/Form Reference manual, and a more interactive trouble-shooting platform. See Figure 1 for a screen shot of BookRunner®Help.
Update: Quality Assurance
RiskAdvisory is constantly looking at ways to improve the Quality Assurance (QA) process; in other words to QA the QA process. We are looking at ways to link the QA process with the documentation process. For this we are going to start sending more detailed ReadMe documents with our patches and releases. These enhanced ReadMe files will encompass a list of detailed test plans for the various bugs and enhancements. This will not only aid our clients with the efficiency and accuracy of testing, but will also help the RiskAdvisory QA test process.
If you have any questions about this article or BookRunner®Help in general, contact Andrew Schnell at aschnell@riskadvisory.com or by calling 403.263.7475.