Educating Customers about Budget-Busters
The design stage of any project enables you and your customer to make decisions about the “look and feel” of the final deliverable. While some of these decisions may be modified during the development stage because of new or better information coming to light, be aware that changes often affect the budget. You enhance your value to the customer by keeping tabs on the budget.
Media
Let’s say your customer wants a user’s guide to distribute with a customized software application. You reach an agreement for writing the manual and get to work. You complete the manual on time and are about to send it to production when the customer says she also wants to put it online. Maybe the application you used has the capability to convert a document to online format, but maybe it doesn’t. Converting could be an expensive process requiring redesign, more time, and new resources. You can help educate your customer by asking more questions about media during the design stage so that you both can plan accordingly.
Translation
Translating any document involves extra resources on a project. Several years ago, I developed a set of training manuals for a year’s worth of training. The set included a 1,000 page scripted leader’s guide, a set of 75 overhead transparencies, and a 200 page participant’s guide. After the first training session, the customer decided to have the materials translated into Spanish and Portuguese for use in their Pan American division.
I had happened to use a desktop publishing package that the translators could use (WordPerfect 5.2 for DOS, which was state–of–the–art at that time for Pan America.) My page design was such that the new languages fit on the pages, and the captions for graphics and tables expanded automatically. The translators needed explanations for only four items that were "local humor" or American slang expressions. I was extremely lucky on that project, and from it I learned to ask about possible translation during the design stage of any project. Generally, I find that applying good technical writing guidelines requires minimal other alterations for translating.
Lessons Learned about Translation
- Ask about translation plans before you accept the project.
- Avoid local humor and trendy slang.
- Design pages with plenty of white space.
- Allow for expansion of captions and table titles. (Most languages require more words than English.)
- Find a good resource on translation guidelines. STC has published several in recent issues of the Journal and Intercom.
Production
As soon as you accept a project that has hard-copy deliverables, such as documentation or training manuals, the production coordinator wants to know the size of the manual, the paper stock, the type of tabs, and whether you are using any color in the job. Sometimes the production coordinator is you, but the need for this information is the same. Why?
Production Time
Production takes time. For example, here in St. Louis, Missouri, it takes about a month to get laminated, typeset tabs printed on both sides for standard 3-ring binders. But if you use paper tabs printed on only one side, the printer can run them right with the copying job. The laminated version lasts longer and makes it easy to find things in a manual front to back or back to front. The plain paper version is less expensive but the tabs fold over and the holes tear out.
Special Ordering
The production coordinator may need to order special paper ahead of time. I like to include a bit of color in printed training or documentation by using paper with a runhead in color. Sometimes we can use company letterhead. When you make these decisions up front, you can schedule the time for producing special paper, and you may be able to save on costs by ordering in bulk. You also design the job around these up-front parameters.
Last Minute Changes
Last-minute changes to production decisions can drastically affect the budget for a project. In one case, I planned to use a company’s stationery second sheets for the pages in a training manual. The second sheets had a company logo in color in the lower right corner, and since we were using single-sided printing, would work perfectly. I designed the margins and a footer with the page number and other footer information to coordinate with the logo. The manager approved the design. We ordered 10,000 sheets of the stationery at an extremely low price because of the size of the order.
Near the end of the project, the manager decided that he wanted the manuals printed two-sided on plain white paper to “make them smaller” and thus less expensive. I pointed out as tactfully as possible that this would require a time–consuming change in page layout, and that the paper should be heavier stock to accommodate the two–sided printing, and that there would probably be no savings. He didn’t agree, and the project cost more than the original estimate. I learned to be more definite about these up-front items, including costs as well as various options during the design stage. I also review the design with the project manager at each stage of the project.
Online Projects
Online projects have production and distribution issues of their own. If a company changes its standard software vendor in the middle of your online documentation project, do you convert everything from old to new? How will you update the material once it goes online? Will the online information be available on the Internet or on a private network? What other online issues should you settle up front?