Delivering Large Scale Documentation
Projects
At Bank of Ireland, I documented the bank's entire intranet over a four month period.
This involved writing 4,800 pages of technical specifications. Other
projects included documenting networks, system installations, security plans, and
infrastructure installations. Managing
the Documentation Lifecycle
As a Publications Manager (aka Senior Technical Writer), I've helped companies:
- Identify their client's documentation requirements.
- Develop Corporate Standards, Style Guides and Coding
Standards.
- Produce tutorials, document plans, and Adobe FrameMaker/MS
Word templates.
- Write documentation e.g. user guides, sys admin guides,
deployment guides, server policy and procedures, installation guides etc.
As Lead Writer on a US Dept. of Justice
security project, I wrote the installation, maintenance and user guides for the State of
California's Fingerprint ID Systems.
Capturing Java banking platforms
At AIB, Ireland's largest bank, I documented their New Banking Platform (NBP) over a
three-month period. This involved documenting the structure of J2EE components e.g. Domain
Architecture, Classloaders, WebSphere Server Installation Guides, JCA MQ Connector Guides,
Technical Support material, and writing an executive-level White Paper.
Proposal Development
As Proposal Manager/Bid Manager, I've defined Proposal methodologies, organizing Bids
teams, wrote and produced RFPs with wins in excess of multi-million Euros. For SMEs,
I've organized Proposal Development Workshops for Business Development Teams.
White Papers, Case Studies, and Solution
Blueprints
As part of Intel's Solution Blueprint framework I prepared white papers and offered
expertise in writing, editing, proofreading, while producing a broad range of
communications such as case studies, web content, and marketing collateral.
ROI on Technical Consultancy
At BOIe, Bank of Ireland's Internet division, I worked as a technical consultant (in
conjunction with Accenture) on both its Wealth Management and Youth portals. My role
involved interfacing with the Bank's other divisions, including Credit Card Services and
Visa Corporation, USA.
Web Words That Get Results
Words, Words, Words. I've prepared web content for websites such as Portal Ltd,
ArcSalve.ie, Bootstrap.ie, SoftwareIreland.com, BridgeCom.ie, High Performance (since
updated), Mulcair Motors, and ClearCriticalThinking.com.
Over the past ten years, I've been published in industry publications such as: BYTE,
Sitepoint, NETWORK, Grid Today, Silicon India, desktoppublishing.com, Enterprise Ireland,
SoftwareIreland.com, TIU Techwatch, and EmployIreland.com.
Exposure to Financial Sector
Call it karma, if you want, but I've worked for banks and with financial institutions
for most of my career.
Experience in the Financial Services has given me an in-depth knowledge of credit card
transactions and other aspects of banking systems, such as PKI, Single View of Customer,
Smart Cards, Authentication, Digital Certificates and other areas. Major projects included
CardBASE Technologies, a developer of smart card solutions, and EuroConex,
who process multi-currency credit card transactions.
Quality Program (company-wide Business Optimization Initiative)
At a former employer, I was responsible for documenting their overall processes and
procedures, i.e. Software Development Lifecycle, Sales and Marketing Dept. (including
streamlining Proposal development lifecycle), Infrastructure, Software Testing, and
Technical Documentation.
This nine-month project involved: capturing existing processes; team reviews; developing
standard operating procedures (SOPs); preparing training programs to ensure the
user groups understood the SOP's and that these were implemented successfully. I also
designed the SOPs templates.
"European Union Research Programs
My role on ACEGIS, a multi-faceted European Union project involved developing tools for
distributed Web Services with special emphasis on secure e-commerce technologies. As
Technical Author/Data Modeler, I've designed UML models and Visio diagrams
that illustrated workflows, state diagrams, sequencing, deployment, and component models
of the payment transactions. Learn more at http://www.acegis.net
Expertise with Adobe FrameMaker and DTP
Applications
For a European Java development firm, I've delivered a large-scale FrameMaker to
Word conversion project ¨C approx. 800 pages.
In addition, I produced FrameMaker templates, books, and
online HTML help, prepared product evaluation reports, and Adobe Acrobat tutorials.
"Microsoft Word and Adobe Framemaker
Template Development"
I know how to create templates - after all, that's a large part of what I do for a
living.
In the UK, USA, and China I've written technical documents, white
papers, and proposals for Fortune 500s, small businesses, and one-person start-ups.
Sometimes I'm here to answer a simple question, other times its more ¡®hands-on'. For
example, I often get asked:
- We don't have a dedicated Tech Writer in house. Can you
update a guide to include new functionality?
- Can you create an easy-to-use Style Guide for us?
- Our new product is to be released very soon. We're
behind schedule. Can you proofread our documents before we send them to print?
- We need 250 pages of FrameMaker documents converted into
Word? Can you do it asap?
- Can you write a tutorial explaining how
multi-authoring works in Adobe PDF?
Small jobs, large jobs, no problem! We take care of those
small time-consuming tasks, so your staff can concentrate on more critical issues. We can
help you meet deadlines by providing that extra support when you need it.
OR when budgets are tight, you can also draft the documents yourself and then pass them to
us. We'll sharpen them up, polish the edges, and return professional-looking documents.
International Proposal Development
From San Francisco, to Berlin and over to Beijing, I've written RFPs, ITTs and
Expressions of Interest for Fortune 500s, small businesses, and also one-person start-ups
trying to break into government contracting.
Here's what I sometimes get asked:
- Is an Invitation To Tender (ITT) different from a
Request for Proposal (RFP)?
- Can I submit more than one proposal?
- Is Open tendering different from Restricted tendering?
- How do I bid for European or Middle Eastern tenders?
Understanding how Evaluators score bids
As well as writing proposals, as consultants to Government Depts I've evaluated
tenders from consultancies such as Accenture, KPMG, Fujitsu and Bearing Point. This has
given us real inside knowledge. We now know:
- What mistakes bidders typically make.
- Where you can easily win ¡®points'.
Things you may not have thought of, or dismissed, could
be very important to the evaluators.
Suggestion: before you send off your
proposal, sit down, open it, and ask yourself: would I buy this?
Be honest. If you don't believe in your own proposal,
neither will they. However, you can sharpen many lukewarm proposals by ¡®putting yourself
in their shoes'¡ªimagine yourself as the evaluator opening the proposal for this first
time. Now ask yourself:
- Do they understand my problem? Have they missed the point
totally?
- Are they talking down to me? Why so many clichés? I
don't like their tone. I've been in this industry 20 years and deserve a little more
respect¡
- Why are they so vague? I've asked them to be specific as
possible.
- Do I trust these people? What would convince me that I can
trust this bidder?
In addition, proposals are evaluated according to very
strict guidelines. Despite all you're hard work, if you're unfamiliar with these, or
at least the basic concepts of proposal evaluation, your proposals may never get
shortlisted, let alone awarded any contracts.
Did you know? Contracts are increasing
awarded NOT to the lowest suitable tender but to the most economically advantageous
tender. This means that factors such as period for completion, maintenance costs,
reference sites, technical merit, cost effectiveness etc., are all taken into account when
¡®scoring' your proposal.
Deciphering the RFP, sending clarifications, preparing drafts, fine-tuning CVs, making
presentations ¡ª it all takes time. And in government tendering, deadlines are often very
tight.
And that's why I'm here: if you have any questions on technical documentation or
proposal development, email me directly at ivan@klariti.com and I'll get back to you straight away.
I'm delighted to provide samples of my work. Let me know if you're interested and
I'll send you over my ¡®Portfolio Pack'.
Best Regards,
Ivan Walsh
Company Details
Tel: 00.353.86.0886.349
Email: info <at> klariti
<dot> com
Address: 63 Ripley Hills, Killarney
Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland
Company Number: 418592
Company Name: Klariti Ltd
Contact Us
Call
me at 086-0886-349 and let's discuss what needs
the most attention right now! You can also get me at ivan @ klariti
dot com
Interested?
Download this
"1 Minute Pitch"
PS: If you couldn't find the template or
business document that you're after, send me a "Request A Template"
email. Let me know what you're looking for and if we don't have it in our library, we can
design it for you asap.
Good Information Architecture Increases Online
Sales
"The creation of an effective shopping cart¡ªand
everything else that's related to the buying experience¡ªposes challenges that are very
different from programming the site." http://www.sitepoint.com/print/increases-online-sales
What's so different about Writing for the Web?
Do you remember the first time one of your friends showed you how to write a
text message-and explained why verbs had become such old-hat? It seemed liberating. It
broke all the rules. And it made sense...
http://www.ebusinesslive.ie
Mixed Report On SOX Compliance Impact And
Progress
"Klariti.com announced the results of a new survey of CFOs, CIO's and
business executives about their IT strategies to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002. Ivan Walsh, the author of the IT Solutions for Sarbanes-Oxley Act
report, commented: "Though most executives see compliance in terms of
financial reporting, to satisfy the broad scope of SOX requirements they must also
implement processes and procedures in other areas, such as e-mail management, data
retention, and also control unauthorized access, trapdoors and security holes in their
network infrastructure." http://www.ebizq.net/
Successful Proposals. Focus on Client's Needs,
Not Your Capabilities
"Successful proposals place the emphasis on the client's needs rather than
on your abilities, technology, or experience, regardless of their technical merit. Novice
proposal writers tend to hype their own products/services and relegate the client's
needs to second place. For example, a proposal for a Content Management system would list
must-have technology features and new bleeding-edge technology." http://www.networkstlouis.com
Quick Guide to Writing for the Web
"Last night I did a quick experiment. Our teenage cousin who'd come over
for dinner, got bored of the adult's less-than-riveting conversation, and headed off to
the computer. Nothing unusual there! After a while, I followed him over and asked if he
could show me ¡®what he considered' to be really cool sites." http://www.webdevtips.com
Guidelines for Writing Microcontent
"Microcontent is short pieces of text that help people navigate.
Microcontent is short pieces of text that help people navigate. Classic examples of
microcontent are blurbs, headings, and page titles. None of these seem very important
until you remove them from the site. Webpages without microcontent are difficult to
navigate especially when the user enters into the middle of the site, for example when not
entering through the 'front door'..." http://esolutionswork.com
Instant Messaging on Steroids
"The IBM Community Tools are intended to explore new ways that large
companies communicate and interact." Read more www.byte.com |
