Three hours of programming...

... instead of twenty hours of tedious, manual work, tons of mistakes and one very annoyed employee

The secret lies in the integrated progamming language Visual Basic for Applications. Using this tool, you can automate repetitive procedures as well as extend the functionality of a program as far as you like.

For example, everyone knows that you can create a spreadsheet with Excel and open PDF files with Acrobat.

But how about...

• opening every single PDF file from a folder containing 5,000 PDFs, one after the other,
• searching for a text string - let's say an order number - in each PDF,
• writing the name of the PDF files, which contain the order number, in an Excel sheet,
• then having the Excel sheet containing all file names where the number was found mailed to another person,

and all of this completely automatically?

The time it would take to complete the programming task outlined above would be under three hours, including initial briefing and subsequent debugging. If we modestly estimate that it would take fifteen seconds to manually process each PDF file, then we end up with a total processing time of over twenty hours. And we haven't even touched on the subject of human error or the motivation level of the poor employee saddled with performing this dull task. It quickly becomes evident that automation is a very smart alternative.

One of the focal points of my thirteen years as a technical writer was to develop a publishing system to manage modular documentation. To do this, I used Visual Basic/VBA, SQL and the Win32 API to automate, integrate and extend the functionality of programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop and CorelDRAW. This knowledge and experience is part of the service I am able to offer to you.

Recognizing the potential of good documentation

Documentation which fulfills legal requirements and is easy to understand plays a central role in ensuring that your products are used exactly as they are intended to be. It is a safeguard against expensive damage claims as well as being an integral part of a successful communication strategy to retain customers. Simply put, a customer who is highly satisfied with your product, including the documentation, will come back and purchase again. On the other hand, if a person is frustrated because the user guide is impossible to understand, then that person probably bought your products for the last time. Someone who suffers damages or even an injury will be taking the straightest route to the nearest lawyer.

Just a few years ago, many companies still tended to view documentation exclusively as a cost factor. But times are changing. On the one hand, legal requirements to protect consumers have become more exacting. On the other hand, we live in a world today in which your customers can instantaneously share their experiences with your products with thousands of other people on social networks any time, from anywhere. Scientific studies confirm the growing importance of this novel type of word-of-mouth advertising.

For these reasons, the quality of your documentation shouldn't be left to chance any more than the quality of your product. Part of the service I provide is to analyze existing documentation to identify possible weaknesses and suggest potential improvements. In the case of new products, early integration into the development process and intensive communication with engineers guarantees high-quality results from the very beginning.