Case study.
Transactis
August 2009 - August 2010
Transactis specialise in bringing multiple data-sets together to provide a clearer view of individual behaviour – using their expertise and technology to enable clients to make better, faster and more informed decisions. Transactis products such as Vision®, DataHealth®, ClaimsID® and Virtual Store Detective® enable clients such as HM Revenue and Customs, Nationwide Building Society, Betfair and Shop Direct Group to act and communicate at an individual level for efficiency, profit and reduced risk.
Transactis requested that Full Stop Ltd apply their expertise to DataHealth®, an Ansi C based software suite providing data manipulation, matching and deduplication facilities for flat file data sets. With the help of their software developers, the objective was to thoroughly investigate and document DataHealth® to complete the product, ensure well-educated staff and aid communication with customers.
Michelle Blair, Director of Full Stop Ltd undertook the project. She outlined the optimum documentation solution for DataHealth® by working with the product and the development team to gain an overview of the product, the relative complexity of its functions, ascertain writing objectives and audience definition. She then considered the possible solutions, their priorities; the most efficient method of production and the costs involved to produce an overall project plan.
Once the proposed solution was agreed, it was developed over a number of months by:
- Liaising with the developers and exploring the software; its operation and intended use
- Reviewing the existing technical documentation
- Exploring the code and its comments
Each module within DataHealth® was thoroughly documented and cross referenced so that its functionality could be quickly read by an expert user. In addition, to aid understanding of the product , the document looked at the system as a whole then broke it down into its basic elements, sorted these into logical types and flow groups; allowing the unfamiliar reader more intuitive use of the document. Michelle said, “Throughout this project It has been a pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, dedicated team”.
The project was completed within estimated author hours, Full Stop Ltd were responsive to the needs of the business and made efficient use of the resources allocated to them; the sponsors of the project were kept informed with regular updates to the project plan and involved in crucial decisions. Transactis were able to realise the benefits with:
- A comprehensive document providing a breakdown of the constituent parts of the DataHealth® system followed by a technical description of the purpose, functionality, operation, inputs, outputs, dependencies and platforms of each of the modules of the DataHealth® suite
- Versions in hard copy, Word 2007 and PDF
- A Template containing notes about the tags and fonts used and advice on the layout
Ian Hubbard, Operations Director, worked with Michelle. He said, “Michelle worked well with our programmers and management team, providing us with a flexible, responsive service and product documentation that will help us achieve our business goals”.