Case Portfolio

ENGL 7721

Second Summer Session 2017

The "Case Portfolio" was a combination of three assignments we were given over the semester.
This portfolio judged how well we incorporated feedback and organized our materials.

In this portfolio, I am pleased with the organization of my documents as at the surface, it is not
obvious that there are three assignments within. The content could be improved upon in each
section as I felt rushed to complete this portfolio in a short summer semester. The Planning for
Maturity section was successful, but the Developing a Team and Planning a Project
sections need work. The Planning for Maturity section used information learned in class and
allowed the students to complete a plan based of off examples we had read. Because of my
experience with this this information through the readings, I believe that the Planning for
Maturity section is the most thorough. Developing a Team and Planning a Project could be
improved upon with further research and a greater understanding of the course material related to
budgeting and cost aspects.

For this assignment, I could have completed more research to see how a North Carolina company
recruits and pays their technical communicators. I used the Occupational Outlook Handbook to
judge payment and informally interviewed friends and family members to evaluate what benefits
are typical for employees of companies which produce products.

Highly Dissatisfied Highly Satisfied

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
CASE PORTFOLIO 1

Case Portfolio
Aardvark Enterprises

Laura Shepko
22 Firetower Rd. Suite 907
Greenville, NC 27834
shepkol16@students.ecu.edu (800) 555-5555
July 20, 2017
CASE PORTFOLIO 2

Table of Contents
Planning for Maturity-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Pages 2-3
Developing a Team-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pages 4-5
Planning a Project---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pages 6-11
CASE PORTFOLIO 3

Planning for Maturity

Introduction

Aardvark Enterprises is currently at a level 0 out of 5 on the Information Process Maturity Model
level of maturity scale. This scale is used to ensure that organizations have quality information
development processes. Aardvark Enterprises is at a level 0 because prior to my hiring, the
organization had no technical communication group or a focus on product documentation.
Moving up the scale is no quick task, so Aardvark Enterprises is expected to move to level 1
within a year or two. Levels will increase within this timeframe, but we are in no means in a rush
to level up as quickly as possible. The development of the technical communication group will
help guide Aardvark Enterprises to a higher level of maturity.

As group manager of the technical communication group at Aardvark Enterprises, I have

prepared a set of goals and objectives to renovate this group. These goals and objectives are
focused on the technical communication group, but will benefit our other departments through
sound product documentation. Through accurate planning and product documentation, the
technical communication group will help to grow Aardvark Enterprises to the highest level of
industry leaders. The goals of the technical communication group are as follows: to create a
standardized process of document development, to focus on customer needs, and to develop our
staff to use the document standard.

Goal 1

Our first goal as a technical communication group is to create a standardized process of

document development so that all departments will be on the same page. To do this, we have
proposed the following objectives that should be completed within the year: survey customers
and staff about the positives and negatives of our current documents, create a standard set of
documents, and create a template for each of those standard documents. The technical
communication group will design the proposed survey for staff members. We will be in contact
with the professional services group to create a customer survey regarding our current
documents. The goal of these surveys is to see how our internal structure views our current
documents and how our customers are using our documents. Also of importance is to create a
standard set of documents based off of what we already use and the feedback from the staff and
customer surveys. Once these standard documents are identified, a template will be created for
each document so that anyone can adhere to the document development standard.

Goal 2
Our second goal is to focus on customer needs. As I am sure you all know, the customer is what
drives this organization, so understanding what the customer wants is crucial to our business. We
would like to not only survey our customers, but also to interview and observe them when using
one of our documents to test for usability. The customer survey from the first goal will also
include questions about how our company is doing and what customers would like to see from
us. We will send out one survey to our customers in hopes that the responses will be higher than
CASE PORTFOLIO 4

if two separate surveys were sent out. The customer interviews and observations will be done at
the same time. We plan on observing customers who have never used our hardware or software
before. We will then observe the customer using our products and then interview them after they
have completed the mock task. From this information, we hope to see how customers use our
products and what issues arise from real users.

Goal 3
Our third and final goal is to develop our staff to use our document standard. Since the technical
communication group will be changing and implementing new documents, it is crucial that the
staff of Aardvark Enterprises are aware of these changes. We want to ensure that all staff
members understand the standard through training. Members of the technical communication
group will lead training exercises to members in other groups. Training will ensure that Aardvark
Enterprises staff understand the standard set of documents we produce and the templates of these
documents. Even with training, some errors can still slip through the cracks, so we will also
employ a quality check procedure before documents are sent out. The quality check procedure
will simply be a checklist which ensures the necessary document items are in place and accurate.
These methods will create a document standard across the organization.

Conclusion
With these goals and objectives, I plan that Aardvark Enterprises will grow to its full potential as
a leading organization in point-of-sale hardware and software. The organization will move from
a 0 level of maturity upward with help from the technical communication group. Creating a
standardized process, focusing on the customer, and developing document standards will get all
employees on the same page for document creation and from that, our level of maturity will
certainly rise.

In order to guarantee Aardvark Enterprises success, our departments need to come together to
form a centralized organization. The information gleaned from these objectives will help ensure
that this organization creates standardized documents, focuses on customer needs, and that our
staff adheres to our document standard. This plan will soon be put into place to start this change,
so I sincerely hope that all staff members will be willing to work with the technical
communication group to benefit Aardvark Enterprises in the long run.
CASE PORTFOLIO 5

Developing a Team
Introduction

Of utmost importance to the technical communication group at Aardvark Enterprises are our
technical writers. As requested, I have developed positions I wish to hire along with the pay of
each employee. For these positions, we need to hire a mixture of new graduates from East
Carolina University and veteran technical writers. Retention of these new hires is a must, so
good pay and incentives are crucial factors to the development of this new group.

Levels and Pay

To start our group, I plan to add three technical writers each at the entry, intermediate, and senior
level. The pay scales given are competitive in the Greenville area for technical writers. For the
entry level technical writer, a former student with a bachelors or masters degree in technical
writing, English, or a comparable major like communication with one to two years experience in
technical writing is suitable. Their pay will be $50,000-$60,000 annually. The intermediate
technical writer should have two to ten years experience in the technical writing field with a
degree similar to the entry level technical writer desirable. Their pay will be $65,000-$75,000
annually. The senior level technical writer should have ten or more years experience in the field.
A degree in technical writing is not necessary at this level as long as the candidate has quality
experience as a technical writer. Their pay will be $80,000-$90,000 annually.

Outlook

As Aardvark Enterprises grows, I expect the technical communication group to grow with it. I
plan to have a project manager, documentation manager, and editor on board once the Technical
Communication group has proven the need for such positions. Currently, these proposed
technical writer positions will take the document production workload. This should not be an
issue for the three members hired as the workload should not increase significantly within the
next few years. Once more documents are produced, we will need to hire the previously
mentioned positions along with more technical writers. Depending on our financial state, we can
promote our entry level writer to intermediate and bring in new entry level technical writers to
fill the gap. I would like to see employees familiar with our documents move up within the
company and be rewarded for their loyalty and dedication to Aardvark Enterprises.

Incentives

Our technical writers and future members employed under the technical communication group
should receive a longevity bonus at the end of the year starting at one percent of their salary.
This pay should reflect how many years the member has been employed at Aardvark Enterprises.
If an employee has not shown great work, then their longevity bonus will be held and given the
next year if their performance improves. The longevity bonus scale should be raised one percent
every three years at the company. A newly hired employee will have to wait a full year before
getting their one percent bonus. Along with a monetary bonus, technical writers that contribute
CASE PORTFOLIO 6

significantly to the company will be rewarded with a membership to the Society for Technical
Communication. This will allow our technical writers to participate in the technical
communication field through a variety of areas like career development and publications. Their
contributions to the company will also be known through a featured employee section on
Aardvark Enterprises web page. With these incentives, I hope that our newly hired technical
writers will stay with the company for many years and grow personally and professionally as
technical writers.

Conclusion
Aardvark Enterprises is growing and with it, new groups are being created that need additional
group members. For the time being, three technical writers in varying levels of experience will
provide enough work for the technical communication group, but more positions would be
desirable. I would like our entry level writers to move up in the group and make room for new
hires. I also anticipate our writers being a part of this company for years to come and the
longevity bonus will help with retention. Nonmonetary compensation will help build our
technical writers up to the best of their abilities and recognize them for the work they have put in
to this company. I will be in contact to help in the search for future Aardvark Enterprises
technical writers.
CASE PORTFOLIO 7

Planning a Project
Information-Development Project Plan
Midas Project Plan
Case 3

Revision history

Date Version Author Explanation of Change

1/1/17 1 Laura S Initial version of information-development plan

Contact Information

Prepared by Laura Shepko

Aardvark Enterprises
22 Firetower Rd. Suite 907
Greenville, NC 27834
shepkol16@students.ecu.edu (800) 555-5555

Approved by

Name Position Date

Andrew G VP Development 1/1/17
Edward H Marketing Manager 1/1/17
Gina V VP Professional Services 1/1/17

Project Overview
Description of the larger project
Midas is a new software product for the small investor to track stock portfolios, buy and sell
equities, obtain detailed reports about their holdings, and make decisions about future purchases.

Project vision and goals

Aardvark Enterprises is excited to bring Midas to their line of software products. The goal of
Midas is to present new and current small investor Aardvark Enterprises customers with software
to make the best choices in their investments. This customer wishes to be organized in their
investing and running under Windows, Midas will be accessible to our customers.

Project scope
Midas is a new project from Aardvark Enterprises. In collaboration, the software development
team and managers in other departments will relay the information about Midas to the technical
communication group in a full organizational effort to create easy to use software and effective
documents. Effective documents will accompany the software for customer usability. Customers
CASE PORTFOLIO 8

will appreciate these documents along with the software as they add to the organizational
strengths that Midas has to offer investors. There are few risks associated with the creation of
Midas and the technical communication group will ensure that this project development will run
smoothly. Our final documents will help the end user with potential questions about the product
and the software itself will be easy for investors to use.

Project schedule

Milestone Actual or Relative Date

Project started January 1: should be a 6-month long project, so it is necessary to
start in the beginning of the year.

Alpha version of code ready April 1: three months to work on the first version of code should
be adequate and get us on schedule to be done in 6 months.

Beta version May 15: a month and a half will allow enough time to fix issues
seen in the alpha version.

Final version July 1: the final version should be ready to launch by this date after
enough time was given for review of the alpha and beta versions.

Project Budget
The budget for this project is listed at $123,000. In order to strive for the best quality products
we can provide to our customers, costs will not be reduced at this time. We have avoided the cost
of translation and localization as Midas will initially be launched locally.

Description of the customer for the product and the information

Midas users will most likely be small investors. Investors of this type may not have much
experience with investing and Midas software makes the task easy and through Windows, it will
undoubtedly be familiar to most customers. Midas will ease the investing process by making the
software a one-stop-shop for investors.

We do plan on testing Midas with potential users. Two trips are planned at a cost of $1,000 each
trip. These trips will give us more insight into our customer base and their thoughts on Midas.

Usability requirements
Midas will have usability issues through development and most likely into production. We strive
for perfection, but of course issues will fall through the cracks. Issues that may arise include bugs
in the software, unanswered questions in the documents, and unexpected usability problems not
caught during testing. To avoid potential issues, this plan will help document the progress that
Midas has made. Readers can view what has happened and what needs to be done to the
software. The audience of small investors may not have much experience with this type of
software or see the value of digitizing these tasks. We need to prove the value of this software to
our audience who may use competitors software or none at all.
CASE PORTFOLIO 9

Information Development
Information-development project vision
Midas is a new software for Aardvark Enterprises. We hope to target small investors who see the
value of having this type of software to help with their investments. Even though Midas is new
for the organization, we are confident that our experience with software and our current
development of a technical communication team will prove successful for the project.

We will supply a help system with approximately 200 help topics that explain the features of the
project and its capabilities. A 50-page getting-started document will be provided as a guide.
Finally, a job aid in the form of a tri-fold brochure will also guide the process to ensure all steps
are completed.

Project schedule

Milestone Actual or Relative Date

First draft review First draft review should be completed after the draft of
each section is complete. We expect this to be completed
around the beginning of March to keep with the project
timeline.

Second draft review Second draft review should be completed after the issues
with the first draft review have been resolved. The relative
date for this to be completed is April 1.

Final draft review Final draft review needs to have the final version of the
project ready for production. According to the timeline, the
final draft needs to be reviewed by May 1.

Final draft approval Final draft approval needs to be completed by the end of
May to have enough time for production and distribution.

To production Production needs to be finished by June 1 to be launched

on July 1.

To distribution The project will be finished by July 1, so distribution needs

to be done by this date as well.

Project budget
The development cost for this project is $123,000.

Information-Development Project Scope

Deliverable Part# Delivery Language %Changed Page/Topic

Title Method Count
Midas user guide 1 Print English 0 50
CASE PORTFOLIO 10

End-user help system 2 HTMLHelp English 0 200 topics

Quick-start brochure 3 Print English 0 3

Roles and responsibilities of the project team

The technical communication project team for Midas needs to work together to create effective
documents in a timely manner. Each member will know his or her responsibilities and should not
hesitate to ask for assistance when needed.

Information-Development Project Team

Role Name Location Responsibility

Information Mathias N. Greenville Create topics and submit to production
Developer

Editor Netta S. Greenville Review drafts and keep to style guide

Manager Olli V. Greenville Track project and produce documents

Larger Project Team

Role Name Location signoff/Responsibility

Marketing Bob E. Greenville Signoff-yes

Program Manager Ville V. Greenville Signoff-yes

Software
Development Jussi W. Greenville Signoff-yes
Manager

Project dependencies and risks

This project requires teamwork between project and software developers. Timely and accurate
communication is essential to this project, so all must adhere to the job aid brochure and
information given in this information development project plan. Risks for this project are mainly
issues with schedule dates. This project is dependent on two customer use trips which will aid in
detecting issues, so these trips must be planned accurately.

Project assumptions
It is assumed that project developers will keep with the milestone dates and make changes to
their documents as needed. Any changes made will be noted and discussed with the project
manager. Information developers will have access to the completed software a month before the
first draft review.

Risk Analysis

Risk Probability Potential Prevention Contingency

Description Impact Plan Plan
CASE PORTFOLIO 11

Two trips planned Low Medium Ensure two trips are Have backup
for customer use fully planned and budgeted testers ready
does not happen

Late draft reviews Medium High Keep with draft review Have manager
dates through job aid review job aid
brochure weekly

Late to production Medium High Keep with job aid brochure Have manager
and set dates review job aid
weekly

Late to distribution Medium High Ensure set production date Managers and
and have all members staff need to
review job aid ensure timely
production
Dependencies calculation
Dependencies in this context apply assumptions and risk assessment to the resource needed to
complete the project.

The highlighted sections of this chart show what we perceive as the rank for each dependency.

Average Hours/Page 5.0

Dependency Ranking Factor

Product Stability 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.10
Information Availability 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.00
Prototype Availability 1 2 3 4 5 x 0.95
Subject Matter Experts 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.00
Review 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.05
Writing Experience 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.00
Technical Experience 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.00
Audience Awareness 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.00
Team Experience 1 2 3 4 5 x 0.90
Tools Experience 1 2 3 4 5 x 1.05

Hours/Page Projection: 5.00

Project total hours and costs

Deliverable Title Page/Topic Cost %Change Total Hours Total Cost

Midas user guide 50 0 250 $27,500
End-user help system 200 topics 0 400 $88,000
Quick-start brochure 3 0 50 $5,500
CASE PORTFOLIO 12

Project resource requirements

This project requires two testing trips with potential users at a cost of $1,000 for each trip. We
need to find testers, preferably in the Greenville area, who would be willing to work with us. We
need to determine what date the tests need to be completed by and how the testing will be
measured. The technical communication team can write up a survey or guidelines for the desired
test. We will be in contact with the software development team to see what they desire from the
outcome of these trips.