Clarity Helps IT Company Relieve Documentation Headache
Challenge
CA Technologies, an industry leader in information technology (IT), needed to migrate a large document set from FrameMaker® to AuthorIt® after acquiring a business group.
Opportunity
Because of tight deadlines and lack of expertise internally, company management wanted an experienced technical writer to develop a conversion plan and determine the best approach for migration and implementation. Executives specifically wanted a professional who was qualified to guide the process and was also well-versed in FrameMaker and AuthorIt. Clarity Technical Communications provided a technical writer with the necessary qualifications.
Results
The consultant was the only writer on the seven-member team who had experience with AuthorIt, so she was crucial to the project. The consultant helped develop the implementation timeline and explained the new style conventions that would be needed.
After three months on the project, the consultant realized that her fellow team members (all CA Technologies employees) needed additional AuthorIt training to complete the migration and generate new documentation. The project thus developed a second track. In addition to working on the conversion, the consultant designed and implemented a week-long instructor-led training class to improve the team’s AuthorIt skills.
The project was completed on time, with most of the large and complex document set converted. The team’s AuthorIt knowledge had improved, so the consultant was able to move on to other projects. The second track, which was not in the original project scope and was developed after the consultant appraised the team’s needs, was completed without increasing the project cost.
Clarity enabled the company to:
• Complete the document migration on time.
• Train its internal documentation team on new software at no additional cost.
