About Toprung

• writing documentation

• editing documents

• managing quality assurance and change

• producing manuals and help systems for software applications

• professional skills

• availability and cost

• contact a consultant

Writing

As technical authors, we use our professional skills to write technical and business documentation. These skills help us to understand the purpose of the documentation, to discover the background information behind the document, to write the text in the most accessible and appropriate way and to present the document in the most suitable form. We publish our work in all the popular formats: as paper-based documents, on the Internet, on CDs and as electronic PDF files.

We can write all types of business and process documentation, but our speciality is creating complete user documentation for software applications.

Typical clients include software developers and business managers.

Editing

We edit and maintain all styles of technical and business documentation, checking the text for technical accuracy and stylistic conformity. Our editing and management skills are needed, for example, to give a consistent look and feel to large documents that have been written by a number of different contributors.

We specialize in converting paper-based documentation to online web pages and help systems.

Typical clients include managers of bid teams, software developers from the UK and overseas, other technical and business authors.

Quality assurance

The final tasks in the documentation process are the procedures of quality assurance and change management.

We can define the most suitable editorial standards for your documents and verify that they have been applied correctly.

We can set up suitable archiving systems and version control procedures that will ensure that your documents can safely be upgraded to keep pace with the processes they describe.

Typical clients include documentation and business managers.

Manuals and help systems

We have more than 14 years' experience of writing manuals and creating online help systems for software applications. We can give advice on the most suitable format for the documentation of your products and write the text in the way that is most suited to your users.

We can write and produce:

• printed manuals, which are useful as getting-started guides and user guides, and are indispensable for installation guides

• systems procedures

• reference material.

As an alternative, we can publish this material as online books, which reduces the printing and distribution costs.

We can write online help for your Microsoft Windows-based applications as either HTML Help or WebHelp and we can program suitable context help support.

As an extension of a Help system we can produce CBT training modules and, to support the pre-sales initiative, we can create Demonstration CDs. When the time comes to upgrade your system, we can undertake the migration of a legacy help system to a new format.

Typical clients include software developers and resellers.

Skills

We work with the latest industry-standard documentation packages, illustrating tools and web-publishing software.

To add speed and consistency to the writing process, we use our advanced skills to create custom templates and macros.

We can train your staff in the best practice of authoring techniques and the use of authoring software.

Typical clients for training services include technical and business authors.

Availability and cost

According to the needs of the project we will work either on-site and alongside your team (wherever that may be), or from our own office, keeping close contact with your product specialists.

It costs nothing to find out the price. We will arrange a free fact-finding consultation to establish what you need, discuss the scope of your project and propose timescales and costs for the work involved.

Our prices are based on current industry rates but we are cost effective because you pay only for the time we spend actively working on your project. We know we can cost you less than the alternatives of taking staff away from your other projects or missing the business deadline.

Contact

To discuss all aspects of technical documentation, contact:

Michael Simpson, Documentation Manager
Phone: 01729 824816
E-mail: michael@toprungdocs.co.uk