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Technical and User Manuals Consultant Profiles

Dashe & Thomson's technical and user manuals team is supplemented by our database of more than 10,000 independent contractors in cities throughout the U.S.

Here are profiles of a few of the consultants we work with most often:

Senior Technical Writer
Senior technical writer experienced in writing user and installation guides, online help and tutorials, and training for both software and equipment, and process documentation for regulatory compliance. Industries include medical device, pharmaceutical, financial, software development, retail, and high technology. Extensive experience in FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and learning management systems.

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    • For a pharmaceutical company, wrote, edited, and designed operations support documentation (back office, POS, data center, peripheral applications) for a pharmacy enterprise system using MS Word.

    • For a brokerage firm, managed and maintained database for training deliverables in Excel for major system conversion; reported on status of training to field agents. Created quick reference guides using MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.

    • For a medical device company, managed and maintained curriculum items for FDA compliance training for the company’s Saba learning management system (LMS).

    • For a software developer, wrote, managed, and published training collateral materials for product training for the worldwide corporate employees, using MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.

    • For a national electronics retailer, wrote installation/deployment manuals for technicians converting retail registers, workstations, and servers to Windows XP using MS Word. Maintained knowledge base for help desk using HTML. Designed online tutorials and online help for retail point-of-sale applications and construction management system; researched, wrote, and edited all procedures and graphics.

    • For a diversified manufacturing company, wrote and edited documentation for IT controls to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. Worked with principal process control owners, creating Viso flow charts, Excel spreadsheets, and MS Word process narratives. Designed, wrote, developed, and edited online help for an intranet application using Dreamweaver and RoboHelp.

    • For a software developer, wrote and edited user and installation guides for a suite of supply chain management software applications. Wrote documents in Epic Editor managing them in Documentum.

    • For a medical device company, designed a master online help system, including context-sensitive help for each field and control in the application, for a dialyzer reprocessing system, using RoboHelp. Designed a help system user guide. Researched, wrote and edited all procedures and graphics.

    • For an apparel retailer, wrote, edited, and created flow diagrams for business case scenarios for a redesign of several credit card applications.

    • For a pharmaceutical company, researched, wrote, edited and designed user documentation for various pharmacy benefit management applications and performed documentation usability testing.

    • For a medical device company, designed screen layouts for online help document using RoboHelp. Planned and compiled help files using RoboHelp in six European languages.

    • B.A. East Asian Studies, Hobart College, Geneva, NY; One year abroad studying Chinese language, cultural and social studies program, Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, Beijing, PRC.

    • MS Word, Excel, Acrobat, PowerPoing, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontPage, RoboHelp, FrameMaker, Ventura Publisher, CorelDRAW! PageMaker, Visio, Adobe PhotoShop, Macromedia Director, Epic Editor, Mandarin (proficient) and Welsh (intermediate)

Senior Technical Writer
Senior technical writer with over 20 years experience in developing documentation for an extensive array of industries ranging from telecommunications to medical devices. Provided technical writing services for major Twin Cities customers: software user guides, hardware operation manuals, web content, online/web help, marketing communications, training, training courseware, illustration, business procedures and processes, case studies, publication design, and newsletter and trade journal articles.

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    • For testing assessment company, developed HTML online help, using RoboHelp 7.0, for assessment applications, allowing developers and business analysts to spend more time defining requirements, designing, developing, and implementing assessment tests.

    • For telecommunications software company, wrote call center software documentation using FrameMaker software for single-sourcing documentation.

    • For medical software company, wrote software user guides for automated, web-based medical procedure documentation for physicians and clinical staff. This satisfied required regulatory obligations and compliance with specific medical coding specifications.

    • For business technology company, developed more accessible user documentation (online help and user guides) for a State Department of Health Services’ web-enabled, eligibility application.

    • For educational and psychological assessment company, wrote, edited, and illustrated technical documentation for OMR, Imaging, and OCR scanners and scanning software. This included operation, user guides, parts lists, specifications, online help, and other related documentation.

    • For business performance improvement company, developed hardcopy and online documentation for an administrator’s guide for a web-based application to be used by major corporations to improve employee performance that would result in increased sales, cost-reduction, and team building.

    • For diversified manufacturing company, provided writing, editing, and technical illustration for security and library systems that use RFID-enabled technology, including hardware and software applications.

    • For technical consulting company, designed, developed, implemented, and maintained company intranet to centralize all product documentation, establishing standardization of product information and global remote access. Designed, wrote, and illustrated technical documentation for visual inspection systems used in the electronics industry, including software user guides, hardware operation and service manuals, assembly instructions, and training material.

    • Software tools include HTML, HomeSite (HTML editor), Kana IQ Knowledge Base, PVCS Tracker, Wiki software, QuarkXpress, FrameMaker, Adobe Acrobat, MS Word, Excel, FrontPage, PowerPoint, MS Vista, RoboHelp, Visio, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Paint Shop Pro, Micrografx Designer, SnagIt, Oracle/SQL, Documentum Content Manager, Visual SourceSafe.

    • M.A. Education, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan; B.A., Liberal Arts, Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan

Senior Technical Writer
Senior technical writer/training developer, specializing in online and print documentation that includes operator’s instructions, descriptions of technical processes, assembly/ disassembly instructions, maintenance schedules, specifications, and troubleshooting procedures. Extensive background in software design and usability, medical equipment, computer-controlled hardware, printing systems, electronic data interchange (EDI), consumer electronic, electrical and mechanical products, hydraulics and electronic control systems.

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    • For a technology company, wrote complete documentation suite of user manuals and quick reference guides for computer-controlled Material Management and Control System. The system’s purpose is to provide tracking and handling procedures for chemical materials used in computer chip manufacture.

    • For a medical device company, wrote Equipment Technical Manuals (ETMs) for custom, specialized machines used to produce medical devices. Manuals include theory of operation, operator instructions, software documentation, and troubleshooting procedures.

    • For a power equipment manufacturing company, developed week-long training course for a high tech power generation system for use in recreational vehicles. The product is very different from competing generation systems and the training is needed to teach service technicians how to troubleshoot and repair the system. Delivered train-the-trainer training to service technicians and trainers.

    • For a legal firm, wrote Sarbanes-Oxley compliance documentation instructing employees on secure methods of transferring files within the company’s intranet and extranet. Revised online help system for software application for entering, editing and retrieving legal documents in the firm’s database.

    • For a manufacturing company, designed, wrote and illustrated a user's guide for an elevator testing and maintenance software application distributed to technicians on a pocket computer. Coordinated the writing, editing, and production of a large technical reference manual covering the drive system for new elevator installations.

    • For a translation company, performed high level and detailed editing, proofreading, and quality control processes on technical documentation for medical devices that was translated into multiple languages.

    • Expertise in FrameMaker, Microsoft Word, PaintShop Pro., Visio, Illustrator, PhotoShop, PowerPoint, CorelDraw, RoboHelp, RoboHelp HTML, HTML, DreamWeaver, Acrobat, FrontPage, HotDog and SourceSafe.

    • M.S. and B.S., Technical Communication, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

    • Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Project. Macromedia Authorware, Designer’s Edge, Trainer’s Edge, Visio, Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, Lotus ScreenCam, Articulate Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker. Adobe Captivate. Learning Management System (Syntrio).

Senior Technical Writer and Editor
Technical communicator and editor with 10 years experience writing user and system software documentation for end-user audiences; and processes, procedures, and requirements for technical and business audiences. Responsible for documentation projects, including defining documentation plans, specifying document sets, researching, designing, writing, and producing finished manuals, online help, functional specifications, and design documents.

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    • For an international microelectronic company, researched, designed, and wrote a user and system administrator manual for corporate ERP, MRP, and QA/QC systems for local facilities.

    • For a national retailer, designed and wrote functional and report specifications and associated templates and style guides for a database administration suite.

    • For a medical device company, designed and wrote processes and procedures for maintenance of an SAP/DB2 ERP system. Used Visio to flowchart procedures.

    • For a financial company, designed and wrote processes and procedures for the corporate security department in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and corporate security standards. (MS Word; Information Mapping)

    • For a pension management company, designed and wrote HTML Help for a retirement and financial services application. Responsible for all aspects of project. (RoboHelp)

    • For a manufacturing execution systems company, edited and revised manufacturing and accounting management documentation for ERP implementation. (FrameMaker; Visio)

    • For an automation company, edited and revised documentation for programmable logic controllers using SGML and Information Mapping. (FrameMaker)

    • For an IT services and software company, edited and revised financial services and trust management documentation. (Interleaf)

    • Information Design Tools: RoboHelp, Doc-to-Help, ForeHelp, SGML, HTML, Information Mapping (Info Mapping), FrameMaker 5.5, 6, 6+SGML, Structured FM, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, Adobe Acrobat (with Distiller), Visio, MS FrontPage, MS PowerPoint.

    • Document control systems: VSS, Clearcase, Sharepoint, Lotus, MS Project; Operating Systems & Interfaces: UNIX (BSD, HP-UX), Windows, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, VAX/VMS.

    • Programming and Networking: C, PASCAL and FORTRAN, Internet: TCP/IP, OSI model, X-Windows and Windows networks, Intranet, LAN and WAN utilities.

    • Applications Experience: OOP tool kit, developer’s Help, real-time spreadsheets, databases, RDBMS (Oracle, SQL, DB2), SAP, Internet, Web, and ISP level enterprise solutions.

    • B.A, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA,.Certificate in Technical Communications, University of Massachusetts-Lowell.