Documentation : User Guide

If your system will be used by other people then you will need to produce a user guide explaining how to use the system. There are many examples of user guides that you can look at to get ideas about what information to include in a user guide and how to lay it out.

Exactly what to put into your user guide will depend upon what the system you have created does. Here are some suggestions for sections / chapters that you might want to include :

• Table of contents
• What software and hardware are required to use the system.
• How to install the system.
• Loading the system
• How to use the system when it is loaded - this will be the biggest section and will depend entirely on what your system does.
• Saving work
• Exiting the system
• Making backup copies and restoring them.
• What to do if things go wrong (troubleshooting)
• Index

Pictures can speak many thousands of words, so try to include as many screen shots as possible, showing the user how to use the system.

You do not need to explain to the user how to use the software packages that you have used to create your information system. You only need to explain how to use the system you have set up. You may assume that the user knows how to use the package that your system has been created with.

It can be difficult to decide whether or not your user guide can be understood by other people. You already know how to use the system, so why not get someone else to read the user guide and see if they can use your system ?

It may be useful to supplement a printed user guide with a help system that the user can access through a computer. Help systems have a number of advantages over printed guides.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004