Level 7 Technology Group
order from chaos
SpamLiion Documentation
Creating technical documentation and marketing collateral materials is a challenging job from many perspectives. The most important objective that needs to be addressed is the following; Does the material help the customer to understand and use the product effectively?
With that in mind, here is a survey of the documentation I produced for SpamLion.
| Marketing | I've included some of the collateral
listed below that were available through the web site: Product Brochure SpamLion Published Review White Paper Potential customers are interested in testimonials and documented experiences from real-world deployments. I created a series of Case Studies. A few are listed below: Daylight Software Offshore Rigs |
| Interactive Product Demo |
 We used the site to host an interactive experience with the customer and their own email environment. In order to accomplish this, we needed to provide the customer with a preview and some instructions. The solution was a hard-copy Tour Guide. This was a set of instructions with screen shots describing each step in the process. Remember, this was before the age of video and desktop capture. We also posted PowerPoint presentations that served as tutorials that were available for download or on-line viewing. These presentations also included embedded narration - again, before the age of video. |
| Product Centered | Only a small portion of the
documentation produced is shown on this page. Here are some
examples:
Planning and Deployment Guide Initially, I developed the standard Installation Manual that would be used by a Network Engineer or the customer to install and configure the product. As we conducted testing of real-world deployments, it became apparent to me that before any mouse clicks were going to be made, we needed to model the network environment where the product would be placed. The result was the Planning and Deployment Guide, complete with pictures and scenarios. After reviewing customer and partner experience with the installation of the product, I developed a streamlined version for a later product release called the Easy Installation Guide. Configuration Work Sheets Packaged as a part of the Planning and Deployment Guide, the configuration worksheets allow the engineer to supply Internet names and IP addresses that relate to his or her installation. Any open items must be resolved before proceeding on to Installation. Administration Manual Once, the product is installed there are a few items that are adjustable to allow some customization. The Administration Manual addresses these items. Address List Synchronization I created a mechanism to extract Global Address Lists from the two Microsoft Exchange Server versions and feed them to the SpamLion. SpamLion is instantly able to recognize everyone in your organization and include them in the White List database. User Quick Reference Card A single page quick reference sheet was provided to each person summarizing the user experience and interface. |
| Online Help |
Online Help Keeping documentation up to date is a never ending process. Rather than produce a help section within the product subject to revisions and updating, we created an on-line help feature that allows the customer to reference contextual help from the page that they are currently on. This has proven to be a win-win for us in that we're able to respond to the customer's feedback for assistance by extending a solution to all customers immediately. |