Creating Award-Winning Documentation and

Training

Strategies of the Aviation Courseware Division of Jeppesen Sanderson

Presented by:Dick Snyder

Dawn Stevens

Who are we?

• 1934 First Instrument Charts• 1956 First Training Course• History of Quality Products

STC awards

• 5 Distinguished• 3 Excellence• 2 Achievement• 2 Merit• 3 Best of Show• International Awards

– Excellence– Merit

Other awards

• Apex - Excellence• Brandon Hall of Fame - Bronze• Gold Peak Award• Silver Peak Award• American Corporate Video - Excellence• 2000 Telly Award• ACE Wild Blue Yonder Award

How did we get where we are

• Breaking the "but we've always done it this way" mind set

• Creating and meeting design objectives

• Hiring the right expertise

• Establishing a quality process

We’ve always done it this way

• Management: Risk is OK

• Our Motivation: Be a Market Leader

• Gain Market Share

We’ve always done it this way

• Ongoing Commitment to Evaluate Our Materials

• Discontinuous Change

• Getting the Most Bang for the Buck– Get the Most return for the Money– Don’t Reengineer Everything

We’ve always done it this way

• Making the Leap• Obtained and Evaluated Other Textbooks

– Sister Companies, Outside Field of Aviation– Our Competition, Within the Field of Aviation

We’ve always done it this way

• Brainstormed Ideas for a New Type of Textbook – Editorial– Media Productions– Marketing

We’ve always done it this way

• Built a Sample Chapter– Validated the Concept with a Tangible Product– Made Sure Everyone was on the Same Page– Validated Development Costs– Approval Process Easier When You Can See

What You Are Approving

Creating and meeting design objectives

• Sent Sample Chapter to Prospective Customers– Validated Design Objectives– Validated Market– Generated Interest

Creating and meeting design objectives

• Improve Student Understanding and Retention

• Maintain Student Interest• Exceed the FAA Testing Standards

Creating and meeting design objectives

• Graphically Driven Textbook• Simplify the Writing Style• Interesting and Supporting Material

Creating and meeting design objectives

• Graphically Driven Design

Creating and meeting design objectives

• Simplified Writing Style

Creating and meeting design objectives

• FAA Testing Materials

Creating and meeting design objectives

• Supportive Material in Boxes

Hiring the right expertise

• Aviation Writers and Editors– Subject Matter Expertise– Test for Writing Ability– Lead Editor As Project Manager

Hiring the right expertise

• Training Issues for SMEs– Use of Tools– Writing Skills

Hiring the right expertise

• Layout Artists– Graduates From Colorado Institute of Art– Skilled in Quark, PhotoShop, Illustrator– Digitized All Photographs (Later Used Digital

Camera)• Training Issues

Hiring the right expertise

• Instructional Designers

Hiring the right expertise

• Building the Team and Defining Roles– Core Group of Writers, Editors, Copyeditor,

and Artists– Flow Sheets– Style Sheets

Establishing a quality process

• Setting Standards Early in the Process

• Planning Documents– Sample Chapter Results– Pre-production Meetings– Ops Memos

• Be Flexible with a New Process– Don’t Bash to Fit and Paint to Match

Establishing a quality process

• Usability Testing– In-house– Academic Institutions– End Users– Government

Challenges/Lessons Learned

• Strong Project Management Skills Are Essential– Not All Writers nor Editors Possess This Skill

Challenges/Lessons Learned

• First Fully Electronic Project– Standards for Printing Companies Not

Established for Electronic Publishing – Sample Chapter Helped Iron Out the Bugs

Results

• 3 GFD Textbooks (1 in Development)

• Aviation History

• Aviation Weather