Colin Ferguson

Below are links to sample documents and online material that I created during my tenure at my last two positions, NMS Communications Corp. (formerly Natural MicroSystems Corp.) and Voxware, Inc. I've tried to provide a variety of material suited to a number of different audiences.

Voxware, Inc. Samples

Voxware is a small company (40+ employees). At Voxware I am one of two writers, the sole writer in my location. I report to the VP of Engineering. I am responsible for a large portion of the printed and online documentation of our speech recognition hardware and software products. We share styles and standards and perform peer reviews. However, the content and structure of the material is almost completely left to us.

The documentation I create ranges from software installation, configuration, and troubleshooting guides to administrator manuals and VoiceXML and JavaScript API software development manuals. Target audiences range from engineers and software developers to warehouse shift supervisors. I also design, create, and illustrate hardware usage posters and pamphlets.

We work directly with engineering personnel during all stages of document production.

I create most documentation in RoboHTML, and generate WebHelp and produced PDF output using tools that I developed. I also create all diagrams and images in Microsoft Visio and Adobe Illustrator.

This is a sample of the kind of work that I do at present. Both of these manuals are part of a much larger documentation set, all of which I designed and wrote from scratch.

I have reviewed both documents to ensure that no company-confidential information is present.

VoiceLogistics Installation and Configuration Guide

HTML
PDF

Voxware Configuration Guide for LXE HX3 Client Units

HTML
PDF

This poster that I created from scratch won an Award of Merit in the 2007 Annual Society for Technical Communication Competion (STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter).

Wearing a Voxware Headset and Cables poster

This is another manual that I designed, wrote, and illustrated from scratch. It is intended for an audience of shift supervisors in retail warehouses. This audience is generally less technically skilled or educated. The manual attempts to familiarize this audience with various aspects of our very complex product. It is written in simple English, with copious diagrams. I intend to submit this manual for this year's STC competition.

Voxware System Administrator Manual

NMS Communications Corp. Samples

At NMS I worked as one of six to eight writers, reporting to Sandy Guardiani. Each writer was assigned to an engineering business unit or subgroup, and was primarily responsible for the documentation for that subgroup. We wrote to a standard style guide using a common set of tools and procedures, and performed reviews of our peers' work. However, the content and structure of the material was largely left to the individual writer.

The documentation consisted of telephony circuit board installation and development manuals, software development and API reference manuals, and server cluster installation and configuration manuals. The target audience was hardware and software engineering personnel.

We would work directly with the engineering staff during all stages of document generation. Rarely we worked from specifications; more often we began with .h files and proceeded from there.

When I joined NMS we worked in FrameMaker, and provided PDF output. Around 2001 we migrated most documentation to RoboHTML, and generated WebHelp and produced PDF output using tools that I developed. Writers created all diagrams and images in Microsoft Visio.

In 2003 I moved to a new business unit within NMS that does not allow its documentation to be made available except to customers; therefore most of the samples below are from a different business unit that I worked for before this date, or are material that I created but that was later revised. However I've tried to pick samples where the revision changes were minimal, where the document retains much of the content, structure, and style of my original release.

NMS ISDN Product Manual Set

These manuals have undergone several revisions since I wrote them, but still retain much of the flavor of the original. Since we were required to provide printed as well as online versions of our documents, some topics are rather long.

NMS ISDN Installation Manual