Procedure Manuals for Web View and DB View- Separate or Same?

Melonie AllynSchwerin

Recently changed orgs and have been tasked with cleaning up a hot mess of a database. Part of the process is building procedures to move forward and creating a procedures manual. We have both NXT and DB view, and have different staff people who prefer each. My question- do I create separate procedure manuals for each system, or one manual that addresses both? I can see it both ways, and was wondering if anyone else had experience with this. Any advice is appreciated.

Katherine Manniion

Melonie-


My first instinct would be to have separate manuals, but here are a few things to think about as you do them.  Is your goal for the manual to explain your org's specific procedures, or is it simply a how-to book?  Keep in mind that BB has done a great job providing help files, don't waste time recreating them.  Specifically for NXT, it's so easy to access those help files.  Maybe manuals based on job description?  (And depending on how big your org is, this might not even be your responsibility.  At a large University where I used to work, each department created and maintained their own prcedures based on our org's best practices)  If you're in a small org, you may be able to get away with a more generic manual because you're more readily available for individual support.  Whatever you decide, be sure to post your new manuals in a shared folder where users can access it!  


Good luck,

Katherine

Dariel Dixon 2

I would not create separate manuals simply due to the fact that NXT is an ever evolving experience.  New features are always being rolled out, and what you could only do in database view may be possible (or even preferred) in web view later.  Because of the fact that these manuals will have to have constant updates, I think it would be better to have to update one document.  I also believe that users should be able to reference how to perform functions in multiple in both views.