Documentation

Most of our customers stop producing documentation once they know they can access all the information they need directly through the different “navigational” capabilities that ARCAD-Observer offers.  You can even choose your interface, 5250 or Eclipse based. Once documentation is produced, you can export it as HTML and share it with others through any browser. You can use these features if you need to build and maintain formalized technical documentation and make it easilt available.

For technical document to be genuinely usable, it must meet the following criteria:

• Users must know the documentation is complete and up to date,
• It must be quickly and easily accessible,
• Documentation must synthesize information, and
• Users must be able to easily search for the desired information in it

THE PRINCIPLES

ARCAD-Observer will automate the process of producing documentation to a high degree, and in some cases, it canl produce 100% of the documentation required. We’ve selected HTML as one of the possible output formats  as it simplifies sharing the documentation produced. Any user with a browser can access it via an Intranet or extranet and can be certain they are working with current information. Users can perform searches at their workstation using traditional web search engines.

ARCAD-Observer can generate all documents in HTML format. Diagrams are inserted as pictures or as executables if you wish to associate navigation functions in the generated pages. You can also easily define hypertext links to all kinds of external documents. As an example, you could link to an informational video or white paper.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The product allows you to drfine a variety of documentation “models” (technical documentation, user documentation, operation documentation, and even new release documentation if you use the ARCAD-Skipper module). These models are structured like a book with chapters and sub-chapters.

You select components (entire application, functional sub-branches, modified components, etc.) and apply the model over them to obtain the needed documentation. The documentation editor lets you work with the automatically generated documentation to add your own notes and so on. The editor can also incorporate all diagrams generated by ARCAD-Observer – including screen shots or hard copies – into your documentation.

HOW DO I AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE DOCUMENTATION?

For documentation to be usable, it must be entirely up to date, so we have included update mechanisms. Our list merger system ensures that existing documentation is shared, and that the component description is updated. All standard sections can be automatically replaced, while preserving customized sections. Of course, manually inserted diagrams can be refreshed as well.