Planning Training and User Documentation

Planning Training and User Documentation

The use case you generate should allow you to apply the skills you learned in earlier chapters to create many types of useful InfoPath form templates. However, although you have documented the form template for future use by InfoPath developers, your tasks in aiming for efficient use of InfoPath form templates are not complete. You also need to consider user documentation and training needs.

Depending on how extensively you propose to use InfoPath in your department or organization, the need for training and documentation will vary markedly. I suggest that for each InfoPath solution, you consider planning for training needs and both online and paper-based user documentation. Sometimes the solution can be adequately covered by text provided in the views of a form. Other times, something much more formal will be necessary.

InfoPath Training Needs

When InfoPath is first introduced into a department or larger organizational unit, many users are likely to be unfamiliar with it. Of course, InfoPath is not totally unfamiliar, because it has many interface features common to Microsoft Office. On the other hand, features such as repeating section form controls, optional sections, and conditional formatting may be unfamiliar.

If InfoPath is to be used extensively, you should implement some brief training to familiarize staff with how to use InfoPath efficiently . It is tempting to skimp on the initial training, but if users don't adequately understand how to record all data correctly, part of InfoPath's potential business benefit is lost. Sensible initial training will also save support time and cost. Remember that you also need to provide training to meet the needs of new users who are recruited after the initial phase of training.

Many InfoPath users will be using the product while away from their normal work site, so take into consideration issues that are likely to arise as a result. Make sure, for example, that they know how to save form templates to their laptop before leaving on a trip, how to create and use several different copies of a form, how to submit forms when they have a network connection, and so on.

Encourage users to report any undocumented difficulties they encounter so that online or paper user documentation can be improved. One of the key aims of InfoPath form templates is to improve data quality and completeness. An informed group of users helps achieve that important business aim.

Online User Documentation

Online user documentation can be crucial in explaining to users which piece of data is to be entered in a particular form control. Good documentation helps users avoid entering inappropriate data. InfoPath allows the form template developer to add text to clarify the purpose of individual form controls or sections. When a form template is first introduced, test it with some users to establish whether they find it easy to enter data completely and accurately.

Clear instructions to users will help them enter the desired data. However, mistakes will inevitably occur. Relevant error messages expressed in nontechnical terms when validation fails will help users correct any data-entry errors. Remember that many users will face validation errors when away from their base, so the information provided must cover all anticipated situations.

Paper User Documentation

Whether you want to have paper user documentation will depend partly on whether your organization provides face-to-face training, and how much of it. Similarly, if your form templates provide comprehensive, good quality online help, you may need little or no paper user documentation.

One scenario in which paper documentation can help avoid problems involves the mobile user. Providing a set of instructions about how to download and save a form to a laptop hard disk might be helpful during initial mobile use of InfoPath. Users who are computer-phobic or who use InfoPath away from base only occasionally are particularly likely to benefit, because old-fashioned paper is a less stressful medium than an unfamiliar technology.