Department Spotlight: Publications

It's finally happened. Every month, the writers of your humble Flyer have endeavored to let you peek behind the scenes of a particular USI department. From the rigorous testing of the QC department, to the cutting-edge momentum of the Onboard Systems department, you've been given a peek under the hoods, so to speak, of the engines that drive the ULTRAMAIN train. However, now the time has come to sweep back the undergrowth of mystery and turn the steeley gaze of inquisition upon the very writers of the Flyer itself! Yes, this month, Department Spotlight brings you... the Pubs department. The Pubs (short for Publications) department is a three-man whirling dervish of verbal output, pumping out not only the beloved Flyer, but patch documentation, user guides, technical manuals, help guides, and the occasional spot of training doc, as well. "Geez, do we really do that much?" said Pubs manager Brian Carter, when presented with a list of the department's responsibilities. "I guess we do. Well, good for us." "Yeah, we've got quite the laundry list of assignments," confirmed Pubs Analyst Luke Bates. "And not only that, but every time they need to add an icon to one of the applications, who do they ask? Us, of course! I mean, it's probably good, because if it weren't for us, they would probably just keep repeating that [redacted] hard hat icon every single time, no matter what." "No one wants that," nodded fellow Analyst Tony Forbes. Many of the department's assignments are given monthly deadlines, including the What's New and How To documentation for ULTRAMAIN v8, the ULTRAMAIN v8 Help Guide, and the monthly patch certification. When those assignments aren't in play, there's always an increasing amount of documentation for the v9 point solutions, including both user guides and the online help guide. "We've been working hand-in-hand with the development teams to deliver documentation that's up-to-date with the latest features that are being built into the v9 applications," explained Tony. "It's a challenge sometimes, but the developers are usually pretty good at keeping us in the loop." However, it's not just the developers who are rolling out new things! The Pubs department has a few tricks up their sleeves, as well, including a new way of delivering Java-based help for the v9 applications, and using XML to enhance its documentation process. "With XML, we think we can go a long way towards streamlining the way we write, making things reusable in different contexts," said Luke. "It's complicated, but we could be bringing it up to speed within the year." "That would be pretty sweet," agreed Brian. "Oh, hey, Luke, we need a new icon for the v9 stuff. I was thinking we could use a hard hat?" We'll let the department hash that one out by themselves.