An in-depth look at how Mesh helps clients succeed

Project

Embedded user assistance for a Fortune 50 client's consumer software product.

Goals

• Provide the user with easy access to timely and relevant help and information.

• Reinforce the new-user learning process by providing information in context as the user interacts with the product.

Challenges

• Limited screen space for the assistance required carefully crafted and concisely written information.

• Effective collaboration was required between the documentation team in the U.S. and the engineers in India to connect the assistance to the appropriate access points in the user interface.

• The audience for this product is not necessarily computer-savvy, so the assistance had to be extremely helpful, confidence-building, and not cumbersome in any way.

Solution

Mesh Communications Group designed and developed an effective user assistance solution delivered as a small, HTML-based window along the right side of the user interface. Mesh authored the content, including the HTML coding. To ensure that the correct portion of the user assistance, out of nearly 100 possibilities, was connected to the appropriate part of the application, Mesh created communication tools and QA processes.

Results

• Our ability to grasp complex concepts unique to the industry of this target audience and efficiently create end-user documentation allowed us to deliver on schedule and 40% under budget.

• A flexible and easily updated user assistance system based on open standards.

• Engineering and QA cost savings thanks to the Mesh-created tools and processes for implementing and testing the user assistance system.