+44 (0) 7552 977184 (England) +47 4006 3298 (Norway)
Trading name of Liberty360 Ltd
WE WRITE TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS FOR INDUSTRY...
Aerospace : Engineering : Marine: Energy : Environment : Automotive : Medical devices
Maintenance Manuals
User Guides
Technical Illustration
Training Manuals
Technical Marketing Brochures
Verification Doc's for Start-ups
A MODERN APPROACH TO TECHNICAL WRITING
We have a modern dynamic approach to the technical publications business making us flexible and adaptable. Our holistic philosophy together with our network of skilled specialists enables us to provide a complete solution from concept to technical manual, through to a corporate marketing brochure.
Our innovative business model is that of a close virtual team enjoying the benefits of remote working while maintaining a cohesive and safe working environment.
By utilising digital technology our customers benefit from:
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Flexibility
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Uninterrupted service
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Our specialists working in a safe environment
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As an outsourced provider our authors are less familiar with the ‘specific equipment’ that they are writing about than those who possess intimate knowledge, but that’s actually a major advantage! Long term up-close exposure to equipment and systems leads to over familiarity, which is not good for technical writers. Being so familiar can result in the assumption of knowledge' (which the maintainer or operator may not have), and ‘taking things for granted’. This leads to a maintenance procedure with ‘gaps’, leaving the maintainer or operator to ‘guess’ what needs to be done in order to complete the task.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Our experienced technical authors can contribute to important safety issues associated with your equipment and systems. Being over-familiar with a maintenance task leads to complacency which can result in serious injury or death, and/or significant expense due to damage to equipment.
Using a fresh perspective, our experienced technical authors can identify risks that are perhaps not seen by those closely associated with the task. Thereafter, Warnings and Cautions can be constructed correctly so that maintainers and operators mitigate the risk and obey the safety precautions.
COSTS
At a first glance, the rates of an external documentation service provider may seem high. However, you only have to pay for the productive time that was actually spent on the product, instead of consistently paying a permanent employee. There are no ancillary wage costs such as social insurance contributions, sick days, vacation, training, etc. In most cases, you also save the cost for a workplace at your company, including special software.
The bottom line is that a documentation service provider is rarely significantly more expensive than an employee. In addition, you have much more flexibility in times of unsteady workload.
A FRESH PAIR OF EYES
An outside author with fresh eyes can create more user-friendly instructions because they have to learn the same things as the maintainer or operator. In-house writers’ will take many things for granted. Documentation written by an insider often lacks vital information and can lead to poor and incomplete documentation.
DEPENDENCE
It is important that you reserve all rights regarding templates, style sheets and texts. All processes should be designed in such a way so that they can be mirrored in your company. This means: All documentation processes should be documented.
QUALITY
Many start-up and small to mid-sized companies don’t have their own documentation department. Documentation is written by developers, by support staff, by product managers, or by marketing professionals. However, in most cases, these individuals lack the training and experience needed to produce high quality technical publications. Also, many of them don’t like writing documentation at all. An external documentation service provider is a specialist in this field and can produce high quality in less time.
REDUCED TIME TO MARKET
Typically, with every new product release, documentation departments face a tremendous workload. Using external documentation services can increase your flexibility and reduce time to market.
WORK RELEIF
Often, developers, product managers, or marketing professionals are expected to produce technical documentation in addition to their normal daily duties. This drains valuable human resources. Outsourcing documentation gives back the time to focus on their core tasks.
SPECIAL EXPERTISE
No one can be an expert in every field. Tasks that require special skills can be performed much more efficiently by a specialised service provider.
NEW IDEAS AND UNBIASED PERSPECTIVE
The more you become involved in a project, the more difficult it becomes to critically reflect on things and to work out ideas for improvement. For an outsider, this is much easier.
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TIME
Management time must be taken into account for your individual cost-benefit analysis. No documentation project will go without planning, meetings, interviews, and reviews. However, bear in mind that most of these tasks are exactly the same when a company employee writes the documentation.
THE BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING
WHY USE SIMPLIFIED TECHNICAL ENGLISH?
SIMPLIFIED TECHNICAL ENGLISH (ASD STE-100)
ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English is a controlled language developed in the early 1980s to help second-language speakers of English to unambiguously understand technical manuals written in English. It was initially applicable to commercial aviation. It then became a requirement for Defense projects, including land and sea vehicles. As a consequence, today, many maintenance manuals are written in STE.
The main advantages of using STE are:
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Unambiguous instructions cannot be misinterpreted
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Clear concise instructions eliminate mistakes and reduce costs
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Safety notices are correctly constructed and easily understood i.e. Warnings and cautions
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STE can be used with automated translation systems (by using a restricted vocabulary)
STE is a controlled language with its own rules and restricted vocabulary. Therefore, training and experience is required to compile maintenance instructions that confirm to the STE specification. Our specialists have used STE in their respective industry sectors and are experts in producing clear unambiguous instructions. In addition, we implement a robust Quality Management System (QMS) that ensures compliance to the specification.
