Jim Snowden
Harmony Information

July 2010 to date

NICE Systems (formerly Merced Systems)
Bracknell, Berkshire

Senior Technical Author
Permanent staff

Wrote and maintained the system developer and system administrator documentation for a web-based incentives compensation financial application. Technologies included Java, Oracle, ActiveMQ, Mule, Liferay, and Apache.

• Release Notes/Upgrade/Installation Guides (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
• System Administration Guide (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
• Database Schema Guide  (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
• API Guide (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
• Data Port Guide (FrameMaker 11/PDF)
• Single sourcing between FrameMaker guides and On-line Help (Adobe FrameMaker and RoboHelp HTML (TCS 4)
• Tutorial videos (Adobe Captivate)
• Maintenance of internal Twiki pages and articles for customer support site

Part of Agile development team

Involved in product testing and user interface design

December 2009 to June 2010

SWORD UK
Brentford, Middlesex

Senior Technical Author
Contract: 3 month extended to 7

Wrote a documentation suite for a new document management system based on SharePoint 2007:

• Installation Guide (Microsoft Word 2007/PDF)
• Implementation Guide (Microsoft Word 2007/PDF)
• User's Guide  (Microsoft Word 2007/PDF)
• On-line Help single sourced from User's Guide (Adobe RoboHelp HTML (TCS 2))

Developed a Word user guide template/style

Involved in product and usability testing

December 2008 to November 2009

Hewlett-Packard
Bracknell and Bristol

Documentation Specialist
Contract: 1 year

Responsible for all aspects (planning, designing, writing, testing, maintaining, production) of end-user communications for the following global IT projects:

• Follow-Me Applications/Settings (helps users migrate to a new PC)
• Migration of EDS client systems (90,000) through a software retrofit to HP IT Services
• PC Setup and Reimage improvement (to successfully reduce helpdesk calls by 33%)
• Implementation of client PC hard drive encryption (McAfee Endpoint Encryption)

Created and maintained intranet web sites and knowledge base articles for each project

Used Microsoft Word 2007, Adobe Captivate 4 (TCS 2), Help and Manual 5.1, and SharePoint

August 2008 to
November 2008

The National Archives (TNA)
Kew, Richmond

Technical Author
Contract: 3 month extended to 4

Analysis of the technical documentation available and required for a complex software system developed to automate the archival, preservation, and web-based delivery of digital records. Technologies included Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005, Active Directory, AzMan, AgilePoint Workflow, .NET 2.0/3.5, and web services

Wrote a technical overview describing how the various components integrate together and describing the specific implementation at TNA

Wrote developer technical specifications and installation guides for three components

Obtained basic security clearance (TNA is a secure government organization) 

May 2008 to
November 2009

SWORD Inc
Houston, TX USA

Senior Technical Author
Part-time contract: 70 hours

Updated manuals and online help for SWORD Inc’s document management systems

Maintenance of SWORD UK websites

Used FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp 7 (TCS 1), and MadCap Flare as main tools

January 2008 to  
July 2008

Hewlett-Packard L.P.
Bracknell and Bristol

Senior Technical Author
Contract: 2 months extended to 6

Responsible for all aspects (planning, designing, writing, testing, maintaining, production) of end-user documentation and intranet pages for the following global IT projects:

• Desktop transformation from Windows XP/Office 2003 to Windows Vista/Office 2007
• Follow-Me Data business data protection software
• HP PC COE managed desktop software

April 1997 to
January 2008

Cimage Enterprise Systems
(SWORD Group)
Bracknell and Brentford

Documentation Specialist
Permanent staff

Sole technical author responsible for all aspects (planning, designing, writing, illustrating, testing, maintaining, production) of customer documentation for the Cimage Document Management, Image Viewing, and Workflow products. Documentation included:

• Installation, administration, customization, and end-user guides (FrameMaker/PDF)
• Context sensitive and standalone help files (winhelp, HTML Help, and webhelp)
• API and Web Services Programmer guides (PDF/HTML Help)

Technologies included .NET 2, SQL Server, Oracle, SharePoint, and Documentum

Used FrameMaker conditional features to create document variations from single source

Created and maintained SWORD UK’s web sites  and some online demo systems

Extensive use of FrameMaker, Adobe Acrobat, ForeHTML Pro, FrontPage, RoboHelp, MadCap Flare, and WebWorks Publisher single sourcing