Technical manual services for complex products
Your product is complex, and your customers expect high quality supporting documentation. 3di has the expertise to deliver useful, accurate and clear technical manuals and product user guides. We’ll ensure your manuals reflect your brand, support compliance, and are efficient to manage, update, translate and publish.
Our approach provides you with the opportunity to expect more from your technical manuals. They can be a flexible, integrated part of the product; adding value to: support sales, streamline installation and commissioning, helping operators get more from the features, reducing service costs, and linking to parts ordering.
Your manuals don’t have to only be a single, accurate, smart-looking PDF file (that may or may not ever get printed). It’s as easy for 3di to manage the range of content to create for you different PDF and HTML outputs that make it more likely that each piece of content will be used, and will be easier to update.
3di has designed and written technical manuals for a wide range of industries and technologies. The individual 3di authors who work on your manuals will understand your world, your audience and your priorities. They’ll know what questions to ask, how to make use of the information you already have, and how to use AI tools to accelerate research and summarise. Our approach minimises the time you’ll need to spend supporting what we’re creating for you.
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What do you call your technical manuals?
Depending on your industry, you’ll likely have specific conventions for what you call the manual. You may want all the content combined, or available in different formats and contexts: embedded in or on the product itself, or as web content at the end of a QR code link. 3di can help, whatever you call your manual:
- Installation manuals
- Start-up guides
- Instruction handbooks
- Quick-start guides
- Service manuals
- Operator manuals
- Configuration guides
- Standard operating procedures
- Commissioning manuals
- Troubleshooting guides
- System maintenance manuals
- Operating instructions
- Operating procedures
- Parts lists
- Control system help
- Software guides
Some of the considerations for technical manuals
When 3di helps create technical manuals for complex equipment, some of our considerations are:
- What are the activities that your customers will need help with: Understanding applications, provisioning, installation, configuration, operation, maintenance, troubleshooting?
- What’s the best way of supporting each of these activities: One big manual, several PDFs, online-only, on-product labelling, within the control system interface, training manuals, e-learning?
- What’s your regulatory context: Reducing risks for the operator and equipment, meeting compliance obligations, meeting supply-chain documentation requirements, English only for non-native speakers?
- When do you need to ship or publish each type of document: Information that supports the sales process, export licencing, factory acceptance testing, market accreditation, out-of-the-box, post-sales support?
- What content makes sense to translate: What’s going to help drive sales in new markets? What must you translate to be compliant? What’s the right quality/risk/cost balance between professional and AI translations?
- What can we re-use, and what will we need to create: CAD drawings, product specifications, use-case scenarios, testing protocols, related competitor manuals, training course materials?
Our process for creating technical manuals
Our experience across multiple industries has helped us hone the technical authoring process. We make it as simple as possible for you – no matter how complex your product or how tight your deadline is. Here’s an overview of our process:
Initial request
We understand what you want to achieve, agree on a commercial plan, and assign suitably skilled 3di authors.
Scoping
We assess your product and what you need to communicate. We create a detailed plan for you to review.
Authoring
We begin authoring the content and building the manuals. You provide some input and check you are happy with early prototypes.
Delivery
We complete the manuals and fine-tune the final formats for publishing. You confirm you are happy and your manuals are ready to use.
Find out more about our technical manual writing services
Case studies
Kannegiesser – end-to-end content operations consultancy and implementation
Find out how 3di created modular content, including localized versions, for a groundbreaking laundry system.
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