PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION

Intel is known as a leading manufacturer and developer of computer microprocessors and chipsets. Today, however, it is so much more. Intel designs and develops solutions for cloud applications, the Internet of Things (IoT), the latest advances in memory, programmable solutions, and always-on 5G connectivity. TWi has worked with several divisions within Intel, assisting platform architects and engineers in the preparation and publishing of customer-facing product documentation.

THE CHALLENGE: AUGMENT THE WORLDWIDE INTEL TEAM WITH CONTENT EXPERTISE

Intel’s Internet of Things Group (IOTG) Technical Communications team required contract information developers to augment the services provided by full-time team members. As this was to meet the needs of rapid expansion, our team had to integrate seamlessly and engage effectively with the task at hand.

The IOTG Technical Communications team provides information development services to engineers and software developers who work with customer-facing product documentation. Intel needed information developers who could interact directly with engineers worldwide and help them to develop product documentation. The content had to be developed in accordance with Intel’s documentation standards and guidelines. Our team reported directly to the IOTG Technical Communications team manager.

THE ACTION: EMBED DEDICATED WRITERS WITHIN INTEL

Our information developers supported two divisions encompassing the IOTG Technical Communications team and various other Intel engineering teams. The TWi contingent was onsite whenever the client needed them to be, which worked out as roughly one day a week as the project progressed. At other times, they worked from the TWi office or from their home offices. The IOTG Technical Communications team provided resources including templates, style guides, and processes that enabled our crew to support the local engineering teams.

While they were “on loan” to Intel, our writers added to the client’s team by:

• • • Planning We gauged and determined the scope of the required product documentation
    • Draft preparation We wrote, formatted, edited, and created graphics for the IOTG team
    • Documentation review Our team initiated and managed shared PDF reviews and formal content reviews
    • Documentation updates We supported the update process in a way that freed up valuable time for Intel engineers, adding value and ensuring that the right skills were deployed in the right areas
    • Publishing We ensured that the content was available at the appropriate portal for customer access while working with Intel’s document classification system
    • Managing customer access to documentation This function involved close coordination with the engineers who managed customer relationships

THE IMPACT: INSTANT EXPERTISE AND INNOVATIVE CONTENT SOLUTIONS

Our core impacts for the client included:

• • • Improved documentation quality and conformance to Intel standards
    • An augmentation solution for the IOTG Technical Publications Group
    • Local support with a single point of contact for documentation-related questions
    • Freeing up valuable engineering time by:
    • Implementing formatting and ensuring conformance
    • Managing conformance to Intel branding guidelines
    • Incorporating comments from documentation reviews
    • Managing the publishing and customer access processes
    • Improved product documentation organization on access portals

Feedback from Intel’s engineers and software developers was extremely positive, lauding the convenience of having a go-to person to provide help and support on all matters related to the development of product documentation. The Intel team recognized the improved level of quality brought by TWi and appreciated the effort we put in to ensure that our work was consistently exemplary.

They also appreciated the new ideas that were introduced by our team, such as the Collateral Update Bulletin that provided a system for keeping track of new or updated product documentation information. They particularly praised the clear, structured organisation of the content and the indicator system we developed to highlight recent updates. We used Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripts to efficiently extract and format information from technical publication databases. The bulletin could be produced in a matter of hours.

Our information developers consistently met or exceeded Intel’s quality expectations. The client tracked various content parameters with a customized analytical tool that was introduced to improve quality. Our team regularly outperformed expectations and requirements by achieving scores of 80 or more.

THE CLIENT’S PERSPECTIVE:

“TWi provided excellent support at a time when hiring full-time staff was restricted. They quickly mastered our tools and processes and interacted well with the engineering and architecture teams we support. TWi provided exactly the type of independent, self-motivated resources we needed to support our development teams in Ireland and internationally. We were more than happy with the support they provided while on contract for Intel.”

– Cortney Rothman-Ivy, IOTG Technical Publications Manager, Intel Corporation