RE: I am a Business Systems Analyst in the IT dept of our org anization. We have recently had a change o

["Giordano, Connie" <Connie -dot- Giordano -at- FMR -dot- COM>]

Brenda, 

Off the top of my head, here are four reasons to hire at least one TW:

1)You've listed the first reason in your first paragraph "We are years out
of date."  Obviously it hasn't worked up till now, no reason it will work in
the future.  Programmers tend not to comment their code or write up
documentation because it isn't the top priority.  It may not even be in
their job descriptions.

2) Programmers write code, they don't write for users. Context is not their
long suit, nor should it be expected.  When they are forced to write user
documentation, they tend to write stream-of-consciousness, or so
techno-densely that frustrates and intimidates users.  

3)Users who cannot comprehend the system's documentation (whether electronic
or hard copy), will report more bugs, complain more about the system, and
require more dollars in technical support.  If possible find some numbers
about the number of support calls over the months following the last system
update that included updated documentation, and compare them to the number
of calls received after recent updates that had no documentation.  If there
is any information on the types of calls received, and complaints
registered, it's more fuel for the fire.

4)Out-of-date documentation can cause clients to slow pay, or not pay at
all--they're expecting doc with the system delivery, if it doesn't happen,
they can and do delay payment.  It may not have happened with your
organization yet, but client companies are becoming more savvy every day
with regard to cash flow issues on software systems implementation.  If
documentation is mentioned in a contract, Statement of Work, Letter of
Finding, etc., your organization could find itself with indefensibly high
receivables.  

Good luck,

Connie Giordano

-----Original Message-----
From: Brenda Duncanson 

I am a Business Systems Analyst in the IT dept of our organization.  We have
recently had a change of top management and now I need to justify why our
programmers can't and shouldn't write the documentation [we are years out of
date].

I have been asked to write a justification for hiring a tech writer to
document our systems - we are in dire need but have to convince the higher
ups of this need.

[snip]