Project 14472 completed 2004: A government Department required advice about how to prepare operational contingency plans to complement existing emergency planning. We devised a plan and methodology for preparing the material, mapping out milestones and resource needs.

Project 14464 completed 2004: A national development and construction business asked us to assist in analysing and mapping all processes carried out by the Customer Contact Centre. We identified the processes, including planning and reporting elements, prepared preliminary flowcharts and coached key Contact Centre staff who had been nominated to develop detailed procedures, forms and other supporting material. The result was a coherent set of documents covering procedures, system user instructions, and forms and checklists to provide checkpoints for key processes. The Contact Centre Manager gained confidence in analysing processes as well as skills in flowcharting and documenting tasks, and has assumed full ownership of the procedures, with a plan for extension and maintenance of the team's performance support materials.

Project 14393 completed 2003: An international accounting firm had an in-house developed practice management system used by 20,000 people across Australasia. We carried out a strategic review of the performance support practices for the system, and made a number of key recommendations which will help the firm reduce costs, reduce non-compliance risks, and improve the usability and utilisation of the system.

Project 14352 completed 2004: A large finance company involved in the residential mortgage market had developed a suite of software products for mortgage initiation by associates in the field. The client's requirement was for online help and training materials for new users. Realisation planned and developed a single-source document which was produced as a printed user manual and as a task-based online help module. The source material was legacy screen-based documentation. The documentation incorporated new functionality. Realisation also planned and wrote voice-over scripts for the videos produced.

Project 14346 completed 2003: A large national construction contractor recognised that the critical operational reference information held on its intranet was not supporting employee activity as well as it could. They asked us to conduct a detailed examination of this knowledge management issue and recommend ways to bring about improvements. We did this and provided a detailed analysis, recommendations, and system development requirements covering: - Presentation of information in structures and formats that are easier to browse, search, and use (the current structures and formats are complex and confusing) - Easier methods for information owners to maintain their information. - Facilities for knowledge-holders to freely deposit information in the system (knowledge capture). - Use of metadata to link a subject area to those who have associated expertise, in order to automatically maintain a 'corporate yellow pages'.

Project 14326 completed 2003: The client is a well-regarded provider of education services to the professional community, and is currently planning to expand its services to other States of Australia and to NZ. The client has undertaken major planning activities for the proposed expansion, but the planning documents prepared by other consultants proved to be too technical or complex for its Board members to readily comprehend. Realisation was asked to assist the client to confirm the planning undertaken to develop educational content for different markets, and to describe and summarise this material for presentation to the Board.

Project 14270 completed 2003: The client company required documentation of a new workflow application for approving expenditure on construction projects. We implemented a plan that integrated instructions for approving expenditure into user guides for existing budgeting, ordering and accounts payable applications, as well as for the set-up and configuration of the approval system. We also documented the system's installation in the IT environment. In addition, we produced an email with animated GIFs to introduce the new approvals process to the workforce. This item was subsequently converted to an HTML help file for the product.

Project 14245 completed 2003: An Australian development company requested Realisation's assistance with defining and documenting its product design and development processes. Realisation interviewed staff in three states to analyse existing work practices and develop a national best practice. The resulting document provides a framework for product development including definitions of roles and responsibilities, auditable processes and a set of tools to support staff both in complying with systems, and sharing knowledge across all groups. The manual complements and meshes with other materials developed simultaneously to promote quality in design.

Project 14200 completed 2003: A State Government department was bidding for road construction work interstate, and were told that their last bid document would have won if they had been stronger on the 'non-financial' aspects of the bid. The department approached us for help with their next bid, and we researched and wrote their entire bid document using information gleaned from the RFT itself, from contact with their client, and from the department's business development team. The Department submitted our bid, and won the work - even though their price was not the lowest.

Project 14180 completed 2002: We analysed the documentation requirements for a rule-based unit pricing system that allows for straight-through processing of managed fund data for institutional investment portfolio managers. This analysis identified the need for two sets of documents: a User Reference Guide (a generic guide providing end-users with an overview of the system and its user interface) and a Processing Guide (documenting the set of rule-based processes relevant to a specific client).

Project 14165 completed 2003: An Australian energy supplier was implementing a company-wide system of documentation and training materials based on a document management product called Mentor which is developed by Panviva. Realisation provided the technical writing resources to author and/or edit the materials in Mentor and to track progress.

Project 14164 completed 2002: The client company is involved in multiple aspects of the building and construction industry, and has over 6200 employees Australia-wide. Its payroll processes are run through a single group. Realisation was asked by the client to plan out how to document all of its payroll processes, providing an 'end to end' process map and procedure guide for all payroll functions, including reporting and paper trails for each task. The Manual was also designed to cover responsibilities for each task, the chronology of the processes, and a complete guide to integrate IT functions in their existing payroll processing system with other aspects of the payroll task. Realisation's plan set out a full documentation project plan, including delivery of the material through the company's Intranet using FrontPage.

Project 14137 completed 2002: A pharmaceutical manufacturer recognised the need to upgrade its current Sales policy and procedures manual. It asked Realisation to carry out an analysis and make recommendations for improvement. Realisation planned and documented the new sales policy and procedure manual, which included a review of existing procedures, identification of procedures required but not documented, and a protocol for future development of all sales assistance materials. Realisation then wrote the procedures, which were incorporated into the new sales manual. The primary aim of this project was to deliver an updated, professionally written Sales manual which addressed various concepts in a simple & readable style.

Project 14136 completed 2003: The client is Australia's largest charitable organisation, and has a leading role in the field of caring for the aged, disabled, homeless, migrant and refugee groups, and the care of persons in their homes. The client has asked Realisation to analyse the way in which it disseminates process-related information to its volunteers, members and staff, and to check whether current processes: - are focussed accurately on its requirements - are supported by input in the form of agreed, consistent, and documented procedures suitable to support compliance and operational needs - address its need to comply with the Privacy Act and with other legislative imperatives. Our analysis considered how to best integrate suggested compliance strategies with existing practices, so as to maximise benefit and minimise bureaucracy. The analysis included: - core elements to comply with the National Privacy Principles - identification of how these compliance requirements should be structured to integrate and co-ordinate with existing activities - other issues which might be relevant, including organisational, structural, management and cultural issues - documentation required for compliance and other operational needs - staffing structures, personnel and training issues affecting compliance, including definition of the roles and responsibilities of personnel and recommendations on training - implementation strategies, including timeframes and costs We also identified a significant number of opportunities to improve operating efficiencies and to ensure that its people are well-informed about the organisation's needs. This analysis provided a planned approach to deliver: - comprehensive and easy to use manuals covering nominated key areas of the client's operations - a consistent look and feel to all performance support information, which will allow staff members and volunteers to adapt easily to working in different areas - online versions of the manuals that are easy to navigate, search, and read

Project 14129 completed 2003: The client assists the New South Wales rail network to deliver safe and reliable passenger and freight services. Their Safety Manual has been developed in an ad-hoc way over a number of years. The Safety Manual contains procedures and work instructions that are based on the relevant Safety Standards. The client's management noted several problems with the Safety Manual, and asked Realisation to assist with overhauling the material to ensure its continuing effectiveness, including improving the organisation of the content, the language used and ensuring that all of the requirements of the Safety Standards are catered for in the Manual. Realisation planned and executed a project to upgrade and improve the content of the Safety Manual, including compiling a number of documents and guidelines into a simplified, easy to use set of procedures for use by management and frontline staff. The work involved integrating the (often varied) needs and imperatives of a number of stakeholders within the organisation. This initially caused some delays in the project proceeding as planned, but Realisation worked with the client to ensure that consensus was achieved and the work proceeded in a timely manner after the initial delays. Ensuring that safety standards are known and adhered to by staff is an essential part of meeting the client's objectives. The documentation delivered will ensure that accurate and up-to-date procedures and work instructions, that are consistent with the Safety Standards and Safety Management System, are made available to all staff.

Project 14127 completed 2003: A State Government department was faced with the need to comply with Information Security Standards. They were aware of their lack of documentation and approached Realisation to conduct a documentation gap analysis and plan for the development of Information Security Policies and Procedures. The plan was completed, accepted and implemented. Realisation developed the documentation on budget and on schedule. This documentation provided the client with a powerful set of security documentation to guide their compliance activities.

Project 14079 completed 2002: The client company sells to financial advisers who form the channel for their insurance and financial products. An internal division of the client delivers service and support to these external financial advisers so that they can better distribute the company's products. Realisation was asked to document the work of this support division so that the support division can better build its team and its customer base in the coming year. It was also crucial to standardise the activities of the division members in different States, so as to avoid inconsistencies and conflict, and to ensure that best business practice was achieved. Realisation developed a set of policies and procedures which were delivered to client staff via an Intranet administered and controlled directly by the client's staff. We trained those staff members who would be responsible for ongoing maintenance of the material in FrontPage, and documented change procedures so that the material would stay current for the future. We also set up easy to use HTML index pages pointing to existing reference materials as well as the documents developed during the project. This core of material will be expanded later by the client, but was initiated to provide a standardised location and access route to all internal reference material used by the team. Realisation also assisted with the formal 'launch' of the new Intranet to the team, and provided additional process development assistance where required.

Project 14064 completed 2002: A tertiary education institution found that as a result of structural and management changes, its internet and intranet sites had become disorganised, inconsistent, and poorly presented and managed. Realisation was asked to review the structure of the sites, their navigation conventions, and its operation and management processes, and recommend a detailed strategy to bring them up to the desired standard. We worked with key stakeholders and the institution's graphic designers to devise a detailed practical program to quickly bring about the desired objective.

Project 14028 completed 2002: We developed policies and procedures documentation for the business processes of the financial area of one of Australia's largest property developers. The primary purpose of this documentation is to ensure consistency and standardisation of the activities of the staff within the different divisions of the organisation countrywide. This was a large documentation project, the success of which was due to our ability to gather information from the disparate areas of the company, and to explain often complex financial information in plain english and using diagrams and tables where need be.

Project 14016 completed 2002: Our client was a semi-government health/transport organisation which used a wide variety of policy and procedure documents, instructional circulars, forms and other performance assistance material for its officers. It asked Realisation to analyse this material and make recommendations about improvements for the future. The project addressed both gaps and problems with the existing documentation. It planned how to populate the organisation's proposed Intranet with useful and up-to-date documentation to help to justify current and future investment in computers and network structures. The documentation proposed to allow operations and support staff to have clear, up to date and accessible instructional materials to enable them to perform their jobs. This would also allow the organisation itself to increase accountability, because audit against written procedures is more meaningful where those procedures are reliable. The plan scoped out how to deliver a series of online manuals suitable for various staff groups. Each was designed to provide relevant material for that group. A large proportion of the proposed manuals will consist of material in the current SOPs, upgraded and simplified to be more user-friendly and accessible for staff.

Project 12802 completed 2001: The client sells and supports various investment and superannuation products. Its Operations area is responsible for the administration, transaction processing and client service functions. Due to a period of rapid growth and product acquisition, a number of legacy systems and methodologies are used to support and administer the various products. It is working to amalgamate, rationalise and refine the various systems and methods. The client asked Realisation to prepare basic documentation of existing processes (using the various legacy systems). Realisation was able to fully scope all documentation needs for the Operations area. The first phase of the documentation was written by Realisation, with additional scoped material to be completed by the client's staff as time allowed. Although the original plan called for documentation to be published through PDFs, during the project Realisation was able to devise a simpler and more effective mechanism allowing for direct publishing to the company Intranet. This allowed for easier use. The outcome of the project was the completion of a set of core documentation for processes within the Operations area, providing: a clear 'starting point' for the client's operational improvement: the basis of the final documentation for the new operation systems and methods as they are introduced: and a set of instructions to staff about the conduct of existing activities within Operations, capable of use as training material.