Diseño de documentación en soporte papel que se utiliza para explicar el funcionamiento de programas informáticos de gestión empresarial

Abstract

The use of software in business administration requires a process of learning from printed documents. The creation of these documents is made easy with the help of a document design. In this thesis, I offer a design in order to create this kind of printed documentation. This design is validated through the documentation assessment where it is applied. The information is presented in 4 parts: - 1st part: I present a theoretical basis about the elements to be taken into account in order to create this kind of documents on distance adult education (because this is the kind of education provided), about books (because this is the support offered) and about iconic and oral language (because these are the languages used). - 2nd part: I propose a documentation design based on experience and theory. This design provides how to create the users manual of business software in order to learn how it works and problem solving. In this design, Ill give criteria in 5 different areas: education, organization, languages, graphic design and assessment. In this kind of documents some characteristics must be underlined: high use of iconic language, short detailed explanation of the functionality of software, information structured into different sections and the graphic design has been specially looked care. - 3rd part: Design, development and conclusions of the research. A triangulation of sources and instruments is used. The research is organized in 4 phases: the first and the second, to contrast the product variable (2 different collections are evaluated), the third and the fourth, to contrast the time variable (the same collection in 2 different periods is evaluated). The conclusions of the research guarantees that the documentation is useful for the users, therefore the design of documentation used is valid. - 4th part: Conclusions of the thesis are presented and also suggestions to improve the design of documentation and suggestions for further research. Some final conclusions are: - It is important to structure, write and design documentation so that it can be used as a quick reference guide and as a learning guide. - It is necessary to control the organization, icons, oral and graphic design in order to offer useful documentation. - It is basic to establish what and how must be evaluated.