• How To Write An Introduction For A Manual
• How To Write An Introduction For A Handbook
• How To Create A User Manual

Introduction The User Manual contains all essential information for the user to make full use of the information system. This manual includes a description of the system functions and capabilities, contingencies and alternate modes of operation, and step-by-step procedures for system access and use. The first step in writing a good user manual is to get the actual writing process as far away from the engineers as possible. The software developer knows more than anybody what makes the software work, but that doesn't mean the developer should write the guide. On the contrary, it is a distinct disadvantage. Sep 06, 2019 Testing the User’s Understanding. Include a section for user notes. As you are writing each section of the manual, people using the manual will be trying to take in a lot of information. When you purposefully include blank spaces for writing notes, you encourage the users to jot down what they are learning. Jul 28, 2011  All the slides for that list will be displayed in My Slide List.sample user manual.doc Page 2 of 5© 2011 Lisa C. Online Classroom User ManualEdit SlidesThis feature allows instructors to upload files in a variety of formats (JPG, GIF, HTML and URL’s)which can then be pushed into the Classroom.Accessing the Slide List Manager1. Mar 12, 2018 So, how can you write a great work instruction? Structure your work instructions in a clear, step-by-step instruction hierarchy (guide - topic - instruction - step). Use an active tone of voice when writing instructions. Keep it short and to the point. Use a clear visual to illustrate the step. Split up a task in several different sub-tasks. Apr 12, 2017  How to Write an Effective Internal Training Manual. In the spirit of “Love Thy Employee as Thyself,” here’s how to write an effective training manual that will help your employees (calmly. Oct 22, 2018 Writing the User Guide. Each user guide is comprised of front page, body sections, and a back page. The following section describes what each of these needs to contain. Front Page (cover pages) Include a cover page, table of contents, and a preface, if necessary. Cover and Title Page. If the user guide is copyrighted, include a copyright notice.

INTRODUCTION

The Orchestra: A User's Manual is one element of The Sound Exchange, a pioneering web development by the Philharmonia Orchestra. The aim of the user's manual is to provide information about the orchestra, orchestration, composition and instruments, for the benefit of anybody with an interest in the subject. Unlike conventional text-based orchestration manuals, this features movies of players explaining relevant aspects of their instruments and technique, audio clips and samples of the instruments, and illustrative music from the repertoire drawn from the Philharmonia's postwar recorded archive. The Philharmonia is the most recorded orchestra in history and from its birth in 1945 has been associated with new technologies. This use of the internet to convey information is entirely consistent with its desire to open up access to all areas of orchestral life and music-making.

The User's Manual will be useful to anyone with an interest in orchestras and orchestral music. It will also have a specific relevance to composers, orchestrators, students, and anyone learning to play an instrument. By asking players themselves to explain the nature and technical limitations of their instruments it is intended that a realistic picture of the orchestra will emerge. A recurring feature of the video clips is that, while certain techniques are a theoretical possibility, in practice they are often limited or even unsatisfactory. By acquainting the orchestrator with these, it is hoped that much time-wasting in rehearsal can be avoided! In addition, illustrative clips from the archive give actual sounding examples of good practice in orchestration.

NAVIGATION

To navigate this site, use the drop-down menus above. Clicking 'Introduction' will return you to this page. 'Orchestration by instrument' takes you to the individual instrument pages, including movies, audio clips, and player's tips and tricks. 'Orchestration by section' gives illustrative archive clips with comments. 'Resources' and 'Historical' contain links to online resources and downloadable or printable materials. To view movie clips, you will need the (free) Quicktime plugin.

The icon will launch a Quicktime movie of a Philharmonia musician.
The icon will give an audio clip, which will either play automatically or open a new window.
The icon will play an illustrative music example (mp3) from the Philharmonia's recorded archive.

PITCHES

A4 is assumed to be 440 Hz: the 'A' to which British orchestras tune. It should be noted that some European orchestras tune to A=442 and other pitches.

In this manual: Middle C = C4. (The MIDI standard varies, and middle C may be variously defined as C3, C4 or C5, depending on instrument manufacturers). The note numbers change incrementally every octave at C, so the octave above middle C is called C5. The octave below middle C is C3. All notes between middle C and the octave above are given a 4, thus: Db4 D4 Eb4 E4 ... C5, and so on. The lower range descends to C0, then uses minus numbers (C-1, C-2, etc).

To bring up a printer-friendly version of this image, click HERE

CREDITS

The Orchestra: A User's Manual was conceived and written by Andrew Hugill in 2002-4 during a sabbatical period from De Montfort University. The project was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra with funds made available by the Arts Council of England. Many people from both De Montfort University and the Philharmonia contributed to the creation of the manual, as follows:

Sound Recording: Philip English
Education and Community, Philharmonia: Beverley Fell
Project Adviser: Olivia Lowson
Web Development: Myles Jackson
Fixers: Miranda Cook, Charlotte McDonald, Jill Batcheler, Julie Barton
Technical Support: Martin Sheil
Recording Assistants: Scott Everett, Javier Goyes
Audio Encoding: Christopher Hill
Archive and Database: Martyn Jones
Librarian: David Munden
Piccolo: Keith Bragg
Flute: Kenneth Smith
Oboe: Christopher Cowie
Cor Anglais: Huw Clement-Evans
Clarinet: Mark van de Wiel
Bass Clarinet: Michael Harris
Bassoon: Meyrick Alexander
Contrabassoon: Nicholas Reader
Saxophones: David Roach
Horn: Nigel Black
Trumpets: Alistair Mackie
Trombones: Byron Fulcher
Tubas: John Jenkins
Percussion: David Corkhill, Kevin Hathway
Harp: Miriam Keogh
Fretted Strings: Forbes Henderson
Violin: Miranda Dale
Viola: Michael Turner
Cello: Rhydian Shaxson
Double Bass: Corin Long

Andrew Hugill would also like to thank the following for their support and assistance:
Mr. David Whelton (Managing Director, Philharmonia Orchestra)
Professor Judy Simons (Pro-Vice Chancellor, De Montfort University)
Professor Tim O'Sullivan (Head of School of Media and Cultural Production, Faculty of Humanities, De Montfort University)
Members of the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre of De Montfort University
Mr. Jim Popple, Finance Manager, De Montfort University
Mrs. Louise Hugill

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The literature on orchestration is vast, and the user wishing to find a full bibliography of manuals is referred to the one in Alfred Blatter's Instrumentation and Orchestration. The Orchestra: A User's Manual is unusual in that it treats the orchestra as a living entity to be explored. Nevertheless, several books were used during the creation of the manual, as follows:

Blatter, A. (1997) Instrumentation and Orchestration New York: Schirmer
Casella, A. and Mortari, V. (1958) La Technique de l'Orchestre Contemporain Paris: Ricordi
Corder, F. (1894) The Orchestra and How to Write for It London: Curwen
Peinkofer, K and Tannigel, F. (1969) Handbook of Percussion Instruments London: Schott
Piston, W. (1958) Orchestration London: Gollancz
Read, G. (1969) Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices New York: Greenwood
Rimsky-Korsakov, N. (1891, first published 1922, reprinted 1964) Principles of Orchestration New York: Dover

Another recommended online resource is Alan Belkin's Artistic Orchestration

Back to Top

A NOTE ABOUT 'EXTENDED TECHNIQUES'

This User's Manual always prefers to show the orchestra as it is rather than as it could be, as is most clearly the case when considering 'extended techniques'. There are several books which set out to catalogue the available extended techniques on each instrument, and these are referenced as appropriate. However, a viewing of the video clips on the various instrument pages will reveal an enormous variation in player abilities and attitudes to these techniques, ranging from enthusiastic engagement to downright hostility. This manual is perhaps unusual in that it simply reflects these limitations as they are encountered, rather than trying to be comprehensive about the available techniques regardless of the player's opinions.

CITING THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

To cite this manual in an academic paper or any other publication, please use the following formula:

Hugill, A. (2004) The Orchestra: A User's Manual. Available at: http://andrewhugill.com/manuals (accessed <date>)

There is a repository entry with URI at https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/5659

Most of us don’t think about how to write a training manual until we meet customers, co-workers, or students repeatedly asking the same questions. Still, you can’t appreciate the availability of a comprehensive training manual template more than after answering the same questions several times per day. Have you ever been in this situation? Even if you haven’t (yet), read these step-by-step instructions and use our training manual templates and a special-purpose tool to create an awesome training manual and never suffer from a lack of user documentation.

Training manuals are essential for any process related to training or onboarding – be it customer support, employee training, task delegation, new hire onboarding, or online learning. Once, I was working with three new employees who kept asking similar questions regularly – that is when I understood the true value of training and theonboarding process. That is why I have prepared this extremely useful article and training manual template for you – read on to find it!

A winning training manual takes the employee on a seamless journey from an understanding of training objectives right down to equipping the employee with the relevant skills to execute the task on hand. If you are writing a technical user guide or process documentation for e-learning purposes, or for archival in your organization’s server, a good training manual should be easy to understand, intuitive enough for the viewer to manoeuvre through and well sectioned for easy reference. According to theAssociation for Talent Development of the United States (ATD), 45% of learning hours in an average organization were developed via online or e-learning methods in 2017, and this is an increase of 41% vs. 2015.

Understanding how to write a training manual is an inherent skill necessary for the success and continuity of businesses. Read on to discover 5 steps on how to write a training manual and find a training manual template enclosed.

Step 1. Identify The Objectives of the Training Manual

It’s crucial to identify the objectives of the training program as this will set the tone and manner of the training manual and determine its success. According to a report by24×7 Learning “Workplace Learning – 2015,” only 11% of learners admitted to applying the skills learnt from training received to their job. This highlights the importance of ascertaining learner’s needs and mapping them against organization objectives for integration into the training program.

How To Write An Introduction For A Manual

Some common training manual objectives include:

• On-boarding of new employees and acclimatization to organizational job culture
• Up-skilling existing employees with new skills required for their job
• Improving soft skills an employee lacks to address gaps in a periodic performance review
• Reducing the number of accidents by providing safety tips to workers
• Changing employee attitudes and increasing productivity
• Preparing employees for promotion by imparting advanced skill sets

Whichever objective your training manual strives to achieve, starting out by outlining the objectives will help you identify the successive important elements of the training program to create a cohesive flow.

Step 2. Identify the Target Audience

A training manual can be as effective as a trainer skilled in connecting with the target audience and making the learners understand the content. Whether you are an external or internal trainer, understanding the organization’s objectives, culture and target audience will help you adopt the right approach to deliver training materials. Write your training manual template keeping in mind the demographics and psychological behaviors of the learners, their backgrounds, their jobs, industry, and language proficiency. By understanding the subtle nuances of your target audience, you will avoid developing a training manual template with a low completion rate, or result in recurring on-the-job errors that the training manual failed to address.

Step 3. Select Tools

Now that you have identified your training objectives and target audience, it is time to select the necessary tools and develop your training materials. For this purpose, we strongly recommend usingStepShot Guides. If you’re wondering how to write a training manual, this tool will help you create it with no hassle and minimal time expenditures. As usual, this software documentation tool is used to create training manuals, user guides, product manuals, video tutorials, help articles, and other docs designed to teach a user how to use a program or how to accomplish a procedure. Thus, ERP consultants, IT support managers, HR managers, small business owners and CEOs, and customer support agents frequently use StepShot Guides to create training manuals for their customers or coworkers.

How to write a training manual with StepShot Guides

1. LaunchStepShot Guides.
2. Go through the procedure you want to explain (the tool will automatically capture your actions as annotated screenshots and step descriptions).
3. Edit and improve the training manual using the comprehensive editing toolset provided by the app.
4. Export the training guide to PDF, Word, HTML, WordPress, video, or as images.

Just imagine, by launching StepShot Guides, you can automatically capture screenshots and effortlessly create a training manual and a training manual template with the help of customizable templates and export them into whatever format you need. Owing to a simplified capturing procedure, you won’t need to use a bunch of programs like a screenshotting tool, image editor, and word processor. Similarly, you no longer need to toggle between different software programs to input comments, remarks or icons to draw attention to specific screenshots. StepShot Guides alone will substitute all these tools and you’ll be free of dull and monotonous copypasting in several tools. In addition, StepShot Guides offers integration with popular organization platforms includingConfluence, WordPress, and StepShot Cloud. Research indicates that StepShot cuts short 90% of the time required for a software documentation routine, thanks to its effortless cross-integration across platforms.

Step 4. Develop Your Training Materials

While designing your training materials, keep the following tips in mind:

How To Write An Introduction For A Handbook

• Introduce the objective of the training manual and what the audience can achieve at the end of the course.
• Inform the audience that there will be an assessment and a minimum qualifying mark in order to pass the assessment. Failing which, a retake of the assessment is required until the qualifying mark is met.
• Paint the step-by-step scenario or solution you would like to present. For example, if there has been a decrease in the performance rates caused by poor experience in software usage, a user guide, video tutorial, or anSOP can be used to demonstrate to trainees how to use the program.
• Use a combination of text andvisuals to break the monotony and increase the learners’ engagement.
• Promote interactivity throughout the training manual by making the learners click on icons to reveal information or launch a video.
• Include problem-solving discussion topics to encourage interactivity and feedback from the learner.
• Summarize the key points and recapitulate key learning at the end of each module to create reinforcement and instill long-term memory.
• For process guides, providestep-by-step screenshots in a sequence that the actual user will go through. This clarity will minimize user frustration and free the trainer’s time from managing more follow-up queries from the learner post-training.
• As a general rule of thumb, keep the learning experience up to 20 minutes maximum. Exceeding this duration will cause the learner’s attention to waiver and the learner will be more prone to fast forward through the training manual, causing the learner to fail the assessment or retake the assessment multiple times.
• If face-to-face training is conducted, do not hesitate to trigger a follow-up online quiz after the training session to assess the individual learners’ knowledge and reinforce the information that was presented during the classroom session.

Step 5. Develop an Assessment Component

Having an assessment or quiz at the end of training is crucial as it provides a measurement of the training efficacy to the trainer and sets success benchmarks to the learner. Bear in mind that the assessment must not be too technical or mathematically challenging. A good and reasonable passing test score for e-learning is 80%, as this implies that the learner has a robust understanding that will allow the individual to operate in the desired manner.

Step 6. Get Feedback and Perform Usability Testing

Although you already know how to write a training manual, ensure that your training manual is proofread by another team member and another individual with your learner’s profile. By obtaining a fresh perspective, you will be able to single out typo errors and ensure that the content is accurate, clear and comprehensive. Do not forget to test the training on individuals who are like your learners. Usability test will allow you to identify system bugs that will otherwise be a blind spot.

If you’re still not sure how to write a training manual, make use of this training manual template as of an example.

How To Create A User Manual

According to theAssociation for Talent Development, it is not surprising that companies who invest in training initiatives enjoy 24% higher profit margins than those who spend less. Furthermore, knowing how to write a training manual and an effective user guide helps organizations reduce operational errors, thus creating a positive client experience and expedited execution of new knowledge at a faster speed. In the existing increasingly competitive business environment, efficiency, a speed of delivery, and cost management will set you apart from the pack. This underscores the importance of documentation ninjas as a valuable asset to organizations, and with the right tool like StepShot Guides, anyone can become a documentation ninja.