All companies rely on documentation, whether it’s a single business plan, contracts, simple work instructions, or hundreds of materials and processes. Technical writing services deliver content for organizations that match their unique needs while also focusing on consistency, clarity, grammar, compliance, localization, and more. In this guide, we breakdown the commonly offered services you’ll see from technical writing teams.
What Do Technical Writing Services Include?
Technical writing services can include, but are not limited to, documentation writing, training materials, localization, gap analysis, quality assurance, and compliance reviews.
Documentation Writing
Documentation writing is the bread and butter of any technical writing service. It covers a breadth of content, such as:
- User manuals: End-user documents explain how to use a product correctly, effectively, and safely. They can include product overview, features, step-by-step instructions, diagrams, safety warnings, troubleshooting, FAQs, and contact information.
- Procedures: Also known as standard operating procedures (SOPs), procedures are internal documents that highlight how to perform routine tasks. They cover instructions, roles, responsibilities, safety warnings, compliance details, required tools, relevant images, troubleshooting guides, emergency information, and expected outcomes.
- Policies: All companies have policies which can be related to attendance, conduct, safety, compliance, legal, and more. Policy documents define these rules and expectations.
- Project plans: Project plans are action- and goal-based live documents, outlining expected tasks, milestones, roles, and timelines. For example, a business project plan could include a company description, market analysis, list of services or products, revenue model, marketing, and financial projects.
- Response plans: Documentation can be key to taking action in the response to change. Response plans detail instructions in the event of a crisis, emergency, infectious disease, continuity of operations, and return to work scenarios.
Training Materials
Technical writing companies can also assist with your training and onboarding. They create materials that start by defining the goal of the training before diving into structured lessons and step-by-step instructions that match your organization’s needs. Some offerings include onboarding manuals, training guides, certification prep, video scripts, workbooks, skill assessments, visual aids, and workshops.
A strong writing service analyzes your team’s current performance and where they need to be to close the knowledge gap. They’ll work with your company to design a program that covers these concerns and make sure it’s delivered in a way that supports the best outcomes. They can also assess test results, suggest revisions, and review feedback and trainer evaluations.
Localization and Translation
Writing to your audience is key. Words can have different meanings from region to region, not even accounting for different languages. To avoid confusion, localization services take various dialects and cultures into account. Translation services prepare your documents for a global audience.
Technical writing can also often benefit from accessibility improvements for readability and clear structure, editing for different reading and knowledge levels, removing local jargon, and reframing complex ideas into easier-to-understand content.
Quality Assurance
From editing to style guides, technical writing services can nail down quality. Editing covers grammar, clarity, readability, accuracy reviews, and spelling, while ensuring your content is consistent across the board.
Style guides create a cohesive and consistent plan for your content. They can add formatting, make it easier for your customers to identify your brand, and improve your employees’ efficiency as they read internal documentation.
Content audits, updates, version control, and editing schedules keep your documentation up-to-date with the latest regulations, laws, customer and employee needs, and more.
Compliance Assistance
Compliance requirements are regularly changing – it can be difficult for companies to keep up. Technical writing services assist with developing strategies that meet these regulations, reducing risk and improving safety. They can include training materials, assessments, research, consulting, system design, coaching, and more.
And More
A few more ways technical writing services can help your organization include:
- Research: Technical writers are adept at gathering and translating complex information and data into easy-to-understand documents, with definitions, tables, graphs, and more. They can also conduct research, work with experts in the field, and verify information.
- Documentation management: Documentation management creates a plan for your content, including editing schedules, reviewing current documents, version control, creation, and more.
- Scribing: Scribes and recording services capture all the information in a meeting in real-time. They can also develop templates for advanced tracking, editing checklists for consistency, document control standards, and management systems for storing information.
How Shea Writing and Training Solutions Can Help With Your Documentation
Shea Writing and Training Solutions offers the above solutions and services – and more. Whether you’re starting your company or drowning in documentation, we can help you create a plan that meets your organization’s unique needs when it comes to content.
Want to learn more about our various services and how we can help you get a tackle on your documentation? Learn more about our processes here.
