The Context

I was the technical writer and UX writer for the Salesforce Mobile development teams from 2006–2012, and I was responsible for creating documentation for the Salesforce Mobile apps for iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. This case study focuses on the Salesforce Mobile documentation for iPhone, which I published in 2008 and maintained until 2012.

 

The Audience

There were two primary audiences for the Salesforce Mobile documentation:

 

• Mobile users (like sales reps) who needed to access their Salesforce data when they were away from their desks
• Salesforce administrators who wanted to learn how to use the Salesforce Mobile app in order to train their employees

 

My Approach

At Salesforce, we create single-source documentation. We write our help topics in XML files, and we use DITA to combine those XML files and build different deliverables, such as online help and user guides.

 

When I joined Salesforce, the documentation team didn’t have any mobile-friendly build targets. The PDF build target wouldn’t work for mobile users—they were unlikely to read a PDF on a phone. And the HTML build target didn’t display properly in mobile browsers because it had a sidebar and the CSS wasn’t optimized for mobile.

 

As the first mobile writer on the documentation team, I had to establish processes for delivering content to mobile users. I worked with the documentation architect to develop a mobile-friendly build target, and then I created the first mobile online help system at Salesforce.

 

I created the documentation for the Salesforce Mobile app for iPhone by writing the help topics in XML. You can view the user guide as a PDF to see the build output. Unfortunately the mobile help system is no longer online because the app was deprecated in 2013 when a new, improved mobile client for iOS was released.

 

 

The Process

I used the following process to create the documentation:

 

• Research and Discovery: I installed test builds of the app on my mobile simulator and mobile device so I could experiment with the app as it was being developed. I interviewed the PM and engineers to ask questions and learn more about how the app worked. I also collaborated with the mobile UX designer and researcher to review design documents, check out research findings, and observe usability studies.
• Planning: I created an outline of the documentation and requested feedback from the PM and SMEs, and then I finalized the outline.
• Draft: Following the scrum methodology, I worked with the development team throughout the sprints to draft the documentation. I wrote the help topics in XML files and created a ditamap to produce the final deliverables. Along the way, I continued to test drive the app and ask questions to the PM and engineers to clarify certain things or get more context.
• Review and Feedback: I requested a technical review from the PM and SMEs to guarantee the content’s accuracy and usefulness. I also requested feedback from a documentation editor.

 

A quick note: I initially wrote this guide in 2008. At the time, Salesforce style was much more formal than it is now. (And I eventually led the initiative to make Salesforce content friendlier and more human.) So please keep that in mind when you read the user guide.

 

The Deliverable

Unfortunately the mobile online help system no longer exists for Salesforce Mobile because the app was deprecated, but you can view the PDF by clicking either of the page samples below.

 

The Cover Page of the Salesforce Mobile User Guide for iPhone

 

An Excerpt from Chapter 4 of the User Guide