IGC™ Documentation Style Guide
Follow these guidelines when writing Help content for Information Governance Cloud (IGC )™.
General Writing Style
If not listed here, follow the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications for general technical writing guidelines. Use the BackOffice Associates® Documentation Standards for BOA specific style standards, such as trademarks/registrations and product name conventions.
Guidelines:
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Use active voice often, some passive voice is fine
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Use present tense
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Use imperative mood
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Use second person
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Avoid conditional tense (Don’t “shoulda-woulda-coulda” the content!)
For example:
The following except from IGC™ Help illustrates using active voice, presenting tense, imperative mood, and second person. “You can!” “Just do it!”
“You can add a company or program level goal. You can roll a program level goal up to a company level goal. All associated program level goals are displayed on company level goals.
Before you begin this task, make sure you have selected the correct context from the Company and Program strategy level drop-down on the Home page.
To add Goals:
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Select the Strategy to which you are adding the Goal from the Strategy drop-down.
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Click the Goals tab.”
Don’t use future tense for things that happen right away for the user; stay in the present.
For example:
Write this: This program level goal is displayed on the company goal detail page.
Not this: This program level goal will be displayed on the company goal detail page.
Only use future tense when a process is truly going to take some time. You can use your judgment.
For example:
The import file can take a few hours to processes. A message will be displayed in the Notifications panel when the processing finishes.
Don’t use conditional tense. It is usually avoidable.
Write this: The import file can take a few hours to processes. A message will be displayed in the Notifications panel when the processing finishes.
Not this: The import file should process in a few hours. A message should be displayed in the Notifications panel when the processing finishes.