Frank Nellis has over 15 years of experience as a technical writer producing documentation for a wide variety of technologies. He has extensive experience using many desktop publishing, programming, and markup tools. Some of Nellis's clients include Philips Respironics, Anaren, Gold Mobile, eBay Enterprise, and FEPOC. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Technical Writing from Carnegie Mellon University.

1. Frank Nellis
1213 Macon Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
412-242-4934
612-501-7482 mobile
nellis_frank@yahoo.com
Summary:
Over fifteen years experience in software documentation in a wide variety of computer
technologies. As an award winning technical writer, I produce technical documentation that is
straight-forward, complete, accurate, simple and on time with particular emphasis in on-line
documentation.
Core Competencies:
Technical Proficiencies:
Desktop Publishing Tools: MS Office, FrameMaker, troff, WebMaker, Photoshop,
Premiere, PageMaker, Autocad, HTML, XML, Acrobat, Ventura Publisher, Adobe
Illustrator, HPTag, Arbortext, Doc-To-Help, RoboHelp, InterLeaf, Frontpage, Snagit.
Database Management: Indexed Sequential, Relational, Rbase, Object-oriented, SQL,
SQL Server, DB2
Data Communications: TCP/IP, WebSphere MQ, FTP, SNA, X.25, SNMP, SMTP,
Ethernet
Operating Systems: Windows, UNIX, Netware, DOS, TAL/Guardian, OS/390, AS/400.
Programming languages: Java, C+, C++, C#, COBOL, BASIC, FORTRAN, Assembly.
Experience:
Self employed, Pittsburgh, PA, VA, DC and MN November 2003 –
Present
Technical Writing Consultant Clients and projects described below:
Philips Respironics
Documented RESTful APIs for Web Service provided by Respironics to Durable Medical
Device distributors. Used MSWord to produce the documentation, Used Microsoft Visual
C# and XML to develop executable code examples.
Anaren
Documented the Multi-Sensor Development Board both hardware and software. The
board uses Bluetooth wireless to connect to a mobile device. The software is Anaren’s
proprietary software. Used MSWord to produce the hardware and software manuals,
Gold Mobile
Documented JavaScript APIs using XML to define the input and output parameters. The
APIs provided a mechanism to enable an online catalogue. Used MSWord and XMLSpy
to document the APIs.
eBay Enterprise
Worked with the Publication and Engineering departments to document XML APIs.
Documented the APIs in annotations in the XML code. Documented the cardinal data
types of XML elements. The contract was originally planned for three months, but I was
able to finish in two months. Used Altova XMLSpy to annotate the APIs and TortiseSVN
for version control.

2. FEPOC
Worked with Business Analysts to produce documentation of changes to business
processes involving changes to procedures and software. Conducted meetings with
customers across the nation to describe changes and record any follow-up issues for
further analysis. Produced stadard operating procedures for internal and external
processes. Used Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Visio) to develop documents and
diagrams.
Worked with software development Database Administration to produce documentation
that describes batch programs which maintained a database. The database described
enrollment in a large health insurance provider. The ultimate project was to move from a
batch driven model to an interactive model. The application programs were written in
COBOL. The enrollment database was maintained in DB2. Used Microsoft Office (Word,
Excel, and Visio) to develop documents and diagrams.
TeleTracking Inc.
Worked with Quality Assurance Software Development to produce documentation that
described supported a software front end to SQL Server database that supports hospital
administration services. Used MS Office to develop documents, Snagit for screen
captures, and Adobe Acrobat to produce on-line documents.
University of Pittsburgh, Medical School, IT Department
Worked with Software Development to produce documentation that described the
relational database as part of a project to write specifications to migrate the database
from the RBase platform to an alternate relational database platform. As a part of a
follow-on project used UML diagrams to describe an existing Web application written
in Java/.Net. Used Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Visio) to develop documents and
diagrams.
BNY Mellon
Developed strategies for documentation of IT processes within the bank. Used Microsoft
Office (Word and Powerpoint) to present these strategies to upper level management.
Fannie Mae
Developed documentation to support restatement of financial reports to comply with
requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act. The methodology used complied with
IEEE’s Software Life Cycle Model (SLCM). Used Microsoft Office (Word and Excel) to
develop documents.
Personnel Decisions International
Performed desktop publishing services, and slide formatting services for management
and employee on line training courses that were available on the Web for self directed
training. Used Adobe Illustrator and PageMaker, and Microsoft Office (Word,
PowerPoint, and Excel) to produce slide shows, participants manuals, and class leader
guides.
Lawson Software.
Modified an existing UNIX/Windows document supporting APIs for COBOL to support
AS400 and RPG. Converted the original FrameMaker document to Arbortext/XML.
MQSoftware Inc., St. Louis Park, MN, 2001 – 2003
Senior Technical Writer
Documented the installation, administration and operation of the DataFlow Studio product
suite, which included more than 1000 pages in 7 manuals. Added support for new
functionality while reducing the page count by 10%. The DataFlow studio applications were
written in several languages including Java and used WebSphere MQ to move data between
applications. Assisted in developing training materials that were distributed through the web.
Built on-line help files.

3. Self employed, San Francisco, CA, and Minneapolis, MN 1987 – 2001
Technical Writing Consultant Clients and projects described below:
Carlson Companies
Developed documentation that described the installation, use and administration of the
Remote Access Services provided by the in-house technologies group. Supported project
management documentation that described how to plan, execute, and test software and
hardware for year 2000 compliance. Used Microsoft Word and HTML to develop
document and Web Page.
United Health Care
Developed documentation that described the process for establishing and maintaining
secure and reliable connections to outside companies. Used Microsoft Word to develop
documents.
MCT
Developed a variety of documents to describe the operation and maintenance for
machines running on a semiconductor production line. In addition I developed an on line
illustrated parts catalog which used HTML, .dwf files and MPEGs to display all parts
associated with the production line machines to allow customers to order any part on the
machine. Used Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Paint Shop Pro, and
Autocad Mechanical Desktop and HTML to develop documents.
Guidant CPI
Developed design and test specifications for a PowerBuilder interface to a relational
database. The database maintained quality assurance information for parts received by
manufacturing. The specifications complied with US FDA guidelines. Used Microsoft
Excel to develop documents.
Kavouras, Inc.
Designed template for and updated content of a document that supported their Triton RT
software. The Triton RT runs on a SGI processor and produced a video signal given
weather data input and user built script with camera angles and motion to visualize local,
national, and world wide weather patterns. Used FrameMaker to develop documents.
Hewlett/Packard
Developed documentation for multiple contracts over several years. The tasks included
documentation of administrative and programmatic interface to HP’s HPUX X.25 product.
Modified documentation that described the interface to asynchronous serial
communication lines, and described the user interface to a database of customer service
information, and built web pages to document System Administration tasks for HP
employees over their intra-net. Used nroff Microsoft Word, Ventura Publisher, HPTag (an
SGML dialect), and HTML to develop documents.
Interphase Inc. and OMNI Solutions
Developed documentation to describe the installation and administration of LAN interface
products including Ethernet, FDDI, and NFS operation. The administration tools included
documentation of the interface to Sun’s NetManager that uses an SNMP interface to
monitor and control data communication objects (boards and software). Used
FrameMaker to develop documents.
Microtec
Developed documentation to describe the interfaces to the XRAY debugger. This
documentation allowed OEMs who have built simulators, emulators, or actual boards and
In-circuit emulators to interface with the XRAY debugger. Software was coded in C and
C++. Used FrameMaker to develop documents .
Sun Labs

4. Updated Documentation supporting Assertion Definition Language Translator for users
and system administrators. In a second phase of the project I converted FrameMaker
documents into HTML using non-proprietary tools. Used FrameMaker, HTML, and
WebMaker to develop documents.
Kaleida, Inc.
Documented installation and administration of Kaleida’s GUI development tools. These
tools enabled developers to build customized application development metaphors. Used
FrameMaker to develop documents.
Hitachi Computers America, Inc.
Developed documentation to support MOSAIC Works an E-Mail directory synchronization
product. The documentation described the GUI interface to an administration tool, the
programmatic interface for proprietary E-mail systems and marketing communication
documentation. Used FrameMaker to develop documents, and used Microsoft Word and
Doc-To-Help to build help files.
Stratus
Developed documentation to support Stratus’s FTX (UNIX derivative) OS that met Class
C1 security requirements. In addition I developed documentation to support X.25 and
documented the SNMP interface to the X.25 product. Used FrameMaker.
Atherton Technology
Developed documentation that described the administrative and programmatic interface
to a Graphic User Interface for an Object Oriented Program Development Environment.
Used troff on a Sun workstation to develop documents. I also developed awk scripts to
modify program-generated output into documentation that was then piped to troff for
formatting.
Novell
Developed a library of documents to describe the programmatic interface to the
Communication Executive (an AT&T streams based agent development product). The
product provided a common interface to data communication agents that provided SNMP
administration and configuration, installation, inter agent communication, security,
database management, debugging and tracing, and error message logging and display.
Used FrameMaker on a Sun and Next workstation to develop documentation.
Object Sciences (Versant)
Developed a business plan that described the Object Oriented Database and aspects of
the search and storage engines. Used Microsoft Word to develop documents.
Sun
Modified existing documentation to support a version of SunOS that met Class B2
security requirements. In addition I developed documentation to describe the
administrative and programmatic interface to the security features of the operation
system. Used troff, pic and tbl to develop documents.
Education:
Bachelor of Science, Technical Writing. Carnegie-Mellon University.
Honors
Award of Merit, from the Society for Technical Communication for the Spooler/PERUSE
User's Guide.
Member of IEEE's Subcommittee for Software Documentation Standards.