The document discusses the importance of using Simplified Technical English (STE) for clear communication in technical documentation to ensure safety, reduce costs, and improve usability. It highlights real-world case studies demonstrating significant cost savings and quality improvements achieved by companies implementing STE and standardized terminology. Additionally, it outlines the benefits and implementation strategies for adopting STE, emphasizing efficient authoring and translation processes.

1. Simplified Technical English Clear Communication Quality Assurance Standardization Cost Savings

2. What do we communicate? User Guides Maintenance Manuals Service Bulletins Online Help Instruction Guides Parts Catalogs Wiring Diagrams Bulletins Illustrations, Graphics Animations and Simulations Parts Catalogs User Guides Installation Manuals Operation Manuals Training Manuals Screenshots GUIs Etc….

3. But…what do we communicate? Content control: Do you manage your terminology? Do you have a style guide? Do you communicate clearly and efficiently?

4. We have control…don’t we? Words with multiple meanings Check, ensure, be sure, validate, verify, examine, make sure Should, may, might, could, would Follow the procedure, do the procedure, obey the procedure Press Power On button, push Power On Pushbutton, press Start button, press Power ON Switch, turn, push, de-energize, press, start, stop Remove power, disconnect power, pull Emergency Stop switch Long-noun clusters The minimum password length Properties dialog box Clean the turret dome chassis thermal window securing screw threaded holes Long sentences Clean the turret dome chassis thermal window securing screw threaded holes and the thermal window 16 securing screws of all previously used sealant using solvent.

5. Confused and frustrated readers High translation costs Bad translations due to unclear source Safety risk Damage Potential for legal liabilities Higher support costs Ineffective customer service And what if we don’t control?

6. The larger costs of not getting it right.. A power transformer company was sued for $5M after a transformer blew up due to badly worded and confusing documentation. The largest single problem area for Google in internationalizing their service was language / translation issues - accounted for 35% of all reported issues. EMC estimates it was spending $762,000 on internationalization errors in just one product set. Failure to convert English measures to metric values caused the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter, a spacecraft that smashed into the planet instead of reaching a safe orbit. Total project cost: $327.6M. An FAA survey of aircraft technicians revealed that, although user evaluations of the accuracy and quality of technical manuals are generally good, the manuals themselves were noted as having poor usability. Using the wrong word in an accounting system cost the New York City Department of Education $1.4M A badly worded sentence in a contract cost a Canadian utility company $2.3M. Several medium sized engineering companies going out of business because they lost customers due to either poor quality documentation, or after they stopped producing any docs at all to ‘save money’.

7. So…avoid miscommunication Consider your audience Write unambiguous Write consistent Provide your customer with quality

8. STE makes technical English easy to understand Writing rules: Keep it simple, be specific, be consistent Core dictionary: ± 3000 words Add company-specific terms to core dictionary: One word = one meaning STE can help you reduce 80,000 words to 8,000 words Simplified Technical English Writing Rules Grammar & Style Approx. 60 rules Core Dictionary approved words non-approved words Company Dictionary Company specific terminology

9. Quality assurance and improvement Standardized way of writing (ASD-STE100, Plain English, Corporate Style Guide, Grade Level, MIL SPEC, etc.) Improved safety Efficient authoring Reduced time to market Improved customer experience Facilitates content management, XML Facilitates structured authoring (Information Mapping, DITA, S1000D) Considerable cost savings Cheaper, faster and better translations (up to 40% per language!) Benefits

10. How to implement Three steps: Standardize corporate terminology Train writers on writing rules Check your documentation with HyperSTE : Quality assurance / quality control / quality measurement Faster time to market Efficient Authoring HyperSTE Writing Rules Core Dictionary Company Dictionary

11. HyperSTE 2009 Survey Results A survey amongst HyperSTE users in 2009 showed that the use of HyperSTE resulted in the following benefits: Up to 30% in cost savings on translation and localization Up to 40% in reduced word count Quality improvement in writing and translations Up to 30% in reduced product cycle time Up to 40% reduction in overall documentation cost Efficient conversion of legacy documents

12. Case Study – Rolls-Royce The challenge To standardize documentation in compliance with the Simplified Technical English specification ASD-STE100 To improve quality and readability of manuals To reduce cycle time The solution Tedopres developed a dictionary containing Rolls-Royce standardized terminology and trained Rolls-Royce technical writers and editors on the rules of ASD Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100) and how to use the HyperSTE software. As part of the implementation process, Rolls-Royce uses the HyperSTE checker software to ensure that all manuals comply with ASD Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100), including the use of standardized and consistent Rolls-Royce terminology. The results Compliance with ASD Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100) Better quality and readability of manuals Reduced cycle time Better reusability of text Standardized terminology and style

13. Case Study – Elekta/Impac The challenge To standardize documentation in compliance with corporate style guide EASE (Elekta Approved Simplified English) To improve quality and readability of manuals To save translation cost The solution Tedopres developed the EASE dictionary containing Elekta standardized terminology and trained Elekta technical writers in the UK, Sweden and US on the rules of EASE and how to use the HyperSTE software. For IMPAC, Tedopres developed the IMPAC dictionary containing IMPAC specific terminology which can be used together with the EASE dictionary. Elekta uses HyperSTE to ensure compliance with EASE. The results Up to 30% in translation cost savings after one year Better quality and readability of manuals Reduced cycle time Overall documentation cost reduced by 20% Better reusability of text in XML environment Standardized terminology and style

14. Case Study – Electrolux The challenge To standardize terminology and style guide To improve quality and readability of manuals To save translation cost The solution Tedopres developed the Electrolux dictionary based on thousands of pages of content, including translation memory software Electrolux uses a server based solution for HyperSTE Tedopres trained Electrolux authors worldwide in France, Poland, Sweden, Germany and Italy The results Up to 50% in translation cost savings in over 30 languages Better quality and readability of manuals, from 40% to 95% Less phone calls to Customer Service Time to market reduced by 30% Overall documentation cost reduced by 20% Reduction of words by 25% Standardized terminology and style

15. About Tedopres Established in 1974 Offices in the Netherlands, Germany, USA, Singapore and Japan One-stop shop for technical documentation: technical writing, translations, illustrations, software 130 employees worldwide A leader in the technical documentation industry

16. Tedopres Services Writing & Editing Simplified Technical English Technical Translations Graphic Design Technical Illustrations Animation & Simulation Patent Documentation Augmented Reality HyperVision

17. Tedopres HyperVision Technology to support the efficient creation, maintenance and publication of content. HyperSTE – Simplified Technical English checker HyperSTD – Simplified Technical German Checker HyperTerm – Multilingual Terminology Management System HyperSales – Sales Support System HyperParts – Parts Catalog System HyperSTI – Simplified Technical Illustrations HyperDoc – Content Management System HyperSIS – Service Information System HyperAsset – Asset Maintenance Management System HyperVoice – System for Voice Support HyperTraining – Application for Training

18. Some of our Customers

19. Thank you For more information, please contact your local Tedopres representative: Tedopres International BV (headquarters) The Netherlands - Tel.: +31 (0)40 84 84 050 Tedopres International, Inc. USA - Tel.: +1 512 306 8601 Tedopres Japan K.K. Japan - Tel.: 81-(0)43-297-2589 Tedopres Asia Pte. Ltd Singapore - Tel.: +65 65154318 Email: ste@tedopres.com or visit our website at: www.simplifiedenglish.net