4 User assistance planning and analysis

What this clause covers

The public contents makes clause 4 the planning gate. It starts with planning for mobile devices, then asks for the target audiences, the use case, and the context of use. The context has five parts: a general statement, the technical platform, the screen size, the physical environment and security. That list is the most useful public signal in the draft for a team that is starting work now. It says the mobile setting is not one variable. A help design that works on a large phone, held in two hands, on a fast network, in a quiet room, is not automatically right for a small phone, held in one hand, outdoors, with a locked device. The clause sits before design and development, so a team that starts with the screens has already skipped it.

The headings in this clause

• 4.1 User assistance planning for mobile devices
• 4.2 Defining the target audiences
• 4.3 Analysing the use case
• 4.4 Context for UA in mobile devices
• 4.4.1 General
• 4.4.2 Technical platform hosting the mobile application
• 4.4.3 Screen size of the device used to run the mobile application
• 4.4.4 Physical environment of the user application
• 4.4.5 Security for mobile devices

What to put in place before publication

1. Write a help plan with the app roadmap, the release dates, the owners and the help forms for each release.
2. Build an audience table that separates first time users, occasional users and expert users, with the tasks each group brings.
3. Write the business use case for each app and state what it means for the help: what a user must achieve, and what failure costs.
4. Complete a context sheet for each supported platform: operating system versions, screen sizes, network conditions, physical settings and security constraints.
5. Record the decisions the context forced, such as larger text, offline help, one handed use or a locked screen.
6. Set a review date for the plan that falls before the next app release, not after it.

Evidence to keep

Where teams usually fall short

• The help plan is written after the interface is frozen and cannot change it.
• The audience is described as users, with no first time or expert distinction.
• The context is a single device owned by the designer.

What happens next

At FDIS, check the subclause list and any new context factors. The planning questions are likely to survive, but the required evidence may be stated more tightly. Keep the plan in a form that can be updated without rebuilding the help.