Operation and Maintenance Manual

Maintenance activities are installation-specific and related to the business operation in question, so it might be that any template is largely inapplicable.

Start by writing a description of the pre-existing maintenance procedures that are applicable locally, and then expand it into the new areas covered by the project!

Agreed. Also recommend the inclusion of any available cut-away drawings from vendor information on the specific units being maintained.

Regarding operations manuals, provide a detailed description of each units function in the process and NAME the specific unit for future reference. Provide startup, operation, shutdown and emergency shutdown procedures for any portion or unit in the process.

Hello Guest,

The simplest "Template" for your needs, would be a Table one.

Mcrosoft Excel or Word could do that for you.

If you don't have those, use OpenOffice Utility (Free for use)

You will still need to organise your thoughts, as to the maintenance requirements of the Project.

Kind Regards....

That last step sealed a "GA" from me - I've done that many times myself. You have it spot on that the newbie gets inducted and indoctrinated, and in return provides you with the best reality check you could ever hope for!

what is the project? give info and I will send you my best templete.

miketheboilerguy@aol.com

The reply given by Sapper certainly is well-thought-out. You also need to define any terms you may be using in a special or non-standard way, and be especially careful to use the same names for the things you are writing about throughout the entire document.

Having good documentation is a huge asset in the processes of construction, installation, maintenance, and service. Poor documentation is sometimes worse than none at all. Writing documentation is more time-consuming than it looks, but the result is worth the effort. Good luck.

"How to publish a great user manual" is the title of a useful script which can be seen at

http://www.asktog.com/columns/017ManualWriting.html.

Hope that helps, Regards Uwe

You are an (a mechanical...) engineer...and [but] who [actually] has been asked?

Sometimes it's better to know one's limitations...and politely decline. The fact that you have asked for template (as opposed to style guide) suggestions indicates that you are really "out of your element."

If you want to train yourself in basic operation manual development skills (for future project documentation efforts) the best starting point would be with the most basic of templates: the basic outline. These you probably already have...for example in high-level word processors. That would be your starting point; as well as lots of practice at writing--while it might seem counterintuitive, "mechanics based" is among the most difficult kinds of procedural documentation to master...and why so many are written so poorly.

I beg to differ.

The fact that he came to CR4 for assistance on this means he will be off to a good start.

The people who have done the work are the best people to write the documentation as they will have the most detailed and acurate information.

Document writing is a skill everyone, who puts "Stuff" together professionally should be able to do. It is far easier for a technical writer to re-format and correct "template" issues, than pick a technicians brain 6 months down the track.

Regards,
Sapper