November 2004 Newsletter

HARP Manual

By: Tom Cronin, Manager of Quality Assurance

Quadax is proud to announce the publication of a new HARP User Manual. This new manual is the accumulation of many months of research and writing, and it offers many new sections and features. It is a giant leap forward in supplying resource materials to help you learn HARP. On September 20, 2004 the new HARP User Manual was published. It is available online and in a printable format to all HARP users registered on Quadax's ASP Portal.

Work on the new HARP manuals began late last year with the HARP Documentation survey. From this survey, we took your comments for improving the manuals. The new User Manual, like upcoming publications of other manuals, incorporates your most requested suggestions, such as more sophisticated search capabilities, task-based documentation, easier to understand language, up-to-date information, and an expanded glossary.

Highlights of the New User Manual

Online

An online help format is used for the User Manual. This format will improve your ability to find the topics important to you. The Contents button on the top of the screen allows you to easily navigate between different sections of the manual. The Index and Search buttons allow you to more quickly find specific information. Interested in learning more about Charges in Error? Simply enter "How do I do charges in error?" in the search box, and the manual returns the top 20 pages, with the most relevant pages displayed first. You can ask questions in plain English or just enter in keywords. Use the Glossary button to look up a term unfamiliar to you. Some detailed information, such as sample screens and navigation paths, are hidden in drop-down or expanded text links; select a link, and the information appears on the same page you were reading. This feature makes the manual easier to read since you control the level of detail you see.

Task-Based

Each task in HARP is now broken down into easy to understand steps. Whereas the old manual was more concerned with system documentation, the new User Manual focuses on instructions to help all readers, including someone new to HARP. For example, how do you move a ticket from one patient account to another? Enter this question in the search box. The most relevant page (the first one listed in the search results) is Moving Tickets. On this page, the task is explained in three simple steps. No longer will you get lost in the details of reading paragraphs of information for a simple task.

Complete and Up-to-date

The old manual had not been updated since it was published three years ago. Since HARP is constantly updated to meet our clients' changing needs, much of the material was outdated. Now all changes to HARP, as seen in the release notes, have been incorporated into the new User Manual. The new manual will be updated with each release of HARP, and the print version will be updated with each major release.

Comprehensive

Not only has the manual been updated, it is now more comprehensive, encompassing all tasks performed by basic users. Many details of HARP have been added or corrected, and people who have been using HARP for years are learning new things about the software.

I encourage you to explore the new User Manual. The manual is your resource to increase your knowledge of HARP. We are currently working on other HARP manuals, and the new Report Manual is expected to be published by the end of the year.

Your feedback on the new User Manual is also encouraged. It will allow us to continue improving HARP documentation materials. If something is unclear and you still have a question after reading a section, we can work together to make improvements for all HARP users.