BSBITU306A - Design and Produce Business Documents V 1.7.2

Study and Assessment Guide
BSBITU306A
Design and Produce Business
Documents

Design and produce business documents
BSBITU306A v1.7.2 Intellitrain 2012 Page 2 of 33

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Course Authors: Chandra Vallath Ph.D
Paul Eldridge MBT(UNSW), BA(Deakin), Cert IV TAA, AFAIM, MAITD
Intellitrain also wish to express our appreciation to all those who have offered up their skill, knowledge and
time to assist in the development of this course.

Version 1.7.2


Unit Overview

This unit, BSBITU306A - Design and product business documents, describes the performance
outcomes, skills and knowledge required to design and produce various business documents
and publications. It includes selecting and using a range of functions on a variety of
computer applications.
This unit applies to individuals who possess fundamental skills in computer operations and
keyboarding. They may exercise discretion and judgement using appropriate theoretical
knowledge of document design and production to provide technical advice and support to a
team.

ELEMENT PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
1. Select and prepare
resources
1.1. Select and use appropriate technology and software
applications to produce required business documents
1.2. Select layout and style of publication according to
information and organisational requirements
1.3. Ensure document design is consistent with company and/or
client requirements, using basic design principles
1.4. Discuss and clarify format and style with person requesting
document/publication
2. Design document 2.1. Identify, open and generate files and records according to
task and organisational requirements
2.2. Design document to ensure efficient entry of information and
to maximise the presentation and appearance of information
2.3. Use a range of functions to ensure consistency of design and
layout
2.4. Operate input devices within designated requirements
3. Produce document 3.1. Complete document production within designated time lines
according to organisational requirements
3.2. Check document produced to ensure it meets task
requirements for style and layout
3.3. Store document appropriately and save document to avoid
loss of data
3.4. Use manuals, training booklets and/or help-desks to
overcome basic difficulties with document design and
production
4. Finalise document 4.1. Proofread document for readability, accuracy and consistency
in language, style and layout prior to final output
4.2. Make any modifications to document to meet requirements
4.3. Name and store document in accordance with organisational
requirements and exit the application without data/loss
damage
4.4. Print and present document according to requirements


REQUIRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
This section describes the skills and knowledge required for this unit.
Required skills
keyboarding and computer skills to complete a range of formatting and layout tasks
literacy skills to read and understand a variety of texts; to prepare general information and papers
according to target audience; and to edit and proofread documents to ensure clarity of meaning
and conformity to organisational requirements
numeracy skills to access and retrieve data
problem-solving skills to determine document design and production processes.

Required knowledge
appropriate technology for production requirements
functions and features of contemporary computer applications
organisational policies, plans and procedures
organisational requirements for document design e.g. style guide.

Resources
Publications
Duarte, Nancy, "Slide:ology" O'Reily Media. August 2008

Websites
http://www.firsthome.gov.au/
www.dropbox.com
www.jeanweber.com/howto/examplestyleguide.pdf

Assessment
This unit is assessed via a combination of multiple choice questions plus a practical exercise
that encompasses all the units within the course.

All assessments are to be completed online through the iTRAIN platform. Your username,
password and instructions on how to access and use iTRAIN were issued to you on
enrolment.

If you have forgotten your password or username, or if you are having any problems in
accessing or using iTRAIN then please call the student support team on 1300 735 082 or
email admin@intellitrain.com.au for assistance.

Students are entitled to one inclusive resubmission per unit. If a third submission is required
a re-assessment fee will apply, details of the cost are in the student handbook. This will
cover the re-assessment plus related support. Students who are unsuccessful after a third
attempt are required to re-enrol in the particular unit(s) which will incur an enrolment fee.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 10
2 SELECT AND PREPARE RESOURCES .............................................................................. 11
2.1 Selecting appropriate technology and software ............................................................. 11
2.2 Selecting layout and style of publication ......................................................................... 14
2.3 Using design principles .................................................................................................... 16
3 DESIGN DOCUMENT .................................................................................................... 21
3.1 Maintaining files and records .......................................................................................... 21
3.2 Ensuring consistency of design and layout ...................................................................... 23
3.3 Using input devices .......................................................................................................... 25
4 PRODUCE DOCUMENT ................................................................................................ 26
4.1 Completing documents in designated time frame .......................................................... 26
4.2 Store document appropriately and save documents to avoid loss of data .................... 26
4.3 Using manuals and other help ......................................................................................... 28
5 FINALISE DOCUMENT .................................................................................................. 31
5.1 Proofreading document ................................................................................................... 31
5.2 Make modifications to the document ............................................................................. 31
5.3 Naming and storing documents....................................................................................... 31
5.4 Printing documents .......................................................................................................... 32
6 LETS SUMMARISE ....................................................................................................... 33

1 INTRODUCTION
As a finance professional operating in the finance and/or mortgage broking industry, you
will be required to produce all sorts of documents, including (but not limited to) email,
Business Plans and Goals, Accounting Documents, Business Reports, Operational
Documents, and Customer Service Documents, loan applications, marketing documents,
policies and procedures. All business documents must be accurate, clear, and designed for
the right purpose and audience. Conventions have evolved over time about how each of
these document types should look and read. These conventions have to do with both the
content and formatting of documents.

As an example, the minutes of an internal business meeting would likely be brief and highly
condensed, following the same format as for past meetings and intended for an audience
that is familiar with the context, if not the content itself. A project proposal, on the other
hand, may run to tens of pages, be extremely detailed, and directed at an audience that
may not be familiar with the topic or content. Both are business documents, but their
intents and audiences vary.
The range of document types is growing, as companies find themselves launching web
pages, Facebook pages, online blogs, and tweets, or grappling with increasing rules and
regulations and associated paperwork. As the needs of businesses for communication,
information gathering, record-keeping, archiving and presentation have grown, so have
technology tools available to meet this growing demand. There are a wide range of
computer products that can be used by novices and experts alike. This unit covers some of
the important tools and the functions they allow you to perform. It is not intended to teach
the use of hardware or software; rather, it is a reference source, especially of underlying
principles that cut across computer applications. You are encouraged to explore the links
provided here and to seek further training.

2 SELECT AND PREPARE RESOURCES
The resources you will need to generate business documents may be readily available to
you. It is quite common, for example, for most businesses to have office productivity
software such as Microsoft Office. The Microsoft suite of products allows you to send
emails, create presentations in PowerPoint and build spreadsheets in Excel.
Other, more specialised tasks such as producing a marketing brochure may require more
advanced (and costly) purpose built design applications. In these cases, it may be far easier
and less time-consuming to outsource the work to a design shop or a copy centre that could
probably do it more professionally and with a minimum of fuss for you. In most cases,
generating business documents is relatively uncomplicated and requires only a computer
and one of three most-used software programs from the Microsoft Office family of
products. Of course, you will also need more resources for saving and archiving documents,
printing and mailing.
2.1 Selecting appropriate technology and software
Today, there are a wide range of technologies that let you design, produce, save and
retrieve, or present business documents.
Some of the common ones are:
Laptops, desktops, tablets (e.g. iPad by Apple and Galaxy by Samsung) and slate PCs
Networked servers
Printers and scanners
USB flash drives and portable hard drives
Photocopiers
Digital cameras
There also is a wide variety of software packages. Based on the functions they perform,
some of the more common software programs are:
Word processing
Used for producing documents, memos, letters, faxes, manuals and reports, etc.
Used when the content of a document is mostly text.
Most widely used is Microsoft Word.
Desktop publishing software
Used for documents that require more graphics such as flyers, business cards,
stationary, letter head, newsletters, logos and brochures.
Examples include Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign and Quark Xpress.
Spreadsheet software
Spreadsheets are typically used to store, manipulate and present data and to
produce reports. For example, a broker could create a spreadsheet capturing the
amount of leads generated from a particular local area marketing campaign.
Presenting this information in a graphical format allows a visual view of the success
of the campaign.
Prime example is Microsoft Excel.
Presentation software
Used for making overhead presentations.
Allows the creation of slides and effects emphasising key points and can be used in
conjunction with other media.
An example of this is Microsoft PowerPoint.
Accounting Software
Used for accounting and payroll functions in a business. Allows electronic financial
records to be kept for the business. Produces a variety of financial reports for
management and for the business.
Common programs include MYOB and QuickBooks. Larger companies use more
specialised software.
Email
Used for correspondence between parties.
Can be used to manage appointments, tasks and meeting attendees.
An example of this kind of program is Microsoft Outlook.
In addition to proprietary software, such as the Microsoft Office Suite, there are also free
versions of software available online that may be downloaded to your drive or used online.
One good example is the Google suite of products that is available to anyone with a free,
registered Google account. One advantage of Google documents (Google Docs) is that they
can be accessed from anywhere where you can get on the internet. You dont need any
software other than a web browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Another advantage of
Google Docs is that you can share files with anyone you choose. You can even work
collaboratively on the same document at the same time, wherever you and your
collaborators are located.
As a learning aid for this unit, we have selected Microsoft PowerPoint for you to design and
produce a document.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

You are tasked with designing and producing a PowerPoint
presentation. The topic Overview of the First Home
Owners Grant.

To help you do this, visit the website link below,
http://www.firsthome.gov.au/ pick your state, and use the
information to produce a 3 page PowerPoint presentation.

Make sure you use your companys logo, colour palette and
font types are in your presentation.

NOTES:

2.2 Selecting layout and style of publication
The choice of layout and publication style will vary with the type of document. Print layout
decisions include page dimension (routinely A4 in Australia), orientation (portrait or
landscape), single column or multi-column, colour or black and white, text alone or text and
image, font usage, and use of white space. Publication styles include single-sided or back-
to-back printing, type of paper and binding, colour and resolution. A different set of layout
and publication decisions come into play for presentations, web pages, and other electronic
display documents.
Many business documents have to conform to standard design guidelines which may be the
standard for a particular industry, firm, or document type. For example, a business letter
routinely has the senders address, current date, and recipients address at the top of the
first page. It also may have a letterhead and a subject line starting with Re: to draw the
readers attention to the topic of the letter. If enclosures are attached with the letter, they
may be listed after the signature of the sender at the bottom of the page.

Figure 1: Sample of a Business letter layout (source: Xerox Corporation)
These are just conventions, but they make sense in the context of business communication.
The recipient should not have to look up the persons contact details if they wish to send a
reply to the letter.
Other business documents, such as invoices, sales reports, order forms, and memorandums,
too, are laid out to conform to styles that may be defined by industry or organisation
guidelines. Depending on your organisation, you may be provided with business document
templates that you could save and reuse repeatedly.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

List two types of documents which have set formats that may
never vary.

List two types of documents whose formats may vary from
document to document.

Do the differences between the two types of documents
reflect a difference in purposes or audiences?

When does it help to stick to a format?

2.3 Using design principles
DOCUMENTS
Designing professional documents can be done using typical desktop publishing tools.
However, it is worth noting that many companies outsource their design to professional
graphic design studios in order to ensure they achieve a professional look.

Whilst, you may not become a professional graphic designer, you can employ some
fundamental design principles in order to produce well-presented documents that are easy
to read. The fundamental document design principles are:
Catch and hold the readers attention;
Make it easy to navigate through a document; and
Provide information in language and layout that is easy to understand.
Readers prefer documents with logical order and flow, consistent layout, and easily
understandable terminology, so if you want your handwriting to be read, pay attention to
those elements. Dont use jargon or set things up in a way that makes the relevant sections
difficult to find. Whether your document is a report, a proposal or an email, you want your
reader to actually read it. You wouldnt be writing it if it wasnt important, would you?
As an example, a marketing document would be worded very differently from a submission
to a lender. The use of layout styles, colours, paper, and such, also may be very different.
Important design features to consider in producing a document include:
Formatting: As you have learned already, when designing documents, you need to consider
the needs of the audience. Pages and pages of text can be tough for a reader to cope with.
Consider using:
Bullet points to highlight key concepts
Tables to represent complex information
A picture can replace a thousand words
Microsoft Word comes with various Styles that can be applied to entire documents or parts
of documents. The software allows the user, to fine tune the distance between lines of text,
paragraph indentation, insertion of watermarks, and a whole host of other formatting
features. Microsoft Word also contains a wide selection of pre-designed templates that can
help you to produce a professional document.


Figure 2: Selecting a template in Microsoft Word 2010
When designing large documents with many pages, it may be a good idea to use columns
and to provide white space on each page. Interspersing text with graphics and text boxes
help to break up the monotony.
Microsoft Word is a powerful tool for producing most business documents. However, for
larger documents that may go for professional printing and are meant for wide distribution,
a more appropriate choice may be a desktop publishing program, such as Adobes InDesign.
It is not very difficult to master and can be a very versatile tool to produce professional-
looking documents.


Figure 3: Documents produced using desktop publishing application

Typography: Typography refers to the appearance and arrangement of letters that appear
on the printed page or the monitor. Some terms with which you may be familiar include
font family, font, font size, and font style. You also may know about paragraph indentation,
line spacing and alignment. These, and many more terms, are associated with typography
and apply to a wide range of computer applications, not just word processing.
An important issue in document design is that of legibility what features of typography
make a document more readable? What may put a strain on the readers eyes? There has
been a good deal of back and forth about the merits of serif versus sans serif fonts. Serif
fonts, like Times New Roman, have small, finishing strokes at the ends of characters, like
little tails. Sans serif fonts, like the one used to type this document (Calibri) dont have those
fancy strokes. There is no conclusive ruling on this argument, but it is generally accepted
that serif fonts are harder to read on the screen. Headlines may be in serif fonts, but its
better to have body text in sans serif for online content and overhead presentations.
PRESENTATIONS
The design rules that work for printed documents dont necessarily work for overhead
presentations. Its important to know the distinctions because you will probably find
yourself designing presentations quite often in your job. And a well-designed presentation
could possibly give you credibility and earn the viewers trust and business.

A poorly-designed presentation, on the other hand, could reduce the confidence others
place in you. A good resource for learning how to design effective presentations is the book
slide:ology by Nancy Duarte (2008).

Figure 4: Slide:ology book cover. Author - Nancy Duarte (August 2008) OReilly Media
What follows is a list of suggested guidelines on how to design an overhead presentation.
These are rules of thumb suggested by many sources; this means it may be okay at times to
depart from them.
Presentation flow: Ensure you have a logical flow to the presentation. If there are many
subjects to cover, it may help to divide your presentation into sections. PowerPoint and
other presentation software let you format different sections in different ways, have section
header slides, etc. For longer presentations, you may want an introductory slide that lists all
the topics you will be covering. Also, tell the audience how long you expect the presentation
to last.
Look and feel: The overall appearance and theme of the presentation must match the
intent. If your presentation is serious you probably wouldnt want to overdo cartoons,
cheery sounds, and a lot of bright primary colours. Whatever the look and feel you decide
on, it should be consistent throughout the presentation. Consider the Practical Activity you
have been asked to undertake. What sort of audience do you have? What sort of
presentation look and feel would they expect?
Microsoft PowerPoint comes with a number of templates which you can adapt for your
presentation. You can also use the Slide Master function in PowerPoint to specify fonts,
colours, backgrounds, etc., for the entire presentation. This will ensure consistency in layout
throughout the presentation.

Design simplicity: Avoid clutter. Dont overdo graphics. Resist the temptation to add a lot of
frills, such as slide transition effects. A simple transition-free change from slide to slide or a
dissolve should be enough transition.
Use of text: Too often, presenters dont seem to realise that the slide show is just a tool to
augment the spoken word, not a substitute for the oral presentation itself. Many
presenters often clutter their slides with text and then spend their time reading out what
they wrote. This is the surest way to lose an audience. Rather, the text on the slide should
only highlight the most important points. Some suggest that any bullet point should have
no more than eight words. The first letter should be capitalised, and commas and periods
should be avoided. Font sizes should be clearly readable from anywhere in the room. If you
must use colours to highlight text, use them very sparingly.
When using graphs or charts ensure that the labels are clearly visible from the last row.
Titles should not be ALL CAPS. And while the title fonts can be sans serif, body text should
be in serif fonts (like Times New Roman) so it can be read easily. Use the Notes feature in
PowerPoint to make additional information to accompany the slide during the oral
presentation.

3 DESIGN DOCUMENT
Before designing a document, you need to make some decisions:
1. If the document is something that is produced frequently, is there a template readily
available which you could fill in with a minimum of effort?
2. If so, which template fits with company and industry requirements?
3. If a template is available, does it need to be tweaked to make it conform to your
needs?
4. If a template is not available, can one be created and saved for future use?
5. Who needs to approve the template before it becomes a standard tool for the
business?
6. What software should be used to create the template? Should it be proprietary
software or free software?
7. Should the template be produced in-house or contracted to an outside party?
8. Where should it be saved and who can have access to it?
9. What naming convention needs to be decided on for the template and for the
documents produced from it?
As you can see, the idea should be to minimise effort in the long term and automate
document generation to the extent possible.
3.1 Maintaining files and records
It is good practice to maintain records of all documents produced by the business, to name
them according to a standard convention, to organise and save them on a storage medium
(hard drive, server, etc.) in a manner that makes sense and facilitates ease of retrieval.
Managing files on your computer isn't much different from the way you've always stored
and managed your paper files. It boils down to this: store the information in folders by
category, and in a sequence that makes sense to you.
Here are some tips to help manage your files:
Avoid saving unnecessary documents. Don't make a habit of saving everything that
finds its way into your Inbox. Take a few seconds to glance through the content, and
save a file only if it's relevant to your work activity. Having too much data on your
computer adds to clutter and makes it harder to find things in the future and it
may, over time, slow down your computer's performance too. Be selective about
what you keep!
Follow a consistent method for naming your files and folders. For instance, divide a
main folder into subfolders for clients, marketing, operations, administration,
invoices receivable etc. Give shortened names to identify what or whom the folders
relate to.
Store related documents together, whatever their type. For example, store Word
documents, presentations, spreadsheets and graphics related to a particular client in
a single folder rather than having one folder for presentations for all clients,
another folder for spreadsheets for all clients, and so forth. Create an identical folder
structure for each. For example, under a CLIENT folder, you may have subfolders
such as CONTACT DETAILS, WORK COMPLETED and WORK IN PROGRESS.
Separate ongoing work from completed work. Some people prefer to save current
or ongoing work on their computer's desktop until a job is completed. Then, once it's
done, they move it to the appropriate location, where files of the same category are
stored. At periodic intervals (for example, weekly or every two weeks), move files
you're no longer working on to the folders where your completed work is stored.
Always, always have a backup. If you are using a laptop, backup your files to an
external hard drive or to a cloud-based storage site such as Dropbox
(www.dropbox.com)
Avoid overfilling folders. If you have a large number of files in one folder, or a large
number of subfolders in a main folder (so many that you can't see the entire list on
your screen without scrolling down) break them into smaller groups (e.g. sub-
folders). Think of creating a sequential menu, arranged either in chronological or
alphabetical order, to make retrieval easy.
For example you can divide a folder called "Marketing Plan" into subfolders called
"MKTNGPLAN11," "MKTNGPLAN12," and "MKTNGPLAN13." Notice the shortening of
the name to enable the folder to be seen easily via the directory.
Make sure your filing system is backed up. Again, this is a bit tedious, but it's so
important, as anyone who's had a failed disk drive will testify! Make sure, firstly, that
your PC is backed up regularly and, secondly, that the backup includes the
directories where you file information.
Source: adapted from MindTools website, 2012.

3.2 Ensuring consistency of design and layout
As has already been mentioned, it is very important to have consistency of the documents
your business produces. Consistency operates at many levels. At one level, it is in the use of
language; at another, in the appearance of documents; at yet another, it is in the frequency
with which documents are produced and made available to the audience. The last applies
when you produce periodic bulletins, newsletters, blogs, and such.
Consistency in language may vary, depending on who produces the document. However,
one way to bring some level of sameness in style is to use style guides that are distributed
throughout the organisation. In this way, you can ensure that everyone uses the same
spellings, terminology, or even composition style. It may also help to provide everyone with
a glossary of terms used within the industry and by the organisation. At the time of writing
of this unit, one useful example of a style guide was available at Example Style Guide
(www.jeanweber.com/howto/examplestyleguide.pdf).
Consistency in appearance, too, can be ensured by using saved templates and by
distributing style guides for everyone to follow. A useful fact to remember is that most
software applications come with built-in templates, functions and reusable styles. For
example, if you routinely send printed letters to a group of individuals, Microsoft Word
allows you to use a function called Mail Merge. This lets you create a single copy of the
letter and have mail merge pull in information from another single file with the names and
addresses of all the recipients. Word then creates custom letters for each recipient.
Most applications these days also come with format painter functions, which allow you to
copy the format of a particular segment of text and apply it to other segments. For example,
you may have a headline that is in Times New Roman, 14 points, bold, and in red. By
clicking within that text and using the format painter tool in Word, it is possible to then
highlight another portion of text and instantly apply the same format.


USEFUL TIP

Use a Style Guide for Document Consistency
A style guide is a reference document that includes rules and suggestions for writing style and
document presentation. Style guides often specify which option to use when several options exist,
and they include items that are specific to the company or industry and items for which a
standard or example does not exist through commercial style guides. The specific content in the
style guide is not usually a matter of correct or incorrect grammar or style, but rather the
decisions you or your employer or client have made from among the many possibilities.
More specifically, style guides can serve several purposes:
To ensure that documents conform to corporate image and policy, including legal
requirements
To inform new writers and editors of existing style and presentation decisions and
solutions
To define which style issues are negotiable and which are not
To improve consistency within and among documents, especially when more than one
writer is involved or when a document will be translated
To remove the necessity to reinvent the wheel for every new project
To remind the writer of style decisions for each project, when one writer works on
several projects that have different style requirements
To serve as part of the specifications for the deliverables, when writing for clients outside
your company or when outsourcing writing projects
A style guide contains both rules (non-negotiable) and suggestions or recommendations
(negotiable). Which items should be rules and which should be suggestions is a matter of opinion
and corporate policy, though items that result from audience analysis and usability testing are
more objective and thus more likely to be rules.
Keep in mind as youre planning and developing a style guide that it should be an evolving
document. You dont need to include everything on the first pass; add items as questions arise and
decisions are made, or change items as you make new decisions to deal with changing situations.
From Developing a Departmental Style Guide, by Jean Hollis Weber
3.3 Using input devices
The most commonly-used input devices are the keyboard and the mouse, but there also are
disk drives, scanners, computer cameras, touch screens, graphic tablets, voice recorders, joy
sticks, etc. The devices you use have to be compatible with your hardware and operating
system. Your software needs to be able to recognise and use the inputs from these devices.
Often, this means the installation of additional software called device drivers. These drivers
may already be installed by the computer manufacturer. Or they may come with the device
on a DVD. Yet another possibility is that the drivers can be downloaded from the device
manufacturers web site. When in doubt, turn to a reliable computer consultant.
Ensure that your input devices are adjusted to provide files at a quality appropriate for your
output. For example, an image that you scan in for a web page can be of much lower
resolution than one you scan in to incorporate in a print brochure. Having some knowledge
of constraints such as graphic file resolution and differences between screen display and
printed colours can be useful when producing business documents

4 PRODUCE DOCUMENT
4.1 Completing documents in designated time frame
Business documents have time-bound utility; i.e., they need to be produced and distributed
quickly and efficiently. You can help speed up the production of business documents by
using the methods discussed earlier: using saved templates, style sheets and the built-in
functions of software packages. Another way to speed up production is to establish a clear
workflow and to stick to it. For example, you may have one or two people who write the
content, which is proof-read by another person, approved by someone higher up the
organisational hierarchy, then sent for layout and printing. Once the channels are
established and adhered to, document production will be a lot more streamlined and
efficient.
4.2 Store document appropriately and save documents to avoid
loss of data
Invariably you will get caught in a situation where you have spent hours writing some
brilliant prose or completing a detailed application only for the computer to freeze and you
loose all your work.
After you have picked up the pieces of the machine you smashed onto the floor and
received the new computer you ordered, you may become more paranoid about saving files
regularly (author just saved this document right then).
A simple rule is that as soon as you have made any change that you are happy with or would
not like to lose, save the file. Recognising that people make mistakes and accidents happen,
Microsoft Office applications have an Auto Recovery feature.
The Auto Recovery feature of Microsoft Word comes in handy during many situations and it
sometimes proves to be a life saver. You might know that the default setting of Microsoft
Word is to save your document after every 10 minutes for auto recovery.

Just to be on the safe side, you may wish to reduce this time and want
Microsoft Word to save the document more often. Click the Office (File)
button and then choose Options (refer screen grab on the right).
Note: This setting can be applied to Excel 2010 and PowerPoint 2010 as well.

Figure 5: Word Navigation
The Word Options dialogue box will be displayed, now locate the Save option on the left
sidebar (Figure 6). You will find the Save AutoRecover information option listed on the right,
change the time to whatever you want from the drop down menu.
Figure 6: Auto Save option

Now your document will be auto saved after the specified number of minutes.

4.3 Using manuals and other help
On occasion you may need help or assistance with applications. It is common practice for all
applications to have an in-built help function. This should be your first port of call when
something goes wrong or you dont know how to use a particular tool within an application.
In addition to the in-built help function, there are many other resources available to assist
you, including some of the following:

Figure 7: Help options available

Using Microsoft Office Help
Microsoft has a help option for you to use if you need to. The main access point for this is
the help window. You can access the help menu at the top right hand side of the screen as
shown in the following diagram by clicking on the question mark.
There are two ways to get help using the help option:
Browse for information by topic
Search for the information using key words

Browsing for Help by Specific Topic
If you want to browse by help by topic e.g. animation you can do this as follows using the
help menu:
Application
website
Manuals
Using Training
Booklets
Reference
Books
Online
Forums
Help Desks

Figure 8: Using help search function

Using Key words to search for help
To search for help using key words, enter the key word into the box as displayed below:

Figure 9: Using keyword function
Enabling Office Online
You can also use the Microsoft online help options, information and tutorials. You can
enable online access when searching for a help topic to make sure that you have access to
both the built-in help system as well as the online help function.
Using Help Desks
Some applications and organisations have a help desk. You can contact these help desks if
you experience any technical issues relating to software or hardware. When doing so make
sure that you provide the technician with a clear and concise summary of your issues so
that the help desk team can assist you as quickly as possible. It is also a good idea to bullet
point your issues, beginning with the most serious. You should also be aware that the help
desk will use a triage system when logging all issues and anything that may jeopardise your
organisations operations will be prioritised and attended to before yours.
So, if you are facing an issue that could be potentially harmful to the companys operations
or is extremely urgent, then you should let the help desk team know this immediately so
that they can prioritise the job accordingly.

5 FINALISE DOCUMENT
5.1 Proofreading document
It is important to review all documents before copying or distributing them. That way you
ensure the accuracy of information, as well as correct any errors in grammar, style, spelling,
etc. Its a good idea for the proof reader to be different from the person who wrote the
document authors are not particularly good at proofing their own copy. Another good
practice is to have the Spelling and Grammar function turned on if you are using Microsoft
Word or another application that has such features.
5.2 Make modifications to the document
Microsoft Word has a function called Track Changes which allows changes made by each
individual to be seen (in different coloured text) as the document passes from person to
person. Ultimately, an individual with the authority to make final decisions on the document
can approve or reject the editorial changes made by various individuals.
5.3 Naming and storing documents
When you are dealing with a large number of documents, as is normal in any business, it is
important to ensure that you do not lose track of the different versions of each document.
You need to establish and stick to a naming convention that makes sense and which tells
you who in the workflow currently has ownership of the document. One way is to include
version numbers at the end of the file name, or date and time along with the initials of the
current owner. It also helps to have a master file that tracks all documents, specifically who
in the workflow chain currently has the document, when they received it, and when it is
passed on to the next individual.
It is important to archive older versions in one location. All documents must be filed in an
orderly manner, in a file and folder system that is organised logically. Confidential files
should be saved separately in a password-restricted location. It is generally not a good idea
to carry business files around on a portable medium such as a flash drives. Flash drives are
easily lost or forgotten on someone elses computer. If you do have to carry files on a
portable drive, make sure they are password protected so they cannot be accessed by
strangers.

5.4 Printing documents
Printing is easy right? You just hit the print button on the application you are using. Printing
isnt rocket science, however, there are some key points to remember when printing:
Make sure you save it in the right format. As often happens, if the document has to be
sent from computer to computer before being printed, the same software may not be
available on the computer attached to the printer as was used to create the document.
One way to avoid this is to convert the document to PDF (portable document format)
before sending it to print. A majority of mainstream applications have an option to
output to a PDF file.
If you are going to incorporate colour images in your document and have it printed in
colour, try and ensure that the images are formatted in CMYK (the colour formatting for
the printer) and not in RGB (the colour formatting for the screen).
You may not be aware that the printer does not print all the way to the edge of the
paper. If you have a document with pages where you want images go right up to the
edge of the paper, then you need to consult a professional printer in order to print
documents with that feature.

6 LETS SUMMARISE
Take a few minutes to reflect on each of the key points below, and place a tick beside each
point you believe you have mastered in this unit.
The key points to take away from this unit are:
Different business documents have different purposes and audiences they should
be produced accordingly.
There is a growing range of hardware and software options for producing business
documents and presentations. Its important to keep track of the available selection.
In addition to proprietary software (for which you pay a price), there are alternative
software packages that are free and offer roughly the same functionality.
There are standard conventions for different kinds of business documents. There are
also templates for producing standard business documents. These templates are
widely available.
Good design principles apply to both print and electronic documents. Good
principles also apply to the selection and organisation of content.
Software such as Microsoft Word and Excel come with many features to format and
organise content. A working knowledge of these features can be very useful.
There are a number of rules of thumb that can benefit the design of overhead
presentations, such as PowerPoint slides.
There are sound practices for naming and saving electronic files and folders.
Efficient printing of documents requires some knowledge of printing parameters
such as the difference between colour for the computer monitor and colour for the
printer.

END OF UNIT
Congratulations! You have completed the course content for BSBITU306A Design and
Produce Business Documents.

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