RE: Operator vs. User

["Steve Hudson" <steve -at- wright -dot- com -dot- au>]

Ok - in very formal terms (multi-national / gov / mil), the hierarchy of HCI
candidates goes like this:

The lowest of the low is the User. For telecoms equipment, this is the dude
SENDING or RECIEVING the transmission. In Computer terms, they are
restricted to several applications, have no OS authority other than R/W to
data dirs and regularly must be restricted within the application they are
using. They know nothing about the equipment or processes that provide their
business functions, but know a lot about the business function and its
purpose.

Next comes the Operator. They operate the equipment or maintain the
processes that provide the business result. Common duties include power
on/off, backup/restore, start/stop functionalities, broadcast notifications
and act as 2nd level support. They have a modicum of OS access, and very
little application access other than to the config sections. They usually
know little about the business processes that the equipment or processes
support.

Then comes the Administrator. They have mega access to both App and OS, and
understand both intrinsically.

So, depending on the complexity of the equipment, you may have to have a
Users Guide, Operator Guide and Admin Guide.

Now, lets use a simple example.

Your product is a big PABX with handsets and a fiber port. Your User Manual
talks about using the handsets and how to place calls to the outside world
by dialing 0 first etc. The Operator Manual discusses how to shut the PABX
off and on, and what the little error lights mean, and how to fix them. The
Administrators guide discusses installing and configuring the PABX and the
handsets, and provides a guide for maintaining the system.

ITTH (I Know This Helps <snigger>),

Steve Hudson , HDK List MVP
Principal Technical Writer
Wright Technologies Pty Ltd (Aus)
EyeSpring - the future of graphics has been created.





-----Original Message-----
From: Tasos Athanasopoulos

Hello all out there!!!
A little help needed. As a non native English speaker (I'm Greek), I have a
small question:
What is the difference between a USER and an OPERATOR? My company produces
telecommunications equipment to be sold to large telecommunications operator
companies (France Telecom, etc.) as well as consumer products (i.e.
telephone sets) to be sold to private persons like you and me. We produce
both, Hardware and Software products. When shall we call a manual a User's
Guide or User's Manual and when Operator's Manual?
Last question: Is it User's/Operator's Manual or User/Operator Manual
(without 's)?


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