Insider Newsletter from Information Mapping

April 2008

International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), 2008, New York City, NY

Boston Chapter for the Society for Technical Communication (STC), Burlington, MA

Training Officers Consortium 2008 Annual Institute, Norfolk, VA

May 2008

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Metrowest Chapter, Framingham, MA

19th annual Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) International Conference, Rancho Mirage, CA

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March 2008	www.infomap.com	Vol. 16, No. 1

Case Study: Quick Reference Chart Increases Effectiveness of Customer Service Training

By David Singer, Contributing Writer

Customer Services Reps at The Men’s Wearhouse use a reference chart, developed with Information Mapping concepts, to find information at a glance.

When it comes to creating training documentation, Shelley Fitze of The Men’s Wearhouse likes to think big. Perhaps this is because the corporate offices where she works are in Houston, TX, but more likely it is just that Shelley knows what will work best for her audiences. The Customer Service Quick Reference Chart that she designed to help train CS Representatives is certainly big, measuring nearly two feet square. It is also a visually striking and highly effective application of Information Mapping techniques.

A Long-Time User of Information Mapping
Shelley is an experienced documentation professional whose enthusiasm for the Information Mapping method dates back to 1992, when she attended an Information Mapping workshop. She has been employed by discount retail clothier The Men’s Wearhouse for more than a decade, and is currently a senior technical writer within the Process Documentation and Facilitation department. Shelley’s department makes extensive use of Information Mapping techniques for end user guides, quick reference guides, and online reference as well as for procedures and process documentation. The organization is growing, and Shelley is very busy with several projects.

Reference at a Glance
“We were hiring a lot of new people for our call centers, and we needed to get them up to speed as quickly as possible,” she said. “At first we were considering some kind of a book, but callers don’t want to wait while the person on the other end of the telephone flips through pages. Nobody wants to hear somebody on the phone say that they have to look it up. We like to design everything we can to be usable ‘at a glance,’ which means posters and charts wherever we think they’ll work better.”

Shelley’s Quick Reference Chart reflects both her focus on quick, easy access to information and her mastery of the Information Mapping method. The chart features color-coded, simple, and effective graphics that guide the user to a series of well-organized, clearly written Information Maps. Each chart contains instructions a Customer Service Representative can follow to take an order, help a customer return an item, or deal with any of several other issues. As the accompanying illustration shows, the chart contains a large quantity of information, but everything is organized and presented so well that even novice users can quickly locate the information they need.

Both a Training and Performance Support Tool
“This chart is designed to fit on the wall directly over the employee’s desk. It is a performance support tool that allows Customer Service Representative trainees to quickly perform at a high level of accuracy,” Shelley told us. “Our end users tell us that it is easy to use and easy to follow, and that they especially like the one-page format.”

The Quick Reference Chart has been in use for nearly a year in the Customer Service area at TwinHill, The Men’s Wearhouse’s corporate apparel and uniform business. Jeff Dotzler, TwinHill’s Manager of Customer Service, said, “We use the Quick Reference Chart in training and afterwards, so we don't have to revisit as much. It cuts our training follow-up time in half. It's a very valuable tool.”

Shelley has been applying her Information Mapping skills to several other projects over the past year.

“Information Mapping is neat, clean, and easy to read. We have offices in several states and in Canada, and we do a lot of our work over the phone and over the Internet. The method allows us to use telephone interviews to capture the information we need, even when we’re building large, complex process flow documentation. Information Mapping gives you the mental discipline to do this. When you already have the structure in your head, you can just concentrate on getting the content.”

The Customer Service Quick Reference Chart is a tribute to the effectiveness of the Information Mapping method as well as to the expertise of a thoughtful and creative technical writer.

Shelley Fitze won the 2007 IMAP Award for “Best Training Material.” We congratulate Shelley and The Men’s Wearhouse on her IMAP Award, and look forward to hearing from her about future successes.

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