Quick Reference Cards (QRCs) tend to be included in every training project I create. While elearning and Instructor Led Training are valuable, having some kind of support when the students get back to their desk is key to changing behavior and supporting skill retention. QRCs are a very inexpensive yet effective way to do this. My philosophy on the QRC is not to brain dump every possible piece if information onto the page, but to determine where in the process a user might need a nudge or a bit of support.

 

In this particular sample, there is a long drawn-out process for creating a course in the LMS. Users often get lost in the screens of the wizard, forgetting if they need to choose something or can skip over it. Also, the results you get with many of the settings are complicated and difficult to infer from the cryptic field names. I created short field tables so the user can easily locate the fields and their meanings. I designed the document to support the user through both of these issues.

 

When I arrived at this company, their standard was to create all of their documentation in PowerPoint so that any team member could do updates. I had never considered doing a QRC in PowerPoint - I had used Framemaker, Publisher, or even Word. I'll admit that while I was skeptical at first, PowerPoint's Master Slide and text boxes do lend itself well to the structure of a QRC.