Vision and Scope

Software Team Vision Statement

Four new features are being developed for Microsoft Word, based on a philosophy of facilitating the user. Additionally, two bugs which have been frequently reported by users will be fixed as part of the new release. The new release will be referred to as Q1-3 Features.

New features in development:

  • Speech to text function
  • Social media management content function
  • 'Cat detection' keyboard lock function
  • Customizable keyboard shortcut function

Bug Fixes:

  • MacOS time stamp editing
  • Unwanted blank pages

Software

Speech to text

  • Facilitating Productivity

Microsoft Word aims to support every kind of writing task, whether users are composing a school essay, recording an interview or taking minutes during a meeting. For decades, professionals have relied extensively on dictation devices for their work, and it comes with numerous advantages. There is far less discrepancy between the speaker and the device, and typing and handwriting are very inefficient compared to audio recording. Additionally, workers can multitask more easily when they rely on hands-free dictation.

Word Speech-to-text provides all the benefits of a dictation device and more, allowing the user to compose Word documents with great accuracy and efficiency. Designed to integrate seamlessly with both the desktop version and Word Mobile, users will be able to dictate in the office or on the go with a single program.

Social media content management

  • Facilitating Communication

Microsoft Word first offered social media authoring support with Word 2003, but social media use has evolved a great deal since then, and Word currently offers a variety of independently developed add-ons to support today's user. Large businesses and individuals alike rely on social media for networking, marketing and communication, as it is both flexible and extremely popular. By providing a unified Word extension which supports all major social media platforms, users will enjoy a stable and consistent experience when managing social media accounts through Word.

Word Life allows users to manage content across multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Wordpress. Users will be able to publish new content to their accounts in a single and manage existing content using one convenient interface.

Cat detection

  • Facilitating Peace of Mind

Microsoft Word supports a wide variety of users, including students and professionals working from home. Autosave, undo and similar features have always helped to protect against work loss, ensuring peace of mind for the user. The average household can be a chaotic place, however, and users sometimes experience unwanted keyboard locking or other loss of control, causing frustration. A visible and easily reversible keyboard lock system which alerts the user to an accidental lock and engages during abnormal keyboard activity will allow users to quickly recover from situations where their control of the keyboard has been compromised.

Word Catkey allows users to recognize when their keyboard has become locked and avoid the frustration caused by a third party interfering with their control of the keyboard. A window announcing the engagement of Catkey will provide users with a quick and convenient way to disengage the lock and get back on task once their family member has left the computer desk.

Customizable keyboard shortcuts

  • Facilitating Workflow

Users enjoy being able to personalize and streamline their workspace, and tend to access the same features-using the same methods- on a regular basis, as they work. Microsoft Word supports workflow by providing users with templates, keyboard commands and other efficiency boosting features. Offering users a more dynamic user interface, including a repositionable custom ribbon and multifunction keyboard commands, will allow users to create a Word experience that works for them.

My Word allows users to modify many aspects of the Word interface and save their settings in a retrievable profile which can be synchronized with their Microsoft account for cross-system use. Users will be able to enjoy the same personally tailored workspace wherever they log in.

Bug Fixes

Time stamps on editing in macOS

For several years, Microsoft Word on macOS has experienced issues relating to time stamps, as well as date/time information failing to record or update properly when saving files. There are recent complaints regarding a bug in Word editing features which causes timestamps to not generate for users' comments during editing.

By synchronizing Word with the macOS desktop clock and restoring a deprecated Review setting which allows users to add or filter identifying information, users will be able to enter or reserve time stamp information while editing Word documents.

Deleting blank pages

Unwanted blank pages are a common user complaint with Microsoft Word. While not caused by a true bug, they are most often caused by formatting behaving in a way that is contrary to the user's preference, whether in the addition of a new paragraph line after a table is inserted, an accidental page break, or in the balancing of odd/even page requirements.

By allowing Word to detect blank pages and provide the user with a tooltip indicating blank page format information, users will be able to avoid frustration and time attempting to resolve the issue.

Documentation Team Vision and Scope

The primary goal of this document is to provide Microsoft Word users with information on Q1-3 Features: what the new features and bug fixes are, and how to use them.
An additional goal for the Documentation team is to integrate this document into the unified content strategy.

New features to be documented:

  • Speech to text function
  • Social media content management function
  • 'Cat detection' keyboard lock function
  • Customizable keyboard shortcut function

Bug Fixes:

  • Time stamp editing (for MacOS)
  • Unwanted blank pages

Scope of Work

There are four new features that need to be introduced to the user base, and two bug fixes that need to be introduced to the user base. This document needs to introduce the users to the new features, answer any questions they might have, and teach them how to use the new features. Furthermore, it must introduce and explain the bugs that existed in the base Microsoft Word program and how this software package fixes them.

  • Introduction of Software Package
  • Overview of Features
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • List of Bug Fixes
  • Speech to Text Tutorial
  • Social Media Content Management Tutorial
  • 'Cat Detection' Tutorial
  • Customizable keyboard Shortcut Tutorial
  • Time Stamp Editing fix (for MacOS)
  • Unwanted Blank Pages fix

Assumptions

Documentation will be developed for a wide audience based on the following expectations:

  • Users will be familiar with Microsoft Word
  • Users will not need information about pre-existing Microsoft Word features
  • Document will likely be used indoors
  • Users will be of all ages and genders
  • Users are likely to have a limited amount of time and will read only the text relevant to accomplishing their task
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License