Hmm, that's a tricky question. Yes, I do have examples -- most of which I have written myself.

A helpdesk manual should be brief, but detailed. It should be simple, but cover everything. The layout greatly depends on what it is a manual for. To give an example -- say that you are writing a manual for an administrative intranet. The structure should follow the same logic as either:

1) the process by which tasks are performed, or,
2) the layout/navigation/sectional structure of the intranet

The manual should be indexed well, interlinked. It should have FAQ sections, "gotcha's" and other things that may come up. Typically, such a manual will not be used for mundane tasks (or even learning thereof). It will, however, be used to look up obscure and difficult questions.

It is, therefore, crucial that it covers nigh _everything_.

I wrote one for my own business and I think the key is just start writing and create a Q/A channel where you receive questions from users/testers and write it in the manual in the appropiate section (standard procedures, FAQ, common troubles...)

Take it as a live thing. Don't mind to write in a week the definitive handbook. You can do or think anything you want and you will receive new suggestions/questions everyday from users (and questions probably you never thought about).

In extreme cases you can do you wife use your software just helped with your manual but, be careful, you could be buried under sixty tons of questions... and that hurts.

If you keep getting questions you had never imagined you need to either: replace/hire new personnel who can better imagine customer needs, or, take a week to learn the software/tools/whatever you're working with.

Thanks for the replies.

I started writing the manual, which has become a general training manual soon after posting the message.
I agree, I won't know what all the problems are until the new staff start to work, or customers have problems. However, its good to be able to explain an overview of the business to all the current members, who may be focused on their specific areas.

Look for "process description" writing lessons/tutorials. I think that's the official name for the "manual".

On top of the above suggestions, I have another:

- Read forums on client complaints in your industry.

I recently had to write some guidelines. I did a bit of research on similar guidelines, on general customer service, yet one of the places I found most of the quirks I would have left out, was on forums where people complained about the service deficiencies of the industry I work with.