The Motorola MTS/MCS programming metaphor, while it actually makes some technical sense, is a bit arcane. It is not easily understood until you have some experience programming these radios, and since you're having someone else program the radio, you don't have the experience. That is going to make it difficult for you to define a set of instructions for the programmer. My guess is that you'll end up with a couple of "do loops" before the two of you get it the way you want.
That said, here is my take on the 50,000 foot version:
I want to you accept three concepts:
Personalities
Slots
Scan Lists
A Personality is a set of technical parameters that define a single radio "channel," such as (but not limited to) Rx Freq, Rx Tone, Tx Freq, Tx Tone and BandWidth. In the MTS/MCS class of radios, the programmer can define a number of Personalities (the total number varies with specific model types, but let us assume 160 for the moment). Even once defined, however, a Personality does nothing for the radio unless and until it has been implemented in a Slot.
A Slot is a position that corresponds to the physical numbering on the rotary selector. In general, MTS/MCS radios can implement up to 10 or 16 "zones" where each "zone" consists of up to 16 "slots." For each slot, the programmer specifies (a) an alphanumeric description (for those radios with alpha displays) and (b) a cross reference to a Personality number. Note that a given Personality can be referenced in more than Slot; in public safety radios, it is not uncommon to have the Agency's primary dispatch channel reference in Slot 1 of every Zone.
(Note that there is an exception to the foregoing, used where the menu, rather than the rotary selector is used for channel selection; this exception, which is clumsy at best and not, in my experience, widely used at all, is beyond the scope of this response. Forget about it.)
A Scan List is a list of up to 15 Zone/Slot references. (In addition, a Scan List can (and should) contain a floating "member" known as "selected;" this temporarily assigns the channel in the zone and slot presently selected to the current scan list.) Note that, this being the case, the programmer cannot begin to create scan lists until after he has completed the deployment of Personalities and Zone/Slot assignments. After scan lists have been created, you go back to the definition of Personalities and point to one of the scan lists for each personality (or, more correctly, each personality for which scan is enabled). What this means is that the radio operator "selects" a scan list for present use when he selects a Zone/Slot (which, in turn) selects a Personality.
Here's what you do for your programmer.
First, make a list of each channel that will be used anywhere in the radio. For each, define freq and tone information. Each definition is numbered, starting at 1.
Second, make a separate list (a spreadsheet is handy) consisting of a matrix of columns each of which contains 16 row entries. Each column is a Zone and each row within a column is a Slot. For each Slot, define the alpha you want and the personality number to which the Slot will point.
Third, make a list of scan lists, where each list contains up to 15 members referenced by Zone and Slot numbers.
Fourth, now go back to your first list and, for each personality, specify whichscan list will be referenced to that personality. Only one scan list per personality.
Fifth, tell the programmer that you do NOT want "talkback scan," that Tx on scan should be set for "Selected," and that in each scan list Priority 1 should be set for "Selected." He'll tell you what these mean.
Good luck.