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There are generally accepted definitons for various development
methodologies and various project management methodologies.... they tend to
vary by organization, as do the specific names. In my experience they tend
to include, in some form or another:
Business Requirements (including use cases)--what problem does the business
need to solve
System Requirements-what system components are required to solve the
problem
High Level Design--how will the system be designed to solve it within the
overall environment
Technical Design--specificallly what functionality will be included and how
will it work
Database Design/Architecture--what are the data requirements to function
within the new system
Quality Assurance/Test Strategy--how will the system and data be tested to
ensure proper functioning
Implementation Plan--how will the team get the system into production
Test Cases/Scripts--the actual testing scenarios outlined by the test
strategy
Installation/Configuration--instructions on installing and configuring the
system
Admininstration--detailed instructions for ongoing administration of the
system
End user documents--support documents for the end users of the system
I doubt these are generally accepted definitions--I'm not sure there are
any, but these are the kinds of documents I've done for a wide range of
software over the years. Some teams don't do any design or requirements
until after the system goes live, but that doesn't happen as often as it
used to--at least for me.
HTH
Connie P. Giordano
The Right Words
Communications & Information Design
(704) 957-8450 (cell)
www.therightwords.com
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney
-------Original Message-------
From: Sue McKinney
To: Fred Ridder , techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Software Documentation
Sent: 07 Mar '11 08:56
Good point, Fred. In my case, we're documenting an enterprise/server
application, for which we currently provide requirements (including use
cases)
and design docs (on the tech side). Those are the docs we're having the
most
trouble with in terms of identifying the audience and making the docs
useful. I
think one issue is that our audience includes management (for approval) as
well
as testers and developers. What I'm looking for is a general accepted
definition
of what, for example, a design specification document should include and
the
audience.
> In my office, some of us are having a debate about the appropriate
content for
>a
>
> document set for software, such as requirements, use cases, design, and
so on.
> Is there a good source that outlines what a good documentation set is and
> what each document should include? Part of the confusion is over who the
> audience is as well as how to include information that changes
frequently.
I'm afraid your question is too broad to get a answer that will be very
meaningful to your specific situation. "Software" is an *extremely* broad
category, which can include such disparate things as programming languages,
operating systems, interface protocols, application development interfaces
(APIs, which have become my personal specialty), enterprise/server
applications
(e.g., databases, business management systems, web services, CMSs), complex
desktop applications (e.g. CAD and photo editing tools), and simple smart
phone
apps. It's all software, but each has its own, different kinds of audiences
(some have multiple audiences) and its own requirements for documentation.
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