User Documentation (no quiz)

1. User Documentation(no quiz) Tori Bowman CSSE 375 October 8th, 2007

2. Agenda • State of 375 • Risks • User documentation

3. State of 375 • Tomorrow: • Project work time • Risk assessment help • Wednesday: • HW4 due 11:55 pm • Thurs., Oct. 18th : 1st status report • Documentation due, Wed., Oct. 17th • Maintenance project plan • Risk assessment

4. Risks • If…., then… • Impact to cost and schedule • Risk matrix • Mitigation strategy • Plan to avoid/realize • Responsibilities • Revisit date • Opportunities

5. References • Chapter 11.5 of SW Maintenance

6. Definition User documentation refers to those documents containing descriptions of the functions of a system without reference to how these function are implemented Pg. 283

8. Other means of classification • User manual • How to use the system • No details on how it does it or how to get the system to do it • Operator manual • How to use the system • How to recover from faults • Maintenance manual • Functional specification • Software design • High quality code listings • Test data and results

9. How to determine the level of documentation needed… • Development methodology • Varies by organization • Version of the system • Upgrades vs. new development • Category of customer • ATS vs. BRS • External regulations • FAA • FDA

10. Why do it in the first place? • Facilitate program comprehension • High staff turnover • Understand rationale, functionality, other development issues • More is not always better • Guide to the user • Cost of help desk vs. user’s guide • Complement the system

11. CotD

12. Effective documentation(not just what’s said, but how it’s said) • Writing style • Active voice • Splitting text into manageable chunks • Repeating complex explanations in different ways • Document standards • Quality assessment • Procedures to encourage concurrent updates • Good design methodologies • Documentation support tools

13. Questions?