Documentation1. User Documentation 2. Technical Documentation 3. Program Documentation

Maintenance

Implementation

Design

Analysis

System Development Life Cycle 1) Project Selection and Feasibility Study

2) Present System study and Analysis

3) System Design of the New System

4) Programming and Documentation

5) Implementation and Change Over

6) System Control and Review

7) System Maintenance

User Documentation

User DocumentationUser documentation is used by the people

actually using the system

It is basically a description of how to use the system in the correct way

The user documentation describes each feature of the system

User documentation outlines the steps needed to use each feature

A good User DocumentationA detailed user document provides detailed

troubleshooting assistance.

It is very important for user documents to be easy to understand so as to not confuse the user

Since user documents are normally long documents they would need to have a detailed index for the user to fine sections easier

Consistency and simplicity are also very important.

A contract specifying what the software will do should also be present in the user documentation

The Three different Methods There are three general ways in which user

documentation can be organized

1. Tutorial approach = the most useful for new users, as the user is guided through every step

2. Thematic approach = chapters/sections concentrate on one particular area of interest,

3. Commands/tasks are listed alphabetically, often via cross-referenced indices. This is used for advanced users who know what the systems provides

Different types Quick Start Guides: help the user to get started

with the program, and how to use the most basic features. Mainly how to install an application, how to run it.

User Guides: more complex than the quick start guides, contains information on more topics. Helps perform various operations in more detail.

Reference Guides: aimed for expert users, where a list of commands is listed

README file: contains some basic information about the program. It will also include what one might need to run the program and any changes made to the program which have been left out of the manual.

… Online Help: accessed by clicking on the help icon

in the program being used. This will bring up the help window, from which the user can either browse the table and contents or simply look for help by specifying a keyboard.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions are a collection of questions which are frequently asked by different users, and these are collected into a single file, along with their answer.

Summary User documentation helps the end-user to

use the program in a productive manner,

Helps find solutions to any problem encountered

There are different types of user documentation, each intended to help different kinds of users

Answers questions such as Where do I begin? How do I…? What are the options for this command? What does this mean?

Technical Documentation

Technical DocumentationTechnical documentation contains

information on how to operate, service, repair and support the system

In technical documentation one would find information such as the◦ technical requirements (including hardware and

software) for the program to work,◦ troubleshooting guides for maintenance of the

program, ◦updates details◦guides and installation and repairing instructions

Program Documentation

Program Documentation Program documentation deals with the source-code of the

system.

When creating software, the code alone is not enough there must be some documentation along with it to describe its operation.

Program documentation is usually found within the source code itself

This document is normally highly technical and is mainly used to define and explain ◦ the code used, ◦ data structures ◦ algorithms.

A graphical documentation such as flowcharts could also be present to make it easier for programmers to understand the code