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I ran into this problem at one shop and as we looked at it we realized that we had neither the desire nor the budget to document the whole system. Heck, none of us even really knew how it all worked anyway. We'd worked with the system just fine since the 1970s. We did realize however that we had annoying problems every time an office employee took a vacation or we had unexpected turnover. Payroll was the really big cloud hanging over our head.

What we did was to install a FAQ for the shop, and asked that the users & supervisors build it up for us over time. It surprised us at what FAQs got added, and the splendid attitude of the users. When we looked at it later we realized that had we taken the energy & time to document the system we would have ignored a very big percentage of the problems that users in fact were having. In other words we were glad we didn't waste our time providing answers for questions that are never asked.

Here is a link to the Faq Application, with the code. You will notice the dates in the code range from 2003 until a couple of weeks ago. If I were to install it again I would update the code, but the idea is there and it can be copied and installed in a couple of hours, if you want to try it.

http://www.martinvt.com/Code_Samples/FAQ/faq.html

(as a note, this application was also installed as a VARPG application. fwiw, here's the screen shots of the FAQ in Windows and in Java. http://www.martinvt.com/Code_Samples/FAQ-VARPG/faq-varpg.html )



ps: Please notice the subfile scrollbar on the first image. Its part of my campaign for us to use the stuff we have.



Crump, Mike wrote:
Has anyone taking a step back and determined what their requirements are
for application/system documentation?


Our documentation is all over the map and I want to set a guideline for
documentation to be used with the end users and support staff. I have
some ideas but was hoping for someone to have put this need in writing
somewhere. Doing the google search or searching technical writing sites
has proven fruitless so far.


I'm thinking of things like:


Brief Description

Business function

How launched/where found

Common name, nicknames


How to Identify the Application

Screen

URL

Printout


Technical Architecture

Server

Application Server

Interdependencies


Workflow Description if applicable


Common problems


Problem Determination Checklist



The intent is to come up with something that will assist help desk
technicians and eventually end users in supporting an application. So
much of what we do is based upon OTJ training and assumed osmosis.





Michael Crump


Manager, Computing Services

Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc.

1509 S. Macedonia Ave.

Muncie, IN 47302

765.741.7696

765.741.7012 f

Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.

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