Types of Documentation

Technical documentation takes two basic forms:

Printed Manuals. Most software and hardware products feature some sort of printed documentation, although printed manuals are used less frequently now than in the past. At the least, most commercial products include a short "getting started" manual, which offers guidance on installation or basic use. More complex products, like those developed for use in corporate information systems, may include multiple printed manuals with hundreds of pages.

Online Documents and Help Systems. In recent years, manufacturers have begun providing users with online documentation rather than printed manuals because electronic documents are less expensive to produce. This point is especially important for companies that develop their own software tools for in-house use. For these businesses, printing documentation can be a time-consuming and expensive process.

Depending on the product, documentation may be developed for different types of users, based on the expertise or experience:

User Guides. These are designed for end users--people who use the product simply to perform specific tasks. Generally, user documentation is tutorial in nature, providing step-by-step instructions, lots of illustrations, and little or no explanatory text.

Reference Manuals. These manuals may be developed for various users. Instead of providing step-by-step instructions, reference manuals include detailed descriptions of commands, features, and capabilities as well as glossaries of special terms.

Technical Reference Guides. Intended for high-level users or developers who will customize the product or develop other applications to work with the product, these guides are filled with technical details and are generally of little interest to end users.

Installation Guides. These are designed to lead the user or administrator through the installation process. For many products, installation is a simple matter requiring little or no documentation. For complex products, however, especially those designed to work with corporate networks and database management systems, installation is filled with potential pitfalls. In these cases, detailed installation guides attempt to describe and resolve any problems the user may encounter.

Configuration Guides. These guides are important references for high-level users or administrators who must change system settings to make the product work as desired.

Administration Guides. These guides are written for system administrators who must ensure that the product works in tandem with all the other products in the information system, such as the operating system, network operating system, and DBMS.

Other specialized types of documentation include troubleshooting guides, technical specifications, and performance-assessment guides.