Documents and categories in software development

A software document, also known as a document, usually refers to recorded data and data media. It has a fixed form that can be read by humans and computers. It and computersProgramTogether constitute computer software that can complete specific functions (Some people regard the source programCompositionFile ). We know that hardware products and product materials are visible throughout the entire production process, while software production is very different. The document itself is a software product. Software without documentation cannot be software or software products. The preparation of software documentation (documentation) plays a prominent role and considerable workload in software development. Efficient and high-quality development, distribution, management and maintenance documents are of great significance for the transfer, change, correction, expansion and use of documents, and to give full play to the benefits of software products.

Software developers use documents as the embodiment of the results of previous stages and the basis for subsequent stages of work in various stages. This role is obvious. During software development, software developers need to prepare work plans or work reports which should be provided to management personnel and necessary support. Management personnel can learn about the software development project arrangement, progress, resource usage and results through these documents. Software developers need to provide detailed information about the use, operation, and maintenance of the software. We call this a user document. The above three documents constitute the main part of the software documentation.

1. User Documentation: User Manual, Operation Manual, maintenance modification suggestions, software requirement (specification) Manual

Ii. Development Documentation: software requirement (specification) specification, data requirement specification, summary design specification, detailed design specification, feasibility study report, and Project Development Plan

Iii. management documents: project development plan, test plan, test report, Development Progress Report, and Development Summary Report

• 1. feasibility Study Report: Describe the technical, economic, and social feasibility of the implementation of the software development project, and comment on various possible implementation plans available to reasonably achieve the development objectives, describe and demonstrate the reasons for the selected implementation scheme.
• 2. project Development Plan: Develop a specific plan for the software project implementation plan, which should include the person in charge of each part of the work, the development progress, the development budget, the required hardware and software resources. The project development plan should be provided to the management department and used as a reference for the development stage review.
• 3. Software Requirement Specification: Also known as the software specification, which provides detailed descriptions of the features, performance, user interface, and operating environment of the developed software. It is an agreement between the user and the developer on the basis of mutual understanding of the software requirements and the basis for implementation and development.
• 4. Data requirements manual: This manual shall provide the data logic description and data collection requirements, and prepare for the production and maintenance of system data volumes.
• 5. summary Design Manual: This manual is the work result of the summary design phase, it shall describe the function allocation, module division, overall program structure, input and output, interface design, operation design, data structure design and error handling design, and lay the foundation for detailed design.
• 6. Detailed Design Manual: describes how each module is implemented, including the implementation of algorithms and logical processes.
• 7. User Manual: This Manual describes the functions, performance, and user interface of the software in detail, so that you can understand how to use the software.

• 8. Operation Manual: This Manual provides the operator with relevant knowledge about the various running conditions of the software, especially the detailed operation methods.
• 9. Test Plan: an implementation plan should be prepared for the purpose of testing assembly and validation. The plan should include the testing content, progress, conditions, personnel, selection principles of test cases, and allowable deviation range of test results.
• 10. Test Analysis Report: after the test is completed, a description of the implementation of the test plan should be submitted. Analyze the test results and put forward the test conclusions.
• 11. Monthly Development Progress Report: This monthly report is a monthly project progress report submitted by software personnel to the management department. The report should include the comparison of the progress plan and actual implementation, the results of the phase, the problems encountered and solutions, and the plans for the next month.
• 12. Project Development Summary Report: after the software project is developed, it should be compared with the project implementation plan to summarize the actual implementation status, such as progress, results, resource utilization, costs and manpower invested. In addition, it is necessary to evaluate the development work and summarize the experiences and lessons learned.
• 13. maintenance and modification suggestions: after the software product is put into operation, problems such as correction and modification are discovered, the existing problems, modification considerations, and impact estimates should be described in detail, written as maintenance modification suggestions, and submitted for approval.

The above documents are prepared in a timely manner during the software life cycle with the development of various stages of work. Some of them only reflect the work of one stage, and others need to span multiple stages. The following table lists the phases in which documents should be written during the software life cycle.

Documentation prepared at each stage of software survival

	Feasibility study and plan	Requirement Analysis	Design	CodeWrite	Test	Operation and Maintenance
Feasibility Study Report
Project development plan
Software requirements
Data requirements
Summary Design
Detailed Design Description
Test Plan
User Manual
Operation Manual
Test Analysis Report
Monthly Development Progress Report
Project Development Summary
Maintenance and modification suggestions

These documents should eventually be answered to the software management department or to the user:

• 1. What needs to be met ?"
• 2. In what environment does the developed software implement and where the required information comes from ?"
• 3. How to schedule some development work, that is, "When ?"
• 4. Who will do some development (or maintenance) work ?"
• 5. How are some requirements met?
• 6. Why do we need to make changes to software development or maintenance?

The thirteen documents mentioned above have answered these six questions to a certain extent. This can be seen in the following table.

	What	Where	When	Who	How	Why
Feasibility Study Report	√					√
Project Development Plan	√		√	√
Software Requirement Description	√	√
data requirements	√	√
brief design description					√
detailed design description					√
test plan			√	√	√
User Manual					√
operation manual					√
Test Analysis Report	√
monthly Development Progress Report	√		√
Project Development Summary	√
maintenance and modification suggestions	√			√		√