The document discusses various types of documentation used to help individuals understand and utilize systems, including technical and user documentation. It details the purpose of diagrams, such as flowcharts, which represent processes and operations in information systems and programming. Additionally, it outlines the components of technical documentation, which includes system flowcharts, limitations, known bugs, and requirements for hardware and software.

1. Documentation

2. Documentation and diagrams Documentation is information to help people use or adapt a system. It consists of notes, manuals, diagrams and/or instructions. Technical documentation explains how a system or program works. User documentation explains how to install and use software.

3. Diagrams are used a great deal in documenting information systems. A flowchart is a diagram showing the operation of a process. It consists of: symbols (or boxes) to represent the operations with messages explaining the operation; lines connecting the symbols. These lines may have arrows on them.

4. System flowcharts A system flowchart represents operations on data in an information processing system. A program flowchart represents the sequence of operations in a program. The system flowchart and program flowchart are quite different from one another the arrows in a system flowchart represent the flow of data; the arrows in a program flowchart represent the order of instructions.

5. Symbols System flow charts use standard symbols like: general symbols for input/output and storage.

6. Types of documentation There are two main types of documentation User documentation is for the company or individual to show them how the system works. Technical documentation is for the analysts to update or maintain the system.

7. User documentation User documentation with software may include:

8. Technical documentation Technical documentation of a program usually includes: System flowcharts details of limitations Known bugs Purpose of the system Screen layouts a program listing notes details of data structures used a set of test data and expected results Hardware requirements/information Software requirements