Document Review

New applications rarely spring from nothing. There is almost always a current way of doing work that is guided by policies, procedures, or application systems. Study of the documentation used to teach new employees, to guide daily work, or to use an application can provide valuable insight into what work is done.

The term documents refers to written policy manuals, regulations, and standard operating procedures that organizations provide as a guide for managers and employees. Document types include those that describe organization structure, goals, and work. Examples of each document type follow:

Policies

Procedures

User manuals

Strategy and mission statements

Organization charts

Job descriptions

Performance standards

Delegation of authority

Chart of accounts

Budgets

Schedules

Forecasts

Any long- or short-range plans

Memos

Meeting minutes

Employee training documents

Employee manuals

Transaction files, e.g., time sheets, expense records

Legal documents, e.g., copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc.

Historical reports

Financial statements

Reference files, e.g., customers, employees, products, vendors

Documents are not always internal to a company. External documents that might be useful include technical publications, research reports, public surveys, and regulatory information. Examples of external documents follow:

Research reports on industry trends, technology trends, technological advances, etc. 

Professional publications with salary surveys, marketing surveys, or product development information 

IRS or American Institute of CPA reports on taxes, workmen's compensation, affirmative action, financial reporting, etc.

Economic trends by industry, region, country, etc. 

Government stability analyses for developing countries in which the application might be placed 

Any publications that might influence the goals, objectives, policies, or work procedures relating to the application

Documentation is particularly useful for SEs to learn about an area with which they have no previous experience. It can be useful for identifying issues or questions about work processes or work products for which users need a history. Documents provide objective information that usually does not discuss user perceptions, feelings, or motivations for work actions. 

Documents are less useful for identifying attitudes or motivations. These topics might be important issues, but documents may not contain the desired information.