Review and Correct Application Documentation with Every Release

This chapter explains why Application Documentation should be checked and corrected with every Release, not only extended for what the Release adds. Consistency between the documentation and the Application Record, one part of that review, is addressed in its own chapter, “Keep Application Documentation and the Application Record Aligned.”

Why Every Release Is a Documentation Review

Each Release changes an Application, and each change can make some part of its documentation inaccurate. A Release that adds a feature may also alter a configuration, a dependency, an Integration, or an operational procedure. If documentation is only extended for what is new, the parts that changed quietly go stale. Every Release is therefore an opportunity, and an obligation, to check the documentation as a whole for gaps and outdated information, and to correct them.

Establish the Release Documentation Review

With every Release through the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC):

• Identify every part of the documentation affected by the Release’s changes, and update it.

• Check the documentation for gaps and outdated content beyond the immediate changes, using the template as a checklist.

• Check that the documentation conforms to the current template version.

• Check that the Application Record is aligned with the documentation.

• Have each critical stakeholder review its own section.

• Record any gaps that cannot be closed before the Release as Knowledge Debt Items.

Document and Share the Review

Record, as part of each Release’s documentation, that the review was performed, what was updated, and any gaps carried forward, so that the next Release begins from an accurate picture.

Best Practice: Review and Correct Application Documentation with Every Release

It is a best practice to both establish and document the solution for keeping documentation current: with every Release, update everything the Release affects, check the whole body of documentation for gaps and outdated content, and record what was found and done.

Benefits: Reviewing the documentation as a whole with each Release catches the indirect effects of change that a Release-scoped update would miss. Spreading this review across every Release keeps the effort small and continuous, instead of letting it build into an overwhelming catch-up project years later.

Connections to Related IF4IT Practices and Inventories

The Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Best Practices describes how artifacts are maintained across lifecycle iterations. The Release Management Best Practices describes the Release closure activities within which the review takes place.