Technical documentation
Description of a technical product
title: "Technical documentation" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["documents", "technical-communication"] description: "Description of a technical product" topic_path: "general/documents" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_documentation" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Description of a technical product ::
Technical documentation is a generic term for the classes of information created to describe (in technical language) the use, functionality, or architecture of a product, system, or service.
Classes of technical documentation
Classes of technical documentation may include:
- patents
- specifications of item or of components/materials
- data sheets of item or of components/materials
- test methods
- manufacturing standards
- system requirements
- system architecture
- system design documents and data including those necessary for the system development, testing, manufacturing, operation and maintenance
Standardizing technical documentation
Historically, most classes of technical documentation lacked universal conformity (standards) for format, content and structure. Standards are being developed to redress this through bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization(ISO), which has published standards relating to rules for preparation of user guides, manuals, product specifications, etc. for technical product documentation. These standards are covered by ICS 01.110.{{cite web | title = 01.110: Technical product documentation | website = | publisher = International Organization for Standardization | date = | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_ics_browse?ICS1=01&ICS2=110& | access-date = 10 June 2009 }} Technical product documentation not covered by ICS 01.110 are listed in the subsection below.
Discipline-specific
- ISO 15787{{cite web | title = ISO 15787:2001 Technical product documentation -- Heat-treated ferrous parts -- Presentation and indications | website = | publisher = International Organization for Standardization | date = | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?ics1=01&ics2=100&ics3=20&csnumber=27926 | accessdate = 10 June 2009 }}
- ISO 3098{{cite web | title = ISO 3098-0:1997 Technical product documentation -- Lettering -- Part 0: General requirements | website = | publisher = International Organization for Standardization | date = | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=24792 | accessdate = 10 June 2009 }}
- ISO 10209{{cite web | title = ISO 10209-1:1992 Technical product documentation -- Vocabulary -- Part 1: Terms relating to technical drawings: general and types of drawings | website = | publisher = International Organization for Standardization | date = | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=18241&ICS1=01&ICS2=040&ICS3=01 | accessdate = 10 June 2009 }}
- ISO 2162{{cite web | title = ISO 2162-1:1993 Technical product documentation -- Springs -- Part 1: Simplified representation | website = | publisher = International Organization for Standardization | date = | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=6953 | accessdate = 10 June 2009 }}
- ISO 5457{{cite web | title = ISO 5457:1999 Technical product documentation -- Sizes and layout of drawing sheets | website = | publisher = International Organization for Standardization | date = | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=29017 | accessdate = 10 June 2009 }}
- ISO 6433
EU Medical Device Regulation
A technical documentation is also required for medical devices following EU medical device regulation. Annex II, Technical documentation, and Annex III, Technical documentation on post-market surveillance, of the regulation describe the content of a technical documentation for a medical device. This includes e.g. information on the device specification, labelling and instructions, design and manufacture, safety and performance requirements, risk management, and the validatain and verfification of the device, including the clinical evaluation; and also information from postmarketing surveillance.
Formats for source data
Documentation architecture and typing
Some documentation systems are concerned with the overall types or forms of documentation that constitute a documentation set, as well as (or rather than) how the documentation is produced, published or formatted.
For example, the Diátaxis framework (which is mostly used in the field of software documentation{{cite web | title = Partial list of Diátaxis documentation sets | url = http://diataxis.fr/ | access-date = 10 April 2021 }}) posits four distinct documentation forms, corresponding to four different user needs: tutorials, how-to guides, reference and explanation.{{cite web | title = Outline of Diátaxis documentation forms | url = http://diataxis.fr/introduction | access-date = 10 April 2021 | archive-date = 16 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210416150527/https://diataxis.fr/introduction/ | url-status = dead | title = RedHat Modular Documentation terms and definitions | url = https://redhat-documentation.github.io/modular-docs/#modular-docs-terms-definitions/ | access-date = 11 April 2021 }}
Citations
References
- "Technical product documentation. Part references". BSI British Standards.
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