A structured approach to documenting data management activities

Jeffrey B. Garfinkle

Expert InsightsPublished 1982

In recent years a number of innovative philosophies and methods have been introduced into the computer industry. One of these methods, structured programming, has often been responsible for great improvements in software quality. The purpose of this paper is to show how the techniques of structured programming can be used to produce successful documentation. Documentation is considered successful if, by using only the documentation at any point in the project, the result of any activity can be easily traced back to the original data. This paper presents specific characteristics of structured documentation, examples of the documents themselves, and possible extensions of the technique.

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Garfinkle, Jeffrey B., A structured approach to documenting data management activities. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1982. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P6806.html.
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