Document Development Life Cycle

Document development life cycle (DDLC) includes the various stages involved in structured document creation. It ranges from requirement analysis through maintenance of the completed document. The DDLC comprises of the following stages:

1. Project Start-up
2. Requirement Analysis
3. Designing
4. Developing
5. Testing
6. Publishing
7. Maintaining
   
   
   Project Start-up
   Project start-up generally involves the creation of project plan. It includes understanding the project objectives and constraints in terms of time, quality, and cost. The scope of the project is clearly defined along with standards to be followed throughout the project. This phase also involves identifying key personnel responsible for providing, reviewing, and approving document content.
   
   Requirement Analysis
   Requirement analysis for documentation includes Audience Analysis, Need Analysis and Task Analysis. You try to understand the learning gap and come up with strategies required in achieving the project goal. You also decide the format and the delivery media for the document at this phase.
   
   Designing
   Design phase basically deals with collecting and organizing data. Design phase involves planning the instructional and media strategy and creating the course outline. High level design and low level design related to instructional and media strategy are created, verified, and validated.
   
   Developing
   Developing the document requires actual writing of the document, and integration of the various components (graphics, glossary, search items) of the document. This phase also involves document reviews and revisions and management of documentation issues. Now, the document is ready for testing.
   
   Testing
   Testing involves measuring the quality of the document. This involves review by quality analysts on parameters like correctness, completeness, adherence to standards, and usability.
   
   Publishing
   After fixing the all the testing bugs the document is ready for publishing. After all the hard work this phase relates to actual delivery of the document to its target audience.
   
   Maintaining
   Maintenance involves maintaining the deliverables. For example, it may involve content reuse analysis and elimination of redundant data from the document sets. It may also include template revision or inclusion of new product features.
   
   Understanding the DDLC helps in efficient and quality document creation. Happy Documenting!!!