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If you're writing the Help system for users, functional specifications
usually have little meaning for them because they describe the functions
rather than how a user uses an application. However, the Help system may be
for developers & programmers, so...
The hierarchy is normally Requirements-->Functional Specs-->Design Specs.
There may be two sets of functional and design specs: those planned and
those "as built."
In some cases, design specifications are the functional specifications.
In any case, the functional specifications are supposed to describe each
individual function, or functionality, that will be translated into the
design. The requirements are, or should be, at a high level and are often
used by management as well as developers. Functional specifications take the
requirements and decompose them to the various functional elements needed to
satisfy the requirements. Design specifications further decompose these into
the programmable elements necessary to implement each function and integrate
the group into the whole. The lowest level of documentation, of course, is
the code itself.
I have found it more useful to play with the application, trying to place
myself in the role of the customary user, to identify the things for which
they'll use the application. Then, I start writing based upon what I have to
do in order to accomplish any given task with that application.
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