Type of documentation?

[Ned Bedinger]

Chris Orr wrote:
> I am trying to come up with a good name for the type of documentation 
> I have been working on lately, but I'm not getting very far. Here's a 
> description of it.
>
> Where our release documentation has a narrow focus on specific 
> products, this documentation has a wide focus on tasks or processes 
> that span multiple products. It is published independently of product 
> releases, to the company knowledgebase and/or online magazine. There 
> is a possibility it could be published in trade magazines.
Who is the audience?  Based on your remarks, my guess is you're working 
on a big marketing piece directed at technical staff, purchasing 
managers, ops managers, and everyone else who would be involved or 
interested in knowing more when considering your products.

>  This type of documentation is heavily informed by research into best 
> practices, standards, the existing market, feedfback from consultants 
> in the field, and such.

Best practices in a melange of standards, market research, and 
consultant feedback, hmmm.  This could cast it as something more than a 
backgrounder in support of best practices.  Without any more information 
I would probably say white paper.  That's my WAG and I'm sticking to it.

Good luck.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com