Internal System Documentation may not seem very interesting but if you're writing them they can be. I'm inquisitive to a fault and love mysteries so finding all about how a system works can be interesting, especially when they are elegantly constructed.

I am disappointed to only have one of the Systems Requirements documents left from Transamerica Assurance Corporation (Direct Billing System). I am grateful for the opportunity they gave me to learn the process of documenting a system for programming. The Visio diagramming inside this document lays out the position of the application within its environment and then the final third of the document uses captured and annotated screen graphics to clearly describe how the interviewed users wanted their screens to look. My interest in graphics allowed me to describe my user interviews in actual screens, pleasing both users and developers. CLICK TO OPEN DOCUMENTS.

As a picture is worth a thousand words, for the documentarian diagrams are a valuable tool in expressing complex relationships and not just technical data. They are also useful to designers or developers to help clarify concepts during the development process. Here are a few diagrams demonstrating some of these wider uses. Diagrams at their best can be deceptively simple by clearly describing a complex process.

Note that the documents in the SYSTEMS DOCUMENTATION panel, feature a lot of process DIAGRAMING, especially the DIRECT BILLING - REQUIREMENTS, DIRECT BILLING - SYSTEM DOCUMENT, and the PAY CAPTURE SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION documents.

Note that the documents in the SYSTEMS DOCUMENTATION panel, feature DIAGRAMING, especially the DIRECT BILLING - REQUIREMENTS, DIRECT BILLING - SYSTEM DOCUMENT, and the PAY CAPTURE SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION.