The Teradata document template: A planning tool

This paper, addressed to document designers and documentation managers, describes the form and use of the Teradata Document Template. The Teradata Document Template is a hard-copy planning tool that was developed by Mary St. John of Teradata Corporation. The Teradata Document Template is a tool that was developed to help its document designers plan their documentation projects. The template forces the designer to address ten variables that pertain to document development. These variables are: 1.) Title, 2.) Timing, 3.) Purpose, 4.) Audience, 5.) Approach, 6.) Form, 7.) Writer, 8.) Input, 9.) Content, 10.) Schedule. A blank template is described, with considerations for properly identifying each of the variables. Completed templates for four different documents are then presented. Comparison of the four templates shows the inherent flexibility of the template in capturing the specifications for various types of customer documents.