Methods for Documentation Testing in Technical Publications Quality Assurance  

Traditionally, verification of documentation procedure accuracy follows a standard model: technical communicators prepare a draft, which is submitted to subject matter experts for review. This process hinges on a number of factors that can adversely affect the quality of the review. Higher quality reviews are conducted by staff tasked specifically to test and review the draft procedures, and supply specific feedback by means of an established procedure. A well-established method of documentation testing provides several benefits to an organization. These include customer satisfaction, reduced costs, improved overall product quality, and improved document draft correction.

Lippincott, Richard J. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Quality>Assessment

Quality Measurement for Documentation: Different Tools for Different Needs  

The world of technical communication continues to search for a reliable information metric that is easy to apply and widely accepted. Although that goal eludes us for the moment, we can make a choice among competing metrics based on an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and appropriateness for different audiences. Two kinds of metrics, ordinal scale metrics and surface feature metrics, seem to meet many of our needs. The differences between them lie in their choice of measurements and the methods of applying the measurements.

Hunter, Claudia M. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Quality>Assessment

Improving the Practice of Document Review

Document reviews should be used as a tool to build quality into research and technical reports. In most handbooks for professional writers, review is recommended for clear and simple reasons: it is intended to identify problems and suggest improvements that enable an organization to produce documents that accomplish its goals and meet readers’ needs.

Cuppan, Gregory P. Brainery.net (2009). Articles>Documentation>Quality>Assessment