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For most projects, products, and services, the quality of the accompanying written material is important to its success.
Whether it’s a user manual, technical guide, or other form of documentation, ensuring that the content is accurate, clear, and comprehensive is essential.
After its initial creation, documentation needs to be reviewed. In this blog, we will explore what documentation review is and its importance.
What is documentation review?
Documentation review is the systematic process of evaluating documentation to ensure its accuracy, completeness, consistency, and compliance with relevant standards or requirements.
The primary objectives of a documentation review are to identify errors, inconsistencies, and gaps, as well as to ensure that the documentation effectively communicates its intended message to its target audience.
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Stages of the documentation review process
Documentation review can be conducted at multiple stages to ensure comprehensive evaluation and quality.
These are the stages for each document in the documentation.
Self-review
The author initially reviews their own work to catch basic errors, improve clarity, and ensure the document meets initial requirements.
This includes checking for completeness, flow, and accuracy.
Peer review
Peer review involves a colleague with similar expertise reviewing the document for content accuracy, precision, and useability, providing constructive criticism on the structure, flow, and overall quality.
Technical review
This is done by subject matter experts, who focus on the technical accuracy and validity of the content, ensuring all information is correct, up-to-date, and supported by evidence.
Editorial review
Editorial review is carried out by professional editors who analyze the document for language, style, readability, and grammatical correctness, ensuring adherence to relevant style guides and consistency throughout the document.
Compliance review
If relevant, specialists ensure the document meets all relevant legal, regulatory, and industry standards, checking for alignment with company policies and procedures.
Why is the document review process necessary?
The document review process is an essential part of creating and maintaining high-quality documentation. The document review process:
Ensures accuracy and quality control
Reviewing documents helps to identify and correct errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies.
This ensures that the final document is of high quality and free from mistakes that could lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations.
Guarantees compliance
In many industries, documents must comply with specific legal and regulatory standards.
The review process ensures that all necessary legal requirements are met, so that the organization is not exposed to legal risks.
Improves consistency and standardization
Document review helps maintain a consistent tone, style, and format across all documentation.
This is particularly important for organizations that produce a large volume of documentation and want to maintain a consistent brand image.
Enhances clarity and readability
Reviewing documents can improve their clarity and readability, making them easier to understand for the intended audience.
This ensures that the message is conveyed effectively.
Ensures risk management
By thoroughly reviewing documents, organizations can identify potential risks or issues before they become problematic.
This can include anything from financial risks to reputational damage.
Boosts confidentiality and security
The review process can help ensure that sensitive or confidential information is handled appropriately and that any necessary corrections are made before the document is distributed.
Verifies facts and data
Ensuring that all facts, data, and references are accurate and properly sourced is essential for credibility. The review process helps to verify this information.
Checks adherence to guidelines and standards
Many organizations have specific guidelines and standards for document creation.
The review process ensures that these guidelines have been followed.
Who conducts document reviews?
The document review process involves various experts to ensure a thorough evaluation, though not all documentation requires all these actors:
- Authors do the initial review, fixing obvious errors and making early revisions.
- Subject matter experts (SMEs) ensure technical accuracy.
- Editors enhance clarity and correct language elements.
- Peer reviewers, usually colleagues, provide fresh perspectives and catch overlooked errors.
- Quality assurance (QA) teams ensure the document meets standards and is user-friendly. Internal stakeholders, like managers, ensure alignment with organizational goals.
- External stakeholders, such as clients, may also review for relevance.
- Legal reviewers ensure compliance with laws and regulations.
- End-users test usability and relevance.
This review process results in high-quality, accurate, and user-friendly product documentation.
What to strive for during document review
During document review, it’s essential to strive for several key objectives to ensure thoroughness, accuracy, and efficiency.
Here are some important aspects to focus on:
Accuracy
This involves:
- Verifying that all facts, figures, and data presented are correct and up-to-date.
- Ensuring that technical details align with current standards and practices.
- Checking that all references and citations are correctly attributed and formatted.
Clarity
The language used should be clear and simple.
It’s important to:
- Verify that technical terms and jargon are defined and used consistently throughout the document
- Assess the logical flow of information, ensuring that everything is presented in a clear and organized manner.
Completeness
Identify and address any gaps or missing information that could hinder understanding or usability.
Reviewers must ensure that:
- All relevant topics are covered comprehensively.
- Instructions are detailed enough for the intended audience to follow.
Consistency
To ensure that the document is consistent, reviewers:
- Check for the use of terminology, style, and tone throughout the document.
- Ensure that headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbering formats are uniform.
- Verify that references, units of measurement, and other recurrent elements are consistently used.
Usability
This focuses on assessing the document’s ease of use and readability for its intended audience. This includes:
- Ensuring that the document has a clear and logical structure with appropriate headings, subheadings, and a table of contents.
- Verifying that charts, graphs, images, and other visual aids are clear, relevant, and properly labelled.
Compliance
This involves:
- Ensuring that the document adheres to relevant standards, guidelines, or regulations.
- Checking for compliance with internal procedures and customer service policies.
- Verifying that the document meets any applicable legal requirements or constraints.
Grammar and style
Reviewers must also pay attention to grammar and style, correcting any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors.
They should ensure adherence to the organization’s style guide or other relevant style conventions.
They can also use readability tools to ensure the text is appropriate for the intended audience’s reading level.
Steps to conduct a document review
Conducting a document review involves a structured approach to ensure that documents are accurate, complete, and aligned with relevant standards or requirements.
Following are the steps to conduct a document review effectively.
Planning
This is where the objectives of the review are clearly defined. This involves identifying what documents need to be reviewed, the criteria for review, the timeline, and the team members who will be involved.
Effective planning sets the stage for a smooth review process by establishing clear expectations and goals.
Preparation
In this step, reviewers gather all necessary materials and resources, including the documents to be reviewed, guidelines, and any relevant standards or regulations.
Reviewers should familiarize themselves with the content and context of the documents to be well-prepared for the actual review process.
It’s also important to set up an organized system for tracking changes and comments.
Review
This is where the detailed examination of the document occurs.
Reviewers meticulously go through the content, checking for accuracy, consistency, clarity, and completeness.
This step may involve:
- Reading the document multiple times.
- Making notes.
- Identifying any errors or areas that require clarification or improvement.
Communication among participants can be back and forth, with reviewers asking the writer or each other questions.
Quality control
Once the review is complete, the quality control phase ensures that the review process itself was conducted properly.
This might involve a secondary review by another team member or a quality assurance specialist to verify that all identified issues have been addressed and that the document meets the required standards and criteria.
Quality control acts as a safeguard against oversight and helps maintain the integrity of the review process.
Validation and approval
This is where the document, after being reviewed and quality-checked, is approved for use.
This step often involves obtaining formal approval from stakeholders or higher management.
It is essential to document this approval process to maintain a clear record of who approved the document and when it was approved.
Follow-up
The follow-up phase involves monitoring the document’s implementation in the documentation and use.
This may include periodic reviews to ensure the documentation remains relevant and up-to-date, as well as addressing any issues that arise from its use.
Follow-up ensures that the documentation continues to meet its intended purpose and can lead to further revisions if necessary.
By following a structured documentation review process, you can ensure your written materials are accurate, clear, and meet their intended purpose. This leads to improved communication and a positive brand perception.
How to identify the right software for your documentation
Having the right people and workflow automation for your review process is one thing. Having good document review software to keep track of that process is another.
Having a well-organized framework, like a knowledge base, for publishing the documents is even more important for keeping them up-to-date and complete.
Here are key factors to consider when looking for the software to help with your technical documentation review and publication processes:
- Review workflows: Consider your existing review process. Does it involve individual reviewers, collaborative teams, or a combination of both? The software should accommodate your preferred article approval workflow.
- Budget: Software pricing can vary significantly. Determine your budget and identify features that are most important to justify the cost. Software like knowledge base frameworks often come as part of a package with other tools, so consider how useful those are to your company.
- Features and functionality: Research different software options and compare their feature sets. Look for functionalities like document uploading, collaboration features, version control, and automation capabilities.
- Scalability: Think about your future needs. Will your document review volume increase? Then, choose software that can scale.
- Ease of use: Consider the software’s user interface and overall ease of use. Your reviewers should be able to learn and navigate the platform quickly.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) features: Some software offers AI-powered capabilities that enable users to generate SEO attributes while composing. If published in a knowledge base, the software might also offer text summarizations to help readers.
Enhance your documentation review process
By thoroughly reviewing documentation before publication, organizations can ensure that their written materials effectively support their goals, provide value to users, and maintain high standards of quality and professionalism.
Publish your documentation in external and internal knowledge bases with BoldDesk. Contact us to book a live demo or sign up to start your free trial today.
I hope you found this article helpful. Do you have any suggestions or feedback? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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