Assessing the adequacy of documentation through document quality indicators

Case study results for a research effort funded by the US Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) are presented. The investigation focuses on assessing the adequacy of project documentation based on an identified taxonomic structure relating documentation characteristics. Previous research in this area has been limited to the study of isolated characteristics of documentation and English prose, without considering the collective contributions of such characteristics. The research described takes those characteristics, adds others and establishes a well-defined approach to assessing the `goodness´ of software documentation. The identification of document quality indicators (DQIs) provides the basis for the assessment procedure. DQIs are hierarchically defined in terms of document qualities, factors that refine qualities, and quantifiers that provide for the measurement of factors