In engineering, technical documentation refers to any type of documentation

Documentation

Documentation is a term used in several different ways. Generally, documentation refers to the process of providing evidence.Modules of Documentation are Helpful...

 that describes handling, functionality and architecture of a technical product or a product under development or use.

Documentation may include:

• patent
  Patent
  A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
  
  s
• specifications of item or of components/materials
• data sheets of item or of components/materials
• test method
  Test method
  A test method is a definitive procedure that produces a test result.A test can be considered as technical operation that consists of determination of one or more characteristics of a given product, process or service according to a specified procedure. Often a test is part of an experiment.The test...
  
  s
• manufacturing
  Manufacturing
  Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
  
   standards
• quality management system
  Quality management system
  A quality management system can be expressed as the organizational structure, procedures, processes and resources needed to implement quality management.-Elements of a Quality Management System:# Organizational structure# Responsibilities# Methods...
  
   requirements
• information specified in law
  Law
  Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
  
  s or regulation
  Regulation
  Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
  
  s
• verification and validation
  Verification and Validation
  In software project management, software testing, and software engineering, verification and validation is the process of checking that a software system meets specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose...
  
  
• etc.

During development, a multitude of document types will play a significant role:

• system requirements
  System requirements
  To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer. These pre-requisites are known as system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed to an absolute rule. Most software defines two sets of system...
  
  
• system design
• system architecture

and various intermediate or intervening documents thereof.

The intended recipient for product technical documentation is both the (proficient) end user as well as the administrator / service or maintenance

Maintenance, Repair and Operations

Maintenance, repair, and operations or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical or electrical device should it become out of order or broken...

 technician. In contrast to a mere "cookbook" manual

User guide

A user guide or user's guide, also commonly known as a manual, is a technical communication document intended to give assistance to people using a particular system...

, technical documentation aims at providing enough information for a user to understand inner and outer dependencies of the product at hand. The technical writer

Technical writer

A technical writer is a professional writer who designs, creates, and maintains technical documentation...

's task is to translate the usually highly formalized technical documentation produced during the development phase into more readable prose.

Standardization

So far, ISO

International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...

 has published a series of standards

International standard

International standards are standards developed by international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use, worldwide...

 related to technical product documentations and these are covered by ICS 01.110 . The ones that are not covered by ICS 01.110 are listed in the subsection below.

Discipline specific

• ISO 15787
• ISO 3098
• ISO 10209
• ISO 2162
• ISO 5457

Technical documentation formats

• Darwin Information Typing Architecture
  Darwin Information Typing Architecture
  The Darwin Information Typing Architecture is an OASIS standard XML data model for authoring and publishing. Many third party tools support authoring, including Adobe FrameMaker, XMetaL, Arbortext, Quark XML Author, Oxygen XML Editor, easyDITA, and SDL Xopus...
  
   (DITA)
• DocBook
  DocBook
  DocBook is a semantic markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software but it can be used for any other sort of documentation....
  
  
• S1000D
  S1000D
  S1000D is an international specification for the procurement and production of technical publications. It is an XML specification for preparing, managing, and using equipment maintenance and operations information. It was initially developed by the for use with military aircraft...
  
  

See also

• Document management system
  Document management system
  A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by different users . The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management...
  
  
• Specification (technical standard)
  Specification (technical standard)
  A specification is an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service. Should a material, product or service fail to meet one or more of the applicable specifications, it may be referred to as being out of specification;the abbreviation OOS may also be used...
  
  
• Technical communication
  Technical communication
  Technical communication is a method of researching and creating information about technical processes or products directed to an audience through media. The information must be relevant to the intended audience. Technical communicators often work collaboratively to create products for various...
  
  
• Technical editing