Standards/Purpose for Computing Services Technical notes
Computing Services Technote #1 v2
Title: Standards/Purpose for Computing Services Technical notes
Applies to: Authors and users of Computing Services technical notes
Section: General
Owner: Assistant Director, Infrastructure Services
Last updated: 19 November 2004
Introduction
This note describes the purpose of Computing Services technical notes and the format for their creation.
Purpose
Computing Services technical notes are intended to convey technical information in a concise format suitable for reference purposes to University users and other technical staff.
Format
Technical notes will be written in html for easy publication under WWW. In order to ensure a consistent format the following sections are mandatory in a Computing Services technical note:
Title
The title of the document be as follows:
Computing Services Technote #? v#
where ? should be replaced by the number assigned to this note and the # sign following the v indicates the version number and should begin at zero and be incremented after each change.
Preamble
The preamble contains five fields:
Title: ( Note title) Applies to: (categories of users who should read the note) Section: (area responsible for note). For example Network Services. Owner: (Position Title of person who should approve changes) Last updated: (date note was last modified)
Introduction/Conclusion
All notes will have an introductory paragraph that gives an overview of the contents ofthe technical note. They will end with a conclusion paragraph that summarizes the contentsof the note.
References/Appendices
Any list of references or appendices will follow the conclusion.
Revision History
At the end of the document there will be a revision history section which includes the version #, the date(in YYYY-MM-DD format), and a short description of the change. Even the v0 revision of the document should include a revision history with a description of "Initial version". A font size of "<small>" should be used.
Numbering
Tech note numbering will be assigned in the following ranges:
1-99, General
500-999, Network Services section.
1000-2000, Technical Services section
2000-3000, IT Support Centre and Operations Section
3000-4000, Administrative Systems
4000-5000, Academic Computing
Public/Private status
Some technical notes may be intended for internal Computing Services use and will not be publically available.
Handling of Obsolete Notes
In order to ensure that numbers are not reused technical note numbers and descriptions will be left in the index and marked obsolete for a period of two years. They will also no longer be accessible.
Conclusion
Technical notes will allow concise technical information to be passed onto users. A standard format is described to ensure ease of use through consistency.
Revision History
v0, 1995-11-09, Initial version
v1, 1996-08-26, Range 100-499 for Network ops collapsed into 500-999 and called Network Services
v2, 2004-11-19, Added ranges for IT Support Centre, Admin systems, Academic computing. Replaced author with owner. Added revision history section. Changed from Network Services technotes to Computing Services technotes.