Overview of Flow Documentation Sections

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Grav is an open source flat-file CMS that we use for client documentation.

Requirements:

  1. Web Server (Apache, Nginx, LiteSpeed, Lightly, IIS, etc.)
  2. PHP 5.5.9 or higher

Advantages of using a Grav CMS for documentation:

  1. SEARCH bar: Can search entire collection of documentations for a search term instead of going through each doc file individually
  2. Not reliant on database: Flat-file content management system means that the data is stored in folders rather than a database = fast loading
  3. Easy to maintain since all data in local folders
  4. Simple HTML format written with Markdown syntax (https://nogalis.com/docr/how-to-use-docr to learn more about Markdown)
  5. Many useful plugins freely available (https://www.nogalis.com/2018/07/27/grav-a-modern-flat-file-cms for more information on plugins)
  6. User authentication and custom user privileges

Documentation Sections


  1. Introduction – Screenshot of the IPA flow and a short description about what it does
  2. General Data Flow – Box diagram showing step-by-step what is happening in the flow. Also accompanied by a paragraph explanation
  3. Components Table – A table that lists all input/output files, databases, scripts, triggers, jobs, and configuration variables
  4. Dependencies – The files, triggers, jobs, or SQL/server connections required for the flow to function
  5. Scheduling and Triggers – How/when the flow gets triggered
  6. Recovery – This section provides instructions on how to manually execute the steps of the flow if it fails. Each step here represents a box in the General Data Flow box diagram.
  7. Archiving – Table showing archived files and their archived locations
  8. Notifications – Details of the notifications sent by the flow
  9. Troubleshooting – General tips for troubleshooting
  10. Maintenance – Maintenance needed by the flow (usually involves cleanup of archived/done files)
  11. Security – Overview of user permissions and connection credentials needed for the flow
  12. Key Contacts – The person to contact for questions about the flow/documentation
  13. Related Files – File uploads related to the flow (these are able to be viewed/downloaded from the page)

For full examples, please visit https://nogalis.com/docr/demo_documentation