No application has ever been written that did not require correction and modification. Without thorough and accurate documentation, maintenance of the application, even by the original developer, is significantly more time intensive and costly than if the documentation were present. This situation is further complicated if the original developer has left for the greener pastures of another job. The new developer, with perhaps no background with the application, must start from ground zero in figuring out what the application is doing. Well, even if our developers have the right intention, they may not have the time and support to do it as they know it ought to be done.
Deadline pressures to get the code in place and working leave little time for documentation.
Additionally, management does not always understand the impact of poor documentation. It really cannot be underestimated the impact on time, and therefore cost, in maintaining applications that are poorly documented. However, if managers do not understand and appreciate these costs, developers will not be given the time to document and will not be overly encouraged to do so. The group is comprised of subject matter experts, data owners, and data providers from 20 offices across the campus. IDN recently published its first Data Digest for the West Lafayette campus.