Guidelines Document

A Guidelines Document is a reference document that provides standardized procedures or principles to guide actions and decisions in a specific context.

Context:
- It can (often) include Specific Guidelines on how to perform tasks, handle situations, or make decisions.
- It can range from being a Corporate Policy Document to being a Public Sector Regulation.
- It can incorporate Best Practices and Standard Operating Procedures.
- It can be revised periodically to reflect changes in laws, technology, or organizational goals.
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Example(s):
- an Employee Handbook outlining company policies and responsibilities.
- a Style Guide used by writers and editors to maintain publication consistency.
- an Annotation Guidelines Document that provides instructions for annotating data.
- a Software Development Guidelines Document that defines coding standards and coding best practices.
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Counter-Example(s):
- Personal Notes and informal Jottings, which are not standardized or intended for wider organizational use.
- Brainstorming Sessions and Freeform Discussions, which do not follow predefined guidelines or structures.
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See: Standard Operating Procedure, Compliance Document, Regulatory Framework, GM-RKB Guidelines Document, Quality Manual, GM-RKB Guidelines Document.

References

http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/working_groups/Software/dev_guide/dev_guide/node5.html
- QUOTE: The purpose of these document guidelines is to create a coherent set of documents that clarify the goals of the various software development teams and the functionality of the software they create. These documents are meant to be readily available not only to the development team members, but also to management and other interested parties.
  The creation of these documents is closely related to the software life cycle described in Section 3. For example, the existence of a reviewed requirements document demonstrates that the requirements definition phase of a project has been completed.
  Section 4.2 provides specific guidelines for each of the documents, suggests responsibility for their creation and maintenance, and describes how the documents are interrelated.