Is there a standard template I can tailor to document the building of a system?

[Chuck Flynn]

I need to document the process I follow from receiving the NI hardware and software and 3rd Party products, installing, registering, ..., to powering up the PXI chassis and bringing up NI-MAX on my development PC and checking that MAX recognizes the cards, etc.  Is there a template that I can use to tailor that will embody the best practices followed at NI so I can provide a "road map" of what to do to others working on my project?  I did find some examples of VIs that will be useful in automating some of the process like deploying code to multiple LabVIEW-RT systems.  Checklists are particularly helpful.  The checklist for doing a build of LabVIEW code is excellent, but does one exist that encompasses the pre-requisite steps of assembly of the hardware, too?

Any help would be appreciated,

Chuck Flynn

[Amiri]

I guess that you could use a Requirements Specification template and then add "Pre-requisite Steps of Assembly of the Hardware" to the template.

You're right, there are a bunch of templates out there and I find myself using combinations of a simple one page checklist (40,000 foot view) along with a detailed requirements spec.

• The book titled "The LabVIEW Style Book" has a requirements spec in it that I think is excellent

[Chuck Flynn]

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll look into getting the book by Blume.  I was at NI Week a few years ago and should have bought the guide then!

Just to make sure we are on the same page, I was looking to provide procedural steps that could be followed to assemble the system.  It would use tables of prerequiste steps to be checked before proceeding and tables of checklists for moving through the build of the system.

[Amiri]

Yes, I think I understand what you need and it seems like (as your subjuect line suggests) you're going to have to just find a template that you like and create your own procedural template within that.  I would be interested in having a template like that myself; let me know if you find anything.

[Chuck Flynn]

Just an update ... I'm still working on it, just not full-time.  I'll keep you posted.