Source: Levelica Canonical: https://www.levelica.com/en/guides/documentation # Documentation ## Summary Capturing what you did and decided as it happens, so others can reproduce the work and use it as evidence. ## Description Documentation is the work of turning what you did and decided into a record. It is not the same as polishing prose. What sets a record's worth is whether you wrote it while the work was happening, who wrote it, and whether the original and its edit history survive. It starts with your own work log, grows into a system that gets a team recording, and ends in organizational policy that holds up under outside scrutiny. This guide covers the act of recording. It does not cover sentence-level craft or the filing and retention of finished documents. --- ## Level Overview | Level | Proficiency Stage | Hashtags | | ----- | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Lv.1 | SFIA 1 (Immediate Capture) | #WorkLog #MeetingMinutes #TimestampedEntry #CaptureAtSource | | Lv.2 | SFIA 2 (Reproducible Records) | #ReproducibleProcedure #StepByStepRecord #EditHistory #IncidentTimeline | | Lv.3 | SFIA 3 (Independent Output) | #ISO9001-7-5-2 #DecisionRecord #PurposeTypedDocs #ReviewAndApproval #RevisionNumbering | | Lv.4 | SFIA 4 (Record Control) | #ISO9001-7-5-3 #RecordScoping #SourceOfTruth #ContemporaneousEntry #RecordGapAudit | | Lv.5 | SFIA 5 (Team Recording System) | #RecordingCadence #RecordTemplates #RecordCoverageMetric #PeerRecordReview #RecordDebt | | Lv.6 | SFIA 6 (Organizational Policy) | #RecordingPolicy #AuditReadiness #DataIntegrityGovernance #NonRecordingCriteria | | Lv.7 | Beyond SFIA 6 (Recording Norms) | #RecordingNorms #EvidentiaryPractice #RecordingMethodology #DocumentationLineage | > Proficiency stages follow responsibility levels 1 to 6, the range where SFIA 9 defines its Content design and authoring (INCA) skill. The names in parentheses come from the core recording behavior at each level, and Lv.7 sits above the point where INCA stops defining, so it shows a state reached instead of a grade. > **Integrative Framework:** The seven levels here are not a copy of one grading table. They split where three independent axes meet. SFIA 9's INCA skill carries the **responsibility axis** (who answers for the record, from contributing under direction to setting organizational policy). The WHO data integrity guideline and the MHRA GxP guidance carry the **record trustworthiness axis** (the conditions under which record integrity holds: who wrote it, when, and whether the original and its edit history survive). ISO 9001 7.5 carries the **document control axis** (how far you have moved from identification, format, and approval at creation to control of distribution, access, and retention afterward). Level boundaries fall where all three axes step up together. All three assume the same thing: a record proves its worth when it is read again, not when it is written. The finding by Roediger & Karpicke(2006) that retrieval practice strengthens long-term retention more than rereading grounds the checklist items about rereading and the training prescriptions in the transition hints. > **Cross-Validation:** Level boundaries were set by checking whether independent sources converge on the same point. > > - **Lv.2↔Lv.3 boundary**: SFIA defines responsibility level 2 (Assist) as working with some discretion under routine supervision on structured problems while helping others. Level 3 (Apply) uses standard methods and procedures under general direction, including work that is sometimes complex and non-routine. The review and approval steps ISO 9001 7.5.2 requires start at the same place. Writing what you were told to write turns into deciding for yourself what to record and in what form. > - **Lv.4↔Lv.5 boundary**: SFIA defines level 4 (Enable) as performing a broad range of complex activities autonomously while supporting others and delegating where useful. Level 5 (Ensure, advise) gives authoritative guidance in your field and answers for significant outcomes under broad direction. The point where ISO 9001 widens control from the individual record to the organization's distribution and access system sits in the same place. Responsibility moves from controlling your own records to making sure other people's records get written. > - **Lv.6↔Lv.7 boundary**: SFIA ends the INCA definition at responsibility level 6 (Initiate, influence), the position that exerts substantial organizational influence, shapes policy, and leads collaboration. ISO 9001 and the regulatory guidance likewise prescribe only what an organization must meet. Above that, the standard is not one you follow but one you write, so Lv.7 is confirmed by outside adoption and continued reference instead of a grade. --- ## Level 1 #WorkLog #MeetingMinutes #TimestampedEntry #CaptureAtSource ### Summary Recording what happened on the spot, before the day ends. ### Description Recording isn't a habit yet. You write down what happened in meetings and work, and what got decided, before the day ends. Every record carries an author and a date, so anyone can later tell who wrote it and when. Readers and format don't matter at this stage. The bar is simple: months later you reread your own note and the situation comes back. ### Checklist - [ ] Can record decisions and owners on the same day a meeting ends - [ ] Can attach an author and a date to every record you leave - [ ] Can log the day's work, capturing what you did and how far you got - [ ] Can record while work is in progress rather than after it ends, at least 3 times a week - [ ] Can pick one place to keep records and gather scattered notes there - [ ] Can reread a record you wrote 3 months ago and reconstruct the situation and the reasoning > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for Lv.2, the Reproducible Records stage, where you leave procedures others can follow. Roediger & Karpicke(2006) found retrieval practice beats rereading for retention, so a record proves its worth when it's read again, not when it's written. For 2 weeks, write in 5-minute bursts as you work instead of batching at the end. Then recall a 3-month-old situation before opening the record and see what memory was filling in. --- ## Level 2 #ReproducibleProcedure #StepByStepRecord #EditHistory #IncidentTimeline ### Summary Writing procedures someone else can follow to the same result. ### Description Notes only you could decode turn into records other people can use. You split a procedure into preconditions, the order of steps, and how to confirm the result, so someone else lands on the same outcome. When you revise a record, you don't erase the old version. You leave what changed, when, and why, which shows the record wasn't quietly rewritten after the fact. ### Checklist - [ ] Can record a procedure split into preconditions, order of steps, and how to confirm the result - [ ] Can collect 3 or more cases where someone followed your written procedure and reached the same result - [ ] Can revise a record without erasing the previous version, noting when and why it changed - [ ] Can separate settled items, open items, and the next check-in date in meeting notes - [ ] Can cite the source of every number and date you write down so it can be traced later - [ ] Can log the time, symptoms, and actions taken in order when an incident or outage occurs > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for Lv.3, the Independent Output stage, where you pick the record type that fits the purpose. Roediger & Karpicke(2006) showed that pulling something back out of memory outlasts reading it again, and the same holds for writing procedures. Cover your own procedure, write the steps from memory first, then compare with the original. The preconditions you skipped and the reader you were writing for both surface. --- ## Level 3 #ISO9001-7-5-2 #DecisionRecord #PurposeTypedDocs #ReviewAndApproval #RevisionNumbering ### Summary Picking a record's purpose and taking it through review and approval. ### Description You decide for yourself what to record and in what form. A walkthrough for a first-timer, a fix for someone who already knows the system, a reference someone scans for a value, and an explanation of how things got this way serve different purposes, so they take different shapes. You keep the alternatives you weighed and the reasoning behind a decision, then run the record through review and approval so everyone knows which version holds. ### Checklist - [ ] Can choose whether a topic belongs in a walkthrough, a how-to, a reference, or an explanation, and justify the choice - [ ] Can capture the option chosen, the alternatives considered, and the reasoning in a decision record - [ ] Can name a reviewer and an approver before release, get sign-off, and announce the final version - [ ] Can tag each record with an ID, a scope, and a revision number so the valid version is clear - [ ] Can document your own work well enough that a successor runs it without a face-to-face handover - [ ] Can check for overlap with existing records and decide whether to write a new one or revise the old - [ ] Can produce 3 or more cases where a written record settled a decision without holding a meeting > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for Lv.4, the Record Control stage, where you decide what to keep and what to drop. ISO 9001 splits the requirements for creating records (7.5.2) from the requirements for controlling them afterward (7.5.3). Pick 10 records you've already written and rule on each one in a table: is it still valid, and who should be able to see it? That exercise builds the control instinct. --- ## Level 4 #ISO9001-7-5-3 #RecordScoping #SourceOfTruth #ContemporaneousEntry #RecordGapAudit ### Summary Deciding what to keep and what to drop, then controlling the records. ### Description This is the stretch where more records mean less trust. You set a standard for how much detail each kind of work deserves, and you control distribution, access, and disposal. When two records state the same fact differently, you trace them back to the original and rule on which one stands. Records written as the work happened get marked apart from records reconstructed later. ### Checklist - [ ] Can set and document a standard for how much detail each type of work gets recorded in - [ ] Can trace two records that state the same fact differently back to the original and rule which is right - [ ] Can set access rights and distribution scope separately for a record and note the reasoning - [ ] Can mark records written at the time of the work apart from those written afterward - [ ] Can audit ongoing work for recording gaps and produce a list of what is missing - [ ] Can mark records that have expired so nobody cites them by mistake - [ ] Can select records for external submission to fit the request and document the selection criteria - [ ] Can sample records a tool generated automatically and verify them against what actually happened > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for Lv.5, the Team Recording System stage, where you get a whole team recording. The retrieval effect in Roediger & Karpicke(2006) holds even when the person doing the retrieving is someone else. Hand a colleague 5 records you control, nothing but the raw text, and ask them to reconstruct the situation. Turn each place they got stuck into a rule of two or three sentences, and you have the first draft of a team system. --- ## Level 5 #RecordingCadence #RecordTemplates #RecordCoverageMetric #PeerRecordReview #RecordDebt ### Summary Building a team recording system and growing the people who keep it. ### Description Responsibility shifts from writing well yourself to making sure the team writes at all. You design the rules and templates that say what gets recorded and by when, then track whether it actually happens. Reviewing a colleague's records forces you to put your own judgment into words. Records that stopped earning their keep get cut, so the cost of recording stays bearable. ### Checklist - [ ] Can define the team's recording timing rules (what gets written by when) and get agreement on them - [ ] Can design 3 or more record templates and get the team actually using them - [ ] Can review 2 or more members' records and explain your criteria until they write independently - [ ] Can define missing-record rate or writing delay as a metric and measure it every quarter - [ ] Can point to a handover or reorganization where records alone kept the work running - [ ] Can weigh the cost of recording against the benefit, decide what to retire, and actually cut it - [ ] Can produce 3 or more cases where past records let you reconstruct a cause in a retrospective or incident review > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for Lv.6, the Organizational Policy stage, where the recording system has to survive outside scrutiny. The regulator MHRA distilled the core elements of record governance that hold across every field, drawing on failures that inspections in several countries found again and again. Read your team's records once as an outside auditor would, list the points you'd be challenged on first, and the skeleton of a policy appears. --- ## Level 6 #RecordingPolicy #AuditReadiness #DataIntegrityGovernance #NonRecordingCriteria ### Summary Setting company-wide recording policy that survives outside audit. ### Description You answer for whether the organization's records hold up as evidence outside its walls. You set company-wide recording policy and submit records in audits or disputes, and they pass. When recording keeps failing in the same places, you find the structural cause and change the system rather than the people. The policy also names the areas where not recording is the better call. You publish the method where the industry can see it. ### Checklist - [ ] Can enact a company-wide recording policy stating what gets recorded, when, and by whom - [ ] Can point to records submitted to an external review or audit that passed verification - [ ] Can classify repeated recording failures by cause and carry out a systemic fix - [ ] Can merge the differing recording practices of 3 or more departments into one minimum standard - [ ] Can define where not recording is the better choice and write that boundary into policy - [ ] Can publish the organization's recording method at an industry event or in trade media > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for Lv.7, the Recording Norms stage, where your method gets adopted outside your own organization. SFIA 9's INCA stops defining at organizational policy, and ISO 9001 and the regulatory guidance set only the requirements an organization must meet. Publish your method down to the conditions and templates, let outside teams run it as written, take their results back, and revise. That loop is what turns a method into a norm. --- ## Level 7 #RecordingNorms #EvidentiaryPractice #RecordingMethodology #DocumentationLineage ### Summary Redefining how records get made and leaving that as lasting practice. ### Description You've moved from someone who records well to someone who decides what people record and how. The method you proposed gets adopted outside your own organization and shows up in standards or training programs. This sits above the point where SFIA INCA stops defining at organizational policy, so the achievement shows in the practice that outlives you, not in a grade. ### Checklist - [ ] Can show that 3 or more outside organizations adopted your recording timing and attribution rules as written - [ ] Can present cases where a recording method you proposed entered a standard, guideline, or curriculum - [ ] Can verify 10 or more citations of your recording methodology in publications or lectures - [ ] Can show that a recording system you designed has stayed in operation for 5 years or more - [ ] Can confirm that people you taught now design recording systems for their own organizations - [ ] Can publish where your own method falls short, with alternatives, so others have a place to surpass it > If you've checked off most of this list, you're standing where the decisions get made about what people record and how. Above the responsibility range SFIA 9's INCA defines, what gets judged is the method you left rather than any grade, and the next generation of record keepers takes that method as a starting point and builds its own system on it. --- ## References - [SFIA 9 — Content design and authoring (INCA)](https://sfia-online.org/en/sfia-9/skills/content-design-and-authoring) — SFIA Foundation - [ISO 9001:2015 — Quality management systems, Clause 7.5 Documented information](https://www.iso.org/standard/62085.html) — International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - [WHO Technical Report Series 1033, Annex 4 — Guideline on data integrity](https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/annex-4-trs-1033) — World Health Organization (WHO) - [Guidance on GxP data integrity](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-gxp-data-integrity) — Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) - [Test-Enhanced Learning](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x) — Roediger & Karpicke (Psychological Science)