This guide provides recommendations for writers of user'manuals and other documents for computer software prepared for scientific and engineering computations in fire models and other areas of fire protection engineering. The guide provides information that can be included in terms of three types of documents.

This guide is intended to assist in the understanding, usage, transfer, conversion, and modification of computer software. If the options and instructions contained in this guide are considered when documentation is prepared, the software should be used more readily for its intended purposes.

The use of fire models currently extends beyond the fire research laboratory and into the engineering, fire service, and legal communities. Sufficient documentation of computer software for fire models is necessary to ensure that users can judge the adequacy of the scientific and technical basis for the models, select the appropriate computer operating environment, and use the software effectively within the specified limitations. Adequate documentation will help prevent the unintentional misuse of fire models.

Additional guidelines on documentation can be found in ANSI/ANS 10.3 and ANSI/IEEE 1063.

ANSI/ANS 10.2 and 10.5 provide guidelines for programming to ease the portability of the software and meet user needs.