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Standard Project Documentation Template & Governance

1. Documentation Standard for Future Initiatives

To ensure high maintainability and prevent knowledge silos across Pine Brook Technologies, all software initiatives must adhere to this standardized documentation framework.

flowchart TD
    DocsRoot["docs/"]
    DocsRoot --> CoreArch["01_system_architecture.md (Architecture, Flow, Boundaries)"]
    DocsRoot --> DataModel["02_database_schema.md (Tables, Columns, Migrations, ERD)"]
    DocsRoot --> DeployEnv["03_deployment_environments_configuration.md (Runtime, Envs, Runbooks)"]
    DocsRoot --> RepoAccess["04_repository_ownership_access.md (Ownership, Branch Rules, JML)"]
    DocsRoot --> InfraSec["05_infrastructure_services_credentials.md (Cloud Services, Secret Rotation)"]
    DocsRoot --> OpsMaint["06_operations_maintenance.md (SLAs, Cadences, Troubleshooting)"]
    DocsRoot --> Handover["07_knowledge_transfer_handover.md (Curriculum, Exercises, Sign-off)"]
    DocsRoot --> AppMap["08_api_and_application_map.md (APIs, Panel Modules, RBAC)"]
    DocsRoot --> RiskReg["09_security_privacy_risk_register.md (PII, Threat Vectors, Mitigation)"]
    DocsRoot --> Template["10_standard_project_documentation_template.md (Governance Standard)"]
    DocsRoot --> Decisions["11_open_items_and_decisions.md (ADRs, Open Action Items)"]
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2. Minimum Required Sections for Technical Documents

Every technical document in a Pine Brook repository must contain the following core sections:

# [Module Name] Documentation

## 1. Executive Summary & Purpose
Explain what this system does, who uses it, and the high-level business context in plain English.

## 2. Architecture & Diagrams
Visual Mermaid.js diagrams illustrating data flow, component boundaries, or state transitions.

## 3. Detailed Specifications
Exhaustive tables, column breakdowns, API definitions, or configuration registers.

## 4. Operational Procedures & Runbooks
Step-by-step CLI commands, SQL queries, or troubleshooting recipes with expected outputs.

## 5. Security, Privacy & Failure Modes
Explicit edge cases, secret handling rules, failure boundaries, and rollback strategies.

3. Documentation Governance Rules

  1. Zero Plaintext Secrets:
    • Never embed live passwords, API tokens, cookie secrets, private keys, or production connection strings in documentation. Reference vault locations and environment variable names instead.
  2. Text-Based Diagrams (Mermaid.js):
    • Store diagrams as fenced code blocks (```mermaid). This ensures diagrams can be edited, diffed, and reviewed in standard Git pull requests.
  3. Executable Runbooks:
    • All operational troubleshooting steps must include concrete commands and queries that can be copied and executed directly in terminal or SQL consoles.
  4. Synchronous Documentation Updates:
    • Any pull request that alters database schema, environment variables, authentication logic, or deployment infrastructure must include corresponding updates to the docs/ folder within the same PR.
  5. Quarterly Review Cycle:
    • The Technical Owner and Security Owner must conduct a quarterly review of all documentation files to verify accuracy against live cloud consoles and retire obsolete entries.