Microsoft documentation teams require that developers, testers, and program managers review document content for technical accuracy, completeness, and usability. In a software production environment, technical reviews can often seem a lower-priority task. To facilitate the review process, one team developed an online tool. This review tool places a form on the HTML pages of the documentation. Reviewers rate the content of the page and submit comments in a text box. The review tool then stores the comments in a SQL Server™ database, where they can be retrieved according to categories such as reviewer, writer, severity of rating, date submitted, and so forth. All reviewers can see every comment submitted depending upon how they filter their searches. There is also an administrative screen that allows the administrator to add, update, and retire projects from the review. Administration functions are implemented using a COM object.
The following topics explain the technologies in the Documentation Review Tool, its architecture, and how it uses BackOffice® Server: