When I go to clients that I'm engaged with, I always try to make sure I leave them with good documentation so if there's an issue after I'm gone, they're not left floundering. This post details what I try to leave with a client as far as documentation goes. Please let me know if there's something major I'm missing!

The title of the document I leave with my clients is "Technical Architecture, Design, and Procedures Document" (TADPD). It's a rather lengthy title, but I feel is fully describes what is contained therein. The document contains details on the portal's architecture, design details on the various components/features of the portal, and procedures on how to maintain and govern the portal after I have left the client. Here are those sections broken down into what I see as the five major categories:

1. Architecture Planning.
   This section details all the physical and virtual server requirements for the portal, as well as how those requirements were decided upon. Additionally, the Authentication strategy for how users authenticate to the portal is also discussed.
   
   Subsections:
   1. Capacity Planning
   2. Physical Architecture
   3. Virtual Architecture (if used)
   4. Network Architecture
   5. Software Strategy
   6. Authentication Strategy
   7. Service Accounts
      
      
2. Feature Technical Design.
   The design portion of the TADPD goes through all the major functionalities of the portal and documents their technical implementation at a high level. The purpose for this section is to document the implementation strategy, not necessarily the implementation details. Any further documentation will be supplemented as needed in a separate document for the particular feature.
   
   Subsections:
   1. Overview (Application diagrams)
   2. Branding and Look & Feel
   3. Portal Site Topology Design
   4. Feature "A"
   5. Feature "B"
   6. Search and Indexing
   7. Authorization Strategy
      
      
3. Environment Governance and Implementation Strategies.
   The governance and implementation section is geared to help the company with the ongoing maintenance of the portal, as well as to document how to ramp up or transition new development and administration resources to the portal. Both environment caveats and instructions for how to work with the codebases will also be detailed in this section.
   
   Subsections:
   1. Environment Governance Strategy
   2. Content Governance Strategy
   3. Security Governance Strategy
   4. Code & Customizations, Development Strategy
      
      
4. Installation and Configuration.
   Documenting the installation and configuration is necessary to enable the successful transition of SharePoint expertise to the client for the sake of their ongoing administration. Either from a disaster recovery perspective, or if the client ever needs to add/edit a SharePoint farm, this section will provide guidance for these SharePoint administration tasks.
   
   Subsections:
   1. Server Preparations
   2. Installing SharePoint
   3. Configuring SharePoint and Building a Farm
   4. Installing dependant software (Project Server, Search Server, etc)
   5. Deploying Customizations & Codebases
      
      
5. Disaster Recovery Strategy.
   The disaster recovery section details the steps necessary to recover all the client's portals if a disaster ever were to occur. Additionally, the section documents what sorts of entities need to be backed up on a regular basis to ensure a successful restore will be possible.
   
   Subsections:
   1. Backup Procedures
   2. Restore Procedures

Did I miss anything you'd see as a valuable artifact to leave a client? Thanks!

Phil