Documenting a repair
Documenting a repair is a field-note format. It makes a result easier to reproduce and easier to correct.
Record
[edit]- Item: maker, model, hardware revision, firmware/software version, and a date. Remove serial numbers and customer information.
- Symptom: observable behavior and conditions, including what still works.
- Diagnosis: measurements, tools, test setup, and alternative causes considered.
- Intervention: parts and changes, with provenance and compatibility limits. For safety-critical or access-control equipment, route operational details through disclosure and qualified review first.
- Result: before/after readings, duration, repeats, adverse effects, and unresolved problems.
- Evidence status: field observed, independently reproduced, prototype, or released, as supported by records.
- Counterargument: a plausible other explanation and a discriminating test.
- Warranty record, if relevant: preserve the written terms, authorization and parts invoices, the reason for any denial, and evidence of whether the repair caused the claimed defect. In U.S. consumer-product cases, Magnuson–Moss's tie-in rule may matter; it does not guarantee coverage for repair-caused damage.
Example of careful wording
[edit]“On one identified revision, a named observer recorded a change under these test conditions; no independent reproduction is documented.” This is narrower and more useful than “the device is fixed.”
Link source files or measurements only when public and authorized. See Repair Commons, Aletheia:Article standards, and Aletheia:Suggest a claim or correction.