Common Mistakes In Engineering Documentation

One mistake I see in almost every workpaper. Using “noted” and “determined” interchangeably. But they’re not the same. And mixing them up weakens your documentation. When I started, I thought these words were just filler. Something you drop in a sentence to make it sound “audit-like.” But over time, I realized they carry very different weight. And reviewers notice. Here’s the distinction. ➡️ Noted = You’re writing down something you observed. No conclusion. No judgment. ❌ We determined the following data fields were transferred from System A to System B. ✅ We observed the application B dashboard and noted the following data fields were transferred from application A to application B. ➡️ Determined = You’re forming an opinion after inspecting and/or observing and/or reperforming. ❌We noted payroll information was transferred from application A to application B. ✅We determined payroll information for a sample employee was transferred from application A to application B completely and accurately. Mixing them means your workpaper either looks incomplete or makes a conclusion without evidence. "We noted the following data fields were transferred from System A to System B and as such determined that the payroll information for a sample employee was transferred from application A to application B completely and accurately." Use “noted” when you’re just stating a fact. Use “determined” when you are presenting your opinion based on that fact. That one word signals whether you’ve just observed something, Or whether you’ve actually tested it. And that difference can make or break the quality of your workpaper. Have you seen juniors confuse the two? How do you explain this to your team?

S&OP CANNOT admit mistakes. This documents shows 7 mistakes that cannot happen and how to avoid them: # 1 - Blindly trusting system data ↳ How to avoid: system output isn’t always truth. Validate what data the team is really using. # 2 - Planning everything at SKU level ↳ How to avoid: work at product family level. Dive into SKUs only when needed. # 3 - Showing only physical units ↳ How to avoid: keep conversion tables for value and other units of measure # 4 - Building models hard to update ↳ How to avoid: design models for easy updates and clear variance explanation # 5 - Keeping assumptions in your head ↳ How to avoid: write them down. Saves time and prevents confusion later. # 6 - Recommending without knowing history  ↳ How to avoid: check what worked and what failed before suggesting actions # 7 - Making decisions outside the AOP (Annual Operating Plan) ↳ How to avoid: keep decisions tied to AOP priorities and visible to all Any others to add?