IBM 1130 User Manual page 101

Provide Tested and Documented Recovery
Procedures
It does little good to follow the previous advice if
your recovery procedures have not been tested and
documented. Usually, time is of the essence, and
the operator should not have to study program list-
ings to determine what to do when accidents occur.
This is inviting trouble and can turn a minor mis-
take into a disaster.
Section Subsections Page
15
20
I
70 01
If a program checks the input data for errors (as
it certainly should), the error messages should be
self-explanatory or be keyed to a document that ex-
plains exactly what to do. For example, a well
written and well documented program will type a
message such as ERROR NO. 6 and pause, waiting
for the operator to take corrective action. The
"run book", or "operation manual", should contain
a complete description of what happened and what to
do about it. Figure 15.1 shows a typical error re-
covery sheet; Figure 15.2 is a blank copy of the
same form.