Characteristics of user-developed software applications and their documentation requirements are reviewed, and the results of a study undertaken to identify factors affecting the level of documentation required by these applications are reported. The results provide a framework to guide computer-using management in formulating standards for a broad spectrum of such applications.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>