When learning to write procedures, students should focus on writing procedures that work in a particular communication situation.

However, large organizations, to ensure consistency in their procedures and to control costs, regularly develop database-driven content management systems that enable the documentation for a suite of related products to be spun off semiautomatically from a central repository of procedures and procedure components. Within the limitations of an introductory technical writing course, can we and should we give students a glimpse of the problem of reuse within an enterprise? How does reuse affect the planning and writing of procedures?

What metadata might we associate with particular procedures and procedures components to enable efficient reuse?