Below are some of my thoughts on the two.
Please see me or send me an email message if you need help.
1. Users Manual - The purpose of the User Manual is to provide a vehicle of communication between the customer and the developer. Remember the customer, e. g. a biologist, does not want or care about the internal technical details.
For form and content see "Writing User's Manuals" by myself and "Tricks of the Trade or the Life as a Technical Writer" by Dawn A. Maneval (our speaker earier this semester).
[If your team can't find either of these, see me for another copy!]
2. Technical Manual - The purpose of the Technical Manual is to provide a vehicle of communication between the software maintainer and the developer.
Assume you have been asked to maintain the product AND the original developers are long gone. A good technical manual answers the following question: "What would you like to see in a manual to help you maintain the product?"
The technical manual should include at least the following:
Cover Page including title, developers' names, data and company.
a). Describe briefly the problem the product is trying to solve.
b). Discuss the features of the product. Discuss the assumed computing environment. Discuss the expected user of the product. Discuss the limitations of the product.
c). Discuss how to create a new version of the product. Discuss the tools and class libraries required. Describe the location of the source files.
d). Include a few test cases to test a newly created version.
e). Discuss the overall organization of the code.
f). Discuss the user interface.
g). Discuss the key data structures. Discuss the key objects and methods.
h). Discuss key algorithms and references of where you acquired the algorithms.
i). Discuss the error messages and possible solutions.
j). Discuss any know bugs.