a method for customizing end - user or administrative software documentation such as installation instructions is provided . a software provider first collects computer system information for multiple computer sub - systems used by a customer . the collected computer system information comprises sub - system descriptions of each of the multiple computer sub - systems , software descriptions of all software that is currently residing in each of the multiple computer sub - systems , and hardware descriptions of all hardware that are allocated to each of the multiple computer sub - systems . the software provider then receives , from the customer , the name of new software that is to be installed in a user - selected computer sub - system . based on the collected computer system information , the software provider determines which specific device in the user - selected computer sub - system should have the new software installed . at run time , variables in the installation instructions are replaced with a device &# 39 ; s name .