The SDRS methodology was developed in the 1980's in the Oil and Gas industry in order to expedite the process of managing the approval of technical documents.

Put simply, the SDRS adds two dimensions to the control of technical documents, namely:

• Who is to provide the specified documents, and by when, thus translating contract planning into requirements for the provision of technical documents.
• What process must each document go through to attain the status or stage of being fit for the purpose of construction manufacture or supply, viz an event process list (issues, approvals required and given, etc).

Reports utilise the information generated from routine registration activities: thus no further data entry is required.

A similar methodology called Vendor Document Requirement Listing or VDRL exists in the process industry.