RE: Document Management Tools/Strategies

[Metzger Karen <Metzger_Karen -at- prc -dot- com>]

Remember the KISS principle!

On my last project I was the web administrator where I managed a web-based
application called Livelink from OpenText. We used it for our document
management, to handle version control, because we were all operating on
different platforms, and needed something to solve that problem. It worked
for us, but--and this is inevitable in your organization, too--people didn't
like having to do something new. So not everyone used it. Lots of folks just
stuck with what they knew--in our case, e-mailing documents back and forth
and dealing with the occasional version control mishap. I speshly wouldn't
recommend this product to you until they sell it without all the bells and
whistles. Last time I checked it came bundled with a workflow and task
tracking mechanism, but that's more than some people need.

Try as I might, I couldn't find any flaws in your solution, and wonder why
you are still seeking another? My advice, having used another good solution,
but dealt with people--who seem to hate change no matter where you go--is go
with what you got! It's cheap, it's simple, it works, no other solution will
give you that.

Best of luck!
kcm

-----Original Message-----
From: Emily Cotlier [mailto:Emily_Cotlier -at- cardlink -dot- co -dot- nz]
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 5:41 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Document Management Tools/Strategies

I've checked the archive and not found anything on this, but it's considered
important by all the NZ tech writers I've talked to....
Document Management.

The Situation: I am a tech writer at a company with about 20 developers.
Recently, we moved all Development project-related documents (mostly Word,
Excel, and MicroGrafix) from individual users' PCs into a shared system with
an organised, clearly-named file structure, accessed via Explorer. This way,
everyone on a project can access everyone else's documents on a project, and
everyone can find the files consistently. All the Developers have change
rights over these documents.
We hired a new developer last week who seemed perkier than usual when I
demonstrated this--it turned out he has solid tech writing experience and
even likes writing--and he asked me, "What about document version control?" 
"Good question," I said. We agreed that this system needed a way of tracking
version control.

The Requirement: A way to track document version controls for these
documents, which are mostly Word documents.

A Possible Solution: Upon researching the options, the simplest one is
definitely a function bundled with MS Word 2000. Once you save a document in
MS Word 2000, it allows you to track its version control, even to save a new
version as such, with the save date, time, name of the person to make the
version change, and comments.
I like this as a solution because a) we already have it, so it won't cost us
any money b)it is very simple to do and to reference and c) it can be
incorporated into the current process by informing the developers of the
change and showing them the new step.

Other Possible Solutions: I've checked out some document management programs
online, BUT all of them seem to import the documents into their own system.
They are also designed to include scanned documents in the system--which we
don't need. They seem to add more steps to the process. While their
organisational features add some value, I wonder if it's worth it for our
needs.

Questions for Those It May Concern:
What are your experiences managing document versions with multiple users?
Do you recommend/not recommend any of the document management programs
(DocuTrack, Cabinet NG, PaperTiger, others)?

Thanks,

Emily Cotlier
Technical Writer
Cardlink Systems Limited
Auckland, New Zealand