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Subject:Re: Lots of Forms From:Pat Anderson <panders -at- aw -dot- sgi -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 5 Feb 2001 17:04:20 -0500
At 4:23 PM -0500 05/02/01, Kelly Williamson wrote:
(snip)
but my instinct
>told me to at least get away from descriptive file names such as
>MyExpenseReport.doc and use formA.doc, formB, etc. with a cross reference
>sheet detailing what is what.
>
>Now the users are asking if they can copy the forms (just the forms) from
>the CDs to their hard drives since they are the most frequently used portion
>of the manual and it would be quicker for them. However, they would like the
>forms to thus have descriptive names and I'm sure would like to go back to
>the MyExpenseReport.doc file naming system. I am leery of doing this as I'm
>sure we'll have millions of different versions floating around again, people
>will probably start calling them different things again, and users will
>"forget" to overwrite the old forms on their hard drives when the new CDs
>come out, etc.
>
>(BTW, these are VERY novice computer users we're talking about.)
>
>Suggestions? Ideas? Can this work? I would like to grant them quicker access
>to the forms, but not at the expense of losing version control.
>
>(I'm way behind on digests, so direct replies are appreciated!)
>
>Thanks for any ideas,
>Kelly Williamson
>kwcwtech -at- iwaynet -dot- net
I'd suggest giving the forms nice, obvious names -- like "ExpenseReport.doc" -- because if they have names like FormA and FormB, people will rename them so they will remember what the form is for. It's just human nature.
Since you distribute the forms on CD, I'd recommend putting the forms into one directory/folder.
Then people can copy the whole folder full of forms onto their local machine if they find it faster to access them from their hard drive.
Each revision of the CD, you update the folder of forms. Users then copy the new folder down to their hard drive, and overwrite the prior version. You could probably even use an installation program to do this for users automagically when they insert the CD into their drive.
Good luck, Kelly.
...pat.
Pat Anderson,
Documentation Manager, Design Products
Alias|Wavefront
tel: (416) 874-8375
email: panders -at- aw -dot- sgi -dot- com http://www.aliaswavefront.com
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