RE: ISO Document Control for Outside Authored Manuals

["Steve Hudson" <steve -at- wright -dot- com -dot- au>]

Heres my humble opinion - I am NOT a certified auditor, however...

Your main problem is you have mixed up what is an annotated controlled
manual, and a reworked shop manual. If the shop manual being scribbled on
was yours, you have a change process to bring those notes inline, and thus
annotated copies need to be removed as obsolete upon update/re-issue. This
is NOT the case.

Solution 1:

Nominate the annotated works to be controlled hardcopy derivative works from
externally provided dynamic documentation. Provide an update resolution
process for when a new manual arrives to transfer annotations from the old
to the new.

Solution 2:

Accept the annotated copies as input to producing an inhouse controlled
copy, which also has the manuals as an input, thus receiving a new manual is
a trigger for the update process to compare and review their new vs their
old and thus generate deltas for your "marked up" copy.

Solution 3:

Rebind the annotated works as a manual to be controlled in hardcopy only,
and rename it via its cover. Rebinding can be as simple as holepunching and
whacking in a ring binder.


Steve Hudson
Lead Technical Writer
Wright Technologies (Aus)
steve -at- www -dot- wright -dot- com -dot- au
(612) 9518-1822
The best way to predict the future... is to create it!



-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-62124 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-62124 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of GEORGE
Grider 901/360-4002
Sent: Tuesday, 27 March 2001 03:25
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: ISO Document Control for Outside Authored Manuals


      Here?s the rub. Technicians usually work with a ?bench copy? of
the official text. These manuals are liberally sprinkled with
handwritten notes, written by and for the tech. Some might argue these
unofficial notes don?t belong, but anyone who?s worked on the equipment
knows better. A good cook will mark up a cookbook, and from these notes
the diners can only benefit.
     And yet, according to the ISO quality system, as I read it, these
time worn shop manuals are to be demoted to a ?for reference only?
status whenever a new manual is issued. Rendered ?obsolete.? Hidden out
of sight and scratched from the list. This is where the document control
system would appear to be breaking down.
    In a sentence, how does one reconcile the ISO requirements for
listing only officially updated documents against the technician?s
real-world updates? Are there any ISO folks out there who?ve faced and
solved this apparent paradox?
    Thanks,
George Grider, tech writer



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