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My supervisor has recently told our department that he's received a directive to convert all the technical records in the company in electronic form. Here's the history: we're in the middle of a take-over, and the buying company has decided to erase little-used part numbers/bills of material from our AS-400 system. The Tech support department, however, needs these bills of materials to identify replacement parts for customers, even though the systems are no longer in production. So, the idea is to put archive all deleted
bills of materials electronically so that they can be quickly accessed when needed. In addition, my supervisor would like to archive all existing documentation---manuals, spec sheets, old catalogs, etc---in the same manner. Some are already in electronic form, but most aren't.
Now, in theory I agree with all this. However, I'm afraid we just don't have the "human" resources to take on this task, and I doubt that we're going to be allotted them. I am both technical writer and webmaster already, and I hardly have time to pay attention to my internet/intranet sites as it is. I've been browsing the archives for info about doc management programs, and the consensus seems to be that they are very useful but difficult and time-consuming to set up and maintain. Our IS department is small and has its hands full just trying to maintain our new Windows-NT infrastructure, and I don't have any database setup/management experience. I'd love to learn, but I don't want to commit to a project I won't have the resources or time to accomplish. And I want to present to management an honest assessment of what such a project would entail.
Is there something I'm missing? Some middle ground solution, some way to rather simply put the material up an integrate it with our intranet, perhaps? I've been reading quite a bit about Documentum and similar programs both on the web and in the archives, but are there middle-of-the-road programs that don't offer all the features of a high-end doc management program but that are easier to set up and maintain?
If this topic has been over-discussed, feel free to send me answers to privately. Any help/advice would be MOST appreciated.
Thanks!
Jennifer Jelinek
jlkraus -at- ametekwater -dot- com
Ametek Water Filters
Sheboygan, WI
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