Re: Mass documentation organization effort

[Kim Wallace <kwallac -at- ECT -dot- ENRON -dot- COM>]

Gina, while this project will take a lot of your time (I promise) I think
that you can make it something to "hang your hat on" in the company. Who
better than the Tech Comm department to run the project? You have the
opportunity to control how everyone in your company accesses important
data.

I have never taken on this specific task myself, but there are many
potential solutions:

     Document management software (like the one you are implementing)
     A Lotus Notes database (which could front-end any format of doc)
     PDF and Acrobat reader distribution
     And many more

Use the same process you use to assess a software tech writing project.
Identify your users and the tools they have available to them. Talk to
folks in programming about potential tools. Investigate what you have
available.

As for your timeline, I'd plan on a year start to finish, since this is a
company wide implementation. Management will kick and scream about that,
but as you begin your research, you'll see why it could take that long. It
could take less time, but don't hang yourself on a short (i.e. 3 month)
timeframe. I'd be glad to talk with you some more offline about managing
this type of project.

Good luck, and let us know how things work out.