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>I think the next thing to do is to have a binder for the documentation,
>modularize your documentation and give each module a part number and a
>tab. When your customers order specific combinations, whoever is
>fulfilling the order could also put the appropriate shrink-wrapped
>modules in with the binder.
This is a good concept, but think long and hard before you implement it.
My previous employer went to configurable documents years ago, and it
became a real pain in the neck to manage as the product lines grew. For
example, some product lines had upwards of 100 different document
components that could be configured into a manual. If, say, 15 of those
components had to do with various flavors of the electronic control
system, and an across-the-board change was made to all control systems,
then 15 different document files had to be revised, reviewed,
reformatted, republished, etc. Imagine what happened when every major
part of a system changed and we had to update every flavor of every
document for every part in the system!
If your product lines aren't huge and diverse, this might be worth a
try, but if your company offers multiple flavors for each of the
different "parts" of a system, this method may be more trouble than it's
worth.
Cheers,
Chris
Chris Welch-Hutchings
Senior Technical Writer
Home Wireless Networks, Inc. mailto:cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com
