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I do a combo of the electronic and paper version. Like one of the latest
respondents, integration and system test (and anyone else for that matter)
can submit PRTs (problem report tickets) against the documentation that I
can track in the database. I also get emails and paper requests for changes
or walk up visits from testers for conversations that usually start with "In
the <name of document> it says <something>, but it doesn't work that way..."
There's only two of us now (a third to start soon) and I'm rapidly finding
out I need a paper trail to keep track of things. So I print out emails to
refer to later (and will forward them if they contain information that can
be cut and pasted as a starting point for the real writing) as well as
copies of PRTs. If the email has an attachment that applies to a particular
document we're working on, I save the attachment to the appropriate folder.
I hadn't thought about saving emails there as well, but I could. And since
we use Source Safe at the moment, if I move the email into Source Safe, it
will be available to any writer who needs it. Oooooo, I'll have to think
about this.
I have file folders for unassigned and resolved issues and send paper copies
to the assigned party. I have a table in Frame that includes PRT number,
brief description, date assigned, date completed, date resolved and
comments. I have a deal with system test that we won't resolve PRTs in the
system until we have updated the PDFs of the documents and put them where
they can access them for verification.
As things move forward, we may be able to move this to be more online, but
I've got to get a handle on what I'm doing before I can figure out the tools
to use and the way I want to handle things. As we go forward, I hope that
auto-notification will be added to our trouble reporting system as well as
to the software change management system.
I, like you, am trying to figure out how to move from a seat of the pants
and holler over the wall system to one more formal and with some tracking to
keep up with things.
Hope this helps.
Mike Hiatt
Manager, Tech Pubs
VocalData, Inc.
Dallas (yep, that one)
mhiatt -at- vocaldata -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-10324 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-10324 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 3:43 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Managing the multitudes
So far (after the first day), responses are few,
<snip>
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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