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I am sensing a very proprietary air in this thread. "It's *my* documentation! How *dare* they think they are worthy or capable of touching it!" I don't want to dismiss anyone's sense of pride or ownership or professionalism; heaven knows I can be pretty touchy about such things. But here's a slightly different perspective on the whole *business* (that's pretty much what everybody is in, right?):
Documentation and the right to alter it is sometimes packaged as a product in its own right, in association with purchasing or licensing the main goods. For example, PeopleSoft business software offers a training materials package, plus an automatic license to modify the online documentation. They offer training on how to alter their online documentation, which is created in Folio. PeopleSoft gets revenue for the training, and both Folio and PeopleSoft get a license fee.
Documentation can be a product, and it can contribute to revenue. Recognize that the companies buying your products may be using them in unique ways, especially if it involves business processes. Help your company to see the potential benefits if they don't already. I don't know how this works with other products, but many companies hire tech writers to document software as part of an implementation. Your company can provide added value by giving customers a baseline document, so they don't have to invest in starting from scratch. The company can focus on documenting how they're using the software instead of developing templates and re-documenting what's already been done.
This can be a very user/customer-friendly way to do things. Be happy that you're providing a valuable service--your customer can hit the ground running. Package your products in a way that makes it easy (i.e., pick a tool the customer is likely to have). If you're using something off the beaten path, make sure your company will provide training or access to training. Try to partner with the company whose tool you're using.
By the way, the people who are altering these documents (regardless of how happy you are about it) are just as likely to be technical writers as any other kind of professional. Y'all are assuming you're sending your babies off to be slaughtered by incompetents. 'T'aint necessarily so.
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