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-----Original Message-----
>Where do you keep your paper documents once they have
>been signed-off on? Do you keep them in a file at
>your desk? If not, what location do you keep your
>paper docs in?
I very rarely keep paper docs at all once a project is complete. (While a
project is under way, of course, I keep so many copies of paper docs that my
desk is probably classifiable as a fire hazard.) The only reason for keeping
paper docs after the doc is finished (IMHO, YWWV) is if there's an ISO 9000
requirement to show a paper trail or if you think there may be some query
about your decisions and you want to show a paper trail.
>How many of you use a standard locked file cabinet, or
>a reinforced lock outside of the cabinet?
Oh wow. A locked filing cabinet of my very own to keep paper docs in! Wow.
Dream on... Er, no, I don't. Desk. Piles of paper. Fire hazard. Necessary
paper copies in desk drawer, which is locked only when I store my laptop
there.
>What sort of procedure do you use for the signing out
>of documents?
The Silent Stare of Doom if ANYBODY BUT ME messes with the user
documentation docs. Uh, most places I've worked have used VSS or some other
electronic method of storing docs.
>For those of you who store documents electronically,
>which method works best for you? Do you use any sort
>of version control?
VSS works pretty well when you don't have to send out softcopies for
review/input.
One method I used when sending softcopy docs out to be reviewed by several
different people is to name the doc Document_Version_A, send it out, and
promptly rename it Document_Version_B. The reviewers can do what they like
to Version_A: the master version is now Version_B. I will take their input
from Version_A docs and rewrite it/edit it for Version_B. I ask the
reviewers to add their initials to the end of the filename, so that we have
Version_A_DJ and Version_A_SC for copies reviewed by Daniel Jackson and Sam
Carter respectively.
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.
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