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The R&D tech writing team and engineers in Danbury used to use Frame on
UNIX and Mac, so maybe some FrameMaker still exists.
Powerpoint is an issue. IMO, it's a dead-end that narrows your choices.
Can you deliver HTML or PDF presentations, instead?
FM and sharepoint was discussed on the Adobe User to User forums today, http://www.adobeforums.com, checkout the FrameMaker and FrameMaker +
SGML sections.
Each TOC item could be a topic without XML; that's a traditional WWP Pro
approach with FrameMaker. FWIW, if your traditional user guides, with
screen captures and steps, are never up to date, your problem is with
resource planning and management more than it is with tools like MS
Word. If you do not get a handle on these issues, you'll continue to
have them in a FM+WWP or database environment.
Master docs is broken. Visio has issues with PDF/PostScript output. Etc.
Before you move forward, I'd check whether management will give up their
familiarity and comfort with Microsoft's generalist office toolset.
And, don't forget, some of this has to do with what your deliverables
are. You mention a bunch of guides and the like without ever telling how
they are delivered, such as PDF online only, as HTML, printed CMYK from
an offset press, etc. Are you, yourself, comfortable with producing and
publishing this documentation, or are you removed from that end process?
-----Original Message-----
From: GFD1CEM -at- ups -dot- com [mailto:GFD1CEM -at- ups -dot- com]
I have been asked to propose a technical writing workflow for my team
here
at UPS as a prototype for an enterprise TW approach I am interested in
your opinions as to what workflows, techniques and
tools a really modern TW uses. By really modern I mean modular, topical
and single-sourced, distributed via a portal, etc.
<snip>
My folks are systems management types, so they create architectural
diagrams, scripts, executables, PowerPoint presentations and so forth -
as
well as task guides, user guides, etc.
<snip>
I want our documentation to be highly granular, maybe using WWP and FM7,
maybe Microstuff, (UPS as far as I can tell isn't using FM, so it could
be
a tough sell - if anyone has a Sharepoint Team Services/Portal
Server/Content Manager solution I really need to talk to you!) I will
use
whatever will allow us to keep documentation accurate - for example, I
don't want a traditional User Guide with a table of content and a bunch
of
images pasted in a Word doc with text to walk the user through each
screen
- these never stay up to date.
<snip>
Rather, I want to keep each screen shot as an artifact, and the text to
explain its use as another...or maybe each table of content item could
be
a separate topical file - (XML?) and then build the document at time of
need, in real time, or do a document build each morning, so all that an
analyst or engineer who makes a change has to do is go to that specific
artifact and update it - any strategy that will make it easy and
attractive for the individual to update their documentation whenever
they
change something.
<snip>
Like most enterprises - we have a web-based repository with change
control, but it's such a pain to use that no one does.
<snip>
We currently use Word and Visio for most everything - and every doc is
outdated or wrong in some way. I suppose I am striving for the MS Word
Master/Subdoc approach that never quite worked out.
<snip>
Further, Does anyone have experience building documents from system
reports? We us Tivoli for Endpoint reporting, but the engineers are
manually creating matrix tables to show what monitors are running for
what
apps - I want to read the Tivoli and other reports in real-time and
build
that doc instead of writing and trying to maintain it - has anyone done
anything like this?
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