RE: Document Distribution

["Parrott, Kathleen E." <kathleen -dot- parrott -at- ngc -dot- com>]

Thanks, Dick.  I'll look into DRM since it is compatible with pdfs, which we use.  And I'll check out Authentica, too.  Then I'll find someone more technically astute than I to evaluate all this good stuff.  Ok, I'll help...

Kathy
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net]
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 4:43 PM
To: Parrott, Kathleen E.
Cc: TECHWR-L; Sowka, Joseph
Subject: Re: Document Distribution




Parrott, Kathleen E. wrote:

>> 
> I'm looking for a Best Practices - or at least something that works 

Consider the concept of "controlled distribution." This may be overkill 
for your situation, but perhaps you can adapt the idea. Basically, 
controlled distribution means that you _do_ know who uses each document, 
because you are responsible for ensuring that each person on a 
need-to-know list receives and signs for a copy of each updated document 
and returns the controlled copy of every superseded doc. Every document 
is serial-numbered, labeled with the name of the person it is assigned 
to, and endorsed to prevent copying.

Obviously, all these concepts are from the days of hard copy 
distribution. The equivalent in today's technology is digital rights 
management (DRM). These are systems that work primarily with PDFs. The 
key idea is that you can set an expiration date for a document even 
after you distribute it. Poof. It becomes inaccessible by the user, and 
they have to use the new version.

Look at authentica.com as one example, although I'm sure there are 
competing solutions, as well. It sounds as if your company can probably 
afford to put such a system in place, and it is up to you to determine 
whether such a system can be configured to do what you need it to do, 
then sell the idea to management ;-)

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