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> -----Original Message-----
> From:
techwr-l-bounces+kevin -dot- mclauchlan=safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kevin -dot- mclauchlan=safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-
> l.com] On Behalf Of Daniel Ng
> Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 02:03
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Part numbers for document deliverables
>
> *This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(r)
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> How do you come up or use part numbers for your document deliverables.
Do
> you even need this for online help? Or is this an arhival requirement
for
> tangible products like hardware parts only.
> So do you have part numbers for
> Training guides
> Presentations
> HTML Help
> Printed User's Guide
> Printed Quickstart sheets?
At our place, customer-facing documents are parts, and are assigned
part-numbers by configuration management. For printed docs, that's the
only way they'll be called up as part of the picking-and-packing during
fulfillment.
For docs that don't get printed, the numbers help us keep straight what
is to be included on the software CDs (or in the equivalent tarballs).
I normally include the number as part of the filename.
It takes an ECN (Engineering Change Notice) to release a new document or
a new version of an existing document (the customer-facing,
part-numbered kind of documents) - fortunately for me, that usually
occurs as part of a product release, so the Configuration Management
person gets stuck with all that paperwork. The number (which is partly
an arbitrary number and partly a sequential suffix) or, in some cases, a
Rev letter tacked onto the number, indicates the version and is how the
particular version is differentiated for purposes of ECN and other
tracking.
Meanwhile, for each new project, we assign a different kind of number
series to in-house project documents (like Marketing Requirements,
Statements of Work, Test Plans, Documentation Plans...), such that every
project-tracking doc for a given project gets a common prefix
PLC-000024-001, a TLA for the type of doc, and a rev number (for drafts)
or letter (for approved/released). So, my doc plan for the product Luna
PCM 2.4 is called PLC-00005-001-DP-RevA, and is a Word file living in a
particular Sharepoint folder alongside PLC-00005-001-MRD-RevB (marketing
requirements), PLC-00005-001-ETP-RevA (engineering test plan),
PLC-00005-001-ETR-RevA, (engineering test report),
PLC-00005-001-OQP-RevA (operations quality plan), and many more.
Project Management tells us the prefix when the project is started, and
we just add our bits and pieces as the project progresses through
various milestones.
But my actual customer document set for this product exists elsewhere
and is called things like:
800315-003lunapcm_2-4_webhelp
800314-002_LunaPCM_QuickStart.pdf
006123-003_Updating_to_Luna_PCM_2-4_and_FW4-6-8.pdf
etc.
The similar-named help and quickstart and update sheet, and so on for
another product would have different leading part numbers (in the
filename and also inside the document). Those are the numbers assigned
by Configuration Management when they are sorting out what the BoMs and
price lists will be. In most cases, they're re-using the numbers from
the same parts (in my case document files) of the previous version of
that product, with the sequential suffix bumped up by one numeral.
If a document gets updated between releases (rare, but it happens) then
the suffix (like the -002 or -003 above) remains the same, but the Rev
letter gets incremented.
Our old Config Management system had large blocks of numbers assigned
for specific purposes and product lines. Our new system just grabs the
next available part number from the total number space... nothing about
a number tells you anything about what it's assigned to, unless you look
it up in the CM database.
So, in summary, everything is uniquely identified; we just use two
different systems - one for parts and product, and one for internal
process documentation (the PLC stuff).
Was that sorta what you wanted to know?
Kevin
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