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I'm late to the party, but thought I'd chime in. Ours is a bit simpler (but may not fit your needs). Each product was assigned a two-letter code (representing the name of the product the documentation is about). Then, there is a single letter that corresponds with the type of documentation (i.e. G for User Guide). Then, a dash, followed by the software version it was written to correspond with, the revision number of the doc, and then the year. So:
MAG-V25R314
This way, it's more easily understood without someone having to look up what each number means. That was the biggest feedback I got from the SMEs/PMs on how they wanted to do the control numbers for our documentation (I also had this email conversation with this list :) )
-Hannah
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+hannah -dot- drake=formulatrix -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+hannah -dot- drake=formulatrix -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Shawn
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2014 11:45 AM
To: Margaret Cekis
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Document versioning
*Thank you Margaret and Jay!Excellent suggestion.After a bit of tweaking, consultation with an esteemed colleague, and combined with your suggestion, this is what I have come up with:Versioning scheme: XX.xx.zz.yy.00 [draft x] XX - Software revision (major release) xx - Software revision (minor
release) zz - Document name (99 possible documents - reuse numbers as
documents retire) examples: 10 = user guide, 20 = setup guide,
etc. yy - Document release (incremental hex value offers 255 revisions to a single document)00 - Document special identifier (value will indicate
localization or other special releases) examples: NA - English
(North America), ES - Spanish (North America) [draft âaâ] - during the draft stage only. Increment letters for each subsequent draft
release.Example: 02.00.10.03.NA <http://02.00.10.03.NA> - A user guide, 3rd release, associated with s/w revision 2.0 for English North America.I dropped the date from the version scheme because the publishing date is always automatically inserted into every document. Additionally, the software revision is also a good indication of the document's chronological placement.I welcome any thoughts or criticisms.Happy Friday, all!*
On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 7:47 AM, Margaret Cekis <Margaret -dot- Cekis -at- comcast -dot- net>
wrote:
> Shawn Connelly described his revised document numbering system:
> " BTW, my part number scheme is: x.x.1414.02.01.00
>
> x.x - Software revision associated with this document
>
> 1414 - Year and month of document release
>
> 02 - Major release
>
> 01 - Minor release
>
> 00 - Document type identifier (i.e. 00 - English NA version, other
> values will indicate localization or other special releases) - I
> haven't decided yet but if I use hexadecimal for this value, I can
> allow for 255 variations of a document type.
> This documentation department is new (just me now) and I want a scheme
> that won't need to be revised by allowing for all those unknown
> unknowns. Love to hear your opinions about this document numbering scheme. "
> ___________________________________________
> Shawn:
> I'd go with the 2-letter alphabetical code for the document type.
> People will remember the most common ones, and I don't think you'll
> have 255 document types. ( And if I remember my math for permutations
> and combinations, a 2-letter code will provide approx 26X25/2, or 325
> possible
> combinations.)
> Margaret Cekis, Johns Creek GA
>
>
>
>
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