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>Has anyone heard the term "evergreen document"?
>
>i.e., ...the manual [...] should be maintained as an evergreen document"
Yes. It is used to refer to a document that covers all versions of a
product, not just the current version. Thus when a new version is created,
material is added to the document to cover that version, rather than the
document being revised to cover that version alone. Such documents are
considered useful in situations where a product, such as a telephone switch,
may be in service for many years after new versions are released, and where
service personnel may have to deal with many different vintages of the
product. With an evergreen document they can deal with only one document for
all the systems they service, instead of one for each. Also, an evergreen
document can deal with product differences in both directions and answer
such questions as "in which version did they introduce feature x".
Needless to say, evergreen documents are very difficult to produce and
maintain without a good content management system.
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Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
