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Subject:Re: Version/Documentation Control Software From:Mark Forseth <markf -at- MERGE -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 5 Jan 1999 12:30:14 -0600
My employer uses Source Safe strictly for software-version control and
storage. Conventional wisdom suggests that SS isn't a "true" doc.
management software, but is intended as a software-version-control system
and repository. Additionally, it may not meet ISO requirements for
documentation management, but I'm not sure of this.
True doc. management systems:
- automatically generate and assign part numbers to new docs
- change the revision/version number of a doc each time the doc is
"published" to the system
- tell you at a glance whether a doc. is checked out (undergoing changes)
- archive, rather than overwrite or delete, all revisions and versions of
any given document
- track the review process
- provide a convenient repository for owner/user/other access to documents,
and control permissions of those wishing to access docs of various types
- allow title, owner, P/N, and content searches of all docs in the system
- a zillion other things
Documentum is Web-based, quite powerful, and exceedingly expensive. Open
Text's LiveLink Internet is also powerful but pricey.
We're looking at SystemCorp's Office Control Web and IntraNet Solutions'
Intra.doc. Both are Web-based and provide anyone on any platform (running a
browser) and with permissions to access the latest documents (marketing,
technical, engineering, etc.). Note that SystemCorp has not completed the
latest version of its Web-based browser and they refuse to let us test
anything other than the version they're attempting to complete (and their
completion date drifts farther and farther out, too).
SystemCorp previously was a PC-only software. Their Web site is NOT
Mac-friendly; prepare to camp out as the site downloads at a snail's pace.
I'm leaning away from SystemCorp's system if only because their Web site is
disappointing and their Web-based software is so embryonic; others here
love it for the {{apparent}} price (not firm at last inquiry).
IntraNet's Intra.doc has been Web-based and on the market for many years
now and is competitively priced. One colleague heading up a tech pubs
department at a Fortune 500 company says they selected Intra.doc. This
system automatically generates a PDF file of the original document for a
limited range of formats (PageMaker, Frame, Word, and several others)
thereby adding to its universal document-access appeal. In addition, it
allows content searches of all docs in the system -- not just by title or
author or P/N.
I've found on the 'Net about 20 companies, including Interleaf (for Ileaf
only, and on Windows and UNIX only) and Xerox (Web), selling doc-management
software in various forms. It's a snarly pursuit riddled with a
head-spinning array of options and variations, but with any luck, we can
amass enough input from experienced users to make informed decisions.
