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Subject:FW: How does your team track document requests? From:Gregory Brown <gregory -dot- brown -at- pronto -dot- net> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:21:58 +0000
Third try to post, hope it goes through this time :-)
..........
We have an internal workflow system that is used to track documentation and software requests. That works fairly well. Bugzilla has been used for a while here also and it is reasonably good, although we use Bugzilla primarily for recording software issues, not documentation requests.
An open source tool called Redmine is currently being investigated and it is looking very positive as a complete project management + bug tracking tool
Gregory Brown
Technical Communications Team Manager
Pronto Software Limited
20 Lakeside Drive, Burwood East, VIC 3151, Australia
Phone: +61 3 9887 7770 | Mobile: +61 409 936 378
Email: gregory -dot- brown -at- pronto -dot- net
Website: www.pronto.net | Twitter: @ProntoSoftware
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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+greg -dot- brown=pronto -dot- com -dot- au -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+greg -dot- brown=pronto -dot- com -dot- au -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Margaret Cekis
Sent: Thursday, 24 January 2013 6:50 AM
To: 'Robert Powers'; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: How does your team track document requests?
Robert Powers asked, " How does your team track document requests? I've used various methods over the years: spreadsheets, to do lists, etc. We're considering using Bugzilla (bug-tracking software) now since the software engineers at my company are very familiar with it. We hope this would allow for more integration with the software development process."
_________________________________________
My experience has been that some companies didn't have a formal process at all, while others that had a very formal structure had a specific doc request form. Where documentation has used the Development CMS, errors and update requests were tracked in the bug-reporting system. I think using the bug system is fine for tracking changes after a document is drafted and in review, but I prefer a formal form up front.
Defining a new document for a new product requires a lot of information about audience, purpose, and scope that may not have appropriate fields in a bug report. If you're using only the bug tracking system, you may have to see about adding a form for new documents that provides the supplemental information, such as audience description (end users vs support staff or developers, installers, etc.,) ; name(s) of project manager(s) for product and documentation, assigned SMEs and writer(s), estimated release date of product and documentation, etc.
Margaret Cekis, Johns Creek GA
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