[Hidden-tech] Need Document Control System

[roy at net-vantage.com]

What about Alfresco? Definitely a mature and well utilized system …


Roy

413-223-9007

www.net-vantage.com






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From: Karl Hakkarainen
Sent: ‎Saturday‎, ‎June‎ ‎27‎, ‎2015 ‎8‎:‎13‎ ‎AM
To: Cheryl Handsaker
Cc: Hidden Tech List





OneDrive, part of the Office 365 package, can do similar things as Dropbox and is free for subscribers. FWIW, I have used Dropbox for quite a while and rely on its version management features a lot. 
Neither, of course, is a true document control system with diff/merge, branching, and the like. To do that requires an industrial-strength system akin to Documentum, the aforementioned SharePoint, or some DITA-based system.
<grumble>It surprises me that, 30 years later, we still don't have a good, inexpensive document control system for tech doc folks who are using Word.  All of the schemes that I've seen rely more on organizational discipline than on smart tools. 

So, if your team is disciplined, the tools don't matter. If your team isn't disciplined, the tools don't matter. 

</grumble>

kh




---
Karl A. Hakkarainen
508 829 5825
Queen Lake Consulting
www.queenlake.com
Twitter:RoasterBoy




On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Cheryl Handsaker <ht at charlemontwebworks.com> wrote:






If the documents are at all sensitive, then go for the Business Plan. It is much to easy for individuals to share folders accidentally. I think this is a big plus for the Business version. 


On 6/26/15 1:57 PM, Lesley Schneider wrote:







I noticed they have an expensive business version and the free individual version, which I have used with clients for years. Now that I am a full time employee, I don't know if we should get the business version or if I can just have everyone download the free individual version. 

Thanks for your help,

Lesley

Sent from my iPhone


On Jun 26, 2015, at 12:45 PM, Spike McLarty <spike.mclarty at gmail.com> wrote:





I second Chris's suggestion of Dropbox.

It isn't even really a 'place' for people to go, it shows up as a folder on your computer - just a regular Windows folder.


Pioneer Valley Habitat uses it extensively so I've been able to watch over my wife's shoulder as she uses it daily.





Anything involving a server, or Sharepoint, will involve significantly more (and more technical) administrative overhead than Dropbox, unless you've already got somebody who knows what they're doing and is willing to add this to their plate.




The trick with Dropbox is setting up the information organization (folder structure, naming conventions, procedures) so it's easy for people to understand and conform to.

Have one sensible person do that early on, otherwise you'll get the same mess you'd get with paper documents + no system.




With the right options turned on in the account, you get off-site backup (with zero effort), you can see when files were changed and who changed them, and retrieve any previous version.




Another plus for Dropbox: easy to find people who've used it, not hard to find people who use it a LOT.



On Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 8:46 PM, Lesley Schneider <lesley at hthconsulting.com> wrote:






I better get clearer. This is for a Technical Publications department. Technical manuals written in Word. They were trying to use Sharepoint, but they never managed to make enough room for it on the server. This is a Windows place. They are very set in their ways. Not thrilled with change. I was hoping for something that could be a plug-in to Outlook or Explorer. Does that help? Just want a system for version control, a central place where people can always know they are getting the approved version of a doc in PDF format. And where we can store the original Word files where no one else can mess with them. 



Thank you again,

Lesley




On Jun 25, 2015, at 6:02 PM, Robert Heller wrote:



At Thu, 25 Jun 2015 14:53:11 -0400 Lesley Schneider <lesley at hthconsulting.com> wrote:














Hi all. I am at a company from the dark ages. They have around 50 people.


They have no doc control system in place. I need something easy to install


and use, and cheap. Just for Technical Publications right now. Any


suggestions?


What format are these documents in?

What operating system(s) are you using?

If the documents are some form a text (eg LaTeX)  and the operating system is 
some flavor of UNIX/Linux (or if the file server is a UNIX or Linux system), 
then any typical Source Code Version control system will work.  Something like 
Subversion over Apache/DAV (mod_svn_dav).  Note: using Subversion over 
Apache/DAV is dirt cheap -- it is open source, so there is no cost for the 
software, esp. if you already have the UNIX/Linux server in place.

It *is* possible to use a Source Code Version control system with *binary* 
files, you just don't get things like diffs and each 'version' is a complete 
copy of the binary file (rather than a set of changed lines).



Thank you,


Lesley





Sent from my iPhone


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Lesley Schneider

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408-858-3942 Mobile 

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