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<<Joy Owen, Joy_Owen -at- Dell -dot- com, is being tasked to develop an IT Library. As I
understand it, the engineers do most of the writing themselves, but they want/need a
repository. The basic problem seems to be getting the latest doc versions and
keeping the docs up to date.>>
You have my sympathies. We do much the same thing here. Different numbers of
developers and writers, but not nearly enough writers to service all the project and
documentation needs.
What we do is provide a server with links to places on the network where
documentation resides. It depends on the individual and group how up to date the
links are. Some are very cooperative; others are not. All we do is the best we can.
And that's my recommendation to you. Set up a structure that makes it as easy as
possible for your SMEs to update and put the onus on them. The I/T Library is only
as good as the latest information they are willing to make available. If you're
patient and take an evolutionary approach, there's a good chance they'll come around
as they see the utility of what you've constructed.
We put the stuff developed by the two writers on the server. We also provide links
to network drives our developers and project managers use. These links are to the
documentation they develop. That way, they can make changes at their own pace, and
we still point to where they're supposed to keep stuff. (If they don't follow the
structure, which THEY set up, we can't help them.)
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