Anyone using CaliberRM to create end-user documentation?

["dina m." <dinalm -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

Hello.

I have recently started a job where I am working with business 
analysts/project managers to gather and flesh out requirements from users. I 
also am responsible for creating the end-user documentation for the system 
we are creating. We currently use an application called CaliberRM (Borland) 
for entering and tracking the requirements. It has quite a few handy 
features for working with requirements, including a document processing 
feature called Doc Factory. This essentially allows you to export sections 
of the requirements to Word templates that you have set up using 
Caliber-defined parameters to pull the information you want. It's quite 
handy for printing out requirements and related information in a nice, neat 
document. If you want to update the document with new requirements, for 
example, you have to use the template again to regenerate data, or modify 
the original document (actually save it as a template and add back the 
parameters you want--particularly if you have written things into the 
document after the first generation) and regenerate only those sections you 
want to update.

The problem I'm having is my boss (lead BA/PM) seems to think that this tool 
would be useful for writing/generating our end-user documentation (user 
guides, references, possibly training). His idea is that because the project 
requirements will be changing so often, it would be a good way for us to 
keep track of updates for the end-user documentation because we can "easily" 
regenerate documents whenever something has changed. At first, I thought he 
was nuts (and now I'm back at that thought), but figured I'd try and check 
it out to see if maybe he was on to something. I mean, it is interesting in 
theory. ;-) I have played around with the document processing features and 
templates to try and see if this is a viable solution, but so far, I am not 
all that convinced that it's the right solution for us. And it seems to me 
that this is definitely beyond the intent/scope of the product. For example, 
attaching graphic files is possible, but having the system know where to 
insert them is going to be problematic. Paragraph styles exist within the 
Word template, but designating certain portions of text to a particular 
style (not to mention bold or italic) within Caliber is not possible. I see 
plenty of rework after doing a general dump from the system and I shudder to 
think about manipulating a document to update with only certain sections (so 
that we won't have to reapply styles and such) every time there is a change, 
or even dealing with indexing!

I'm wondering if anyone out there has worked with CaliberRM to create 
end-user documentation, what you think/thought of the process, and if you 
have any recommendations for either a) making it a viable solution, or b) 
informing my boss that his head is up his...I mean, that it's not a good 
solution for us. :) I've shared some of my concerns with him but he's the 
type of person that has an answer for everything, and being relatively new, 
I'm still testing my boundaries. While I don't think he'll force us to use 
the tool to create end-user documentation, I would like to be prepared when 
he's ready to spar.

Thanks for the help.
Dina M.

PS: I'm on digest, so I may be slow to respond...but I will respond 
eventually.

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