Re: ?? on Revision Dates

Subject: Re: ?? on Revision Dates
From: Michael Loader <softlogik -at- EARTHLINK -dot- NET>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 01:24:31 -0500

Chuck Beck wrote:

> One of his requirements was that every other page, at least, have a revision
> date and a supersession date on it. The idea is that when manuals are
> updated or revised, the current date should replace the revision date and
> the revision date should move into the supersession date spot. Fairly SOP, yes?
> ...
> When revising or adding pages, should we--
> 1. place the date of the changes/additions *only* on the pages we are
> revising or adding (and not on other existing pages), with the current
> revision date as the supersession date?

I recommend your first option. Distribute your changes with a cover page
instructing how to insert the pages. Note that sometimes you will be inserting
two sheets where one sheet was before. In that case, number the pages 1.51a or
something like this. The instructions will avoid confusion. Number each update as
Revision 1, Revision 2, etc. Include a page at the front of each copy of the
manual that indicates which date an update was made to that copy, and a space for
the initials of the person who did it. (So you can whack them when they get lazy
and stuff all the pages at the back.) The log is very important because after 20
updates, you may not remember that Joe's copy didn't get update 17 because he had
it at home, and Christine was out of the office and forgot to do update 18.

> And, BTW, just how much change is required to a manual before it is
> considered a "new revision?"

The revision number of the updates is more important than giving the manual as a
whole a revision number. If the company does a lot of updates, you will find that
people will get the updates and toss them in their in-box. Nobody likes inserting
pages in manuals. A good idea is to have somebody (an intern! ;-) assigned to
update everybody's manuals. If each copy of the manual is numbered, that person
can ensure every copy is updated. If a copy is somehow missed, the log file will
indicate to the next person that an update was missing.

Regards,

--
Michael Loader <-- a former "intern" who had to update 4 feet of manuals
SoftLogik Publishing
http://www.softlogik.com

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