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> 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?
> 2. place a date consistent with the current manual revision date in the
> revision date block (even though the changes are being made after that date)?
> 3. change the revision and supersession dates in the entire manual
> (which would be a huge hassle, given the frequency with which this company
> wants changes made/added)?
If you were following Canadian DND specs, the change number and revision
date for a changed page would appear on that page only, beneath the
document number:
Ch 2 - 1996-05-09
At the front of the manual you would maintain a List of
Effective Pages, which looks something like this:
1-1 to 1-7 / 1-8 0
1-9 to 1-12 2
2-1 to 2-3 1
2-4, 2-5 0
_______
(1-7 / 1-8 represents a change to page 1-7, where 1-8 is an intentionally
blank reverse.)
A new List of Effective Pages goes out with every set of revised pages.
> And, BTW, just how much change is required to a manual before it is
> considered a "new revision?"
That requires judgement. I wouldn't alter the page revision for spelling
corrections, but I would if the section numbers had to be corrected due to a
misprint, because that might affect a telephone discussion. Ask yourself
if the user's understanding or behaviour is going to change; if so,
it's probably worth declaring a new revision.
The manual, of course, gets a new revision every time you change a page
revision. The List of Effective Pages shows the manual revision and all
the page revisions, and is the key to controlling the document.
--
James Owens ad354 -at- Freenet -dot- carleton -dot- ca
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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