Re: ?? on Revision Dates (long--sorry!)

Subject: Re: ?? on Revision Dates (long--sorry!)
From: James Owens <ad354 -at- FREENET -dot- CARLETON -dot- CA>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 16:34:56 GMT

Chuck Beck (cbeck -at- bgnet -dot- bgsu -dot- edu) writes:

> 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:

______

Original ..... 0 ..... 1996-01-12
Change ..... 1 ..... 1996-03-12
Change ..... 2 ..... 1996-05-09

Page Number Change

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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