Thanks for DCO/ECO responses

[Lynda Shindley <LShindley -at- ANGEION -dot- COM>]

A big thank you to all who responded to my questions concerning document control processes. I did learn a great deal about how other companies control their manuals.

Some companies have a lengthy process time and some have a short process time. There did not seem to be a lot of confusion when processing a document. Most had a consistent system in place. Since our process is rather new, we do not have a consistent system in place. But, as we (writers) keep complaining, certain people are listening, and I understand some changes are in the works. I do have another question.

We DCO the changes, then provide a clean copy of the changes for the file drawer. We are now going to supply an electronic copy for the DCO file, and that copy will be used to produce the  manuals, labels, etc. Does anyone else do this? We are at a quandry as to what file format to supply, since we use FrameMaker. We do not always know who the vendor will be, so we are also thinking of including a .PDF file on the disk. Our spec will have to spell out details for printing either file. Any suggestions here? How do you get your files to the print vendor? We have been told that once the document leaves our hands for DCO, we no longer have control, nor are we to be concerned how the document is produced. It is all up to production. Please respond off line unless you think topic will assist others.

Again, thanks for the earlier responses.

Lynda Shindley
Angeion Corp.
lshindley -at- angeion -dot- com

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