Re: Rational RequisitePro or SoDA anyone?

[Kathleen Melly <kmelly -at- HI -dot- COM>]

Lorraine;

I'm using Rational's SoDA for Word to generate documents from a Rose Model.
The idea is to build Word templates that extract the data directly from the
Rose Model. Building templates is time consuming. If you estimate a day's
work, triple it. The product is temperamental, you have to be very precise
when entering commands or you risk corrupting the template. The
documentation is terrible, but technical support and the users group are
outstanding.

Tips:
- If Word repeatedly crashes when you generate a report, the template is
most likely corrupted.
- Do not run anything else on the PC while running SoDA. SoDA has a problem
with any other program using the clip board.
- Extract data from a condensed version of the model and unload any
unnecessary units.
- Call technical support and get their tips on formatting text and entering
commands. These tasks are not intuitive and the manual does not step you
through the process. You may not even realize that you are doing these
tasks incorrectly, until Word crashes due to a corrupted template. Tech
support is always helpful and willing to spend time with you until you get
it.
- Never select Cancel in the middle of generating a report. Doing so
corrupts the template. Are you detecting a pattern.

I hope I don't sound too negative. SoDA may be painful at times, but it
does get the job done.

Kathy

-----Original Message-----
From:   Lorraine Kiewiet [SMTP:Lorraine_Kiewiet -at- CITYSEARCH -dot- COM]
Sent:   Wednesday, June 09, 1999 7:23 PM
To:     TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject:        Rational RequisitePro or SoDA anyone?

Hi - I'm new on the list.
Have any of you used Rational's RequisitePro software to "manage your
processes"?
Or how about working with Rational's SoDA and it automatically generated
documents?

Thanks for any tips, tricks, pointers to journal articles, etc. from the
Tech Writer's point of view.

--Lorraine

Lorraine Kiewiet
Technical Documentation Manager
Ticketmaster Online - CitySearch, Inc.
790 East Colorado Blvd., Suite 200
Pasadena, CA 91101
626.660.2681

**There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers
don't reach it soon enough. --William Zinsser**

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