On Monday 25 February 2008 07:29:22 andreas moroder wrote: > M. Fioretti wrote: > > On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 17:49:42 PM +0000, jonathon wrote: > > > > (four times) > > > >> Styles are not being correctly used. > > > > since this, even outside of this thread, is one of the most frequent > > issues, then maybe OOo/ODF styles are very poorly advertised and > > documented, but this is a side topic. > > > > The OP clearly said that this is a problem of interoperability with MS > > Office users and/or documents. So maybe this is not really a case > > where OOo/ODF styles aren't correctly used: this is a case where such > > styles have never been used, because they didn't exist where those > > documents were created; and maybe a case where such styles simply > > _cannot_ be used, because such information is lost every time a file > > goes in .doc format back and forth between OOo and MS Office > > users. Are we sure this isn't the case here? > > That's right. The old documents were .doc and they have to remain .doc > because of interoperability with other entities. > > >> > No politics in this case, simply a office with to much power. > >> > >> It is an office that does not know how to use their tools correctly. > > > > Maybe OOo is not _their_ chosen tool: from the initial message it is > > not to be excluded that IT tried to switch users without them asking > > for it or even knowing when the switch would happen. There are cases > > where migration was indeed done this way, nobody noticed or complained > > and a few people where even really happy that "the last version of MS > > Office finally doesn't crash and runs quite faster"! > > They did know, they even got short courses but they did not really > understand that there are incompatibilities.
They obviously didn't know otherwise they would have understood, therefore the training was inadequate It sounds like the Change Management strategy came up short. A good change Management would have noted the inconsistencies beforehand and strategies put in place to deal with that and the people brought along with that. It is imperative that the End User be given a reason to change so that the positives outnumber any negatives that may areise. Focussing on the negatives as ended up happening here will doom a migration from the start. (bitter experience speaking) If the enduser does not have a solid reason (and cost savings is almost never a reason for change) then even the most minor issues will suddenly become huge barriers. You have to give people a real reason to change If the Migration had been planned then everyone would have been expecting the inconsistencies and the change management team would have come up with work arounds or fixes before the Migration went live. > > > But of course, it all depends on how complex the existing MS Office > > files are and on how much the users have to interact, editing files > > together, with external MS Office users. > > They are not that complex. There are even very simple documents that look > different on ooo. If they were simple documents, then the fixes should have been simple and should have been anticipated and strategies put in place to deal with that. As Jonathon noted, training in the use of Stylist would probably have sorted the issue. Stylist is after all possibly the greatest point of difference The only way that there would have been 100% fidelity is if the company had migrated to the exact same software. Even a migration to a different version of MSO would have generated inconsistencies. Sometimes our own enthusiasm for OOo gets in the way of creating a smooth migration process. No matter how small the migration, the process has to be managed. The reasons for a failed migration almost invariably lie with a bad change management strategy but as is often the case, the blame gets laid at OOo's feet and this example is no different it seems. > > Bye > Andreas > > Cheers GL -- Graham Lauder, OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html INGOTs Moderator New Zealand www.theingots.org.nz GET DRESSED : GET OOOGEAR Gear for the well dressed OOo Advocate www.ooogear.co.nz --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
