Yeah, the multiple customer/multiple product thing is easily managed with conditional text already; it's more about the last-minute changes to the content context, and the sheer quantity of changes that need to be managed in a short period of time. Sorry if I wasn't clear -- my brain is on overload right now!
Thanks! > -----Original Message----- > From: Gillian Flato [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 10:55 AM > To: Lin Surasky; framers@lists.frameusers.com > Subject: RE: Do I need to jump into the Structured FM pool? > > I create similar release notes. I just use conditional text > for the different customers, (and yes, I have a Known Issues > section as well). > > > -Gillian > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] s.com] On Behalf Of Lin Surasky > Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 10:44 AM > To: framers@lists.frameusers.com > Subject: Do I need to jump into the Structured FM pool? > > Or can I keep my inflatable ducky hiked firmly around my > middle and paddle around in unstructured FM? > > Over the past year or so, I've been poking around at > structured FM with no real goal in mind except to see if it > might benefit us down the road. > For the most part, our process is pretty linear, and > structured FM isn't yet necessary for our regular user guides > and manuals. So I have a general idea of what we'd need, but > I don't have the full picture yet... > > I'm working on a new product with a new team, and each > customer gets their own version of the product with their own > customized release notes. When you all have stopped > screaming, I'll continue... The release notes are very > simple. There are three main chapters: Requested Customer > Enhancements, Bug Fixes, and Known Issues (bugs that we're > aware of that have not yet been fixed). Please don't start > screaming again; I really need your advice! The gist of the > situation is that on release day, I have to go into our bug > reporting system, and check all the Known Issues to make sure > they're still issues. If they've been fixed, they move to the > Bug Fixes section. > > So I'm thinking that structured FM must be able to help, in > that I could somehow create element tags for Fixes and > Issues, and then just change the element tag for the Issues > that have been fixed and somehow regenerate the documents > (how, I don't know -- do I need to maintain this in a > spreadsheet or database?) so that the content is moved to the > correct section along with its cross-referenced bullet (each > section has a bulleted list to make navigation easier). Oh > yeah, and can they be re-sorted by section into numerical order? > > This sounds like it should be so simple, but I'm lost on the mechanics > -- any recommendations for how to set this up? Or if there's > a better way to manage this even in unstructured FM, that'd > be great too. The cutting and pasting is REALLY not my idea of fun! > > Thanks! > Lin > _______________________________________________ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/gflato%40n anometrics > .com > > Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.