Hi Lisa,
Good luck also!
I've used Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, Perforce, and Subversion (SVN) /
TortoiseSVN.
I always recommend Perforce to clients.
Among it's strengths:
It's excellent for large, geographically disparate groups.
Tech support is excellent.
Powerful diffing tool. Can use 3rd-party diffing tools. Beyond Compare is
excellent. I couldn't do my work without it.
Uses a 2-phase commit model, either all files go in or none. Very safe to
put files in over dialup.
By default, multiple users can edit a file at a time (but you can specify
single user editing).
Runs on Windows, many flavors of Unix, Linux, and Macintosh.
Seems to have a longer learning curve than VSS. (Some terms are
non-intuitive.)
www.perforce.com. End-user licenses used to start at $750, volume discounts
are available. Fully-functional 2-user licenses are a free download.It's
bulletproof.
Visual SourceSafe:
Standard Windows GUI design, with drag & drop capability.
Powerful diffing tool. VSS 2005 allows you to specify a third-party diffing
tool.
By default, only a single user can edit a file at a time.
Runs on Windows but can store Unix files in it. 3rd-party Unix and Macintosh
versions are available.
Comes bundled with Microsoft Visual Studio.
Risky to check-in over dialup, can have partial checkins.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/ssafe/prodinfo/ Retail price was $549. Volume
discounts are available.
Note restriction of 12GB for VSS databases, impacts doc heavily for
graphics.
Subversion / TortoiseSVN are open source tools used by several of my
clients. Seems to work ok for them.
Whatever, you choose, I'd suggest creating a sandbox with your documents and
let people play for a month before making your system live so they get used
to the tool and don't shoot themselves in the foot.
Disclaimer, I give talks on using file management systems effectively and
offer best practices that you won't find in any help system to help you
avoid that almost universal boo-boo of overwriting your work while using
these tools (somewhat like clicking OK to a Format C question.)
Ed
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:40:32 -0600
From: "Lisa Gielczyk (TCP)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [TCP] Document Control Systems
To: email <tcp@techcommpros.com>
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hello,
Thanks for all the well-wishes I received yesterday! First day on the new
job, and I already have a question for you all. :)
I'm wondering if any of you have used a document control system, what your
experiences were, and what you would recommend. They are investigating
document control systems, and hope to choose one by June for a late 2008
implementation. I'm not directly involved in the choice and don't know what
their requirements are (While I'm here, my job will be staging the docs that
will be put into the doc control system), but they are open to any
suggestions I am able to make.
Thanks, and happy Tuesday,
Lisa G.
End of TCP Digest, Vol 17, Issue 13
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