Re: Replacement pages for user's guides

[edunn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Didn't see the post on the list, but as this probably addresses comments from
others as well I'll respond publicly.

I agree with you whole heartedly, but with one caveat: If electronic
distribution is possible.
You can't just go in and overnight issue electronic readers to a system with
40,000 employees.

1. Sending the change pages by courier to the client the changes can happen
overnight, depending on the seriousness of the change. When the system is set up
(bureaucracy and paperwork) the changes are fast and efficient.

2. Yes manual maintenance is a serious issue. But whether clerks, supervisors,
or the workers themselves are required to do the updates, in a regimented
environment it works. If it is left upto clerks to do whenever they feel like
it, then you are neither in the aviation, transport, large enterprise, or
military.

3. Yes it's a major task. But when you have a tracking system in place a paper
trail of signed papers tells you it has been done.

4. I'm not in aviation, we build trains (largest manufacturer in the world). But
that's a moot point. The fact is that many system manuals *DO* have 500 feet or
more of shelf space, they predate computers, and electronic tracking will only
ever be fazed in over the next decade or so or will never be done. So for a long
time the two systems (electronic and paper) must co-exist. After all, if the old
equipment isn't being thrown out, costs of upgrading all the existing
documentation could be astronomical.

5. All very nice. If you have modern technology, if you have e-mail, if the
customer has the required systems, if.....
Fact is not all places are equipped with cutting edge computer systems.

6. See all the caveats above.

7. If you have the millions to upgrade our customers, send it down and we'll
propose some better systems to them. There's a difference between what's
possible, what's wanted, what's needed, and what you can do on the given budget.

Eric L. Dunn



Subject:  Re: Replacement pages for user's guides




All right, let's examine the reasons that, in most instances, change pages
present problems in the real world:

1. Especially in industries where loss of life or property depends upon
accurate information, depending upon "snail mail" distribution of change
pages gives time delays and in some cases uncertainty of receipt--both
rather serious shortcomings.

2. Maintenance of manuals becomes a major issue. In many cases, this is an
additional job performed on a sporadic basis by clerks or junior employees.
It is frequently regarded as a boring task, and thus can be put off for
some time. Again, delays alone can be highly serious in this environment.

3. Tracking which pages are current is a major task, and is thus often
ignored. How do you determine, for instance, that all change pages have
been inserted? At best, this is only discovered when subsequent change
pages are received. Again, timeliness is an issue.

4. I noticed Mr. Dunn works for an aircraft company. Maintenance manuals
for aircraft certainly are one place where necessary updates can be
life-threatening. However, consider the case of military combat aircraft or
large transports. Maintenance manuals can easily cover four or five hundred
*feet* of shelf space. Change pages in such an environment become a
nightmare to track.

5. Using modern technology, informing customers of changes by email as an
automatic response to posting changes on a central site is customary.
Distributing patch files or updated manuals electronically isn't
particularly rocket science, either! Because we can set email to confirm
reading, responsibility for having received update notices is easily
shown--an important consideration where there has been a mistake resulting
in loss of life or property.

6. In cases where changes are frequent, it is sometimes a good idea to
maintain manuals on a central site, which is consulted by users' browsers.
This way, timeliness of information is guaranteed. This can be far better
than errant stacks of paper scattered through an enterprise, much of which
becomes outdated and is not discarded.

7. In cases where an organization's custom is maintaining change pages,
actual studies of the use of these change pages would show many flaws in
the system. In my experience, moving to an electronic system is a welcome
change to most users.

David Neeley






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