ARC-Desk CHANGE MANAGEMENT, REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF DOCUMENTS EASY TRACEABLE EFFICIENT

Transcription

1 ARC-Desk CHANGE MANAGEMENT, REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF DOCUMENTS EASY TRACEABLE EFFICIENT

2 ABOUT OVIDIUS OVIDIUS XML solutions that work Ovidius GmbH, headquartered in Berlin, develops XML-based solutions and editing systems for technical documentation. Our offer is directed in particular at companies with complex documentation requirements, the Aviation and Defence industry, Mechanical and Plant Engineering, the Electrical and Electronics industry as well as the IT sector. We combine standard tools as systems which are precisely tailored to our customers requirements and are modular and scalable. Here, we couple our own systems with the best XML tools available on the market, thus realising integrated complete solutions. The investments by the customers in software and information are protected and a speedy return on investment is secured. We have also made a name for ourselves as an expert for complex conversion processes and solutions. The transformation software MetaMorphosis from Ovidius is used successfully in more than 20 countries. Since its foundation in 1996 by Klaus Fenchel, Ovidius has grown constantly and increased its product range in a targeted manner. Through the takeover of EasyBrowse GmbH in Schwerin at the beginning of 2008, its expert competence was expediently extended. With the products from EasyBrowse, we offer the integrated complete solution for the mobile use of documentation with further systems such as spare parts catalogues and service information systems. Ovidius is the top contact for all questions connected with technical editing work using XML.

3 S E R V I C E Consultancy Due to many years experience in our focus industries, we know the suitable tools exactly including their strengths and weaknesses. Planning When planning XML applications, we take the internal information structures, just like the workflow in the company, into account. At the same time, we keep a careful eye on your strategic, organisational and commercial objectives. Application development and system integration All-inclusive, modular or really individual? Our products and solutions are attuned to your requirements and not vice-versa. Conversion to XML We guarantee the safe transfer of your old data as well as efficient new data structures. Training & support Not only do we support you during the critical introductory phase, we maintain the system throughout its entire product life cycle. We naturally also impart you and your employees the necessary specialist knowledge.

4 A R C - D E S K ARC-Desk Clear processes better documentation: from paper chaos to a structured revision cycle Technical documentation is frequently subject to a revision cycle which, dependent on the document type, is run through once or regularly: The revision cycle consists of some or all of the following steps: information collection, content creation or content revision, review and correction, approval, release and publication. Rigid workflows in this revision cycle frequently block an efficient process. Instead, flexible processes should be defined which bundle information flow, structure collaboration between documentation experts and technical experts, document the change requests and changes based on them and therefore lead to better traceability. Publication Change Request Revision ARC-Desk is a web-based portal, which combines two central functions for the document revision cycle: Create, discuss and approve change requests for documents or components of documents Review & Approval (external) Review & Approval (internal) Approve or reject the release of documents or components of documents

5 A R C - D E S K ADVANTAGES Clear workflows Depending on company requirements different workflows can be defined. Each document can be associated with an individual work flow, e.g. collect change request only, or workflows with one or more internal or external releases. Different users with specific rights can be assigned to each workflow step. Everybody knows what they must do and can only do what they are authorised for. All information at one location Paper chaos, commented Word or PDF documents, s and the office grapevine are out: information is consolidated directly in ARC-Desk. Change proposals can immediately be discussed and commented and, when finished, be rejected, released or postponed. ARC-Desk is an efficient combination of a document-based ticket system and a discussion forum. Traceability Every comment, every discussion and every status change is logged and retained in ARC-Desk. You can find discussions of former document statuses at all times. Easy No special knowledge is required for the use of ARC-Desk. A few minutes briefing suffice to enable productive work. Everyone can provide their contribution to better documentation with ARC-Desk: the engineer, the developer, the quality management, marketing, sales etc. Can be used everywhere ARC-Desk is a Web portal. Documents can be published once or several times on the portal authors, reviewers, approvers can be spread all over the world they only need Web access to manage their work. Persistence Discussions can be attached to any content object desired: for example, paragraphs, lists, tables, figures, sections and formulae. These comments can also be maintained across versions if the commented object itself is not deleted. This enables the very fine-grained reproduction of a document s revision history if required.

6 A R C - D E S K DOCUMENTATION EXPERTS AND SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS Normally, different groups with varying competences, skills and responsibilities are involved in the documentation process. One central difference is between documentation experts whose core competence is documentation processes and systems and subject matter experts, for example QM officers, developers or engineers. Appropriate tools must be provided for each group: Subject matter experts who contribute to documentation ought not be bothered with the complexities of an XML-based workflow. On the other hand, documentation experts require the full power of such systems, for example in order to configure and generate audience-specific or product-specific documentation efficiently.

7 A R C - D E S K Content Creation & Management XR/ Documentation Experts Electronic Delivery Review & Approval ARC-Desk End Users Subject Matter Experts

8 FURTHER AREAS OF APPLICATION INTERNAL DOCUMENTS, E.G. QUALITY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK Persons involved: QM officer, management, all employees Workflow: Publication collection of change proposals review and release of change requests by the quality management officer revision by an editor approval and release by management and process owners Quality management is an active and ongoing process. This means that the supporting processes are constantly checked and improved. A QM manual should be a living document which is checked and revised at regular intervals. An XML-based manual can be published following release and both be read there and annotated with change proposals by all persons involved. Equally, questions can be posed directly in the text. The QM officer retains the overall responsibility as he can respond to questions and assess, accept or reject change proposals. The manual is revised at a fixed point in time, released, re-published and the cycle starts anew. A living QM manual is the best proof of living quality management. PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS, REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATIONS Persons involved: Supplier s project management, supplier s technical staff, customer s project management, customer s technical staff Workflow: Initial draft and publication by the supplier several cycles: (Review and change proposals by the customer testing and discussion by the supplier integration of accepted changes) release by the supplier release by the customer These documents fulfil several functions simultaneously: The supplier describes how he fulfils the requirements listed in the performance specification, the customer checks whether the proposed solutions meet his requirements. This is often an iterative process which can last several months. It can be considerably simplified and sped-up using XML-based requirements specifications because all participants work in one system and based on the same dataset. As everybody sees all discussions, proposals are not repeated several times over, instead they are immediately discussed in a constructive manner. New versions can be created daily and displayed on ARC-Desk if desired with changes marked with respect to the previous revision of the specification.