Please comment on revision status of document on a per page basis

[Polly Pure Bread]

Do you agree that creation, modification and revision of document is on a per page basis?

example:

Document XXX (has 5 pages)
Revision No. 1 (original document)
Effective 03/01/2009

Modification have been made on page 3
Revision No. (becomes) 2
Effective 04/01/2009

Another modification have been made on page 5
Revision No. (becomes) 2
Effective 05/01/2009


The current revision status of Document XXX:

Page 1 = Rev.1 effective 03/01/2009
Page 2 = Rev.1 effective 03/01/2009
Page 3 = Rev.2 effective 04/01/2009
Page 4 = Rev.1 effective 03/01/2009
Page 5 = Rev.2 effective 05/01/2009

Please comment.

 

[Marc]

Awful complicated. Haven't seen anything like that in years.

 

[harry]

We had this page revision practice for hard-copies.

The method must make sense and described in your relevant procedure. There are so many ways to do it - choose a simple one.

If page 10 of current document (say at rev:1) need ammendment, you can identify the revision status of the ammended page by 1/1 and document the changes, reasons, date, approval in a page ammendment log. Saves the trouble of having to redo the whole document.

 

[Pancho]

Do you agree that creation, modification and revision of document is on a per page basis?

No, I don't agree.

You are introducing an additional level of complexity for no benefit. It's hard enough to do version control at the document level, particularly if you are doing it "by hand".

I strongly recommend looking into electronic document control. Using either a wiki or commercial doc control software is much easier and effective than doing it by hand, and will save you lots of time, money and sanity immediately.

Good luck!
Pancho

 

[Marc]

We had this page revision practice for hard-copies.

Can MS Word do that with a header block and variables (such as page x of y)?

 

[MIREGMGR]

I'm assuming we're discussing a document created in a word processor...a single stream of text, broken up into paragraphs. Normal stuff.

What do you do if (for instance) a single sentence is replaced by four sentences, and the entire document is re-paginated?

Now part of page 2 is on page 3, and so forth...but perhaps the actual content at the end of page 2 wasn't part of the text change, so should it be considered to have been revised merely because it's now on page 3?

And, what if the document was created in the US where the page size is 8.5 x 11 inches, but it's now to be printed in Europe where the comparable paper size is A4. This of course causes the document to re-paginate.

Etc.

The revision level of a document should be associated with its content, not its physical presentation.

 

[harry]

Can MS Word do that with a header block and variables (such as page x of y)?

Can be done with footers - had not try with headers.

 

[Polly Pure Bread]

I'm assuming we're discussing a document created in a word processor...a single stream of text, broken up into paragraphs. Normal stuff.

What do you do if (for instance) a single sentence is replaced by four sentences, and the entire document is re-paginated?

Now part of page 2 is on page 3, and so forth...but perhaps the actual content at the end of page 2 wasn't part of the text change, so should it be considered to have been revised merely because it's now on page 3?

They classified the change according to each nature e.g. deletion of word/phrase, deletion of entire document, change in text (word/phrase), insertion of word/phrase, addition in number of pages due to insertion of text, reduction in number of pages due to deletion of text, etc. etc. I don’t know how they exactly do for each class.

Dear Folks,
Any idea?

And, what if the document was created in the US where the page size is 8.5 x 11 inches, but it's now to be printed in Europe where the comparable paper size is A4. This of course causes the document to re-paginate.

Etc.

They have method for the change in document form, format, logo, etc. as well.

The revision level of a document should be associated with its content, not its physical presentation.

I think so but FYI that's being implemented and maintained by one of the ISO 9001 certified organizations. i'm making speculation why CB didn't provide feedback on the complication of the organization's control to facilitate continual improvement.

 

[Polly Pure Bread]

The revision level of a document should be associated with its content, not its physical presentation.

According to the document controller they track changes in the document.. every time they delete and insert a word/phrase, the deleted word/phrase is being strikethrough while they underlined the inserted word/phrase.

 

[SteelMaiden]

It is called document control, because you control the document, no? I think having a different rev level for each page is horribly confusing and inefficient, but it's just my opinion. (what happens if one of the changes on page one previously moves to page 2 because of added information in the paragraph above it?)