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Document Management and Version Control?
Tom wonders: "I am working in a medium-sized software development company. The functional analysts use Microsoft Word to document the specifications, and Sharepoint to publish the documents. However we'd like to improve our process to have better revision control and traceability. We have looked at alternatives like using Wikis, or static HTML documents with CVS. The functional analysts want ease of use, while we developers would like to see high-quality end products, revision control (i.e. tagging & branching of the document base), and traceability features. What tools and document formats do you use and would recommend?"
I tried to implement a Wiki at my last employer to keep track of changes in the software and database as they happened very quick and were hard to keep track of with a normal Word document. I would get emails from a coworker instead of a Word document and I kept all of my changes in a Word document so it would be easier to read and look up. I set up a web server on my laptop with a Wiki site after the owner advised me to find a better way to keep track of documentation. The network administrator saw that I had a web server and had me shut it down. It was only on a local Intranet and it gave me a better idea of how changes were being implemented. I had tried to use many tools like that to help bring order out of the chaos they had, but I guess they just wanted to make my job a lot harder so it would stress me out and force me to quit? I had a lot of ideas for the software and database that coworkers called me names over having those ideas. I see now that the web site for the company has all of my ideas as product features now, after they fired me for no reason given. I was only highed to migrate their database to SQL Server and fix the flaws and bugs and performance problems in their software and database, once I fixed all of that, I was unjustly fired. I guess they got what they wanted out of me, to take them to the next level and then they threw me away like a used tissue.
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Does Microsoft Word automatically adjust column widths to fit data? The last time I used it with tables I had to adjust the table widths manually.