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ISO 9001-Compliant Document Control?
SmoothBreaker writes "Coming into a new company, I have been tasked with sourcing Document Control software to meet ISO 9001 standards. From everything I can find, ISO places no requirements on the software itself, aside from maintaining control of documentation and process. This was discussed eleven years ago. I'd like software that allows intuitive use for our less savvy users, and in a perfect world, graphical access to previous revisions of a document. I've used Microsoft's SharePoint, which the higher-ups like simply because it's Microsoft, but thankfully they trust their Tech Department to find the cream of the crop. What experience do you have with this kind of software, what would you recommend using, and what should I avoid?"
You might look into KnowledgeTree. It's open source.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
"I've used Microsoft's SharePoint, which the higher-ups like simply because it's Microsoft, but thankfully they trust their Tech Department to find the cream of the crop.
It sounds like you don't like SharePoint "simply because it's Microsoft". I've seen SharePoint used for this exact business requirement many times and it is actually quite simple to implement. Some 3rd party tools might be needed for more advanced functionality (i.e. storing content external from the SharePoint database), but even then, the solutions are relatively simple.
Or basically any other wiki product could be used to fill this need. We use MediaWiki among a lot of other products in document control and it works fairly well.
I had XP corporate image, and Sharepoint would crash if I tried any of the AJAX style operations. I could right-click and save, or click directly, but using the arrows and checking out crashed every time.
IE developer toolbar and Fiddler installed, I uninstalled both and it kept crashing, then the lease came up on my box and I got a shiny new Vista. Installed both and some other stuff and never had a problem. But it keeps worrying me that IE with Microsoft-only additions had problems with Microsoft's website, manipulating Microsoft's document types.
The problem I believe is the WEBDAV type interaction. When you authenticate, IE lets you do stuff. Then you open the file, and normal browsers would download the file and ShellExecute() to open it (or maintain their own list, but whatever). IE sends the URL to the application (if it's Office type), which has to re-authenticate since it doesn't share IE's session. That way the Office app can check in/out instead of just opening a local copy.
To tell the difference, you can obviously see the normal IE download dialog if it's downloading and opening, otherwise you get the Office dialog that has "Opening [filename..." and only has a cancel button.
I just used FireFox, and tried to avoid checking things in/out. It's all intertwined - impossible to fix. Probably lots of code duplication as well.
Exactly. ISO 9001 is about having a documented procedure and following it. Software itself won't be compliant, it's how you use the software and how you've documented how to control documents using the software that matters. You can be iso 9001 compliant with physical copies, you can use visual source safe to manage documents (please don't).. what really matters is that you have a procedure for managing documents and that you follow it.
"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
In our 8-man Document Management department, we use Documentum. Yes, that's 8 people just to support Documentum, and our users. It's been very effective for years, but there are a number of problems with it.
First, it is expensive. In fact, it is so expensive that we are seriously looking at Alfresco as an alternative due to how much ECM wants to charge us for extra seats.
Second, the official ECM support techs and consultants don't know the product very well. We have paid ECM twice to have them send a tech to look at our system and help us troubleshoot it. After we sent the second one back because we knew more than both of them about Documentum and how it runs, we haven't thought about calling them for any support since then. This is a common theme among Documentum shops.
Third, unofficial (community) support is scarce. Finding good information is very difficult, and when you do, it disappears quickly. Nobody wants to host the stuff for some reason.
If you do decide to use Documentum, check out dm_cram for training info, and this excellent book for understanding Documentum.
They care that it works with the corporate standard which is IE.
You got it backwards. IE is the corporate browser because they've heavily invested financially and politically in crappy, brittle enterprise systems that break when you move away from IE6. Nobody picked enterprise software because of the browser it ran on.
I deal a lot with corporate IT management types. Seriously IE--in particular IE6 which is the standard that is the issue--has NO redeeming qualities WHATSOEVER. IE6 does not conform to standards. IE6 is insecure. IE6 is slow. IE6 is obsolete. In places where IE is mandated it has NOTHING to do with it being superior. Hell, it doesn't even have anything to do with it being welded to the MSFT OS--when you already have to create a corporate image with things like Citrix, 3270 emulation, notes client, VPN, in-house apps, etc etc. what is the big deal adding Firefox? You have to slipstream in service packs and countless security updates to make IE even marginally acceptable anyways.
Corporate types make IE the standard because some pointy-haired boss 10+ years ago made the decision to invest millions into SAP or similar big gigantic ERP mess that included web portal functionality that was built against IE6. Some of these ERP abominations even involved the deployment of ActriveX controls and other toxic, proprietary IE only garbage. Back then they didn't care--Netscape was dying, Firefox didn't exist and the new Gecko engine was not even halfway finished baking. IE was indeed the "best" (and being built in rather convenient) option and arguments from IT people were considered academic to PHBs and thus fell on deaf ears. If the business software was really kick-ass and it required Netscape they sure as heck would've went to the effort to deploy netscape, but there was no such software out there for the enterprise.
Now IE6 is widely recognised as being the garbage it is, there are real, honestly superior alternatives out there and even MSFT has moved on with IE7 and IE8 barely supporting IE6 style behaviour because it is saddled with the IE6 legacy it shot itself in the foot with in its other products..
IT managers who are not idiots realise what IE is, and know IE is not a standard. XHTML 1.x and HTML5 ad CSS2.x and so on are standards. If they pick Sharepoint it has nothing to do with it working with IE--it is becasue they are a MSFT house and they just cannot bother to fight lock-in (or they are contend being locked into their guilded cages). Of you use MS Windows for your client AND server OSes, MS Exchange for communication, MS Office for document creation, MS SQL for your database, IIS for your intranet, MS Forefront for security/antivirus......why stop there? Certainly Sharepoint would be easiest to integrate, easiest to use, etc. At least from an end-user perspective.
The thing is Sharepoint works GOOD ENOUGH with non-IE/standards-based browsers, but the coolest stuff about it isn't the web portal anyways it is how it integrates with Office and Visual Studio/Team Foundation Server and so on. If it had seious standards-compliant issues that made it rely heavily on IE, I seiously doubt ANY competent IT manager would go near it--they'd remember the hell they've had to go through because of th IE6 lock-in the've had to deal with the last couple of years.