OT: Functional Spec document production

[Grant Hogarth]

OK-- this is somewhat OT, but I think you folks will have some good
input.
I've (today) been tasked with developing a new system for developing,
maintaining, and delivering the Functional Specification.
Below are the broad outlines of the requirements.
I'm not sure at this point whether I should be looking at a CMS, a
database system, Subversion, XML, or ?????
 
I am completely open to all suggestions.
Also, if someone has done this before -- I'd *really* like to pick your
brains!
 
Grant

________________________________

Desires:


*	Windows XP platform 
*	For Functional Specifications only 
*	Easy to maintain 
*	Transparent to End Users (Company employees)  -- very shallow
learning curve 
*	Ability to target documents against specific development
entities, but also to create a "global" document 
*	Draw on a single codebase to produce all documents 
*	Set of documents covering individual Core functionalities 
*	Set of documents covering individual Product functionalities
(includes Core) 
*	Set of documents covering individual Specialization
functionalities (includes Core AND Product)


Match Aspects to Proposed Architecture:


*	Core -- Common to all products 
*	Application Layer -- Individual product differentiation (Note:
may override core functions) 
*	Specializations -- "Flavors" of product (e.g. different data
sources for different companies)


Source format:


*	Must use MS Word (2003) as an authoring environment 
*	Possibly OLE links as well to Excel or other apps


Roles: 


*	Author (multiple, concurrent access) Read/Write/Change/Delete 
*	Editor (multiple, concurrent access)  Read/Change/comment 
*	Reviewer (multiple, concurrent access) Read/comment 
*	Viewer (multiple, concurrent access) Read


Views: 


*	QA 
*	Developer 
*	PM 
*	Other ??? 
*	Internal viewers see list of changes to document (change log) --
these should be obvious 
*	External viewers will not see change record

___________________________________________
Grant Hogarth 
Equis International - A Reuters Company
ghogarth at Equis.com <mailto:ghogarth at Equis.com>  /
Grant.Hogarth at Reuters.com 
Direct: (+1) 801.270.3180   Main Fax: 801.265.3999
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