A late, but very enthusiastic "hurrah" on this topic. As a project manager at UCLA, I couldn't live without Confluence and Jira. I love them -- they are an essential component of communication and also help contribute to transparency across library departments.
> On Apr 9, 2015, at 12:50 PM, "Gary Thompson" <[email protected]> wrote: > > The Digital Initiatives and IT (DIIT) department at the UCLA Library > transformed the way we work over the last 6 years after implementing > Confluence. We've got two teams of developers (3 focused on the Digital > Library, 6 on everything else), a team of 4 Digital Library project managers, > and an operations staff of 18,; we all rely on the wiki. It has proved > essential after a couple of recent staff departures. > > Confluence supports the basic wiki model of linked and tagged documents, but > allows people who like to hierarchy to organize content in a tree. We make > heavy use of the /metadata-list/ macro to format the structure, and generate > views or lists of content (e.g., lists of serves, vendors, projects, etc) > controlled by labels (i.e., tags) using the /metadata-report/ macro. We use > tagging to indicate project status (definition, planning, execution), type of > content (server-logs, specifications), or technology (voyager, drupal). > > We're running our own service; Atlassian on-demand was not an option when we > started. If we weren't using local LDAP authentication, we might consider > migrating to a hosted service. I suspect that we will eventually move to > hosted Confluence, but it's not currently a priority. > > The wiki became so integral to the way we work that we decided to replace our > old ticketing system (FootPrints) with Jira to take advantage of the > integration. > > Our DIIT implementation was so successful that other Library departments and > locations are starting to use it, some in very sophisticated ways. For > example, a cross-department digitization team uses it to accept requests, > prioritize the work, and track progress. > > I would be happy to show anyone who is interested how we use it. A colleague > and I considered writing a Code4Lib Journal article on our project management > methodology, but that article didn't get focus. This question -- and my > answer -- may motivate me to get it done. > > Cheers, > > /-- -- Gary Thompson > -- Head of Software Development & Project Management > -- Digital Initiatives & Information Technology > -- UCLA Library > -- 390 Powell > -- voice: 310.206.5652 > --/ > > > >> On 4/9/2015 11:40 AM, Scott Williams wrote: >> Apologizes for cross-posting >> ### >> >> Hi all -- >> >> We are investigating several software platforms for creating and managing >> internal documentation and wanted to see what experiences others have had >> with these packages. >> >> We are evaluating >> * MadCap Flare >> * Adobe RoboHelp >> * Confluence >> >> Our initial goals for these systems are to replace or augment our existing >> documentation strategy, which is a mix of private Google sites, SharePoint >> and Word docs. We are starting with our IT department but hope to include >> other user groups over time. >> >> Things we like: >> * SVN control with MapCap and RoboHelp. However, we have run into problems >> with both of their implementations >> * Write once publish everywhere functionality >> * HTML5 support with WebHelp Plus >> * Context aware searching >> * Easily export and share documentation externally (PDF) >> * Consistent theming and styling across all the documentation >> * User/group security management for hiding more sysadmin documentation >> >> Things we don't like >> * Windows only (MadCap and RoboHelp) >> * WebHelp requires IIS (?) >> * Limited functionality with the hosted version of Confluence >> >> >> What are people using to manage their internal >> systems/architecture/application documentation? Are there other products we >> should be considering? >> >> Many thanks, >> Scott >> >> ---- >> Scott Williams >> Data & Database Administrator >> Yale University Art Gallery
