Excellent point, Leonid. Here's how we intend to handle such things: 1) We receive a Trouble Ticket or notice a message posted to the Plum Discussion List that denotes a problem or a complicated question.
2) If it's a problem with the product, it gets fixed in the next release and documented in the Release Notes of the Plum Help, and a new build drops for public release. We're using RoboHelp to simultaneously publish both the compiled Plum Help and a web-based online version. We've also built our own Windows Service that detects changes in the RoboHelp source files and copies-then-RegExes certain pieces of it to automatically propogate to the custom tag help files and context-sensitive LiveHelp files that appear at the bottom of the Plum IDE. This automates our documentation publishing so we're not apprehensive to making frequent updates to it. This also eliminates having to post temporary "workarounds." 3) If it's a simple question that we haven't asked before, It becomes an FAQ. We're "eating our own dog food" and building the new Productivity Enhancement website using Plum, so we use Plum's CMS to easily handle FAQs: each one is just a content item with a Category value of "FAQs". Three clicks and we're published. 4) If it's a question involving implementation, we create a KnowledgeBase article about it. KB articles are also just Plum CMS content items, and the indexing the new content takes one click, as you've no doubt already seen. These KB articles get attached to Trouble Ticket replies where they may apply, and they are independently searchable on the Productivity Enhancement website. Just so you know, every detail of change is now documented in the Release Notes. On each new build we take them directly from our Development Action Items list, which is the master controller of all development, and paste them into the Release Notes in RoboHelp, then compile new help files. We also now boldface any elements that you should consider replacing in existing projects, like custom tag enhancements and component changes (as per Jeff's suggestion). Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis Member of Team Macromedia Advanced Intensive Training: * C# & ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers * ColdFusion MX Master Class * Advanced Development with CFMX and SQL Server 2000 http://www.ColdFusionTraining.com Download CommerceBlocks V2.1 and LoRCAT from http://www.ProductivityEnhancement.com The ColdFusion MX Bible is in bookstores now! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Leonid Kapel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 11:43 AM Subject: RE: [plum] I need your opinions... Adam, Your approach seems fine, as long as your FAQ and Knowledge Base will be maintained to provide required information. Many companies don't spend enough resources in these areas, so browsing through their FAQs and Knowledge base is a waste of time. Leonid -----Original Message----- From: Adam Churvis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 7:23 AM To: Plum Discussion List Subject: [plum] I need your opinions... To make sure we're supporting you guys properly once the product is released, I'd like to get your opinions on what will be the new support home page. Here's a screen capture: http://www.ProductivityEnhancement.com/supportpage.gif What do you think of the approach we're intending to take? Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis Member of Team Macromedia Advanced Intensive Training: * C# & ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers * ColdFusion MX Master Class * Advanced Development with CFMX and SQL Server 2000 http://www.ColdFusionTraining.com Download CommerceBlocks V2.1 and LoRCAT from http://www.ProductivityEnhancement.com The ColdFusion MX Bible is in bookstores now!
