Question

I would like to use TWiki to produce internal documentation for my group at work. The problem is that internal documentation is supposed to be ISO compliant. This seems to include running each change through an ISO administrator for approval. The problem is that this makes creating documentation too much of a pain and less will be created. Has anyone used TWiki in an ISO environment? Is there a way to reconcile the rigorous ISO controls and the free-form TWiki style?

Environment

TWiki version:	Alpha 30 Jul 2004 $Rev: 1701 $
TWiki plugins:
Server OS:
Web server:
Perl version:
Client OS:
Web Browser:

-- BeirneKonarski - 25 Aug 2004

Answer

I have proposed a plugin called ApprovalPlugin which deals with this problem.

-- ThomasHartkens - 16 Feb 2005

No as yet, but you may want to look at SaveUnpublished.

-- SamHasler - 25 Aug 2004

Here is an idea, assuming you are using TWiki topics for the official ISO content:

• Each topic has two states: Modified and Approved
• The state can change from topic revision to topic revision, e.g. a topic can be Approved at one time and Modified the next day
• The state get automatically set to Modified whenever a person creates or updates a topic
• An administrator with preveliges reviews a topic marked as Modified and sets it to Approved once acceptable

How this can be done:

• Create a simple TWikiForm that has just one form field, named State, type select, with just one value Modified. Example form definition:

  Name	Type	Size	Values	Tooltip message
  State	select	1	Modified	Always set to Modified when editing a topic

• Create a template topic with this form attached to it
• Create a HTML form where the user can create a new topic based on this template topic
• When a user creates a new ISO document it will have the State form field set to Modified
• Create an administrator topic that lists all ISO docs based on a FormattedSearch. Example row:

  ISO document	State	Approve
  FooBarStuff	Modified	Approve

• The Approve link switches the State form field to Approved
  • It looks like this: [[%SCRIPTURL%/edit%SCRIPTSUFFIX%/$web/$topic?t=%GMTIME{"$hour$min$sec"}%&State=Approved][Approved]]
  • This uses the fact that any form field can be set with URL parameters

Not much time to create a real example, but you get the idea.

-- PeterThoeny - 04 Sep 2004

On the ISO web at my work I have created a plugin (i'll post it later) that uses an rcs level tag to show the approved version of a topic. if a user goes to a topic without specifying a particular version, it shows the one with the approved tag. if they specify a verison number, I show that version, with a css tag based watermark (obsolete, draft). editing always edits the head revision (so there is no branching). Also, I have a number of TWikiForm fields that show the approved revision, and if the user is in the IsoManagementGroup displays a button allowing htat user to approve / obsolete a document. On approval, I append a line to an ApprovalLog topic.

This means that the approval mechanism does not modify the document.

please bug me if I forget to post the plugin (as I am leaving this job this month)

-- SvenDowideit - 04 Sep 2004

Dear Sven, you permits others to bug you if you forget to post the plugin. So here I come. Please kindly share your valuable plugin and experience in apply twiki to manage ISO documentation nightmare. Thanks! Best wishes to your new life in your new job.

-- AlexLeung - 05 Nov 2004

http://svn.twiki.org:8181/svn/twiki/scratch/ISO9001/ - test place for rooting out the repRev and delRev commands. On TWikiIRC, MartinCleaver also noted that crc's and transaction logs would be appropriate additions.

-- WillNorris - 19 Jan 2005