Versioning Practices in WM and Interface Challenges
Hi all,
At Widerøe, we’re in the process of refining our documentation versioning strategy, and we’ve recently discussed adopting Issue as the primary version identifier, with Revision used for minor updates. This approach aligns well with industry best practices and feedback from our competent authority (CAA Norway).
However, we've encountered some usability challenges in Web Manuals (WM) due to the system’s reliance on Revision as the primary reference in several interface components, including:
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Track Changes From
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Page Information
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Revision Archive
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Control Overview
These areas currently do not support label customisation, which may lead to confusion when using a custom versioning convention such as Issue & Revision.
As part of our evaluation, we’re reaching out to other WM users to ask:
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How do you structure your versioning system (e.g. Issue/Revision, Edition/Amendment)?
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Have you faced similar challenges with WM’s default labels and version handling?
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Any workarounds or best practices you've implemented to avoid editor confusion?
We’d appreciate any insight or experiences you can share—either to validate our concerns or to help us find better ways to navigate this.
Thanks in advance!
– Bruno, Widerøe
Comments
Hey Bruno,
We've consistently used Issue as the primary version identifier, with Revision reserved for minor updates—just as you described. This approach has worked well for us so far, and both CAAs we're currently working with have accepted it without any issues.
For versions that don't require CAA approval, we use decimal numbering.
Our CAA prefers that no change indications appear in new Issues, which made creating a new Issue a useful opportunity. In cases where the original manual didn't fully align with our numbering conventions or where the revision history became unclear, we chose to copy the existing manual and republish it as a new Issue with Rev 00. This allowed us to omit change markings and effectively restart the numbering. The original manual was then archived.
I hope this clarifies things.
Best Regards
Michel
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