How simple is the workflow? Possible to share a license?

[tbean]

I've been away from Flare since v4 but may be returning in the next few months.

All the content for my new client lives in Word. They have mentioned moving to something "more professional". I don't have a handle yet on their products, their clients, or their internal workflow, so I'm not sure of the majority of their needs, but I do know that being able to review content in a hands-on manner is something they're interested in.

Their SMEs now review everything in native Word format or via Google Docs. Word reviews are limited to inserting questions and comments (in highlighted text, but *not* using Track Changes) into a "review" copy, which is referred to as changes are incorporated into the "working" copy.

My questions:
1. How simple is it to implement an X-Edit, now Contributor, workflow? Does the SME need to do anything much beyond install X-Edit/Contributor, then open it and access a review copy?
2. I understand that licensing is now per reviewer -- so $249 for each SME, right? I don't think they'll go for this, as most of their reviewers may review just two to three deliverables, and those only sporadically through the year. Is it possible to rotate a license? Is a multiple-user version available? Or an old-fashioned network copy?

Thanks,
Tracey

[Diana_BB]

I'm wondering the same thing. I would love to get several of our SMEs to use this, but I don't see my leadership approving $249 for the software for anyone right now.

Even though the improvements are huge, we can still do the same thing (more time, but free) that we've always done with reviews. Not enough incentive to streamline that part of my job.

Diana

[LTinker68]

I haven't looked at the licensing for Contributor, but if it's like the one for Flare, then you might be able to install it on a "transient" workstation and anyone who uses that workstation can use it. Not as convenient as the SMEs doing it from their own computer, but if you get a couple of copies and install it on a couple of computers at a couple of different spots in the building, then it might not be too bad of a workaround.

This is a situation where it would be nice if MadCap had a licensing server option. So you could buy 2 or 3 licenses and only that number of people could use the software at any one time, but they could do it from any workstation that could access that license server. We do something similar with some CAD software. Sounds like a good feature request to submit --> http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[peckerdunne]

We've been using xEdit for a few months on a project with one user. She prefers the limited list of options (compared to the feature rich MS Word). She reckons that not having to worry too much about format is a great time-saver. Not having to strip out double-returns, new styles and online formating is also useful for me.

I've found that re-importing fltrev files can be a bit of a pain. I keep getting a message that the original file was deleted so I have to use a workaround (copy, paste and edit the text). I'm sure there's an easier way but I don't have time to investigate further right now.

The new import routine (v7) for contribution files is much better. It gives you the opportunity to resolve conflicts with stylesheets before importing.

Would I use xEdit(Contribute) again?
Yep, although I'd be a bit more careful about handing out templates though.

Peter G.