As we adopt more and more AF databases as part of how we do business, the ability to easily maintain them becomes more and more important.
We have created documents to detail the business process flow to follow to update AF databases, but these are stored as documents on sharepoint sites, and not easily linkable to the actual AF databases. We can put a link to them in the database "Description", but it is a workaround.
It would be great to have the ability to better document AF databases. This could take a number of forms from the very basic to the more advanced:
Eg (some or all of these could be implemented)
1.) Make the "Description" field on the AF Database General tab larger, and multi-line. Do the same for Tables, Analyses etc.
2.) Provide a way to link to documentation (eg. have a "documentation" button that links to a sharepoint URL).
3.) Provide a list of PI points consumed and updated by the database.
4.) Use different coloured icons for tables that are local and tables that have external connections.
5.) Have a "Documentation" element for each AF database, for example an html-based document that implements wiki functionality.
6.) ??
Revisioning and Documentation maintenance is something nobody likes to do but is a necessary part of the job. For PI AF, particularly in the library section, I would like to see a revision tab for eveything built. This revision tab would be a simple text field where notes could be added. Also, a template versioning number system would help as well.