What Program Am I Looking For?

My first reaction based on what you have told us is generate it in Adobe, use relative directory assignments, and delivery the master files on CD/DVD, so there is always a backup.

Adobe will allow you to generate and lock the pdf files, enough that alterations are not accidental.

Relative addressing is easily looked up, but simply the subdirectory designators for your links quit being C:\Master\sub and instead become .\Master\sub where the . from 'here'.

But as you have noticed both from assembling these files and setting up all these subdirectories and links, while it is not all that hard it can be manpower intensive.

Since you are bringing this in house and expect to pay for the software with the savings from not outsourcing any more, why not commission a consultant, give them the requirements and tell them you want a turn-key software program to do what you want.

Then, before they get paid, you can be sure the system works properly and you will still save money and retain control of the ultimate process.

Hire an expert, one last time.

The question you pose, is somewhat more complex. We are entering the Cloud concept and that permits addressing ones computer from a smart phone. This depending on usage, one may have several IP addresses. Adobe Systems has read only files and they are portable. There are others, only need to do a search on the internet. The question of editing, backup, and followup including notes requires quite abit of knowledge of IT as well as construction requirements. And one must not leave legal field. It would be best to get an IT person to set the system , including back up. Since you will not be change equipment or programs, a procedure can be written for the backup and the checks required for your company.

If you are using AutoCad, you can export files to PDF from within the application.

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2011/02/how-to-create-a-pdf-from-autocad-with-a-single-click.html

Likewise, both recent versions of Microsoft Office and all versions of OpenOffice, the no-cost alternative, allow you to export word processing, spreadsheet, etc. files as pdf's.

Adobe Acrobat is a useful application with many nice features that will allow you to convert both text files and images in a variety of formats to pdf and edit existing pdf files, but it isn't free. If you don't already own this program, explore the alternatives first.

The bulk of the actual work will be tying each filename to a location in a logical classification system (like Uniformat, or perhaps the system your client uses for Facility Management, CMMS, etc.) for construction of a hyperlinked index. I know of no software that can do that classification. It takes a brain. Perhaps that is why the outsourcing is as expensive as it is.

I'm no coder, so I won't try to advise you on how to get this all working with an html front end, a hyperlinked index and a search function. Viewers for both pdf, dwg, and even IFC files are available free on the internet. Those (or links to download sites for them) could go onto the CD too.

From there on, I would think the manipulation of the files, their security, or their import into some other system would be the client's responsibility, with the help of the filename/classification table you can (and should, I think) provide. Of course this could all be done in some kind of cloud, I suppose.

Files on a read-only CD are almost as secure as they can be, so I don't see that as an issue. It might be an issue after the files are moved onto another medium, but it wouldn't be your issue.

Try www.oasys-software.com from Arup. It's good as far as I know for the document management/email management. You can track the changes made to documents like word/CAD/other types.

You may check the feature online from the website and probably call them to discuss your requirements/demo.

Hope this help..

Reg. Arjun

Print to PDF

If you have Adobe Acrobat installed then it appears as a printer choice whenever you click on the print function from any app/tool.

In Autcad there is a convert to PDF button but my CAD dude and I couldn't get that to work so we reverted to just printing as PDF and bingo. We ddin't waste much time on the one click PDF feature. It took 3 or 4 clicks instead. That was way back.......

Adobe Acrobat. Too easy. You can combine lots of PDF documents into one indexable file.

Your document will read like an ebook.

Hi folks,

Thank you for the input and suggestions..

Just in case some of you were facing a similar problem or were interested, the program i am proposing to use is Acrobat X pro portfolio..

It does not have the web page layout as i mentioned in my initial posts however it is relatively user friendly for manual i need to create also the software to read the documents is free... so it will suit my purpose.

Cheaper than bespoke design as was suggested.

Thank you for your help!