The Stakeholder Circle’s version numbering system is used to store multiple versions of the stakeholder data set for the project. Each new ‘version’ will store the current set of data and if a Stakeholder Circle or an ‘Engagement Profile’ has been created, both of these charts.

The Stakeholder Circle system checks on start up to see if the current version of the data has been created today. If the current version was created in the past, the user is offered the option to update the version number (and thereby create and save a new set of changes).

The user can also decide to increment the version number at any time by selecting ‘Increment Version’ from the Main Menu. When a new version number has been created, all edits to the stakeholder data are stored in a new record (and the existing versions are preserved).

If the version number is not updated, any change to the stakeholder data is made to the current version and the existing information is overwritten. Once overwritten, the version data that was changed cannot be recovered (but older versions will still be preserved).

The recommended procedure for managing version numbers is to:

• Use increments in the Minor version number to save versions of data edits that are generally being done around the same time
  • Increment the Minor version number each time a ‘benchmark’ has been reached in the data entry / update process.
• Use increments in the Major version number each time there is a major change in the status of the project, eg to differentiate each review of the overall project stakeholder community.

The Stakeholder Circle’s version numbering is in the format #.xx where:
# = the Major version number and
xx = the Minor version number.

The Minor version number can be incremented from .00 to .99
The Major version number is unlimited.

• Select ‘Increment Version’ from the Main Menu or Answer ‘Yes’ to the opening dialogue if the current version was created before today.
  • Select ‘Minor’ to increment the version number by .01 (ie from version 5.12 to 5.13)
  • Select ‘Major’ to increment the version number to the next whole number (ie from version 5.12 to 6.00)
  • Select ‘Cancel’ to exit without changing the version number

Note: There is no technical difference in the operation of the software between incrementing by a ‘minor’ or ‘major’ version number – if there is a new version number, a fresh set of data is recorded and the history preserved, if the version number is not updated, any changed to the stakeholder data is made to the current version and the existing information is overwritten.

Help is available to all Stakeholder Circle users – we will attempt to answer your questions within a 24 hr period. To access help in the first instance email your question to: help@stakeholder-management.com