Who made the last revision to this Task, Objective, Program, or Question?
The Version Comments tab appears on the workscreens for Tasks, Objectives, Programs, and Questions. It shows who made the last change to the data object, and when. (If the object has never been changed, the creator of the object and creation date are shown.)
Updated Automatically
Note that you can't edit these "who" and "when" entries; they are changed automatically every time the OK button is clicked. This means that even the slightest change causes these two fields to be updated. That need not trouble you, however, as you can use the "Version Comments" box to record meaningful changes to the entity.
Version Number and Comments
The Version Comments tab also provides a place to enter a revision number along with comments about the revision. When a data object is created, the revision number is initially blank, but the words "Record created" are automatically entered into the comments box.
You can use these text entry boxes as you see fit. One possible use is shown in the example below. In this example, the comments box is used a historical log to record changes made to a Task by various instructional designers.
You can also add an RTF Template to all Version Comments boxes.
Revision Number
This is for your use only; VISION doesn't care what you enter in this box. You can enter a number here, or a short phrase, or nothing at all.
Date Last Modified
This date changes whenever you make any change to this data object, however small. In other words, the date gets updated whenever anyone clicks the OK button at the bottom of this screen. The date does NOT change from linking or unlinking this data object to other data objects, or relocating it in the hierarchy.
Last Modified By
This is who last changed this data object. In other words, this is who last clicked the OK button on this data object. When that happened is indicated at left, in Date last modified.
Version Comments
VISION doesn't need you to enter anything at all here. This is for your use only. You may wish to use this box to summarize changes made to this data object.
You can append remarks to this field, to build a running chronicle of how the object has changed over time. Or you can replace the contents in this field each time you save a new revision.
Clear Comments
Click to empty the Version Comments box above. This is simply a convenient shortcut to selecting all the text in the box and deleting it yourself.
Clearing the comments is useful if you use the comments box to record only the changes in this revision, instead of appending new comments to a cumulative commentary of changes spanning the lifetime of this object.
If you do clear the old comments, they are not lost forever. They will still survive in the prior version of this data object, just like any other attribute. And so they can be viewed in the past version (see the Past Versions tab).
