Is Rh the Best App for Managing 41 manuals, with many pages being the same?

Question

I'd like to automate a labor intensive task that I will soon be assuming. We have 41 install manuals for an automotive accessory that fits 41 different models of vehicles. The current manual is 28 pages with at least 24 pages being identical. The documents are done in Word, along many pictures and drawings. When the document is finished, it is converted to a PDF and sent with the item. The pdf is also made available online for folks who may need the electronic version. When we change one page that is common to all, we have to manually update each Word file and then convert it. As you can imagine, the manuals don't get updated and corrected as often as they should
Since most of the pages are the same, I would like software that can manage changes to these pages and automatically update all manuals. For example, if a change is necessary on page 6 and 34 manuals use this page, I simply change one page and the software "exports" this new page to all affected manuals.
1) Would Rh do this?
2) Would it be the best choice for this task?
3) If Rh is the best choice for this, what is the best approach for beginning this task? Get a book and read or just jump in?
4) I came across a book written by a firm called GooberGuides, is this a good resource? Do you recommend a better one?
5) Does my project require a special technique when setting it up in an app like Rh or is the process fairly intuitive? I don't want to waste time by implementing this incorrectly, only to start over again when I realize there was a better way.
I would be very grateful for any guidance you could provide.
Thank you.
Rodger

Answer 1

I don't think your questions were answered, except for the tool one, which is not the most important one. I would reverse your questions:
Does my project require a special technique? Yes! Single sourcing, which is a methodology for developing modular, reusable information, not a tool. Before you even approach a tool, you must analyze your content, define standards for it, define information types (Google for DITA), and convert it from linear (as your Word documents are) to modular.
I have not seen the GooberGuides book, but I can definitely offer these:
Content Managment for Dynamic Web Delivery - Jo Ann Hackos
DITA 101 - Anne Rockley, Charles Cooper, and Steve Manning
Introduction to DITA: A User Guide to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture - Jennifer Linton & Kylene Bruski
Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy - Anne Rockley
Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation- Kurt Ament
Tools - obviously since we're on the Adobe forum, Technical Communication Suite must be acknowledged. But you can accomplish single sourcing with several tools. Check out a brief overview of some at http://www.writersua.com/restools.htm.
Jan Shelton