Revision Control

[dbroada]

Since I have worked here the cad file has always been a means of producing a paper master and not a master in its own right. Previously the engineers had to get a copy of the (signed) drawings and scribble all over that. The dwg files were always on a part of the network accessible ONLY to members of the design office and we kept tight control over anything that left the company.

Now the network has been reconfigured and everybody has READ ONLY access to our files and Trueview. This means that they can print the cad file directly and we no longer have control over what they see and there have been several incidents where "work in progress" has been printed off and either modified or sent out of the company. Now because of other departments inability to work to the rules we are having to change our working methods. :x

There are currently (at least) two departments pushing their own mutually exclusive ideas upon us so we are currently digging our heels and and pointing out the problems it will bring us. I am sure we will have to give in at some stage so I would appreciate comments about your systems to give us more ideas.

Both departments want us to have the revision issue as part of the file name. I am reluctant to do this for several reasons. Mostly pig headedness but also as I have found changing file names an excellent way of breaking links. We don't use XREFs and have only dabbled with linking xls files but I believe both of these need file names to remain constant.

What do you do?

[yedan]

i must admit i agree with you on this the revision number should not be part of the drawing number, when i was incharge of the Drawing office i had the issue number as an attribute on the border and when a drawing was up issued the old drawing was renamed and stored in an old issues folder NOT the live version.

[Strix]

boy am I feeling for you here Dave - my pet hate in any engineering office is exactly the scenario you're laying out

the obvious solution carried out by a number of (daft) cad offices is to work on drawings locally and only replace them on the server once they're complete (really bad idea), so can your IT dept create you an area for WIP where nobody else can access?

or can some very clever person here tell you how a pop up with the drawings WIP status could work?

[dbroada]

nice to see my ideas are not themselves too far off.

the "quality" department want to introduce a system where files are "booked out" to be worked on and then can only be booked back in with a change of revision. We often produce a set of loop drawings which regularly go to 1000+ sheets. All I currently have to do is ask how they suggest I SAVEAS that many drawings to get my own way - but I don't think it will last forever.

The "other group" want a series of folders depending on the working status. This is the same group that want BOM spreadsheets linked and can never remember that changing a file's folder will stop the link from working. :x This group also complains when I use our own linetype and refuse to modify Trueview to pick it up. They want us to come up with a distinct linetype for each function but not dependant on external files. We can do that - at x hours extra for modifications, but no, it can't take any longer. :o

rant over for now. 8)

[slimjramirez]

Sounds like y'might have to do some face-tappin' with steel-toed boots on.

If people are gonna be printing off what isn't finished without consulting those who know that it ain't done yet, then y'all need to have a meeting and discuss the liability of sending out incorrect/incomplete drawings. That's gonna come back to bite you in the ass.

We do what Yedan mentioned; creating archival folders with static dwgs and PDFs whenever we issue something for review/construction/record/revision, but have the main directory hold the live drawings.

A serious discussion of document controls is needed here. At the end of the day, the Design dep't is the one that owns the dwgs. If they need it for another purpose, there needs to be a record of why they need it.

The last thing Design needs is to have an infuriated client and/or boss storming in asking why something is not what it needs to be.

I get into this issue ALL the damn time with my boss. He'll print off the latest saved dwg that I'll be working in, and take it to a meeting. Then he'll have the nerve to come back and get pissed at me. He doesn't tell me what meetings he has, yet expects me to know that some miscellanous DWG is needed for some project that I haven't worked on for a week because he told me it was on hold (pardon me for assuming that i dont' need to be focused on a project on hold when I got 4 others due this week, y'know?)

Enough of my ranting. Instead of a bunch of talking heads saying "You should do this/that" at various points, y'all need to make a point of sitting all parties involved and make damn sure everyone's on the same page with what's to happen. This type of situation has too much potential to become volatile and make the whole company look foolish.

[dbroada]

Justin,
totally agree - and exactly the same rants from us as from you.

Trouble is the people who keep getting it wrong are in different countries to us! One group is in a place called America, the other lot are in Scotland while we are in England.

And the guy who gets it wrong the most is further up the food chain than we are.

[JerryG]

I was moving in the same direction with Trueview - but never considered the printing problem. I totally argree with you that
changing file names is a really bad idea (way to easy to print the wrong version - also how do you really know it is the current version?)
In our Office we have 1 file for each dwg in the set (no multiple tabs). If the file gets changed after it is stamped it goes on the revision block located on the Titleblock with there initials.
Only designers/drafters are allowed to change the Cad file.
Trueview is only being used for ineroffice markups - never to be sent to a client. I would deffinatly use the argument about Xrefs and
attached images etc.

[sparklerach]

Hi there,

We have an in house document viewer, where everyone in the company can look at and print all documents (pdfs) and drawings (dwfs), so we too had that problem. Our system has evolved somewhat over the years to the following:

We have a 'Preliminary' layer and an 'Approved' layer. The preliminary layer has the word prelininary going diagonally across the drawing in model space, like a watermark. This layer is 'On' for all new drawings and any drawings that are being revision/modified. The approved layer has the word approved in red in the corner of our titleblock in paper space. We then have two custom button that will either turn off 'Preliminary' and on 'Approved' or vice verse.

So a new template will have preliminary on and when the drawing is approved, you just press the approved drawing. This system works for us but we do have to remember to turn on or off the layers.

Good luck with finding a solution.

[matt41129]

I feel you pain. I have had similar problems. I use to work for a engineer that would do the same thing. That is the problem with having the DWGs were anybody can access them. I agree with you about changing file names. The place were i work we use XREF's and that would really be a thorn in my side, b/c of all of the broken links. The previous project manager i worked with always tried to get the cart before the horse. This is a huge problem when the design is still in progress and they dont bother checking with the drafters before pulling the drawings. This was a smaller company, i had some control over the network, i just end up maping a new network drive and using that method. After the design was finished i put PDFs in folder where everybody could access. There are some security programs you could look into for your drawings that pretty much password protect them from opening. That might be something you could check into to prevent people from opening the drawings? This link is something like what i mean, if you can put a password on the drawings so people can edit them you could control the people that print them off in the middle of design b/c they have to contact the design team for the password.. Hope this helps some.

http://www.cadinfo.net/reviews/cadlock.htm

[iTijn]

Interesting post, this one!
This issue is worth fighting for.
The best solution I've seen so far is a software package called meridian by Cyco. It is a database driven document management system and very well integrated with AutoCAD. It allows user rights management. - Though it is terribly expensive.

I have recently bought AutoCAD Electrical, which has included 'The Vault' (by Autodesk). I have no experience with it yet, so I'm interested in your opinions. I would be very surprised if it as powerful as meridian.

What about digitally signed documents?

:sweat:

[dbroada]

thanks for more ideas but the big problem is the lack of discipline shown by other departments. We don't want to make life too difficult for the draughtsmen - especially as all it needs is somebody higher up than us making the statement - DON'T PRINT THE CAD FILES, USE THE WORKING COPIES.

[hendie]

Interesting post, this one!
This issue is worth fighting for.
The best solution I've seen so far is a software package called meridian by Cyco. It is a database driven document management system and very well integrated with AutoCAD. It allows user rights management. - Though it is terribly expensive.

I have recently bought AutoCAD Electrical, which has included 'The Vault' (by Autodesk). I have no experience with it yet, so I'm interested in your opinions. I would be very surprised if it as powerful as meridian.

What about digitally signed documents?

:sweat:
Synergis Adept is much better and much cheaper than Meridian - and it doesn't encrypt your files. And the company is way way better than Cyco could ever hope to be - yes I speak from experience !!!

Simple answer and I know you don't want to hear it - EDMS

1 company, 5 separate businesses, around 120 users from USA to China via most of Europe. Problems? None ! administration - around 10 15 minutes per month.
Cost ? well, the licenses are concurrent (floating) and a license for the EDMS is cheaper than a seat of Acad LT