Filing strategies

[Christiaan]

We have a manual filing system that requires users to file all electronic files using the Finder in Mac OS X.

The most critical aspects of this system are the Data Out folder and the Current Issue folder.

In Data Out we put PDFs, DWGs and issues sheets (PDFs) each time we issue drawings. In Current Issue we keep all current issue CAD files and PDFs and update this every time we issue drawings, moving superseded files to a Superseded folder.

This later process is extremely difficult to enforce, if not unworkable. It's nice to have a folder that holds the "current issue" of drawings for any particular project, but the problem is it's not necessarily keep up to date.

The alternative that I had in mind is to scrap the Current Issue folder and rely only on the Data Out folder and the Issue Sheet (Speadsheet) for determining current issue drawings.

This cuts filing work down by about 80% but it means when you need to access a full set of current issue drawings you're looking in multiple places.

How do others deal with this issue?

We've looked into using Drawing Manager from iArchitecture but the upfront cost is prohibitive, especially when it's competing with the Finder, which is free:

http://www.iArchitecture.com/

[Chris D]

We work exactly the same way, and have similar problems.

We have Issues-In and Issues-Out folders to log all drawings coming and going, and this works fine.

We also have Draft and Current folders, the idea being that live files are in the draft folder while they are worked on, and the Current folder contains the last-issued version of every drawing (i.e. current-to-the-outside-world). It's this last folder that people forget to update, or worse still, people open files from the Current folder and edit them. We're about to rename this folder Last-Issued to make it less ambiguous.

[Christiaan]

Yeah we have a Drafts folder too, except we call it Production. We lock the files in Current Issue to stop people editing them too easily.

[Petri]

Umm.... What, if anything, are CAD Managers and Job Captains - sorry, job runners - supposed to do except manage the CAD system and/or the job, including ins and outs?

Frankly, my dears, I don't think you can program a computer in such a way that it at the same time does what the user has not done and does not undo things the user has done, in case he or she has accidentally done the right thing.

Computers are usually no more intelligent than the people you are working with: if ever possible, they're even less intelligent - but at least consistently so.

I have no iDea what iArchitecture's iDrawing iManager can do (no iNfo aVailable), but i'M enough of a FileMaker Pro wizard to know that iT cannot iRead the minds (if any) of the iUsers.

[RonMan]

Just had a strange idea. Code management systems can manage anything, any file of just about any kind. Take SmartCVS; free version available for Macs and Windows. It can be used to check in/out, version control, etc.

I wonder if these systems can be used to manage CAD files. I have never tried to use them for CAD files, but they work wonders in a development environment, where some of the same problems come up.

Just a thought. Christiaan perhaps you could take a look.

RonMan

[islandmon]

SVN > give it a look..

search my previous posts for the links , etc.

Subversion keeps track of incremental file changes once the file is checked-out.

There are a couple OSX GUI apps for SVN.

Subversion also allows stepping backward in time ...

may be similar to OSX Leopard Time Machine.

[RonMan]

Subversion is another very good alternative. snvX on the Mac side or any of these: http://www.versiontracker.com/php/qs.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=subversion&srchArea=macosx&submit=Go

And any of these on the Windows side: http://www.versiontracker.com/php/qs.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=subversion&srchArea=windows&submit=Go

[Petri]

One should keep in mind that the last saved version may not be the real latest version.

A professional CAD-program for not-so-smart-sized firms would have an internal system for managing versions. On the Mac one would not even be hugely difficult to implement via AppleScript.

Let's for a moment assume that VW would be a Mac-only program with a decent AppleScript suite, accessible with VectorScript. When the Job Captain's initials would be entered in the revision tracking system of the Title Block object (after Keychain authorization, of course), the file would be saved & copied to all appropriate (smart) folders. *

Of course this is pure fantasy as VW needs to be compatible with DumboOS and Cheapskates Extraordinaire. But in an ideal world, VW could be used by firms employing more than one person (doing McMansions.) That would be smart, eh? Naww...

EDIT

*) and exported as DWG & IFC to Central Project Databases, via FTP.

Edited November 18, 2007 by Petri

[michael john williams]

What about Issue Manager?

Does anybody use it?

Or Archetype? Not used it myself but quiet a few architects rave about it.

[mike m oz]

ArchiOffice is an alternative to Archetype - it is both Mac and PC. http://www.archioffice.com/#