Topic: Improving the Standard of Work

[CADaver]

Currently I support about 75 users.

Try over three hundred.

[Maverick®]

Currently I support about 75 users.

Try over three hundred.

You win!!   Greg, send him a prize.

[Greg B]

Currently I support about 75 users.

Try over three hundred.

You win!!   Greg, send him a prize.

Done!

[pmvliet]

Pieter, the reason I'd thought of locking down a pgp...

We draw many road schemes, and the road markings we use in the UK, I have created a little routine on the menu, which loads the linetype, sets the width and draws the pline to the correct standards.... I have come across users who know HOW to use the menu version, but wont cos its quicker for them to use the more familiar PL...


What would be better than "just the menu" for encouraging the users to actually use the routines?

See, with more information we can give better suggestions 

A couple ways to handle this:
1) I believe you can redefine commands. Take pline out of the program if it causes that much of a problem. If this is too extreme, at least have it popup a dialog box that says "there is a more streamlined/prefered method via the company menu.
2)Is your road routine one command or a group of command for different road types? if it's one command, you could educate your users to add it to their pgp file.
3) the pgp file is one location where you can set shortcuts but not the only location. Setting shortcuts via a menu/lisp will trump a pgp. The only thing though, the menu or lisp have to load after Autocad reads the pgp file, but I'm not 100% certain.

Currently I support about 75 users.

Try over three hundred.

I won't say how many I had, nor the number of offices accross the country.

Pieter

[Maverick®]

I won't say how many I had, nor the number of offices accross the country.
Pieter

Why?  Are you afraid of winning?   

[LE]

I do not (comprende) understand... how someone can have a CM title and does not know how to do powerful customizations - menus are pretty straight forward - like doing scripts.

But it must be just me.

I do not work as a CM but had help improvise the standards (but not just a document or simple menus or simple lisp stuff) for a company of more than 2000 users and continue giving support to them (ZIUR - in Spain)

How can I find a job like those.... ?  - I am open to offers.

[Arizona]

Currently I support about 75 users.

Try over three hundred.

Ok, I guess I should have specified a little better...
75 autocad users in Florida and another 75 microstation users in Raleigh.
Then I support our field people on the doc. mgt. system so add another 100 in each location. Then let's add another 10 outside contracting companies...
But, I gotta admit I Love My Job! 

Luis, Try the utilities...steady work. No highs and lows.

[Greg B]

Ok, I guess I should have specified a little better...
75 autocad users in Florida and another 75 microstation users in Raleigh.
Then I support our field people on the doc. mgt. system so add another 100 in each location. Then let's add another 10 outside contracting companies...
But, I gotta admit I Love My Job! 

Mav - I'll call UPS and tell them to delay the pick up of the prize a couple of days.

I sure hope it doesn't suffocate.

[Maverick®]

You told them not to feed it this time right?

[Greg B]

You told them not to feed it this time right?

Not after midnight at any rate.  And to keep it away from water.

[jonesy]

I do not (comprende) understand... how someone can have a CM title and does not know how to do powerful customizations - menus are pretty straight forward - like doing scripts.

But it must be just me.

I do not work as a CM but had help improvise the standards (but not just a document or simple menus or simple lisp stuff) for a company of more than 2000 users and continue giving support to them (ZIUR - in Spain)

How can I find a job like those.... ?  - I am open to offers.

You have to start to learn somewhere (and I am currently studying programming at university, so I will get there).

It seems that in the UK, many business managers do not understand the benefits of programming AutoCAD, and there seems to be a real shortage of people who can customise it, even menus... when I first started the customising here, the users/management were "wow, I didnt know that you could change that", but they STILL dont really see the time/money savings it could bring. When management dont understand the capabilities and benefits, it is a very hard job to get them to back you, and give you time to do these tasks, so you feel like you are marking time.

I became CAD Manager because I was the most qualified and experienced person they could find around here

One day I hope to be as good a programmer as some of you guys here, but one step at a time

[Atook]

jonesy,

When I implemented some changes like this a while ago, I made both  menu commands, and buttons available. The menu is good, but buried; a button, with a new icon is something visible, and only one click away to boot. As you continue your customizations you'll end up with a 'magic toolbar' that everyone knows how to use. Then they won't know how to do anything without it!

Taking the pline command out of the pgp might be a little drastic (I can't imagine the heat I'd have gotten for doing that) but you'd probably only need to do it for a week. Note that you could leave it in the draw menu so it would still be available.

[Arizona]

I became CAD Manager because I was the most qualified and experienced person they could find around here

I think most of us started this way

One day I hope to be as good a programmer as some of you guys here, but one step at a time

You go girl...

[LE]

One day I hope to be as good a programmer. . .

You WILL

[pmvliet]

I do not (comprende) understand... how someone can have a CM title and does not know how to do powerful customizations - menus are pretty straight forward - like doing scripts.

But it must be just me.

Not sure why this statement was made, maybe becuase I am not 100% sure on how to redefine a command. Yes, I could take 5 minutes to look it up and figure it out and explain it here. But that's not what is being asked. It's more of "you could do this" kind of statement.

Maybe it was for other reasons. CADD Managers aren't just born and become instantly talented on everything there is to know about AutoCAD and all it can/can't do. I've also come to realize that CADD Managers don't nor should try to know everything. It takes too much away from trying to manage and keep things going.

I have come up with some very crazy ideas that I have wanted to implement. I may not know how to accomplish the code or the means, but the idea is good. The code and the means can be hired out or learned as we are given time. I had a idea to do something within AutoCAD and my reseller said it can't be done. Then it went to AutoDesk and they said it can't be done. One day I'm sitting at a meeting and explain my idea to a programmer/user type friend and he's like "we can do that". The next day, I had a snippet of code that accomplished what I desired. 

Pieter