Topic: Drawing file naming conventions

[Glenn R]

I didn't know where to post this, but this sub forum seems to get the most 'hits'......so here it is.
I am not after a programming solution per se, but this post WILL lead onto another I am about to make, which will involve feedback regarding a code solution, so here goes.

At my current place of employment, I have inherited a 'standard' (the great thing about standards, is that there are SOOooo many to chose from ) drawing file naming convention that looks suspiciously like the following:

XXXXXXX-YY-ZZZZ[REV].dwg,

Where XXXXXXX = Job number (we all use these don't we? )
YY = discipline/sheet category code
ZZZZ = the actual drawing number (eg. 0001, 0002 etc.)
[REV] = revision number of the drawing.

My gripe is with the [REV] part. This can be [A], , [1], [2] etc. So, whenever a drawing is rev'ed up from A to B for instance, the physical file names on the server need to be changed.
My preference is to keep the file name the same.

What are your thoughts on the above issue and what do you do in your organisation?

Cheers,
Glenn.

[David Hall]

I have done both.  I currently keep the file name the same, and the different revs are stored in a FM system.  However, said FM system is junk, and I think I prefered when I was keeping each rev on my own.  I had code that would copy old rev, and rename dwg to new rev AFTER asking if the drawing needed to be updated.

[hendie]

Drawing Number or Part Number should always stay the same
I have it easy, my EDMS automatically keeps track of all revisions and I can call them up at any time. In fact when I sign a document out and modify it, when I sign it back in, it automatically makes the revision for me. 

Every system I have seen which uses the format you mention ends up with duplicate revisions all over the place eventually.

[Glenn R]

Both of you (CmdrDuh and hendie) have hinted at the next thread I am going to start, but I want to hear more opinions from the group before starting that.
However, at this point, I agree with both of you...more comments anyone?

Thanks for your feedback so far.

Cheers,
Glenn.

[M-dub]

(The great thing about standards, is that there are SOOooo many to chose from )

  I feel your pain...every single day.

XXXXXXX-YY-ZZZZ[REV].dwg,

Pet Peeve alert!  Another Pet Peeve is filenames that differ from the drawing number!  WHY ARE THERE TWO?!?!
At our palce, old rev's go onto a project CD and are stored in a project folder.
We're hoping to finally be jumping on board with the same EDMS that Hendie is using this year!  (My fingers are cramping up, they've been crossed for so long!)

Hope you don't mind me moving this topic...

[David Hall]

Every system I have seen which uses the format you mention ends up with duplicate revisions all over the place eventually.

And this is the reason I haven't gone back to manually keeping up with it myself.

But, I also have another problem where my users will check out a dwg, save as something else, and not put the dwg back into the system.  Then it floats for a while, and eventually, someone finds it and puts it back.  Problem is, its hard to tell if a rev was made or just a copy of that dwg was made.  I need to work on that

[Keith™]

At our office we use the client name as the drawing name, with the dicipline and page numbers following ... i.e.

Smith,JohnJ_dxx

So if we had page 3 of the mechanical plans it would be:

Smith,JohnJ_M03.dwg

Any revisions are stored as the new working folder and the previous incarnations are stored in folders with Rev_1 or something of the like to differentiate the revisions.

We do this as we are not a large enough company to be able to justify a large document management system and frequently clients wish to revert back to a previous revision ... sometimes 3 revisions into the project.

[hendie]

We're hoping to finally be jumping on board with the same EDMS that Hendie is using this year!  (My fingers are cramping up, they've been crossed for so long!)

Hope you don't mind me moving this topic...

Mike ~ version 7 is coming out in the Spring ~ I don't have any info on it at the moment but hope to soon.
The new features brought in with version 6 were great. If they do half as good with V7 it will be a cracker !
I now have 3 different divisons working from the same database, and none of them know the others exist. I couldn't believe it was so easy to set up. At this point in time I now have the USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, & Singapore all connected and more countries coming on line soon.
I hope you manage to get it soon !

[Bryco]

If you have to change the dwg name for each dwg, I presume you never have more than one layout per dwg, ouch.

[MickD]

At our office I use a pretty simple system which is has part of nearly all posts so far.
Job No. and Client Job No. has its own attribute in the title block, the clients no. is just before the drg no. in the same line. Our drg no. is just tucked into a corner for our ref. The revision is also in its own spot and big enough to see clearly.
This would be a typical drawing no. in its own spot.
A-SD.2-001
A is the block/area/zone if required
SD is the discipline, ie Steel/Shop Details
.2 is the identifier of the type of drg, ie marking plans and .3 may be fittings.
-001 is the drg no. in the series.
This enables us to 'slip' in more drawings into the series when needed.

When saving the actual drg file I would save it as CLIENTJOBNO-A-SD.2-001 Rev A.dwg, this way when issuing to the client they can easily see which revision is the latest as more often than not they don't have a good filing system.
For filing in our office we have 3 folders in the job directory, Work In progress, As Issued and Superseded.
When a file is in progress its in WIP and when it's ready to issue it gets moved to as issued and made 'read only'. This gives you a quiet reminder that you should save this drawing back to WIP as the next rev when you first try to save your new changes
The revised drawing is re-issued, the old rev is moved into Superseded and so on.
It seems like a bit of work but it works very well, you can quickly look in the job folder and see exactly what's in progress and what current issue is.

[Kerry]

I have no issue with the document name changing. A little bit of software to help automate it makes life easier.
In the opinion of a lot of people, The issue resolves around the definition of "A Legal Document" and the associated Quality assurance requirements.

A piccy is worth ...

This from a Design reference folder < ie, docs issued TO us>

[MickD]

Hey! are we working on the same job Kerry?

[Kerry]

Yep, whoever finishes first gets paid ..   

[Glenn R]

hendie, what is the name of your EDMS software?

Thanks for the comments so far guys.

Cheers,
Glenn.

[hendie]

hendie, what is the name of your EDMS software?

Thanks for the comments so far guys.

Cheers,
Glenn.

Synergis Adept
check this post for more details

[hudster]

We are going with EDMS from a company called Architype www.archsoft.co.uk they are based locally to us, and very helpful when it comes to support.

We will be trialling this software for 6 months in the Glasgow office before we roll it out nationwide.

[BREZI]

We keep every revision, and we keep plt files of every revision.

xxxxx/E or m /(code)001 rev A etc...

The plt's are for record purposes, and they can be converted into pdf or dwf or jpg etc. so is very handy.

The dwg files are kept because we are paraniod about engineers wanting to go back 3 revisions as the client has changed his mind.

Supersed drawinsg are moved into a superseded folder, if we are running out server space we have a rule that we can delet or move onto archive cd old revisions.