project CAD files

[CADmgrMike]

I'm looking for feedback on how others manage their project CAD files, in particular where the data shortcuts and survey working folders are stored. We typically have one folder for every project and all the CAD, survey, and database files are stored in subfolders below the project folder. I'm being questioned on if there would be a way to have multiple projects (all different folders) access data in a central location. My concern is that the data shortcuts folder and the survey database folder would be difficlut to manage and susceptible to corrupting.

Any ideas???

[Jay_B]

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@CADmgrMike wrote:

My concern is that the data shortcuts folder and the survey database folder would be difficlut to manage and susceptible to corrupting.

Any ideas???

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I agree Mike, When the Project Data is kept within the "Project" folder, it's far easier when archiving a project.

I'm also far more comfortable dealing with troubleshooting any issues on a project by project basis, then I am dealing with an all in one shortcuts folder issue, should it occur.

It sounds like your setup is very similar to ours, within our standard project folder structure we have:

a. Dedicated Project specific "Data Shortcuts" Working folder (which only needs to be set one initial time per machine per project).

b. Dedicated Project specific "Civil 3D" Project folder (this associates drawings within / to the project as they're created).

c. Dedicated Project specific"Survey Database" working folder.

The above is documented in our Process Manual and IMHO it's a good thing for folks to to understand and be properly trained in these processes.

We're a large company with multiple offices and we prefer the "Project" method here.

[CADmgrMike]

Thanks for the input.

Reinforces my thoughts that I'm not the only one that thinks this way.

I do need to understand the "Project" folder better and set that up for all our users.

[Jay_B]

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@CADmgrMike wrote:

Thanks for the input.

I do need to understand the "Project" folder better and set that up for all our users.

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Setting the Project folder eliminates the need to manually "Associate project to current drawing", AFAIK as we almost never have to do this step.

All C3D source.dwg's are created in the folder designated as "Data Shortcuts Project Folder"

[kbiggs]

Mike:

We have our projects saved on our Projects drive, segregated first by a year folder, then by project number folder, then by CAD and design subfolders. Our CAD folders include the standard C3D Data shortcuts folder, DWG folder and Survey folder (for C3D survey database and reference files).

This works well for us and our IT division

Keith Biggs

Chair, CAD Standards Committee & Senior CAD Technician

R.F. Binnie & Associates Ltd.
Leading in Quality: OQM certified March 2013.

[CADmgrMike]

It sounds from the posts that we're all using very similar folder structures, mainly all project CAD data stored under a "project" folder.

What I was being asked to do if possible, was make CAD data (particularly data shortcutted C3D features) in one project folder available dynamically in a completely different project folder.

My gut says that is a recipe for disaster, both in managing and file corruption.

In the end of a meeting yesterday, it was decided that we could keep all the data under one folder and just use subfolders for base and sheet drawings.

To me this is a more managable solution.

Thanks all of your input.

[owenmull]

The thing is, if someone else wants to access your data shortcuts from your project, all they have to do is change their settings and navigate to the new folder. I take it they dont want to do this, they'd rather access all DS data in one location.

This can be easily done, but I would highly recommend against it. Reason being, it is an organizational nightmare. There are far more iterations of how data can be organized via the all-in-one method than there are in the project-by-project method. For instance, do you simply pile all 'Surface' shortcuts into one folder of the same name, following suit with every other data type? This becomes a file naming hell, in that each data shortcut must have the full project name, dates, and in many cases, revision in the filename. Good luck trying to sort through that hot mess when you have 4, 5, or 6 revisions of the same thing and someone else has been working on them. If you go with the P-b-P method, you may have a few versions sure, but you're not sifting through a folder with 1,000 other files in it, who knows how many are relevent anymore. Plus, good luck being the one assigned to clean that folder out in a couple years when you want to get rid and archive old projects.

The all-in-one method sounds good to an administrator on paper, but it just ends up being a "Charlie Foxtrot" in practice. Go with the p-b-p method.

[troma]

I guess I'm the odd one out.
We have our CAD drawings in their project folders (say on F or G drive). But the data shortcuts reside on the W drive.
We have one folder called "W:\Civil 3D 2011\Data Shortcuts Working Folder" and one called "W:\Civil 3D 2013\Data Shortcuts Working Folder". This way, you only need to point once per machine per C3D version, not once per machine per project.  This way works very smoothly, and 'feels' like the way it's meant to work: set up a 'working' folder once, and forget it.  Create subfolders for each project's data shortcuts. This setup has all but eliminated the instances of "Cannot locate the project" errors upon opening drawings; which were quite common when we were using the setup that you and Jay describe.

We don't use the survey database, so I can't comment on that.

[owenmull]

Here's an example of something pretty similar to what I use, and works great for me.

[Jay_B]

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@troma wrote:

This setup has all but eliminated the instances of "Cannot locate the project" errors upon opening drawings; which were quite common when we were using the setup that you and Jay describe.

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We don't get that error here, my point was if the "Project Folder" is set & C3d source dwgs reside in that folder they get associated to the Project as they're created / saved to this folder.

Absolutely nothing done by the user in addition to the one time initial Project Folder step at beginning of the project. I Never see any "Cannot locate the project" errors when this is done correctly.

[troma]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Absolutely nothing done by the user in addition to the one time initial Project Folder step at beginning of the project. I Never see any "Cannot locate the project" errors when this is done correctly.

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That 'one time step' is precisely what I'm talking about.  It's hardly "one step" if it needs to be done to 20 machines every time you start working on a new project.

What happens here, is that normally one person takes hold of the project and does the setup and creates all the drawings to a roughly 50% to 80% stage.  Then someone else (or someones else) will jump in to do something on one of the drawings. Lo and behold, the drawing can't locate the project, because that machine has never been pointed to that working folder before.  Solution? One working folder for all projects.  Point the machine once, and it's done.

We decided that on moving to a new version we would use different working folder.  Hence the two that I named above.

I hope I don't come off as being aggressive here.  I'm not saying anyone is wrong in what they're doing.  But the OP wanted a variety of suggestions, so I'm presenting a side of the story that no-one else had.  I'm also explaining and defending what was my decision and direction!

[CADmgrMike]

Thanks Troma for the different perspective. It always helps to look at the house from all 4 sides. 🙂

I think at this point for us, the most benefit would be for us to setup and implement the "New Data Shortcuts Project folder" so that all drawings are associated correctly.

And I should also clarify that I'm not wanting to create a singel data shortcuts folder for all projects company wide. My issue would probably be more correctly defined as one project with multiple phases, but our PM's define them as multiple projects so that is the term I used.

Thanks again.