Copy Monitor - Loaded Type Has Been Renamed

[rkuffel]

We are copy/monitor(ing) the consulting engineer's MEP fixtures, which includes Light Fixtures and Air Terminals. We batch copy/monitor(ed) all their Air Terminals and set the type mapping to copy/original. Here's the issue we are struggling with now:

1. (Linked Model) Engineer creates or duplicates a new type within an existing family.
2. (Linked Model) Engineer places a new (fixture) element in their model with this new Type.
3. (Host Model) We load engineers model containing this new element.
4. When we copy/monitor this new element and set the type mapping to copy original, we get the "Loaded Type Has Been Renamed" warning. A new duplicate Family and all it's Types are created and this new Family and it's Types are postfixed with a 1. 

I would have expected this new Type, created in step 2, to be appended to the existing family in the host model. Alas, Revit wants to create a duplicate family and duplicate types. Can someone explain to me the rational behind this and how we can manage this?

The WikiHelp says this will happen when all of the conditions are true:

• Fixtures were copied from the linked model to the Revit project.
• The mapping behavior for a fixture category was defined as Copy original.
• In the linked model, the fixture is host-based.
• The current project already contains a family type with the same name.

[rkuffel]

I should mention that if you try to change the copied element to the original fixture Type, you get a coordination warning. So, basically, the way copy/monitor functions, it will set you up for a coordination review comment. SMH.

[CoreyDaun]

Unfortunately, there are some major flaws with Copy/Monitor, such as what you are seeing here. One such issues is that if any Type Properties are changed for a Type in the linked model, then those changed are not reflected in the fixture Type in the host model, nor is there any warning to alert you of such a change.

For instance, I am Copy/Monitoring twenty light fixtures,120V & 64VA. If that light fixture type is later changed to 277V & 80VA in the linked model, then these changes will go unnoticed in the model that currently has them Copy/Monitored. Copy/Monitor seems very limited and is geared more towards monitoring physical position changes. Even if a monitored fixture changes Types, Coordination Review does not provide an automatic "change to that Type" option - you have to manually fix it.

[rkuffel]

Thanks for your reply. As an FYI, you can use BIMLink or other bidirectional spreadsheet tool to match up the data. Here is a link to a how-to video. It works great for tracking parameter changes...now if we could just get the factory to, at a minimum, append Types to Families. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZoEDFexk1s