I am finding that when I start Plant 3D it locks the specification files associated with that project. Is there a way of turning this off?
During a project with multiple users you are often asked to quickly add a part or enable another size etc. If the specification file is locked how do you update it without getting the users to exit out of Plant 3D?
In a perfect world, the Specs should already be done by the time the project starts. Having said that, I understand these things never happen 🙂
I'd set a timetable for the specs, and tell people to exit during lunch (or do them first thing of the day or last thing at night). If its urgent, then you're going to have to ask them to leave the project/software to make changes.
Something to look at for a future release as I can't see the point in locking the specs, therefore this would be better as an optional setting.
On past projects there is only one person assigned to change the specs and the change was usually needed straight away, so that the user was not delayed.
Thanks
On large projects (or even any project IMHO) you don't want people to open specs and edit/update as they see fit. A engineer (or the client) would have control on what is in the specs, and therefore what is put into the models, and then reported.
I've been on jobs where the spec's were open to anyone, and if a user wanted to put in a fitting, then they did. Once the spec is audited, then you start getting issues with the items being the right material/rating/item/etc.
It might be an annoyance, but its part of the learning curve.
That is why it should be optional. Smaller projects do not need this control and if they do it can be solved by read/write permissions on the network.
Something to think about.
Just a quick question, is this locking preventing editing the spec, or uploading the changes to the project?
It is not stopping editing the spec but you can't upload the changes if any other user has Plant 3D open and using the spec.
If you have multiple users on a project each one would have to close out of Plant 3D to update the spec. I have often been in the situation where a user needs something to finish a model add a flange, bolts etc. You need to get it done and move on.
I don't see a need for locking the specs just because Plant 3D accesses them. Any user can still access the specs and change them, they just have to be the first to do so. If you need to control access to the specs and catalogs you can do this through read/write permissions.
Previous software did not see a need to do so and we had no problems.
Aha - I see. 🙂 And I do agree with the need to update on-the-fly. When there are lots of changes I revert to "spec change Thursday" and batch all the changes together instead of a continuous string of minor changes. But when it comes time to upload (minor changes or batch updates), trying to track down every user who has the program open across a couple of floors can be difficult, especially when they don't want to fess up to it (like somebody assigned to a different project who is just looking around). Not to mention users locking their computers when they go to a meeting, lunch, or leaving for the day.