Multiple Timezone Questions

[Anonymous]

Morning All,

We have a large project that is being worked on by multiple offices in
different timezones around the world. All up 5 different groups. London,
UAE, Colombia, Malaysia and Australia. What a combination.

Im trying to find some sort of solutions or ideas about how to manage this
type of project. My gut feeling is to have all information about the
project somewhere in cyberspace so that everyone can access the latest
information as required. But this brings up the questions of:

1) How to organise checking in and out of drawings if people working in
different time zones overlap?
2) If all the information on the job is in some spot in cyberspace so it
can be accessed, how can it be backed up?
3) How would all this work with the sheetset manager?
3) How can we go about issuing drawings etc to different clients? Can they
log on to a specified location and download?

Does anyone have any suggestions or maybe have worked in a similar situation
and have some solutions?

Any help would be appreciated

Scott V

[Anonymous]

On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:42:16 +0000, Scott Viney wrote:

>Morning All,
>
>We have a large project that is being worked on by multiple offices in
>different timezones around the world. All up 5 different groups. London,
>UAE, Colombia, Malaysia and Australia. What a combination.
>
>Im trying to find some sort of solutions or ideas about how to manage this
>type of project. My gut feeling is to have all information about the
>project somewhere in cyberspace so that everyone can access the latest
>information as required. But this brings up the questions of:

>1) How to organise checking in and out of drawings if people working in
>different time zones overlap?

Time zones should not make a difference and must be taken out of the equation.

Organization depends on those things for which each team is individually
responsible. When I work on large jobs with many players, it is imperative that
each one has a defined area that is "theirs" with all other data brought in as
an Xref from others, so any single plan was a jigsaw puzzle of plan drawings.

From a project organization perspective, you have two ways to deal with things:
A "top down" model and a "distributed" model.

In a top-down model, all files would go to one person, who would be responsible
for collating them into sheets and sending them to clients and other
consultants.

In a distributed model, all files would be published to a central storage
location, and people would get files on an as-needed (or regularly scheduled)
basis.

You can combine the two successfully as well, so all files are push/pulled to a
central location but one team is responsible for sending/receiving files to the
end client.

My approach would be:

(a) Forget about trying to make everything concurrent. Until we get Gigabit
speeds to Singapore, the Internet is simply too slow to allow it to happen.

(b) Each office has their own independent project folder and set of DWG files on
their server.

(c) Each office will publish their files to a central FTP site or Buzzsaw which
then allows other team members to go out and grab files as required.

(d) Each office will pull files from other teams as required to be referenced in
their work. As files are repeatedly pulled into the project folder, they replace
the existing files from the previous day. In this manner, all remotely-designed
files are updated and slipstreamed into the current Working folder of files.

(e) Create a daily schedule which push/pulls files to and from the FTP site.

>(2) If all the information on the job is in some spot in cyberspace so it
>can be accessed, how can it be backed up?

With each office having independent sets of dwg files, and if each office has
its own backup plan, then you have multiple backups and excellent redundancy.

>3) How would all this work with the sheetset manager?

It may be possible that each office would have their own sheets (and sheet set)
for their own work. Each office would publish the sheet set to the other offices
for their use.

If not, you need to dedicate one office/team as the primary, through which all
data flows and who creates the final sheets.

For that office, opening up any sheet would have their work plus the latest from
the other teams for that day. As files are updated from the other teams the
sheet updates through the Xrefs.

That primary office can create daily publishings of PDFs/DWFs that can be then
transmitted back to the other sites via FTP for review.

>3) How can we go about issuing drawings etc to different clients? Can they
>log on to a specified location and download?

Yes. You just need to strategize on who needs what information, and build one or
more FTP sites for those organizations. You can configure a single FTP site with
groups of users, so that people have access to specific subfolders as required.

And/or you can also create a separate FTP site which holds only DWF or PDF files
for end client use.

>Does anyone have any suggestions or maybe have worked in a similar situation
>and have some solutions?

Yup. Planning is absolutely key. You need to designate at least one person in
each office who is responsible for handling file communication between players.

You also must have that plan documented, in case that person gets hit by a bus,
hits the PowerBall, marries a supermodel or some other thing that would take
them out of commission for an extended period of time.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5557957@discussion.autodesk.com...

nonsense


I've actually worked with people in other countries where time zones
interferred with work-flow and have had informal discussion with
manufacturers and software developers who also have time related management
problems when outsourcing. Its can become a real problem when somebody
responsible has to be awake and at work at 3am to take care of some minor
issues that everybody expects to be resolved with a "timely response." I
nominate Matt Stachoni. 🙂

One solution I found helpful was a freeware reference tool called
TimeTraveler [1] which supports different styles of multiple clocks set to
different time zones labeled according to user's requirements each or all of
which can be dragged around and oriented into a place on the desktop where
the clocks are not intrusive to work-flow when called from the task tray.
One clock for example can be labeled as "FTP Server: London" which a CAD
operator can easily look at and do the quick arithmetic to determine the
difference in time from his or her location.

TimeTraveler is a good start as a reference tool but doesn't solve some
other issues I've had to cope with. Concerns like time settings on servers
located in different time zones can convolute work-flow and pose conflicts
for those who are concerned about auditing, accountability and coordination.

I've thought of using ASP.NET to develop a solution that will run on the web
and sync with the desktop(s) as surmised but you probably know how that
goes...

<%= Clinton Gallagher
NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://clintongallagher.metromilwaukee.com/

[1] http://www.ultrapico.com/TimeTraveler.htm

[Anonymous]

On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:11:16 +0000, clintonG wrote:

>"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
>news:5557957@discussion.autodesk.com...
>
>nonsense
>
>
>I've actually worked with people in other countries where time zones
>interferred with work-flow and have had informal discussion with
>manufacturers and software developers who also have time related management
>problems when outsourcing. Its can become a real problem when somebody
>responsible has to be awake and at work at 3am to take care of some minor
>issues that everybody expects to be resolved with a "timely response." I
>nominate Matt Stachoni. 🙂

Thanks, but I already have a craptastic job 🙂

In the scenario I discussed, timezone wasn't an issue from a file standpoint
because everyone is publishing to the FTP site on their own time, and likewise
pulling down files on their own time. This push/pull operation can be scheduled
to happen after hours (local time). As long as it's regularly done on a daily
basis, the most any plotted sheet is out of whack with reality is 24 hours.

I considered support issues that require actual human to human contact were out
of the original poster's scope. With the culture clash involved with the various
contries, time zone was probably the least of the problems.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com