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ADR 2012 w AutoCAD Mechanical 2011, markups, digital signatures etc.

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Message 1 of 2
Erik.Gifford
681 Views, 1 Reply

ADR 2012 w AutoCAD Mechanical 2011, markups, digital signatures etc.

We're looking at using ADR 2012 as a tool to communicate markups and approvals (using digital signatures for the approvals) of AutoCAD Mechanical drawings.  The current scenario is one where a few designs & associated drawings are originating in AutoCAD Mech, being converted to .bmp or .pdf, emailed, printed, marked up by hand, scanned, emailed back, process repeats, drawing is sent back again, printed, signed (approved), scanned, emailed back.  The ineffiencies are obvious and there is currently no way to confirm / prove that the approval is genuine.  With our primary CAD package not being an Autodesk product the thought is ADR will allow us to clean up this process.  Here is where the questions arise.  From those using ADR to markup & approve drawings, what is your process?  Any roadblocks or things that tripped you up?  What would actually seem to be the biggest for us is the "culture" change in process where no pen and paper are involved.  In effect this will be a sort of pilot project for going digital with our markup and approval process in our main CAD & PLM system in the near future, so even though the actual procedure would be different, I want to get this right to essentially prove it can be done without pen and paper.  Here are my questions:

  •  How are you establishing a digital certificate to prove the authenticity of the applied digital signature?  Are you using someone like Verisign or the capability included with WIndows Server?
  •  Is the AutoCAD user converting the dwg file to dwf or dwfx to send for review & approval, or is the reviewer / approver just opening the dwg using ADR with TruVue doing the conversion in the background?
  •  How are you naming and storing the dwfx files that have an applied digital signature indicating approval?  For instance if I approve drawing ABC123.dwg revision A by reviewing, digitally signing and sending back ABC123.dwfx, what happens when rev B rolls through?  Unless I name the dwfx file differently, I'd have two different files (rev A and rev B) by the same name, each with an applied digital signature.  If I overwrite the rev A dwfx with rev B, my digital signature evidence of who actually approved rev A is lost.  Granted the most recent rev is what we're working to, but we may have to keep the digital equivalent of a paper trail in some cases.  We're not using a PLM system for this files, simply folders on a Windows server.
  • Do you have the approver use the text box function to apply the text of their name and date in the approval block on the dwfx file along with the digital signature?
  •  How efficient / effective has using ADR in this manner proven to be?  Does it take less time?  Fewer headaches?

Thanks for any input.

 

Regards,

 

Erik

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Message 2 of 2
Marla_S
in reply to: Erik.Gifford

Hi Erik,

 

I'm also interested in whatever answers you get to this question. My company's digital signature solution can provide one of the crucial elements to keeping the workflow you describe paperless. I'd be curious to know if this is the only workflow that requires signed/seal drawings in your company, or if there are others like it that come from different programs (SharePoint, for example).

 

Best,

Marla

marlas@arx.com

Marla Schuchman
Marketing Manager, AEC
ARX

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