Hello All,
We have been using a single project placed in the top folder where are drawings are stored with no workspace assigned and we do not use Vault currently. Meaning 1 project with 500 jobs under it. We started using Inventor many, many years ago and our industry grew very fast making learning better ways always get put aside to get the jobs done. Now we have a moment to breath and want to get things taken care of. Up until Inventor 2012 this never really gave us a problem. In 2012 we found a work around, but in 2013 I get constant errors about files not being in the active project especially since we have started using the Routed Systems module.
Obviously I want those to go away and one way I'm concidering doing that is to start creating one project file for each job in the job's folder with the workspace pointed to that folder. I've done some testing and it works pretty good with no errors.
Now, It's not uncommon for me to be working on 5+ jobs at a time and we also work very close with our fabricators meaning at any given time someone could walk thrugh the door and ask a question about a job I worked on 6 months ago. If I can only have one project open at a time, what is the best practice for not having to shut down what I'm working on to verify a dimension or something?
We have enough horsepower in our computers to run 3 instances of Inventor which I have tested and can have different projects going if needs be, but can be a little "buggy" with some files already being accessed by the first instance.
I'm curious how others may handle a situation like this. Or have some more experience with projects and can offer some advice. We also are going to pay Autodesk to come in for a couple days and look at our setup as well as teach us some things. I know we need a new dedicated sever moving forward. "Does anyone know of any higher function" books I could get? I know how to draw a square and the user interface, I want to know iLogic, Projects, Vault implementation, etc.
Thanks for reading I know it's a long post,
Ray
You might start research by looking for past classes on these topics here
What is the folder structure under you Single Project workflow?
The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel
Thanks JD, I'll check out the University and see if there is anything in our area coming up.
Folder Structer is:
Company Server
-Engineering Partition
-Jobs Folder (old project file location)
-Job001
-Inventor Files Folder (New proposed project file location and workspace)
-Engine Folder (holds iam of engine and engine parts)
-Steel Folder (holds Structure iam's and beam ipt's)
-Pipe (routed systems and misc pipe components, valves)
-MainArrangement.iam
-Project file .ipj
-Other Folder (CAd Stuff)
-Other Folder (customer specs)
-Job002
-Job003
-etc
I meant on-line classes
http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=classes
The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel
Thanks, I noticed that after I went to the site and had a look around. I just signed up on the site and am looking at the past ones right now. Lot of information there.