Allow sharing spec among vault projects

[dave.wolfe]

Right now, Pipings specs can allow be stored in a project folder which makes a lot of duplicates if you have standardized specs. Please allow pointing the spec sheet folder path to any folder (inside or outside) of Vault. Some companies also don't want the pipe specs to get copied to the local users machine.

[RSFAdsk]

Hi Dave, I agree it makes sense to consider allowing a spec sheet folder to be specified outside of the project. Something like spec library. However, I was thinking that the file would still need to be local and exist somewhere in the vault workspace, even if not in every project folder.

For the case where we do not want pipe specs copied to the local machine at all, I wonder if you are thinking that the files never need to be managed? Or is it important that the spec file does not exist anywhere on the local machine.

[dave.wolfe]

In most cases, companies use Vault in a mixed environment. Meaning, that while Vault is used with Plant, users still have access to shared network drives and folders. Some companies don't want the local computer to have a copy of the specs.  This would be an edge case, and in retrospect, as long as the specs are outside of the project, it wouldn't be a big performance hit.  I'm sure there are a few companies though that would prefer the users not have a copy of the specs on the local machine for security sake.

[asmeltzer]

This functionality works until you add the project to vault, then you can no longer specify your spec directory outside the project directory.

[Kevin_Gallagher]

This needs to be addressed, it is not just about specs on the users machine. it is also about updating specs across projects. which at this point in Vault is nearly impossible.