Revit central / local files for multidisciplinary company HVAC/P/S/E

[Anonymous]

Hello Revit users, Thank you for stopping by,

Would you please give me a good recommendation for the best practice to create a Central / local files for a multidisciplinary building technology company ?

• Should I create a unique central file for each disciplin, so each department wont touch or change other sectors work? (Electricity, ventilation, heat, plumbing, security, ).
• If so I am gonna have about 5 Central files , located on a network driver and every central file will include Revit Mep link files which they are central files, "This point is a bit unclear"
• Should I make a local file on each PC for users ? or let users launch Revit and locate their disciplin central file? (which I'v heard is a no no)

Is their any document online which can guide me through this coordination?

Thank you in advance.

[RobDraw]

This topic has been discussed many times in these forums. Have a look around for the threads.

In order to take advantage of all that Revit has to offer, everything should be in a single model. There are a number of good (and not so good) reasons to split up a model but doing so just to prevent others from editing things that they shouldn't be is not one of them. Drop that reasoning as that is a personnel issue, not a Revit one. Multiple model projects take up a lot more time to maintain and coordinate. If it is at all possible to have a single model, that would be the way to go.

[hmunsell · Accepted solution]

Check thru the Autodesk Online Learning page also, lots of good videos from pervious years Autodesk University's. on the subject.

That said... a lot of it depends on the size of your project and involvement of other disciplines. if your doing a 2500 SQFT house/office, everything can probably be in one model. if your doing a 250000 SQFT building you probably want to split things up.

The policy at my company is to keep all our disciplines (Arch, Mech/Plumb/FP, Elec, Struc, Process, Interiors, Comm/ESS) in separate models.

• it makes it easier for different disciplines to run there respective analysis programs if there in separate models.
• Each discipline links in the other disciplines Central models as needed.  in our case we use Project Base Point to Project Base Point.
• we have a custom application launcher that does a lot of the work for us, but Revit's Launch screen has a pretty good way to manage the Central/Local files. in the Options window(File > Options) there is a file location tab where you can set your Default Path for Users Files. all of our Locals are set to the users C drive (C:\Temp\Local...). when you open a file, select the Central model and make sure Create new Local is checked. the local will be made in the path defined in the Options.

id send you my Project Setup instructions for my users, but it is very customized to our methodology.

[RobDraw]

Size of a project is only one consideration when deciding to split up projects and doing so by trade creates a gap between trades. Splitting by building area is a more functional way of doing it from a Revit point of view. How do you coordinate between trades? I'm not talking about physical coordination. I'm talking about equipment/devices that involve more than one trade.

[hmunsell · Accepted solution]

Good point, there are a lot of considerations when making that decision (project size, complexity, subconsultants, number of users in a model, etc…).  Our projects are usually quite large and complex so splitting the models by discipline makes sense for us. There are some disciplines that share models, HVAC/Plumb/FP all work in the same model. But, Struc and Elec would each have their own models.

By, "How do you coordinate between trades?" are you referring to , for example, Elec & Mechanical where Mechanical equipment has an Electrical connector?  This is solved in my office thru the use of schedules and coordination between the respective disciplines. Each template is set up with discipline specific Coordination views and Schedules that “Include Elements in Links”. This allows the discipline to coordinate with each other easily.

[pkolarik · Accepted solution]

We have each discipline having its own starter project/central file for every project. The main reason is for file size. There are other, secondary, reasons too but that's the main one.  And with tools available online, maintaining 6 different central files for the office is not a big deal.

We link in every other discipline's central file into our central file and there's been absolutely no issues with coordination / collaboration /etc., etc., etc.

[_psites · Accepted solution]

What I've seen done, and prefer, is to have a model for each major "section": Architectural, Structural, and MEP. Each one has the other two linked in. This allows for easy coordination and avoids any issues with cross-contamination. 

There are a few instances where this is less than ideal, such as with a landscaping or lighting model from a lighting designer. In these cases, those models are linked in the Architectural model, not individually.

[RobDraw]

You're welcome.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I didn't get it.

what kind of traides ?