File Management On A Network


4hotshoez
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We have multiple computer locations in the office and out of the office. Is there any recommendations for managing access to common files like projects, catalogs, templates or whatever I would not want to duplicate or miss by relocating to another computer?

 

Please advise.

 

Todd

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The biggest issue with sharing projects on a network is preventing multiple people from working on the same files at the same time.

 

I would use one of the many software tools out there to manage your files.

 

Search for "Version Control", "Revision Management", "Configuration Management", "Product Data Management". There are many software tools out there for managing files in a multiple person office. If it were me I would be using software like this to make sure that the versions of your Chief plans are correctly managed. This software will often also prevent multiple users from editing files at the same time.

 

While Chief has a file locking mechanism to help with this, it is up to each individual to ensure that it is turned on.

 

A manual process can work as well. For example have a separate external drive for each project and then changes to that project are only done on that drive. If someone else needs to make a change they track down the project drive borrow it for awhile to make the changes and then return it. Kind of cumbersome, but it could work, if your people have good discipline.

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 if your people have good discipline

 

In my experience in offices I wouldn't count on this

 

a friend just did a presentation at his office on how to properly fill out a form

he gave the presentation because way too many people were making way to may mistakes

 

one day later and two people and two mistakes ....

 

Lew

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This is always going to be a problem unless Chief is made to be a Network Application with File Check-out and Locking capabilities.

 

For purposes of collaboration with different engineering & building disciplines I simply give them a copy with all layers locked except the layers that they will be working on.  From time to time, I copy their Layers into my current Plan and give them a new copy to work on.

 

You have to be careful to copy just the correct layers, but it does provide a way of having multiple users working on the "same" project.

 

During this process, you will have several different Plans, but they will all basically be the same - and in the end they are all merged into a single Plan.  You should never give 2 users access to the same Plan - unless you enjoy seeing one of them overwrite the other user's work.  ;)

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Joe:

 

interesting about "locking layers"

 

haven't tested the concept for awhile

 

but many versions ago I found that Chief would ignore the locks and make changes

IOW I would give Chief a task and in doing that task Chief would make changes that I wasn't expecting

 

in particular, moving walls around - hence my continuous plea for wall locks

 

no, we don't need to get into a debate about wall locks

 

just expressing a concern that while layer locks can prevent a user from making changes

Chief is not restricted by those locks

 

secondly, can't the other user unlock those layers if they want to ???

 

just trying to understand ???

 

Lew

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Lew,

 

Yes - any user can unlock or lock layers as they wish.  But if one of my consultants did that they won't be my consultant for long.  The bottom line is that when I incorporate their work into my Plan, I only copy their layers.  Any changes that they make to layers that they aren't supposed to will simply be discarded.

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We use software source control systems to manage our source code, library content, sample plans, web content and other things.

 

Two of the most respected source control systems are free and are perfect for managing Chief files. They do require some effort to learn, but the rewards are worth the effort.

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Most source control systems work great on remote systems. They are used all the time to collaborate on projects where the people are in many different countries. In fact one of the more well known ones calle Perforce was set up so that you could work remotely at dail up speeds. I used to use it all the time when doing development when I was working remotely when all I had was a dial up connection. Of course this is all old school stuff, but it is also very reliable.

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