Network server, sharing files?

[ChiefProspective]

We are a design build office considering purchasing a new drafting software, and it seems as though Chief has almost everything we are looking for. 

 

From searching here and looking over prior threads, I understand that the program doesn't have support for multiple users working on files that are stored on a network server.

 

If you have multiple users who need to work on a file (not at the same time), how do you keep track of the modifications? 

 

Are you using a third party software program to control the file locking and copying the file from the server down to the local machine's hard drive and copy the modified version back up?

 

Looking for ideas on what real people are finding works for them in an office environment.

All of our people are using Windows now, but there is some interest in moving to the Mac for on site work, so an ideal solution would work on both platforms.

[DavidJPotter]

I think you should call Chief Architect Sales. Most of us are single license users. There are some users here that use multiple seats (license instances), the thing you want to do is to have only one user (license) operating on a single file per unit of time (two or more users cannot open and alter a file simultaneously, if that is what you are wondering). You can have a network server for files and access that file from different PC's but only one at a time (not two or more at a time). This is my opinion and you should verify this with Chief Architect Sales.

 

DJP

[johnny]

I might get some flak for this, but I am not sure CA is good in a multi-person collaboration type work environment.  I had a multi-person environment I tried to bring CA into and it didn't work well for many reasons.

 

Our main application in our office is something other than CA, but perhaps the type of projects you do and your needs can work for CA....generally speaking there is no built-in support for multiple users.

 

CA is worth having in your office though - you can quickly create presentations for clients.

[dshall]

We are a design build office considering purchasing a new drafting software, and it seems as though Chief has almost everything we are looking for. 

 

From searching here and looking over prior threads, I understand that the program doesn't have support for multiple users working on files that are stored on a network server.

 

If you have multiple users who need to work on a file (not at the same time), how do you keep track of the modifications? 

 

Are you using a third party software program to control the file locking and copying the file from the server down to the local machine's hard drive and copy the modified version back up?

 

Looking for ideas on what real people are finding works for them in an office environment.

All of our people are using Windows now, but there is some interest in moving to the Mac for on site work, so an ideal solution would work on both platforms.

Use drop box to share files. I use it all the time for EVERY FILE ON MY COMPUTER.

I use the MAC and very happy with it. I used PC two years ago, both work very well.

[rlackore]

I work in a small design office. We use Chief in a networked environment with all our job files stored on a local server. The only time we transfer a file to one of our work stations is if the server is down for maintenance.

 

Chief has it's own file locking capability (Preferences>General>File Management>File Locking>Use File Locking), so you can easily prevent more than one user opening up the same file.

 

There is no automatic method for tracking modifications, though Chief has a backup feature that allows you to revert to prior versions by loading an automatically archived version of the file.

 

Chief has so many tricks, techniques, and work-arounds that it can be very problematic to share the development of a model between multiple users. We try to keep each project with one user, though this isn't always possible; when we do hand off a project to someone else we save the prior user's file in an archive folder for reference. If the project is deep into development there is more time lost in the transition between uses than there was when we were AutoCAD/Revit based; this alone is a strong incentive not to pass the project around the office. I also believe this makes it much more difficult to "enforce" office and drafting standards. Our printed output is much more varied than it was with AutoCAD.

 

There is no reason you can't succeed with Chief in a small office networked environment, though If your office paradigm is to frequently shuffle projects between users, then you may find it doesn't fit your needs.