How do you manage you issues and revisions?

[Anonymous]

I was wondering how everyone manages their submittals and revisions. Do you create a new file every time you re-issue a drawing or do you manage it in a single file? Do you carry an entire project (with design development issues with the client to city submittals to construction documents) in a single file? Is there a way to freeze a layout book so that it is always at the state it was when you submitted it? Then how do you do a revision while keeping a previous submittal? Thanks

[Anonymous]

All issues are printed to pdf. One file and milestone and daily backups.

[Anonymous]

Hal9000 wrote:
"Is there a way to freeze a layout book so that it is always at the state it was when you submitted it?" ....

Don't think so in AC, but...
GS, Maybe lockability on file or lock in publisher (kinda like layer locks) but with a note field for why, for those specific pdfs as submitted would help?

Hal 9000 wrote:
"Then how do you do a revision while keeping a previous submittal?"
As a "saved as" would be one way.

Each revision issue has the number of the revision, (ie 1,2,3...etc) associated with each and ever item called for in the revision, usually in a "triangle" associated with "cloud"; with notation on the request form for re-submittal where the item requested is located on plan.
Larry

[Anonymous]

We also use PDF's and keep a history copy with detailed notes as to the changes that were made to the document. We also keep PDF's of all plans in progress just as reference tools etc. It comes in handy. If there is a major enough change that the notes would be to extensive we have occasionally done a file>save as and then just renamed the old document with the name and date and archived it.

[Laura Yanoviak]

We have 3 dedicated layers:

A-Anno-Revs for revision deltas
A-Anno-Revc for revision clouds (current)
A-Anno-Revc.NPLT for revision clouds (previous)

All revision annotation is placed on the Layout. All revision deltas go on the first layer, and will always plot. Clouds for the current revision go on the second layer, and all clouds of previous submittals go on the third, so there is a record of revision clouds, but only the current clouds will plot.

The PDF of the Layout becomes the record of the submittal. The Project file can be archived at each submittal if the Project Architect deems it necessary.

[Anonymous]

Here we are at revision 11 - almost 12 and this is still not addressed in ArchiCAD! I have written on this from time to time, and I still believe we should not have to pay $100s for CADIMAGES excellent revision manager given the price point of ArchiCAD.
This is one of the many issues I believe is going to hurt Graphisoft's future sales when people evaluate different packages. (Some competitors are almost up to a semi-automated procedure!).

Anyhow, winges aside:
As per previous posts, we only keep PDFs (unless there is a major update - then we may keep an old *.pln file in an "Archive" folder.
Keep revision annotations in the layout book. Believe me it is a nightmare if you do it in views, as you have to keep updating layer combinations.
Finally - what to do with revisions in the drawing number in your title block? For sketch design drawings where we do not use cross referencing tags we add the revision letter to the drawing number (say A100-A). This is good as we get the revision in the PDF name automatically. It is unworkable for construction docs as you end up with the revision letter in your tags! So for construction docs we have to manually put letters on each sheet, and edit them accordingly. We also have to edit the PDF names (you can do this before publishing in publisher) to add the revision letter to each drawing name.
Ironically (and this has been posted before) GS gave us three variables we could use on layout schedules, but did NOT add these to the Autotext entries(!) It may seem like a small omission but it was a real pain, as it would have given us some ability to manage revisions better than the nothing we have now. I am not holding my breath for GS to address this as they missed it in 11 (from 10).

[Anonymous]

We archive our plp files at each milestone (end of phase or revision issuance). This is in addition to having pdfs of all the sheets in the archive as well (you paid for that mega giga hard drive right?).

I tried doing revision deltas and bubbles in the layout book first but it became a hassle because 1) you can't save a "layer state" in the layout book (so how can you manage to only show the bubbles for a given revision?) and 2) If you issue a sketch or some other layout size (requiring a new layout for the same information) you lose your record of changes.

So now I am doing it in the viewmap which is a bear on the layer states, especially since I am issuing revisions sequenced by sheet and not as a set globally (i.e. the first revision on each sheet is 1 even if you already issued some other sheets for an addendum with rev 1 weeks ago) Don't ask me why. This also has the problem that you might have a delta that shows up in multiple layouts but at different scales if you are using the same drawing for different scaled drawings (highly likely).

So what is a boy supposed to do? That is why I came on this board looking for answers...

[Da3dalus]

Don't get too wound up in automating this. There simply isn't a miracle answer, and if you worry about it too much, you'll end up with an overly complicated process that everyone does wrong. KISS.

Archive PLNs at specific benchmarks, keep PDFs, and add all of your revision clouds and deltas in the layout. Only the last revision is clouded, typically (everything has exceptions). Keeping revision dates consistent among sheets has always worked for me (R-5 is Owner changes on May 11, no matter what sheet or discipline you're looking at). There are plenty of more numbers, and a good logbook (preferably in Excel) is worth the time.

The architectural profession has never rectified the relationship between letter-size sketch drawings and full sheet revisions. I just keep them separate. If time allows (and it usually doesn't), I'll do a final reissue of affected sheets with a new revision number to incorporate the SK's. The AIA should probably take the initiative (maybe they have?), and develop a good universal construction administration system that works with most modern software. Maybe include it in the NCS!

[Anonymous]

Da3dalus wrote:
Don't get too wound up in automating this. There simply isn't a miracle answer, and if you worry about it too much, you'll end up with an overly complicated process that everyone does wrong. KISS.

I agree completely. Especially as the move to a more integrated process (BIM, IPD, Virtual Building or what have you) brings a whole new set of issues.

[Thomas Holm]

Bier wrote:
Hal9000 wrote:
"Is there a way to freeze a layout book so that it is always at the state it was when you submitted it?" ....

Don't think so in AC, but...

Well, there is, sorta... Not effortless, but possible.
You can duplicate a layout set in the layout book (just alt-drag it in the Navigator). If you want to preserve the original, set all layout-placed views/drawings to Manual update in the Drawing selection settings. Then duplicate the master file(s) used too, and re-map the layout set copy to the new master so you can edit it.

This way the old layout set is preserved - unless you manually Update all it's views.

It's much easier to
a) keep PDFs of all released drawing sets.
b) duplicate the .pln at milestones. (zip it for safety).
c) archive a final .pla at project finish.