Maintaining Standard Models Through Version Updates

[Liamthanks]

Hi all,

This is my current situation - I've recently joined a project home builder and am now looking after the ArchiCAD template and standard models (ie. Standard Designs). We are in the process of moving to V20 after being on V18 for a number of years, however this company has models that are drawn back in versions as early as V14. In the past, the companies I have worked for have updated all their standard models up to their current working version, however my current workplace does not. Over the years many things change with designs and standards, and these are not being reflected in the earlier drawings, resulting in the drawings requiring modification every time they are used.

I am looking for some feedback from the online community as to how I should approach this situation. My argument is that I believe all the standard models that are in circulation should be updated and drawn to match the current version being used. Obviously this would require a heavy investment of time and energy to do, which equals $$$. I am trying to have all my facts on hand before I approach the manager to discuss my proposal, however I am already preempting a refusal due to the amount of work required. I work in an older environment where my colleagues (including my manager), are not familiar nor trained well with the program, so trying to relay this information is difficult.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to any feedback the group has.

Liam.

[Barry Kelly]

Hi Liam,
I am not your Drafting Manager (but I may well be your CAD support if you are the Liam I am thinking of).
There is a pretty amazing coincidence happening if you are not who I think you are.

Whether you are or not I know exactly the situation you are in.
Yes there can be many hundreds of standard models, created over the years in various versions of Archicad.
And standard specifications change over that time so some of the content may be outdated.
And yes it can be a very expensive exercise to update all of the files, especially if some are not used so often.

I used to be a Drafting Manager, and my method back then and what I believe should be happening now is this.
Rather than update all files every time there is a version change or specification update do this.
If you need to use a standard plan that is an old version or needs updating, then make those changes and save it back as the standard model.
Now complete the job using that standard model.
You would have had to make these changes for the job anyway so it shouldn't be delaying the job any longer than it would have been.
And now you have an updated standard ready for the next time you need it - making the next job faster.
Rather than making the same changes for every job again and again.

This way the popular standards get updated and the ones that aren't use don't.

That is my view but your Drafting Manager may see it differently.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Hey Liam

I gotta agree with Barry on this one!
With one exception! What ever job tracking/database software you guys use,
get a report of the most common standard models sold over the last 18months.
That will give you a start point and also highlight any(many) models that can be retired!
You'll probably find this will reduce the time frame to 1/5th or less!
The bonus of it also, is it's good little design trend investigation too!

[Liamthanks]

Hi Barry,

I believe you are correct on that front and I am the same person you are thinking of. Your suggestion is what I believe to be the most practical outcome too - updating the best selling models to the latest version. I'm proposing to create a report on the most popular models and estimate on the time taken to update these models. I just wanted to make sure that my thought process was in the right direction.

I'm glad to hear that we are on the same page on this topic.

Liam.

[Liamthanks]

Kristian wrote:
Hey Liam

I gotta agree with Barry on this one!
With one exception! What ever job tracking/database software you guys use,
get a report of the most common standard models sold over the last 18months.
That will give you a start point and also highlight any(many) models that can be retired!
You'll probably find this will reduce the time frame to 1/5th or less!
The bonus of it also, is it's good little design trend investigation too!

Hey Kristian!

Thanks for the feedback mate. It all made sense to me, I guess I just needed some reassurance. Hopefully I can convince the boss that its a necessity to do. Will make everything much more consistent and streamline the process I think.

[Anonymous]

Best way to convince em mate, is to put $$ to it!
Do a rough, low assessment of how much each standard takes or how much effin' around is involved using the old standard models, multiply that by jobs per week, then multiply it by the average designer/draftee wage!!
That dollar figure is financial Halloween for any upper management!!