Using Teamwork as a standard practice.

[Anonymous]

We have decided to begin using teamwork as a standard practice on ALL projects. This decision has been based on the tremendous performance improvements I have seen in AC 8.1. There are now no significant delays in signing in, changing workspace, sending and receiving, etc. compared to opening and saving a solo project. The only added overhead is (obviously) the requirement to define the workspace.

The advantages we see are greater security against data loss (multiple backups & local drafts) and more administrative control of standards (having to sign in with with exclusive access to change attributes.

I am posting this both to provoke feedback and discussion as well as to promote the idea to others and respond to any questions people might have.

Any takers?

[Djordje]

Matthew wrote:
I am posting this both to provoke feedback and discussion as well as to promote the idea to others and respond to any questions people might have.

Excellent opening, Matthew!

Please all - this is the right place. Eric is on his paternity leave, but other people do have extensive TeamWork experience. Please contribute/share!

[James Murray]

Hi Matthew,

We've been using TW as a backup tool for about two years. Copies are a Good Thing™.

Another non-team use is the abilty to sign in as viewer on another machine to run a VR Object, without having to stop work on the documents.

Glad to hear that 8.1 is faster, as that has been a disadvantage with 8.0.

[Aussie John]

a couple of issues (v 8.0)
select a file in plotmaker and asking to be taken back to the original CAD doesnt work (at least with a draft file)

If working from a remote site updating plotfiles always tells me it cant locate the orignal PLP file and have an extra box to click. Trouble is the dialogue comes up in the background and have to select BG Archcad to find it.

I would like more options with the teamwork so layer combo can be altered to without exclusiove access.

[__archiben]

matthew

i still don't think that teamwork is as stable and reliable as it could be (i have only mac platform experience).

i am currently trying to put a few thoughts together for graphisoft UK (and failing miserably because i'm pretty busy at the moment - sorry simon). so when i have i'll post back in more detail, however:

• file paths and networking seems to be a biggy: library loading, cache libraries, BGarchicad accessing plp files across a network all have too many 'quirks' if something unexpected happens to that network.

• there seems to be a 'critical mass' to a file (size) at which point some of the elements seem to drop off of the database whilst still displaying on screen. they end up in nobodies workspace until re-assigned. this can take a long time and some organization when combined with the networking/library issue above.

• consistency of team leader privileges, particularly with viewsets, which seem to have their ownership lost and become un-editable when a team mate who created them leaves the job.

• team leader again: i think that the team leader has to have a broader control over attributes to be able to work efficiently. because of the first point, having everybody sign out for the team leader to do something with exclusive access takes too long. i know, i know. you could argue that everything should be assigned and set-up to begin with, but on large, long jobs ongoing development dictates that tweaks need to occur to the project set-up.

[by the way john, you can update layer combs when you are signed-in as team leader (without exclusive access) in 8.1]

don't get me wrong. teamwork does have it's advantages: particularly with file back-ups, and can be fantastic when you are in with exclusive access . . .

i think i need to sit down and write out something a little more tangible . . . as i said, i'll post more on this. i would also be more confident using teamwork as standard practice on smaller files. again, nothing tangible here to give as an example - just instinct and experience (we have had large (between 50 - 150MB) files running in teamwork for over three years now: about archiCAD 6/6.5 to present . . .)

thanks for giving me a prod matthew. (simon - i'll get something to you soon!)
~/archiben

[Richard Morrison]

This is just a question for discussion.

Is there any advantage to using TW as single-person office? Are there any creative applications for it? (e.g. maybe in developing multiple schemes?...I really know nothing about it at this point.)

[Anonymous]

Richard wrote:
This is just a question for discussion.

Is there any advantage to using TW as single-person office? Are there any creative applications for it? (e.g. maybe in developing multiple schemes?...I really know nothing about it at this point.)

You did hit one major advantage. You can create alternate design options for a project and just send and receive changes after the client has approved a scheme. This is actually easier to manage within a single person office. The disadvantage is that any changes that would affect all of the options would have to be made multiple times. Getting an approval needs to happen quickly so as to not maintain multiple drafts.
Others have mentioned the file redundancy, however I will warn that a certain discipline needs to be maintained as people need to sign out, particularly before storing a file. There is no benefit to having a project from a previous version that you cannot get into because someone is still signed in. Also you need to get in the habit of making an archive file at the end of the project. (Good if team-worked or not)

[__archiben]

Richard wrote:
Is there any advantage to using TW as single-person office? Are there any creative applications for it? (e.g. maybe in developing multiple schemes?...I really know nothing about it at this point.)

not really a 'creative' advantage, but a teamworked project can be set to keep back-up copies up to the last 5 modifications (i.e. a 'send and receive' of changes). . .

~/archiben

[James Murray]

Millard wrote:
There is no benefit to having a project from a previous version that you cannot get into because someone is still signed in.

You can always sign in as administrator and save as a solo project, then reshare as necessary. Assuming the renegade Team Members are current with send/receive. If they're not, they need to be summarily glared at. Glaring could also be used to persuade them to sign out. In other words, it's a Standard Practices issue.

...get in the habit of making an archive file at the end of the project. (Good if team-worked or not)

Seconded. If one's libraries looked like ours did five years ago, opening a five-year old project without an archive is a nightmare; you'll never track down all the missing parts.

[Anonymous]

Following is my attempt to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of teamwork from my experience and what I've read so far.


Advantages:

- Mutliple backups.

- Log of time spent on the project (with notes if you can get people to do it).

- Developing alternates with multiple drafts is easier than doing it with layers or multiple solo projects. (Remember that you can sign it to just the area affected by the alternates allowing work to progress on the rest without complications.)

- Administrative control. File attributes can only be altered by signing in as team leader thus making it easier to maintain company standards. Even when everyone knows the password (as we do it) this prevents casual or inadvertant changes.

- For the super user: Allows one person to sign into the same project from multiple computers. I have done this when I needed to set up and run long renderings and fly throughs while also finishing drawings and details.

- Consistency of standard practices. We HAVE to use teamwork on some projects and it is always a problem to get people who are used to working on solo projects to adjust to the routine of sign in, send and receive, change workspace, etc.


Disadvantages:

- People forget to >Send and Receive and/or >Sign Out when they should. (We insist that everyone save a local draft on sign-in, save often, send changes frequently and sign out when they leave. Nevertheless, people sometimes forget )

- File size related reliability problems? I have not experienced this myself. If true it is a serious problem. Any more details Ben? Has anyone else experienced this?

- Remote access from PlotMaker. Is this really better with a solo project?

- Speed issues. These have largely disappeared with 8.1 AFAIK. Sign In, Send and Receive, etc. now take no longer than opening and saving a solo project. The only additional time is selecting the workspace, annotating sent changes, and changing workspaces. I feel that this is no longer really an issue.


This is all can come up with right now. What have I missed?