Standards in File Naming

[Masroor Javid]

Summary: STANDARDizing the DWG File names.

I am interested to get hold of any proposition regarding how we can STANDARDIZE the naming of the DWG files.
One way is to assign a 12 digit name where:
3 Digits refer to the Building or the main context of the project, such as CST for a Custom building, TRM for a Terminal Building etc.
3 Digits refer to the Dicipline such as ARC for Architectural, STA for Statics, etc.
2 Digits for the Phase of the project such as CO for concptual, PR for preliminary, GF for General Final and DF for Detailed Final phase.
3 Digits for the number of the DWG for example 000 up to 099 for Topographical diagrammes; 100-199 for Plan Views, 200-299 for Elevations, 300-399 for Longtitude Sections; 400-499 for Cross Sections; etc.
One digit for the revision of the DWG
Therefore CSTARCGF100a.DWG refers to revision a of a Plan View of the CST bulding in Architectural Disipline and in GF phase.

Any more accurate and easy to use methodes??

[david_peterson]

That's one heck of an in-depth file name.
Do you then re-name the file every time you make a revision? I could see doing this with the plotted pdf's files, but Not sure about the .dwgs.
Personally I'd go more with the Method the Paul Aubin Suggests in his book or with the NCS method.
We use a slightly modified version of the NCS.

[Masroor Javid]

Dear David Peterson,

Are these "Paul Aubin" proposals and the "NCS method" available on the NET?
Can one get hold of these and study them as a main framework for naming the files?

Answering your question I would say: Yes every time a major change is made to the DWG its revisions goes one up: from a, to b, c etc. But the other digits remain the same:
you will have TRMARCGF100a; TRMARCGF100b;TRMARCGF100c etc. which are the various versions of the same drawing. Some believe that each revision needs to also indicate a "formal submission" meaning that keeping versions of the DWG that the drafting person thinks she or he might need in future should not be assigned a revision.

Let me note also that we do not practice producing and keeping PDF files from our DWGs and therefore we file the DWGs as they stand at the end of each project. Keeping PDFs looks a good idea and I am going to discuss it with my couleagues here.

[Chuckyd67]

The National CAD Standard is not free. It costs money, and can be ordered from Amazon, NIBS, AIA, and NCS, to name a few. Of course, the NCS goes much more in depth than just file naming. Hundreds of ardent CAD users, architects, and engineers have spent thousands of hours arriving at a consens for this standard. The current release is 4.0, so it is a living document. If you purchase a copy, you can become a voting member of the standards committee.

Your method of keeping record copies of issued files is frought with danger. The first and most obvious problem is, how do you know that you have the current version? Secondly, but more critical is that the dwg file is still active, and even unintended changes can be made.

The pdf system is popular and has been around quite some time. While not foolproof, it is more difficult to manipulate a pdf than is a dwg. The down side to pdf is that those files can often be larger than the dwg from which it was created.

In my opinion, a better alternative is to create dwf, native to AutoCAD. Most dwf files are less than 1MB in size, and they can still be used for measuring, estimating, and viewing across networds.

To give a quick introduction to file naming, here is a synopsis.

12345.dwg, where

1 = discipline designator
2 = hypen or discipline modifier
3 = sheet type
4 & 5 = sequential numbers.

The NCS further defines discipline designators and sheet types, but this gives you the idea. Our company has modified this procedure to add the project number in front of the discipline designator.