Upgrading Old Projects

[mmiles]

This is an old one that I would like to reopen:

What is the basic thinking behind upgrading a project to a new version of Revit?

Is it still common thought to leave projects alone if they are in the Construction Documents phase? What if a project is in the Construction Admin phase - and project information is being updated, revised, and added to? Should an older version be maintained, still?

The latest and greatest is getting such positve attention, I am wondering if the transition to a new version of the product has been made smoother. Can you please comment on the idea that I am thinking of upgrading a project that is in the CA phase because I find it cumbersome to have to close one version of Revit and open another when I jump back and forth between projects (on a dailiy basis)?

thanks.

[DaveP]

We've always upgraded ANY project that's being worked on.
We tried for a while to "not bother" upgrading old projects, but found it was too much of a mess to remember which projects needed which version. Sooner or later, some - shall we say - unsophisticated user is going to open the project in the wrong version and either watch it upgrade for 25 minutes before asking what's going on, or save the upgraded version.

That's pretty much what my summers have become lately. Installing the latest version, training everyone on it, and upgrading files. Now that we are working more & more with engineers it Revit, it becomes more complicated to make sure that your consultants have the latest version install & trained up on so everyone can upgrade at the same time. Especially with the improvements in MEP that I've heard about, I would think people are going to want to jump on 2011 sooner (and on a wider range of projects) than previously.

Bottom Line: We've never had a problem upgrading a project, but we have had problems keeping two versions going.

[cliff collins]

One very important factor in upgrading is, if you have Structural and MEP engineers
in Revit 2010, then they will have to uopgrade to 2011 as well.

Architects are usually more eager to upgrade than the engineers, in our experience,
especially on projects which are well into DD/CD phase.

If you can get the engineers to upgrade, and Revit MEP especially looks like a strong reason to do so, then by all means do so.

We tend to keep jobs which are in CD phase in the current version, and begin all new jobs
after an established date in the new version, and we let all the consultants know in advance.

cheers

[twiceroadsfool]

Barring issues with Consultants not wanting or being able to upgrade, or issues with foreign consultants who havent gotten the new version yet, our procedure goes like this:

Are you within 10 days of a major deadline? if not, it gets upgraded. Period.

[cliff collins]

That's a pretty strong word--"period".

Remember, other firms may have different procedures for upgrading projects.

just a jab.

sipping some more Kool-aid.

cheers

[mmiles]

The autodesk folks convinced me that there should be no reason not to upgrade. so....my project in Construction admin - where i constatntly reference the model and issue sketches and clarifications on a weekly, sometimes daily basis - was upgraded from 2009. So far, it crashed 4 times before I gave it to Autodesk to upgrade, and since the upgrade, i get fatal errors everytime I select a family. So far, I have found two reasons....three if you count the time lost over the 5 days this problem has spanned.

I have to admit, I wanted to upgrade 'cause I grew tired of opening and closing different versions of the program. Live and learn!

[DaveP]

The autodesk folks convinced me that there should be no reason not to upgrade.
I would tend to agree with that. With the exception of Revit 2010.
We found that 2010 itself (regardless of the model) too considerably more memory than previous versions (thank you, ribbon) and models which were getting close to but not over the memory limit in 2009 had a lot of issues in 2010.
So now we're giving people Windows 7-64 in order to use 8 Gigs. Generally working OK, but we've had several instances where Revit just won't start. Probably because "2010 is not officially supported on the Windows 7 Operating System"

[twiceroadsfool]

That's a pretty strong word--"period".

Remember, other firms may have different procedures for upgrading projects.

just a jab.

sipping some more Kool-aid.

cheers

Of course different firms have different procedures, isnt that what the OP asked for? I gave him ours. :)

1. Is there a consultant issue with upgrading (Y/N)
2. Are you within ten work days of a deadline (Y/N)
3. (Are there any systems on the project team that havent received the deployment yet, including any downstream apps that talk with Revit? (Y/N).

Three "no's" = Upgrade. Period. :)

[DaveP]

No -
4.) Has everyone been trained on the new version (Y/N)
?

[cliff collins]

Yes, Dave.

5. Project Template upgraded?
6. Family Content, esp. custom families, upgraded?
7. Project parameters?
8. Everyone's hardware ready for new graphics features?
etc.

Just some "minor details" to consider, eh?

cheers.......

[twiceroadsfool]

Yes, Dave.

5. Project Template upgraded?
6. Family Content, esp. custom families, upgraded?
7. Project parameters?
8. Everyone's hardware ready for new graphics features?
etc.

Just some "minor details" to consider, eh?

cheers.......

All of that happens before any of our project teams are even asking the question, so in so far as theyre concerns, its a non issue. In fact, IT doesnt even issue the deployment until thats done, since you cant path to a template and a library thats not there. Rendering 5, 6, and 7 a non issue. Hardware- again- is decided on before the project teams ever face the question. New versions are tested on our different hardware configs before it ever gets in the project teams hands.

Training- same deal. The users saw it, the changes, the changes to the template, the changes to the content, etc, before it showed up on their machines.

But ill rephrase my above post to make everyone smile.

"Once it becomes an option for the project (thereby stipulating to the above), then:

1. Is there a consultant issue with upgrading (Y/N)
2. Are you within ten work days of a deadline (Y/N)
3. (Are there any systems on the project team that havent received the deployment yet, including any downstream apps that talk with Revit? (Y/N).

Three "no's" = Upgrade. Period. "

[cliff collins]

So, actually you list IS longer than 3 items.....thanks for clarifying.

cheers.......

[twiceroadsfool]

Not for deciding if the PROJECT gets upgraded, its not.

Youre welcome.