Placing user read/write permissions on central file??

[graphite]

So my coworkers in other disciplines are having a hard time staying out of the architectural central file!!!! (legacy autocad habit, we can just open up this drawing get what we need and jump out) This has caused many issues as it has disabled the architecture team to synchronize to the central as another user with a different platform of revit has opened the central and saved it. Is it possible to place a read/write access permissions on the central file through the properties tab in windows? This way only the BIM manager for that discipline could open the central file?

Or would this mess up the work sharing that occurs between the central file and multiple local files?

Would this affect the way the central file is linked into other central files?

Any guidance would be extremely helpful.

[jsteinhauer]

So my coworkers in other disciplines are having a hard time staying out of the architectural central file!!!!
Fire them!!! Seriously, bring it to your PM's attention, and be sure to explain this issue. If it doesn't stop, a few firings go a long way.

Is it possible to place a read/write access permissions on the central file through the properties tab in windows?
If was in your shoes and really needed some sort of solution, I would ask your IT team to limit access to that folder to specific individuals.

This way only the BIM manager for that discipline could open the central file?
Yes, and then you (BIM Manager) would be the only person who can work on the project.

Or would this mess up the work sharing that occurs between the central file and multiple local files?
Yes, this would totally mess up work sharing for the team. See previous statement.

Would this affect the way the central file is linked into other central files?
No, because others could still see the folder, it would only affect their ability to access the file. Unless you asked your IT team to hide that folder from everyone.

Best of luck to you,
Jeff S.

[graphite]

So have you found a solution to this issue, being able to lock people out yet still retain the worksharing aspect of the central model?




Yes, and then you (BIM Manager) would be the only person who can work on the project.

Yes, this would totally mess up work sharing for the team. See previous statement.

[jsteinhauer]

If was in your shoes and really needed some sort of solution, I would ask your IT team to limit access to that folder to specific individuals.

Our structural department had this done for a while, and it worked until enough 'A' screamed they couldn't open the 'S' model. Lock the folder down through your IT Department.

[graphite]

And this locking the folder down did not affect the fact that the architecture central model is linked into the MEP model?

[MikeJarosz]

This is a serious offense. It's definitely cause for termination. Very often, non-managing staff have no idea what the stakes are. I worked on a 4 BILLION dollar project where a wiseguy lost the entire project.

We were years into the job. Fortunately, we had a stringent backup procedure, done by IT at night on a different floor. He was totally unaware backups existed. He had to go to the project manager and admit what happened. You should have heard the shouting. Frankly, I let him suffer a while before I stepped in. He wasn't around much longer.

Think about it. What is a project file worth? In this case, add up the salaries of 25 staff, working for years. Add in all the miscellaneous expenses. Then add the vengence of the client for knocking a major project like that years off schedule, then replacing all the work at your own expense, if they don't fire you. It's too frightening to contemplate. This same wiseguy once brought in his own circuit boards and set up his own little network with his buddies in another department. How do you stop these evil geniuses?

One dirty trick we used years ago was to open the central file and check out the grid file in the managers name and save it. That would lock down the CF. It haven't tried that in 8 years and so much has changed since then, it wouldn't suprise me it no longer works.

[jsteinhauer]

And this locking the folder down did not affect the fact that the architecture central model is linked into the MEP model?
No, because they can still read it, but they can't write to it. No matter what they do, they can't change the file. Its like archiving a project after record documents have been issued. Its like burning it to a dvd, and handing that out. You can't change the linked file. I'm not sure you're able to change anything in a linked file unless you open said linked file.

[Duncan Lithgow]

Hi guys

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but this is the one that google finds when I search for "revit central file read only permissions".

My question is what should the permissions be to make the file read only? Our IT man has set the folder permission for the group 'Domain Users' to

Full control - not set
Modify - not set
Read & execute - yes
List folder contents - yes
Read - yes
Write - not set
Special permissions - not set

and the group Revitadmin to

Full control - not set
Modify - yes
Read & execute - yes
List folder contents - yes
Read - yes
Write - yes
Special permissions - yes

But users who are not in Revitadmin can still synchronize with the central file. What are we doing wrong?

[MikeJarosz]

Sorry for bumping this old thread

Don't be sorry, I brought one of my old posts back into the sunlight.:lol:

[jsteinhauer]

But users who are not in Revitadmin can still synchronize with the central file. What are we doing wrong?

I showed this thread to one of our support guys, and he said that the user's local files should be deleted and recreated if necessary. That having a local file created before changing the 'Write' controls, maybe what is allowing the locals to the central files.

One question he had was why is Full Control not set to 'Yes' for the Admin?

I can ask out network admin the same question, to see what he says. Again, this is all done at the folder level, not the file level.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[david_peterson]

The thing that hasn't been mentioned is that it's possible for you to change things in a central file that you've never opened.
That's one we haven't figured out how to fixed. The other is when you're using remote desktop.
If you are using shared coordinates, it's necessary for you to access the central file you're getting them from. When you do that, Revit requires you to open and "borrow" the project info. When this is done, you're user name will appear in that file as if you've done something when in fact you really haven't. Not really sure how you get around that one, unless the you're going to relay on the BIM manager (you) to do all that kind of work.

Now, remote desktop (not sure if you guys use it at all but, from may understanding) when you sign in via remote desktop, revit keeps the name of the last person you was actually using it (not remotely) and not you. ie it doesn't set the user name to you. Also it will inhibit your ability for permissions.

I'm trying to think of a way is which this can even be done. The linked file thing should be an issue, but when you're local file needs to save back to the central file you need read/write permissions. As Mike Suggested, you can check out a workset and not relinquish it which will make sure that no one can modify those parts and pieces, but as soon as the first idiot puts an object on the wrong workset (no, that never happens) you'll be getting a call "I just put this object in the model and now I can't move it, change it or delete it"

The baseball bat approach, while effective, is generally frowned upon by the HR folks. Firing can be a good option, but may require a better reason. We had one IT guy that deleted a folder to make more room on our server. It was the wrong folder. It was for a project that 4 weeks away from 100%CD's. 60gigs of cad files, 7000 sheets and all documentation was gone. So he went for the back up tape. Turns out they've been changing tapes and they were recording anything, but at least we found out our back-up system wasn't working. The next tape that had anything on it was 1mth old. So we had to pull .bak files from local machines, 70 of them. By the end of the week we got back most of what we lost, but luckily the client changed their mind and decided to kill the project much to our relief. But he kept his job, and started to change the system for how we back up files.

On a revit project we had some people that started copying inserted cad drawing all over the place and the file size hit 2.8gigs before they noticed a problem. No one could open the file or clean it up. We had to send that one to Adesk to get it fixed. They fixed it and cleaned it, but never told us what the problem was.

It just goes to say, Nothing is more important than good training, and one of the best methods is to make them fix their own problem or let it stew for a while and make em sweat.

[Steve_Stafford]

... If you are using shared coordinates, it's necessary for you to access the central file you're getting them from. When you do that, Revit requires you to open and "borrow" the project info. When this is done, you're user name will appear in that file as if you've done something when in fact you really haven't. Not really sure how you get around that one, unless the you're going to relay on the BIM manager (you) to do all that kind of work...I find that 2014 has changed this, at least I don't see it getting borrowed the same way. If the links we create are to central files and users only use local files then Revit should be able to complete the transaction properly, transparently.