Why Use Revit Worksharing Monitor?

[CrawfordSmith99]

I've always like the worksharing monitor, especially on larger projects. I've been getting some pushback from some staff members (mostly younger ones) about using the WSM, with accusations of "micromanagement." My usual eloquence has failed me here, and I can't really come up with compelling reasons to encourage WSM use, other than "it's a good idea" and "because I said so," both of which are, frankly, lame.

Perhaps some of you could help me out with persuasive arguments to help encourage the use of the WSM. Thanks.

-Crawford

[rtaube]

If i see someone else syncing, I won't sync because it'll tie up my computer for a lot longer while it waits on them. For larger projects this could waste 10-15 minutes if a few people sync at once.

[david_peterson]

One thing you should consider is the amount of network traffic WSM consumes. You can now adjust it (and you should) so it's not pinging the central file every second.
We've noticed a huge decrease in network traffic since making this adjustment.
We tend to have one person on a team using it and doing so sparingly since it's cause problems in the past.
One project had 20 people working in the same model (bad idea to begin with) and all of them fired up WSM and caused our network to overload and shut down a server.
Since then we've been much more careful about how we use the tool.
I tend to use it to make sure people aren't opening central files.

[Steve_Stafford]

I particularly like one of its options that lets me know that my local file is out of date, meaning others have used SwC and there are probably changes I should see. Like mentioned earlier I think it is helpful to see how many other people have a local file open (or possibly are in the Central) and to avoid using SwC at the same time as others. The Show History button (inside WM) is also useful for diagnostic purposes. I can see how long each SwC has taken for each user.

Autodesk has enhanced how Editing Request (ER) notification happens without Worksharing Monitor (WM) so the advantage it (WM) offered for those (ER) is less useful or necessary now. That said, I discourage the use of Editing Requests because they end up causing as much trouble as benefit.

You can lead a horse to water... if they don't find it useful I wouldn't worry about it. It isn't imperative that everyone does use it but if they start complaining about things that it might help them be aware of or resolve...then remind them again gently.