does the term cad manager apply in revit

[shaugh1784]

:?: curious. is revit considered "high maintenance"?

also: how difficult is it to maintain revit among users in two cities, if the person who is most looked at as the 'guru' is only in one place?

TIA

[beegee]

The answer most definitely is that Revit is low maintenance and anti-guru software.

Its intuitive, fast low learning curve CAD/BIM which most users with any computer background will pick up and run with very quickly. Go through the tutorials and if necessary, the on-line classes first and you'll be well placed to start a Revit project.

Re the two cities link, I'm not the best person to comment, but with good lines of communiction in place I wouldn't see a problem.

[Steve_Stafford]

Three things:

Office Templates
Office Standards (linetypes, plotting setup etc...)
Family Libraries

Okay...a fourth: Communication

Listed in the order of complexity (least to greatest) and all of equal importance...except four is all important!

Instead of governing layer standards and the like, a cadd mgr must get office templates in shape, get standards (drafting conventions) in order and then organize libraries of families in a meaningful and effective manner, otherwise users will not know what to expect from a given family or how they are intended to be used.

Further, a cadd mgr must either be an "expert" (understanding of the object and how it is supposed to be represented graphically in all views) in the subject matter of the families themselves or delgate their creation to staff that is. Otherwise you'll have families that have little value throughout the documentation process.

I envision a small office succesfully breaking down the roles of cadd admin into discreet manageable parts that various people maintain, while a larger office has a person who is still the cadd admin but orchestrates things and "grooms" guru's to manage the families for each particular specialty, while maintaining the systems that support cadd production.

The biggest hurdle or at least a difficult hurdle spanning offices will be management of families. Who has the most current, who makes the best content. "Oh, I didn't know you created one of those last week, Tom" and so on... But it all comes to down to communication like anything else and not really any different from existing cadd mgmt, we've been struggling with libraries for ages now. :wink:

[Phil Read]

Sphaugh -

As a Revit Implementation Architect my experience is that Information Managers (I consider the term "CAD Manager" a over simplification) are very essential to the success of architecture firms - and the same holds with Revit.

Smaller firms tend to overlay roles - and so power users often share IT roles. No one person may be 'the' manager. This is fine.

What also works well is when medium and larger firms really take advantage of the specialist mindset that an Information Manager brings to a dynamic, architectural environment - particularly with the ability to make exectutive decisions! I've observed that *what* is managed shifts - from more of an 'enforcement' type role - to one that 'enables' fellow staff to understand their work while being far more productive.

I don't really believe a 'guru' factor applies. I'd break it down into a three major areas:

1) Content = Family Editor
2) Building = Host Elements and Core Project
3) 2D Details/Documentation = Integrated Documentation

As a result people with different expertise levels contribute to the success of a project from the very first project. There will be technical questions - but don't be afraid to separate the "how do I?" from the "how should I?". Send people to the integrated tutorials/online sessions for the first type - and you'll feel more effective being able to spend time on the second. If you spend too much time on the "how do I" type of questions - you'll begin to subsidize a certain lack of discipline.

My .02,

Phil Read
Autodesk Revit
phil.read@autodesk.com

[sbrown]

My opinion is every office needs one "guru" that can teach or assist when problems arrise. Ofcourse the templates and standards, etc. still need to be set and enforced by someone. But I agree with Phil when you work on a project you need someone with experience in all 3 of those areas, wether its one person, 2 or three, well that will vary per office or per project.

[aaronrumple]

No cadd manager required.

You will need a chearleader to get grumpy AutoCAD users to make the transition.

[mlgatzke]

I would recommend my uncle Vinnie and his friend Carmine to convert them kicking and screaming. After all, we know what's best for them. :wink:

"Let me introduce you to my little friend."