Revit families management

[pfaudler]

Hi,
We have been using Revit since Aug 2007. But we are stll at intermediate stage of Revit implementation. We executed two projects so far. I kept entire family development/amandment/management to mysefl being BIM manager. Whenever i develop new family based on users sketches i add that family to master file and then send an email to the team that the family is ready for their use. If they want to add/modify parameters then they let me know and i do it. It worked quite well actually and we managed to deliver project on time.

But now, few of our Revit geeks want to get into family editing and insist they shld be given permission to develop families they need. We do not have family development protocol (well we barely have BIM protocol currently). So my worry is if we let users start developing their families then how can we control the quality, file size, level of detailing etc. in families? Also, one can easily get carried away with 3D modelling of families and model 3D elelments which are actually not necessary in 3D ( but can be done as 2D detailing) for the project deliverables but could be useful for renders, lets say. Also, project time/fees can be sucked into doing developing families by users. fFor instance, One could spend 4 hrs to develop custom window family while BIM manager could do that family in 1 hr, lets say.


I am curious to know how CAD/BIM Managers address revit families development and maintenance issue?

Who is responsible for family development/amendment/maintenance? Shuld this be controlled centrally?

Do you see any risk in allowing users to develop their families they need, without having any family development protocol?

Thanks in anticipation of your help.

Regards

[pjohnson.137155]

I think you should stay the way you are doing it now. Letting others create families without some kind of standards and procedures in place - you are looking for trouble. Remember Revit is a database, so garbage in, garbage out.

I understand your geeks wanting to get into families - if nothing more it is something new.

If you do get pressured in letting others create families, at least set up a approval process

Patrick Johnson
http://www.cadenhancement.com
http://www.cadenhancement.com/2009/0...technique.html
http://www.cadenhancement.com/labels/FAR.html

[RobertB]

You ought to have a fair idea who can best help you create families. As a manager, at some point you will need to delegate tasks. Cultivate the skilled people if they are eager to help you.

Just be sure to have a vetting process. Let the good ones create some content and check it before releasing it to everyone.

[jeh.212740]

I am currently in the same situtation, one practice we have picked up here is adding creator and version parameters to all our families, this should allow you to see who created the family if you should have additional questions down the road.

Depending on the size and number of projects you work on you may not be able to generate all the required families, so allowing others within the office to assist will be a major help.

[G_J]

Different projects require different/new families. It is a big ask for just one or two users to create all the families.

I think it is important for a company to get as many users as possible creating families, (providing they are checked and approved before being released to the whole company) it is dangerous if only one or two people are creating families, what if they both leave the company...?

We have a core group of users throughout Australia and New Zealand (1 person in each major office/region) who are 'local Revit Structure leaders'

If anyone creates a family, the first point of call is for one of the local leaders to check the family, and make any changes they feel are required.

The next step is for the family to be passed onto me, I will check it and make sure all materials, line styles, etc... match our Revit Structure template.

Then I will add it to the Australasian Revit Structure library, and sync out the library to all the major servers throughout Australia/NZ.

The local Revit leaders will receive an email to say the library has been updated, and the family will be available for any user to use in future projects.


Regards

[gvluisi]

Its hard to keep a Revit guy down. It is only natural to want to edit and or create family content. I would be weary of the Revit users who do not want to explore the family editor. "Ludites". Depending on the size of your firm, if its smaller, then you should be the only one. People are going to edit content and save it to there local anyhow. good luck.

[ruthellenwilliams]

So, do you charge the project for the time it takes to create a family for it, even if that family will become part of your resource library? Could be a problem since creating a family can eat up a lot of the time budgeted for the project. What about time required to review, fix, file, etc. new family files?

[pfaudler]

Thanks very much everyone for your response. I am going to relinquish families development/management task to users for the next revit job and see what happens. I am thinking to setup some sort of authorisation process though. If you have families authorisation system in place then could you please share with the community here?

Thanks in anticipation of your help.

regards

[SantaCAD]

I have a folder in the project directory for the repository of new RFAs.

Once the project is complete, I then decide, with input from the team, as to which should be added to the 'official' set of families.

These are in a read-only central location for all teams to share. I also check all new additions first to be sure they are constructed consistantly with the others already there.

[William Troeak]

I have a folder in the project directory for the repository of new RFAs.

Once the project is complete, I then decide, with input from the team, as to which should be added to the 'official' set of families.

These are in a read-only central location for all teams to share. I also check all new additions first to be sure they are constructed consistantly with the others already there.

This is by far the most common approach that I have seen in the offices that I have worked and is also the way I teach and maintain the Families as a BIM manager.

I would also recommend sitting down and developing a naming standard for families so that people are not building families that already exist.