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Thread: keeping track of revisions and changes

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    All AUGI, all the time bbapties's Avatar
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    Default keeping track of revisions and changes

    Ive been tossing this around in my head for a while now and wanted to get some others input and suggestions. I know this has been discussed but when i search the forums nothing seems to come up for exactly what I'm trying to do.

    First a quick description of what we do. Easiest way I can describe what the company i work for does is sublease floor space to clients. We rent an entire floor (building) then lease small pieces of it (10'x10') to clients.
    So we have our "production" drawings which depicts our as-built floor plans at all times. When ever we get a client come in and ask for space we provide a design of where they are going to go. I take the "production" drawing and saveas to the clients name then draw in the new area within our site....If the client likes it and signs the deal, we then take that and pull in the "layout" back into the "production" drawing.

    Upper management wants to be able to track what designs have been done and each revision as well as track which designs have become part of "production"

    My thoughts

    What I think would work best but am unsure how in depth this is...

    I'm thinking I can redefine the close command to pull up a dialog box that asks certain questions and then takes those answers and places them into a respective excel sheet.

    Example: When you try to close a drawing....

    You are trying to close drawing xxx.dwg. Have you made any changes to this drawing YES or NO

    Which type of order was this for?
    * New Design Layout
    * Revised Design Layout
    * Pre- Approval
    * Order Acceptance
    * Updated As-builts

    Please fill out the form below. (a lot of info can be auto-retrieved due to checking user loggin, folder name of drawing location, date.....blah blah blah)
    ________
    ________
    ________


    So my three part question to you guys...
    1. How difficult will this be and which route should I go...(vba, .net, other)
    2. Does any one els have similar job tracking procedures
    3. How do you track you time/jobs you work on.

  2. #2
    Certified AUGI Addict cadtag's Avatar
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    Default Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    It really sounds like you are describing a drawing manager, e.g. Vault, NetSynergy, or a cyco product. Before coding something custom, it might be simpler and faster to look at a commercial product.

    Or, if you want low-cost, look at Columbus from OASYS

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    All AUGI, all the time bbapties's Avatar
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    Default Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    that is similar but it seems too much geared towards submittals. Ours needs to be more for tracking changes to each drawing

    We need to be able to produce an excel form that says

    joe bob on 4/12 added client A to location XX35
    TIm dude on 4/13 added client f to location ed35
    Lisa Simpson on 4/15 changed client v at location iy56 due to site markups
    joe bob on 4/16 added cabinets to row 98 due to future expansion

    They want it to be a running time line of everything that has been done in each site. There is no title block, this is an in house drawing that always stays the same name...its just a running non-stop working drawing that is a current depiction of whats on site.


    Plus when it boils down to it. Upper managment doesnt want us to actually have to use another program. he wants it to be put to an excel so he can merge it with his other reports easily

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    Modérateur Forum Français CGM's Avatar
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    Post Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    Quote Originally Posted by bbapties
    ...Plus when it boils down to it. Upper managment doesnt want us to actually have to use another program. he wants it to be put to an excel so he can merge it with his other reports easily
    Hi there,
    I agree with Cadtag, Columbus could be what you're looking for, as it supports excel format.

    You're in the right forum; keep browsing,
    'n try different key-words to narrow down your search - for example you'll find some food for thought.

  5. #5
    Woo! Hoo! my 1st post
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    Default Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    Try to use Chronos for AutoCAD (www.engds.com) which is a time logger for drafting office. I'm sure it can be used also to log the drawings names and revisioning history. Query Patrick Hughes from EngDS (support@engds.com) for your requirements. Notice that Chronos has Excel export.

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    All AUGI, all the time bbapties's Avatar
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    Default Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    Quote Originally Posted by markus.108569
    Try to use Chronos for AutoCAD (www.engds.com) which is a time logger for drafting office. I'm sure it can be used also to log the drawings names and revisioning history. Query Patrick Hughes from EngDS (support@engds.com) for your requirements. Notice that Chronos has Excel export.
    sadly markus that looks like exactly what is needed...i say sadly cause it looks like we are gonna be micro managed now...

    But on a good note, I feel Im faster and more accurate than my coworkers so this should show it in black and white.

    Thanks for the suggestion!

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    Default Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    dont know if this will help you out any but here's the setup I use

    I have a Lisp routine that tracks when an autocad file is open, closed or saved and what user opened it on what date and time. It then takes all that information and writes it to an comma seperated value file that can be opened in Excel.

    I also utilize on all my ttile blocks a set of fields that show who the last user was that accessed and saved the file and what date that it was done, the fields are done on a non plotting layer so that they dont show up.

    Also since I use MEP/ACA i use the project template to keep track of project information, revisions etc as well. This may not be an option for you if youre only on regular AutoCAD. You might alos want to look at the Facilities Management program that Autodesk produces.

    My setup works great for my purposes but you seem to need alot more detail. Still with a little programming im sure that you could accomplish it pretty simply and cheaper than buying a standalone product.

    Hope this helps you out.

  8. #8
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    Question Re: keeping track of revisions and changes

    Don't know if this is a completely dead thread or not...but I am looking for what I think arcadia_x27 has come up with. Would you or anyone who has it, be willing to pass the lsp file to me??

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