Shared Parameters

[Brian Myers]

I was curious, how does your company handle Shared Parameter files?

Do you have multiple files?
Are the files "protected" so that only certain users can change them?

I'm currently establishing a "best practices" document and realized we didn't really have this standard in place. I'd like to know how your own firm handles it or if you have a suggestion.

[tedg]

I'm not going to be much help here, but I figure some information is better than none.

I haven't delved into shared parameters much yet, but we have one (or two) people in our office who set these up per client standard.
So we have different "Revit Standards" in folders on our server (similar to cad standards) that have the shared parameters in thier respective folders.
Along with special revit families per standard etc.

Different because we deal with many Governement, DOD, and other clients that have different title blocks with required information, required text styles/dimstyles, labels, tags etc.
Anything not OOTB goes into a special company revit standard to be loaded when needed.

We're still fairly new to this, and continue to build on our templates, families, training and knowledge.

HTH

[PijPiwo]

Brian, afaik there should be just ONE shared parameter file for the company to share.

[cdatechguy]

I was curious, how does your company handle Shared Parameter files?

Do you have multiple files?
Are the files "protected" so that only certain users can change them?

I'm currently establishing a "best practices" document and realized we didn't really have this standard in place. I'd like to know how your own firm handles it or if you have a suggestion.

One file....Only certain people have write access so that parameters have a standard format.

[Steve_Stafford]

One master file to manage all shared parameters. The structure is design to allow for groups to organize them into their own reason for being. I tell people that the shared parameter file is really just a dictionary where we store the definitions we want everyone to understand and use.

For each office they get a copy of this master file. If a project team needs something that hasn't been established already they are permitted to create a new shared parameter. They must then send a copy of this new parameter (via their version of the file itself) to the main office (shared parameter governator). The SP Governator can then harvest the new parameter, add it to the master SP file and then pass along a new version to the other offices.

You really want to prevent people creating SP's freely without coordinating the need so you don't end up with several parameter names that all look suspiciously the "same" but Revit doesn't see them that way.

Some firms are a bit more aggressive... no write access to SP file at all and all new SP's must be created by the SP Governator. Regardless how you tackle it, the goal is to avoid duplicate names/purposes.

Oh, technically there is nothing wrong with multiple SP files, one for each discipline etc (as long as there are no duplicate, but not, definitions) but the SP file structure is intended to allow us to manage that within one file. It's also a bit "easier" to keep track of one file that is copied to other offices than several/many. It's also a bit quirky if you have Unit Width, Unit Height, Unit Depth in "all" the shared parameter files because all the disciplines will probably use them...and that duplicity is what we're hoping to avoid.

[Brian Myers]

Based on what I've read, conversations within our office, and my own experience I think we'll be doing this:

1. We will use one "Master" Shared Parameter file that will govern our office standards. This will be locked down.
2. We will have another Shared Parameter file that is specific to client standards (example, client specific title blocks which may have parameters that will not apply for other clients). This will also be locked down.
3. We will use Steve's mentioned method on a third file (that each office will have its own copy), that the project teams in different offices can modify to be reviewed by an individual that controls the general standards. This way they can create their own custom families and get projects out quickly (without another level of immediate review required) without destroying the firm or client standards. If we see anything odd we can then use it as a training opportunity / quality control device.

Thanks again everyone, I really do appreciate it.

[dhurtubise]

We use 2
Firm wide one that is managed with security
Project one for all the other one
Eventually the project one is looked at then, if required, integrated to the Firm Wide