One of our structural engineers is transitioning to Revit (thank God) and it brings up the question of sharing our Revit file.
Is there a descriptive methodology somewhere that outlines an effective way to do this?
I can see the process where we act as the prime and update the model according to input from the engineer but that seems inefficient. It does however avoid changes to the model by the consultant that would effect the architectural.
Is there a way to lock the project file before we send it to the consultant that would allow them to only add to the project file and not modify the primary model? They would periodically send us an update file for integration into our editable project file. The consultants should be able to password protect their work so that it cannot be modified and they can access it later with the new project file re-issue.
We would have the ability upon initiating integration to review their changes and “accept” or “hold for acceptance with comment” their updates. It would also be nice if their files, details, schedules, etc could be color coded by discipline in the “Project Bowser” for easy identification. This integration check while time consuming would at least require us to review their work.
Thanks in advance for any advice on this topic.