Remote Offices

[pmccord]

I am not sure if this is the best place to post this thread, but my office is trying to create in environment that allows many of us to work at home part of the time. I am trying to research the best methods or software add-ons that can help us accomplish this. We are an architectural / engineering firm. We use Revit 2009 (Architectural, Structural and MEP), AutoCAD 2004, 2008 and 2009, RAM and Civil 3D. We have a VPN set-up now, but unfortunately the major internet provider in our area does not ‘support’ the VPN (whatever that means) so many of us are unable to use the VPN. (Changing internet providers is not an option.) We do have an FTP site as well.

What I am interested in is if anyone else does this, what do you find successful and what are the challenges? How do you communicate with each other, so that everyone is aware of the changes in the project? How do you keep the central drawings up to date? Is it best to use and FTP site and e-mail or something additional like Buzzsaw? Any experiences with this, good or bad would be a lot of help. Thanks.

[cadtag]

It really sounds like you need to set up and maintain an EDMS (aka Engineering Document Management System) that will support checking out drawings and their associated Xref and support files. There are a lot of options and price points -- but take a look at Synergis Adept, Cyco Teamwork, Bentley Projectwise, or Arup Columbus.

If you have to work disconnected, the biggest concern IMHO is to know who has the latest/ most up-to-date versions. The transfer mechanism, whether thumb drive, FTP, Buzzsaw, is not nearly as important.

[swalton240189]

You could also use Go To My PC or a similar program that lets you work on your office computer from your home computer.