CAD File System and Ideas??? 1

[DJM001]

Hi,
I have been given the responsibility of revamping the CAD File system on our System Network.

We have lots of different drawings (all traffic related) with no fixed number or filing system. Its in a bit of a sorry state and needs to be sorted out...
Can anyone reccommend a drawing filing system - drawing number system that they perhaps use, some sort of filing sheet that people should fill out requesting a drawing number when starting a new drawing etc....weve got real problems here and I need help!!!
HHHHEEEELLLPPP!!!!

DJM

 

[TCARPENTER]

DJM001,

If you have the ability to, invest in a document management system. They usually pay for themselves within the first year or two.

If you can't, then the best plan is to investigate how your design department interacts with the rest of the company.
Even though this may seem like more than you bargained for, now is the best time to do it. For example, in a past company I used to work for, the accounting department would assign project numbers and then billing sub classes to each project. Drawing/File numbers were then named accordingly Project-SubClass-Sheet-Rev-level.dwg. Then the directory structure followed this same naming convention; the server was split into a drawing sub directory, which in turn contained project directories, and they in turn contained sub class directories where the actual drawing files would reside. Trust me, this is not as efficient as a document managements system, but if you can't invest in one now, this is the methodology I would use. This is just one example I'm sure there's more but you get the idea!

Good luck
HTH
Todd