Communication and Worksets

When dealing with worksets communication is critical.

You need to be able to communicate with your colleagues so there is no overlap of duties and that everyone is all "on board" with how the Job Captain wants things done.

Remember the Job Captain (or Project Leader) assignees who does what however there is occasional overlaps where some people may need to temporarily adjust worksets owned by other people.

I have found that the Revit Editing Request process is too slow so in our office we looked for another messaging process. We looked for a faster messaging system but didn't want to go with a open Web messenger such as MSN. so we found a LAN messenger that seems to work really well for us.

Squiggle is a free (I love that!) open Source (I also love that) LAN Messenger program that looks and feels similar to MSN, it's easy to set up and easy to use. http://squiggle.codeplex.com/

With Squiggle we can send requests for workset editing as well as send messages about the project etc much quicker.

Seems to be working great for us. :-)

Tips for Working with Worksets

Here are some tips for working with worksets.

• Assign one person to create the Worksets, this can involve team input but one person should manage the worksets.

• When selecting worksets spend some time thinking about what elements need to be on each workset. For example our last project we had Circulation which included Stairs and Elevator, Parkade, Interior layout, Roof and Exterior Shell, Level and Grids.

• Divide up the Building logically... ie: separate wings, building areas etc... work with Building Components rather than drawing types.

• Be selective when opening worksets. Don't open worksets that you wont be working on. Not only will you speed up opening and saving the project but you will also avoid annoying your colleagues.

• When closing the project Relinquish all your worksets, this way other people will be able to access them.

• Be conscious about what views you have open, periodically close all your unused view. This helps with the amount of RAM being used.

• Set scheduled Synchronization with the Central file, we set it to be before lunch, mid afternoon and at the end of the day. You can still sync when you feel it necessary as well.

• In a larger office schedule staggered saves back to central, this will eliminate a "Log Jamb" of information.

• You can Reload Latest (RL) which will download the latest copy of the Central file  without uploading your local back to central.

• Communication is important with your team members, you don't want to be overlapping duties and work. Meet often to discuss who is doing what and how it's going.

•  If it's not working for you...change it!

Question....... Can worksets be used when NOT work-sharing? Your comments?