File Organization in a small Architecture Firm

[dvmorris]

I am working in a small architecture firm in Barcelona, and in the two months that I have been here so far, I have noticed that they are really terrible at organizing files for projects, and overall it is a huge mess.

 

I couldn't think of anywhere else to put a post like this, but I just wanted to start a discussion about this topic of how best to organize architectural projects on a network, what type of file viewers to use, where to put files, etc...

 

Here is a basic overview of how the files are organized now. There are about 5 people here who work on construction doc's , working drawings, etc... in autocad, and they each have their own computer, with a subfolder in their "my documents" folder that has their name. In that folder they put all their work, organized by folders named after the project they are working on.

 

So John, for example, would have his computer, and in C:\Docs and Settings\User\My Docs\John\ , there would be folders like this:

 

project1

project2

project3

 

and so on.

 

Once they are done with a project, they dump all the dwg's into a main folder on a network, but no one ever spends time organizing anything, so it turns out to be a big mess when we try to send information and images about a project to a magazine or something like that.

 

It seems like a lot of time is wasted converting a dwg into an eps or a tif, and then saving it somewhere where it can be easily accessed later on down the road.

 

Another subject is the use of a file browser such as ACDSee to organize files and what not. Right now the main secretary guy uses ACDSee collections to put together the best images from the projects that can be used for publications, but the problem is that no one else can view his collections across the network, and all those files are stored on his local drive. We looked at Bridge, but it doesn't seem to let you sort into virtual collections like ACDSee. Picasa is not nearly advanced enough yet, and this other one called Paperport, which lets you view pages of a pdf, doesn't allow collections either.

 

We tried storing the ACDSee thumbnail database in an absolute location on the network, but it wouldn't let more than one person open ACDSee at a time.

 

Of course there are more issues, but maybe this is enough to start some kind of discussion about how people / firms organize their files for the best workflow. Thanks so much for the help,

Dave

[angelo]

For folder tree/structure, the image posted above is very similar to many of the firms I've worked with.

 

For access to a photo database, iView MediaPro and Portfolio both catalog your photos and allow for albums and organization by keywords/categories. I've found them to be much better than ACDSee.

 

Check them out here:

 

iview: http://www.iviewmultimedia.com/

portfolio: http://www.extensis.com/en/home.jsp

 

Angelo

[dvmorris]

thank you so much for the help. i will check out those programs today.

[Arquitrad]

Uffffff... you've got quite a task in front of you!

I work in Barcelona and I've been through 4 offices.

Actually, I only know of an office that have reinforced politics regarding CAD drafting and project organization, but it isn't a small firm.

 

Just out of curiosity, who do you work for?

 

Saludos,

 

Razvan

[dvmorris]

i work for roldan+berengue. have you heard of them? who did you work for?

[Paul Scout]

On my day job on a engineering company I also deal with thousands of folders. In general, any folder organization strategy is improved combined with a tiny application called Folder Scout (you can find it easily from Google). It gives you instant access on any folder organization scheme, no matter how deep or complex you hierarchy is.

 

You can also find some Tips & Tricks and Organization Examples at Folder Scout web site.

 

Regards,

 

Paul

[coldcitydweller]

I tried to post the links for these pages but because it was my first post the system didn't allow me to post links.

 

The American Institute of Architects publishes a series of Best Practices articles. There's one on Project File Organization and a larger article called:

Records Management for Architecture Firms: A Resource Guide

 

You'll have to Google: AIA "best practices" + "project file organization" or "records management"

 

There very good articles and worth a look.