Architecture Computer File Naming Standards??

Hi everybody,

I am working in a small practice that up till now has not had any
fixed way of naming files or folders.
The practice has finally allowed me to start updating their systems
and one of the things that I am trying to do is standardise their
computer filing and naming conventions.

The question i got is how do most people name thier CAD Files??

Currently they are pretty random at this office (belive me i've tried
to get them to sort it out, now i am doing it for them)

Because its a small practice with older people the CAD practices and
standards aren't very good.
Currently the drawings are placed in a main folder with the project
name (ex, Empirestate)within empire state you find all kinds of chaos,
single cad files, consultant files, archticts files. Sometimes they
are in separate folders sometimes not depending on the project size.
(you getting a glimpse of my nightmares??)
Our architects drawings are named plans.dwg, elevation.dwg..etc
because some of the projects are so small the people here tend to have
multiple floor plans on the same dwg. In larger projects you might
get separete drawings but you try and get some of these old timers to
change their ways..Its like trying to demolish a concrete bunker with
a feather!!


To me the drawings file names should have some basic information on
them such as:

1-project number or name
2-Project stage (planning, working drawings, proposed, existing..etc)
3-drawing type (plans, elevations, sections ..etc)

while document files ought to contain information such as:

1-Job number or name
2-file type (fax, letter, expense documentation..etc)
3-Date document was created

Anybody have any ideas other than burning the whole office down and
starting from scratch as i'd like to do please let me know.

Thanks Sam

 

In a previous post MErC says...

I use a pretty simple naming system:

Each project is assigned a number in sequential order. I'm now up to
Project number 0906. The number gets a suffix to account for different
phases like this 0906.01, 0906.02, etc.

A folder is created for each project and if needed each phase under a
base project. So project folder path might look like this Y:\Project
Files\0900\090601\

Drawings are named with sheet number and subject:

S-1_Foundation Plan

Full path to drawing:

y:\Project Files\0900\090601\S-1_Foundation Plan.VCD

Drawing suffix will depend on the software you use. In my case
Visualcadd.

The project file contains any electronic documents, including photos,
word processing, spreadsheets. engineering software files, etc. I
sometimes add a "Photos" or "Calcs" subfolder under the project folder,
but only if it's a big job and there are a lot of files.

As you can see, it is possible to have more than one file with the same
drawing name. But, they have different path names. If the path name is
kept accurately, then there should be no problems. This system has
worked for almost 15 years now.

 

Our system is about as simple as it comes: we use the client's name as the
base drawing name and add a hyphen and descriptive term for any additional
files.
___

 

If the path name is kept accurately

IMO, that's a very big if. We have more than one person that might be
working on a job so that probably compounds the issue by increasing file
movement. Still, if you have consultants or quick drop something to a floppy
or even just drag and drop incorrectly..

Our project numbers are five digit, the middle digit indicates which office.
Example numbers are

04023
04812

The phone takes a three digit code for long distance billing marking. We
have project numbers the short version

423
812

We are also prefixing file names with the three digit.

423-xref.dwg
812-FLRP.DWG

Usually.

There is potential for number collision. Context and time seem to have
"solved" that problem for now.

Architects here don't appear to have ever gotten out of the 8.3 world, or
have some aversion to typing, so many names are too hard to read if you
don't own the secret decoder ring.

 

There are many ways to organize files. Our 'system' is relatively
straightforward.

We have a root subdirectory on the 'server' where all company files are
kept. Under that root subdirectory, we have 2002, 2003, 2004, etc. for
most of project files. For staple clients with many multiple jobs, we
have other subdirectories with the client name, kept at the same level.
We also have a set of subdirectories at this level which house general
office files and CAD standards. So we have 'products' for downloaded
product info and catalogs, 'marketing' for marketing files, 'arris' for
CAD standards, symbol libraries, pen maps, etc., 'docs' for office
documents, 'templates' for office doc templates, etc.

The 2002, 2003, 2004 subdirectories (which contain the bulk of the
project files) each have 'active', 'nonactive' and 'nocontract'
subdirectories.

Under each of these are the actual project folders, indicated with a two
digit year, three digit project number followed by first initial and
lastname of the client. I.E. 04025-jsmith.

Under this we typically have more subdirectories for file types or
project phase CAD files, like 'docs', 'photos', 'acadin', 'acadout',
'cad', 'prelim', 'bid', 'const', and so on. 'cadrev01' would contain the
CAD dwgs for permit plan revision 1.

The 'acadin' and 'acadout' lets us track consultant drawings, which on
complicated projects can be numerous. To keep those straight, we have
additional subdirectories like fromMEP, toMEP, toSTRU, where MEP is the
company name of the consultant.

Actual CAD file names we don't deal with much. Our CAD program, ARRIS,
makes a file for each LAYER, and it's all housed in a subdirectory
typically called plans.db for the plans drawing or sheets.db for the
sheets. ARRIS does not mix layout and model space like Autocad, but sets
these up in separate directory 'types'. ARRIS also has a very easy layer
styles mode, so we tend to have few separate drawing files. 'plans.db'
will often contain the whole thing project: plans, elevations, sections,
details, etc.

Finally, documents are usually labelled as a doc type followed by the
date of creation and abbreviation to whom the document was directed. For
faxes, an example would be fx-040911rc.doc.

We don't have a template directory that we recopy for each new project.
We did have that, but got rid of it, because many subdirectories were
empty, and that's a waste of disk space.

Because of all the subdirectories our path names tend to be long-

'F:\2004\active\04021-rfulcher\prelim\msheet.db'

but in Windowx XP, that's totally transparent.

In 2003 we had 80 projects, but with the nonactive, active and
nocontract subdivision, we were able to keep our directory listings
relatively small. Scrolling long directory lists is something we try to
avoid where we can.

There are only two of us in the office, which makes file housekeeping a
breeze.

I've worked in offices with peer to peer connections for 20 some people,
and file housekeeping can be a real pain, especially when someone keeps
project related files on their own drives rather than on the 'server'.
If you need to have a decentralized system (everyone on their own
workstation) file naming can help a bit, but enforcing directory name
conventions will be difficult, especially on large jobs.

 

In AutoCAD, I make use of the folder list doohickey on the left side of the
open/save dialogs. First rip out the useless junk. Then add the folders I'm
using these days. I should probably get rid of the 2002 folder from there as
I'm mostly out of 2002. Since the by year folders are all off "proj", if I
need 2002, I can hit 2004, then the up button easy enough. It's a trade off:
ease of use vs. clutter. I also keep each boss's project folder there. Very
easy to add. Navigate to a folder by your favourite "hard" way. Then right
click "add current folder" (this from memory).

I rather wish Office would steal this from ADESK.

re: "Folders I use these days" - for the way I am involved in projects, I
use recent years. Other people may want "the three big projects" or what
have you.

 

There are two ways to name projects.

Most firms use a number based on the year and the number of projects.
For example - 04009 is the 9th project from 2004. 0409 or 049 would be
similar.

Some small firms, and myself in my freelance work, use letters and
numbers based on client. For example, JS-05 would be the 5th project I
did for John Q. Smith.

Both have their benefits. The first is better for bigger firms with
more projects - I would assume it helps keep accounting matters in order
by allowing better tracking of that. The second is better for smaller
offices that are trying to grow - it helps to know which clients have
given more projects and which ones are the most lucrative.

For subfolder names, the best way to do it IMO is to have all of the
files for a project in its project folder. Accounting files should be
in 04009/accounting. Schematic design in 04009/SD. Correspondence
during the Design Development phase would be in 04009/DD/Correspondence.
Contract Drawings would be in 04009/CD/dwg, and the Contract
Specifications in 04009/CD/Spec. Of course you might run into problems
if you've got an accounting department that insists on its own filing
system or if you use software that demands its own file structures.



As for file names in dwg folders:

The office I have my day job in bases file names on sheet number. For
example, file A105.dwg is sheet A1.05 in the drawing set for the project
it's in. Xref drawings, plans and elevations, have an X in front of
them, what they are, and then where they are in the building. For
example - Xplan-5thfloor.dwg is the plan for the 5th floor;
Xelev-south.dwg is the south elevation.


Hope this helps.

 

It reads more complicated than how it works in reality.

The project folders can always be moved and regrouped. The problem is
only one of how many subdirectories to go through. For clients with
heavy repeat work, it's cumbersome to have search '2002', '2003',
'2004' 'active'/'nonactive'/'nocontract' subdirectories to find past
projects. If a repeat client's pace slows down, no biggie, the
subdirectory gets ignored.

Note that the 'repeat' client with their own subdirectory at the
'2002'/'2003'/'2004' level would not be a client with only a repeat or
two, but a client with a known multiyear stretch of projects. As another
example, we're starting an 82 home development, with 4 models,
clubhouse, entrance, alternates, etc. This is something that is best
stored in its own subdirectory. In Windows XP, it's always possible to
create links in the "year" project folders, just as a reminder of the
used job numbers.

Standards are not really ironclad, and no one file organization system
is ever going to be ideal if your project mix is varied.

To not have it in the 'active' folder and therefore keep the list of
'active' projects short. Once a project is done it gets moved from
'active' to the 'nonactive' folder. Or if it never gets off the ground,
it goes to the 'nocontract' folder. 'Active' is our working directory,
and the other two just help keep the list of truly active projects
short.
At year's end, or at some time thereafter, all projects of a given year
will become 'nonactive', and at that point, they can all be put into the
year folder and the 'active','nonactive' and 'nocontract' subfolders can
be erased. We've just done this with 2002.

 

First off i'd like to thank everyone for their replies and oppinions.

A few people seem to have a main directory based on the year which I
find in the building industry might be a bit unnecesary. For instance
we are now returning to a project which we started over 6 years ago,
the project stopped because the clients financial backing was held up
but by then we had the proposed drawings done, mechanincal and
electrical consultants drawings finished everything was ready to go.
Jump forward 6 years and we have to now revisit the project updating
the drawings to new building code standards, new mech and elect,and
engnineers calcs almost a new project but the proposed building design
has not changed. Is it a 2004 project or a 1998 project????

Would it not be just as simple to have a main directory called
PROJECTS followed by subdirectories called the PROJECTNAME or
PROJECTNUMBER which if it is based on a date would tell you the what,
when, who info.

What i initially thought of doing was as follows.

On the root directory on the server where the following folders would
be public access.

DRAWINGS---DOCUMENTS---MARKETING---PHOTOS---LIBRARY---SHARED

DRAWINGS would contain: CURRENT---INACTIVE these would contain:
PROJECT so you'd get:


SERVER\Drawings\Current\Projectname\Architects_Drawings
\Inactive \Consultants_Drawings
\Superceded


Architects_Drawings\Proposed
\Existing
\Working Drawings\wdprojectplan.dwg

However I might include the DOCDUMETS and PHOTOS folders within the
PROJECTS folder so you get:

SERVER\PROJECTS\Current\Projectname\Architects_Drawings
\Consultants_Drawings
\Superceded
\Documents
\Photos


\Documents\Drawing_issue_sheets
\Miscellanea
\Correspondance\Clients
\Planning
\Consultants
\Accounting\Eamil
\Faxes
\Snailmail

But all that still leaves a few things to sort out such as the
'projectname folder' which will have to indicate the what the project
is and when it was created.
Then the actual file names which as i mentioned before in small
projects might have 2 or 3 floors on one drawing so i can't name it
S-1_Foundation Plan.dwg or equivilant.

I got some thinking to do i guess.

Thanks again for all the responses.

 

When I was developing OstaraOffice the server side/enterprise project
management application based on the AE lifecycle(http://tinyurl.com/4zav7
CADENCE Article -- go to bottom of article -- Ostara still exists on vapors
but is out of the AE market). That PSA (Professional Services Automation)
application was structured to make the information in a database follow the
basics of "knowledge systems." IE making information organized and
searchable, categorized, accessible and re-usable (OSCAR).

Though that venture crashed and burned due to lack of funding, the basic
core of the directory structure developped by our team remains as my base
directory structure
http://tinyurl.com/6yb9b

The directory structure is named by client/then project/then follows the
design process steps so as to match the standard design process phases
pre-programming, programming, schematic design, design development,
construction documents, contract admininstration. Each sub-directory has
their own appropriate sub-directories.

Individual file names within these directories need to be named by subject,
dated, and have a version for search purposes. How that is named is up to
you but a standard must be consistent.

EG:
ClientFolder/ProjectName/02-SchematicDesign/Sketches/circulation-01-01-04.jp
g

 

Here's another article on the same subject:
http://tinyurl.com/487vk

 

We're still giving the pieces and parts job numbers- we actually have
separate contracts for the clubhouse, entrance and a contract for all
the models and options; but we're keeping it handily grouped in a
separate directory. We'll probably have separate job numbers for the for
the clubhouse, entrance, and each of the models. For the repeats, we
will probably give each one of those a job number as well- with perhaps
lot and block added afterwards. In this way, we can keep track of client
requesed changes.... Billing is going to be fun.

 

We're still giving the pieces and parts job numbers- we actually have

That's why each contract gets a project number. Each project number gets
separate billing unless the invoice gets combined using the project numbers

That's why each contract gets a project number. Each project number gets
separate billing unless the invoice gets combined using the project numbers