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Usually, when someone asks how to manage CAD version data, I answer, "meet the requirements of your QA/Config Management procedures, and then meet the requirements of your engineering system."In your case, though, it doesn't sound like you have a configuration management system in place.  So, you should probably focus on developing good habits and apply a few common guidelines.Good Habits:Write out a storage plan: open word, create a new document and in it list what storage resources you have, servers, workstations, external drives cloud accounts, back-ups systems, everything.  Then right out the paths of your main file buckets and what goes in them.  The trick is to pick categories for your file buckets that are mutually exclusive.  What goes in one shouldn't go in the others.You're going to use this for every business file you track.  this is going to say where things are saved and where to find them.  When you can't remember where something is, you're going to open this document (so make it easy to find) and look at where it's supposed to be.  You're also going to refine it from time to time to make your categories less ambiguous. Now that you know where the files are going to be stored, write a procedure for revising them.It should includehow you increment revisions (Letters starting from A, numbers starting from 0, primary and secondary, document-only, vs. design chagnes, etchow you back up superseded versions for future referencewhat is the instrument (the form, document, log) that needs to be completed before a revision can be implemented.  You can call this form an ECO, ECN, DCN, ECR, ESR (E=Engineering, C=Change, O=order, D=document", S=service, R=request).  I know it sounds pedantic for a one-person operation to fill out forms, but you're going to want to know why you did something and your brainz jus' gonna' shrug.Make a database, or log that includes the document affected by the change, the old revision letter, the revision letter after the change and the ECO/ECN/ESR... number.When you go to make a change, copy the current release to a sandbox location, along with any referenced documents needed (PDM Systems usually do this automatically).  Do not make the change directly on the released documentWhen you're done and have approved the changed documents for release, back-up the current version to an archive folder and rename, tag or folder it with a name that includes it's revision letter/number.  Only then, can you move the updated revision into it's placeDo not rename files or include the revision letter in the name (If I could get my boss to stop doing this, I'd be a much calmer individual).  with 3D models, especially one file will reference several others and renaming a file to include a new revision, or the date, or a description change, can have the effect of breaking every automated mechanism out there designed to find that file when it's called for.  Once you name a file, you shouldn't rename it unless its name is contradictory to its data (wrong category, authorship, etc).  Think about your library.  How often do you see librarians renaming books?  That brings me to this one: Use a simple naming convention.  Multi-term, coded part numbers were an attempt to reduce the frequency with which engineers needed to retrieve files in the old days when drawings were stored in drawing cabinets in air conditioned warehouses.  The idea was, if you needed a sprocket for an assembly, you could spec it by file name using a coding system and never look at the drawing.  Chances are, you had to redraw the thing in the assembly anyway, so what was the point?  Today, the goal is data re-use and fast searching using automatic file indexing and tagging.  What you want from a part number is simple.  A category or commodity code to say what type of thing it is and a sequential numberDecide if your orgnaization is project or product centric.  Project Centric design data usually applies to one specific customer's request. The design is developed with the requirements of the project in mind and most of the files will only be used there.  Existing files may serve as boilerplates for other projects, but are usually copied and renumbered instead of being revised.  Product Centric design applies to manufacturing organizations that attempt to create generalized components that are used concurrently on multiple products.  This keeps design and tooling costs down and makes trouble-shooting problems simpler.This decision will impact your organizational approach to document management.  Project-centric systems are usually built around client or project repositories where data related to one customer is deposited and in a particular project folder, you'll find many different classes of documents and designs (assemblies with part details, mechanical with electrical, etc)Product centric system are usually built around catelogs or commodity folders where files are organized based on what they are, not where they're used.  The Brackets folder will only contain bracketsDO NOT, FOR ANY REASON, PUT TWO DOCUMENTS WITH THE SAME NAME IN YOUR ARCHIVES.  This is the worst habit ever and its cause is usually expedience.  Someone wants make an assembly easy to open over the network, so they copy the complete tree to one folder and the network becomes strewn with duplicate fasteners, pcb's and other frequently-reused components.Someone isn't getting paid to look up part numbers for screws online, so they just call the fasteners in their assembly, screw1, screw2.  Same result as copying existing files with worse consequences-your screw.sldprt is a 1/4-20 x 3/8" hex head and someone else's screw.sldprt is a worm-gear for a motion control platform.  Then at some point, some third party decided to clean out the duplciates and their assembly opens with 3' long worm gears everywhere there should be a bolt.  If you think you could sort this out on the fly, then try it when three or more components get confused.The moral of the story is, no two files need the same name.  If you're making a screw (instead of downloading one?) find the manufacturer's part number and cage code and call it that.  E.G. 3a054_9012a106 (Mcmaster car) If you have a part that's modified for an assembly, copy the part and rename it with assembly as a prefix or suffix to the root part numberif you're creating a simplified version of an existing component, indicate that in the file nameOK, let's talk a couple of guide lines for implementing your systemIt's up to you whether it's acceptable to correct a typo, or fill in meta-data or fix a rebuild error on a drawing or model without a revision.  I know one drafter who accidentally spelled count as cunt and it made it all the way through release.  We decided we didn't need to have the ECO team meat and sign off on a change order to correct the cunt on the drawing and managed to discretely update and distribute the corrected document without bumping the revision.A revision, generally is described as an engineering change to a document that is corrective, but does not change the form, fit or function of the data.  If a PCB is revised to fix a thermal problem, the updated board should fit in the existing housing, connect to the existing harnesses have the same functions as the superseded board.  Under these circumstances, the changed board will replace the previous version, in all assemblies where it's used.  If form fit or function do change, or if you want to keep both versions of the board in production, then you need to pull a new number for your updated version and start it over from revision A.  This is really important for repairs and maintenance.  A document shouldn't be affected by more than one open change order at a time.  If you have two open changes that both affect the same part then you can do one of three things: combine the change orders into one assignment, complete one of the change orders and release it so you can implement the other (this is an expensive solution), take the document out of all but one change order (if the change order is something trivial like changing an abbreviation, maybe it can wait until the document is touched again)Use a PDM/EDM System: Just about every sector that uses computers to create content has software for managing and tracking that content in a way that conforms with industry best practices.  For mechanical engineering, that  software is usually called Product Data Management or Electronic Document Management.   It's wonderful because it does automatically what responsible organizations used to pay a whole department to do.  PDM software does the following usuallyassign documents for change to one specific person so that other people can't modify them at the same timeallow the user to make changes to files that are on their local workstation instead of working across the limited bandwidth of the internet or company LAN (even Google fibre isn't as fast as your hard drive bus)protect files from accidental changes or corruptionmaintain file histories and versionsenforce logging and audit trail requirementsback-up filesprovide content and metadata searches (instead of just file name searches)enforce unique file namesrequire approvals for releaseThere.  That should give you something to chew on.  Final advice: write down what your going to do and then do it the way you wrote it.  Change your system only when needed and apply changes consistently. Good luck.

The Personal Cost of exploring the Kashmir Issue - for this American writer…On the cold wintry night of December 16, 2012, a young medical student was gang raped on a moving bus by 6 men in the city of New Delhi. The brutality of the rape shook the soul of the Indian nation. Police action was swift, and the perpetrators were apprehended. The Indian parliament enacted laws to ensure such heinous acts would be met with swift justice and certain punishment. So, what does the Nirbhaya gang rape case of 2012 have to do with the Kashmir issue?There is something deeply distressing in exploring the...

A Pakistani here. Just few days back when one of the representative of BJP accused Rahul Gandhi being backed by Pakistani establishment over Rafale deal controversy, I was anxious to know more about it. From last three days I was reading alot about Rafale deal and I came to know number of things. As this is extremely sensitive topic so I will try to quote most of the stuff so no one would question the authenticity of the content.Indian Express explained very well in one of their video on Feb 2018 about Rafale aircraft deal when questions were raised in Indian Parliament by Congress. It is m...

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