CAD Manager-Document Archiving Strategies

1 Oct, 2005 By: Robert Green Cadalyst

Basic backups aren't enough—archive projects for future use.

The year was 1987 and I remember the sales pitch vividly: "Once your CAD archives are established, you'll be able to recycle entire projects in only minutes, and you'll never have to draw the same line twice again!" At the time it seemed like a realistic promise. In theory, it still does, even if the reality isn't nearly so rosy.

What about your company? Are you archiving your work in a manner that lets you recycle projects in minutes? This month I'll debunk some archiving myths and give you some ideas for tracking your CAD archives more efficiently.

Backups Are Not Archives

If you read nothing else in this column, please make sure you understand the difference between backups and archives. Backups are typically driven by IT (information technology), and the following characteristics usually apply:

1. Files are backed up only when they change.
2. Backups are usually captured each day, with a redundant weekly or monthly backup.
3. Backups capture files on network devices, but rarely do they capture work in progress on users' hard drives.
4. Backups are periodically stored at another site to prevent against loss due to fire, natural disaster or terrorism.

In most cases, backup data is stored on media such as digital tapes in a compressed file format. The media and compression factors conspire to make data restoration an IT department task because they have access to the backup tape drives and software applications. Furthermore, the backup process doesn't lend itself to finding files easily. For example, if you're trying to find the last version of a specific drawing, which backup tape do you think the file is on? In general, IT-driven backups should be considered disaster insurance that you hope you never have to use.

Conversely, archives include a total view of a project and all its data. In addition to archiving all data at the end of a project, a more detailed archiving schema could capture a project archive at various stages of the project's life to track its chronology. Expectations for an archive system are much higher than for a backup system.

Archive It All

When you archive a project, you may be tempted to think only of CAD files. With huge file sizes, external references, linked graphics and complex file-to-file relationships, CAD presents a formidable archiving challenge, to be sure. But concentrating only on CAD files for project archives neglects a large segment of total project data. In fact, non-CAD files tend to outnumber CAD files by a factor of four to one. Files that make up the rest of the project archive include:

1. E-mails
2. Spreadsheets
3. Word-processing documents
4. Transmittals
5. Vendor data sheets

I know many of you are thinking, "Why should I, as CAD manager, worry about all these other types of files?" My answer is that somebody must archive project data. If you don't do it, you can bet your CAD files will get messed up. If you're going to archive CAD data, why not put the other information in the archive as well? By doing so, you can earn some extra brownie points from management for taking charge, and you know the job is getting done right.

Metrics

Now that I've talked you into taking control of your archiving destiny, let's discuss what to archive, how often to archive it and how to document what you did. To jump-start the discussion, here are the minimum requirements of a good archiving plan:

1. Thorough capture of all data files, both CAD and otherwise, required to recreate the project at the exact time of archive.
2. The ability to document the files archived, their purposes and any special notes that a future project manager would need to understand the status of the project when it was archived.
3. Long-term storage for archive data at your business location and at a secure secondary location in case of total building loss at your main location.
4. A policy statement, or standard, for all project personnel that documents how active files should be stored so they can be archived properly.
5. An executive overview for senior management that explains how important accurate archiving is and why all personnel must follow archiving procedures.

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About the Author: Robert Green

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