ChiefDelphi Answers

[ebarker]

Regarding teams and other organizations posting 'copies' of FIRST manuals:

There is a concept in a field called "configuration management" that is implemented in other concepts called "ISO 9000" that goes something like:

An important document, like the FIRST manual exists in one place only and it is golden. Copies shouldn't exist else where because then tend to become non-authoritative because the local copy goes stale because the remote authoritative copy doesn't know to "push" the update out to the world.

What about the copy that I downloaded from FIRST ?

YOUR copy is in YOUR possession and YOU are responsible for making sure that you are up to date. But your copy isn't authoritative, only the FIRST copy even though you think it is the same.

You will likely encounter these concepts in industry.

I'm sure there are a lot of mentors with way more experience in this than me.

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by ebarker

Regarding teams and other organizations posting 'copies' of FIRST manuals:

There is a concept in a field called "configuration management" that is implemented in other concepts called "ISO 9000" that goes something like:

An important document, like the FIRST manual exists in one place only and it is golden. Copies shouldn't exist else where because then tend to become non-authoritative because the local copy goes stale because the remote authoritative copy doesn't know to "push" the update out to the world.

What about the copy that I downloaded from FIRST ?

YOUR copy is in YOUR possession and YOU are responsible for making sure that you are up to date. But your copy isn't authoritative, only the FIRST copy even though you think it is the same.

You will likely encounter these concepts in industry.

I'm sure there are a lot of mentors with way more experience in this than me.

What a great point! This is expecially prevalent with things like CAD data which is why companies spend huge amount of money on software to manage who is editing the master copy (check-in/check-out). If your team hasn't discussed this you may want to consider discussing it sooner (when there are less files) rather than later (when there already is a conflict and you are running around with a flash drive trying to get all of the computers sync'd).

Simple solutions may be using a common location network drive location for master files so that everyone knows where they are, using a dedicated thread on your team forum where the latest takes precidence, using the PTC Windchill site to manage check-in/check-out or Autodesk Vault with the MS Office plug-in to handle both check-in/check-out and simultaneous usage. There are other solutions, but these are the ones I could think of off the top of my head that are available to most teams.