Session 2 – Part B Providing Revit Help Desk Support in a Larger
Contents
1. Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA o Try deleting drafting views schedules legends sheets and then all the model views looking for conuption orover constrained geometry Do another Audit Purge Sometimes you can nanow the problem down to a view family or link If so you can then open the live modeland make the correction Othertimes Autodesk needsto repairconuption within the model On most project the team needs to keep working while Autodesk is looking into the issue Once found the team can stop working fora few hours while Autodesk repairs the most current model and sendsit back When the problem is found be sure to walk the userthrough the solution if possible It might also be necessary to email the entire design team to let them know about any possible adjustments to the model Be sure to consider the entire design team arch ID mech elec struc Civil LA Contractor CM Etc asneeded Asthe saying goes it isbetterto teach a person to fish than to fish for them food for life versus food fora day this is true in the word of Revit support Show the user how to solve the issue rather than just doing it forthem Use remote screen sharing as needed to walk them through the problem This will help prevent future calls forthe same issue Many options exist e Remote Assistance built into Windows sometimes need to tum off hardware acceleration to see the model e PC Anywhere2. built into Altins if your firm uses this IT tool this allows you to see the users screen and take contro without getting permission first e GoToMeeting com works really well in terms of minimizing graphics Issues e Remote Desktop Connection RDP works well except the user Cannot see what you are doing TIP Thisfeature works great when working from home Remote screen shanng isa must when supporting remote offices Page 12 of 14 _ REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA Another big thing in the world of support isto corect bad habits whenever you come acrossthem Sometimes you want to just fixa problem and move on to another problem orget back to reading the forums But correcting back habits will likely prevent bigger issues in the future Documenting Solutions Unless you have a photographic memory it isa good idea to document solutions to unique issues you come across Thiscan be done ina numberof ways e User Manual browser based searchable e Document Management System e g SharePoint e Intemal Wiki e Intemal Blog e Support Ticketing System Whatever system is used the information should be searchable by everyone Only put information you are fairy sure willbe needed again People will top using this resource if it is filled with obscure information Also don t include things you can find elsewhere Revit Help Autodesk S
3. handout Thanks received a few good topic ideas from these guys e Nauman Mysorewala from GBBN Architects Cincinnati OH e Dave Plumb from BWBR St Paul MN FYI I used to work at BWBR but not at the same time as Dave Page 140f 14
4. FERENCE NORTH AMERICA Your Knowledge of Revit Hopefully if you are providing Revit helpdesk support in a larger office you are an expert Of course there is always more to leam The following list highlights ways in which to keep up e Blogs There are a number of Revit guru s sharing their knowledge and expenence recommend setting up a RSS news reader such as Google Reader to follow the more active blogs have the Google Readerapp on my android cell phone so I can catch up whenever have a spare cycle Here are a few must follow blogs o Autodesk Blogs e g Revit Clinic Revit OpEd Steve Stafford Do U Revit David Baldacchino Revit David Light Matenalistic Revitation Aaron Maller O O O e Forums Forums are a userto user knowledge base Go here fora few minutes each day to see what issues others are having and proposed solutions Also a good place to search for answers related to problems you are working on Here are a few forums worth checking out o Autodesk Forums forums autodesk com o AUGI Forms augi com forum o Revit Forums revitforum org e AU BiMforum and RIC Individuals who focus on Revit training and support tend to know much of what is covered in the general sessions However the little tips ticks and networking are well worth the cost Proactive Measures This bleeds into BIM management which may not be the support person but preventing problemsisthe best help you can provide Her
5. REVIT 11 AC TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA Session 2 Part B Providing Revit Help Desk Support in a Larger Office Daniel J ohn Stine LHB Class Desc nption This session is meant to help increase your resolution efficiency and value to an AEC firm Many topics will be covered including pnontizing multiple issues dealing with overny dependent users standards enforcement and much more Several real world type problems will be outlined and resolved dunng the presentation About the Speaker Daniel J ohn Stine CSI CDTisan author instructor BIM manager and architect with nearly 20 years of expenence Working full time at LHB a 160 person multidiscipline fim in Minnesota Daniel provides training and support forall disciplines of Autodesk Revit Architecture Structure and MEP AutoCAD Civil 3D and AutoCAD Dan isa member of the Autodesk Developer Network and an Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 Certified Professional He teaches AutoCAD and Revit classes at Lake Supenor College Leveraging his professional expenence Daniel has also wntten several textbooks on Revit AutoCAD hand sketching Google SketchUp and Adobe Photoshop REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA Intoduction This session is geared towards those providing Revit support in a larger office You might be doing this full time as part of a BIM managers responsib
6. e are a few waysin which one can be proactive Page 4of 14 REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support gt Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA e Regularstaff training is important in firms just starting to use Revit Quarterly training sessions are helpful to cover any major new features or add ins e g Family Browser or new Revit release Getting users together isa great way to share knowledge between users even the trainer lea ms something new See the upcoming discussion on Self Help tools Videos for more on training e Adjusting content or modifying fim templates when a problem is discovered ina project e Emails or intemal Blog o Regulartipsand ticks emails keep them short if you want people to read them Setup an email group e g Revit users o Policy and Procedure updatesand reminders Example Revit naming convention 110123 LHB Office Remodel All Central e 110123 Project Number e LHB Office Remodel _ Brief project description e Ail Discipline and Revit version o A Architectural o E Electrical M Mechanical o Structural e Central Worksharing enabled e Software Updatesneed to be tracked You need to know what the current web update for Revit isand have a plan for getting it on everyone scomputer don t forget to update the deployment Be sure to test an update before pushing it out to the entire fim open a detached copy of a fairy complex project Try se
7. er thiscan bog thingsdown as another layer of administration that may not be necessary You have to work with yourmanagement and ITteamsto see what is nght for your firm Note the ticket system would likely be the same one used to track IT issues When you will be out of the office make sure your voice mail and email auto reply are setup to let people know you are gone If you are gone foran extended penod of time vacation RIC AU etc let the power users know and make sure they have your reseller contact information Some questions are easy and can be answered from your cell phone your firm has provided you a smart phone nght Page 8of 14 REVIT li Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA In some firms the Revit helpdesk person is purely overhead and in others their time is billed to any project they are helping on i e providing support It is generally a fair proposition to bill your time to a project when you consider that is what the designer in a smaller fim is doing who doesnot have an in house support person the exception being hardware or software failure In either case it isa good idea to track what you do especially when management starts asking so what do you do around here Thiscan easily be done with the notebook orticket system mentioned above The Art of Troubleshooting Troubleshooting isindeed an art Sometimes the solution comes from
8. everalcommandsand be sure to test pnnting hardcopy and PDF DWF output Work with ITto make sure new Computers have the proper display dniver Virtual memory settings etc Considerusing a management program such as Altins to deploy Revit and venfy updates Page 5o0f 14 _ z Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB Self Help Tools If you want to spend more time reading the blogsand forums providing self help tools isa must a E S Properties General Security Previous Versions DFS Customize Folder versions REVIT il TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA Previous versions come from restore points or from Windows Backup How dol use previous versions Here are a few ideas Mame Date modified 4 Today 3 TE E e Previous Versions this provides multiple backup snapshots accessible to any user from their workstation Simply nght click ona folder in Windows Explorerand select Properties See your IT folks to get this setup Between the user TIP Using a local file to replace local files and this feature a the central file on server conupt central file can easily everyone out of project be restored in minutes verify who hasthe most Curent working local with the most to lose use workshanng monitor someone could be in the project you don t know about me rendenng for example Open local detached from central Save over conupt ce
9. ilities orasa Revit savvy staff member Or you might just be interested in expanding your responsibilities and value in your fim In any case thissession will hopefully help you resolve Revit related problems more quickly Thisisnota BIM Manager presentation Ha If of this short session will be covering a few issues and talking about ways in which to resolve the issue The information in this handout will be bnefly covered with the idea that you can read it more closely later Source of the Problem Three Major Categones Every Revit issue pretty much falls into one of three major categones Keeping this in mind you can typically narrow things down pretty quickly The list below providesan overview of these three categones which isthen followed by a few ways in which to proceed e Software Revit application or model Operating System Video Driver Printer Driver Etcetera O O O 0 e Hardware o Workstation Network Server Printer Plotter Etcetera O O O Knowledge of Features Knowledge of Office Standards O O Page 2 of 14 REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support gt Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA Ideally you willbe able to see and orreproduce the problem Ruling out hardware is usually pretty easy just try using another computer or printing to a file DWF DWF User related issues are discovered by asking questions and watching them show you the problem or try
10. ing the steps yourself without having any Issues If you can rule out hardware and user related issues you have a software problem With this big picture outline in mind we will look ata providing help from a number of different angles Health Risks lack of planning on your part doesnot constitute an emergency on my part Unknown This may sound a little odd but the life of a dedicated support person can be a strain on your health if you are not carful Trying to keep everyone happy like that is possible can get pretty stressful Some daysthe phone nevernngsand othersare crazy Some folks can get pretty excited when things are not working and their deadline isfast approaching Don t let them get to you When they do you end up skipping basic stepsand potentially making the problem worse because you are frazzled If you have a deadline you are working on orneed some focused research time check out the most remote conference room and go hide there foran hour ortwo It can be stressful to sit at your desk and have the phone ringing and staff walking up to your desk Hopefully you have some physical activity such assports exercise or biking This really helps to take the edge off When there is no snow on the ground like to nde my bike to and from work which isabout 4 mileseach way with a 500 foot elevation gain Page 30f 14 REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CON
11. just trying random things Not everyone hasthis ability or patience e Understand the question sometimes the userdoesnot understand the problem it is your job to ask questions to make sure you understand the issue before digging in Example User am having trouble using phasing in my project can get layout A to show but when tum on layout B the other layout will not gO away Helpdesk Is layout A existing If so you will need to set its phase demolished setting User No both optionsare new am just trying two different designs nght now Helpdesk it sounds like you want to be using Design Options not Phasing e Remember the basics it isso easy to assume the userhastned all the basics especially power users and thussend you ona wild goose chase o RestartRevit and orcomputer amazing how many things this fixes Page 9of 14 REVIT ll Providing Revit Help Desk Support gt Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA o Create a new localfile should create a new one every day Check forcurent web updates Check for curent graphics dnver Tum off oron hardware acceleration Does the project have phases Does the project have design options Visibility issues See my AEC bytes com article Try on anothercomputer are otherson the same project having the same problem o Open central file with Auditchecked Have all users close out Venfy this via Workshanng monitor Fini
12. ntral everyone needsto make a new local 5262011 3 30 PM 6 26 2011 12 00 PM di s 5426 2011 9 00 AM 4 Yesterday 3 wb s TE 4 af 25 2011 3 30 PM yzy z0li izt Phi F Oper Apply ETE e Standards manual this will help to answer basic how to questions especially fornew staff This information should be easily accessible online orin SharePoint When staff ask a question that can be answered from the manual send them a link to that information This willteach them to look there first next time Page 6of 14 REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support m Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA e Videos videosare fast to LHB Training and Procedures Video Library create compa red to ste p b ct k ct ti Common Topics y e p In ruc IO nS O n Copy Monitor Structural Grids Learn how to copy monitor structural grids p a p e r ley sho u ld b e e Installing the Family Browser Steps to install the Family Browser add in for Revit e Using the Family Browser sno rt a nd to the p O int It IS Learn how to use the Family Browser once Itis Installed e Managing Revisionsin Revit b e tte r to h a ve mM a Ny sh O rt Process for adding douds anc revision tags for ASI RFP etc Revit Architecture videos so staff can jump e e Area Plans Create area plans ta keen track of areas larger than a room right to what they need o ai Creating a sloped wall involve
13. roblem geometry Thismay mess up some dimensions edited profiles or joins but that is why you are ina detached model This will also create problems for hosted content in consultant models Revit willsee thisasa new wall However this may be just what is needed to comect the problem Transfer Project Standards from your firm template This is just a test as it will likely messes many things up in the current project If thissolvesthe problem start over and transfer one category ata time to narmow down the Issue Link the project into a fresh copy of your fim template And then Bind and Ungroup the project Doesthe issue go away Search post on the forums Autodesk AUG I Revit Forums Justdon t post your model until your boss says that s allowed most would do not Test a copy of the model from earner in the day or yesterday At this point send a copy to your reseller and let them get started working on it If you solve it you can close the tic ket Some resellers charge for support so you need to know what options you have here email phone on site If yourfirm ison Subscription you have access to web based support from Autodesk Ourfirm has unlimited support foran Autodesk Gold Partner always use this option asthey have the ability to pick up the phone and call Autodesk to see how the issue is progressing TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA REVIT ll Providing Revit Help Desk Support gt
14. s a Mass and Wall by Face tools A 3 5 min ute vid eo sho u id e Non Rendered 3D Presentation Views H Adding 2D cutouts of people and view options ambient Occlusion be eno ugh time to cover e RPC Content Creation Learn howto use the ArchVision RPC rendering content in Revit Conceptual Fnergy Analysis CFA most topic S Every SO 1 CEA Creating Masses the CEA feature only works with ma 2 CEA True North and Location Learn how to specify true n often you should send out i 3 CEA Ener Settin s you aes ete he sapi an email listing the new additions to the video library This is great just in time training and saves staff from sitting through training topics they might never use Best of all staff can access these videosat2am while you are home sleeping Videosare a great way to answer specific project questions so the entire design team can see the problem solution They can also be used to show something hard to explain to reseller Autodesk support If you are not familiar with creating videos check out Techsmith s Camtasia Studio and J ing ee chain techsmith com Another option is BB Flash Back Express tto www bbsoftware co uk BBFlashBack_ FreePlayer aspx a latter two video recording optionsare free Managing Issues Keeping track of vanous active issuescan be tncky especially if your organizational skills are not so solid That and the need to pnontize support requests must be done consis
15. sh by SWC with compact checked Alluserscreate a new local file O O O O O O e Bringing the project into the shop if you cannot resolve the issue in 5 10 minutes let the user get back to work on something else and work on the issue yourself The following bullet points are somewhat random and will vary depending on the nature of the issue at hand check to see if the issue is resolved aftereach step o Open the project detached from cental o Remove any DWG links Ifthissolvesthe problem e Try auditing the DWG in AutoCAD e Also Purge the DWG e If created ina vertical i e ACA MEP Civil 3D have the file exported to a plain DWG file Those verticals have a special command in the Application Menu which dumbs down and bindsthese smart drawings e Civildrawings may also need to be cropped down and moved closerto the ongin however this createsa lot of work if the Civil drawing will continue to change o Remove any Revit links Ifthe problem goesaway after removing the link try linking the project into an empty new file Page 100f 14 Providing Revit Help Desk Support gt Daniel J ohn Stine LHB Page llof14 REVIT ll Open the link and look forthe problem Now Audit Compact Purge If Revit crasheson Purge try again with only one category checked to narrow down the problem area May need to reload a family to over nght some conuption Review Wamings Dialog Cut and paste backin any p
16. tently and based on senousness Forexample one user wants to formally schedule a time for you to help him her leam how to edit their keyboard shortcuts and another users callsand cannot open a large project which needsto go out later this week Surprisingly the pnonty isnot alwaysa no brainerto everyone especially the person who feels as if they are being blown off The best Page 7of 14 Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB REVIT ll TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA tool here is communication when new calls emails come in let them know you are dealing with a big issue and will getto them assoon as possible Same with any previous requests recommend you keep a notebook at your desk and record all voice mails and any walk up requests List the usersname extension projectand problem You zje jor can also add emails or just yapn keep the email marked as Ly 2438 Erb sme unread until you have ee ir Ront taken care ofthat issue ajala z 1 Soman soi Once itemsin the book are ee tex taken care of simply Sepa highlight the line to ser Ph GAR aig es indicate it isdone justlike g for Le we do with redlines eee ere Some firms choose to run a tic ket support system to keep track of issues This has plusesand minuses It isa good way to organize and keep track of issues It isalso a good way to document solutions to issues for future reference Howev
17. upport Diffic ult Users It isclearthat come userscan be difficult I don t recommend ignonng phone calls but it is interesting how often the user has resolved the issue just minutes after you missed the initial call As mentioned earner be consistent send links to intemal documented procedures orcopy an email you previously sent them sent directly or via group email Miscellaneous Items Things to know e Several resource filesare now user specific in 2012 appdata Autodesk Revit Revit Architecture 2012 Revitini appdata Autodesk Revit Revit Architecture 2012 uistate dat _ REVIT 11 Providing Revit Help Desk Support Daniel J ohn Stine LHB TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE NORTH AMERICA See this Revit Clinic post for more details http revitclinic typepad com my_weblog 2011 04 who moved my files important file loc ation changes forrevit 2012 html e Registry location for Ul and windows etc KHC U Autodesk Revit Revit xxx 2012 See Nauman Mysorewala s post formore along these lines http bimologist cadbazaarcom index php main autodesk revit 2011 sc reen jump fix e Encourage usersto practice at home If your fim ison subscription you can request a Home Use License HULA for each network license owned This license expires after 13 months Real world Examples Severalexample problems with be presented and proposed solutions offered Due to time constraints they will not be documented in the
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