Project Folder Organisation

HDA

standards

Project Folder Organisation

(Digital)

English version

Contents:

Overview P a g e 2

General Guidelines P a g e 3

Typical Project Folder Structure P a g e 5

00_DOCS-OUT P a g e 6 01_REPORTS P a g e 7 02_GRAPHICS P a g e 8 03_CALCULATIONS P a g e 10 04_PRODUCTION P a g e 11 05_PHOTOS P a g e 12 06_CORRESPONDENCE P a g e 13 07_RESEARCH P a g e 14 10_ADMIN P a g e 15 99_DOCS-IN P a g e 16

Overview:

This is a system for the organisation of electronic files for HDA projects.

(This system has been primarily designed for small to medium size design/engineering/architectural companies. The aim has been to design a system that remains simple enough to be practical for small companies and small projects, while being sufficiently comprehensive to cope with the complexities of larger projects and the more detailed requirements of larger companies.)

The overall folder structure of the folders is as follows:

PRIMARY FOLDER

PRIMARY SUB-FOLDERS

SECONDARY SUB-FOLDERS

Primary Folder :

XXX_PROJECT NAME

Where 'XXX' is the project number, followed by the project name: eg: 274_PONT-DE-LYON

279_PASSERELLE-BASTILLE 287_NATHAN ROAD

Primary Sub-Folders:

00_DOCS-OUT

sent

(This folder also serves as an overall project Document Register.)

01_REPORTS

02_GRAPHICS

03_CALCULATIONS

04_PRODUCTION

05_PHOTOS

06_CORRESPONDENCE

.

07_RESEARCH

10_ADMIN

99_DOCS-IN

received

The theory at Primary Sub-Folder level is to separate files into 3 main categories:

• OUT Electronic documents issued or sent out by HDA (DOCS-OUT). • INTERNAL Internal HDA files

• IN Electronic documents received by HDA (DOCS-IN). Within 'INTERNAL', '01' to '04' are considered as 'production' files.

General Guidelines:

• Project titles should be as clear and concise as possible, both as general good working practice and because they will be repeated in the file path for every file within the project.

• All letters and numbers to be in capitals for all Primary Folders, Primary Sub-Folders and Secondary Folders. (This also applies to Tertiary Sub-Folders in 'GRAPHICS'.)

• '

_

• There are three principle sub-folders for 'GRAPHICS':

02_GRAPHICS

02_RHINO

2D

.

• There are two principle sub-folders for all others:

03_CALCULATIONS

01_MODELS

• The primary and secondary sub-folders are numbered (01_/02_), those that follow are listed alphabetically, (with the exception of 06_CORRESPONDENCE > ADMIN) .

Typical Project Folder Structure:

XXX_PROJECT NAME Project number and name.

00_DOCS-OUT All project documents issued or sent out from HDA, in dated folders.

01_REPORTS General reports, and all preparatory work for them.

02_GRAPHICS 2D/3D drawings/models, sketches, renderings, images, animations.

01_AUTOCAD --- All CAD work done in AutoCAD.

2D --- 2D models (dwg).

3D --- 3D models (dwg).

EXPORT --- Temporary files exported to other programs.

HDA-BASE --- Borders, title blocks, plot styles, templates (dwg).

HDA-DRAWINGS --- Numbered HDA drawings with borders/titles (dwg).

IN-PROGRESS --- In progress work (dwg).

02_RHINO --- All CAD work done in Rhino.

2D --- 2D models (3dm).

3D --- 3D models (3dm).

EXPORT --- Temporary files exported to other programs.

GRASSHOPPER --- Grasshopper scripts (ghx).

HDA-BASE --- Borders, title blocks, plot styles, templates (3dm).

HDA-DRAWINGS --- Numbered HDA drawings with borders/titles (3dm).

IN-PROGRESS --- In progress work (3dm).

SCRIPTS --- Other scripts created from Rhino.

03_XXXXX --- All work done in XXXXXX.

10_IMAGES --- Rendered images and images (eg. from Photoshop/Illustrator).

20_VIDEOS --- Animations created from Rhino or other modeling programs.

30_HAND-SKETCHES --- Scanned images of hand-drawn sketches.

03_CALCULATIONS All calculation work.

01_GEOMETRY --- Geometric models used for calculations.

02_SHEETS --- Calculation spreadsheets and notes.

03_MODELS --- Analytical models.

04_REPORTS --- Calculation reports and preparatory work for them.

05_IMAGES --- Images produced from calculations and analysis.

04_PRODUCTION All other 'production' documents.

01_SPECIFICATIONS --- All specification-type documents.

02_ESTIMATIONS --- All costing/quantity estimates (eg. BOM/BOQ).

03_MINUTES --- Minutes of meetings.

05_PHOTOS All photos taken by HDA in relation to the project.

06_CORRESPONDENCE All electronic correspondence in and out (except administration).

ADMIN --- All electronic administration correspondence in and out.

07_RESEARCH All research work done in relation to the project.

10_ADMIN All administrative documents and information.

01_CONTRACT --- Contract documents, incl. fee proposals, invoices, etc.

02_ORGANISATION --- Folder spines, title pages, headers, blank template docs, etc.

99_DOCS-IN All research work done in relation to the project.

01_REPORTS-IN --- All received reports and brochures.

02_GRAPHICS-IN --- All received models/drawings and drawing-related images.

03_CALCULATIONS-IN --- All received calculation files.

04_PRODUCTION-IN --- All other received production documents and information.

05_PHOTOS-IN --- All photos received in relation to the project.

00_DOCS-OUT

• This folder should contain a final copy of all documents sent out or issued by HDA. All documents should be in sub-folders, and titled as follows:

<Date of Issue>_<Recipient>_<Description of Contents>

eg. 2011-01-12_<CLIENT>_Initial Fee Proposal > HDA-287-PROP_Fee proposal_01.pdf 2011-01-12_<CLIENT>_Revised Fee Proposal > HDA-287-PROP_Fee proposal_02.pdf 2011-02-10_<CLIENT>_Progress report > HDA-287-REP_General Report_01.pdf 2011-02-16_<CLIENT>_Calculation reports > HDA-287-CALC_NathanRd-stair_01.pdf

> HDA-287-CALC_NathanRd-facade_01.pdf 2011-02-22_<ALL>_Stair details > HDA-287-IMG_screenshot-01_2010-05-24.jpg

> HDA-287-IMG_screenshot-02_2010-05-24.jpg 2011-02-24_<CLIENT>_Staircase 3D model > HDA-287-MOD_staircase_2010-05-24.3dm 2011-03-17_<CLIENT>_Progress report > HDA-287-REP_General Report_02.pdf

2011-04-24_<CONTRACTOR>_In-progress model > HDA-287-MOD_staircase_2011-04-24.dwg 2011-04-09_<CLIENT>_Tender Issue drawings > HDA-287-DRG_GA-001_01.pdf

> HDA-287-DRG_GA-002_01.pdf > HDA-287-DRG_FP-001_01.pdf 2011-04-16_<CONTRACTOR>_Site photos > HDA-287-PHOT_DSC001132.pdf

> HDA-287-PHOT_DSC001287.pdf > HDA-287-PHOT_DSC001134.pdf

2011-05-08_<CLIENT>_Drawing comments > HDA-287-CMT_stair walls_2010-05-24.pdf > HDA-287-CMT_facade fins_2010-05-24.pdf 2011-05-10_<ALL>_Progress report > HDA-287-REP_General Report_03.pdf

• This folder should only have sub-folders with the issue date and a description of the contents.

It should be purely a history of all the electronic documents sent out or issued by HDA, and as such serves as an overall project Document Register.

• This folder system, combined with the file-naming system which gives both the project number and a prefix to describe the file type, enables any document sent out or issued from HDA to be located, either via the dated folders, or by searching '00_DOCS-OUT' for particular file types.

For example, to search for all the drawings that have been sent out from HDA:

SEARCH> HDA-287-DRG* (This will give a list of all drawings sent out from HDA for this project) • For this system to work effectively, it requires a certain amount of discipline in naming files, to ensure that they are named in a logical manner (see "HDA_Document File Naming System").

01_REPORTS

• This folder should contain all preparatory work for creating general assembled reports and brochures. This is where images, text and drawings are assembled to produce the reports/brochures.

• In preparing a general progress report, the report may be created first in a program such as Word or InDesign.

• The final document is then printed to PDF format, and maybe then printed again to create a 'lighter' file. • All the preparatory work and the InDesign or Word file stays in this folder, but a copy of the final report, as it is sent out from HDA, is then put in the '00_DOCS-OUT' folder.

• This folder is quite flexible, as it is for preparing the reports and therefore to be used however best suits whomever is preparing them, but should generally consist of sub-folders with the date and a description of the contents.

eg. 2011-01-12_NATHAN > HDA-287-REP_NATHAN_01.indd

> HDA-287-REP_NATHAN_01.pdf > HDA-287-REP_NATHAN(light)_01.pdf > text.doc > contents table.doc > IMG0235.jpg > IMG0236.jpg > IMG0237.jpg

2011-02-16_Stair Studies > HDA-287-REP_Stair studies_01.indd > HDA-287-REP_Stair studies_01.pdf > HDA-287-REP_Stair studies(light)_01.pdf > image01.pdf

> image04.pdf

2011-02-25_In progress > HDA-287-REP_NATHAN_02.indd > HDA-287-REP_NATHAN_02.pdf > rendu.indd

> plans.indd > images.pdf

02_GRAPHICS

• This folder should contain all 2D and 3D drawings, models, sketches, renderings, images and animations prepared by HDA.

• Sub-Folders '01' to '09' are for design software programs:

01_AUTOCAD

2D

Superseded

3D

Superseded

EXPORT

HDA-BASE

Plot Styles

HDA-DRAWINGS

PDF

Superseded

IN-PROGRESS

Superseded

02_RHINO

2D

Superseded

3D

Superseded

EXPORT

GRASSHOPPER

HDA-BASE

HDA-DRAWINGS

PDF

Superseded

IN-PROGRESS

Superseded

SCRIPTS

• Sub-Folders '10' and '20' are for other types of graphical files:

10_IMAGES

images created in Photoshop/Illustrator (jpg/tif/bmp/psd, etc). This folder should generally be organised along the lines of the

'00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

20_VIDEO

This folder should generally be organised along the lines of the

'00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

• Sub-Folder '30' is for scanned versions of hand-drawn sketches:

30_HAND-SKETCHES

• Sub-Folders '01' to '09' are used for design software programs. At HDA we work predominantly with AutoCAD ('01_') and Rhino ('02_') in the preparation of our 2D and 3D drawings and models, therefore these software programs already have a designated structure set up for them. Further sub-folders can be added for other design software programs ('03_', '04_', '05_', etc), and set up accordingly, to suit project requirements. • Sub-Folders '10' to '20' are used for other types of graphical files, namely images and video/animation, and will usually contain files created in either design software programs (predominantly AutoCAD and Rhino), or in graphics editing programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. The organisation of these folders should be generally along the lines of the '00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder, with sub-folders named by date, and a description of their contents if required.

• Sub-Folder '30' is for scanned copies of hand-drawn sketches, to keep a digital record of these. • 'Model' files are 2D or 3D models (whether done in AutoCAD, Rhino or other programs), such as 3D

structures, parts/elements and assemblies, and 2D plans, sections, and elevations (and details if required). - Current versions of principle model files should be in the '2D' and '3D' folders, and have the document type abbreviation ‘MOD’. These include files which may be required to be located by other persons,

and files referenced to other files (eg. XREFs in AutoCAD). File names should be clear and concise. eg. HDA-287-MOD_1ST FLOOR PLAN.dwg - Plan of 1st _{floor - current version (AutoCAD) – '2D'}

HDA-287-MOD_GRID.dwg - Overall site grid - current version (AutoCAD) – '2D' HDA-287-MOD_3D-Facade Panel.dwg - 3D facade panel - current version (AutoCAD) – '3D' HDA-287-MOD_staircase.3dm - 3D staircase model - current version (Rhino) – '3D' HDA-287-MOD_building facade.3dm - 3D facade model - current version (Rhino) – '3D' HDA-287-MOD_staircase section.3dm - 2D staircase section - current version (Rhino) – '2D'

- In-progress internal files that are continually being changed and overwritten should be in kept in ‘IN-PROGRESS’ and can be named more or less at the author’s discretion.

eg. staircase_2010-05-24.3dm - In-progress staircase model (Rhino)

facade section_4.dwg - In-progress section of facade (AutoCAD)

- All old or superseded versions should be put in the accompanying 'Superseded' sub-folder.

• 'Drawing' files are drawings with borders, titles and reference numbers (predominantly prepared by HDA in

AutoCAD, but can be prepared also in Rhino or other programs), and represent the plotted output (including notes, annotations and dimensions).

These have the document type abbreviation 'DRG', and should be in 'HDA-DRAWINGS'.

- Only current versions should be in the 'HDA-DRAWINGS' folder.

eg. HDA-287-DRG_GA-001.dwg - G.A. drawing No. 001 - current version (AutoCAD)

HDA-287-DRG_DE-007.dwg - Detail Drawing No. 007 - current version (AutoCAD)

- All old or superseded versions should be put in the accompanying 'Superseded' sub-folder.

eg. HDA-287-DRG_GA-001_01.dwg - G.A. drawing 001 - superseded Rev '01' (AutoCAD)

HDA-287-DRG_DE-007_R2010-05-24.dwg - Detail Drawing 007 - superseded version (AutoCAD)

- HDA drawings should be issued as paper copies as non-editable PDF files only, rather than in their native format. Current versions should be plotted to PDF and their revision number added. eg. HDA-287-DRG_GA-001_01.pdf - G.A. drawing 001 - Rev '01' (PDF)

HDA-287-DRG_DE-007_01.pdf - Detail Drawing 007 - Rev '01' (PDF)

• For further explanation of the differences between 'Model' files (MOD) and 'Drawing' files (DRG) see

03_CALCULATIONS

• This folder should contain all calculations (and related models/notes/images, etc) prepared by HDA.

01_GEOMETRY

02_SHEETS

03_MODELS

04_REPORTS

The final calculation reports can be stored here too, but to enable all sent/issued files to be traced logically, and in line with all other HDA files, a copy is to be placed in a dated sub-folder in the primary folder '00_DOCS-OUT'.

05_IMAGES

04_PRODUCTION

• This folder should contain all production files/documents and information prepared by HDA (apart from General Reports, Calculation Reports and Drawings, which are stored in their own Primary Sub-Folders). This includes estimates, specifications and minutes of meetings.

01_SPECIFICATION

This includes documents such as Technical Reports, etc.

02_ESTIMATION

This includes Bills of Quantities, Bills of Materials, etc.

03_MINUTES

• Further sub-folders can be added as and when necessary to suit project requirements:

05_PHOTOS

• This folder should contain all photos taken by HDA in relation to the project, such as site photos or photos of models made by HDA.

• There may be at times an overlap between photos in this folder and photos in '07_RESEARCH', for example with regard to photos sourced from the internet.

01_HDA

Photos should be in a sub-folder with the date of issue and a description of what the photos are of.

eg. 2011-02-10_photos of maquette > IMG_2568.jpg

> IMG_2569.jpg > IMG_2570.jpg > IMG_2571.jpg 2011-02-04_site photos > DSC001132.jpg > DSC001287.jpg > DSC001134.jpg 2011-01-28_visit to factory > DSC000234.jpg > DSC000235.jpg > DSC000236.jpg > DSC000237.jpg

• This folder should only have sub-folders with a date and a description of the contents.

• Photos sent from HDA should keep the same image name/number, but with the Identification/File ID added in front, and placed in a dated sub-folder in the primary folder '00_DOCS-OUT'.

eg. 2011-02-10_photos of model > HDA-287_PHOT_DSC001132.jpg

> HDA-287_PHOT_DSC001287.jpg > HDA-287_PHOT_DSC001134.jpg > HDA-287_PHOT_DSC001135.jpg

06_CORRESPONDENCE

• This folder should contain all electronic correspondence (emails) sent and received by HDA in relation to the project.

eg. 2011-02-10_Hugh Dutton_HDA-287_Cable Structure query

2011-02-11_Norman Whiteside_Re HDA-287_Cable Structure query 2011-02-12_Remi Moses_Fw Re HDA-287_Cable Structure query 2011-02-26_Claudine Longet_meeting dates HK

2011-02-27_Lois Maxwell_Re meeting dates HK 2011-03-04_Victor Wong_milestone review stages 2011-03-05_Frank Reader_facade options report 2011-03-05_Lois Maxwell_ Re milestone review stages 2011-03-07_Jesper Blomqvist_Re Re meeting dates in HK 2011-03-10_Guy Chadwick_3D model of blades

2011-03-12_Hugh Dutton_Fw Re milestone review stages 2011-03-15_Claudine Longet_Re facade options report

• This folder should contain only copies of the actual emails (typically in Outlook/msg format), as they were sent/received and complete with any attachments. (It also serves as a back-up to find attachments that were sent/received and not copied into DOCS-IN/DOCS-OUT.)

• Further sub-folders can be added as and when necessary, to suit project requirements and to aid the retrieval of particular emails:

eg

ADMIN

• Copies of all attachments from received emails should be filed in the relevant '99_DOCS-IN' folder. • Copies of all attachments from sent emails should be filed in sub-folders in the '00_DOCS-OUT' folder.

07_RESEARCH

The use of this folder is flexible, and dependent on the requirements of the project. It is a folder to store all research material gathered for the project, such as documents and images found online.

10_ADMIN

• This folder should contain all administrative documents and information prepared by HDA. This includes fee proposals, invoices, folder spines, title pages, etc.

01_CONTRACT

This includes fee proposals, invoices, etc.

02_ORGANISATION

• Further sub-folders can be added as and when necessary to suit project requirements:

99_DOCS-IN

This folder should contain all documents received by HDA in relation to the project. It is divided into sub-folders along the same lines as the primary sub-folders.

01_REPORTS-IN

'00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

eg. 2011-02-04_canopy design presentation > 13422_Presentation_03.pdf 2011-01-12_canopy modifications > 13422_Modified Design.pdf

02_GRAPHICS-IN

received drawing-related images (psd/jpg/tif/pdf, etc). This folder should be organised along the lines of the '00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

eg. 2011-02-04_client drawings_block03 > 13422_268FG_LEVEL1.dwg > 13422_268FG_LEVEL1.pdf

03_CALCULATIONS-IN

lines of the '00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

eg. 2011-02-04_facade frame calcs > 13422-facade beam analysis.pdf > 13422-facade beam model.sat

04_PRODUCTION-IN

the '00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

eg. 2011-02-04_facade spec for review > 13422_facade specification.doc > 13422_facade specification_pt2.doc

05_PHOTOS-IN

folder with the date of issue and a description of the photos. eg. 2011-02-10_site photos from XXXX > IMG_6854.jpg

> IMG_6855.jpg > IMG_6856.jpg

10_ADMIN-IN

'00_DOCS-OUT' primary folder.

eg. 2011-02-04_223B_tender-doc_facade > 13422_tender request.doc > 13422_fee confirmation.doc