Files saved over each other
Someone saves the new issue over the old file on a shared drive. The folder now holds a single PDF, and nobody can show what the drawing looked like on the day the subcontractor priced it.
Revision control
Drawing revision control: one chain of revisions per drawing number
Revision control on a drawing comes down to two questions: which revision is current today, and what did the earlier ones say? Fidrel answers both by tying every revision to the drawing number it was uploaded under, so a new issue never overwrites an old one, and an earlier revision can still be opened with its date, its status and the note that came with it.
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Where revision control breaks down
One drawing, two files
A revision arrives under a slightly different file name and lands beside its predecessor as a separate file. Both look current, and site opens whichever happens to sort first.
An order of issue nobody recorded
The title block says P03 but the file name says nothing, and the person who received it has left the job. Working out which issue came when means opening every copy in turn.
The current revision and the ones it replaced
In Fidrel a drawing is its number. Every file uploaded under that number becomes a version of the same document, tagged v1, v2, v3 in the order they arrived, and the latest upload is the current revision the moment it lands. The Versions tab lists them newest first, each with its revision, file name, upload date and size, its own status and any change note, and each can be previewed or downloaded on its own. In the drawing register, Current revision shows one line per drawing; All revisions adds the earlier ones beneath it, each marked Superseded and dated by its upload.
Documents, drawings & models
Statuses belong to revisions, not to files
Each revision carries its own status, so the record keeps what an earlier revision was when it was replaced: a revision that was Accepted still shows as Accepted in the history after a newer one arrives. A UK project uses Work in progress, Shared and For review and comment, then Reviewed, Accepted and Rejected, then Published for construction, As-constructed record and Archived. Only administrators and document controllers may set Accepted, Published for construction and As-constructed record, and the database turns everyone else away. Each change goes into the status history with the date, the person and an optional comment.
How a revision joins its drawing
Step 1
Upload under the same number
Choose Upload and add the file. When its document number matches a drawing already in the project, the upload dialog offers New version of that number instead of New document, and a byte-for-byte copy of the current file is marked Same file as the current version and skipped.
Step 2
Write or accept the revision
Type the consultant’s own revision, such as C02, and Fidrel keeps it exactly as written. Leave the field empty and the next revision follows on from the last one, P01 to P02 or C02 to C03, or else from the project’s revision scheme.
Step 3
Add a change note and move the status on
Uploading through New version on a single drawing lets you write a change note that stays with that revision. The new revision starts as Work in progress until an administrator or document controller moves it on to Accepted or Published for construction.
A revision scheme the project chooses once
Unless an administrator picks another scheme, a UK project counts P01, P02, P03. The alternatives are capital letters with or without a letter on the first issue, lower-case letters, or numbers starting from 0 or from 1. Whatever the scheme, a revision someone types wins, and the next upload left blank counts on from it, so a consultant’s C01 is followed by C02. A number at the end keeps its width, which is why P09 is followed by P10 rather than P1.
Who hears about a new revision
Everyone who may open the folder gets an entry in the bell as soon as a file is uploaded, and an e-mail that gathers the uploads once the uploader has paused for a couple of minutes, unless they have switched that off. People outside the project hear nothing from an upload. If a replaced revision went to them by transmittal, the transmittal register shows who still holds it and can tell them in one step.
What Fidrel’s revision control does not do
The newest upload becomes the current revision straight away; there is no approval step before it replaces the previous one, only the status that says how far it has got. Earlier revisions are kept rather than withdrawn: anyone who can open the drawing can still preview or download a superseded revision, so the Superseded label does the warning. Fidrel takes the number and revision from the file name and the upload dialog; it does not read the revision box or the title block on the sheet, and does not update them. A revision is dated by the day it was uploaded, not by the date written on the drawing.
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Revision control
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usIt is the discipline of knowing which revision of each drawing is current while keeping every earlier revision with its date and reason for change, so that nobody builds from, prices from or overwrites the wrong issue.
No. A file uploaded under a number that already exists becomes the next version of that drawing. The earlier versions stay in the Versions tab, each with its own revision, status and upload date.
The upload dialog compares the file with the current version byte for byte. An identical file is marked Same file as the current version and skipped, unless you choose another action for it.
No. A number belongs to one document, ignoring capital letters and spaces at either end. A new document with a number already taken is stopped with the message This number already exists. Choose New version or change the number.
Only project administrators and document controllers. Other members who can edit set the remaining statuses, and every change is written to the revision’s status history with a name and a date.
Yes, for PDFs and images. Open both revisions side by side in the viewer and lay one over the other, and Fidrel colours what exists only in the older one and only in the newer one.