REVISION PROTOCOL

Revit has a built in system for creating and managing revisions. It has restrictions (see below), but overall it is much better to use Revit to manage revisions than to do it manually. Using Revit ensures consistency in how Revisions are done by everyone and avoids complicated 'exceptions' that sounded like a good idea at the time but always lead to eventual disaster.

Generally only use Revit revisioning for the main drawing set, whatever the stage. Sketches are usually only revised at the most a few times so the the overhead of using Revit revisions is not worth it. Just use a free-form custom parameter, like Revision prefix to manually note sketch revisions. This means you won't have a revision schedule on sketches - but who does that?

GOOD REVISION PRACTICE

• • Generally revision clouds should be drawn as changes are made so they are not forgotten.

  • Revision clouds can be placed on sheets, or within views (note you can activate views from a sheet to place clouds within a view). There is no hard reason to use a particular method. It is marginally better to place clouds on sheets as they are easier to find later on. But if there is a risk clouds will be forgotten it is better to cloud whilst making the changes in a view.

  • Don't rely on revision clouds for schedules (text in schedules move as rows are automatically added or deleted by Revit, therefore clouds end up being no longer over changes). Use a revision parameter within the components instead.

  • Tick revisions as Issued once issued to prevent further clouds being put on that revision.

  • Turn off issued revisions by setting to not show clouds or tags (set Show to None).

  • Use comment parameter to note what individual revision cloud relate to. This helps everyone understand what has changed.

  • Make revision clouds and tags (including text) a colour. Use a darkish colour (but not so dark it looks black) so it prints dark gray when printed black & white.

WHAT REVIT CAN'T DO

Revit contains a sheet revisioning system which restricts what you can do to maintain consistency.

Limitations include:

• • You can not override the revision number or letter Revit uses on a revision.

  • You can not use letter/number combinations for revisions (e.g. T01).

  • Although you can fake it with a revision prefix parameter.

  • Numbers are never prefixed with leading zeros (i.e. Revit shows 1, not 01, 001).

  • There is a workaround using a revision prefix parameter.

  • After revision Z the next revisions are AA, BB, CC etc. This can not be changed.

  • A sheet will only have its revision number increased, and have the revision listed in the revision schedule on the sheet, if there is at least one revision cloud either in a view or on the sheet itself.

  • You can not override which revisions are shown or not in the Revision schedule on sheets.

  • You can not force all sheets to have the same revision - i.e. increase all their revision by different amounts so they are all the same.

  • There is a workaround where you create intermediate revisions - a real pain to do, but can be done.

  • Although you can add a comment to a revision cloud, and show it in a tag, you can not show these comments in schedules (although there are Add-ins that overcome this limitation - e.g. Case apps).

  • You can not select all revision clouds, not in a view, nor in the whole project.

  • Although there are add-ins that can.

(this list is not complete!)

SETTING UP REVISIONS

Settings for Revisions are accessed via the Manage tab > Additional Settings > Sheet Issues/Revisions.

Set Numbering to be Per Sheet. (Per Project gives all sheets the same revision number).

Note if you change this setting after revisions have been created existing revisions may be renumbered.

When you create a revision you can make the revision number a letter or number (but not a mixture of the two).

Alphabetic and Numeric numbering are separate. When you start using Alphabetic after Numeric, it will start at A, if you start using Numeric after Alphabetic it will start with 1.

To exclude certain letters from an alphabetical sequence (e.g. I and O which can be confused with 1 and 0), use the Alphabetical Sequence Options button.

WORKING TOWARDS A KNOWN DRAWING ISSUE

If you are working towards a known issue date and will not be issuing "interim" revisions:

Make sure all previous revisions are ticked as "Issued", and Show is set to None.

Create a new revision.

Type in the date and description.

Create revision clouds in views or sheets as changes are made.

Tag with each cloud with revision no. and comment tag.

Edit tag to add a comment (click on question mark).

When the day comes to issue drawings print them.

After drawings printed in the Sheet Revisions/Issues dialog tick this revision as "Issued", set to not show clouds or tags (set Show to None).

MARKING CHANGES WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN THE NEXT DRAWING ISSUE WILL BE

If you are making changes but the next issue date has not been confirmed:

Make sure all previous revisions are ticked as "Issued".

Create a new revision.

Type in "tba" for the date, "next revision" for description (use lowercase so visually different from actual revisions).

Create revision clouds in views or sheets as changes are made, tag with revision no. and comment, edit tag to add a comment (click on question mark).

When the day comes to issue drawings change the revision date to the issue date, and description to the revisions description.

Clouds and tags, as well as revision schedules on sheets will automatically update.

Print the drawings.

After drawings printed in the Sheet Revisions/Issues dialog tick this revision as "Issued", set to not show clouds or tags (set Show to None).

Create a new revision with "tba" for the date, "next revision" for description.

Repeat the cycle.

HANDLING "INTERIM" REVISIONS

If you have to make an urgent issue before the next major issue of drawings:

Create a new revision, Type in the date and description.

Go to the first sheet being issued.

Place all revisions on the previous un-issued revision (e.g. "next revision") onto the new revision.

Create revision clouds of any new changes, tag with revision no. and comment, edit tag to add a comment (click on question mark).

Repeat for other revisions on the sheet.

Repeat for other sheets being issued.

Print the drawings that are part of the issue.

After drawings printed in the Sheet Revisions/Issues dialog move the revision just issued to be above the revision before it (e.g. above "next revision").

Tick the revision just issued as "Issued", set to not show clouds or tags (set Show to None).

REMOVE OLD REVISIONS

Generally old revisions are left in the model and just hidden (by ticking Issued - see above). However you may want to remove all revisions when a new stage of the project is starting.

Deleting a revision deletes the clouds and tags associated with that revision.

You can only delete one revision at a time (it can take a long time to delete a lot of revisions).

Once gone you can not get the revisions back.

1. Untick the Issued tick box for all revisions you want to remove.

2. Highlight the row of the revision to delete.

3. Hit the Delete button.

There are also Add-ins that delete all revisions.