Hi all,
I'm reaching out to the community at large to please share some inisght or practical experience with documenting design changes in ORD. We're having some issues on a current major project where the design isn't behaving as it should between corridor re-processing and it is becoming increasingly difficult to track down if it is due to unintentional changes by the designer or whether it is an issue with ORD or the templates.
A previous thread I posted (https://communities.bentley.com/products/road___site_design/f/geopak-inroads-mx-openroads-forum/215324/ord-2020-r3-output-log-similar-to-mx-output-window/655747#655747) was the start of this where we were trying to find the way to track the processing done by ORD but the answers I received confirmed what we thought after we had first searched ORD quite extensively ourselves.
When we used MX, we would document any changes made in the header part of the relevant input file. This changelog was commented out and grew as the input file grew, but it was useful to see who did what when and where in the input file so we could start there to identify any obvious errors (typo's, use of incorrect strings, etc.). The benefit of this method was that the changelog was contained within the input file itself and was part of the design package so it was relatively simple to keep up to date. An example is provided below:
What I'd like to know is how do you all track your design changes? Design History, direct text table or text elements in DGN file, separate Microsoft Word or Excel register? Personally I'm a bit reluctant to use an external file or process as it just adds an extra layer of activity to an already constrained team, so ideally something inside the DGN or within MicroStation would be advantageous. In saying that, if the general consensus is to use an external file or mechanism then I guess we must just bit the bullet and get moving on it!
We are running OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition - 2020 Release 3 and we are not using ProjectWise.
Any advice or insight will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris
We've started publishing iModels and connecting them to iTwin Design Reviews in order to track changes, see link to Bentley iTwin video below. It will track changes automatically and allow you to compare model versions. We are still early on in the process but it seems promising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1rMWmsuoFo&t=197s
OpenBridge Modeler - 10.10.00.85Microstation - 10.16.02.34
Comprehensive 3 Day OpenBridge Modeler Training