How to upgrade Revit can be a hot topic at any AEC firm. When Revit upgrades its software, it can throw entire firms into chaos.
If your firm is anything like ours, you might have several old but still active projects are hosted in Revit ’20, or even ’19. However, Autodesk is already rolling out Revit ’24. At EVstudio, some of us no longer have Revit ’20 or ’19 software installed, so an upgrade was needed. Upgrading is easy, but we needed to coordinate so the whole team is using the same version. This is crucial for any firm, but especially when the team is cross-discipline like it is here at EVstudio.
Because we recently underwent this process, I wanted to share the steps we took to make this change simple.
Talk to your Project Architects or Project Managers to help with coordination.
This one may seem like a no-brainer, but project architects and project managers should always be the first stop in any big process or software changes being implemented for any firm. They have the bird’s-eye view of all the moving pieces of the team, and will have important context for shaping the process.
The version to be upgraded to needs to be agreed upon by all disciplines.
Software versions can be deceptively similar, and that leaves room for confusion and mistakes when upgrades are underway. Ensuring that all team stakeholders have a say in what software is chosen will help ensure that entire the team is getting what they need from the upgraded software to get their job done, too.
A point person for each discipline should be designated to make the upgrade for their discipline.
This designation helps eliminate confusion and streamlines the process. When anyone in a discipline has an issue, they’ll likely be more comfortable reaching out to someone internally in their discipline for support. Plus, this helps make sure the upgrade is being coordinated with the discipline’s workflow appropriately.
File names should be updated to include the correct Revit year.
This detail is another one that seems obvious but can easily slip through the cracks. Diligence about correctly named files helps smooth the way for future projects.
Links will need to be re-pathed due to file renaming.
A tedious but crucial task, re-pathing links keeps every renamed file usable. (This step will probably always be a hassle, unfortunately.)
Anything left in the older version needs to be archived to avoid confusion.
Good data management can be as simple as clearing out clutter from working folders. Archives are our friends! This keeps projects from being lost in the weeds of too many files.
How does this all work?
Usually, architecture goes first. Then structural engineering, then MEP. That way, the structural team can link to architectural files for backgrounds, then MEP can link their files to architecture and structural’s files accordingly, and so on. Again, easy enough to logic out, but important to coordinate well.
Pitfalls of upgrading one discipline alone:
- Other disciplines can no longer link to that discipline’s model
- Linked models need to be upgraded every time the model is opened
- Confusion about which version is being used can lead to multiple models
The process for working with outside architectural or structural engineering firms is similar, except for the file naming part, which may be dependent on how that firm works.
Hopefully this helps your firm streamline your process in how to upgrade Revit for your team. Curious about EVstudio and what we do? Let us know!
