tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21895317395446807092024-03-12T21:00:08.851-07:00CadTempo - CAD Time AnalyticsCadTempo is a time tracking and logging solution for AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, and other CAD software products. Development for this product is based on the concept: "what can be measured can be improved"Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-58900088179997792062018-03-21T17:37:00.000-07:002018-03-21T17:37:31.233-07:00It's time to renew some blogging to update you on a number of CadTempo developments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
But first a couple of videos to demonstrate just a bit of CadTempo's features</div>
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Do you ever need to go back a week or two (or even more) to see what drawings or other documents you worked on? <b>Of course you do.</b> Make it easy on yourself by using CadTempo.</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LPcRgjKNWOk/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPcRgjKNWOk?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Do you struggle to find out how much time you or your CAD department has spent on a project? CadTempo can answer in less than a minute.</div>
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CadTempo records all of these times automatically. You and your users do not need to start or stop timers or documenting the file or projects worked on. Concentrate on getting that work done. </div>
Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-77847578421413038312017-02-08T09:28:00.000-08:002017-02-08T09:28:03.598-08:00Autodesk University 2016 InterviewWell, AU2016 is finished, I've recuperated from the hustle and bustle of the event and had a chance to reflect on the fun of catching up with old friends and the joy of meeting and making new friends. What an experience. I highly recommend your participation.<br />
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As mentioned in my previous post I took the opportunity this year to exhibit CadTempo and met plenty of interesting (and interested) people.<br />
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<a href="http://www10.aeccafe.com/video/Engineered-Design-Solutions-Patrick-Hughes-Founder-Owner/191659/media.html"></a>
<a href="http://www10.aeccafe.com/video/Engineered-Design-Solutions-Patrick-Hughes-Founder-Owner/191659/media.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AECCafe Interview<img border="0" height="231" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h8LKithVxTI/WEhODyaZylI/AAAAAAAACrA/87wmimKX0yIp4FHkwz6Mtw__rmIyYHIeQCLcB/s320/AECCafe-Interview.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-41067146842461949372016-11-10T10:22:00.000-08:002016-11-10T10:22:35.611-08:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;">CadTempo News</span></h2>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">I’m excited to tell you of several recent developments with CadTempo.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Newest Version Release</span></h4>
There is an update to CadTempo that is available at no cost to current registered users.. This
latest version, 6.5.3.190 contains several fixes and I can tell you that it has
been tested on the latest Windows 10 operating system (as well as earlier
systems). Remember, when updating there is no need to uninstall your current
copy. You will have the option to select a streamlined “Update’
installation.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">CadTempo - Autodesk App Store</span></h4>
CadTempo is also available on the Autodesk App store.
This has been updated as well to the latest version. You can find it here: <a href="https://apps.autodesk.com/ACD/en/Detail/Index?id=4200056251052045027&appLang=en&os=Win32_64">CadTempo
- App Store</a> If you have an Autodesk account I encourage you to download the
update from the store and if you have comments regarding CadTempo please feel
welcome to leave them in the Customer Review.<br />
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<br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">CadTempo - Autodesk University</span></h4>
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This is what has really got me excited, CadTempo will be exhibiting at Autodesk
University 2016 in Las Vegas. The booth number is <a href="https://events.au.autodesk.com/connect/exhibitorDetail.ww?EXHIBITOR_ID=11806">Booth
1467B</a>. Although we do not yet appear on the exhibit floor map <a href="https://events.au.autodesk.com/exhibitor/boothMap.do?_ga=1.139480435.192546835.1379791487">Exhibitor Map</a>, as you hover your mouse, the location is in the upper left right next to
a Food Area. If you are attending the University I sincerely hope you stop by to
say hello. I would be extremely pleased to meet you face to face.<br />
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-23144373312700326752015-03-02T15:45:00.000-08:002020-05-04T16:07:50.285-07:00Tweaking AutoCAD, BricsCAD, Inventor, and Windows to Improve CadTempo's CAD Time Keeping<div class="para">
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There are a few things that can be tweaked so CadTempo can do its best in keeping track of your CAD file time.</div>
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Windows hides file name extensions, but making them visible helps CadTempo in file name discovery.</div>
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To show file name extensions in Windows Explorer</h3>
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<span class="phrase">Open Folder Options by clicking the <span class="ui">Start</span> button , click <span class="ui">Control Panel</span>, then click <span class="ui">Folder Options</span>.</span> </div>
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Click the <span class="ui">View</span> tab, and then, under <span class="ui">Advanced settings</span>:</div>
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To show file name extensions, clear the <span class="ui">Hide extensions for known file types</span> check box, and then click <span class="ui">OK</span>.</div>
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AutoCAD too can be optimized for CAD file name detection by displaying the full path in the AutoCAD window title bar like this:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfwSEYP-MIQ/VPTk_rBIbkI/AAAAAAAACaU/WyvOSLf8IR4/s1600/AutoCADTitleBar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfwSEYP-MIQ/VPTk_rBIbkI/AAAAAAAACaU/WyvOSLf8IR4/s1600/AutoCADTitleBar.jpg" /></a></div>
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Open AutoCAD Options by right clicking in the AutoCAD command line or typing Options.</div>
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Click the Open and Save tab, and then, under File Open<span class="ui"> settings</span>, check the Display full path in title and then click OK or Apply.</div>
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To show the full path in BricsCAD's title bar</h3>
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BricsCAD uses the system variable <b>ShowFullPathInTitle</b>. Type that in the command line and set the value to 1.</div>
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<strike>Autodesk's Inventor does not have a convenient option to set as does AutoCAD, but thanks to a tip discovered on the CADforum by CAD Studio <a href="http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/how-to-display-full-document-path-in-inventor-title-bar-tip8468" target="_blank">cadforum - how to display full document path in inventor title bar</a> it is possible to do so.</strike><br />
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To show the full path in Inventor's title bar</h3>
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<span style="color: #e06666;">iLogic code is no longer required for CadTempo to function properly with Inventor. (Updated 05/04/2020)</span></div>
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<li><strike>Use iLogic to define a new rule (name it e.g. "LongCap") containing a single line: ThisApplication.Caption = ThisDoc.Path</strike></li>
<li><strike>Then let the rule "LongCap" run/invoke (see Event triggers) automatically on each event of the type "Document open".</strike></li>
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<strike>Since I do not have a copy of Inventor I asked a favorite blogging friend <a href="http://cadsetterout.com/" target="_blank">Paul Munford</a> to confirm this works and indeed it does. Thanks Paul and of course CADforum.</strike><br />
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Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-71353961641375265272014-10-13T08:04:00.000-07:002014-10-13T08:04:33.889-07:00Creating a Batch Script for AutoCAD with CadTempoHave you ever found yourself with a large number of AutoCAD drawings that you need to make changes to? It can be a very tedious and time consuming task.<br />
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AutoCAD comes equipped with a number of tools that can address this situation. The most simple of these is the script file - which also works with AutoCAD LT. I've used this method many times in the past to process hundreds of drawings at a time. When left to its own devices, the editing time that CadTempo had captured for those drawings was lost. In order to eliminate that problem a script generator was added to CadTempo. This article describes how to create a batch script within CadTempo and reclaim that logged time.<br />
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First, we need to enable and display the script maker. Open the CadTempo viewer and navigate to Options, then the Setting tab. Check the checkbox labeled <strong>Show Script Maker</strong> as shown in the image. *<i>If you operate a different CAD program this will not be enabled. If your CAD program has scripting available please let us know and we will investigate adding its functioning.*</i><br />
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The AutoCAD Script Maker will now be visible when you return to the Files window and you can begin creating your AutoCAD script template.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R8H6UDcXEDc/VDvoEuwx8CI/AAAAAAAACOA/NzB4vLYCzOs/s1600/CadTempo_Script002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R8H6UDcXEDc/VDvoEuwx8CI/AAAAAAAACOA/NzB4vLYCzOs/s1600/CadTempo_Script002.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></a></div>
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CadTempo populates the script edit box with a basic script template. You can modify this script to suit your needs, or load a previously saved template. You'll notice there is a placeholder named<b> Filename</b>. When the batch script is created this will be replaced with the drawing names that you select for processing. Once you have determined the script template is functioning properly in AutoCAD you can save the template for future use.<br />
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Select the Drawing Files</h4>
If you already have multiple folders checked for other viewing or reporting purposes, you can save the current check list for later reloading. From the main menu bar go to <b>File>>Save Check List</b>. Now you can click the <b>Clear Checked</b> button. The button label will change to "<b>Oops...</b>" to immediately restore the checkbox state if needed.<br />
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Select the AutoCAD drawing files to be processed by placing a check next to the desired files in the list box. To process all the files in the folder you can place a check in the folder tree. If you wish you can restrict the files to be included in the batch script to a single folder by checking the "<b>This Folder Only</b>" checkbox.<br />
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Create the Batch Script</h4>
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When you click the Create... button you will see a dialog box that displays the list of files that will be included in the batch script.<br />
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If you determine the list is incorrect the <b>Cancel</b> button will return you to the Files window and allow you to modify the selected files. Optionally you can add or remove files in the list, however care must be taken to insure each line entry is a valid drawing file name. When you are satisfied with your selection, press <b>OK </b>to create and save the batch script. After saving you will see a message reminding you to keep the CadTempo viewer open during the batch run. The <b>Restore Logged Data</b> button will be enabled.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UJCGKwV2MPw/VDiDK-np1rI/AAAAAAAACNw/Oqo2R7YSorQ/s1600/CadTempo_Script004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UJCGKwV2MPw/VDiDK-np1rI/AAAAAAAACNw/Oqo2R7YSorQ/s1600/CadTempo_Script004.jpg" height="156" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you wish to make a final examination before running the script open the saved .scr file. This is the result from the example.<br />
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After running the script in AutoCAD (or AutoCAD LT) click the <b>Restore Logged Data</b> button.<br />
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<i>We are very interested in building a library of common tasks that can benefit from batch processing. If you would like to share a script template you find useful please send us an email with your template for future inclusion with CadTempo.</i><br />
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-63935811061422445652014-09-10T11:04:00.000-07:002014-10-10T17:44:45.224-07:00Just Hit Cancel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's so easy - <i>just hit cancel</i>. We've all done it, whether it's by accident or to avoid having to enter some information a software program is asking for.</div>
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It was a problem for a CadTempo user that was attempting to record time spent by his AutoCAD users for non-CAD activities. As easy as CadTempo makes it to account for this time, it's still easier to <i>just hit cancel</i>.</div>
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You see, CadTempo works a little differently than your normal, run of the mill time tracking software. After the CAD operator is away from his or her computer for a predetermined time, CadTempo will prompt the user to account for that time upon return. The idea behind this is interruptions that require immediate attention many times remains unaccounted for. With CadTempo's Activity Logging enabled all that is involved is selecting a choice from a drop-down box (and optionally add a description).</div>
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But too often his CAD operators <i>just hit cancel</i>.</div>
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My customer (an engineering manager) had the problem of attempting to discover the amount of time users were away from their CAD station. Upon his request a default term was added to CadTempo. Now, when his CAD operators <i>just hit cancel</i> the time will be recorded and he will gain new insight into the performance of his team. It won't deliver quite the impact of knowing what activities took place but with the proper coaching over time I'm confident better accounting will take place.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Activity settings with new default selection</td></tr>
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If you are wondering what type of information is recorded here's an example spreadsheet that CadTempo generated. The document that is open during the activity is recorded along with the selected activity name. The user may also include additional information to further describe the activity.</div>
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Do you want to get a better understanding of your CAD work time, or your team of CAD operators? If so then visit the <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/" target="_blank">CadTempo</a> website to download a fully functioning 30 day trial.</div>
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-79808507149268219592014-08-08T13:14:00.000-07:002014-08-08T13:14:05.779-07:00CadTempo 6.2 has been released. Visit <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/" target="_blank">www.cadtempo.com</a> and download your 30 day free trial now.<br />
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-54626069478610022102014-07-02T11:16:00.000-07:002014-07-23T13:00:48.063-07:00Special Limited Time Offer on CadTempo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #e06666;">Don't miss out - our discount pricing will be ending soon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666;"> (July 31st)</span>
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-67686761275780155802014-06-18T11:38:00.001-07:002014-06-18T11:38:44.389-07:00There is an Easter egg in CadTempo. Can you find it? Shhh...be vewy vewy…<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/112698137550555278824/+Cadtempo/posts/bCaTcRSNwxv">There is an Easter egg in CadTempo. Can you find it? Shhh...be vewy vewy…</a>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-11346075786322976412014-03-08T13:13:00.000-08:002014-10-10T17:44:45.212-07:00Installing CadTempo For Multiple AutoCAD UsersI recently received an email from a potential CadTempo user with questions I thought might help others. He was interested in knowing how to go about setting up CadTempo for 20 AutoCAD users and 3 administrators (supervisory personnel). So here is an abbreviated set of instructions covering the most important installation points.<br />
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You will be installing CadTempo from each user's computer - the target machine(s), but you may find it easiest to first create a folder on a shared network drive. Copy (or <i>best,</i> download) the installer to that folder, and execute the network installer copy from the target machines. The example shown is a shared, mapped drive which resolves to a server name.<br />
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Shared Folder Example</h2>
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During installation you will be prompted to select the type of installation. Subsequent prompting will hinge upon your choice. If you are adding additional users un-check the "Initial Installation" checkbox.<br />
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Installation Type Prompt</h2>
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Our next concern is the component installation. For the initial installation you will select <b>"Full Installation"</b> - this will install both the viewer and the logger (CadTempoView.exe and CadTempo.exe). To add an administrator select <b>"Viewer Installation"</b>. If you are adding additional users to be monitored then select <b>"Logger Installation"</b>. The Installer will display a message to you if an incorrect selection is made based on your installation type.<br />
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Component Selection</h2>
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Most importantly is the location of the program files and the log files that CadTempo will create. Note that in this example the viewer application is showing the drive letter to the shared network folder and the Logger and Data folders display the server name. It is important when browsing for a location that you navigate to the location from the <b>Network</b> node of the selection dialog box. This will populate the field with the server name.<br />
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The folder selection options are dependent upon the components selected. This example is showing the Full Installation and therefore asks for all locations. When you perform a Viewer or Logger Installation only those selection options are presented, <i><b>also you will be selecting the File rather than Folder</b></i>. The Data Log File Location only appears for the Full Installation.<br />
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CadTempo File Locations</h2>
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When you have completed the Setup you will be prompted to start the program(s). If you will be installing additional users it is best to postpone this final step until all users have had the software installed however, in order for monitoring and logging to begin, each user should log out then back in.<br />
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There are additional steps throughout the setup routine. You can view the full installation guide at this link: <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/MultipleUserInstallGuide.pdf" target="_blank">Multiple User Install Guide.pdf</a><br />
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Finally, keep in mind that CadTempo may not log the activities you are interested in immediately. You may wish to open the viewer program and make adjustments in the Options section. In particular the Applications and File Types tab. <i><span style="color: #cc0000;">CadTempo also is dependent upon monitored file types and applications being opened and closed. If you find after some time goes by and no time values are being displayed it is most likely due to monitored programs continuing to run on the target machines.</span></i><br />
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-19294869702794397822013-09-23T18:06:00.000-07:002014-10-10T17:44:45.216-07:00CadTempo - Creating Project Reports<br />
Creating reports of your designers and drafters project time involvement is easy as pie. Here I'll show you the steps that are involved.<br />
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CadTempo is designed such that if your projects are broken into directories and
sub-directories, project time totals can be summed easily by navigating to the desired
folder and checking the files in that directory. <br />
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In the case I am demonstrating, I recently completed a small AutoCAD design and detail project of a tooling package. The project consisted of an AutoCAD assembly model constructed with 3D solids, the detailed AutoCAD drawings, an isometric drawing of the assembly and an Excel spreadsheet of the Bill of Material.<br />
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When you open the CadTempo viewer application it defaults to the file listing of the last folder you had open in the viewer. Navigate to the desired project folder and check the files in that directory. You can filter the displayed files by designating a filter mask then checking the <strong>Apply Filter</strong> box. Only visible and checked files will be included in the report.<br />
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Now, click the <strong>Folder Contents </strong>button.<br />
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Navigate to the <strong>Reports - Analytics</strong> page to view the report.<br />
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For a more detailed report return to the <strong>Files</strong> page and check the <strong>Include User Data</strong> box, then click the <strong>Folder Contents</strong> button once more.<br />
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Return to the<strong> Reports - Analytics</strong> page and you will see each user's time is added to a new spreadsheet page.<br />
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From the <strong>Reports - Analytics</strong> page you can print the report - you will need to print each spreadsheet page individually - or save the report to an Excel
spreadsheet. Other save options include an html, rtf, and xml file types.<br />
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You can continue to add additional projects to the report - simply return to the <strong>Files</strong> page and navigate to other folders that you wish to include in your reports. Each time you click the <strong>Folder Contents</strong> button a new spreadsheet page is created.<br />
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So there you have it. Did I say it was easy as pie? Perhaps I understated the case.<br />
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Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-19321136806617198202013-08-21T10:38:00.001-07:002013-08-21T10:38:52.058-07:00The Return of Doctor Who and the CAD Manager<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-605623d5-a1da-12fc-c943-9d9f9a8d82ef" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It seems like just yesterday we had taken a few trips back in time - well, to us time travelers it was yesterday! In real life though it’s been a little over a year. You see, the good Doctor was a bit miffed about the Cheetos dust that I had carelessly left on the controls of the TARDIS. It’s taken me this long to convince him I’ll take better care this time around. So let’s hop aboard and take a little jaunt back to the early days of CAD, say about the early to mid 80’s.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Keep in mind that I don’t have first hand knowledge of CAD systems of that time period but I do know how the available technology helped formulate how many work with CAD still today. It was a simpler time then, computers were of limited processing power, graphics capabilities were short on color options and memory was expensive. To utilize those machines it was very common to have simplified standards as well. A typical CAD drawing was made up of layer names that went like this: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">OBJ</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> which would of course contain the line work of the parts being designed or detailed. Since you need to show features that are not visible there was a layer called </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HID </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or in some cases perhaps </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HID2 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or some other designation to indicate a scale with a different linetype. Centerlines would be placed on yet another layer called </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">CEN </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and again this would be of another color and linetype. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">DIM </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">layers, while not so bright, held your dimensions and perhaps your notes. Last, and for the most part least, you might find a layer called </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PHAN </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">containing phantom objects used for objects that were there, but weren’t.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All of the above seems rather reasonable - for 25 to 30 years ago. I often see this type of layering standard being promoted today, but I think there is a better way. One of the things I faced when I began doing contract design and drafting in 1991 was establishing a standard to work by. It was important to comply with the standards of my customers and I was happy to do so if it meant getting work. But there was a dilemma in that each of my customers had their own standards and seldom did one customer’s standards match another’s. Ultimately I decided it was more time efficient to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">comply with any of my customer’s standards. Instead of switching from one standard to the next between jobs my efforts needed to be focused on creating my own standards, then employ the power of AutoCAD’s customization to convert my drawings to the individual customer standard.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You may not have a need to supply drawings of varying standards but my hope is you will find value in how I ended up organizing my layering conventions and what it meant to my work flow. Over the years I have evolved some of the details but since it is patterned in a way allowing for modification to various standards there was no reason I couldn’t adjust my standard as I go. So without further ado, let’s get to it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My work consists of machine design and when you get right down to it machines are simply a compilation of many individual parts. The overarching concept that I started with was one of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">association</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. To put it simply, any line work associated with a part would exist on that part’s layer and each entity would have a color and linetype to indicate its feature (centerlines, hidden lines, etc.) The first order of layer management was to arrive at a naming convention. I Came up with the idea of using just three or four patterns and each pattern would be appended with a sequential numeric value. So for manufactured parts I started with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">DET0000 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and the basic line work would be continuous, color black. Next, there are typically many purchased items involved and I wanted to segregate these items since they would not require detailing so, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PUR0000 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">it was with line work of continuous, and by a stroke of genius the color was red. In cases where I needed a reference detail or assembly I used a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">REF0000 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">layer and in this case the layer linetype was set to phantom and the color was gray. Finally I needed a layer that would hold the contents of the part(s) that a machine was designed to work on, that would be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PRT0000 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">layer, the linework would be phantom and the color would vary.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Creation of each layer is performed automatically with a combination of a custom toolbar and an AutoLISP program that looked up the next sequential number in a text file then incremented it. I created other programs that would allow me to isolate one or more layers and turn on or off layers by the pattern or by picking. Having linework associated with the layer meant that I would still see all centerlines or hidden lines with the particular layers when isolated. You can see what that means in these images.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Isolating layer </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">DET1316, DET1317, and REF0165 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">gives you everything you need to work on those details.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Isolating layer </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">CEN </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">doesn’t really offer you much value.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another important aspect of how I’ve set up my layers is in the construction of the block libraries that I use. When a common part is needed whether it is a fastener or a commercial item my geometry is always placed on layer 0 and if centerlines or hidden lines are needed I will keep those entity types on layer 0 but created with the corresponding color and other properties. When inserted into the machine assembly or part detail they will be placed on the associated part layer and the line properties remain intact. The trick is if the item needs to be exploded I use an AutoLISP program that gathers the exploded entities and automatically changes the layer to that which the block was inserted into. Some of the more recent AutoCAD versions may have that capability out of the box.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The fly in the ointment are those files that you use from a third party source. Many vendors offer a vast array of product drawings at no cost and many items are available from the internet free for the taking. What a huge bonus in time savings. While these can save you lots of time in design you might consider an intermediate step before using them - spend a little time changing them over to your standard. That can save you some headaches down the road. And don’t forget to check dimensional accuracy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finally, I created much of my standards with automation in mind. When I began, long file names didn’t exist - we were limited to the old DOS 8 characters with an extension. The use of shortened layer names allowed me to create macros and AutoLISP programs that once a layout was completed each detail part file was created with very little manual effort. For now I’m sticking with the short file names because I find typinginreallylongfilenames.dwg names somewhat cumbersome, but I can see where a well laid out convention could work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Well even though the use of the TARDIS means we can arrive back at any time we desire (so we’re not going to be late) it may be prudent for us to take our leave now. I don’t want to run the risk of a sudden Dalek appearance potentially causing damage to the TARDIS. Happy layering.</span></div>
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<em>Patrick Hughes is a machine designer in Rockford, Illinois, USA, and owner of Engineered Design Solutions, a provider of machine design contracting services. He has developed numerous AutoLISP and other software solutions to automate his workflow and increase his productivity throughout his years in business. Patrick developed the CadTempo time tracking program to aid his quest for further refinement of his processes, and invites you to investigate how it may help your organization. Find out more by visiting the CadTempo website at www.cadtempo.com. Reprinted with permission from Autodesk User Group International (AUGI), AUGI Hotnews, April 2013</em><br />
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<em></em>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-51843277502144515352013-08-13T16:31:00.000-07:002014-10-10T17:44:45.220-07:00CadTempo Display TimerI'm often asked how the timer functions in CadTempo work. I'll explain the basic timers in this article and in a future article I will describe the advanced timing functions that are a part of the new analytics in CadTempo version 6.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CadTempo Timer Display</td></tr>
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<em>You will note that in this image the optional <strong>Task Timer</strong> and <strong>Activity Timers</strong> are enabled and displayed because "Extended Display" is selected as an option within the CadTempoView program allowing the user to view the current information. You can use this display to observe the timing functions of your CadTempo installation - see the help file for further instructions, this is found under: Contents>>CadTempo.exe>>Display Timer.</em><br />
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Let's begin by examining the information that is displayed in the lower section of the display.<br />
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Current Session Elapsed Time:</h3>
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Session Time</h4>
You might think of the <strong>Session Timer</strong> as a time punch clock that you punch in as you begin your day in the morning and punch out when your day is over. But there is a major difference, the CadTempo session timer is started automatically - there is no time clock to punch in or out of.<br />
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The CadTempo application is started automatically when the user logs onto the computer. When CadTempo detects that a monitored production application is started, the Session Timer is started and begins its tally. Any monitored production application will start the timer so if you have selected to monitor AutoCAD, Inventor, or Solidworks any of those programs will start the timer. The Session Time will continue to increment while any of the monitored programs remain open. Once all monitored production applications are closed the session time is ended and the results are written to the log. You may witness several session times being recorded throughout the day as you open and close your monitored production applications.<br />
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Current Task:</h3>
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Task Time</h4>
When enabled, the Task Timer will prompt the user for a task name based on the list within the CadTempoView
Options settings window. If the "When Session Begins" check box has been checked the
prompt will appear when a monitored application is started. If left un-checked
the prompt will appear upon Windows start up. A user is presented with a prompt as shown:<br />
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<em>The visibility of the "Display Timer" button is controlled by an option within the CadTempoView program.</em><br />
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The user may select a pre-defined task name using the drop-down combo box or may enter a
custom name. When entering a custom name the custom name is remembered during
the CadTempo program's life and will continue to appear in the list, but is not added to the persistent pre-defined list.<br />
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The
user may enter additional information that is specific to the current
task.<br />
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An alternate user name may be specified. This may be useful if you
or a user is performing a task on another user's computer, however the currently
logged on user name is also recorded.<br />
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By checking the "Re-Prompt" check box the task timer prompt will be re-issued when a session has been
completed.<br />
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A user may save the current task at any time by clicking the "CadTempo - Task Timer" in the Windows Task bar and selecting the "Finish" button which becomes visible once a task is started. If Re-Prompt is checked the prompt immediately re-appears to allow beginning a new task.<br />
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When a <strong>Session</strong> is ended the Save Task prompt will appear. The user may save the current task or continue with the current task. If a user elects to continue the current task the user will be required to manually perform a save <em>unless</em> there a log-off (or Lock, etc.) occurs. CadTempo will then perform an automatic save.<br />
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<h3>
Current Idle Time:</h3>
<h4>
Idle Time</h4>
The Idle Time is based on a user's keystrokes and mouse movement or button click while a monitored production application is the active window. Each input resets the counter and the timer will increment only when there is no input. By itself, the display of the Idle Timer is intended for understanding the functioning of the related time recordings. Its effect on the other timers will be described in their respective explanations.<br />
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<h3>
Current Activity Time:</h3>
<h4>
Activity Time</h4>
The idea behind the Activity Timer is to provide the user with a means of capturing extended time that is spent away from the computer. Often, a user may be interrupted during working hours to attend to a related activity such as a meeting or to consult with other departments. Perhaps a user regularly leaves a CAD program and drawing open during lunch hour or a short personal time break.<br />
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The Activity Timer is connected to the Idle Timer. You, as the CAD manager control what is acceptable as a reasonable amount of user idle time. Many users will experience momentary interruptions throughout their day, whether it be a client phone call, a restroom break or a needed diversion such as a brief discussion with a co-worker. The default value for this idle time is set to 5 minutes but you can adjust that up or down to your liking in the CadTempoView program.<br />
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When a user becomes "idle" the idle timer will begin counting up to the idle limit that is set. Once the idle limit is reached the Activity Timer begins its count up to its limit. The default activity limit is set to 20 minutes and is adjustable. If a user returns to the computer while under the limit and continues work the Activity Timer is reset to zero and the cycle begins anew.<br />
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If the activity timer reaches its limit, a prompt is issued and will be visible when the user returns to the computer. In this way a user can account for his extended time away from the computer rather than relying upon his memory at the end of the day or week to enter into a manual time sheet.<br />
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Using the default values of 5 minutes for the idle timer and 20 minutes for the activity timer a user can account for 25 minute (and more) of "away" time.<br />
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Finally, let's take a look at the document and user timers that are displayed at the top.<br />
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<h3>
Document and User Timers:</h3>
<h4>
Elapsed Time</h4>
The elapsed time is the total amount of time a monitored document type is open and has keyboard and mouse focus. The document may be an AutoCAD drawing, a Revit file, Inventor file or any number of file types you designate and associated with a monitored production application. This value will continuously increment while a document is open. When a user switches to another monitored production application the timer will immediately switch over along with the user and begin (or continue) timing the now current document. Each document retains its own elapsed time as well as the user time of that document.<br />
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Multiple users that access the same document are recorded independently and the document time is the accumulated amount of all users.<br />
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Edit Time</h4>
The edit time is the amount of time a user maintains keyboard and mouse activity within a known document type of a monitored production application. The edit time is affected by the idle timer. If a user is momentarily interrupted, the idle time, up to its limit is considered to be valid editing time. In this way a user is not penalized (not that they should be in any event) for brief periods of inactivity. There are of course many reasonable causes for these periods of idle time.<br />
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The resulting difference between Elapsed Time and Edit Time can be used as an indication of efficiency or productivity.<br />
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In summary, there is much going on within the CadTempo program to monitor your user activites and to document the time involved in various tasks. It can take a while to understand exactly how CadTempo functions and my hope is that I've described them to your satisfaction.<br />
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-67538173126631237892013-07-24T17:31:00.000-07:002013-08-26T17:51:41.243-07:00CadTempo 6 Preview is released<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Collect, Crunch, Convey, Challenge
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CadTempo 6 Preview is released, better, stronger, faster.
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Since its inception, CadTempo has kept the pulse of your CAD and engineering documents, 3D model creators, drafters and CAD users - perhaps like no other time tracking application available. Whether you use AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, Solidworks or a multitude of CAD applications (and even non-CAD applications like Notepad, Excel or Word) CadTempo reports back the amount of hours it takes to create and maintain the drawings and supporting files that are the lifeblood of engineering departments.
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Now, with CadTempo 6 we’re stepping up our game, so you can too. CadTempo will <em>collect</em> your time investment data, <em>crunch</em> the numbers into usable metrics, and <em>convey</em> the results in numerous charts, graphs, and spreadsheets. Now the <em>challenge</em> for improvement is on you and CadTempo 6 fosters that challenge in an exciting new approach - more on that in future articles.
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Feast your eyes on these most significant additions in this new release:
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<strong>Active History:</strong> Quick, easy chart and spreadsheet listing of most recently worked on files. A dynamic bar graph displays which files have the greatest amount of hours spent. Select a date range, click a button, and <em>done</em>. At the same time a spreadsheet is created listing the files and the amount of time each user spends on the drawings for each day in the selected date range.
Click into the desired bar and the selected file will be automatically located in the spreadsheet view.<br />
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<strong>Analytics – Applications:</strong> Review overall active time spent in all of your applications, production applications and non-production. Each user can be segregated for review or you can examine any grouping of users. In addition to displaying the amount of active time in an application CadTempo gauges the amount of engagement a user is involved with each application. Dynamically sample by week, week to week, or even total hours year to date. Here is a sample bubble graph:
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<strong>Analytics – Trend:</strong> The trend feature graphs the historical performance that is recorded above. Again each user can be segregated or a group can be examined. You can review all applications, production applications or non-production applications. This can be a very powerful indicator of the value of changes to your system, training, or a number of factors that affect your users motivation and productivity.
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<strong>Analytics – Orb Trend:</strong> The “Orb Trend” is a device that graphs a user’s (or group of users) composite score of several metrics. The Orb can be viewed as a "vessel” that contains the collected metrics. An internal scoring mechanism measures several factors that are based on a user’s performance and displays the progress that is made over a period of time. Like the Trend graph this can be used to gauge the effectiveness of changes that are made to your system.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3qbEHPCqMGg/Uhv2RHtw-lI/AAAAAAAABOY/sKp4KCsiccQ/s1600/OrbTrendAnalytics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3qbEHPCqMGg/Uhv2RHtw-lI/AAAAAAAABOY/sKp4KCsiccQ/s320/OrbTrendAnalytics.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<strong>Timeline:</strong> The Timeline displays a graph of user’s work session over a period of time. By selecting the date range a chart is dynamically created that marks a users default expected work session hours and the actual session hours. A separate calendar allows you to record important benchmarks or milestones.
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<strong>MorphOrb:</strong> An odd name for sure, but it describes the concept behind this new release. The previously mentioned “Analytics-Orb Trend” encapsulates the data that CadTempo collects (the Orb) and presents a graphical overview of users performance metrics. Over time your Orb undergoes a <span class="hw">metamorphosis</span>, indicating the direction of a user or group of users productivity, efficiency, or engagement of work. The MorphOrb is intended as a means of comparative analysis among a large group of individuals and organizations that have an interest in determining their strengths or weaknesses based on community historical data. There is much more to this aspect of CadTempo that will be made available in the coming weeks so stay tuned.
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To summarize, CadTempo 6 is the ideal tool to Collect, Crunch, and Convey your time data then Challenge you to reach greater productivity through increased motivation and work engagement.
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><em>Here is your first challenge: Beat my current score of 39.17</em></span>
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The current download copy of CadTempo 6 is in a state of preview. It is fully functional and is labeled as a preview before the official release.
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For a limited time during the preview period you can take advantage of the previous release pricing. The CadTempo pricing and purchase web page include a comparison of present and future pricing.
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You can download a fully functional copy of CadTempo here: <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/" target="_blank">http://www.cadtempo.com/</a><br />
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<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-13725939464731115532013-06-25T09:38:00.002-07:002013-06-25T09:38:35.575-07:00Why I Like Working With AutoCAD 3D Solid Models - Reason #1<div style="text-align: left;">
After creating the model you can produce isometric images for catalogs and manuals like this in less than 10 minutes.</div>
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Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-43970604760850657122013-04-17T13:34:00.001-07:002013-04-17T13:35:45.807-07:00The Return of Dr. Who and the CAD Manager Article Trailer - YouTubeI recently was asked to write an article for the AUGI HotNews publication. Watch for it coming soon to an Internets near you.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJbXneuabvQ">The Return of Dr. Who and the CAD Manager Article Trailer - YouTube</a>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-24650781630034168072013-04-01T11:19:00.000-07:002013-04-11T17:10:51.612-07:00Engineered Design Solutions Announces Latest Technological Development to be Included in Upcoming CadTempo Release 6.0.Engineered Design Solutions Announces Latest Technological Development to be Included in Upcoming CadTempo Release 6.0.<br />
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Patrick Hughes, owner of Engineered Design Solutions said on Monday he is very pleased that his team of advanced time analyticians recently discovered a means of bending the time-space continuum in a way never before thought to be possible, for that matter never before conceived. Hughes described how two years and one week and four days (+/- a few hours and a minute or two) from now the team will contact the late Albert Einstein (a somewhat well regarded theoretical physicist) via a tubular-parallel space tunnel and in a collaborative effort will return on this date to make history as has never been made before. To clarify, Hughes continued, "this has never, ever been done in the history of mankind, that is, we are saying our technology allows us to travel into the future and in the blink of an eye return to the exact original point in time and space (within a precision of a few hours and a couple of minutes...oh and one or two furlongs). We now have the ability to announce history before it is even made - we no longer need to wait for it to happen" This is being forecast to be a great time saver.<br />
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Hughes goes on, mumbling a quote from Winston Churchill: "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see." It was this quote that inspired us to look into new ways of exploring the past and now allows us to make determinations of the present day which of course is the future of the past. It is truly incredible.<br />
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Technical details are sketchy at this moment but the attached rendering (see below) depicts the core instrument that plays an integral part of this discovery. CadTempo 6.0 allows the CAD time analyst to include in its time tracking, a user's childhood engagement with the widely popular Etch a Sketch CAD hardware. This backward look is as far back as we have been able to peer into the history of a CAD user, quipped Hughes, but it provides us with a glimpse of today. It makes no difference if the user's first experience with this CAD training device was 20 years ago or 40 years ago.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7Eq0hrpGQ0/UVnKVUcuLDI/AAAAAAAAA50/DOCPddalGDw/s1600/etch-e-sketch001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7Eq0hrpGQ0/UVnKVUcuLDI/AAAAAAAAA50/DOCPddalGDw/s320/etch-e-sketch001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Asked why this news is being released at this late hour of the day Hughes responded: Today, April 1st is notoriously known as the day pranksters ply their trade with falsities and foolishness, we decided it was best to allow these events to take place and run their course before our proclamation of these glorious achievements. We felt it was so important to world at large that the gravity of our news had the opportunity to be taken in the light of seriousness and not overshadowed by the tricks.Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-44419091242994188632013-03-12T06:59:00.001-07:002013-03-12T06:59:44.911-07:00CadTempo 6 - On The Horizon.We have some exciting news in the making, we're not quite ready to release details but for now I can say that the upcoming release of CadTempo will be, uh... how shall I say this - I know, more <strong>engaging</strong>. Yep, that pretty well sums it up. CadTempo 6 is being designed to engage you in analysing your CAD work efforts in new ways that will help drive you and your team to new performance levels.<br />
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Here is a visual metaphor just to give you an idea about what's in store:<br />
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Along with the release of CadTempo 6, pricing is set to increase. I hope you see this post before the new pricing is in effect because those installations of CadTempo 5 that are purchased prior to the release of 6 will be upgraded at no cost. So visit <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/" target="_blank">www.cadtempo.com</a> to download a copy now. You'll have plenty of time to give it a test run.<br />
<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-18710641550284262392012-04-16T12:15:00.000-07:002012-04-16T12:15:47.769-07:002D or 3D? How I came to the conclusion 3D is best.Recently I had an exchange with another machine designer looking to justify a move to 3D. This was my response.<br />
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My work is custom machine design. In my case I'm independent so I make my own decisions but this is how I concluded 3D was the only way to go.<br /> <br />In machine design typically you are working with simple shapes: flat plates and bars, or round bars, tubes, etc.<br /> <br />For 2D representation to describe a flat plate at a minimum you need two views, each of which require a rectangle. To construct those rectangles you need two coordinate points for each, and both views need to be properly aligned. If the part is more involved you'll need three views, again each requiring 2 points to describe and also properly aligned. So in many cases you need 6 pick points plus the alignment.<br /> <br />Now, in 3D you can easily describe the plate with two 3D points, then easily construct <b>any</b> view you need. Multiply all of these pick points in 2D by the number of features of the part. If you create 3 orthographic views for a detail you can figure roughly your time could be as much as 1/3 that of 2D drafting.<br />
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This is oversimplifying the process and perhaps exaggerating the cost savings, but conceptually you get the idea.<br />
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Judging by some videos I've seen for the latest AutoCAD releases the view generation from a 3D model is quite simple. For the record I am still on AutoCAD r14 and use custom AutoLISP routines to accomplish similar results.<br />Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-5119141261146991072012-04-12T17:44:00.000-07:002012-04-12T17:44:49.570-07:00Just a quick note to mention CadTempo version 5.2.2 has been released and is now available for download from: <a class="ot-anchor" href="http://www.cadtempo.com/">http://www.cadtempo.com/</a><br />
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As always I am very interested in hearing your feedback. Thank you all that have supported my efforts.Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-87295567717851422892012-03-21T15:09:00.001-07:002012-03-21T17:19:25.677-07:00CAD Time Tracking: Management or Micromanagement?I participate in a number of social media outlets. From Google+ to various online AutoCAD and other Autodesk product forums such as <a href="http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/forum.php" target="_blank">CADTutor</a> and the <a href="http://forums.augi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=524" target="_blank">AUGI Forums</a> and even some good old fashioned newsgroups. My primary motivation for participation is to contribute what I can to the body of knowledge regarding AutoCAD. I don't contribute as much as I would like and certainly not as much as many, but my hope is that it is helpful.<br />
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Periodically questions come up where someone wants to know how to capture the time spent working on their drawings, or they may have a need to know who has worked on a drawing and when. They may be looking for an easy means of automating their timesheets. Since <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/" target="_blank">CadTempo</a> serves as solution to these needs I suggest they try it for the free 30 day trial. Often, a discussion follows when a reader finds the idea of time tracking objectionable for one reason or the other. One reason that is given is the opinion that time tracking constitutes micromanagement.<br />
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You would be correct to assume that I am of a different opinion but you may also be surprised to know that I can see how time tracking can indeed be mis-used in a micromanagement way. My desire is that it not be used in that way, but of course I have no control over that. I encourage its use as a <strong>macro</strong>management tool. That is, by using CadTempo to track and analyse time associated with drawing production and establishing benchmarks, a systematic review of current practices can be made and adjustments can be implemented to produce a more efficient and productive environment.<br />
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What are your thoughts?Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-6198333404858891342012-01-12T18:00:00.000-08:002018-03-29T11:32:39.315-07:00Dr. Who and the CAD Manager, Part 2January 5th, 2012<br />
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Welcome back from last month. It was an exciting return trip after dropping you off. I didn’t have quite enough battery power to make it to my destination but fortunately I landed in a shopping mall outside of Miami that had those new car chargers available. I hope the Chevy Volt owner got fully charged after I surreptitiously borrowed his hookup for a while. For this month the TARDIS is fully charged so if you’re ready let’s take another trip back in time...all the way back again to 1991. Here we go.
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You’ll remember I had just started up my company and began my quest to improve my AutoCAD productivity. I shared with you a scanned image of some job time logs I had manually recorded while previously employed, performing design and drafting work on a board. From these logs I created the following spreadsheet to help visualize my work effort and output. This would serve as a benchmark to measure against as I massaged my AutoCAD standards, drafting techniques, and customized AutoCAD work environment.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Manual Board Drafting</span>
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By studying the spreadsheet you will see I’ve graphed (in blue) the total job time which is the sum of layout, detail, and checking time per the sum of manufactured details and commercial components. Also graphed is the total job time (yellow), layout time (Green) and detail time (beige) per number of manufactured details. My main area of interest was the number of detail manufactured parts, primarily because that was where the more original thinking was required. Commercial parts were more quickly drawn due to having dimensional information or it was a matter of simply tracing over a template. I did not attempt to differentiate between the complexity of the detailed parts such as a weldment or a spacer plate, I was interested in establishing an average. To a certain extent that explains the peaks and the valleys as some jobs had a greater number of complex parts, some less. The end result of this exercise as you can see is a typical job required 4.72 hours to complete per manufactured detail and the average time to detail was 1.73 hours per detail. For charting, checking time was not included so you’ll notice a slight disparity in the total hours per detail part.
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Starting out fresh I had much to do, selection of a computer (my first “real” one), self taught AutoCAD and AutoLISP learning, supporting software selection, printer, file cabinets and more, too many details to bore you with. The main focus was on designing and building the machine I was committed to, until that was complete the search for increased productivity was placed on the back burner. With that in mind let’s jump back into the TARDIS and dial in the year 1993.
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I was pretty busy during the intervening two year period, completion of the machine design and build, additional design jobs, and many AutoLISP routines to write for tweaking my system as shown in this list:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w7caOdxGIR4/Tw9ocEm6zjI/AAAAAAAAAOk/NXTLOKt6zcg/s1600/AutolispTaskList001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w7caOdxGIR4/Tw9ocEm6zjI/AAAAAAAAAOk/NXTLOKt6zcg/s320/AutolispTaskList001.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
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Now I had several AutoCAD jobs under my belt to make some comparisons, although the first few jobs were not recorded. Those that were recorded would offer some insight as to how things were developing. The following spreadsheet was created in July of 1993.
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<span style="font-size: large;">AutoCAD Modeling and Drafting Benchmark</span></div>
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I used similar metrics as previously, however checking was no longer recorded, I abide by the old principle of measure twice - cut once and after a design was completed with numerous amounts of LIST and DIST commands checking was redundancy upon redundancy. You will also note I grouped modeling in with layout. Mind you it was not true modeling, at the time I was constructing my models as simple 3D wire frames, in fact all my construction was done with just lines, circles and arcs. I had determined that polylines were memory hogs in AutoCAD and they were more difficult and time consuming to work with. Bottom line is a typical job now required only 2.20 hours to complete per manufactured detail and my average time per detail was down to .74 hours.
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The take away from this is the CAD software vendors were right - CAD is more efficient than manual drafting however I can attribute much of the productivity gains to the methods and customizations that were implemented. Specific dates are not indicated on the charts but I’m certain you can determine the point at which many of the changes took affect.
Now it was time to discard the old benchmark and replace it with a more current one, one that reflected strictly AutoCAD work. It is also time to hop back into the TARDIS and make another leap forward. I’m not exactly sure how far ahead we’re going because of those missing dates on my charts. I guess we’ll have to wing it and hope for the best. OK let’s have a look around, yes it seems we are right on target although oddly I don’t see a calendar laying around. I do see another spreadsheet created a number of jobs later.</div>
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As you can see, I’ve continued to make progress on my quest. In the previous installment of DWATCM (Doctor Who and the CAD Manager) I stated “Until you know where you are currently, it will be difficult to establish goals for where you want to be.” I’m going to show you one more spreadsheet. Actually it is a scan of some charts I had made at the time. You see, I had neglected to close the file on my computer when I needed to make a slight time jump. I was not aware that Doctor Who’s nemesis Henry van Statten was nearby. Upon my return the spreadsheet was missing and I was left with only printouts I had made on my dot-matrix. There’s no telling what old Henry has in mind for those charts and he’s probably the guy responsible for the missing calendar too. Well anyway, this is it:
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I’ve added some coloration so you can match the charts up but there is a little further explanation to do. First, the vertical bars are representing the trend of the particular metric measured over the accumulated individual jobs - the running average. Secondly, the upper left graph does not reflect the inclusion of commercial items - this was consistent across the AutoCAD data. Finally the lower left chart does separate the model time from the layout time, unlike the previous two charts. For this graph I plotted the static average indicator from actual data however.
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The red lines overlaid on these charts are averages taken from the AutoCAD benchmark spreadsheet and the AutoCAD comparison spreadsheet. What has remained unspoken until now was that after first establishing the original AutoCAD benchmark the goal I had set for myself was to halve my times. At this point I was very close and that was when I set new benchmarks. The shorter red bars to the right were new goals based on the new benchmarks. You’ll notice they were not as aggressive as the first goal, I felt there was a law of diminishing returns that would enter the picture however I underestimated the continued gains that were possible, relentless pursuit would shatter those marks.
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Do you hear that? The alarm on the TARDIS is ringing like mad. Doctor Who must be having some type of emergency and desperately needs his vehicle back. Hurry in now, we must return to the present so he may take care of his business. Ah yes, here we are, all back in one piece and it looks as though the TARDIS has retained plenty of power, The Doctor will be pleased.
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To conclude these little time travels, I hope I’ve given you some insight to arm yourself for your own time travelling. There is much to be gained with a little effort and resources are available that can aid you in that quest. As you begin your travels perhaps our paths will cross and we can share a beer in some corner of the Fitzroy Tavern.
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<em>Patrick Hughes is a machine designer in Rockford, Illinois, USA, and owner of Engineered Design Solutions, a provider of machine design contracting services. He has developed numerous AutoLISP and other software solutions to automate his workflow and increase his productivity throughout his years in business. Patrick developed the CadTempo time tracking program to aid his quest for further refinement of his processes, and invites you to investigate how it may help your organization. Find out more by visiting the CadTempo website at www.cadtempo.com.
Reprinted with permission from Autodesk User Group International (AUGI), AUGI Hotnews, January 2012</em>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-38374586981035652852011-12-10T12:43:00.000-08:002012-04-16T10:57:33.292-07:00Dr. Who and the CAD Manager Part 1December 7th, 2011
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For those of you not familiar with Doctor Who, he is a character in the long-running BBC series of the same name. He is a time traveler. Truth be told, I’m not that familiar with the show or the good doctor, but I do my fair share of time traveling, so I feel a certain kinship.<br />
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You’re likely thinking, what is this guy talking about and what does any of this have to do with CAD management? Time actually. You’ve heard the cliche "Time is money" and perhaps you agree with that. I’m not a disagreeable person, but I take issue with this particular cliche. You see I believe time is money * n, or money ^ n or perhaps time is money exponentially. All right, you can see I’m not a math whiz. What I'm trying to say is if you were to look at every little micro or nanosecond of non-productive time and multiply that across all people in an organization, pretty soon it adds up to a significant amount of cash.<br />
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Well you can't really look at all those non-productive nano or microseconds or, for that matter, full seconds or even minutes, but you sure can examine the accumulation of them. Furthermore, who is to say what is or isn’t productive time? Maybe you don’t even bother. With a competitive global economy nipping at every one’s heels perhaps it is time to bother. Possibly the head honcho has decreed that you have to raise your department’s efficiency. You’re under pressure to meet this or that impossible deadline. Maybe your current design and drafting standards need updating or you are looking at moving up from AutoCAD® LT to AutoCAD®. Perhaps you are examining moving to 3D modeling. Do you stay with AutoCAD or do you make a switch to Autodesk Inventor®, AutoCAD® Civil3D®, or Autodesk® Revit®? Thinking of a move to the cloud? Where do you start?<br />
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Don’t.<br />
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Before you do anything, or make any changes, assess where you are. I don't mean a mental assessment because you can easily be deceived by your own brain—I do it all the time. Take a hard look at where your current costs are by monitoring the time component of your current drawing or model-creation processes, personnel, methods, and so on. How long does it take to prepare a drawing of a certain type, or prepare a bill of material. Is one designer or drafter faster when working on a blue widget and another quicker working on green gadgets? Until you know where you are currently, it will be difficult to establish goals for where you want to be. For these reasons you’ll want to begin establishing some benchmarks.<br />
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If you don’t mind a journey into the past, jump into the TARDIS with me and let’s travel back about 20 or more years. I’ll share some experiences that may give you a hand in getting a grip on your current costs (where your users' time is spent) and how those cost might be brought down. Ready?<br />
Our first stop is 1991. I had recently been successful in landing an independent design and build for a new machine I had proposed to a potential client. Striking out on my own I wanted to become as efficient as I possibly could. My first decision was to select AutoCAD as my drafting platform. The price of AutoCAD was within my means, but most importantly I learned AutoCAD came with the AutoLISP programming language. I had never heard of AutoLISP but I had some previous programming experience and figured it could not be that difficult to learn. I was right.<br />
Now I needed to begin logging my time for work being done and my first inclination was to use AutoCAD's TIME function to study the amount of time I worked on my designs and drafting. I found the command to be woefully inadequate. Not only did I discover the "edit" time was merely an accumulation of the amount of time that a drawing was open, I also discovered that the time was carried over from one drawing to another when performing certain file saves or starting a drawing from other drawings that had previous accumulated time. My conclusion was that’s not going to work well.<br />
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I soon worked out an AutoLISP program that allowed me to get a true picture of the time spent on my drawings, both the actual edit time and the total elapsed time. This provided me with the means to establish a rough idea of my efficiency and productivity. Why only rough? There are other factors that enter into design and drafting. For instance, reviewing reference material, whether it be books and catalogs (hey, this was pre-Internet), or consulting with shop personnel about how best to machine something, meetings or phone calls with vendors to discuss a particular component. The list goes on, and all were happening while the drawing was open and adding up those seconds.<br />
I first established some goals, taking into consideration my current standards, methods, prior knowledge of my work output, etc. Wait, let's get back in the TARDIS and dial it back a couple more years, back to when I was employed as a machine designer.<br />
Earlier I mentioned that you need to know where you are to determine where you want to be. A benchmark is needed and before moving to CAD I had manually kept some records of my time when I worked on a drafting board. I would record the number of hours to design and layout a machine, noting the number of manufactured details and commercial components. I then recorded the time spent detailing the components and finally the time to check. Here’s what some of my original recordings looked like. Click on the image to enlarge.<br />
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Toward the end of my employment we had begun doing some CAD work and I highlighted those with the hashing. You should be able to see the time was higher on those jobs, a result of the CAD learning curve. Studying my recordings of various projects I determined that total job time for much of the design and detail work came out to approximately five hours average per manufactured component. I was also able to establish an average percentage of the job total to the type of work (design and layout, detailing and checking). Armed with this previously collected data, I was ready to begin my quest for improved productivity and see if the bar could be raised.<br />
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I see the batteries of the TARDIS are getting low, and we are about to run out of time. Let’s jump back in and get back to the present. Next month, I’ll have things charged back up and we can take another trip back to the past and I’ll fill you in on how I used my benchmarks. Until then, to infinity...and beyond!<br />
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<em>Patrick Hughes is a machine designer in Rockford, Illinois, USA, and owner of Engineered Design Solutions, a provider of machine design contracting services. He has developed numerous AutoLISP and other software solutions to automate his workflow and increase his productivity throughout his years in business. Patrick developed the CadTempo time tracking program to aid his quest for further refinement of his processes, and invites you to investigate how it may help your organization. Find out more by visiting the CadTempo website at <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/">www.cadtempo.com</a>. </em><br />
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Reprinted with permission from Autodesk User Group International (AUGI), AUGI Hotnews, December 2011
</em>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-24940346717941422802009-07-09T13:41:00.000-07:002017-06-19T17:10:20.967-07:00Load Shifting<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">You might be wondering about the "Load Shifting" title and what exactly does it have to do with recording your engineering document time. Well, I'll tell you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">I was taking a smoke break this morning (yes, I'm one of those cretins) when a big rig pulled up in the parking lot. The driver turned his rig off and approached me. I struck up a little conversation with him asking why he shut down the engine and mentioned how uncommon it was. During our discussion the thought crossed my mind how he did not fit the trucker stereotype, he was young, well dressed, well groomed, and well spoken, and his rig was spotless. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">A while later (another smoke break) the shop foreman joined me and commented about how much of a pain in the *<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ss</span> the driver was. Every skid he loaded the driver would tell him "no, a little to the left" or ""no, that's not lined up quite right" or "that's not spaced right". You get the picture, pretty anal right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Later, I realized what this driver was doing. Not only was he balancing his load, he was <strong>benchmarking</strong>. By knowing exactly how these skids were placed on his truck before his trek, when he arrived at his destination he was able to inspect his load and examine the load shifting that may have occurred. With the knowledge he would gain from this examination he could easily determine his <strong>performance</strong> among other things:</span><br /></span><br />
<ul><br />
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Was his load strapped properly? Check.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Did he take that curve at a reasonable speed? Check.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Were his straps sufficient for the job? Check.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">If the load was damaged, could the cause be determined. Check.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">OK, so here's how this applies to engineering documents and <strong>time keeping</strong>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">As a CAD manager, project manager or engineer, staff supervisor (the truck driver) your duties may encompass similar functions:</span> <br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Assign the CAD personnel to task (balance the load)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Understand your staff's capabilities (have a benchmark)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Maintain standards <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">compliance</span> (keep the truck spotless)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Monitor the project status (inspect and examine the load)</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">CadTempo can be helpful to you in these situations by providing the means to determine your staff's strengths and weaknesses and assigning members to perform at what they do best.</span>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2189531739544680709.post-35885255230277802492009-06-15T14:29:00.000-07:002009-06-20T18:40:14.672-07:00Welcome to the CadTempo Blog<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Hello and thanks for coming by for a visit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">I hope I can keep this interesting for you as I touch on a subject that I find is not often discussed or covered in my web travels, time - relating to the creation of drawings and engineering documents. I've developed a time logging solution called CadTempo <a href="http://www.cadtempo.com/">http://www.cadtempo.com</a> to assist in recording the amount of time I spend in performing my job.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">Time is frequently referred to as the "fourth dimension" and this concept is certainly valid. In this sense of course the reference pertains to the movement of a three dimesional object as it travels through space. This blog, however, will focus on time as a measurement of work production by users of CAD software such as AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit and other popular 2d and 3d drafting products. I believe this is an important subject, as "time is money" and to understand where your money is being spent you need to know where your time is being spent.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">My interest in this subject is framed by my need as a small business owner to have a firm understanding of the cost associated with the job functions performed in my daily activities. I started my business, Engineered Design Solutions <a href="http://www.engds.com/">http://www.engds.com</a> , in 1991 after developing a machine to manufacture drinking straws based on an idea that I had. My previous employer had recently sent me to CAD training and during the evening hours I designed my machine and created the details for its build.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">During my employment I had kept detailed records of the time that was required to complete the design projects that were assigned to me. For the most part, this was time that I had monitored while manually drafting with a drafting board and Vemco drafting machine. After a while I came to establish a consistent measurement of work product. This was manually recorded on paper that documented the number of manufactured details that were designed for the project as well as the number of commercial items that were a part of the final design. In addition to recording the number of components that made up the design I segregated the number of hours involved in design and layout, detailing and checking. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">After starting my company, armed with this data as a benchmark I was able to compare CAD drafting to my manual methods and determine improvements that I made to my work environment by means of customization of AutoCAD via AutoLISP programs and modifications to the AutoCAD user interface. In future articles I will share the data I had gathered.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span>Patrick Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06426225308290122777noreply@blogger.com0