CTDOT CONNECT DDE GUIDE VOLUME 1 - OVERVIEW

Section 3 - Configuration and Worksets

CONFIGURATION

WORKSETS

The Digital Design Environment is maintained by CTDOT’s AEC Applications office and consists of two major entities:

• Configuration (Agency standards/WorkSpace folders)
• Projects (WorkSet folders)

These two entities and their constituent files, along with the required CONNECT Edition software, provide the resources required to develop designs and contract plans in compliance with CTDOT standards.  

In MicroStation V8i and previous versions, the term “WorkSpace” referred to the usage of configuration files and variables. In OpenRoads Designer, OpenBridge Modeler and OpenBuildings Designer CONNECT Edition products, they are now referred to as the configuration.  At CTDOT we refer to the combination of the WorkSpace (design standards) and the WorkSet (project folders) as the Digital Design Environment (DDE). The DDE uses configuration files (*.cfg) to combine resources like DGNLibs, Cell Libraries, *.rsc files and *.dgn files, providing a WorkSet-based CAD environment.

CTDOT uses CONNECT Edition products alongside the COMPASS SharePoint project management platform for our consultants and internal users.

• Module 2 - Consultant DDE Sync
• Module 3 - CTDOT Employee DDE Sync

Consultants can also download the DDE and manually install it by following the directions in Module 1 - Consultant DDE Install. ProjectWise Explorer and Managed Workspaces are not supported by the CTDOT DDE.

The main purpose of this section is to describe the function of the configuration in the CTDOT’s DDE.  This the CT_Configuration folder is in a shared location, in the CTDOT DDE, there are several levels of configurations for each product.

CONFIGURATION

The main purpose of this section is to describe the function of the configuration in the CTDOT DDE. The \CT_Configuration\ folder is in a shared location, generally on the COMPASS SharePoint server, although it may be located elsewhere if you have installed the DDE manually in Module 1. Within \CT_Configuration\, there are several levels of configurations for each Bentley product.

Levels of Configurations

OpenRoads Designer Uses:

• Organization
• Organization-BIM\ _CT_Civil Standards
• WorkSpaces\ CT_WorkSpace
• CONNECT_OBD_Dataset
• Roles

OpenRail Designer Uses:

• Organization
• Organization-BIM\ _CT_Civil Standards
• WorkSpaces\ CT_WorkSpace
• CONNECT_OBD_Dataset
• Roles

OpenBridge Modeler Uses:

• Organization
• Organization-BIM\ _CT_Civil Standards
• Organization-BIM\ _CT_Bridge Standards
• WorkSpaces\ CT_WorkSpace
• Roles

OpenBuldings Designer Uses:

• Organization
• Organization-BIM\ _CT_Building Standards
• CT_OpenBuildingsDesigner_Dataset
• WorkSpaces\ CT_WorkSpace
• Roles

Organization houses files needed by all products.

Organization-BIM\ _CT_Civil Standards folders house files needed to run OpenRoads, OpenRail and OpenBridge.

Organization-BIM\ _CT_Bridge Standards folders house files needed to run OpenBridge.

Organization-BIM\ _CT_Building Standards folders house files needed to run OpenBuildings.

One Workspace “CT_WorkSpace” is used for all products. There is nothing stored in this location as it is just needed because of how the CONNECT Products are configured by Bentley.

Roles are used to enable each discipline to have their specific Seed files configured and active when creating new files. Roles are also used to set the OpenRoads Template Library location for each discipline.

CT_OpenBuildingsDesigner_Dataset is only used by OpenBuildings Designer, it’s a modified version of the delivered Dataset “C:\ProgramData\Bentley\OpenBuildings CONNECT Edition\Configuration\Datasets”.

WORKSETS

Much like the configuration folders, WorkSet (project) folders will be set up in a shared directory. A standard WorkSet template will be used for any new projects created.

When a project is created, the engineering discipline subfolders in the project directory are initially empty. As project data develops, the folders are populated with DGN files, spreadsheets, databases, email correspondence and other documents. Each engineering discipline has a file naming convention for project work in their respective subfolder. The discipline-specific naming conventions will be discussed in Appendix C: File Naming Conventions.  

» WorkSet Locations

Worksets (project container/folders) are located in the following locations:

• Internal CTDOT staff and consultants syncing SharePoint/COMPASS - WorkSets are configured to a SharePoint/COMPASS Project Site under the Design folder 

• Consultant Engineers with a manual install - Each consultant will maintain the location of their own WorkSets, starting from a project template delivered with the DDE for Consultant engineers. Consultants will copy this template to create CTDOT WorkSets (projects)

» WorkSet Purposes

A WorkSet is used to house the files for each individual CTDOT design project, serving the following purposes:

• Project CAD file storage
• Project documentation storage
• Project-specific CAD standards and design data

» WorkSet Folders

• All CTDOT projects use a standard folder structure for the WorkSet.
• Designers will reference the Survey information in the \Active Survey\ folder. Please coordinate with the Survey unit if changes need to be made to these files.
• New folders can only be created at the bottom level under each discipline folder.

To avoid down time and minimize support requests please note the following:

Windows file systems have a max character limit of 255 for path, including folder names, file name and the extension. While users are not locked from creating additional folders, excessive folder nesting and long names should be avoided. A given file or folder should not exceed 128 characters. Users will run into a multitude of issues if this is not adhered to. If the character limit is exceeded, CAD will not function properly. 

All design and contract production data should be placed in the discipline subfolders. File Naming Conventions for *.dgn CAD files can be found in VOLUME 16 - APPENDIX Section 2 - File Naming.

» WorkSet Creation for CTDOT Employees and Consultants syncing SharePoint/COMPASS

Use this form to request a SharePoint/COMPASS project site CAD WorkSet configuration.

New CAD WorkSet Request

AEC Applications will:

• Set the configurations on the SharePoint/COMPASS project site
• Integrate the project's contract sheet title block

Please note:  Consultant Engineers with a manual install will maintain the location of their own WorkSets; a project template is delivered with the DDE for Consultant engineers. Consultants will copy this template to create CTDOT WorkSets.