When it comes to designing a project, it is important to use revision management to track and control any changes that were done. Revision notes are important in the design process because they will specify who designed, approved and validated each revision in the project. This blog article explains how to use revision control which is beneficial for the user to track project design changes, making for a clear understanding of past, current and future designs.  

Managing Revisions in SOLIDWORKS Electrical

SOLIDWORKS has the capability to manage revisions at a book level and at an individual page level. Both processes are very similar and are helpful for project revision organization.

Let’s take a deeper dive into this process with an example. As you can see below, when SOLIDWORKS Electrical is open, on the left side of the screen you will see your documents/components manager section. In this specific example, we are working with two pages, Wiring line diagram and Electrical scheme.

The project is complete but some design changes need to be made. This is where managing revisions comes into play. Currently, the revision level for the Wiring line diagram and Electrical scheme pages are Revision 1.

Imagine a design change happened on the Wiring line diagram page, we need to record this change.

1. Right-click the blue book icon (Document book) in the document/components manager and select Revisions.
   
   

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2. The Revisions management window will open. Select New revision.
3. Select the Validate option.

   

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4. Next, you will select the Verify option. A window will pop up called Revision, select No. At this point you can edit the information for the Created by, Validated by, Verified by and Description columns in the Revisions management window. Then select OK.

   

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5. Another window will pop up called Print book. Here you can select to print or export to PDF. You can select either of these for the described action or select cancel (do nothing).
6. A window will open, giving the option of taking a snapshot of the project. To continue, click the cancel button to close this window.
7. From here you will right-click on Wiring line diagram and select Revisions.

   

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8. The Revisions management window will open. Select New revision.
9. Select the Validate icon, then select Verify.

At this point you can edit the information for the Created by, Validated by, Verified by and Description columns in the Revisions management. Then select OK.

As you can see a revision 2 was made for the Wiring line diagram page.

The design change is now complete, and the changes have been implemented in the field. Later, another design change is made to the Wiring line diagram.

1. Repeat steps 1-6 from above (to revise the book.)
   

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2. Then complete steps 7-10 from above (to revise the individual page.)
   

As you can see a revision 3 was made for the Wiring line diagram.

You can also revise the Electrical scheme sheet by repeating steps 7-10 above (but applied to the sheet Electrical scheme.)

At this point our book revision is at revision 3 and our individual prints (Wiring line diagram and Electrical scheme) are also at revision 3.

If another design change were to happen on the Electrical scheme page and you tried to right-click on Electrical scheme print in the documents/components manager section and select Revisions, the following window will be presented.

The reason for the warning message is that individual page revisions cannot exceed the book revision level. The book holds the revision record for all documents in the book, while the individual pages only host their own revision history. Since our book revision is at 3 and we are trying to add an individual page revision to Electrical scheme (which would be revision 4), we get the warning.

To resolve this, repeat steps 1-6 above (which revises the book.)

Then repeat steps 7-10 above, applied to Electrical scheme.

As you can see revision 4 for the Electrical scheme is added.

Revision management should be applied to every project so there is a clear record of changes made to the project. Monitoring revision control will benefit the engineering team by emphasizing past design changes along with assisting in current or future designs. SOLIDWORKS Electrical is a very helpful and powerful tool that offers a lot of unique and time-saving features.

If you’re looking to expand your knowledge in SOLIDWORKS Electrical, check out our upcoming in-person and online training.