Model sharing and firm folder

Question:
How to set up a firm folder in a company that has offices in different locations? Each location has its own firm folder on its own server and the locations work in the same Tekla Model Sharing model. What to do when there are changes in firm files?

Answer:
You can only give one location for the XS_FIRM advanced option, so multiple path definitions are not possible. However, the XS_FIRM advanced option is of MODEL(SYSTEM) type, which is not moved to other users when writing out/reading in. This means that you can use your local path, and these can be different between offices. So, set XS_FIRM to point to your own firm folder on the closest server, and you still are able to work in the same model.  

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To avoid problems, the contents of the firm folders need to be identical between different offices. And if you later need to rejoin the model, the XS_FIRM is not remembered, but you need to set it again.

Steps:

1. Open the Advanced options dialog box.
2. Set the path to XS_FIRM.
3. Click Apply. You will get the message "The following options will not be changed until you close and reopen your model: -XS_FIRM"
4. Click OK to close the Advanced options dialog box.
5. Save the model.
6. Open the same model. Now you can write out and read in, and the XS_FIRM setting is kept local, and not transferred to other Tekla Model Sharing users.

There is also a possibility to use the Copy firm folder files to model folder functionality, which then copies all the firm files to the model folder. However, if there are many files, the model folder size might increase a lot. And also, if there are changes in the firm files, you need to click Copy files again after changes in the Sharing settings.

Just using the local XS_FIRM setting and not copying the files to model folder has the following advantages:

• Fewer files in the model folder (smaller and lighter).
• You only need to maintain files in one place.
• Changes in firm folder files affect the model immediately after reopening it (so you do not need to remember to click Copy files).

Disadvantages:

• Every user needs to set XS_FIRM in their local model.
• You need to remember to set XS_FIRM again after rejoining.
• Mismatch between the contents of different firm folders are difficult to notice because the files are not visible in the model folder.
• If Tekla Structures cannot access the XS_FIRM folder (network problem etc.), the model might be slow to handle (TTSD-7113).

Some users have mapped the network location to the same letter in all the offices: https://forum.tekla.com/index.php?/topic/13633-firm-folder-and-model-sharing/, which simplifies things, because then everybody can use the same value for XS_FIRM.

Use Trimble Connect project as XS_FIRM folder
This is a new option in Tekla Structures 2020 version. You can copy the firm-specific settings to be easily available to a Trimble Connect project and Tekla Structures downloads them automatically to local models when reading in. Model sharing model users also will get notification about the changed files.

For more information, see:
Tekla Model Sharing: Use Trimble Connect as the project folder (Video)
Use XS_FIRM and XS_PROJECT folders with shared models