Setting-up Project Folders

Shared Network Drive(s): Crows Nest is a client-server application designed with file sharing and collaboration with multiple team members in mind. It is imperative, that your organization is equipped with a shared network file storage solution whether it’s on your local area network or is a cloud solution such as SharePoint, Dropbox, Egnyte, Box, or ShareFile, to name a few.
Typical network file share? The path to the mapped shared drive should look something like this:
S:\CrowsNest\Projects (In this example the drive letter is 'S', but can be any letter your IT team has designated as a mapped network drive for your organization)
Cloud Solution? The path should look like this: %USERPROFILE%\CrowsNest\Projects

Project folders store all the information relevant to each individual project. These can be set in Settings → Options → Folders and will be created automatically each time a new project is created.

From the Crows Nest ribbon menu, navigate to Settings-> Options, and select the Folders tab.
You can setup up to two (2) separate paths to store your project files. However, for this example, we’ll walk through setting up Project Folder 1. Repeat steps 3-6 if you desire to setup a second set under Project Folder 2.
In the ‘Path’ field, key in, or use the Browse button to designate the shared file location where you would like to establish your project folder structure. In the example below, we’ve setup a folder called ‘Projects’, inside another folder called CrowsNest, on the ‘S:’ drive. This path has been designated to be the root folder where the subfolder structure will be created automatically for each new project you create.
(Note: Every organization has different nuances to their IT configurations. Obtain the appropriate path/location of your organization’s shared network drive from whomever is responsible for your IT).
Give this folder/directory structure’s location a Title such as ‘Project Folder’
In the Subfolder panel, right-mouse click and select ‘Add' from the pop-up context menu to add folders. Repeat this process to add any/all folders that you would like to utilize to store your various project files. (Note: this example shows subfolders for storing files commonly produced by change order requests, the drafting department, estimating, and invoicing, etc.)
Once you have created a subfolder, right-mouse-click anywhere in the Subfolders panel again. From the pop-up context menu, select ‘Set Default Location for’, and select the appropriate function from the list to designate the folder you’ve created to be the location where you want to store files related to that function. (Example: A subfolder called ‘RFI’ has been created and then designated to be the location to store RFIs created and managed in Crows Nest throughout the project’s lifecycle.)
In the same fashion as Step-3, key in, or click the Browse button to designate a path for an ‘Employee’ folder and a ‘Business’ folder. (Note: having separate folders for these allows for easily restricting access to sensitive business documents and Private Personal Information (PPI), such as payroll records via permissions set in your organization’s Active Directory Group Policy Management.)
Settings within the Project Item Folders dictate how files that are created by Crows Nest get named. You can add a prefix, as well as leading zeros to a file name to make your files easily identifiable. For example, an invoice created in Crows Nest and saved as a PDF might look like this: Invoice-0001.pdf using the settings shown in this example.
There are other settings that allow you to fine tune how you’d like to setup your folder structure. These instructions provide what may be a very typical setup in any manufacturing/fabrication environment. However, your organization has unique needs and, in many cases, existing norms and legacy structures that you may choose to continue using. Crows Nest is designed to be flexible and to accommodate your organization’s unique needs. We encourage you to explore all of these options and see what works best for you early in the implementation, as downstream, changes become disruptive and present additional change management challenges.
Here are some sample folder tree examples to help you to visualize how you may choose to configure your organization’s folder structure.