I am using SW2011 with SP3.

This is not a question, but rather a friendly reminder gained from experience...

We had a part get built incorrectly. I tracked down the root cause and just wanted to post a reminder to everyone so it doesn't bite you. This would apply to most master model approaches.

We created a weldment part file - a multibody part. The blanks for the individual bodies were made via tube laser cutting by an outside vendor. Because of this, we needed to save out each body into its own file for the vendor to import into their laser cutting software.

At some point in the design a hole was moved. The master model was updated. The master model drawing was updated. The derived parts were opened and updated. The derived part drawings were opened and updated. Or so we thought.

Turns out the derived parts never updated. The vendor built exactly what we told them to build - the exact wrong part.

In order to get all the updates to flow downstream, make sure ALL the files in the chain are open at the same time in the same session of SW. Perform a CTRL-Q forced rebuild (maybe a few times for good measure) beginning with the top-most parent file and systematically working your way down the chain one layer at a time performing a forced rebuild each step.

If your change is manageable enough, confirm the change has showed up at the end of the chain.

We typically follow the above advice - even prior to this error. I can only assume, in this case, we were working on so many concurrent files that one of the members of this particular chain was not open and went unnoticed as such. Once I had all of the files open and performed the above steps, the end-of-chain drawing dimension in question jumped over just where is should be. All the CTRL-Q forced rebuilds in the world won't make it update if all the parent files are not OPEN and IN MEMORY.

Maybe others can comment on a better practice in cases like this. Hope this helps somebody avoid a similar issue.

Daen