Project Setup and Collaboration
Start with the shared coordinate system
Every electrical model lives inside a larger coordination effort. Before placing a single device, confirm how the project handles coordinates: shared coordinates, project base point, and survey point. A common trap is assuming the project base point and survey point are the same; they are separate objects, and moving one does not move the other unless they are explicitly linked. Understand how Acquire Coordinates and Publish Coordinates work between linked models, because questions often ask which model receives coordinates and which one sends them.
Worksharing discipline
For collaborative projects, know the difference between worksets, element borrowing, and synchronize with central. Electrical designers typically own worksets for lighting, power, and panel equipment. A frequent exam trap is confusing detach from central with relinquish all mine: detaching creates an independent copy and breaks the link to central, while relinquishing only frees your borrowed elements.
Templates and view discipline
Project templates carry electrical settings, view templates, and load classifications. Know that view templates can control discipline, visibility, and graphics, and that a view's discipline filters which categories appear in the browser. Linking models with Shared Coordinates and setting Copy/Monitor for levels and grids keeps the electrical model aligned with architecture.
Rule of thumb
When coordinating, always link architecture and structure, acquire coordinates once from the civil or architectural source of truth, then copy/monitor levels and grids. If a question describes elements drifting out of alignment after a level change, the likely answer is a broken copy/monitor relationship or unmanaged shared coordinates.
Worked example
A team links a structural model and finds grids offset. The fix is to confirm the link uses Shared Coordinates (not Auto – Project Internal), then re-acquire coordinates from the correct source model before copy/monitoring grids.