The classic disaster: two programmers, one project file on a USB stick, and Sunday-night integration by “newest file wins”. TIA Multiuser Engineering exists to end that.
How it works
A project server hosts the master project; each engineer works in a local session and checks in changed objects. Portal marks conflicts at the object level — two people touching different blocks merge trivially; the same block flags for resolution. Check-ins are logged with author and comment, which quietly gives you an audit trail.
What merges well: program blocks, PLC tags, technology objects. What still wants coordination: hardware configuration and HMI screens — treat those as single-owner areas per day, agreed at the morning split.
The workflow that works on real commissioning
- Split by machine area, not by file type: one owner for infeed, one for the press, one for exit handling.
- Check in small and often — end of every functional change, not end of day.
- One integration owner runs the server session at the machine and is the only person downloading to the CPU.
- Comment check-ins like commit messages; future-you is the audience.
FAQ
Do we need a dedicated server? The Multiuser server is a lightweight service — a decent PC on the machine network suffices for a commissioning crew.
Offline at site without the server? Local sessions keep working; you sync when reconnected. Plan mobile access for remote sites — a tiny VPN router pays for itself the first week.
Zone Otomasyon runs multiuser commissioning on larger projects as standard. Two-week integrations became two days. How we manage projects.