Collaborative working in ArcGIS Pro using Sharepoint

AF2023

Hello,

I am seeking advice on how to work collaboratively in ArcGIS Pro with data stored on sharepoint. 

Currently I am recommending users to work centrally from one Aprx file per project, saving data in the native geodatabase. Sometimes, multiple users need access to the same project file and are unaware that another user has the file open at the same time. This is causing serious issues with data corruption and many additional Aprx files are being created, making it difficult to manage the GIS within a project.

An alternative which has been used on some projects is for each person working on a project to have a separate Aprx and corresponding geodatabase however it seems poor practice to have multiple copies of the same data and will likely result in different versions of the same data. I have considered publishing key data on AGOL - however most users are not experienced in AGOL. We do not use ArcGIS Enterprise so an enterprise gdb is not possible.

Ideally, I am looking for some way to warn users before opening an aprx file that another user is using it; has anyone found a way to do this or a similar workaround? 

Any help or suggestions is much appreciated.

bpollvogt

It might be useful to have the team members "check out" the project file. On Sharepoint, if you right-click (or click on the 3 dots) and go to "More" there is a "Check Out" option. This will then put a symbol on it and prevent others from editing it until it is checked back in. I haven't used it for project files but have used it for managing access to Access databases successfully.