Archive for July, 2006

What’s it worth to you? – Increasing quality of life for the overworked CAD manager

Friday, 7 July 2006

Today’s CAD manager needs help. Whether communicating with decision-makers or supporting all his users, the CAD manager is spread too thin. I am willing to bet that the bulk of the CAD manager’s time is spent handling emergencies, instead of finding new ways to improve his and his staff’s job satisfaction. So why not get some outside help?

According to a survey conducted by Northwestern National Life Insurance, 40% of working people feel their job is “very or extremely stressful”. CAD managers are no different

What is Utility Software?
Utility software consists of programs that enable you to get your job done faster and more efficiently. Utility software handles redundant and time-consuming tasks by automating processes that take too long by the usual means. The programs in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit are utilities. Each solves a specific problem and increases the productivity of the user, by saving time while performing tedious, time-consuming tasks.

CAD Managers Spread Too Thin
At Axiom, we understand that saving time is your principal objective. According to Robert Green’s “CAD Manager 2005 Survey”, 26% of CAD managers reported that “their number-one frustration was not having enough time to do their job well.” Surprised?

Here are some other numbers from the survey:

  • Only 31% of CAD managers perform their management duties full time.
  • 61% are in salaried positions (average salary: $53,847, or roughly $27 per hour)
  • A CAD manager supports an average of 41 CAD users.
  • 16% have purchasing authority.

Cost Justification and the Return on Investment
No matter how good the software is, you still have to explain its value — to yourself and to other decision-makers — in a language that they understand: money. This is why the CAD manager has to be business savvy and understand how the money folk think. This is where cost justification and return on investment analysis come in handy.

Cost justification is the process of determining the return on an investment. The savings are measured and evaluated relative to the cost of the product.

We are on the same page if we agree that everything you spend your budget on should greatly contribute to your production. It is with this principle in mind that I present you four scenarios in which having a utility program reduced frustration and saved significant amounts of time.

Loosen your puchasing authority’s purse strings with cost justification and return-on-investment calculations.

Scenario 1
One of our customers reported the following costs associated with importing Excel spreadsheets into design files using MicroStation by itself: $27 (average CAD manager hourly rate) x 2.75 (average number of hours it takes to completely import a spreadsheet) x 15 (number of monthly work days that at least one spreadsheet is imported) x 12 months = $13,365 per year spent importing spreadsheets.

Here is the cost of importing Excel spreadsheets into MicroStation files using Axiom’s Microsoft Office Importer: $27 (average CAD manager hourly rate) x 4 (average number of minutes it takes to import a spreadsheet using Microsoft Office Importer) x 15 (number of monthly work days that at least one spreadsheet is imported) x 12 months = $324 per year spent importing spreadsheets using Microsoft Office Importer. Total yearly savings due to Microsoft Office Importer: $13,041.

After subtracting software costs, maintenance fees and training time, the return on investment in the first year of the use of the software is a staggering 1268%.

Scenario 2
One of our FileFixer customers commented, “FileFixer ends up saving us approximately 400 man-hours in a year. We couldn’t be nearly as productive without it.” If we apply the $27-per-hour rate to this scenario, we have a return on investment in the first year of 233%.

Scenario 3
Another scenario, “whenever any MicroStation file came back from the client, our drafters would spend an average of about two hours finding and correcting the CAD standard violations. If one figures that we get about 20 files sent back to us by the client, that it took the drafter about two hours to spot and correct the violations, and that there are about two to three submissions in the lifecycle of our design projects, this totaled approximately 120 man-hours per project spent in corrections — time spent not earning any new revenue!” Instead of doing it the hard way, the firm now uses SpecChecker and gets the work done in five minutes.

In dollars, that is savings upwards of $3,240 in man-hours and a 33% return on investment after just the first project!

Scenario 4
One of our customers had 400 design files in a project where a non-standard set of cells was used throughout the design process. They had to replace thousands of instances of multiple cells throughout all 400 design files. They were looking at 330 man-hours to fix this and a late delivery of the project.

However, using Global File Changer, they were able to update all 400 design files with the “Replace Cells” function in a little over three hours — this includes a 20-minutes setup and about three hours of computer-processing time without an operator present — which was only 1% of the time the design team estimated they would have spent making the changes by hand. In dollars, after subtracting software costs, maintenance and training, the savings are around $4,750 or 135% return on investment in a single run of the program.

What’s more is that these scenarios don’t take into account the value of work that users get done in addition to the savings.

Preaching to the Choir
I know that most of this you have heard before, but it doesn’t hurt to hear it one more time. Make the vendors vying for your budget dollars work for you. Use their resources to get your projects done faster and more accurately and don’t be afraid to try and implement new technology.

I encourage you to contact Axiom and schedule a no-obligation, one-on-one online demonstration with one of our product managers to discuss how MicroStation Productivity Toolkit can greatly increase your rate of production and maximize the return on your budget dollars.

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How to use RefManager to enable live nesting in multiple sheet files

Friday, 7 July 2006

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — In this how-to, I will go over how to enable live nesting (displaying references of references) in multiple reference files without having to change the reference file’s attachment settings one file at a time.

When a new reference file is attached to an existing set of drawings, many hours can be spent attaching, scaling, clipping and rotating the reference file in each design file — not to mention time spent modifying level display, locks, logical names and descriptions. Since you have already done this once in the design phase, there is no need to do it again when preparing sheet files for plotting at the end of the project.

Enabling live nesting in one design file is not particularly challenging, but doing so in hundreds of design files can be a time-consuming and tedious process.

For this exercise, we will use a sheet file (master design file) that includes a section of a base map as a reference file. Our task is to enable the display of a third design file (one that contains topographic data) that is itself a reference file to the base map design file. This exercise assumes that the topographic data has already been referenced (although you can use RefManager to attach the file if it hasn’t).

The Process

  1. Open the base map design file and ensure that the topographic file is referenced.
  2. Close the file and open up the first sheet file. For our example we are using Sheet_File1.dgn. Notice that the sheet file has two references: Border.dgn and Project_SectionA.dgn (a clipped section of the base map file). Also, notice that the nesting setting (red box) is set to “No Nesting”.
  3. Open RefManager from the Axiom menu.

  4. Open the Edit File List dialog box by clicking on the <Select> button next to the Design Files field.
  5. Add all the sheet files you want to process by selecting them from the Available Files menu or by using a wildcard string to add all files with a filename that matches the string. In our case, all our sheet files have a similar name. Usually, sheet files will have a project number in the name, which makes the file selection process easier. In that case, in the “Select files by Extended File Specification” field, you can type in “Sheet_File*.dgn” and all files beginning with “Sheet_File” will be added to the list. The “*” is a wildcard character. When done, click <OK>.

  6. Select “Modify Reference File Attachments” from the Mode drop down menu.

  7. Under the Vector Settings category, select Live Nesting from the Nested Attachments drop-down menu. Also, set the Depth to “1″. The depth number represents the number of “references of references” that live nesting will display. For example, by setting the depth to “1″, only the references of the references will show. If the depth is set to “2″, then the references of the references of the references will show up. Click on <Close> when done.

  8. In order to only change the nesting preferences in all sheet files containing a referenced section of Project_Section.dgn, we have to filter out any other references, like the Border.dgn for instance. To do so, click on the <Filter> button next to the Mode drop-down menu.
  9. In the “Filter Reference File Attachments By…” dialog box, select the File Name category, and in the string field, type in a string that will only include the base map attachments. In this example, we want to only process all reference file attachments that begin with “Project” in their name. Click on <Close> when done.

  10. Click on <Start> on RefManager’s main dialog and watch it go! When you are done you will get a dialog box that looks like so.

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RBF Consulting Senior Designer shares his opinions about MicroStation Productivity Toolkit and the future of CAD.

Friday, 7 July 2006

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, USA — Lee Youngs, RBF Consulting’s Senior CAD Designer and 20-year CAD veteran, knows that by using the many utilities in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit he can have complete control over his design projects and can prevent disasters that can turn a project into a big headache.

Lee Youngs — with his daughter and wife (Jessie and Jan) — standing inside Big Ben in London, England

We recently had a chance to get some insight on how Lee Youngs utilizes MicroStation Productivity Toolkit on a daily basis.

MicroStation Today: Can you tell us a bit about your 20-year experience using CAD?
Lee: I started my CAD career in 1985 working on an Intergraph system using the old double monitors with the digitizing table attached. I started out as a Facility Planner for Hughes Aircraft. I switched over to civil in 1990 and have been doing work for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and local cities ever since.

Currently, I am the CAD Senior Designer for the Transportation and Public Works Department for RBF Consulting in Irvine, California. I have been with RBF for over five years. RBF Consulting – recently ranked “Best Firm to Work For” in the nation by CE News Magazine – provides consulting services for planning, design and construction throughout the western United States and internationally. The firm, with a staff of nearly 1,000 employees, maintains fourteen offices located throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Our Web site is www.RBF.com.

MST: Tell us about how you use Axiom utilities?
Lee: I have MicroStation Productivity Toolkit installed on my machine and I find myself using it on a daily basis. One great tool is FileFixer. I use it to clean up drawings before converting them to V8 and to correct problems in MicroStation/J files so errors don’t get passed from one drawing to another.

I use Duplicate Element Remover to eliminate any extra elements that may have been accidentally duplicated or placed several times. I use Microsoft Office Importer to import Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into MicroStation. This saves the time of drafting tables by hand using graphics and text. RefMerge comes in handy when Caltrans wants all the design information copied into individual cut sheets (sheet files) with no reference files attached.
I don’t use all the tools in Toolkit yet — yet being the key word. Axiom has always been willing to give me lessons over the Internet to teach me how to use the tools and what to use the tools for. That is a great help in time and cost savings.

MST: What is the most recent project that Axiom has assisted you on?
Lee: Right now, we are going through the painful process of converting our cell libraries from Metric to English units and I have relied on Axiom for assistance during this ordeal. I got instructions on how to use CellManager to help make this conversion less cumbersome. The cost of redoing all existing cell libraries one cell at a time would be a small fortune and would take countless days to accomplish.

MST: What would you like to be doing in ten years?
Lee: Ten years from now, I hope to be retired and traveling with my wife, Jan. We love to go to London, England and have made three trips so far. The highlight of our last trip was being allowed to go into the tower where Big Ben is located. We reached the top — over 300 steps — just before Big Ben rang twelve o’clock noon. Now that is an impressive sight and sound! Big Ben is not open to the public or foreign visitors and we had to get special permission from Parliament to enter the tower. We also toured Liverpool to see all the sites written about by the Beatles with a stop at Abbey Road in London to make the experience complete.

Also, we really enjoyed our trip to Australia. Our daughter, Jessie, sang at the Sydney Opera House with her high school choir. Jessie is now in her second year of college and our son, Jason, has made us proud grandparents with two fine boys.

MST: If you could trade places with anyone for just one day, who would it be?
Lee: If I could change places with anyone for one day it would have to be with Sir Paul McCartney. Just to have the memories he has would be fantastic.

MST: What do you predict will be the “next big thing” in CAD?
Lee: I think the next big thing in CAD is going to be the ability to use both MicroStation and AutoCAD on the same project. MicroStation can already read and manipulate AutoCAD files and it will be nice to have AutoCAD manipulate MicroStation files, as I heard will be the case with the 2007 version of AutoCAD. This will allow a designer to always work in the CAD program they are most familiar with.

MST: Thank you so much for your time, Lee.
Lee: Thank you.

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Introduction to SpecMonitor

Friday, 7 July 2006

Standardize your MicroStation files as you create them!

The problem: You and your team of designers keep getting designs rejected due to violations of CAD standards. Quick solution: Use SpecMonitor, the program that enforces CAD standards as elements are created.

The purpose of SpecMonitor is to automate quality assurance and quality control — to greatly assist you in the creation of standard drawings, without the need for tedious, costly, time-consuming proofreading and correction after-the-fact. If an element being created doesn’t follow your CAD standards, SpecMonitor will prevent it from being placed.

For example, a draftsperson is placing text describing an item in the design. Company CAD standards require all text to go on level 60. The active level is still set to level 10 (where he was just working). He mistakenly places text on level 10. Without SpecMonitor, he might go on for hours placing text on the wrong level and never realize the mistake (until submission time). With SpecMonitor, the user is notified as he attempts to place text on the wrong level. With the click of a button, the text is automatically moved to the correct level. But SpecMonitor goes further – with the click of a button he can correct the active settings so that subsequent element placement will be correct.

How does it do it?
In order to enforce CAD standards, SpecMonitor must be told what the CAD standards are. This step is for the CAD manager, who must define “rules” which tell SpecMonitor what the CAD standards are, what SpecMonitor tells users each time the rule is violated and how to correct each type of violation. These rules are easily created using SpecMonitor’s companion program, RuleManager. Once CAD standards have been defined, SpecMonitor is ready to enforce the standards.

In order to intercept CAD standard violations, SpecMonitor constantly runs in the background. When a rule is violated, a dialog box like the one shown below will appear.

SpecMonitor dialog box showing CAD standard violation with a correction clause.

Automatically change it
In the example above, the user was trying to place an element with color 4 on the Default level. Per the defined CAD standards, this is a violation. To correct this particular violation, all the user would have to do is click on <Change> or <Change & Update> to automatically change the element’s color to color 3.

<Change> changes the element symbology to correct the standards and allows it to be placed in the file. <Change & Update> changes the element symbology and MicroStation’s active settings to ensure that subsequent elements don’t violate the same CAD standard. For example, if the correction is to make the blue element red, <Change & Update> will make the element red, place it in the design file and make the active color in MicroStation red.

Rejections
If the user doesn’t want to place the element, he can reject it.

The <Reject> button does just that, reject elements. <Reject All> is for cases involving moving or placing multiple elements, like a fence copy. If there are multiple elements queued up which violate the CAD standards, the user can push <Reject All> once instead of pressing <Reject> dozens or hundreds of times. This way SpecMonitor can help to enforce the CAD standards without being burdensome.

Ignore standards?
There is the third option of ignoring an element that violates CAD standards. Since this function allows users to ignore CAD standards violations, the CAD manager may choose to leave the <Ignore> and <Ignore All> buttons disabled. However, in some situations — like when developing new standards — users may want to be notified of CAD standards violations but be allowed to place those off-standard elements anyway.

In closing
SpecMonitor’s main benefit is its ability to enforce design file standards during the design phase of a project. Consistency and uniformity of design files can easily be achieved using it. By enforcing correct standards, SpecMonitor helps organize design files and facilitates project management.

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New on-line GEOPAK Site and Drainage training libraries available from Axiom.

Friday, 7 July 2006

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — Looking for a cost-efficient way to train on GEOPAK Site or Drainage? GEOPAK users can now train on GEOPAK at their own pace and on their own schedule with Axiom’s new GEOPAK Site and GEOPAK Drainage training libraries.

GEOPAK Site Library
GEOPAK Site Library covers the design and analysis of land development and site design projects such as commercial, residential and industrial sites. The library prepares the student with beginning and advanced digital terrain modeling (DTM), coordinate geometry (COGO) and GEOPAK’s Site Modeler courses in addition to courses on what tools to use, how to plan according to the site and plan the quantities of construction materials needed. When compounded with other, more specialized courses in the GEOPAK series, the student will have all the skills necessary to complete an entire civil design project.

The following are titles and descriptions of the courses in GEOPAK Site library:

  • Introduction to Digital Terrain Modeling is a basic introduction to digital terrain modeling (DTM) concepts. DTM keywords and procedures are discussed at length, with video examples to make it easier to understand how to build digital terrain models. The contents are designed for users who are new to GEOPAK and the DTM process.
  • Advanced DTM expands on concepts found in the introduction class. This course discusses additional extraction procedures, working with TIN files and advanced tools, including Profiles, Volume Calculations and Slope Areas. [Editor's note: TIN files are used for storing survey information data and are used to create a 3D triangular mesh of the contours of the elevation.] Students learn the proper use of Theme functions, computing earthwork and working with Drainage tools.

Sample lessons from GEOPAK Site library

  • Introduction to Coordinate Geometry covers the creation of a GEOPAK coordinate geometry (COGO) database (*.GPK file, made up of stored geometric elements such as points, lines, curves, etc.) and includes details on using the COGO Navigator (used to view, edit and display coordinate geometry elements).
  • Classic & Graphical COGO covers the use of tools found in the main coordinate geometry (COGO) application, including storing elements such as points, curves, alignments and review of the COGO navigator. Graphical COGO discusses the tools found in the graphical COGO application which uses a combination of MicroStation-type tools to graphically create, modify and delete COGO elements, while storing them in the coordinate geometry database in the background.
  • Plans Production Tools covers the tools used to create final site drawings. These include tools to draw the site plan, the labeler and generating your final site plan sheets.
  • Existing Ground introduces how to generate cross sections using existing ground. See how to generate, display and modify cross sections with illustrations and informative videos. Learn how to choose the proper baseline, update existing sections and use Cross Section Navigator.

Sample lesson from Existing Ground course

  • Beginning Site Modeler in the context of a site plan for a business park, this course covers the basics: creating a site project, creating objects from site elements, and some of the analysis tools. The project contains simple road (using sections), building and parking lot.
  • Advanced Site Modeler continuing in the same project, the advance course covers composite sections, edit profile, all wizards, the rest of the analysis tools, drawing profiles and cross sections and exporting data out of your site project.
  • Plan Quantities uses the elements drawn in the construction plan, discussing what is needed to compute quantities, review the Design and Computations Manager for computations and perform several different types of computations. Finally, the six different output methods (from ASCII file to spreadsheet to databases) are reviewed and examples done.

GEOPAK Drainage Library
GEOPAK Drainage library covers the accurate design or modification of storm drainage systems required for site development. The GEOPAK Drainage library is composed of three comprehensive courses on the design of a drainage system for any type of site. Students will quickly become familiar with the tools and processes involved in the drainage design process through interactive lessons, complete with illustrations and videos. Right from their own desks, students will gain the necessary skills to effectively design a storm drainage system for new sites or to modify existing sites.

The following are titles and descriptions of the courses in GEOPAK Drainage library:

  • Introduction to Drainage course details three fundamental components necessary for designing any drainage system — the CAD design, GDF (GEOPAK Drainage File) and the drainage library — and how they work together. Students will learn about working with features, drainage areas and nodes before being instructed on how to create a project, set preferences, defining and adding nodes, analyzing and generating reports.
  • Design with Drainage course outlines the steps involved with the planning and production of a storm drainage system. Students learn how to automatically leverage data from one dialog box form to another, define drainage areas and use digital terrain management (DTM) tools.
  • Plans Production Tools for Drainage course details generating plan sheets, reports and quantity calculations. Students learn how to create profiles, use the labeler tool and add settings to the style library. Also included are lessons on how to use the Plan and Profile Sheet Composition tools, navigate through the Report Builder and calculate plan quantities with GEOPAK’s Design and Computation (D & C) Manager.

In each course, students will find an interactive learning environment that covers an integral part of the process of complete site design. Unlike a classroom, each student can progress at their own pace, ensuring they fully understand each section before moving on. What’s more, students don’t need to have a copy of GEOPAK installed to be able to learn. With GEOPAK training libraries, students can do hands-on drills in each lesson with movies, audio and interactive multimedia presentations to simulate all phases of site design.

Stay up-to-date!
The upcoming scheduled releases that can increase the ability of your GEOPAK users are GEOPAK Survey, GEOPAK PowerCivil and GEOPAK Criteria libraries. To get the most up-to-date information on the current releases of GEOPAK training from Axiom go to www.AxiomInt.com/products/geopak_training.htm.

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