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Plan Review

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Message 1 of 12
mnorton
791 Views, 11 Replies

Plan Review

I'm documenting a review process that complements our workflow.  I realize this steps beyond our usual discussions of simple drawing and data management via templates and folders but I'm interested in sharing with, and learning from, others with a system already in place.

 

This is why I think it's important.  My company often has multiple people involved in the review process each with a set of plans.  Our last project consisted of 26 drawings.  The title block date format was changed four times.  A simple edit requiring 2 minutes, executed 26 times, times 4, takes 3.5 hours to complete.  Raise your hand if you have an extra 3.5 hours to waste.

 

This is what I've composed so far.  The list is loosely in order of importance. 

 

  1. Use the latest review prints available.  Reviewing a dated design or chasing comments no longer applicable are a waste of time.
  2. Use a single set of drawings for review.  Once your review is complete pass the set to the next person for review.  This greatly reduces conflicting markups.
  3. Review comments should be in color.  RED=CHANGE; GREEN=DELETE; BLUE=COMMENT; YELLOW=CHECKED
  4. Initial and date your markups.
  5. Establish a date/time the review should stop.  There simply comes a point when everybody should put their pencils down.

 

Further, I thought it might be helpful to include some suggestions for less experienced checkers.

 

  1. NEVER assign the same task to two people.
  2. Be specific.  “Fix this” is not specific.
  3. Do not use a question mark as a comment.  If you ask questions on a markup that may be where you find your answer which was probably not your intent.  It is best to ask in person.
  4. If your markup applies to multiple pages MARK THE FIRST OCCURENCE AND NOTE TO APPLY AS REQUIRED.

 


Mike Norton - The Civil Guy
11 REPLIES 11
Message 2 of 12
LeafRiders
in reply to: mnorton

The single most simple decision we've made to help keep things orderly is the implementation of a "Archive" or "Superseded" folder in almost all situations. PDFs, DWGs, Civil 3D design drawings, etc. When you make a change you DON'T rename a drawing with the REV1, REV2, REV3 behind the file name, you simply "copy" or "save as" the main drawing file before making any changes to it. Is that too simple, I don't think it is. The junior user gets the fact I need to save a copy before I make changes so I don't "Screw" anything up. 

 

What happens is you end up with one project folder with 100% current working drawings, no mish mash laying around, no files with underscore_Joe behind it. If you need your own calc file or working drawing, simply save it to the superseded folder. Here is why the concept works, the files within the superseded folder give you a backup and work history without a timely set of procedures to go along with it. The rules are, you never overwrite another drawing in either your main Drawing folder or the superseded files. This is something we do for 100% of our drawing sheets, and the same principle applies with PDFs.

 

... Now if only some big guy in the sky doesn't come in and change things we'll continue to "save time" in comparison to the next guy. Good luck!

Message 3 of 12
neilyj666
in reply to: mnorton

And presumably any xrefs will always work and won't need to be repathed?

neilyj (No connection with Autodesk other than using the products in the real world)
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Message 4 of 12
mnorton
in reply to: LeafRiders

Our data management software automatically maintains older versions which eliminates having to create a manual process for archives.  We're always working on the latest version.  Of course, you can't make it idiot proof until they stop making idiots. 

 

The versioning problem I mentioned has to do with check prints.  I provide a print for engineering review which if not returned in a timely manner quickly becomes obsolete.  One idea is to stamp the drawing with an expiration date.  We use dated issue stamps at each stage of submittal: client review, bid, and construction.  We also have dated issue stamps for re-issues to accomodate design changes.  Adding an expiration date might help especially for quick reviews outside the normal issue process.

 

We actually have a documented review standard but it is limited to two specific reviews:  engineering review and squad check.  Although not very deep the standard is documented.  Everyone is aware that it exists.  Unfortunately, it is not consistantly administered by all project managers.

 

Thanks for your ideas.  I plan to add to this post and ultimately share the final product.

 

Another suggestion for budding checkers:  Print clearly and large enough to be easily read.


Mike Norton - The Civil Guy
Message 5 of 12
LeafRiders
in reply to: neilyj666

I must of forgotten about a past life when all I did was repath Xrefs. You are correct, if you take away the reason to rename Xrefs or working drawings you've removed all the leg work that goes along with moving or renaming files. As for file naming we use Project#_Phase#_Drawing Name.dwg for record drawing files. > We also insert a field into our titleblock so all files have the project / phase / drawing name are always viewable after the fact. 

 

For our XREFs I've went with something different since we maintain that no drawing is to be saved within an XREF drawing. Which ends up being very practical from a project specific workflow; everyone always knows what's an XREF and what isn't. Ex. XREF-01-ALIGNMENTS.dwg, XREF-01-SURVEYS.dwg, XREF-01-IMAGES.dwg, XREF-01-PROFILES.dwg... etc. we do this consistently for all project files. When I look at my Project#_Phase#_Plan and Profiles.dwg you can view all project XREFs quite easily.

 

Another advantage  to this is you can zip the main drawing folder minus the "superseded" or "archive" folders and send everything externally quickly and they won't have to repath anything. You can try your luck with etransmit but I'm not a fan in some situations. If you keep aerial images and XREFs within your main project drawing folder everything seems to work very well in this regard. Again these practices for me are about saving time and effort. If all your project files are in the same root path and set to relative path xrefs, you should be good to go.

 

The main point to be taken here, is you should always keep your current active files with the same name and in the same location for the duration of the project. Then use a backup / archive method to create valueable record drawings of various stages, and with that you take away some leg work and guess work amongst users regarding what files are meant for what. As for the review process what you have mentioned with regards to colour coding your markup, that is a must in all instances. Some firms respect it, some don't, but that junior CAD user benefits 10 fold with proper procedures for plan review.

Message 6 of 12
doni49
in reply to: mnorton

I'll offer this suggestion for your checking process:  DO NOT USE pen/pencil that is the same color as (or similar to) the linework on the plan you're reviewing/marking up.

 

It is extremely easy for such mark-ups to be missed by those addressing the mark-ups.

 

I used to work for a company that actually had a color coding system in place for mark-ups and it REALLY WORKED well.

 

Green:  Existing feature - show screened.

Red:  Proposed feature - show black.

Yellow:  Delete this item (typically used to "highlight" a line or something).

Blue:  The drafter used a blue highlighter to mark each item as it was addressed.  That way he knew he didn't have to come back to it.

Pink:  Someone back-checking the drafter would use a pink highlighter on the mark-up as he looked at each mark-up item.  He'd highlight it in pink to confirm that he'd checked it.  Then on the fresh print, if it wasn't addressed CORRECTLY, he'd use the appropriate color to mark it up again on the fresh print which would be given back to the drafter after the review.

 

The original mark up and the fresh print is always given back to the person who marked up the plan (or his designee).

 

If a mark-up didn't have a blue & pink mark on each mark-up item, then it was assumed the drawing wasn't ready.



Don Ireland
Engineering Design Technician




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Message 7 of 12
jeff_rivers
in reply to: LeafRiders

Some good discussion here, thanks for posting this.  

 

I like the idea of always keeping the current drawings in a current working folder, and copying backup/older files off to an archive folder. And never using file names ending in "_Rev1", or "_Rev2-Joe" or whatever.  

 

Has anyone dealt with situations where you have revised the drawings after they have been signed and released for construction?  Did you follow the same 'current working drawings' file storage practice?  


Jeffrey Rivers
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Message 8 of 12
LeafRiders
in reply to: jeff_rivers

I would go with the theory that anything post-construction isn't neccessarily considered to be = to that primary set of "Design" drawings.

 

Our stance is that although it may appear as an update; an "As-built" drawing, or in your case "Post-Construction"update is not = to updating the record design drawings. In this case we would create a folder within our "Drafting" folder and call it "As-Builts". Copy all design files and related Xrefs to that folder and proceed with the update. I don't know about you but when that guy in the sky comes down for a visit and asks what is different from the original design to this post-construction update it's nice to have your butt covered in an orderly fashion.

Message 9 of 12
mnorton
in reply to: mnorton

Our color system works well and has been the standard at other places I have worked.  I color completed revisions orange and inintial and date each completed revision.  Thanks for the suggestion on the markup color.  Pencil doesn't show well on a B/W drawing.


Mike Norton - The Civil Guy
Message 10 of 12
mnorton
in reply to: jeff_rivers

We use a Re-issue for Construction stamp for changes issued after the original signed drawings are submitted.  We use a rev cloud and rev note to show the change and our title blocks include alpha-numeric rev numbers - alpha for review and approval; numeric for issue and re-issue.  The rev number is not part of the drawing or file number.


Mike Norton - The Civil Guy
Message 11 of 12
sfore
in reply to: mnorton

I have an attribute definition set up for Filename and Date in our cover sheet and plan sheets.  When a drawing is saved, the date automatically changes in date field.  The same applies to the filename (drawing name).  We're also in the process of revising our border sheets to include layer based phrases set up as an attribute for different phases of a project that we can toggle on/off such as 'Draft - For Regulatory Review', 'Preliminary', 'Bid Drawings' or 'Not for Construction', 'As-Built'....we're still working that out. 

 

We keep a 'DESIGN' folder under project folder that houses the latest dwg's.  Through the course of a project, depending on changes, we may copy a drawing to a folder called OLD if changes are significant just to keep the drawing "as-is" in case we need to revert back to it per client wishes.  We also have used .OLD extension at the end of the file name to make it an OLD File, so it doesn't show up in the browse dialog when opening up drawings.  We also create an As-Built folder and copy the design drawings to to make necessary changes after construction is completed.  We also have a PER (preliminary engineering report) folder that almost all of our project drawings start out in.  We also have a PDF folder with dated folders under it so that when we publish our drawings to send out, we have record.

 

Typically, the project engineer is the only one that marks up my drawings until project nears completion, then the project manager marks up as final.  Of course, during the whole process, most project engineers are relaying info and questions to project manager to avoid surprises in the end.  I still fight conflicting and confusing markups from sheet to sheet at times with some engineers as well as markups that just aren't legible.  I keep all revision rounds of markups and I write receive/completion date on them until project is over.  Most times they use red to markup drawings, but they have used pencil, red pen, blue pen and sharpies, all on the same set of plans.  This is why I keep record, just in case budget questions arise.

 

We don't have the perfect system from start to finish, but I think we have a nice organized system that works.  It all comes down to caring, communication and making money.  We, as designers and drafters have to voice concerns about efficiency to the powers to be.  A lot of times, if they would just take their time in marking up drawings, they would probably get them back faster.  While we can make strides utilizing the software to make us faster and smarter designers, we can't full-proof everything when it leaves our desk.

Message 12 of 12
doni49
in reply to: sfore


@sfore wrote:

We're also in the process of revising our border sheets to include layer based phrases set up as an attribute for different phases of a project that we can toggle on/off such as 'Draft - For Regulatory Review', 'Preliminary', 'Bid Drawings' or 'Not for Construction', 'As-Built'....we're still working that out. 

 



We do something similar and this might be of use to you.  Our title block includes a signature/seal area with the sealing engineer's name and PE #.  When a drawing is still in the at "Not for Construction" Phase, there is a layer turned on which places a big old circle right where an engineer would normall sign/seal the plan.  In that circle is text that simply says "NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION".

 

When it's ready to go out final, we turn the layer off and send.



Don Ireland
Engineering Design Technician




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