DRWNG CONVERSION and CAFM

[newbie08]

Hi I am a project manager working on a cafm project and I need some information (sorry, this may be very basic since I have been reading the information and everyone seems very knowledgeable).
1. We have visio drawings we will be converting and polylining for an office. Can anyone give me an idea (very roungh) on converting/polylining office space to show offices, cubicles, meeting room--no furniture or ports at this time.
a. Is there a rough est. by how many sq. ft per hour to go by for this?
b. What is the cost usually for this by the hour
I am trying to build a project plan
2. Does anyone have insights to famis and archibus?
3. What would be some good questions to put to these vendors.

[Anonymous]

Newbie08,

Hi there. I'm only about a year into actually using a CAFM program
myself, so I'm not an expert like some of the other folks who've been in
here.

But, I can comment on the polylining... but, it might not be applicable
to other CAFM and drafting programs.

I'm using FMDesktop (recently purchased by Autodesk).
I learned in an Autodesk University class a couple of years ago that the
product AutoCAD Architecture would generate 'Spaces' that FMD could
import at the push of a button; which let me skip the manual polylining.

So, the first portion I did (160,000 sq ft) took the software about
three minutes to create, and me about two days to tidy up (removing
spaces that had been placed inside columns, splitting up areas that
didn't have walls or doors where we delineated a space (ie, cubes), etc.

I'm not sure how long it would have taken if I'd had to manually
polyline all of those rooms. I'd have to guess... *at least* two
weeks... and I assume my mouse hand would be in a severe state of
cramping, with lots of eye and neck strain.

The cost per hour is going to vary by the skillset (and geographic
location) of the person doing it.
If you've got a highschool or college intern using AutoCAD or some other
program to manually polyline, you may only pay them $10 an hour, but,
they're going to take a few weeks to do it.

And if you're paying a technician with a lot of experience and more
specialized software (whether AutoCAD Architecture or a another program,
commercial or homegrown), you might reasonably expect to pay $25-$70 per
hour, but, they could have it turned back around in a few days.
I'd definitely get direct and detailed quotes.

Good luck on evaluating your project and software (have you been to any
user forums specific to FAMIS and Archibus?)

Cheers!

Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
www.Tech-Tea.com
http://MistressOfTheDorkness.blogspot.com


newbie08 wrote:
> Hi I am a project manager working on a cafm project and I need some information (sorry, this may be very basic since I have been reading the information and everyone seems very knowledgeable).
> 1. We have visio drawings we will be converting and polylining for an office. Can anyone give me an idea (very roungh) on converting/polylining office space to show offices, cubicles, meeting room--no furniture or ports at this time.
> a. Is there a rough est. by how many sq. ft per hour to go by for this?
> b. What is the cost usually for this by the hour
> I am trying to build a project plan
> 2. Does anyone have insights to famis and archibus?
> 3. What would be some good questions to put to these vendors.

[mark.evans]

Hi,

Melanie's method is probably the fastest way to go because it is highly automated. Also, it means you don't have to hand over your drawings to someone else while they work on them. The downside to using AutoCAD Archtecture is that most CAFM applications don't work with the Space elements; they still want good old fashioned polygons with text elements.

If you're looking for the most convenient way to recreate drawings and you don't plan to keep doing it all the time, you should consider outsourcing it to a service that does this sort of work a lot. They are fast and cheap. Several of my friends in the industry speak very highy of QCAD. They do the work at a fixed price per sheet. You can find them at http://www.qcad.com.

Good luck!

Mark Evans
Autodesk

[newbie08]

I want to thank you both for replying. I have one other question--and I am hoping you can help I have looked at drawing standards but if we are just capturing the information I stated what layers do we need. Can you give me an example?

[Anonymous]

Well, the only new layer (in addition the walls, doors, etc) I have is
A-Area-Spce. That's created automatically by ADT/ACA when I'm creating
my spaces.

When I import the file into FMDesktop, it's going to see those space
objects and read the square footage, etc information, and create a
record for that space where I can add additional information (like the
room usage and occupant level, etc).

Good luck.

Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
http://www.Tech-Tea.com
http://MistressOfTheDorkness.blogspot.com

newbie08 wrote:
> I want to thank you both for replying. I have one other question--and I am hoping you can help I have looked at drawing standards but if we are just capturing the information I stated what layers do we need. Can you give me an example?

[wlucas1313]

Hi newbie,

My name is William Lucas from CaddFX Design Services in Cleveland, OH. I just joined the site and came across this posting. I have worked with various types of CAFM systems and they are all the same when it comes to P-lining drawings to get them prep for a CAFM system.

If you have not already done so and still looking to convert your current drawings to have themP-lined. Call me and we can discuss further.

Visit the website and all contact information is located there.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks