Cadalyst - May 2008 - (Page 38)

cadmanager By Robert Green Setting CAD Standards The key to writing successful standards is knowing why you need them. lmost all CAD managers are responsible for CAD standards in some manner. The typical level of direction that CAD managers receive is along the lines of “We want you to set up some CAD standards around here.” This directive leaves CAD managers scratching their heads and asking questions: “What does a good CAD standard consist of?” and “How might I get the CAD standards in place?” To address these questions, I’d like to focus on a process that will help you navigate the standards process and gain maximum results with minimum hassle. A CAD Standards Process Flow Find Motivation Find Problems Create Standards Make Binding Find Company Type Organize Data Make It Easy Process First! Over the years, I’ve used a process that leads to good CAD standards. The critically important concept behind the process is that it forces you to understand your company’s needs, technical limitations, contract requirements, and collaborative limitations. Then — and only then — can you write standards that make sense for your company. Find Motivation Before any CAD manager is asked to “set up some CAD standards,” there has to be a reason why, right? Did senior management see legal liabilities that could be addressed by implementing standards? Are users clamoring for standards to make their jobs easier? Are project managers tired of seeing CAD rework eat away their project budgets? This list is just a sampling of some of the motivations for CAD standards I’ve heard. Your mission is to dig into why CAD standards are becoming more important, why your management wants you to enact standards, and what problems standards are going to solve. The only thing I can guarantee is that until you understand what’s motivating the need for CAD standards, you’ll never create standards that address those motivations. Perhaps objects not being on correct levels/layers is an issue, perhaps colors are applied inconsistently, or maybe basic concepts such as scales and paper size continue to be a problem. Now you’re actually starting to hone in on the problems with plotting and will be able to address those problems in the CAD standards you create. Don’t skip this step because it is the portion of the process in which you really begin to understand what’s happening with your users and how you can best help them via standards. Company Type As you assess motivation and problems, also be aware that the type of company for which you work will dictate what types of standards you’ll need. Let me give a few examples, and you’ll see what I mean. Supplier company. If you work in a supplier company, you’re producing CAD work for other companies, and as such you’ll have to subscribe to that other company’s CAD standard. The easy part here is that you don’t have to write the CAD standard. The hard part is that you have to understand or interpret someone else’s standard and make sure that yours complies. Contracting company. If you contract other firms to provide work to you, then you will be responsible for authoring CAD standards and enforcing those standards when receiving submissions from other companies. This case is simply the inverse of the supplier company model. Independent company. If you work for a company that produces its own products and has very little interaction with outside suppliers, then CAD standards are entirely for your company’s convenience and productivity. Because you don’t have to coordinate CAD data transmissions with outside firms, you’re free to craft standards as you wish. Some companies are hybrids of the above scenarios. I’ve worked with a number of firms that run some projwww.cadalyst.com cadalyst May 2008 Find the Problems Let’s say that after some digging you find out that one of the things motivating standardization is a desire to speed printing and plotting operations. Nothing more specific, just more speed. The question now becomes, “What can I do to speed the process via standardization?” Furthermore, you need to understand the problems that are slowing down plotting. Editor’s Note: Robert Green will provide additional information about the creation of CAD standards in the May issues of his CAD Manager’s Newsletter. Be sure to check www.cadalyst. com for more standards-related tips, tricks, and techniques. 38 http://www.cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - May 2008

Cadalyst - May 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central A Solid Job in AutoCAD Today’s Power — Quad-Core Workstations Performance — Tomorrow’s Possibilities Reverse Engineering an Antique Italian Treasure Trends in Reverse Engineering NextEngine 3D Scanner — Reverse-Engineering Tool Setting CAD Standards Fight for Your Hardware Rights The Jack and Jill of Ergonomics Technology for Civil Infrastructure Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Shortcuts and Solutions

Cadalyst - May 2008

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