Training learning paths for Civil Engineers

Civil engineering involves a variety of fields, such as surveying, geospatial analysis, transportation, infrastructure design or drainage. Getting trained in all those areas can be a challenging task, so you may work in a specialised area, or over time develop your skills in a number of areas. This article should provide you with some guidance on how to acquire the relevant skills you need for your role or areas of interest, based on your current level and your area of specialisation.

As a starting point, I would suggest Excitech’s AutoCAD Civil 3D, Fundamentals course, which provides a thorough introduction to Autodesk Civil 3D. This includes hands-on exercises on surface creation from a topographic survey, road design, cut and fill volumes, pipe networks design and drawing production tools. Alternatively, new users can opt for the AutoCAD Civil 3D, Foundation Skills course instead. This is a reduced version of the Fundamentals to be taken as the basis for one of the follow-up courses that specialise in a particular area.

If you are involved in land surveying, you can learn how to download and process survey data inside Autodesk Civil 3D by attending our AutoCAD Civil 3D, Working with Survey Data course. If you are interested in geospatial analysis, the AutoCAD Map 3D, Essentials course will demonstrate how to create, manage, and map data.

For engineers working in Highway Design, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Transportation Design will steer you through the more advanced aspects, like applying standards, superelevation, roundabout design, road widening, and road rehabilitation. In addition, the Autodesk Vehicle Tracking course will give you all the tools you need for vehicle swept path analysis.

To help you in the design of drainage and utility networks, the AutoCAD Civil 3D, Drainage Design course will detail how to use Autodesk Civil 3D in conjunction with other design tools such as MX and WinDes and provide a realistic workflow from the design to the analysis and presentation.

Another piece of software that every civil engineer should know is Autodesk Infraworks. Autodesk InfraWorks for Civil Engineering will show you how to create preliminary designs and sketches that illustrate initial proposals to others involved in the project and how to create presentations of those designs in a photorealistic environment. Related to this last aspect, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Design Visualisation demonstrates how you can export Autodesk Civil 3D design models into 3ds Max Design to create high quality visualisations that can be utilised in the exploration of design alternatives, visual simulation and public consultation.

Aimed at Project Managers, the AutoCAD Civil 3D for Project Managers course provides an overview of the functionality of Autodesk Civil 3D, covering BIM, the use of basic modifying and query tools and how a project in Civil 3D is typically configured. There is also guidance on working in a multi-discipline project and in a collaborative environment using Revit and Navisworks.

To underpin your skills, you may want to consider the Autodesk Professional Certification Exam, which is available for a number of Autodesk software solutions, including Civil 3D.

Explore our full range of Civil 3D training courses here:

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/AutoCAD-Civil-3D-Training

The BIM Business Improvement Series: No.2

This is the second in a two-part series of blogs, where I have been sharing some of the common non-compliances, I have identified during the Lloyds Register Gap Analysis process, which is the first step towards BIM Level 2 and ISO19650 Accreditation. In part one, I highlighted three common findings, and during this blog I will identify another three. As before, I will highlight my common findings and explain why it might be important to you and your organisation. Each finding will follow with  a few tips which although maybe obvious, are often forgotten.

No.4: No scope of BIM services

This finding was initially a surprising one for me, but it has been found to be a very common one. When I ask an organisation, ”Do you have a clearly defined scope of services relating to BIM? many organisations may reply with, “we generate our designs using BIM authoring systems like Autodesk Revit”. However, if you ask; Do you provide information management services? Would you help a Client write their Employers Information Requirements (EIR’s)? Would you provide a Common Data Environment? The answers are less confident and often unknown.

Ensuring you have defined your scope of services relating to BIM is a very important consideration and often a strategic business decision. There may be many elements of BIM that would be considered standard practice, but equally there may be some services that may require additional effort and therefore incur extra costs, or services that would be sub-contracted or wouldn’t be offered by your own organisation. Understanding these constraints may support initial client conversations, cost planning and fee structure, as well as de-risking delivery.

Tip: Developing a spreadsheet that considers the services provided at each project stage is an efficient way of mapping out a company’s standard service offer, services that would incur extra fee, and services that would not be provided. Often customers I have worked with have expanded these spreadsheets to include standards and specifications worked to at each project stage and the technologies used to provide a quick and easily understood guide.   

   

No.5: No Supply Chain Competency Assessments

There are many references within BIM standards and specifications relating to the assessment of the BIM competency and capacity of suppliers, and this requirement applies to the entire supply chain. You need to be confident your suppliers can deliver to the Employers Information Requirements and your own project or contractual requirements. A lack of assessment is likely to introduce significant project and business risk and can often result in a BIM enabled project containing suppliers delivering in 2D CAD and ignoring BIM completely, this is to the detriment of the rest of the project team. It is very difficult to work collaboratively and implement clash detection if one of the designers insists on working in 2D CAD, for example.

There are several competency assessment forms available in the public domain, but the main and consistent recommendation is to assess your suppliers in three core areas:

1) Their BIM understanding

2) Individuals experience and qualifications

3) IT systems

So, if you employ or sub-contract BIM related work activities to a third-party organisation, you should apply due diligence and assess their BIM capability.

Tip: You can assess your supply chain at any point, you don’t have to wait for a new project. I would recommend that understanding your own supply chain partners capabilities will enable you to establish their BIM maturity, influence your own BIM strategy and assist in future conversations and support.

No 6. No formal process for design co-ordination, clash identification and method to resolve

It is the responsibility of designers to check and co-ordinate their designs with other disciplines prior to issuing information to a project Common Data Environment (CDE). However, when asked what the formal process is or if it is documented, this is often undefined.

Clash detection is simply a technology supported process to assist design co-ordination. There is nothing wrong in my opinion to apply this initially using visual inspections within a design authoring system such as Autodesk’s Revit, and then on more complex schemes introducing Autodesk’s Glue or Navisworks to provide improved visibility and control. Whatever the workflow is, employee’s need to be provided with instruction and guidance and this is often in the form of company standards, methods and procedures. One of the main Non-conformances found during a Gap Analysis is a lack of instruction to staff; which organisations can make the quickest and most effective business improvement.

Tip: Think about that person starting their first job within our industry. If you are not at their side, how will they know what to do. Providing clear standards, methods and procedures and making them readily available will provide that required guidance when needed and breed confidence for any new employee.

I hope you found these blogs useful, and they gave you a few things to consider on your BIM journey. But if you don’t want to do it alone, we can assist you with a Gap analysis, BIM training and consultancy.

Find out more about our BIM Consultancy services here:     

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Consultancy/BIM-Consulting-Strategy-and-Execution

Understand what is involved in our Gap Analysis process here: 

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Consultancy/Design-Productivity-Review

And explore our regularly scheduled BIM training course here: 

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/BIM-Processes-and-Procedures

As well as BIM Training, we also offer a variety of other training courses. Find out more here:

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training   

ISO 19650 - An Evolution Not a Revolution

I have read and listened to many positive and negative comments relating to the ISO 19650 series of international standards published earlier this year. My personal position is only positive when considering the wider impact, and I take the view that this new ISO 19650 standards are just another evolutionary step towards industry digitisation and the further development of the information age we all live and work within.

So, is this new ISO 19650 international standards the dawn of a brand new information age? I personally do not think they are, they are not even revolutionary in their content but they have elevated the effort, work and commitment undertaken by the UK’s construction sector to the International stage in a way that should not be undervalued, or its longer-term impact ignored. 

The new ISO 19650 series provides today’s global construction sector with a consistent framework for adoption, driving standardisation whilst still allowing for innovation; it also validates or reconfirms that BIM provides that much needed foundation for the organisation and digitisation of information for buildings and civil engineering works. But for me there is one very important concept that I would like to point out in this article and that is the changes relating to the responsibilities for information delivery, including the project management of that information.

PAS 1192:2 introduced and described several roles, responsibilities and authorities using descriptions such as Task Team Manager, Task Information Manager, Interface Manager, etc. This caused confusion for many across the industry and an incorrect belief that more people had to be employed on projects to fill these new roles, a simple case of misunderstanding despite the original concept having good intentions. In ISO 19650 these role descriptions no longer exist, and have been replaced by functions and a new process to assign these functions to the most appropriate organisation is now available, via the Information Management Assignment Matrix, what I personally consider is a well thought out RACI table. I propose this matrix will support very useful and productive initial discussions within Employer organisations, or by those advising Employers, Clients or the Appointing Party (using the ISO term) when developing the overall information management plan for the project.

I am also pleased to point out that Information Management will no longer simply equal Information Manager. There is and remains a key role for Information Manager(s) on projects, on both the Employer and Supplier sides, but we now have a wider opportunity to de-centralise information management and assign it across project teams to those that have the most appropriate skills, rather than within a single or very limited number of appointments. This approach also supports my strong belief that we all need to be personally responsible for information management for the greatest success.

How can you be More Proactive, Responsive and Effective with your Building Operations?

Building operations consists of the activities necessary to operate, maintain, and manage your estate’s buildings.

There are still organisations using paper-based solutions to manage their operations, with others realising the benefits of moving to a digital facilities management software system.

The organisations I work with are always looking for ways to improve. The only way this can be achieved is with better visibility of their estate and processes, with a reliable facilities management software solution.

Being able to track and evaluate your operations is essential for your future estate strategy.

Here are five steps towards optimising your building operations with ARCHIBUS:

1 - Respond – Building maintenance orders can be easily generated, tasks allocated to the right person with the right skill and completed tasks can be updated within the system whilst on the move. Embedding the ARCHIBUS mobile platform into your processes, removes the need to return of the office to report on the work carried out and taking the next task.

2 - Plan – With visibility of past operational scenarios, ARCHIBUS enables the estate team to budget and schedule proactive maintenance for the future. This avoids any costly breaks with the generation of task orders for key assets. As well as being proactive, there is capacity to be reactive. All tasks can be logged and scheduled so actions will never be forgotten.

3 - Prioritise – With work orders managed centralised, they can be viewed, approved and managed from a single console. There is a single source of truth. Each order can be tagged with a priority level and automatic alerts embedded if the task hasn’t been completed within a certain time. This removes the need for the team to guess which tasks should be completed first.

4 - Understand – ARCHIBUS helps the operations team understand the tasks at hand, the conditions and needs of that particular task. With a mobile system, workers have access to all paperwork needed for the allocated task, with the ability to capture details on the job.

5 - Optimise – The estates team needs to track data regarding their building operations. This can include time, cost, labour and performance data. Having this visibility can establish how effective your strategy is, and help you make any adjustments going forward.

Find out more about the ARCHIBUS Buildings Operations module here:

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Campaign/Archibus-New-Features-And-Functionality

Transition from a Proficient AutoCAD User, to an Efficient One with AutoCAD Training

Having attended the Essentials AutoCAD training course, you are likely to be a proficient AutoCAD user - but are you an efficient user? Most delegates who have attended the Essentials course consider they have sufficient expertise to do their jobs effectively. I’ve found in most cases, is not an accurate consideration.

Using a “running” analogy, the job of he Essentials AutoCAD training course is to teach delegates how to walk-jog-run. But if you want to get the job done efficiently, you need to learn to sprint, and this is the aim of the next level of training – Beyond the Basics.

I’ve trained so many runners to know that people are missing out. This is so evident when people attend our refresher (or update) AutoCAD training course when they ask “What was that you did? - How long has AutoCAD been able to do that?”. They’re shocked and surprised to discover  these functionalities have been there for years.

The next response is typically, “I wished you shown me that months ago as it normally takes me ages.”

This is why you should always consider AutoCAD Essentials as the first step on your learning journey and always ask how you can supercharge your abilities – the AutoCAD “Beyond the Basics” course is an excellent way to achieve this and is the logical next step after the essentials training.

AutoCAD sprinters predominately utilise the keyboard. The Beyond the Basics course teaches keyboard techniques with Aliases and Keyboard Shortcut, bringing real time-savings.

Efficient Layer manipulation is also something that is often overlooked. The Beyond the Basics course teaches alternative methods of handling layers (focused upon just a specific area of the drawing). We also show you other ways of Layer manipulation and investigation as well as showing how to get better layer control within Viewports.

Knowing how to work effectively with multiple open drawings is also taught. Its surprising how well this can be utilised to bring further increases in productivity. 

And if you are not familiar with Grips, we will show you how these can make AutoCAD do things you never thought it could.

But these are just examples of the many topics that are included in the Beyond the Basics course. The course also includes:

• How to draw accurately and precisely, without having to draw heaps of construction lines.
• How to divide an object up equally or place something at measured intervals.
• How to constrain 2D Geometry to prevent it being moved out of position and add dimensions that can manage its size and position.
• How to better manage your blocks, and how blocks and drawing files can be one and the same.
• How to keep your drawing “clean” with the Purge command, reducing drawing size and increasing speed.
• How Template Files can bring timesaving efficiencies to drawing creation.
• How to streamline plotting, layer control and Viewport configuration by using Named Views
• How to harness the full benefits and power of Annotation scaling using Annotative objects such as Text, Dimensions and Hatch patterns.
• How by using External References you can dramatically help reduce the size of drawing files and provide the ability to update multiple files from a single location.

To conclude, attending the Essentials course is like providing you with a pair of running trainers which is great if you want to go jogging. Whereas, the Beyond the Basics course will provide you with a pair of running spikes to help turn you into a sprinter!

Find out more about our AutoCAD training courses:

Start with the Essentials,

Move onto Beyond the Basics,

And if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, become an expert with an Advance course.

Estate Management – The Rise of the Single Technology Platform

Estate management can be very complex, with a requirement to capture huge quantities of information and ensure it is managed effectively, to ensure optimal performance, maximum return on investment and that compliance is maintained. With this in mind, why wouldn’t you manage your estate with one single technology platform? It’s a no brainer. 

What is an estate management platform?

My view is that an estate management platform is a consolidated collection of technology (software and hardware) that has been chosen to facilitate the delivery of the estate management strategy. It should be the single point for data entry and management for all aspects of the estate.

It can be seen as the holy grail for some organisations, which allows them to enter, store, manage and drive improvements from a single database for all information covering every facet of the entire estate.

The challenge

Is it possible to adopt a single estate management technology platform?

There are still more Excel and manual processes in place than most organisations would like, because replacing these processes could be seen as challenging. In other instances, asset/building/space information and locations/data is being entered multiple times into multiple systems, that are not always updated at the same time.

Facilities management, estates, lease management, accountancy, compliance, health and safety, energy management teams often adopt different CAFM software with no joined-up approach. A lack of collaboration is leading to the purchase of/requirement for multiple systems. This can happen accidently as departments have a lack of alignment on estates management technology strategy or intentionally with departments wanting their own system to meet their specific needs. 

Firstly, its essential to build a culture where departments work more collaboratively, understand what all the challenges are and adopt a platform which meets as many of these as possible. This platform should have the ability to feed into other solutions to stop double data entry and management.  Each department need to understand that their solution must be able to feed a central repository of estates data rather than just coming across an issue and impulsively buying a point solution to fill the gap.

Considerations when reducing the number of estate management solutions

I’m not necessarily promoting the adoption of one software solution, as it’s not the best option for all organisations. I’m promoting the concept of one integrated platform where data is only inputted once. 

Organisations need to consider tradeoffs between configuring a single system to meet organisational needs and looking to integrate a point solution. The challenges around any integration are firstly getting two systems to work with each other, but then supporting and maintaining that integration. Who do you go to with support queries? If one solution is upgraded, what are the impacts on the other integrated solution(s)? Having said this, it may be more efficient than heavily customising a solution which isn’t originally fit for purpose and then experiencing restrictions in upgrading this solution as a result.

Point solutions have been developed to meet a specific need, so would be expected to be good at doing this single thing. More comprehensive IWMS/CAFM software/Estate management solutions have been developed to meet a wide range of challenges. This may mean that they do not meet a specific challenge in exactly the right way and require configuration to do so.

Do you want to rationalise all estates management software and commit to just one supplier? 

Here are some potential risk and benefits to consider:

Potential risks:

• All your eggs in one basket - is the platform provider financially secure? 
• Are you able to get data out of the solution, should you wish to change software?
• Will the platform continue to be developed based on your future needs?
• Solution may have to be heavily configured to meet organisational needs or processes that may have to be changed to meet the solutions limitations

Potential benefits:

• Economies of scale
• Potential reduced infrastructure costs with hosting in one place
• Single supplier to manage; no danger of multiple supplier challenges
• Maintain training on one single platform will ensure the team is more involved, and it will be less likely to lose a system champion. With more champions using the same platform, there will be better understanding of the platform and processes
• Improved data transfer, with no need for unnecessary integration and associated costs
• Enables simpler expansion and quicker growth
• Simplification of technology environment with centralised data storage and hardware management
• Removes duplicate technology capability

Benefits of working towards a single estate management platform

With a single platform, there is single area for management reports. The head of estates or operations directors will no longer need to chase each department for performance data. Data can be gathered from one dashboard/suite of reports. Think of the time saving for all involved. The demonstration of alignment with colleagues and ability to work together as an estate’s management team, can drive improved efficiency and reduction of costs across the business. This will assist with making project and business decisions, and increase the ease of justification of business cases for all departments. Those allocating funding can see where investment is really needed, based on highlighted issues or strong performance.

The inputting of all information into one platform creates a single source of the truth with all team members looking at the same data. It also makes data much easier to find and access by all those who need it, as it is stored in a central repository.

Rather than having multiple self-contained systems, the adoption of a single platform will bring additional benefits, allowing visibility of information and works progress across teams.

Systems will be bought more rationally ensuring there is no duplication of functionality and are plugged in to the platform in a cost-efficient way. In addition to this, there will be a huge saving of employee’s time, with reduced data entry, time wasted looking for information and reporting on the data.

Final Thoughts

It is no coincidence that those organisations who have most effectively deployed estates management technology have departmental co-ordination and an overall strategy. This can be led by any of those involved in estates, Facilities Managers or IT, but needs to be controlled and all parties need to be given visibility of the solutions under consideration by each team and procurement. 

Consider configuration of a single solution versus integration of multiple, but all organisations should be moving towards a single estate management platform.

At Excitech we support a number of CAFM software solutions and complimentary services. Take a look here and talk to us about your estate challenges today.

BIM 360 Build – QA and Compliance Blog

The Autodesk BIM 360 suite of cloud-based products has been around for a while now and as the next generation of applications take hold they bring some increasingly sophisticated workflows which can be leveraged at site level to perform some previously unimaginable tasks.

Comparing new versions of models to old, digitally tracking and closing out snagging and defects, even just having the 3D model available for all to use is a leap forward for many.

There is a feature of BIM 360 Build, albeit not as “whizzy” as some, that has some serious game changing potential and is probably currently not turning heads as much as it should. 

Checklists are not a new concept in the various digital site management software packages available today.  Indeed, the very first iterations of what is now known as “Classic BIM 360 Field” had them.

In essence, checklists are predefined, routine workflows like quality inspections, plant inspections or Health & Safety inspections.  They are the sort of standard checking and inspecting that form the basis of a company’s quality management system. 

Whilst digitalising these workflows brings some obvious benefits like reporting against conformance or managing the issues raised during inspections centrally, there is still one problem that is just as significant in the digital world as it was when paper based.  Control.

Quality systems are, by their ever changing nature, difficult to control and enforce.  Whether your processes are paper based forms, or created and stored digitally, how do you ensure that your engineers and construction manager out on site are actually using the latest versions of your forms?  What’s stopping them from picking up an outdated form or modifying the one they have as they believe it doesn’t quite suit their needs?

As companies grow this can become a serious problem.  Dedicated staff can spend significant amounts of time and money ensuring compliance and adherence to their systems.  Additionally, there is then the need to meet external compliance audits to ensure ongoing accreditations remain intact.  In short a potentially costly side of the construction business. 

So, this is where the account level checklists within BIM 360 Build come into their own and present a genuinely powerful proposition in QA management.

You have the potential to create a centrally controlled library of checklists, available for deployment on any project you set up.  They can’t be changed by users, but there is still the flexibility to create project level checklists should there be some site specific needs to meet.

But most importantly of all, as you update your library of checklist templates you now have the ability to push the changes to any of your projects that are currently using a previous version.  One click and every site has access to the updated version, is compliant with your quality management system and now unable to use an outdated form even if they wanted to.

Gone are the worries of people printing a form and then just producing copies of the printout for years to come.  Audits should no longer involve hours of trawling through file after file of paper-based records.

Instead, with some effort invested to move to a digital system, one click will give QA staff the surety that all their projects are in good shape and that changes to internal procedures have been adopted across the board.  

A powerful feature which can save both time and money allowing staff to concentrate on improving quality and compliance rather than simply passing audits.

You can find more information on BIM 360 Build here: https://www.excitech.co.uk/BIM-360-Build

Creating A Custom Linetype Within AutoCAD

In this blog, with the assistance of the Express Tools, I am going to take you through how to make two different types of Custom Linetype, sometimes referred to as Complex Linetypes, within AutoCAD. The first will contain text and the second will contain a shape.

COMPLEX LINETYPE WITH TEXT

The first Linetype containing text will be called POWER and will look like the image shown below:

To begin, within an AutoCAD drawing, set the current layer to 0.

Load the Single Line Text command and set Justification to MC (Middle Centre), Height to 1 and Rotation to 0. Type, POWER.

Now draw a Line from the Insertion Point of the text as shown below. This is to ensure it is drawn central, vertically:

Using the Lengthen command, set the Total Length to 1. Move the line, if required, closer or further from the text then mirror it so it appears as below: 

From the Express Tools Tab on the ribbon expand the Tools Panel and select Make Linetype:

In a location of your choice create a file called My Linetypes. For Linetype name, type POWER and 

for Linetype description, type: The word POWER within a line.

When asked to specify starting point for line definition, pick point A and for ending point pick B as shown below:

At the Select Objects prompt select both lines and text.

After pressing Enter / Return, the command line should say the following: 

Linetype "POWER" created and loaded.

To demonstrate this has worked, create a new layer and assign the POWER Linetype. , then draw a Line. If all has gone to plan you should see something like this.

Note: When AutoCAD is installed, it should load the Express Tools by default. If for any reason these are not visible within the rRibbon, type EXPRESS TOOLS, and they should appear.

COMPLEX LINETYPE WITH SHAPE

The second Linetype containing a shape is a little more involved and has an essential step at the end. It will be called, HEXAGON and will look like this:

To begin, within an AutoCAD drawing, set the current layer to 0. Using the Polygon command draw the following shape. 6 sSides iInscribed and a Radius .5.

Draw lines on either side, 1 long.

From the Express Tools Tab on the ribbon expand the Tools Panel and select Make Shape.

In a location of your choice create a file called HEXAGON. For Shape name, type HEX, accept default resolution. When asked to Specify insertion base point pick at point A as shown:

At the Select Objects prompt select all objects.

After pressing Enter / Return the following message appears on the command line:

Shape "HEX" created.

Use the SHAPE command to place shapes in your drawing.

Type Shape and press Enter / Return. Enter the name of the shape which is HEX. Place the `Insertion point’ in the same location as the Insertion Base Point (A) you previously specified, so the shape overlays the original drawn objects. Specify a height of 1 and a rotation angle of 0.

The reason for overlaying in this way is because when we make the Linetype we need to object snap to the ends of both horizontal lines. We cannot object Snap to a Shape other than its insertion point.

Within the Express Tools Tab on the Ribbon expand the Tools Panel and select Make Linetype.

From the same location you created the `My Linetypes.lin’ file select this file and choose Save. Say Yes to replace it. For Linetype name, type HEXAGON. For Linetype description, type Hexagon shape within a line.

Note: The procedure above doesn’t actually replace the `My Linetypes.lin’ file at all. It simply combines the Linetypes, POWER and HEXAGON into the same file. This you will discover later.

 When asked to Specify starting point for line definition pick at point A and for ending point pick B as shown below:

At the Select objects prompt, select the Shape only. (NOT THE LINES UNDERNEATH)

After pressing Enter / Return, the command line should say the following:

Linetype "HEXAGON" created and loaded. To demonstrate this has worked, create a new layer and assign the HEXAGON Linetype. Draw a Line. If all has gone to plan you should see something like the image shown on the right.

LOADING A COMPLEX LINETYPE WITH SHAPE WITHIN A DRAWING FOR THE FIRST TIME

This procedure would typically be carried out within a Template File to remove the need to do this in every new drawing.

Type COMPILE and within dialog Box select the name of the Shape (.SHP) file. HEXAGON.SHP

After, select Open, the following similar message should appear within the command line:

Compiling shape/font description file

Compilation successful.  Output file C:\Users\TerryD\Desktop\HEXAGON.shx contains 115 bytes.

As you will see it has created, HEXAGON.SHX file.

Type LOAD and within the Dialog Box select HEXAGON.SHX file from the location referred to in the previous message.

Now type SHAPE. At Enter Shape name, type HEX then pick somewhere in the drawing to place it, and specify height = 1 and rotation angle = 0. You can delete this after insertion.

To demonstrate this has worked, create a new layer and load the HEXAGON Linetype from the file called, My Linetypes, we created earlier, and then assign to the layer HEXAGON. 

Draw a Line. If all has gone to plan, you should see something like this.

Hope you’re successful in carrying out the steps above, on creating  Complex Linetypes, within AutoCAD and it has proved useful.

If you would like more information on the AutoCAD software, feel free to get in touch by emailing marketing@excitech.co.uk.

Excitech’s Toolkit for Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D and Inventor

Blog writing time again! What to blog about? That’s always a question that I have had to ponder for a while, and it is so often the case that an external prompt gives me the initial steer. This time is no different; I was asked a few weeks ago about the Excitech Toolkit for Autodesk Revit, specifically, which were the tools I used most, and hence his article will focus mainly on the CAD Software for Autodesk

Legend by Category

The Excitech Toolkit for Revit  contains a great many useful additions to the standard Autodesk Revit functionality, but I will focus on just a few here. My first choice has to be “Legend by Category”; every time I teach Revit Architecture, I dread the time that I will have to introduce students to the “Legend” view. Why is this tool still such a tedious, and manual exercise? Unable to even distinguish between those elements placed into a view and those simply loaded into the project. But no more! I introduce you to:

There are a number of outstanding features in this single tool:

1. The default setting will place only those elements that are actually being used in the project,
2. Legend components, tags, parameters, borders, are all created automatically, and,
3. If anything changes in the project, simply re-run the tool – it even remembers all the settings for that legend.

Configuring the tool is simplicity itself; after selecting the category required (door, window, wall etc.), select a suitable layout, select some parameters to include, decide on how you would like them sorted, and press the button…

  

You will notice, in the image above, that you must override the default if you should require a legend that includes un-placed objects. After that, you can choose from either a horizontal or vertical layout (my favourite is the vertical), each option providing a choice of family to use to create the grid, and which orientation to use for the legend component (elevation, front view etc.).

Choose the parameters that you would also like to show, sort order, and even rename column headers if you like, then press “OK” and stare in wonder at your mastery!

Notice that there is also a count of each element used. If something doesn’t suit, or if you simply wish to explore other layouts, just fire up the tool and have another go. Try changing some doors in your project and then re-run the tool; it never fails to make me smile!

Room to Floor

Another firm favourite from the Excitech Toolkit for Autodesk Revit is “Room to Floor.”     . This allows for a specified floor type to be placed below any selected rooms, even allowing an offset from the level to be entered; a great tool for adding floor finishes as real Revit floor objects, that can be scheduled, or used in visualisation views.

You first select the rooms, then run the “Room to Floor” from the Excitech Toolkit ribbon.

There are options for selecting the floor family, level, and offset. Additional settings allow you to choose the location from within the wall build-up to use as your floor boundary, and to union floors that have coincident edges. Press “OK” and view the result.

I appreciate that this floor doesn’t flow into the door, but I only have to edit the floor to amend this instead of creating them all manually.

You can find more information on all the tools available in the Excitech toolkit for Revit here: https://www.excitech.co.uk/Products/Excitech-Toolkit-for-Revit.

If you would like to more information on any of the tools in the Excitech Toolkit for Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D and Inventor, please get in touch by calling 01992 807 444 or emailing us at marketing@excitech.co.uk.

Compliance: How completely do you address your responsibilities?

Can you tick every box on every compliance element that touches your business?

There are a lot of boxes to tick. The good news is, there is no shortage of guidance when it comes to ensuring that the environment you provide for your employees to work in is safe all the time. Nobody should be exposed to any sort of danger at work, no matter how minimal it might seem. 

The harsh reality of business life is if you get it wrong, or simply forget or overlook the necessary actions set down by regulators, you could find yourself committing a criminal offence. This blog is about getting it right everywhere, by adopting a very simple approach to mastering a very complex issue. This involves a three-step process:

• Define your own compliance landscape
• Explore and understand the value of software solutions to enable you to manage risk
• Deploy an integrated software solution across the business 

A great starting point for gaining a detailed overview of what the responsibilities are that affect any business can be found on the Health and Safety Executive's website. It offers guidance on what your responsibilities are, the reporting you need to be aware of, and plenty of useful and practical advice on how to do things right. It focuses on keeping people safe and healthy at work.

Large companies may have a facilities management team, or at least a facilities manager, charged with the role of planned and preventive maintenance. It’s possible that these specialists are using Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) Software to simplify and automate the many complex processes involved in maintaining the physical estate. But this isn’t always the case.

Let’s now define the three-steps mentioned previously:

Define your compliance landscape: What does compliance mean to your business? 

HSE guidance is one part of the statutory compliance responsibilities matrix that affects a business. There are others. Compliance is a many-tentacled beast that reaches into every part of every organisation. 

Even if your business is a mid-sized operation, or relatively small, you’re affected. Your premises may not involve complex sites and building services. These might be maintained by a building owner providing maintenance services within your lease agreement, but compliance still touches your business. You may not require dedicated staff to attend regularly to physical assets, and never be concerned with hazardous waste, or similar ‘process-specific’ threats, but there are other aspects to compliance beyond the physical; beyond the environment you can touch and feel. 

This is another environment where dangers and risks are not always as self-evident as in the physical realm, but where compliance is of equal stature and importance even in areas where the well-being of employees is not at risk; in the areas of financial management and IT compliance.

Manage risk: Comply in every dimension 

There are practical ways of keeping on top of compliance, not just of the many regulations that might affect you but, more pertinently, the actions you can take to make sure you’re doing the right thing. The essential starting point is to define precisely what compliance means to your business. Outside of estates compliance, the main areas are HR, financial, and IT (not least data governance as per GDPR, but also steps taken to protect third party data from external attacks or compromise).

Given the diversity of these areas, it’s simply best practice to have a centralised means of control. A recommendation I quite often make to companies, is to look closely at how Facilities Management Software can help in all your compliance management. It’s designed to take complexity in and deliver simplicity out. 

When you simply redefine the input parameters to match your total compliance exposure, you can gain a view of the overall picture all in one place. A solution we work with our customers on at Excitech, to manage compliance, is ARCHIBUS; originally created as a Facilities Management Software solution but adaptable to be far more than that. 

Deploy an integrated solution across the business: Protecting the health and safety of the business, and its people

You can be sure that the overall regulatory environment will never stop evolving as new risks emerge. Organisations must meet wide-ranging legislative requirements around fire safety, water treatment, legionella management, staff duty of care, medical equipment, elevators, gas safety, electrical testing, asbestos, owner/tenant agreements and how they conduct affairs financially and digitally. 

Facilities Management Software supports strategies to manage and ensure compliance of all elements. It enables you to map, schedule, action and audit the measures you have in place. It can act as a central repository for all necessary information. It provides the complete picture both for senior management and the personnel within the business whose responsibility it is to keep affairs on track. 

Specific regulations and contract terms can be associated with exact regimes in each area from how you deal with data and finance to planned and preventive maintenance for the estate. The software can be tailored for critical areas of your business; service-level agreements, for example, and the compliance verification actions that govern them. They can be applied to manage contractor works, as well as those handled by direct employees, essential with the wide range of elements to keep compliant. Compliance certification can be completed immediately whilst on the move.

It’s easy to overlook the complex details of compliance. The risk involved is too great not to apply rigour and diligence to being completely aware of what has to be done to address all your responsibilities and having the visibility to know when.

Talk to us about your Compliance and Facilities Management challenges by getting in touch with us on 01992 807 444 or by emailing marketing@excitech.co.uk.

Opening our doors to FREE training – Reflecting on the Excitech training event

I’m Alan Skipp, and I’m the Training Delivery Manager for Excitech. I tend to spend a lot of my time in the office, however, Excitech recently held a training event at our Bishopsgate, London training centre, where I had the pleasure of meet a few of our clients. During his event, Excitech provided a number of free sample training sessions and the opportunity to meet some of our trainers.

Bishopsgate is a terrific training centre in the heart of London and is very popular with our customers. Our aim was to showcase this centre, and more importantly some of our talented people who have been responsible for delivery so much technical knowledge over the years.

We provided twelve one-hour training presentations held in our two training rooms, covering eleven subject matters. At the heart of this were a number of CAD Training courses, including:

• Autodesk Revit Architecture - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Revit-Architecture-Fundamentals
• Autodesk Revit Structure RC Detailing - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/RC-Detailing-with-Revit-Structure-2016
• Autodesk Revit MEP - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Revit-MEP-Fundamentals
• Dynamo for Revit - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Dynamo-Fundamentals-for-Autodesk-Revit
• Autodesk Civil 3D - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/AutoCAD-Civil-3D-Fundamentals
• Autodesk AutoCAD - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/AutoCAD-AutoCAD-LT-Essentials
• Navisworks - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Navisworks-Essentials
• 3DS Max - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-3ds-Max-Fundamentals
• Infraworks - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/InfraWorks-for-Civil-Engineering
• Inventor - Sheet Metal Design - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Inventor-Sheet-Metal-Design
• Inventor - Design Automation - https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Inventor-Certified-User-Part-1

The Dynamo session was the most popular of the sessions, so much so that we ended up putting on two sessions. To provide the expertise, we had six trainers on hand, each an expert in their own subject area.

During the day, we also had an opportunity to learn a little more about our own customers, so took time to have a chat. It was great hearing about their individual industries and stories, and to learn about their thoughts on training as individuals and how their organisations see training. It was particularly heartening to learn that in many cases training is embedded as part of their company culture, and classroom training is still the preferred method for the majority of our clients. Furthermore, it was interesting to learn, that many view the “basic training” course as only part of the journey and not the destination, so most saw the value in furthering their skills through more advanced training.

I hope those who attended learnt something new and will visit us again for further training. We have some very talented people here at Excitech who can help our customers effectively use some amazing products and help them with their personal learning journey.

Interested in finding out more? Click here to find out more about our portfolio of CAD training courses which are available in our London centre or any of our other training centres. Or why not enquire about in-company CAD training which can be delivered at a location of your choice.

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training