Working drawing management
Portable document format
Portable document format (PDF) has long been a de facto
standard for the distribution and exchange of electronic
documents. It is a computer file format that preserves the
fonts, images, graphics and layout of any source
document, regardless of the application and platform used
to create it. Adobe © PDF can be viewed and printed by
anyone with free Adobe © software which can be sent
along with the file, or downloaded from the Internet.
Unlike their originating source files created with CAD or
word processing programs, PDF files cannot be edited.
They are therefore of no use when a two-way exchange
of information is needed. But where it is necessary to
provide information in a secure and reliable electronic
form that can be viewed or printed by the recipient, yet
cannot be modified, they are ideal. From version 6
onwards, PDF files have supported layers that can be
turned on or off by the recipient, giving them more
flexibility when viewing or printing CAD documents.
The major CAD programs have built in ability to create
either PDF files, or an equivalent such as AutoCAD’s
DWF.
Simple PDF creation programs can be downloaded from
the internet free of charge.
Circulation
The greater the use that is made of the drawing register
the more important does it become to exercise proper
discipline in its maintenance and circulation. In particular,
it is a useful procedure for the up-dated register (and
those of the other consultants) to be copied to all
concerned at regular intervals—e.g. on the first of each
month, or as part of the site meeting agenda—so that all
team members are aware of the up-to-date position. This
is of even greater importance when drawings are being
issued in sequence, whether for billing or construction
purposes. The recipient’s attitude to a given drawing will
be conditioned by his knowledge that further amplifying
details are envisaged as part of the complete set.Other people’s drawings
When other consultants are circulating CAD files their
receipt should be registered and filed under the
recipient’s own file storage system.The proper recording and storage of incoming drawings
however often presents a problem, particularly when their
numbering system bears no relation to the structure of the
architect’s set. Should one open up an incoming drawings’
register for each consultant and manufacturer, laboriously
entering drawing titles and number and date of receipt?
Should one even attempt to give each incoming drawing a
fresh number, to bring it into line with internal systems,
and to aid storage and subsequent retrieval?These methods are laborious and irksome, and unless
they are carried through 100 per cent efficiently they are
liable to break down. If only one drawing goes
unrecorded because it was needed urgently for reference
purposes at the workplace before anyone had time to
enter it in the register, the system collapses, and might
as well have never been started.It is far better to insist on all consultants preparing and
circulating their own drawing register in the way
previously described. Each office then has a document
against which incoming issues may be checked, and by
means of which possible omissions and out-of-date
revisions may be noted.As for the storage of incoming drawings, they may be
dealt with in the same way as one’s own prints and
negatives, and stored in drawers or hung vertically.
Alternatively, they may be folded into A4 size with the
drawing number outermost, and stored upright on
shelves in numerical order. This is simple and space-
saving, but presupposes that a drawing register is
available in which the search for the required drawing
may be initiated.Working drawing management