Problem solver

Documentation is a time-consuming and expensive aspect of every contractors' work, especially if they carry out design, which often requires using several software packages to create the drawings and schedules required by clients.

Field Systems Designs (FSD), like many contractors, used a combination of spreadsheets, CAD software and Amtech's calculation packages to produce cable schedules, block cable diagrams, termination schedules, loop diagrams and electrical systems designs for its clients. The drawback to this was that basic information had to be entered several times and any design changes during the project necessitated changing each document individually. To increase the efficiency of this process what was needed was a single software solution that enabled the basic data to be entered once and automatically distributed between the other packages.

FSD took to the market to seek a solution. After many conversations with software providers, customers and competitors, it concluded that there simply wasn't anything available that came close to meeting their needs. The answer was to provide a solution itself.

Software solutions

FSD employed specialist Cytec Solutions to develop software suited to the task. Working closely with FSD's engineers, over the course of almost a year, Cable Track was designed. This encompassed all of the original requirements together with improvements such as the ability to generate cable markers, ferrules, materials lists and equipment label lists.

The program includes a database with all of the key background information to ensure that it meets each of the customers individual specifications - another key factor in the development process.

Operation of the software is simple. Users begin by entering project-specific information. This sets up the project defaults. Following this, each item of electrical equipment on the project is entered and directories for each one are automatically created by the software. After submitting details of field-mounted equipment the cable details can be typed into a simple spreadsheet style grid, the process of which is simplified by the use of pull-down menus automatically tailored to suit the client's specification.

FSD's lead engineer on the project, Dan Clark explains the benefits: "Once the information is entered into Cable Track it will produce CAD drawings at the push of a button, populating the border with the drawing title details, document numbers and then drawing the whole block cabling diagram using pre-defined CAD blocks.

"This is a major area of time saving as the engineer dealing with the project would previously have sketched these out and passed them to our CAD department to produce the drawings. It minimises the chances of human error and ensures total continuity throughout all of FSD's projects. Furthermore, it frees up our CAD resources to concentrate on other aspects of the overall design," he adds.

Cable Track has now been in use for several months and is already starting to reap rewards in terms of time saved. As-built documents can be printed as soon as the scheme is complete, with reduced checking times as the source information is the same in each document.

Developing an in-house solution to the problem has taken commitment from all involved, together with a tight reign on the budget. But FSD has accomplished its goal, even taking on board changes along the way, to solution an age old problem.