Cundall Codes Issue 2

Cundall Document Manager

At Cundall we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver large multi-disciplinary projects. Particularly in the Critical Systems team where we provide project management as well as engineering consultancy services, the ability to manage vast quantities of design documents is crucial. For example, the construction design pack on a recent hyperscale data centre project contained over 4000 drawings and documents. To help manage these, Cundall has developed a custom-made application called the Cundall Document Manager.

Cundall Document Manager functions as a database to store drawing titleblock information. This includes data such as drawing numbers, drawing titles, revision information and any other info shown on the titleblock. The type of information stored is customisable and pre-determined by the user to align with the project.

The Document Manager can automatically generate a drawing list which corresponds with the required systems, floors, zones or any other variables input by the user. For example, for the mechanical design of a two-storey building, the software will generate the desired drawing information in accordance with ISO 19650 as shown in the images below.

The Document Manager enhances Cundall’s BIM capability and project delivery by synchronising with Revit automatically and live throughout the project. Taking the set of drawing titles and numbers already defined, the Document Manager can create the drawing sheets automatically in the project’s Revit model. When performed manually, this task typically takes several days and is susceptible to human error, particularly when thousands of drawings are involved. With Document Manager this is reduced to minutes and is 100% accurate, providing a huge efficiency gain.

The Document Manager synchronises with Revit projects as a stand-alone piece of software. This means that team members without access to Revit can modify drawing title information in the software which updates automatically in the model. For our document control team this has become a game-changer, saving a lot of time and effort during the document QA process.

Conversely, if a change is made to titleblock information from within the Revit model, this is synchronised to the Document Manager. To ensure the data entered is always correct, any changes are highlighted for review in both the Document Manager and Revit. This helps achieve seamless two-way synchronisation without accidental errors.

The Document Manager can also store information on any other documents, such as specifications or reports, which enables it to generate a full issue register for a design package submission.

Creating new software such as the Document Manager sets Cundall apart when it comes to delivering mega-projects in the built environment. To find out more about the digital advances happening at Cundall please see the contact information below.

If you would like to get in touch about this or any other topics of digital engineering please contact csdigital@cundall.com