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SPECSINTACT INTERAGENCY CONFIGURATION CONTROL
AND COORDINATING BOARD
NASA Headquarters -Washington D.C. - March 3-4, 1998
Introduction - Miguel Morales,
NASA
- Recognized the work accomplished by the SPECSINTACT Development Team that
was accomplished since the last meeting.
- Special note to tailoring, WordSpec, and the restructure of the
SPECSINTACT Web Site.
- Reminded the board members of the need to address submittal markup in the
sections.
- Called for a separate meeting to form an agreement of standardizing the
submittals in each agencies guide specifications.
- Jim Quinn noted the need to have one section template for all agencies.
Action: EG&G coordinate a separate submittal
meeting this summer to standardize how the submittals are identified in the guide
specifications. Personnel to attend this meeting are: Rick Dahnke, Jim Quinn, Carl
Kersten, Tom Shaw, Tom Hinshaw, and Frank Der, Pat Robinson, and Maggie Muller.
SPECSINTACT
Accomplishments - Pat Robinson,
EG&G Florida
Tailoring Demonstration - David Maltby, EG&G
Florida
- All the tools required to add and manage tailoring options in the master
guide specifications have been added to the software.
- It is now up to the agencies to tailor the master guide specifications
and educate the users on how most effective use a tailored master guide specification.
Action: Tom Hinshaw, NASA, will convene a VITS
of NASA Master Text Managers in April 1998 on the topic of "Tailoring NASA Master
Guide Specifications". Writers will be assigned Master Guide Specifications sections
to tailor.
Action: It was agreed that USACE and NAVFAC
Master Guide Specification publishers will test tailored guide specs in simulated or real
jobs before general public publication.
Discontinuation of Printed SPECSINTACT Newsletter -
Round Table Discussion
Given the SPECSINTACT Development and Support Center's ability to
publish information of interest to SPECSINTACT users on the WWW in a timely manner,
EG&G Florida requested of the SI-CCCB permission to discontinue publishing the
SPECSINTACT Newsletter.
Action: The SI-CCCB directed EG&G to no
longer publish a SPECSINTACT Newsletter.
Certification of WordSpec for Full Release - Round
Table Discussion
A discussion was held concerning removing the word "Beta" from
future software releases of WordSpec that is distributed from the SI web page and the
Construction Criteria Base (CCB).
Action: The SI-CCCB directed EG&G to remove
the word "Beta" from future software releases of WordSpec.
Future Implementation of Producing Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF) - David Maltby, EG&G Florida
The software requirements, menu changes, and issues of producing PDF
documents from the SPECSINTACT Application were presented.
1. Adobe PDFWriter
2. SPECSINTACT software
- Modification of SPECSINTACT Print Screen
Add a button, "Create PDF" (software will detect if Adobe
Acrobat PDFWriter is installed)
- Issues Creating PDF files:
- The SPECSINTACT software will ensure than an appropriate file name is
suggested for saving the PDF file. (Currently when using SPECSINTACT files to create PDF
files a bracket appears in front of the suggested file name).
- The output location of the PDF files will default to the prntdata
directory.
Backup/Restore
Requirements Analysis -David Maltby, EG&G Florida
An overview of the Backup/Restore Requirements Analysis covered the
purpose of backup and restore, functional requirements, and conceptual design. However
after a lengthy discussion the board recognized the need for a distinct export/import
function.
Action: Board directed EG&G to modify the
original conceptual design to include export/import and to implement in the 32-bit
release.
Software Change Requests
- Pat Robinson, EG&G Florida
All new 1620's were thoroughly discussed and a decision was made on the action
required. . The majority of the change requests accepted will not
be implemented in the existing SPECSINTACT Application (16-Bit). Disposition of reviewed
Software Change Requests Forms
Action: Freeze existing 16-Bit application development.
The board directed EG&G to port the existing 16-bit Application to 32-bit. The 32-bit
application will contain the majority of the existing functionality and will have a new
interface.
Construction Criteria Base (CCB) Presentation -
Earl Kennet, NIBS
KSC Electronic
Documentation System (KEDS) - Donna Pancho, EG&G
KEDS is a state-of-the-art World Wide Web (WWW) intranet application, providing
networked viewing and printing of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) released engineering drawings
from any MS-Windows based PC on KSC or authorized non-KSC sites.
Amendment Overview - Steven
Freitas, USACE Sacramento
DrawSpec Overview - Jim Harris, NAVFAC LANDIV
Jim Harris, representing the Architectural Branch at LantDiv, provided the SI-CCCB with
a demonstration of how DrawSpec is now being used on in-house design projects within the
Engineering and Design Division. The text file, utilizing words and phrases taken from
over 200 Navy guide specifications, has over 6000 line items. Each line item represents a
unique "keyword" which is easily accessible by use of pull-down menus within
AutoCAD R13. He demonstrated how the software allows the designer to quickly and
efficiently choose and place descriptions ("keywords") on the construction
drawings to identify materials and equipment..
Based on 1997 totals for Work-In-Place ("WIP") through LantDiv, and using a
conservative estimate of only 1/2 of 1% of all change orders being attributable to
confusion between drawings and specifications, the use of DrawSpec could have saved
$419,500. Used NAVFAC-wide, and based on 1996 totals for WIP (latest figures available), a
savings of $1,022,000 could have been realized. Improving quality control between drawings
and specifications can lead to big cost savings.
Mr. Harris also pointed out how the software generates a separate text file of just
those keywords placed on the individual drawing. This text file can be useful to the
specification writer as a quality control feature to make sure all items identified on the
drawings are addressed in the specifications.
Finally, Mr. Harris requested that the SI-CCCB assign a higher priority to creating a
"tagging" feature within SPECSINTACT and writing the software code necessary to
scan the guide specifications and create a master text file of all tagged
keywords/modifiers.
Following the demonstration, the SI-CCCB discussed the potential of using the text file
(generated from a construction drawing) as a step toward pre-editing capabilities.
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