Master Checklist from Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007 Advanced Implementation Guide

by Paul F. Aubin and Matt Dillon

CAD Standards Checklist

Chapter 2 checklist of action items from CAD standards assessment.

  1. Plotting
  2. Install plotters
  3. Install plotters and printers in the Windows Printers folder
  4. Install plotters and printers within AutoCAD/ADT (build PC3 files) if necessary
  5. Import legacy PCP or PC2 if appropriate
  6. Configure plotter parameters
  7. Output types/sheet sizes
  8. Plot Style Tables & Lineweight Control
  9. Decide what parameters the plot style table will control
  10. Choose your office standard lineweight palette (NCS recommended)
  11. Decide how you will assign lineweights in your firm:
  12. Using the Lineweight property (recommended)
  13. Via plot style tables
  14. Choose between named plot style (recommended) and color-dependent plot style tables
  15. Adopt or build one or more plot style tables as appropriate. (Using the out-of-the-box Aec Standard.stb and Aec Standard Color.stb plot style tables is recommended.)
  16. Assessment of Existing CAD Standards
  17. Evaluate usage of page setup and layouts
  18. Evaluate layer names and usage (Chapter 5)
  19. Evaluate color usage
  20. Establish linetypes
  21. Set LTScale standardization
  22. Evaluate Text style usage
  23. Evaluate Dimension style usage
  24. Implement a common scale factor for all Annotation items
  25. Evaluate existing block library
  26. Evaluate existing detail library
  27. Evaluate existing title blocks
  28. Migrate existing title blocks to out-of-the-box sheet template files
  29. Incorporate Field codes into existing title blocks
  30. Evaluate existing custom commands and macros
  31. Evaluate existing hatch libraries
  32. Evaluate document sharing and interoperability with consultants' procedures (see Appendix)
  33. ADT Standards
  34. Configure Drawing Setup (Chapters 5 & 9)
  35. Adopt and configure templates and Template Projects (Chapter 3)
  36. Display System setup (Chapter 6)
  37. Property Set setup (Chapter 7)
  38. Content library setup (Chapter 9)
  39. ADT Object styles (Chapter 10)
  40. Section and Elevation setup (Chapter 11)
  41. Living Up to the Standards
  42. Document allowable variations for individual projects
  43. Document project-specific procedures
  44. Schedule production coordination meetings
  45. Ongoing Support and Training
  46. Determine type and duration
  47. Research vendors
  48. Plan initial engagement and ongoing follow-up
  49. Documentation and CAD Procedures Manual
  50. Document items as they are completed
  51. Allow for ongoing revisions

Project Management Checklist

Chapter 3 checklist of action items for project management issues.

  1. Understanding Tools and Data
  2. Understand the unique workflow, features and benefits of ADT’s Project Management tools.
  3. Familiarize yourself with the nature of AEC Objects and their parametric properties. Continuously strive to better understand their abilities and to further take advantage of their capabilities on an ongoing basis.
  4. Adopt the Distributed Building Model for working with project data.
  5. Use the Project Navigator to assist you in managing model component relationships and the project workflow.
  6. Understand the difference between overlaid and attached external reference files.
  7. Inventory your project types.
  8. Categorize your projects into one of the types described in this chapter.
  9. Develop a Project Management strategy and a Project Navigator folder structure or “schema” for each project type.
  10. Familiarize yourself with the unique qualities of ADT Project file types and distinguish clearly between Model files and Report files.
  11. Develop strategies for using Elements as resources.
  12. Understand that Constructs are actual model components. Also know where to use spanning Constructs.
  13. Understand the three types of View files. Place all geometry-related annotation in View files.
  14. Familiarize yourself with the unique workings of the Sheet Set Manager within the context of ADT’s Project Management system.
  15. Develop a consistent and effective file and folder naming structure. Draw from established industry standards to assist you in this, but also allow for the fact that they were not developed for the Project Navigator, and in many cases, were not specifically developed with model-based design in mind.
  16. Put a backup strategy in place if you do not already have one.
  1. Standards Management
  2. Familiarize yourself and your team with Project Standards. Develop a hierarchical structure for your standards drawings—project first, followed by office standards.
  3. Include the AutoCAD CAD Standards tools into your overall standards management scheme.
  4. Developing Template Project(s)
  5. Create your template project from one of the out-of-the-box ADT template projects.
  6. Build and assign the Construct, Element and View templates.
  7. Decide whether you want “self-contained” project templates, or if you want to simply use the office standard template for your project.
  8. If you choose the self-contained strategy, start your project templates from your office standard template.
  9. Specify different templates for Elements, Constructs and the three types of Views (General, Section/Elevation, Detail) if necessary.
  10. Set up the project details. Add and remove data Fields from the default details list.
  11. Establish Sheet Set custom Fields.
  12. Build the Sheet Set template drawing.
  13. Establish layouts for your standard plot methodologies.
  14. Include saved Page Setups for use as overrides.
  15. Include any Field codes that need to link to sheet or project data.
  16. Finalize the Sheet Set.
  17. Specify the default Sheet Set template in the Sheet Set Properties dialog.
  18. Specify the Page Setup overrides file in the Sheet Set Properties dialog.
  19. Set up the Sheet Set subset structure.
  20. Establish the Project style library and Project Standards.
  21. Set up Project tool catalogs and Project tool palettes.

Tool Palettes Checklist

Chapter 4 checklist of action items related to tools and tool palettes

  1. Process Overview
  2. Create or gather Content Library files containing styles or AEC Content items.
  3. Set up a tool palette group to contain custom palettes. Be sure to close the current project before creating the group.
  4. Create one or more “working” palettes such as “Sandbox” or “Scratch.” Create an “Office Standard” palette.
  5. Create a catalog in the Content Browser.
  6. Copy the Office Standard palette to this catalog and set the catalog to “link” to the workspace.
  7. Remove the original Office Standard palette from your workspace, then i-drop the linked Office Standard palette from the catalog to your workspace.
  8. Create tools on the Sandbox palette, modify any tool properties (defaults), and then copy them to the Office Standard palette in the catalog when they are ready.
  9. Refresh the linked Office Standard palette in your workspace to update it from the changes made in the catalog.
  1. Content Browser Process
  2. Open the default Content Browser.
  3. Add and remove catalogs as desired.
  4. Create any custom catalogs required, such as an Office Standards catalog.
  5. Instruct users how to load the custom catalogs (typically this only needs to be done once per workstation). As an option, you can choose instead to save the custom library (CBL) file and add it to the deployment wizard (see Chapter 1).
  6. Share catalogs outside the office with the Publish wizard.
  7. Tool Creation Process
  8. Choose the type of tool—Object, Content or Command.
  9. To create an Object tool:
  10. Drag an object from the drawing or Style Manager to a palette.
  11. Edit the tool properties and configure any desired presets.
  12. If desired, edit the icon.

a)Use the viewer to interactively set the desired image.

b)Browse to a pre-drawn PNG image file.

c)Use the Set Image from Selection option.

  1. Copy the tool to the Office Standard palette in the catalog.
  1. To create an AEC Content tool:
  2. Drag an AEC Content item from the AEC Content tab of DesignCenter to a palette.
  3. If necessary, edit the icon.
  4. Copy the tool to the Office Standard palette in the catalog.
  5. To create a Command tool:
  6. Drag a “raw” Command tool from the Stock Tool Catalog in the Content Browser to a palette.
  7. Edit the tool properties and input a command macro.
  8. Edit the icon if necessary.
  9. Copy the tool to the Office Standard palette in the catalog.
  1. Project-based Palette Process
  2. To create a new project with project palettes:
  3. Create the new project using one of the out-of-the-box template projects or a custom created one with functioning project tool palettes.
  4. Make edits to the “starter palettes” in your workspace.
  5. Copy the ATC and other files from your Documents and Settings folders to the project folders as described in this chapter.
  6. Instruct other team members to load the project.
  7. To add tool palettes to an existing project:
  8. Load the project.
  9. Verify the paths in the Options dialog box.
  10. Quit and restart ADT as required to trigger the auto-creation of the Tool Palette File Location path.
  11. Copy the ADTTemplateProjectWorkspace.atc file from the default template project to a folder within the project that you intend to use as the Tool Palette File Location path for the project.
  12. Edit the project properties and point the Tool Palette File Location path to this location.
  13. In the Customize Palettes dialog, add the Project Tools palette to the current project palette group and optionally add additional palettes to the group.
  14. Edit the palettes, populate them with tools, etc.
  15. Quit ADT.
  16. Copy all the required resources from the ProjectProfiles folder and the ProjectCatalogs folder to the project palettes folder as described in this chapter.
  17. Re-launch ADT and test.
  18. Instruct other team members to load the project.
  19. Project-based Content Browser Library Process

Note: Ideally, these steps should be performed before other team members load the project for the first time.

  1. Assign a custom Content Browser library to your project if there is not already one assigned. (The default ADT template projects have already had one assigned to them. Starting a project using these templates as described in Chapter 3 will ensure that you already have a self-contained project Content Browser Library.)
  2. Add and remove catalogs as desired.
  3. Create a custom catalog for the project such as a Project Tools catalog. (Again, if you start with a default ADT template project, there will already be a Project Tools catalog created, ready to receive project tools.)
  4. Add palettes to the Project Tools catalog.
  5. I-drop a copy of the linked palette into your workspace
  6. Quit ADT.
  7. Copy all the required resources from the ProjectProfiles folder and the ProjectCatalogs folder to the project palettes folder.

Layers Checklist

Chapter 5 checklist of action items related to layers.

  1. Layer Standards
  2. Build or adopt a layer naming convention (ADT Layer Standard).
  1. Layer keys
  2. Build or adopt a Layer Key Style (layer name, colors, lineweights, etc.).
  3. Document Layer Keys and Layer Standards.
  4. Templates
  5. Modify your template files by including common non-keyed layers and allowing the auto-import of the Layer Key Styles.
  6. Modify your template project’s drawing template files to include the same non-keyed layers and to auto-import the Layer Key Styles.
  7. Layer Standards Library File
  8. Build a Layer Standards Library file containing all office standard layers.

The Display System Checklist

Chapter 6 checklist of action items related to the Display System.

  1. Display System Evaluation
  2. Evaluate the default Display System in your template drawing. You can use the TEST element in the Display 06 chapter to review all of the ADT object types in each Display Configuration.
  3. Determine which settings, if any, need to change.
  4. Evaluate your scale dependency needs.
  5. Determine if there are any Display Configurations that do not currently exist that need to be created.
  1. Build Custom Displays
  2. Customize the Display System to address changes that need to be made to existing Display Configurations, Display Sets and Display Representations, as well as scale dependency requirements that have been identified. Remember to add new display elements only when absolutely necessary.
  3. Create your initial office standard Material Definitions by copying the Material Definitions from the out-of-the-box content into your Office Standard Library.dwg file.
  4. Modify your office standard Material Definitions if necessary to address scale dependency issues.
  5. Template Projects
  6. Update your template project with the new Display System, modifying the template drawings or copying from your office standard template as we did above.
  7. Synchronize your template project standards to ensure that all drawings are updated to the new display settings.

Property Set and Schedule Table Checklist

Chapter 7 checklist of action items related to Property Sets and Schedule Tables.

  1. General
  2. Review and test all out-of-the-box Schedule Tables that apply to your work. Inventory their Property Set Definitions and Property Data Formats.
  3. Develop a list, using the Property Set Defs Worksheet.xls file (included with the files from the CD) of any properties that you want to change.
  4. Put in place any underlying content items that are necessary in order to fully implement your changes.
  5. If you want to use Material Codes to automate the Material columns in any Schedule Tables, build the Material Code Property Set Definition and attach it to all of your Office Standard Material Definitions.
  6. If you want to use Anchor Properties, allow for the appropriate Properties to be attached to the host objects (most likely Walls). You may want to consider a Wall style-based Property Definition that is attached to all Wall styles that the Anchor Property will “link to.”
  7. Make sure you have a Classifications Definition loaded into your template that will work with your customizations. The Uniformat II Classifications Definition is provided with the out-of-the-box content and may suit your purposes fine for most items.
  1. Property Set Definitions
  2. Perform the steps in the “Property Set Definition Preparation Checklist” earlier in this chapter.
  3. Procure a sketch of the Schedule you wish to create.
  4. Assign dimensions to all major columns and components. (This will be used later.)
  5. Determine which columns ought to be style-based and which should be object-based.
  6. For each column, decide what type of property each piece of data should be.
  7. Determine the Property Data Formats and other special formatting required (see below).
  8. Using this compiled information, build the Property Set Definition(s).
  9. Make sure you have all of the Property Data Formats you need within the drawing. If necessary, build or import them.
  10. Decide on a Property Set Definition naming convention. It is the recommendation of this book that if you create a custom Property Set Definition, that you prefix it with your organization name or abbreviation, then indicate the object type the Property Set Definition applies to, followed by “Styles” or “Objects,” depending upon whether it is an object-based or style-based Property Set Definition. You should refer to the Content Creation Guidelines in the ADT Help files for more naming convention guidance.
  11. Work in a temporary file to build Property Set Definitions and later import them into your Office Standard Library.dwg file.
  12. Use at most two Property Set Definitions per Schedule Table Style that you need, one Property Set Definition for object-based, the other for style-based.
  13. Add or modify the required properties.
  14. Update your Office Standard Library.dwg file with your new or modified Property Sets.
  15. Open any style libraries that require style-based Property Sets and attach them on the General tab of the style editor.
  16. Schedule Table Styles
  17. Import a Schedule Table Style that is close to the one you wish to use.
  18. Configure all formatting and be sure that the Applies To tab information matches the Property Set Definition(s) you plan to use.
  19. Add or modify columns and headers.
  20. Schedule Tags
  21. Use the procedures covered in this chapter to create a new Schedule Tag in a working drawing.
  22. Copy the Tag Multi-View Block Definition into your Office Standard Library.dwg file.
  23. Using the procedures covered in the "Understanding Schedule Tags" section of this chapter, build a palette-based Tag tool.
  24. Display Themes
  25. Build or modify any Display Theme styles that you would like, based on your Office Standard Property Set Definitions.
  26. Copy the Display Theme styles to your Office Standard Library.dwg file.
  27. Create palette-based tools for your Display Theme styles and copy them to your Office Standard tool catalog using the procedures covered in Chapter 4
  28. Test Components and Distribute the Tools to Your Office
  29. Test all components. The easiest way to do this is to create a new drawing based on your Office Standard (Model).dwt drawing template, generate some sample geometry, then tag it and create a Schedule.
  30. Using the procedures covered in Chapter 4, copy your Schedule and Tag tools to your Office Standard tool catalog.

Detail Components and Keynotes Checklist