CSI Three-Part Section Format Slated to Change

This article is the first in an expected series, describing some of the changes that will appear in the revised CSI SectionFormat™ which will be published later this year. BSD is already implementing some of these changes because they are sensible and make the sections easier to understand and enforce.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION. The heading System Description, which currently appears in PART 1 GENERAL, has been removed. In its place a new heading has been added to PART 2 to house descriptions of systems specified in the section. System Description in PART 1 is the only heading in the current SectionFormat located outside of PART 2 where characteristics of products might be specified; this is a significant inconsistency. Some contributors have noted that the location in PART 1 was counterintuitive, especially to novice specifiers and readers of specifications—"why aren't all the product characteristics specified in PART 2?" The original logic for placing this heading in PART 1 has been lost in time. The members of the CSI Section and Page Format Update Task Team (SPUTT) could not find any definitive rationale or documentation for that location, except for the brief commentary in the 1997 edition of SectionFormat:

"Describe performance or design requirements and functional requirements of a complete system. Limit descriptions to composite and operational properties to the extent necessary to link multiple components of a system together, and to interface with other systems."

About as clear as mud—in the first sentence it says to describe the complete system. In the second sentence it seems to suggest that there is something you shouldn't specify here—perhaps the components that are specified in other sections. The task team received and reviewed many communications on this subject and struggled with the issue almost up to the final draft. Ironically, the most vocal opponents of the SPUTT proposal to remove System Description from PART 1 have been experienced specifiers whose most prevalent interpretation hinged on the second sentence of the commentary—that it was a location for descriptions of systems that span more than one section. Although the task team members recognized that there is sometimes a need for such a description, they felt that there was a more compelling need to be able to describe the system specified in the current section in the most logical location. Specifiers who have been following the advice of the first sentence of the commentary readily accept the logic that systems should be described in PART 2—compliance with the current edition requires making an exception to the concept that all product information belongs in PART 2. Rather than simply relocating the heading as is to PART 2, the team chose to meld the relocation of the subject matter into the new organizational scheme for PART 2, which is described below.

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS / PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS. Two subheadings under System Description, in the 1997 edition of SectionFormat, are Design Requirements and Performance Requirements. These subheadings have traditionally been interpreted both independently of System Description and in conjunction with it. The existing commentary says:

"Include design and performance parameters. Use this article in conjunction with quality control articles covering tests for verification. Performance requirements may include criteria for structural, thermal, and acoustical properties. State tolerances here only as they apply to the performance requirements of the complete system. Fabrication and erection tolerances should be included in their respective articles."

In addition to reinforcing the idea that the system should be described in PART 1, these headings have had the truly unfortunate effect of suggesting to specifiers that "performance" type properties are somehow different from other properties of products, assemblies, and systems. The idea that "performance" type properties should be in PART 1 is apparently very difficult for some specifiers to overcome. The revision to SectionFormat includes "Performance / Design Criteria" as a heading in PART 2. The revised commentary will state that the term Design Criteria can be used when describing the intended characteristics of a product for which the Contractor is assigned design responsibility.

Figure A New Part 2 Organization

PART 2 ORGANIZATION. Part 2 will now cover all product aspects from the "system" level down, including headings for "assemblies", "manufactured units", "equipment", "components", "product types" and "materials". The product descriptions are now arranged, in reading order, from the largest to the smallest (from top down), rather than proceeding from the smallest parts to the largest as in the current edition. The top down organization is more logical from a reader's point of view—it's easier to understand a system if you start from the big picture, rather than from the parts. PART 2 is also now intentionally very flexible, allowing much more logical organization for different types of sections.

The new outline of PART 2 is shown in Fig. A, at left. There is one main heading with options in brackets—each bracketed term can be used as a heading along with the relevant subheadings. For instance, a section describing an entire system would include the SYSTEM heading, with a Description and probably Performance and Operation. Following that might be an EQUIPMENT or COMPONENTS heading with appropriate properties. Concluding might be a MATERIALS heading that defined all the basic materials the components were made out of. If none of the terms SYSTEMS, ASSEMBLIES, MANUFACTURED UNITS, EQUIPMENT, COMPONENTS, PRODUCT TYPES, or MATERIALS is appropriate, the specifier is entitled to define a suitable heading and insert appropriate subheadings from the list.

This flexible organization actually reflects the way most experienced specifiers work and results in better specs for complex products than the current, more rigid and limited arrangement.

These three changes in SectionFormat represent the most significant changes proposed, both in terms of degree of relocation of material and potential benefit to readers. BSD has begun to implement these changes and will continue to do so over the next few quarters. We'll do our best to make all changes of a given type within a single quarter and try to minimize the effect on existing projects.