New Outline and Short Form Specs in SpecLink-E

Our beta testers are aware of a new approach to outline and short form specs that will be incorporated into the new BSD SpecLink-E. In this article, we will describe that new approach for our other customers, who haven’t yet had the opportunity to see SLE. 

In the current BSD SpecLink+ product, the Short Form specs comprise a separate group of sections that are accessed from a tab that is separate from the PerSpective performance sections tab and the SpecLink construction documents tab. The three tabs are connected by links, so that decisions about materials made on the PerSpective tab result in some preselected text on the Short Form tab, which in turn is linked to sections and specific paragraphs on the SpecLink tab. This linking forward means that in theory, at least, it isn’t necessary in BSD SpecLink+ to start the specifications over at each phase of a project. Instead, as a user progresses from the PerSpective tab for the schematic design phase to the Short Form tab for design development and to the SpecLink tab for the construction document phase, the specifier will find that sections and specific paragraphs have been preselected by links from decisions made on the preceding tab.

The current approach has many advantages over systems based on word processing, but it also has some limitations. For one thing, offices that use an office master project as the basis for construction specifications may not be able to take full advantage of the “linking forward” feature that is most effective when editing from a blank project. Instead, it may be more practical to have separate office masters for the schematic, design development, and construction document phases. Another limitation of the current approach is that the links between tabs are necessarily somewhat scanty, since preliminary decisions sometimes cannot produce links that choose automatically from among the more detailed options that would normally be decided at a later date.

In BSDSpecLink-E, the separate data tabs for specs at different phases of a project have been replaced by different views of the same data. In effect, we “collapse” or “expand” the data to expose only those options that are relevant to a particular project phase. Some basic material choices are available for selection in all views of the data, including the very earliest about these material choices, including basic installation decisions, is exposed for use at later phases of a project. Finally, the most detailed instructions to a contractor are revealed only for use during the construction documents phase. The links between paragraphs are active in all views of the data, but only the link consequences relevant to the particular view are exposed. 

How has this expansion and contraction of the data been accomplished? We have added another field in the status columns and have marked some paragraphs as outline (OL) or Short Form (SF). Paragraphs not marked as OL or SF are exposed only in the Full Spec View. When a user chooses the Outline View, only paragraphs marked OL are exposed. When a user chooses Short Form View, both OL and SF paragraphs are exposed. When a user selects Full Spec View, all paragraphs are visible. Users can add their own text, and it is automatically tagged as OL or SF or not tagged, depending upon which View is selected when the text is added.

This new approach to Outline, Short Form, and Full Spec views should offer significant advantages to our users. For one thing, only one office master will be needed for all phases of a project, with data exposed or hidden as appropriate for a particular phase. Maintenance of the data will be much easier, as well, with fewer paragraphs and fewer links needed. Although the approach is fairly simple in concept, it will be very powerful in application, and we believe our users will embrace the new paradigm on their first opportunity to use it. 

For more information about SpecLink-E and its many new features, you can find quarterly articles in each of our recent newsletters in the archives section of our website.