SPECIAL
CADD Management Initiative
committee and approval was given to implement
to all of Baker. These efficiency tools are now
available to every CADD user within Baker.
tines developed within Baker and from third parties.
Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
In December of 2003, engineering and project
managers at Pennsylvania-based Michael Baker
Jr., Inc. (Baker) recognized the need for an organized way to manage CADD resources, processes,
and initiatives.
By simplifying procedures and/or steps, IMPACT
tools can accomplish repetitive, time-consuming
CADD tasks and provide useful utilities such as
time-saving user commands, macros, and MDL rou-
Overall, Baker provided an enterprise-wide CADD
management/production environment that is
scaleable and cost-effective to support the 2400
CADD users across all of Baker. Participation in
Bentley's Enterprise License Subscription program
saved the company at least $450,000 in 2005. ;
To support the project, full-time positions were created, including director of CADD services, three
CADD support specialists, and a CADD Tools
Developer—all filled from within the firm.
The company's CADD tools developer had created over 100 IMPACT tools (Innovative Menus,
Palettes, And Custom Tools) to help standardize
CADD for Baker. IMPACT tools had been evolving within Baker for about 10 years, beginning
with MicroStation 95 and advancing to today's
version in MicroStation's Visual Basic. In August
2005, these tools were presented to the steering
BEST OVERALL IT STRATEGY
LKB General MicroStation Implementation and Training
Lockwood, Kessler & Bartlett (LKB)
This project is a production-enhancement system for
the entire LKB office. The goal of the project is to
enhance productivity, in-crease interoperability, and
gain better control of client standards for both
MicroStation and AutoCAD clients by using the production-enhancement tools offered in MicroStation.
Previously, LKB had virtually no automation or
customization of any kind. This left the door open
for instances of client standards not being met.
The power of settings managers, batch plotting,
VBA, and design libraries were left untapped.
U.S.-based LKB also implemented the Workspace
features to increase productivity. Each client now
has its own user preference file. All configuration
variables specific to each client are set in the UCF
file. As a client is selected, the only project files for
that specific client are listed in the project drop-
down list. This has alleviated much user confusion
in their search for various tools such as the batch
plot specification file. Set correctly in the UCF
file, the user does not need to search, since
everything is automatically set up. ;
LKB used MicroStation VBA to install custom
applications that automate client-naming conventions as well as automation of the reference file
attachment process.
