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4.2 Office organisation and resources

4.2.1 The need for knowledge

On larger projects several design disciplines will usually be employed, each of which should prepare the sections of the specification for which they have design responsibility. Within each discipline, experienced personnel who have detailed knowledge of the project should prepare the relevant sections. Other people within each design office may have special knowledge of certain kinds of work, and can give useful advice and/or check the relevant sections of the draft specification.

Alternatively, the specification may be prepared by a specialist specification writer who has wide knowledge of specification technology. This approach may be particularly appropriate for certain technically complex sections, e.g. curtain walling. If the specialist specification writer is involved with many or all projects within the office he or she should help to give consistency to the office's specification practice. However careful checking is needed to ensure that sections of the specification prepared by a specialist reflect the particular design requirements of the project and are consistent with the drawings.

In addition to detailed knowledge of the project, wide knowledge of construction technology is needed. The specification for a building project of average size and complexity contains a large amount of information, and specification by reference will invoke a much larger volume of published material. There is an even larger amount of information that is not included or referred to in the specification, but which needs to be consulted during the specification process. This mass of published information changes constantly, on average at about 20% per annum.

The sheer volume of this information is such that the individual designer cannot assimilate and remember it all. The design office should therefore:

Encourage individuals to develop and maintain expertise on certain topics, and to give advice to others.
Maintain a suitable specification library system (see Sections 4.2.2 and 4.2.3).
Maintain an efficient technical library, supplemented by appropriate information systems (see Section 4.2.4).

4.2.2 Specification library systems

Researching and writing good quality specification clauses from scratch is difficult and time consuming. Reusing standard clauses can save much time and improve the quality of project specifications.

A comprehensive set of standard specification clauses is called a specification library, and to be effective in use needs to have the following features:

It should follow the principles set out in this Code.
It should be arranged by CAWS, and within the work sections follow the guidance in Section 4.1.3
The clauses should present a comprehensive and clear set of options and alternatives that relate well to the available design choices, with gaps left for insertion of variable information.
Helpful guidance should be provided for individual clauses and also for each section as a whole.
Both clauses and guidance should be thoroughly researched, well written and updated regularly.
All commonly occurring types of work and construction techniques should be covered.
Clauses should be included to facilitate brief specification for types of work included in larger projects, but of minor importance.

The preparation and maintenance of such a specification library requires a formidable amount of effort, and for most offices it will be appropriate to consider subscribing to a commercially available specification library system.

Offices should be able to use the commercial system directly for the preparation of project specifications. However, the system should enable the office to edit the basic text to:

Make it relate more directly to the technical preferences of the office, e.g. by standardising the choice of many products.
Reduce the time taken in preparing project specs by reducing the number of options to be considered and the amount of technical investigation to be undertaken.

The office can add 'special' clauses to the basic system library. However, the most convenient and flexible approach is likely to be inserting supplementary guidance (with select and paste menus as appropriate) covering, preferred proprietary products, products and practices to be avoided, additional advice on use of clauses, suggested text for supplementary clauses.

Modifying the commercial specification library system in this way can involve a lot of work, not least in coping with updating. Offices should consider carefully the extent and nature of such modification to ensure that the effort will be repaid.

4.2.3 System software

Until recently, the main method of use of specification library systems was to mark up a copy of the clauses, have it word processed by a secretary, then (if time permitted) check it for accuracy.

Recommended practice is now for the specifier to edit the text on screen, using more sophisticated software supplied with the specification library system. The essential features of such software are:

Easy to navigate and use with only limited computer and keyboard skills.
Initial selection of work sections relevant to the project.
Clauses and related guidance displayed automatically side by side.
During preparation of a specification the status of clauses displayed – 'selected', 'deleted', or 'decision not yet taken'.
Highlighting of clauses that have been selected, but without completion of a required insertion or deletion.
Automatic numbering of non-standard clauses so that they are recognised as such (non-standard clauses may be entirely new, or where the standard text has been altered).
Easy insertion of data from other sources at any point, e.g. drawn details, spreadsheets, clauses from other projects.
Automatic updating of both data and software.
A good range of word processing features.
Adequate software support.

Additional features of the software (which some offices may regard as essential) may be:

Creation of an 'office' version of the system, with clauses and/or guidance added, deleted or amended. Alternatively, creation of two or more office versions to suit types of commonly recurring project ('template' specifications).
Highlighting of clauses and guidance included in office, template and partially completed project specifications that are affected by a system update, to facilitate review.
To permit the office to determine controlled access for different people, e.g. to 'view only' or 'edit' office, template, and particular project specifications.
Audit trailing of office, template and project specifications: which decisions, by whom, and when.

4.2.4 Technical information support

In addition to use of an appropriate specification library system, good specification practice requires frequent reference to a wide variety of regulatory, technical and product information, which changes constantly.

Most design offices specify from a fairly restricted range of products, based on their accumulated knowledge and experience. This needs to be supported by a well-maintained matching collection of product literature. Awareness of new or alternative products needs to be maintained.

Large collections of product literature are difficult to keep up to date, and without telephoning the manufacturer it is often impossible to know whether a brochure is current. Electronic product directories linked to manufacturers' web sites offer a potential solution, but too often the web site is out of date or has inadequate coverage. At present there is no substitute for thorough checking.

Use of an electronic library of proprietary product specification descriptions will help to ensure that details included in project specifications are appropriate and up to date. The library should be linked automatically to the relevant clause(s) of the specification system, have substantial coverage, be regularly updated, and be prepared impartially by expert authors to ensure consistency and freedom from promotional bias.

The wide range of relevant non-proprietary technical documents may be provided and updated economically and effectively by using an electronic technical information library service. Electronic search and retrieval, including hyperlinks from the office's specification library system, will usually save much time and result in more rigorous checking of reference documents.

The knowledge of people within the design office can be of great value, particularly if kept up to date. Much of this is transmitted by word of mouth, but particularly in larger offices it can be beneficial to record and transmit the information systematically, by incorporating supplementary clauses and guidance in the office's specification library system (see Sections 4.2.2 and 4.2.3).

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