Putting It All Together - Adobe Acrobat and PDF for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction - page 225

Creating the EOM
Whether the engineer or contractor creates the EOM is a matter of discussion. You can require the
contractor to furnish all the Owner's Manuals in bookmarked PDF format, which is usually easier than
providing the two or three paper copies now required. Increasingly, owners are willing to pay extra for the
EOM, as they can see the benefit and cost-savings over the life of a project.
A project's EOM will be a rather large file, and can easily reach 3,000 pages. For testing purposes we
created a 10,279-page (1.03GB) file. The file worked well on a computer with a 1.7 GHz processor using
512MB of RAM. Although creating a document containing many files and pages seems like a daunting
task, using the Create PDF from Multiple Files command in Acrobat 6 and 7 makes easy work of
assembling the file.
Building a Knowledgebase
A knowledgebase is an organized collection of what is known on a subject. The document management
project described earlier for the AEC project is a knowledgebase for that project. All engineering
companies need a knowledgebase of regulations, zoning maps, flood maps, permit application forms,
design standards, and so on. Making a collection seems like a lot of work - and in fact it IS a lot of work -
but its advantages outweigh the time and effort involved in the construction. The finished document can be
easily distributed as needed, saving duplication and delivery time and costs.
A Case in Point
In addition to working for the NEI, Tom also works with the Southeast Tennessee Development District
(SETDD). The SETDD, all 10 counties in the district, and the cities in the counties, need Federal
Emergency Management Agency flood maps. Most entities had paper copies, but generating and delivering
paper maps incurred significant costs.
Tom converted TIFF images of all the maps to PDF. The task took about eight hours in total to
download, link, and bookmark all 300+ maps. However, now the file is complete, all the government
offices can have a set of maps electronically in minutes. Instead of copying and faxing, requests from the
public for sections of the flood map can be emailed in seconds.
Most engineering companies, municipalities, industries, school districts, and other similar organizations
often have a dungeon-like room used to store old drawings. The drawings must be maintained, and on the
occasion when a particular drawing is required, considerable time is invested in searching for the drawing.
Numerous clients are converting the archives to scanned PDF drawings, thereby freeing up the storage
space, not to mention removing the fire hazard. The New Economy Institute and the Tennessee Valley
Authority run a joint program where high-school seniors are paid to convert scanned drawings into CAD
files. The students use large-format scanners to scan old plans to PDF and store the PDF files in the
corresponding government's knowledgebase.
Challenges
A knowledgebase is infinitely expandable. As more content needs to be added, you simply modify the
navigation pages and add more folders. In your organization, give the most appropriate person or persons
the drive space and the mission and turn them loose. Use the design as a competition, either formal or
informal, and award the best developed areas in the knowledgebase.