Portland, Maine (January 12, 2021) – Chalkline, Inc. has published a case study on TowerPinkster’s evaluation, selection, and success of deploying and using VisiSpecs.
TowerPinkster is a firm of architects, engineers, and interior designers with over 140 employees committed to design integrity, quality, and environmental responsibility. For over 65 years, they have served the industrial, commercial, health care, K-12 education, higher education, and government markets. The multi-discipline design firm offers architecture, interior design, furniture design, landscape architecture, planning services, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering, and technology and security services. For more information, visit www.towerpinkster.com.
The Challenge: TowerPinkster wanted to better utilize their BIM design models to create and keep in sync the design specifications. They also had created their master specifications with preferred language, design preferences, and other lessons learned. The diverse group of designers were familiar with Microsoft Word using macros for a few tasks. The new tools needed to be easy to learn and use even if only used a few times each year. In addition, specification writing was not a central task, so a variety of users across the firm needed to easily access and edit centralized project documents. A committee was tasked with evaluating commercially available tools for firm-wide use.
The Solution: The evaluation and selection of VisiSpecs was not difficult after the 30-day trial period. VisiSpecs editing features in Microsoft Word using their existing master specifications provided ease of migration, a short learning curve, and time saving features over their old process. The VisiSpecs Doc Outliner enabled the fast editing of their master specs based on the project needs, and the double click paragraph and bracket option edits were fast and powerful. The BIM model integration started with placing standard modeling elements such as boilers, pumps, piping, and valves on a drawing. The linking of the elements to the required specification was very intuitive. The VisiPublish view and QA Report ensured completion and consistency for changing the Status Flag to green indicating ready for compilation.
The Results: TowerPinkster will soon have rolled out VisiSpecs to over 100 employees across the firm. “Our users that edit specifications have all given positive feedback reinforcing our decision to go with VisiSpecs,” stated Lyal Ward, Senior Mechanical Engineer at TowerPinkster. Master and project specifications were easily imported into VisiSpecs due to the integration within Microsoft Word. The editing features quickly showed time savings and the status flag indicators visibly showed at a glance where additional focus was needed. Advanced testing of the automation and linking from the BIM model elements to the required specifications, paragraphs, and brackets will facilitate even more automation, consistency, and verification for the delivery of a high quality product. LEED projects have also been setup whereby all specifications with the related LEED language may easily be included or struck out based on the project status. TowerPinkster found the final QA Reporting caught missed items while the Publishing of the entire submission directly in VisiSpecs further saved time and reduced manual tedious processes required in the past.
Case Study Key Benefits:
- High User Acceptance
- Great Technical Services
- Easy Upgrade of Master Specs
- Time Saving Features
- Easy to Learn, Easy to Use
Read the complete case study and other customer testimonials here.
Visit www.chalklineinc.com or email info@chalklineinc.com to learn more about the VisiSpecs applications, request a free trial, register for live webinars, see customer testimonials, and download product information.
