LC Consulting is a medium-sized civil and structural engineering consultancy based in Johannesburg and Cape Town and in Dubai (UAE). The company has a high commitment to technological development and to the use of IT in its work and, as such, has spent considerable time and effort in formulating a technology 'action plan' to move its business forward.

The company has a strong allegiance to its investment in the Bentley suite of software products and, some years ago, set about linking these products together. The fundamental philosophy of the company is quite similar to that of the Bentley organisation in that it believes that all information should be captured once, accurately, and then be made available throughout the full course of the project - indeed for the full life of the built facility.

The idea, therefore, of developing a CAD-based suite of programs into one unified IT base led to the adoption of ProjectWise as the main backbone of the company's IT system. If ProjectWise performed that function alone, it would constitute a worthwhile investment by the company. Its ability, however, to lead the technology and design development activities of a whole project team is an advance in the way in which project developments can now be streamlined and controlled.

One office

The adoption of ProjectWise on this basis has led the company to pursue the policy of creating 'one office' in which all of the company knowledge and experience (from all of its offices) can be combined seamlessly into any project. This ability is a major step forward for any professional practice operating from more than one geographical location, in that know-how and experience in this industry rests primarily in the knowledge of individuals, and the ability physically to draw the appropriate experience on any project is one of the most significant developments in the industry in recent years.

LC Consulting runs its total business within ProjectWise on a network of leased lines between its offices. This has significantly reduced the time spent in locating information, ie documents from completed projects, specific documents in dispute resolution and all other related problems associated with accessing information that is held within the company.

The use of ProjectWise as the team link on major projects is a new development, which is so far showing a major return on effort. Currently the full documentation on a head office project for a South African bank is collected on a project network and major efficiencies are being experienced through the system.

Briefly, a three dimensional building model has been developed by LC Consulting and is held on the company server in Johannesburg. All project documentation developed by the team is loaded on to the server in ProjectWise and all team members have access to the relevant documentation through ProjectWise.

As the major traffic on the project runs between the architect and LC Consulting, these two offices have been linked with a leased 'Diginet' line. Other members of the team are connected through ISDN connections. Access control for security and management of the project has been set up individually with each team member and a system of notification to relevant parties has been set up so that, when any document is published, the intended receipts are automatically notified.

The co-ordination of services, structures and architecture are facilitated by the automatic assembly of overlaid drawing files from the various disciplines. A significant saving in printing of hard copies (and of trees!) is effected through the system.

In addition, the company has seconded a fulltime IT manager to man a project help desk, provide on site training to all project participants and generally act as a 'Mr Fix-It' on the information transfer. This is the second most important part of getting the system to operate to its full potential.

Because clients and project managers are part of the network, all changes and revisions are tracked through ProjectWise Bentley Publisher and the contractor, who is now commencing on site, intends to print the working documentation on site and may employ his own CAD operator to access the project model for clarification of details, etc.

The next step in the 'value capture process' is to extract from existing and new documents, a library of standards which could range from engineering details to contractual documentation. The company intends to construct a library of this information for easy access and utilisation on future projects. In this way, although ProjectWise is already a highly valuable tool within LC Consulting, this value will continue to grow into the future and, as ProjectWise develops, the quality of stored information advancement and significant efficiencies are envisaged well into the future.

For more information: Bentley Systems South Africa, 011 462 5811.