If you have not worked with Civil Pro before, there are some general concepts and terms which will come in useful. This page describes the higher level elements of a Civil Pro project.
Contents
Lot based QA
Civil Pro is used for Lot Based Quality Assurance. A Lot is simply a defined activity or parcel of work. It may describe (for example):
- a layer of pavement between two chainages over a specific date range
- commissioning of an electrical cabinet
- the installation of subsoil drains along a service road
- a concrete pour on a bridge abutment
- the preparation of project management plans
- any identifiable work or process
Each Lot is uniquely identified by its Lot Number.
Other records in Civil Pro such as Non Conformance Reports (NCRs), Quantities, Test Requests, Photos, Authorities to Proceed (ATPs) and other records can be (and generally are) linked to Lots.
Work type, area codes and control lines
Each Lot references a Work Type and Area Code. These are classifiers to help group work by type or location. The Work Type and Area Code are (by default) used in the creation of the unique Lot Number (although this can be customised – refer to Custom Lot Numbers).
A Work Type is a 2 character code such as SG for subgrade or EL for electrical. An Area Code is a maximum 4 character code like MCSB – main carriageway southbound or DL13 – Drainage Line 13. The Work Types and Area Codes are listed in registers specific to each project.
A Control Line is simply a reference point for positioning Lots, Test Requests and other features. When using Chainage and Offset, the Control Line is used as the datum. These usually correlate with the survey reference for the project.
Schedule items and lot quantities
You can keep track of what quantities have been recorded (and approved) for each Lot. This requires a record of the Contract Payment Schedule. Civil Pro maintains a record of the Payment Schedule called the Schedule Item Register. You can even create a Progress Claim which compiles all of the quantities across all of the Lots by status. Alternatively, you can prepare your claim simply by entering the numbers directly against each Schedule Item for each payment period.
Specifications (Inspection test plans) and checklists
Each project has a set of Specifications to which it must comply. These are often very extensive documents that need to be condensed to an easily communicable plan for each work process. This plan is called an Inspection Test Plan or ITP. This describes how conformance with the Specification is managed by way of Inspections, Hold Points, Witness Points and Testing including who is responsible and how verification occurs. The actual record of this verification is through a Checklist, which in Civil Pro is derived from the ITP.
Non conformance reports (NCRs)
Non Conformance Reports are raised when an element of the works, or a process associated with the works fails to comply with the Specification. An NCR can be used for internal purposes or for gaining third party approval from the client’s representative. Civil Pro manages the entire non conformance process including documentation, approval and close out, cross referencing to other records and valuation.
Authority to proceed
An Authority to Proceed is used to identify to an approval authority that something needs to be approved, and their approval thereof. The advantage of an ATP over a Checklist is that it can identify when a request for approval was made, and when approval is required by in order to prevent delays to the project. This is very useful where the Specification requires specific lead times for approvals to be granted – for example, it is not uncommon for the client’s representative to require 24 hours notice for a pre-pour inspection on concrete and 10 days to approve project management plans.