SPECTEXT®, Past, Present and Future
This article is based on a presentation by Douglas W. Day, FCSI, President of CSRF, and David Stutzman, RA, CSI, President of Focus Collaborative, Inc., at the 1999 CSI Convention in Los Angeles.
By Douglas W. Day and David Stutzman
In order to talk about the history of SPECTEXT®, one needs to know about the Construction Sciences Research Foundation (CSRF). CSRF can trace its history back to the beginning of CSI in 1948, when a group of people recognized the need to modernize construction specifications. From the beginning, many CSI leaders have addressed the need for better communication. It wasn't until the 1966 CSI Convention in Boston, however, that hardware and software had progressed far enough to implement some of the ideas being discussed. Arthur Brown, FCSI and former President of the Institute, but then a member of the Boston Chapter, assembled machines at the convention for some hands-on demonstrations of then "state-of-the-art" equipment. The machines included paper tape typewriters and magnetic tape devices. This display of early word processing hardware led to discussions among CSI members about how the word processor and other machines would be used for specification development and information management.
Several progressive members of CSI became concerned about the impact of automation.
As a result, CSI commissioned the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to investigate the then "state-of-the-art" in the automation of document management. The Stanford Research Institute was selected, due to several other parallel studies SRI was currently involved with. SRI surveyed representative firms in the industry at that time (1967) and recommended programs to address the communication and information handling needs of the industry.
Those CSI members instrumental in this decision were Henry Baume, President; John C. Anderson, Vice-President; and Charles R. Carroll, Jr., Treasurer. Charles Diehl, P.E., Vice-President of George Washington University, was in charge.
The SRI study highlighted the technological disorganization within the construction industry. Although equipped with a vast array of technology, communication processes were not designed to handle the flood of information that was being created.
There was a communication breakdown.
There was an inability to efficiently communicate information between all participants, competently and quickly. Thus, rational decisions could not be made. It was as bad as if we were attempting to communicate with hieroglyphics. Previously man was highly selective in communicating needs. Now the building industry was dealing with daily floods of trivial and inconsequential information. It was simply a maze without a finite destination.
The SRI study considered first the complexity resulting from the numerous participants in the construction process, and how they interact. It then considered the process itself, from inception to obsolescence and replacement, and, finally, it examined, in some detail, the then current levels of automation. The study identified five levels of automation, which, in 1967, (32 years ago) had not been previously diagnosed within the industry. They saw material selection as a barrier to be breached and also assumed that only large mainframe computers had necessary power to support the programs.
The resulting report came to be known as the Stanford Report.
It was published by CSI in 1967 as CSI Document STD-1. The Stanford Report recommended that CSI take a position of leadership in the construction industry, and develop systems to automate the management of construction documents, including specifications. This was a first attempt to deal with a communication problem that was often compared to the Tower of Babel.
In 1967, as a direct result of the Stanford Report, CSI formed The Construction Sciences Research Foundation to be the vehicle for the research necessary to develop programs regarding specification practices and techniques affecting the construction industry. CSRF is a "not-for-profit" research foundation, and is separate from, but has worked in close coordination with, CSI. The CSRF Board is composed of both CSI members and other respected members of the construction industry.
CSRF was sponsored by CSI with initial funding in 1967.
All funding was repaid to CSI, with interest by 1976. Throughout its existence, CSRF has paid for various administrative services provided by CSI. Over the years, CSRF's income has been derived from sale of programs developed by CSRF, most notably SPECTEXT®. Funds are also received from several projects done on a consulting or contract basis for a variety of private and governmental agencies.
In 1968, CSRF, defining further the information contained in the Stanford Report, established the CONCOM7 concept, a package of interfacing systems. The acronym CONCOM®, which stood for Construction Communications, was applied to the concept.
CSRF began in 1968 to identify communications gaps within the industry. It proposed the research projects needed to develop solutions, and allow all participants in the construction process: owners, financiers, design professionals, contractors, product manufacturers, suppliers, maintenance engineers and others, to make rational, rapid and substantially error-free decisions through the medium of a common language and the tools of computer technology.
This resulted in a report entitled "Creating a Common Language" published by CSRF in 1971. The report outlined a program of computer-assisted exchange of project information between all the participants in the construction process, the essential program for a common language.
Through a matrix, the report linked the facility phases, from inspection to obsolescence with the participants and the process.
Programs included were:
Each of these programs included sub-systems. Typical is DESFILE, as a part of COMSTOR®, for design oriented filing, similar in concept to the layering proposals now being considered by AIA and others. Similarly, SPEC-DATA® is a subset of COMDATA®, and SPECTEXT® is a subset of COMSPEC®.
The first program implemented under this concept was COMSPEC®.
COMSPEC® was both a new computer language and a nationally available computer based specification program. More precisely, it was a computer-based text manipulation program for use in preparing specifications. It could accept any subscriber's master specification, store it, manipulate the text according to directions, and give him back a revised, error-free, computer-typed, specification in an extremely short period of time. As originally developed, COMSPEC® required the power of a mainframe computer. For those who might remember, COMSPEC® was implemented by Bowne Information Systems and supported about a dozen master specifications through time sharing and telecommunications. With the advent of the PC, the use of the mainframe diminished and specification production shifted to the new vehicle.
The next program developed by CSRF was a master guide specification, SPECTEXT®, which was formatted to be able to take advantage of automation.
Over the years CSRF has been involved in many other projects. They
include:
Now back to SPECTEXT®.
Over the years SPECTEXT® has been enlarged and expanded to include several editions to provide support for various professional needs, such as architectural, mechanical/electrical, civil and other users. In addition, an abridged version, SPECTEXT® II, has been available since the fall of 1987. This version provides a specification system directed to the smaller project. SPECTEXT® OUTLINE SPECIFICATION, suitable for preliminary design development and compatible with other versions of SPECTEXT® is also available.
Initially, SPECTEXT® was created by CSRF's consultants and technically reviewed by CSI. This review was accomplished by quarterly meetings of CSI's Specification Subcommittee. SPECTEXT® was marketed by Construction Data Services of Hauppauge, New York, the exclusive agent for sale of electronic versions of SPECTEXT®. Hard copy versions were available through CSI.
From March of 1996 until September of 1998, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) was the exclusive marketer of the electronic version of SPECTEXT®. For most of that time, NIBS employed specification consultants to revise, expand, enhance, and update SPECTEXT®. During this same time period, CSI terminated its agreement with CSRF to technically review SPECTEXT®. CSRF then established a review committee of specification consultants and users to review SPECTEXT®.
Since October of 1998, SPECTEXT® has been marketed and supported by the CSRF Support Center. The Support Center is managed by Sharon Epple, CSI, who has a long relationship with both CSRF and SPECTEXT®. Sharon and her associates are familiar with the SPECTEXT® family of products and specification practices, and can provide most assistance a subscriber may require, including the various word processing applications available for SPECTEXT®, such as Macintosh, WORD and WordPerfect®.
CSRF also needed to establish the methods for revising, expanding, and enhancing the SPECTEXT® family of products. We determined that this could best be accomplished by hiring the services of an outside consultant. CSRF desired to hire consultants who are actually writing specifications on a daily basis for the construction industry. CSRF selected Focus Collaborative, a specifications and quality assurance consulting firm with offices in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Not only did we get individuals who are writing project manuals and specifications on a daily basis, but who also have expertise in a number of design and construction disciplines.
SPECTEXT®, It's Present and Future
Traditional Master Specs
Master specifications, traditionally, have been collections of documents from past projects, that may be useful for future work. The collection provides a very good representation of the class and quality of buildings that an architect's or engineer's office regularly designs. The specification files are basic word processing files. The text content is paramount. This is the design firm's collective experience. All the lessons learned over the years of answering questions during the construction phase are represented in that text. The formatting is secondary. Individual documents vary in appearance. Documents modified to suit a particular client or project remain in the dictated format. Electronic files may be saved in several word processing versions and possibly in multiple word processing applications. Typically these files are copied and revised for each project, using electronic cut and paste methods. Specifiers must carefully review each document to find the text that must be modified to accommodate specific project requirements. There are limited editing clues in the document to help produce the final document. Physical editing of the documents may be done by typists or word processors that have little knowledge of specifications. Life was simple. With ample time, a comprehensive, coordinated project specification could be prepared.
At first, SPECTEXT® mimicked the masters that design offices created themselves.
In addition, SPECTEXT® offered a coordinated library of master specification documents covering a range of specification topics that would satisfy the needs of many building types. The documents included the first editing clues for specifiers by providing fill-in-the-blanks and brackets to indicate common editing choices.
Present Master Specification Systems
Over the years, computers and word processing applications became increasingly sophisticated. These improvements provided specifiers new means to speed production and improve specification quality. SPECTEXT® embraced the new technology that moved word processing from main frame computers and stand-alone machines to the specifier's desktop. As a result, the specification editing process became more technical. Specifiers and word processing operators needed to learn and understand the capabilities of the technology to benefit from the improvements.
Technology permitted automatic paragraph numbering using word processing outlining features. This, perhaps, was one of the greatest improvements for producing a final specification. Now, specifiers and typists do not need to carefully review each document when editing is complete, only to find erroneous and out of sequence numbers. One of the necessary, tedious steps was eliminated. Paragraph styles were coupled with automatic numbering. Styles can be used to control virtually every aspect of the physical appearance of the final specification. Specifiers can also produce draft and final specs with entirely different appearance, so there is no mistake about which version is being used.
Master specification systems adopted other new word processing tools to varying degrees, including macros and relational text. Exploiting these features requires a degree of sophistication in the master specifications and on the part of the user that was not required before. SPECTEXT®'s approach was to keep it simple and expand the feature set slowly. This permitted any experienced specifier or word processor to be able to use the system successfully without additional training. Subscribers could continue to use sections developed with previous editions of SPECTEXT® and could easily create their own sections to integrate with the latest SPECTEXT® library.
Macros were introduced to help complete time consuming, repetitive tasks.
Relational text and automated editing tools have
been introduced in some master specifications. These features require a high
degree of sophistication in the master. They also require training for users to
understand how the system operates and how to produce the desired results. These
tools can limit the ability to add office specific sections to the master
library to take advantage of the same features. A thorough understanding of the
features, and possibly programming knowledge, is required to integrate new
sections into the system using the full features of the system.
Future Master Specs
Future master specification systems will separate
content from structure, will use intelligent objects and will link objects to
drawing elements. Separating the content from the structure is essential to
developing intelligent objects and drawing links. Traditional and current
specifications are created on a printed or electronic page for distribution on a
page. The page presentation, with today's technology, requires the content and
structure to be intertwined. However, the structure is irrelevant for conveying
a message. The only function the structure performs is to make the message
recognizable, and quickly comprehensible to a reader. For efficient integration
with objects and drawing linking, specifications must be distilled to raw data
or content.
Since humans will still have input into the
specification writing process, it is important to present the content in an
understandable format. The structure will be controlled by something like XML, a
universal publishing language. The language will be understandable by every
machine platform, every word processor, and every Internet publishing tool. The
construction industry will develop a subset of XML as a specification standard.
The agreed standard will help ensure universal application, similar to what the
chemical, mathematical, financial and other industries have already begun.
Master specifications will rely more heavily on relational content
Because of the integration of data with drawings
and intelligent objects, it will be important to maintain a single source for
specific content. Through the content relationships, the information will be
automatically updated for specifications and drawings relying on the basic
information source. The International Association for Interoperability (IAI) and
the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) are exploring technology and
models to make information integration a reality.
Master specifications will take on additional roles in the construction process.
Specifications will not be a finished product.
Instead, specifications will be a process of communicating among the project
team. From the initial table of contents to the final record documents,
specifications will be used to share collective knowledge, explore alternative
solutions, caution potential pitfalls, and record decisions. The specifications
will be a live, continuously active document, representing the current project
status.
Build Toward the Future SPECTEXT® is building on current knowledge and
skills to integrate new technology. This will be a gradual process of
introducing several new features at a time rather than sweeping major changes.
SPECTEXT® will endeavor to allow subscribers to integrate current documents
into the library with access to the advantages of the new features. With gradual
changes, the industry will accept the changes more willingly. And gradual
changes allow SPECTEXT® to react to new industry developments quickly.
Gradual change to reach a goal requires a plan.
CSRF has a plan and is constantly reviewing and
modifying the plan to reflect research developments in the industry. Changes
will be integrated as a well defined module, similar to computer programming.
Modules will be developed independently, but with the ability to be fully
integrated in any combination. This approach will give subscribers flexibility
to select an approach that makes sense for their particular situation. Some will
have little need for specification integration with other systems. Some will
continue to need only basic word processing. Some will require full integration
with drawings, cost estimates, schedules, facility maintenance, and other
project control systems.
SPECTEXT® Features
In the January, 1999 release, new features were added to the SPECTEXT® library. An automated combined table of contents allows subscribers to search and sort the complete SPECTEXT® library. This new tool helps subscribers make the transition from MasterFormat 1988 to MasterFormat™ 1995. The contents shows the section numbers that were used in 1988 and the new numbers assigned in 1995. The contents can be sorted by either the 1988 or the 1995 section numbers which is especially helpful to find sections that moved from one Division to another. The contents shows which sections are included in the SPECTEXT and the SPECTEXT® II libraries. A brief description of the section contents is included to help subscribers select the most appropriate sections for each project.
A Glossary was introduced as a companion document for SPECTEXT® master specification libraries to help coordinate construction documents. The new SPECTEXT® Glossary of Terms provides a list of product and system terms used in the SPECTEXT® libraries. You can use the Glossary to help coordinate terms between the drawings and the specifications. The Glossary is a unique feature to help architects and engineers maintain a high level of quality control. Design firms using the Glossary as a guide to noting drawings will improve the coordination between drawings and specifications. Firms using the ConDoc system for keynoting construction drawings will have a Glossary coordinated with master specifications to act as the starting point for the master keynote list.
With the 1999 mid-year release, CSRF will issue
new automated formatting tools for Microsoft Word users. These tools will allow
users to modify text attributes and paragraph spacing controlled by styles and
apply changes to all paragraphs in a document at each outline level. Finally, a
new feature will allow users to write their own macros and then apply their
macros to every document or selected documents in a folder. This new macro
applicator is a powerful tool to eliminate those manual tasks such as setting up
a project header, or changing "Owner's" to "Owner's
Representative" in each document.
In this summer's release, the SPECTEXT® Speller will be introduced. The speller will contain words used in SPECTEXT® that are not recognized by standard dictionaries issued with word processing programs. The Speller will include words, abbreviations, acronyms, and jargon that have been verified by independent sources. Subscribers will have the option of including standard designations that combine text and numbers and manufacturer and product names.
SPECTEXT® Benefits
CSRF actively encourages your participation in SPECTEXT® development. You have ideas we want to hear. You have suggestions about improving the library. You find details in the documents we want to improve. CSRF established the SPECTEXT® Support Center to listen to your comments. Please let us know what you think.
SPECTEXT® 2000 and Beyond
CSRF will introduce new features to help specifiers communicate with the project team and to record information in master documents for future reference. A style will be added to the document templates that will allow users to automatically insert notes that will be easily identifiable from the specification text. The notes will be visible on-screen and as printed text in a format that will photocopy and fax without losing its identity as a note. These type of notes are proven to be an effective specification tool. Use the client notes to flag unresolved issues, identify potential coordination problems and to offer alternative solutions to solve particular problems. Use the master notes to record problems reported during construction, until the issue can be researched and resolved. Having notes to help complete the construction specification is helpful. But notes in individual sections are difficult to access. CSRF plans to introduce a tool to compile all the client or master notes into a single document to give the specifier and project team a convenient list of open issues.
Each time a new feature is added to the SPECTEXT® library, CSRF intends to provide a tool for subscribers to update documents created by previous editions. Then each subscriber can have the full benefit of all features in the SPECTEXT® library without recreating master documents.
CSRF plans to issue new or enhanced tools with each SPECTEXT® edition. So contribute your ideas, suggestions, samples, and criticisms. We are striving to make your job easier.
The CSRF newsletter is published for SPECTEXT® subscribers and others involved in design and construction. To obtain your copy of Creating a Common Language®, please contact the CSRF Support Center by telephone at 1-877- SPECTXT or 410-838-7561 or you may e-mail us at supportcenter@csrf.org
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