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CASE in Point
CASE Guideline 962-D: A Guideline Addressing Coordination and Completeness of Structural Construction Documents This guideline discusses the background behind the issue, the important aspects of design relationships, communication, coordination and completeness, guidance for dimensioning of structural drawings, effects of various project delivery systems, document revisions, and closes with recommendations for development and application of quality management procedures. A Drawing Review Checklist is attached. The key to achieving the desired level of quality throughout the profession is for each structural engineering firm to focus on and develop its own specific quality management plan and to implement that plan on each project. This guideline will assist the structural engineering profession in achieving that goal. Please see the companion publication to this document:
CASE Tool 9-1: A Guideline Addressing Coordination and Completeness of Structural Construction.
CASE Guideline 962-G: Guidelines for Performing Project Specific Peer Reviews on Structural Projects Increasing complexity of structural design and code requirements, compressed schedules and financial pressures are among many factors that have prompted the greater frequency of peer review of structural engineering projects. The peer review of a project by a qualified third party is intended to result in an improved project with less risk to all parties involved, including the engineer, owner, and contractor. The intention of these guidelines is to increase awareness of such issues, assist in establishing a framework for the review and improve the process for all interested parties. Please see the companion publication to this document: CASE
Contract #5: An Agreement for Structural Peer Review Services.
You can purchase all CASE products at www.booksforengineers.com.
CASE Summer Planning Meeting
August 6-7, 2013; Chicago, IL
The CASE Summer Planning Meeting is scheduled for August 6-7th in Chicago, IL. A new feature added to this meeting will be a roundtable discussion on topics relating to the business of Structural Engineering, facilitated by some of the CASE Executive Committee members. Topics in the past have included the Business of BIM, using social media within your firm, Peer Review and Special Inspections. Attendees to this session will also earn 1.5 PDHs. Please contact CASE Executive Director Heather Talbert (htalbert@acec.org) if you are interested in attending this roundtable or have any suggested topics for the roundtable.
Upcoming ACEC Online Seminars
Get On the Pathway to Success
August 6, 1:30-3:00 pm Stop waiting for the economy to improve. In The Pathway to Success, Scott Hunter, president of The Hunter Partnership Alliance, will demonstrate how firms don’t need to be dependent on the economy for their success and will lay out four steps that firms can take to start building business today. For more information and to register, www.acec.org/education/eventDetails.cfm?eventID=1443.
August 13, 1:30-3:00 pm Engineering firms use design thinking every day to solve their clients’ most pressing and complex design problems. In Using Design Thinking to Build Business and Break the Commodity Trap, find out how to use this core competency in your business planning. Joseph Rei of MORF Consulting will demonstrate how firms can use design thinking to gain market share, strengthen their position with clients, and solve the ongoing problem of “engineering commoditization.” For more information and to register, www.acec.org/education/eventDetails.cfm?eventID=1446.
Top ACEC On-Demand Webinars from spring 2013:
• Transportation Project Financing Through TIFIA: Major
Expansion of Federal Assistance • Are You Fighting Fires Instead of Managing Your
Employees? • Accounting 101 for Project Managers • Creating a High-Performing Marketing & Business
Development Organization • How to Write Division 00: Tips for Preparing Effective
Bidding and Contracting • Seven Critical Mistakes Engineers Make During
Contract Negotiation & Project Executing that Sabotage
Their Projects & Invite Litigation • Successful Integration of an Acquisition
To see the full ACEC Bookstore selection, www.acec.org/bookstore.
Gov. Mitch Daniels, FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez to Headline ACEC Fall Conference in Scottsdale, AZ
Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and budget director for President George W. Bush, and FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez will keynote the 2013 ACEC Fall Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, October 27-30. During his two terms as governor, Daniels turned the state’s $800 million budget deficit into a $370 million surplus, and funded a backlog of public transportation projects through a $4 billion public-private partnership. He also created a $500 million highway trust fund to maintain the state’s roads. Mendez, who was director of the Arizona DOT prior to becoming FHWA administrator, has long grappled with the nation’s transportation challenges. His signature initiative is the Every Day Counts program to accelerate project delivery and innovation. The Conference also features top industry CEO panels and more than three dozen educational sessions and business roundtables. For more information and to register, www.acec.org/conferences/fall-13/index.cfm.
CASE is on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great virtual resource for networking, education, and now, connecting with CASE. Join the CASE LinkedIn Group today! www.linkedin.com.
You can follow ACEC Coalitions on Twitter – @ACECCoalitions.
CASE Business Practice Corner
If you would like more information on the items below, please contact Ed Bajer, ebajer@acec.org. Addressing Engineer-Caused Change Orders
The engineer should educate the owner that a certain amount of imprecision and incompleteness is to be expected in the design documentation. An option in Appendix I of the EJCDC Engineer/Owner Agreement is intended to address engineercaused change orders, whether caused by professional negligence or imperfections within professional standards. 6.10.A.3 of Appendix I provides a “safe harbor” for covered change orders up to a certain percentage of construction costs. The blank percentage will need to be filled in. Any claims over that will be only for the amount in excess of the agreed-to percentage. Limitation of liability is not intended to be a complete solution. The engineer remains liable to the owner within the agreed limits and to third parties regardless of such limitation.
Elements of a Bad Contract
What would a bad contract look like? It would probably include a heightened standard of care, meaning you promised more than what is expected of a person in your position. This is important because, in court, if it is shown you raised the standard of care higher you are expected to meet it. Not meeting the expectations of the owner is a frequent trigger of this. The contract might also include a duty to defend the party with whom you have signed a contract, which could take effect even though you have done nothing wrong. An incomplete scope of services is also bad, as is the lack of an appropriate dispute resolution. Some form of limitation of liability is advisable. These are enforceable but there are nuances in the law from state to state.
Patent Trollers Take a Hit
Being an Expert Witness: The Ph.D. Doesn’t Always Win
It’s all about credibility. But how do you get it? Education counts of course, but it is more than that. Knowledge of the subject matter is important, as is knowledge of the case (do your homework). Manner of presentation is significant; simplify complex issues and use analogies that lay people understand. You maintain your credibility by keeping a steady demeanor and not being defensive but, if necessary, stand up for yourself. Identify any conflicts you have with other experts and explain why you are correct. Major copy companies have filed a lawsuit that there is no basis for asking a licensing fee for use of scanning technology. The companies contend that the 426 patent is invalid, the infringement claims are without merit and the licensing demands are unsupportable. These involve the use of scanner/ copiers that scan a hard copy document into an electronic file and then transmit that file to someone else. Some firms have received letters saying that if they are using this technology they are infringing on a patent and must pay a license fee. The patent has become the subject of an aggressive patent licensing campaign by various entities that are targeting users of the products of virtually every manufacturer of multi-function imaging equipment.
CASE in Point
Increasing the Velocity of Knowledge
By Gene Frodsham, MS, S.E.
The complexity of calculations and the development of new materials and methods have increased the amount of knowledge necessary for engineers to learn. In response, the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) propose increasing the education requirements for licensure to a bachelor’s degree plus 30 hours (B+30). The movement to require essentially a master’s degree was done without sufficient consultation with practicing engineers; there is a far more efficient solution available. The leaders of these organizations are correct that the problem is one of time. However, it is not one of more time. Instead, we need to implement means of presentation that increase the rate of learning, also known as the velocity of knowledge. The underlying principle has always been known, as shown by sayings like “a picture is worth a thousand words,” “seeing is believing,” and “experience is the best teacher”. This describes a transfer of knowledge greater than the 300-500 words per minute that is typical when reading text with 2D pictures. “Seeing” operates in four dimensions from any viewpoint. With the concept of “seeing”, we have an efficient way to display all human knowledge operating in reality. The necessary technology is now off-theshelf. Computer gaming gives ready-made tools for developing 3D environments to show any process or procedure. Goggles are available for the display of this virtual reality. MathCad and other programs give us the ability to show problems in the traditional calculation format. We can thus create a world in which we build and watch every interaction in real time in any amount of detail, from any position, in four dimensions, and even be a part of them. From the present operating system of being in a room looking out a window on the far wall, we can now be immersed with knowledge all around us – on every surface, or suspended in space with the entire volume used for presentation. There is no end to the density of information and the interconnection of knowledge that can be achieved. In every area, unlimited and flexible visualization will allow the tailoring of learning. Every child can have an education equal to the best prep schools with tutors for every class. Feedback from the virtual reality learning programs will provide the “educational research” to ascertain the methods of learning that are actually used by people in practice. This concept applies to all areas of knowledge – from engineering, math and chemistry to biology and languages, and even to the skills of mechanics and other trades. Every process can be experienced as though the student were doing it. In virtual space, layers of information can be displayed at a glance – geometry, material specifications, installation instructions, nomenclature and traditional calculations. In engineering, buildings and machines can be simulated in three dimensions; all loads can be shown and all code references can be indicated. There is then no more need for “black box” spreadsheets and other software that give more decimal places, but not more significant figures. In construction management, the student can see a project being planned and built and learn to do every position, inspection, calculation and report from the start. Medical and biology classes can be conducted in the virtual world where every structure, chemical reaction and physical process is observed. The student can stand in the middle of space and see the atoms and chemical reactions, along with all the data, procedures and calculations. Math and computer programming can be taught with all information available, including applied problems or proofs and derivations. Electronic designs can be seen operating at the level of the structure of the electrons, transistors or chips, a 3D operation in real time. Languages can be taught by intensive immersion. We need a human interface language for creation and operation of the display of virtual knowledge. The interface language can be acquired by children, becoming an inherent part of growing up as they progressively learn the complexity of the interface. By contrast, engineers currently must become familiar with multiple interfaces using large numbers of explanatory books. A common standard human interface will save great time and effort. Increasing education requirements will not do what is necessary; increasing the velocity of knowledge will. The layering and interconnection allowed by “seeing” knowledge creates multiple paths for learning and the tailoring of lessons for each student, fostering both rigor and flexibility and allowing the student to choose the best way in which to learn. This would give everyone a powerful tool to extend their knowledge and the boundaries of their understanding, at the greatest possible velocity. Coordination of these interfaces and the methods of displaying knowledge must be the responsibility of the engineering societies. It is time for engineers to take their fate into their own hands and start this process that will benefit every field, profession, and type of work. The parts already exist. The programming has been created. The hardware is now in place. The coordination to create the protocols for the data and standards for presentation remains to be done. The benefits are far beyond just engineering – the whole of human knowledge can be displayed and experienced. It can be learned by immersion with the tutors and processes optimized for each individual, resulting in a revolutionary increase in the velocity of knowledge. This method will cut years from traditional education programs and expand the scope and abilities of everyone. It is a project that is worth the effort of a generation, and an extraordinary inheritance to bestow upon future generations.▪
Gene Frodsham, MS, S.E. (gfrodsham1@gmail.com), is a structural engineer practicing in Nevada.
Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C 3Ink, or the STRUCTURE® magazine Editorial Board.
