AUTODESK CIVIL 3D CAD MANAGER’S GUIDE
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• Viral Pilots: The initial project team consists of users who have been through
basic training and for whom the pilot project acts as advanced training. This team
completes the first project at your firm, developing standards, operating
practices, and templates along the way. After this project is complete, this group
disseminates knowledge to the next group. These team members then become
responsible for teaching the basics to the next generation of users, honing their
own skills in the process. This method can be the least expensive, but often
results in a slower adoption and more uncertainty that users are learning best
practices and techniques.
• Hybrid Methodology: This method combines aspects of the other two methods.
The hybrid training plan typically includes basic training for the initial group of
users from an outside expert-level trainer. This group completes a project,
working with the expert to build styles and standards in preparation of more
widespread user base. After this project is complete, these users are then used
with the expert as a training core, rotating through teams and acting as the
mentor for their peers. This approach allows the first generation of users to train
while having the expert immediately available for assistance if needed. Because
this method allows local users to be more involved in the training of the next
generation of users, more customization based on skill levels is possible.
By reviewing your goals for implementation speed and cost, you can decide on a pilot and
training methodology and begin detailed planning for your user-base training.
Metrics of Your Pilot Project
Most engineers enjoy the challenge of their work and the feeling of solving a tough
problem. With that in mind, engineering is still a business, and part of your job is to make
the design staff and CAD technicians in your firm as successful as possible. Part of that
success is understanding the measurement of success for your pilot project and
implementation.
Firms measure success in many different ways. Some firms base team or process
success purely on the change in the bottom line. Many firms use a multiplier to
understand the rewards of adopting new technology. In land development, cost per lot or
acre developed is a common metric, as is designer or technician hours on a specific
component of the work. Before beginning a pilot project, it is important that you
understand the metric used to measure your success.
Your goal might be to make your users’ lives easier and send them home with fewer
headaches; reduce errors and omissions due to inconsistent annotation; or help your
designer explore more options to deliver value engineering. Your users might simply want
to spend less time at work. Or maybe they dislike labeling or redline markups. Making end
users happy helps to increase their respect for you as a leader of the CAD team. No
matter what metric you use to measure success, it’s important that it is understood up
front as part of the pilot project.
By being clear on this from the outset, you can focus on what matters to all interested
parties. By delivering results to all stakeholders on their own terms, you can make your
pilot project a success.
