InfoTown™
Bev's journey · Procurement · Lesson 2

Signing up the subbie

Before you start

In the story

Six weeks of drawings in Rex's inbox, because nobody ordered the logins.

Back to the story

The right way

The order

It carries what they must deliver (our requirements to them), our BEP, their part of the delivery plan and the protocol. And CDE licences, a training session and a test upload, priced and dated.

Before day one

Sam sets up the accounts and Bev chases the training date. In week one the firm trains and uploads a test drawing. It goes the right way.

Monday

Their first real drawing lands in the CDE. Rex's inbox is quiet.

"Just email it for now"Six weeks of drawings in an inbox, and 140 that never reached the CDE.
Set up before day oneLogins, training and a test upload, ordered and priced.
Think like Bev

Starting work includes starting the information. Before a firm turns up, has it got logins, training and a test upload booked? And who's paying for them?

Continue Bev's journey

Story 3: Ordered off the old spec

Bev orders the escalators against the specification in the enquiry. It changed a fortnight earlier.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

A new firm moving into town needs its keys, its parking permit and a map before it starts work, not three weeks after.

If you're the subcontractor

If you're the subcontractor

Ask for your logins and training before day one, and budget for the licences. Emailing drawings "for now" turns into forever.

In the town See it in the town: six weeks of drawings in Rex's inbox. What was missing on day one?

Bev's view: the Site Office hands every new firm its keys and a map before the first parcel moves.

The towns meet at the project site Your town, Designer Town and Client Town each stay where they are. Roads from all three lead into one shared project site in the middle, with a Site Office being built and a sign saying for this job only. DESIGNER TOWNYOUR TOWNCLIENT TOWN THE PROJECT SITESITE OFFICE THIS JOB ONLY stays where it isstays where it isstays where it is everyone worksthrough the site

Now mobilise it: build and connect the site

In the middle sits the Site Office: the project's CDE, joined to your own Records Office by the home line. Lines run out to every town: the design line to the designers, the client line to the client, the home line back to your own Records Office, the feeder line to the site apps and footpaths to the cabins. The workflows running along all these lines are how one system passes work to another. Signposts tell everyone where each kind of work goes, and the gate decides who gets in.

  1. Build the Site Office
  2. Connect the towns
  3. Plug in the site apps
  4. Put up the signposts
  5. Set up the gate
  6. Test everything

The towns are there. The project site is an empty plot. Your job: mobilise it.

The project site, connected A project site with the Site Office (the project CDE) at its centre. A design line runs to Designer Town, a line runs to the Client Town, a line runs home to your town's Records Office, a feeder line runs to the site apps, and footpaths lead to the site cabins. Signposts show where drawings, photos, RFIs and approvals go. A gate at the edge of the site controls who gets in. PROJECT SITE DESIGN LINE CLIENT LINE HOME LINE FEEDER LINE DESIGNER TOWN DESIGN SYSTEM CLIENT TOWN YOUR TOWN RECORDS OFFICE CDE SITE OFFICE SITE CABINS SITE APPS MOBILISED ✓ Drawings → Site Office ← Paper? Scan it in Site photos → app ← Visitors: sign in here Approvals → client line
Design line. To and from the designers.
Home line. Back to your own Records Office.
Client line. To and from the Client Town.
Feeder line. What's captured on site must reach the Site Office: by hand, on a schedule, through a link between systems, or because the app is part of the CDE.

This is mobilising the supply chain!

Every firm set up, trained and tested before it produces anything.

Sam's Heads Up Some firms bring their own CDE

InfoTown good practice: Every firm shares and publishes through the project's CDE.

On your job: A big firm may run its own system and connect to yours. Fine, as long as the route between them is agreed and tested before day one.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • When did this firm get its access and training?
  • Show me its first test upload.
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • Orders that include licences and training.
  • Training and access records dated before work started.
  • A test upload record.
From the standard
ISO 19650 Mobilising each firm

ISO 19650 expects each firm to be mobilised before it produces information: people trained, IT set up and the methods tested. Who pays for the licences is your contract's business.

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.