InfoTown™
Stevie's journey · Engineering · Lesson 7

Drawn versus built

Before you start

In the story

The drawings said "as built". They meant "as drawn".

Back to the story

The right way

As it's built

Every change on site is recorded when it happens, and before it's buried Stevie surveys what was actually built: positions, levels, covers and pipe depths.

Before handover

The differences go back to the designer. The drawings are revised to match and checked against Stevie's survey.

Two years later

The crew digs once, in the right place. They never find out who to thank, which is rather the point.

StampedForty drawings that show the design, and a crew digging in the wrong place.
MeasuredChanges recorded as they happen, surveyed before they're buried, and one hole dug.
Think like Stevie

As built means measured, not stamped. What changed on site, who recorded it, and has anyone surveyed it before it disappears under the tarmac?

That's Stevie's journey

Follow someone else

Every district has its own stories. See who else is in town, or start again with Rex.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

The town map is only useful if it shows the town as it stands, not as someone once planned it. A stamp doesn't move a manhole on paper.

If you're the designer

If you're the designer

When site tells you something moved, revise the drawing then, not in the last week. And don't let anyone stamp "as built" on a drawing nobody has checked against the ground.

In the town See it in the town: forty drawings, one afternoon, one stamp. What could possibly go wrong?

Stevie's view: what goes on the published shelf at handover is what the next crew will dig by.

Handing over: authorise, accept, publish Parcels with S codes leave the shared table in the Site Office. They stop at the firm leading the work to be authorised, then travel to the Client Town to be accepted, and arrive on the published shelf with A codes. A dashed route sends rejected parcels back with comments. Below the road, a cupboard of parcels that stay with us never goes to the client. A strip shows S1 to S5 turning into A1, A2 and so on, one A code per work stage. SHARED TABLE AUTHORISE CLIENT TOWN ACCEPT PUBLISHED STAYS WITH US S1S2S3S4S5A1A2An Is it all here,and does it fit? Is it whatwe asked for? Shared: S4 to authorise, S5 to acceptSigned off: n is the work stage Not right? Back with comments S codesA codes
Pick a stopThe last leg

Shared

On the label
IM calls it
Watch out for

This is the start of the Asset Information Model!

The record the owner runs the asset from for years, so it has to show what's really in the ground.

Sam's Heads Up Your client may want data, not drawings

InfoTown good practice: Hand over what the owner needs to run the asset.

On your job: They may want asset data in their own format as well as drawings. Read what they asked for before the last month, not in it.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me how the as-built record was checked against what was actually built.
  • Where were the changes on site recorded, and when?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • An as-built survey, with dates.
  • Marked-up drawings from site, dated when the change happened.
  • Revised drawings, checked against the survey before handover.
From the standard
ISO 19650 The asset information model

ISO 19650 expects what's handed over to give the owner the information they need to run the asset; that becomes the asset information model. That an as-built record should be measured, not stamped, is InfoTown's advice.

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.