BSD SpecLink to Incorporate PerSpective

PerSpective's¹ performance specifications and short form specs are intended for use at early stages of a project, while BSD SpecLink's specifications are intended primarily as construction documents. By the end of this year, our subscribers will have access to all these capabilities in one, integrated product!

The performance specs produced by PerSpective are already linked to the short form specs that are included in a separate folder (Product Specifications). When the new merged SpecLink/PerSpective product is launched later this year, the PerSpective short form specs will also be linked to the construction document specifications in SpecLink. What this means for our users is that all specification decisions at all phases of a project can be recorded in one system without duplication and with greatly enhanced coordination. Performance specs prepared at the programming phase will trigger links to short form specs that are useful at the schematic design and design development phases. The completed short form specs, in turn, will be linked to the long form specifications prepared during the construction documents phase. Finally, the completed construction specifications will automatically produce administrative reports for use during the construction phase. Because all spec decisions are recorded in the same database, BSD's built-in intelligent linking will eliminate the necessity for re-entering product selections and related decisions and will minimize resulting contradictions and omissions.

What does this mean for existing PerSpective subscribers who don't have SpecLink, and vice versa? It will simply mean that more options become available. No one will be forced to amend or extend their subscriptions, but those who choose to do so can take advantage of a substantial discount on a combined subscription. Customers who already have subscriptions to both products will continue to have access to both, except that they will be interconnected, instead of separate products.

Final design of the new product is still some weeks away. However, it will probably look much like the existing products, with one major exception: The left (tree) panel will have separate tabs for the performance specs, short form specs, and construction document specs. Users will switch between the different trees by clicking on the appropriate tab. Links will be manifested as they are now, with green, yellow, and red status markers. In addition, links between the currently separate databases will be visible in the Links dialog box.

Ultimately, users will also be able to switch automatically between the 1995 MasterFormat and MasterFormat 2004² (see related article in this LinkLine edition). When the merged PerSpective/SpecLink is combined with the new switchable MasterFormat feature, the new BSD SpecLink+ will be a comprehensive specification production and management system that will be unsurpassed by anything else on the market. It will afford our users a system with unmatched flexibility and will allow creation and maintenance of single-source specifications through all project phases and for all types of clients.

¹PerSpective® is owned by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), (www.csinet.org), and is used with permission.

²MasterFormat is a joint publication between the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), (www.csinet.org), and the Construction Specifications Canada (CSC), (www.csc-dcc.ca), and is used with permission by the publisher CSI. For more information on MasterFormat visit <www.csinet.org/masterformat.