Lifecycle Management for Building Markets

Introduction of AutoCAD 2005 and family of products paves the way for Autodesk customers accross all industries to realise maximum productivity gains during design creation, management and collaborati

Today's introduction of AutoCAD 2005 software and family-based products, by Autodesk, the world's leading design software and digital content company, delivers improved design creation, management and collaboration solutions for its customers in the building, infrastructure (GIS and civil engineering) and manufacturing industries.

The core of this release is AutoCAD 2005, a product optimised to save time and money by improving efficiencies in the digital workflow process for drafting and design professionals.

AutoCAD 2005 provides enhanced capabilities that allow users to better manage and publish sheet sets and communicate project information for mark-up and review.

These new features enable customers worldwide to improve their on-time, on-budget project delivery.

"AutoCAD 2005 demonstrates Autodesk's increased commitment to its customers' growing business needs, and what the industry requires for integrated workflow and collaboration," said Gisela Wilson, director of Product Lifecycle Management at IDC.

Lifecycle Management (the effective management and tracking of complex project data throughout the entire length of a project) is a critical success factor for Autodesk customers working in the building, infrastructure and manufacturing industries.

The portfolio of products built from the new features in AutoCAD 2005 delivers the functionality needed for efficient workflow processes.

Users now have the ability to create and manage coordinated sets of drawings and project teams can review and mark-up the sets of drawings for more effective communication.

AutoCAD 2005 Tailored for Industry Sectors Setting the new standard in CAD productivity, AutoCAD 2005 is optimized to meet specific industry needs so all customers can reduce costs and improve efficiencies throughout their project lifecycles.

Productivity has always been a cornerstone in the profitability and viability of any industry that creates, manages and shares complex data and design information.

Whether creating sophisticated 2D and 3D design and drafting, complex data driven analysis and mapping, or object-based modelling; Autodesk industry solutions help increase productivity, improve team collaboration and reduce cycle times.

"The fact that all the infrastructure products are seamlessly integrated to share data back and forth will be a great improvement on our system," said Ed Williams, senior analyst, Southern Company.

"We will now have the capability to share data more efficiently than we have in the past." One Consistent Set of Drawings This release has evolved AutoCAD software from single-page drawing to the creation and management of entire sets of related drawings, directly inside the application.

There can be hundreds of pages within a complete set of drawings (or sheets) that is ultimately delivered to a customer, but it is the complete "sheet set" that encompasses all the information including annotations and other critical design data used to complete the project.

Customers use information contained in the sheet set to communicate effectively and ensure the consistency and the highest quality over the project lifecycle.

Today, most organisations manage sheet sets using a file and folder structure on local disk drives and network servers.

This manual method is labour intensive and susceptible to error.

The new "Sheet Set Manager" feature provides an easy way to collate drawing sheets into logical sets and subsets that users can define by company, project or other industry standards.

The user can quickly assemble sheet sets using existing drawings, propagate sheet standards over multiple projects and provide simultaneous access to sheet sets within their local area network.

Sheets can be easily added or removed from a full set or any subset by using the Sheet Set Manager tool palette or the context-sensitive menu.

"The newest version of AutoCAD solves some of the key workflow issues that I have been trying to resolve," said Darren Myles, CAD/IT manager at LHT Limited, a leading New Zealand-based engineering and design firm.

"The new sheet set manager, fields and tables will improve the consistency and accuracy of our drawings." Integrated Collaboration Platform for Effective Communication Another critical element to design lifecycle management is the ability to review drawings and communicate across entire project teams.

The design review process has always been time-consuming and expensive because of multiple rounds of printing, mark-ups and delivery.

Autodesk Design Web Format (DWF) for publishing is integrated into AutoCAD 2005 for an easy and cost-effective way to distribute and communicate digital design data throughout all project lifecycles.

Saving sheet sets in DWF enables designers, engineers and their colleagues to quickly and easily communicate design information electronically to anyone needing to view, mark-up, review, or print the design information.

Customers can review and mark-up the drawings with Autodesk DWF Composer a new advanced collaboration tool that integrates the comments back into AutoCAD 2005 to complete the design review process.

Customers can also use Autodesk DWF Viewer, a free, lightweight application that allows anyone on the project team to easily view and print DWF drawings.

"We expect AutoCAD 2005 to set a new industry standard because of the productivity and efficiency gains our customers can experience," said John Sanders, vice president of Autodesk's Platform Technology Division.

"This release will prove to be critical in helping our customers across all industries achieve their business objectives.".

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