Sometimes I marvel at how many things CAD managers must handle on a day-to-day basis. Dealing with so many moving pieces and responsibilities combine to make the job astoundingly tough. So, how best should you deal with all of it? Well, it starts with having a plan.
Do you have a CAD management plan? Is it realistic? Is it optimal? In this edition of The CAD Manager’s Newsletter, I’ll take you through a rapid assessment and action item process you can use to adjust your CAD management plan. Here goes.
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This is the best place to start because if your plan doesn’t take the right issues into account, you’ll forever play catch up. The answer should be: “Everything pertaining to the care and feeding of your CAD ecosystem.” While you may not be responsible for every item on this list at present, you should, at minimum, be concerned with these items:
If you’ve ever tried to explain to someone why CAD management is such a tough job, just show them this list! There’s a lot to worry about.
So, like any big problem, let’s break our plan into manageable chunks and get started by answering some questions in each area and assigning action items as required.
Do you know how many licenses you have, if they are fully utilized, and how your needs might change next year? Do your users really need the software they have or could they get by with less expensive tools? If you have too many licenses of one product, can you afford to let their subscriptions lapse at the next renewal date or should you up/cross-grade or change to another product? Could network or remote access licensing allow you to own fewer copies of expensive analytical or rendering software?
Your responses to these questions allow you to truly understand your software needs and costs for at least the next year. It is often surprising how many software licenses companies have that are underutilized, such as having a full BIM suite license for an engineering manager that doesn’t do CAD work, or could be shared amongst many users. Since CAD software is expensive — and is becoming ever more so — it literally pays to understand all the variables and make sure you have the correct software licensing.
Action items:
Conclusion: With software becoming so expensive, licensing can be one of the best places to find future savings.
Do you have a firm understanding of what workstation configurations you need to run BIM, mechanical modelling, and general CAD? Will you be replacing desktop hardware with more mobile workstations? Do you know which users will need specific graphics processors for new usage scenarios like virtual reality, coordination tools, or video rendering? Are you involved in specifying these parameters or do you live at the mercy of what IT chooses to give you?
Your responses to these questions predict how well your CAD tools will run on your user’s desktops so it is very important to be involved in the configuration phase.
Action items:
Conclusion: Get involved! If IT buys the wrong hardware you — and your users — will live with those bad decisions for years.
Are your standards up to date? Do your users know what your standards are? Do your users understand IT policy as it applies to CAD topics like cloud file storage, data loss, and the use of personal electronic devices? Do senior managers support your standards and empower you to enforce them?
Your responses to these questions indicate how well thought out, trained, and supported your standards program is. If you answered no to all these questions you are in deep trouble! If you answered yes to all these questions you are golden. A mixture of yes and no answers indicates some issues that need to be resolved.
Action items:
Conclusion: Standards are the only thing protecting you — and your company — from chaos, so make sure everyone understands that standards are a priority.
Do you have a user training program? Do you have any training materials for users to peruse on their own? Do you train your users — even if by self-paced video — on the proper usage of company procedures and standards?
Your responses here predict how well your software usage and standards adherence will go. All no answers indicate a CAD user base that is allowed to do whatever they want, has little advanced understanding of their software and little to no awareness of standards. It’s time to get busy.
Action items:
Conclusion: If you don’t have a training program, you need one — now is the time to approach your management team about getting one going!
Is support a recognized/budgeted activity or something you “do in your spare time” to respond to train wrecks? Do you have enough time to support users well? Do you spend all your time answering the same questions over and over again? Do certain users or departments require more support than others?
Your responses here will indicate how well understood the need for support is within your organization. CAD managers who have no budgeted time for support tend to answer the same questions over and over. CAD managers who do have time to support users typically see repeat problems/questions diminish over time.
Action items:
Conclusion: Support = productivity. Users that are well-supported catch mistakes and fix them earlier which prevents rework and delays in the long run.
Do you have a budget? Does management listen to your recommendations on annual software budgets? Does your IT department solicit your input for hardware and peripheral budgets?
Your responses to these questions will indicate how involved you are with the identification of hardware and software budgeting. If you answered yes to all questions you’re in good shape. If you answered no to all these questions you are at the mercy of what people think you need. Any question you answered no to points out where you need to get involved.
Action items:
Conclusion: If you want something, you need to ask for it and a formal budget is the best way to ask.
Now that you’ve thought through each topic and answered the diagnostic questions, you must now take action. But, what action? To figure that out, be honest about the problems you noticed and prioritize them using the following criteria:
Action items:
Conclusion: Knowing what your problems are means little if you don’t explain them to your boss and take action to fix them in priority of financial importance. Set up a meeting and start communicating your needs clearly.
I hope you’ll take the time to assess your CAD management plan and act in the areas I’ve outlined. I’ve found that assessing how things are going twice a year makes a huge difference in preventing small issues from becoming big ones. By knowing what to work on to cut costs and increase production, you can be sure management will value you.
So, why not take the plunge and assess your CAD management plan now and be ahead of the curve rather than waiting for problems to manifest themselves? Try it, it really does work. Until next time.