NBS Create - Specifying construction products

This is the latest in my series of posts on our upcoming new specification product, this month the topic is "specifying construction products". Previous posts have been on Outline and Performance Specs (May), Improved Data Structure (June), Adding your Practice Knowledge (July).

1. Descriptive specification
NBS may be used to describe the construction products that you require on a job without naming the manufacturer or product reference. The NBS guidance and drop down values provide "most likely" values and the very latest links to reference documents such as key construction standards. The example below shows the specifier giving the product selection choice to the contractor but describing the required specification.

The specifier can see an instant "on-screen" report that details precisely where in the specification decisions have been left for the contractor or where the contractor has been required to submit proposals.

2. Proprietary specification (NBS Plus)
Within NBS there are over 20,000 proprietary product specifications from over 600 construction manufacturers. When a product clause is selected, then the available products are displayed to the user to the right of the screen. This is functionality that current NBS specification users are familiar with.

The screenshot below shows that now the available manufacturers are also available to select from the manufacturer drop down.


Once a manufacturer is selected then the available relevant products from that manufacturer are shown against the "Product reference" keyword.

The user may then simply select a product and the NBS generic options within the clause change to the relevant specification options that are required to specify that particular product. These have been pre-authored by NBS technical staff in partnership with the manufacturer.

3. Proprietary specification (user defined)
If the specifier would like to specify products from manufacturers not yet in NBS Plus they may select "Other manufacturer". This allows details for the manufacturer and the product reference to be added as shown below...

4. Reporting on the manufacturers and products
As with the Contractor Design "on-screen report" feature, it is also possible to navigate the specification by the proprietary products that have been specified. This is shown below...

Finally, all on screen reports may also be published to PDF. The example below shows that all of the products from all manufacturers are grouped. The manufacturers' contact information is also displayed in a concise report...

Further reading...
For all blog articles on NBS 2012 - click the NBS 2012 hyperlink to the right of this page.
To join our Beta Testing Program and help us develop this product, please see:
- http://www.thenbs.com/support/betatesting