AUTODESK CIVIL 3D CAD MANAGER’S GUIDE
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Chapter 6: Pilot Project Strategies
Implementation of Autodesk Civil 3D software into your production environment occurs
when you begin your pilot project. All the research, planning, training, and preparation
come together in a single project that may determine the success of your overall
implementation project. This chapter looks at pilot project selection, strategies for pilot
project training, and how to measure the success of your pilot project.
Selecting a Pilot Project
There are two approaches to selecting a pilot project. The advantages and disadvantages
of each are discussed here. The first is to select an existing job that was done in your
previous design package and redo the work using Civil 3D. The second is to select a new
project and perform it using Civil 3D as your design platform.
Using an existing project for your pilot has several advantages. There is no timeline on the
job, no client to satisfy with design changes, no budgetary restraint (except what you allot
for training), and less pressure on team members. In addition, once a component of the
design has been figured out, you can move to the next portion instead of completing the
construction documents. This means that the overall time to completion is lower.
The disadvantages of using an existing project are similar. Without a timeline and the rush
of client and city demands, many end users find it hard to work effectively and with their
usual level of detail. Some portions of the design might not be fully explored during this
type of pilot, leading to a false sense of security. Finally, using an existing project does not
allow you to gather real-world metrics to measure the success of Civil 3D in your project
environment.
A new pilot project brings in the full host of issues that all new projects bring, in addition to
time spent learning the new software. However, a live project allows you and your team to
learn how to better deal with the design process, plan production, change orders, and plan
reviews. If you choose this approach, selecting the right project is crucial.
A good candidate for a pilot project has the following characteristics: straightforward
design that your company is familiar with; an understanding client with whom you have a
good relationship; and a smaller job. Your Civil 3D pilot project is not the time to test a
large master-planned community for a new client in city where you’ve never worked.
Using a live project also allows your team to measure improvements in plan production, a
crucial part of selling Civil 3D to executive management for support of future expansion of
the product through your design teams.
Pilot Project Training and Knowledge Disbursement
Your Civil 3D pilot project also leads the way in how you train and bring other users onto
Civil 3D as a design platform. Some suggested methods are as follows:
• Rotating Pilots: Each design team is trained in turn, one after another. This
allows you to train a group of users and work through a project with them before
moving to the next. Each team should complete a basic level of training before
beginning a project. This typically means training to various levels and covering
the full extent of the product in every pilot project since the team will be rookies
for each one. This process can be expensive because expert-level trainers
should be used for each team.
