We trust fields. All companies use them, and we use them in SheetAgent for Civil 3D extensively. This post is about our approach to reduce field problems down the road.
What actually happens
Using fields requires attention and expertise. What I see is inexperienced drafters and engineers who simply don't understand how these work. They see ##### and they think it's a simple text edit. They type over it, and the field is gone.
Blame it on training, or blame it on excessive workload. At the end of the day the field gets disturbed, and we find that late in the process. When we catch it, it's in QA/QC at the PDF print: sheet numbers wrong, or a sheet name or number missing.
We get blind looking at the drawing. And when multiple engineers and drafters are all collaborating, the chances of a missed coordination are bigger. It's only found when the set is looked at holistically, which most of the time is at the PDF print for review.
No one knows who wrote over it, and the blame game never works. We just have to deal with it: reinsert the fields, rewire them to the SSM. And unfortunately, it's always found in QA/QC.
What we did about it
The program auto-populates the names and numbers. A non-expert or an expert using SheetAgent will simply select the field in the title block, and SheetAgent populates it in all the layouts. If your title block has a custom field that isn't native to SSM, SheetAgent automatically adds that custom field to SSM at sync, to reduce the user error that comes with inexperience. And when synced to SSM, any missing ##### will be filled. What this does is reduce the manual work, and reduce the confusion with the #####.
Then the auto heal. SheetAgent makes changes intentional. If a user typed over a name, SheetAgent will self-heal at update, unless the name change is intentional, either by changing the name, the number or any field in SSM, or by using the tool. Any manual user edits to the title block fields will be corrected.
This adds another backup layer. We allow users to edit fields, however there is a simple button that doesn't require training, just reading and pressing: Edit TB Fields. That's a second layer of safety and protection for SSM.
Also, if for any reason SSM got corrupted, which happens, SheetAgent has a backup. We write to and read from SSM, so if anything breaks on the SSM side, Sync to SSM will repair it and keep the sheets in a working state.
Why this matters
That's our approach to reduce field problems down the road. Less manual work, less confusion with the #####, and a field that gets disturbed is corrected at update instead of found at QA/QC.
What's next
Next, the last one, and the part almost nobody automates well: the key plans and the project-wide picture, one tiling that every discipline and every file inherits.
See it on your own project at setline.ai, or read how title blocks are set up and how numbering and the sheet set stay in step in the documentation.