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CAD Standard – Define Hardware and Software Requirements

Include what hardware and software were involved in the deliberations of creating the standard. When you define your standard, you have a standard hardware platform in mind. What size hard drive, how much RAM, graphics card, etc.

Also include software versions. This will define what the baseline is for expecting the software to act according to the standards. Prior versions may not be able to do what the standard requires.

You never know where a copy of your standard might end up.  A client machine may not be a robust as yours or they may have an older software version.  Stating what it takes to get the best results from your standard may avoid getting slammed for failures that are caused by weak hardware and old software.

Example:

All Hardware used to follow this Standard must follow the guidelines of the CAD Approved Hardware List. Please contact CAD staff to confirm what these guidelines include.

All Software used must comply with the CAD Approved Software List. At time of publication this manual was based on the following software abbreviated list of versions and capabilities.

Software Package
General CAD – AutoCAD 2008
Architectural – AutoCAD for Architecture 2008
Civil – Civil 3D 2008
Mechanical, Electrical – ???

Hardware Package
Convertible MiniTower Processor, 2.50GHz 1333 6MB L2, 525W
4GB, 800MHz, DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory
nVidia,Quadro FX 570,256MB dual DVI, Graphics Card
160GB SATA 3.0Gb/s and 8MB DataBurst Cache