Manager keeps track of electrical CAD documents

The WSCAD Project Manager organises work, saves time and provides simple yet effective revision control.

WSCAD Project Manager organises work, saves time and provides simple yet effective revision control.

It eliminates the need to purchase separate expensive document management software, and go through a long expensive process of customisation, so common with AutoCAD based systems.

State-of-the-art electrical CAD software produces not only electrical schematic diagrams, but also all the additional documentation needed to fully describe the circuit and physical layout of control panels, machine electrics and controls, switchgear and plant.

On large projects this can mean that there are literally hundreds of schematic drawings and dozens of listings that relate to the drawings.

If these files are viewed in Windows explorer, they show up as a meaningless jumble of unrelated files, and Explorer provides no control whatsoever over how their revision state is managed.

On large WSCAD electrical CAD installations it is common to have 25 or more WSCAD licences on a floating network licence being accessed on 50 or more PCs with 100 users.

It is vital that all documents are under formal organisation and control.

The Project Manager has been added to WSCAD with this in mind.

WSCAD's Project Manager, is in effect a comprehensive built in document management system.

The Project Manager uses an icon tree to display files within the project, grouped under their various categories - for example, schematics, control cabinet layouts, bills of material, wiring charts, cable charts, terminal charts, connector charts, and cable lists, and in addition, project data, summary (contents list), and revision history.

The WSCAD Project Manager extends the capability of Explorer, simplifying the overview of the project, controlling this issue status, providing an archive and file backup of previous issues, and other functions such as template definition and selection.

When the project is started templates for schematics and listings can be chosen from dozens of preprepared layouts.

Users may also make their own custom listings and drawing templates in which bitmap logos can be embedded.

These templates may contain "allocators" which are linked to data fields in the project database.

The user can thus simply type in any kind of data - a customer's name, the project description, addresses, location, IP spec, connected load data etc, and the drawing and listing templates will be automatically populated with consistent data, saving much time and effort.

As the schematics are drawn, switching to Project Manager, with single mouse click, gives an overall view of all the project documents.

A preview of any selected document then appears in the Project Manager window, a double mouse click loads the document.

A zipped archive of the complete project is created at initial release.

New revision levels are automatically created as modifications are made.

A revision history document is automatically generated.

Access and revision control can be password protected.

The Project Manager has many other useful functions: all or part of the drawings and listings can be printed from within the project manager without having to access each document; whole existing projects, or parts of projects can be imported and integrated with the current project; drawing files or automated listings can be moved, renamed or copied.

WSCAD's automated listings can be started from within the Project Manager.

External documents can be linked with external documents such as specifications or technical data sheets.

The Project Manager holds a customer database, and can transfer this data to drawings and listings.

WSCAD is low cost electrical CAD software for electrical schematics in control panel design and plant and factory electrics.

WSCAD is a CAD productivity tool that will speed up, and improve the quality of electrical and other schematics.

WSCAD is produced in 11 languages and distributed all over the world.

The user base comprises more than 30,000 companies.

WSCAD automates the production of electrical drawings, by automatically numbering and crossreferencing electrical circuit components, terminals, coils, contacts, wires, PLCs, plugs, sockets and cables.

The software will produce custom listings including bills of materials.

WSCAD includes a sophisticated built in electrical CAD document management system that features revision control and archiving of records.

WSCAD can integrate with existing systems such as MRP, CAE, PDM, CIM and MCS.

The custom report generator can drive MS Access, Excel, Crystal Reports, Lotus Notes etc.

WSCAD contains "managers" that carry out online electrcal checks as each new component is added to the CAD diagram.

Electrical CAD symbol libraries covering IEC, DIN, BS, BS3939, and JIC are provided together with a database of electrical components from Siemens, Telemechanique, Allen Bradley, Mitsubishi, Rittal and others.

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