Documentation in Engineering Industry
Engineering Is Broad and Complex, and Documentation Is Absolutely Essential
Engineering is a broad field including civil engineering, military engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering and more. Before we look at engineering documentation, let us try to understand what engineering means. Most of us non-engineers are likely to be unaware of the meaning.
What Is Engineering?
A simple definition of engineering is that it involves Design, Analysis and/or Construction of Works for Practical Use. A more detailed definition provided by Engineers Council for Professional Development is that it involves creative application of scientific principles to:
- Design or develop
- Structures
- Machines
- Apparatus
- Manufacturing processes
- Works utilizing them singly or in combination
- Construct or operate the above with full cognizance of their design
- Forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions
- All as respects an intended
- Function
- Economics of operation
- Safety to life and property
Engineering Activities
Design:
- Identify the result to be achieved
- Consider resources available
- Identify problems involved
- Develop solutions possible with available resources
- Look at costs and marketability of the solutions
Testing: Testing checks whether the product will
- Perform according to specifications
- Cause any harm to persons or property
Testing could be through:
- Prototypes
- Scale models
- Simulations
- Destructive tests
- Nondestructive tests
- Stress tests
Latest testing practices involve digital mockups that:
- Check for flaws
- Assess fit and assembly
- Study ergonomics
- Analyze different characteristics of the operation
Construction or Production: Converting the design into actual construction or production operations would typically involve:
- Arranging premises
- Procuring equipment
- Organizing utilities like power, water, fuel and any other
- Hiring skilled and unskilled personnel
- Putting in place a coordinating organization
Engineering Documentation
Design Documentation: Documents used or produced during the design phase include:
- Reference materials used by the designers
- Worksheets produced during the development process
- Design schematics detailing the final design
- Any 3D models and 2D drawings that form part of the final specifications
Testing Documentation: The testing phase also produces volumes of documents, including:
- Test specifications laying out test objectives and procedures
- Test results listing the results of the tests
- Reports on the test findings and suggestions relating to different aspects
Construction or Production: The project converting designs into constructions, or production facilities, will typically be a large operation that produces a huge volume of documents, including:
- Project reports
- Tender documents, including cost estimates
- Lease and procurement contracts
- Government permits
- Purchase invoices
- Payrolls
- Project progress reports
- Project accounts
Once operations start, all the typical documentation generated by business operations, discussed on other pages, would begin to accumulate.
Conclusion
Engineering is a complex activity that produces correspondingly complex documentation such as design specifications supported by a variety of documents and test specifications and reports. Designers would also need considerable reference materials, and might use modern tools like digital mockups.
We look at engineering document management on a separate page.