Hole Management

Hole Management is controlled and managed using the Hole Management application which allows for communication of hole data between disciplines including Request and Approval processes. Making sure holes are only created by users with appropriate write access permissions. Performing validation checks on managed holes and providing feedback to users on the hole status and the generation of reports for managed holes.

Generally in a project discipline Designers do not have write access to items created by other disciplines, for example: a Cable Tray designer does not have write access to structural elements and Structural designers do not have write access to cable tray elements.

With hole management, penetration holes are specified and requested by the penetrating discipline normally cable tray, HVAC or equipment designers and approved by the penetrated discipline, normally structural designers.

The specification of a penetration hole by the relevant discipline in the appropriate design application creates a virtual hole in the panel element, consisting of a FRMW and two FIXING elements. Each fixing element has a Specification Reference (Spref) attribute that points to the hole definition in the catalogue. An Association (ASSOC) element that references all the hole elements is also created.

Once the virtual hole has been created the penetrating discipline enters the Hole Management application and requests the hole. The owner of the panel, normally the Structural discipline, then reviews and approves (or rejects) the hole using the mechanism provided by the Hole Management application.

The act of approving the request creates the actual hole as a PFIT owned by the PANE element. The Hole Management application checks and validates the hole using the association restrictions and stores data on the hole history and status. Only valid holes may be approved. For a Structural penetration the structural designer may be both the requester and approver, although specific company procedures, controlled by DAC may be required if the Originator and Reviewer need to be different. For further information, refer to Hole Management System.