Design-to-Catalogue Cross-Reference

To make sure design consistency and conformity with company standards, the basic definitions of all items which can be used in the structural design are held in a Catalogue database. The database holds definitions of all available profiles and materials for structural columns/beams/bracing and so on, all standard types of joint, all auxiliary fittings, and so on. When an item is added to a design model, the position, orientation and so on, for the item are stored in the Design database, but the physical properties of the item are specified by the setting up of a cross-reference (called a Specification Reference or SpecRef) which points to an appropriate entry in the Catalogue database.