Industry Standards For File Names

industry-standards-for-file-names

The following sections describe file name standards created by several industry groups:
American Institute of Architects
Construction Specifications Institute
California Department of Transportation

The following article is an abstract of the eBook ‘Best CAD Practices’ by Ralph Grabowski. Graebert is happy to share with you some of the experience accumulated by Ralph as a CAD expert and as compiled in his eBook for which the reference can be found at the bottom of the page. Feel free to share feedback in the comment section below.

AIA File Naming Convention

The American Institute of Architects uses a file naming system based on its CAD Layer Guidelines (Chapter 3). You will see some similarities between the file and layer names, although layer names are more extensive.

The AIA naming convention recognizes two types of CAD files:

  •  Model files contain the model drawn full size, but plotted to scale
  •  Sheet files hold non-model parts of the drawing, such as dimensions and border places on layouts or sheets; plotted full size

The overall structure consists of the following code sequence:

Position        Description
1                    Agent responsible
2                    Dash placeholder or discipline specific code
3                    Sheet type number
4-5                Sequence number

For simpler projects, a format like A-102.dwg is used:

Position    Code    Description               Meaning
1                  A           Agent responsible    Architect
2                  –            Placeholder
3                  1           Sheet type                  Plan view
4-6             02          Sequence number    Second drawing
. dwg      File extension                  DWG file

In summary A-102.dwg is the second (02) drawing (dwg) of the architectural (A) plan (1).

For more complex projects, two letters are used for the agent responsible. For example, AI refers architectural interior drawings. Thus AI102.dwg is the second drawing of the architectural interiors plan. Notice that “I” replaces the dash placeholder.

DISCIPLINE CODES

Here is a list of discipline code letters you can employ for drawing file names:
A Architectural plan
C Civil and site plan
D Demolition plan
E Electrical plan
F Food services plan
G Graphics and signage
plan
I Interior design
L Landscaping plan
M Mechanical plan
P Plumbing plan
S Structural plan
T Tenant plan
U User-defined plans
———
And here’s a list of drawing type codes letters for file names:
B Blocks (symbols) and external
references
C Composite drawings
D Detail drawings
E Elevation drawings
N Enlarged plans
P Plans
S Section drawings
T Text schedules
W Wall sections

Position 1
Agent Responsible Codes

File names begins with the agent-responsible code, such as A for Architect. Here are the code letters:

Code Agent Responsible
A Architectural
B Geotechnical
C Civil
D Process
E Electrical
F Fire Protection
G General
H Hazardous Material
I Interiors
L Landscape
M Mechanical
O Operations
P Plumbing
Q Equipment
R Resource
S Structural
T Telecommunication
V Survey and Mapping
W Distributed Energy
X Other Disciplines
Z Contractor and Shop Drawings

Position 2
Discipline-Specific Codes

For project that are more complex, you can use a second code that subdivides disciplines. For example, the “A” for architecture is still employed, but the dash (-) placeholder is replaced by another code.

I don’t list them all, as the list goes on for several pages. Here are the ones available for architecture and telecommunications:

Discipline Code Meaning
A — Architecture
AD Architectural Demolition
AE Architectural Elements
AF Architectural Finishes
AG Architectural Graphics
AI Architectural Interiors
AS Architectural Site
AJ Miscellaneous
AK More miscellaneous

T — Telecommunications
TA Audio Visual Cable, music, closed-circuit television systems
TC Clock and Program Time generators, bell program systems
TI Intercom Intercom, public address systems
TM Monitoring Monitoring, alarm systems
TN Data Networks Network cabling, equipment
TT Telephone Telephone systems, wiring, equipment
TY Security Access control, alarm systems
TJ User Defined Miscellaneous
TK User Defined More miscellaneous

OTHER UDS SPECS
In addition to organizing drawings by file name (module 01), the CSI’s Uniform Drawing System also specifies (module # in boldface):

02 Sheet Organization
03 Schedules
04 Drafting Conventions
05 Terms and
Abbreviations
06 Symbols
07 Notations
08 Code Conventions

Position 3:
Sheet Types

Finally, comes the sheet types. The numbers 0 through 9 designate the type of sheet, as listed in the following table.

Digit     Name                                       Use
0          General                          Symbols legend, notes
1          Plans                              Horizontal views
2          Elevations                      Vertical views
3         Sections                          Sectional views, wall sections
4         Large-Scale Views         Plans, elevations, stair sections, sections that are not details
5         Details                            Detail drawings
6         Schedules, Diagrams   Tables, BOMs
7         User Defined                Typical detail sheets, miscellaneous
8         User Defined                Miscellaneous
9         3D Representations    Isometrics, perspectives, photographs

Positions 4-5:
Sequence Number

The two-digit sequence number orders the sheets in the set of drawings. The numbers
range from 01 to 99; 00 is unused.

Positions 6-8:
Supplemental Drawings

The AIA permits three more digits to indicate revision status:
Code               Meaning
R                 Revision drawing
X                 Final drawing
A, B, C…     Other versions

Going back to the original example, A-102-R1.dwg refers to revision 1. The supplemental drawing is segregated from the rest of the file name by a dash; in this case, it is not a placeholder.

NB: Industry standard File names for Construction Specifications Institute and California Department of Transportation will be published in the upcoming weeks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ralph Grabowski is a CAD expert with 30+ years experience. He is the author of several best-selling books related to most leading CAD programs. Ralph writes also in a variety of CAD news portals and magazines. More than anything, he is renowned as the founder and editor of the upFront.eZine newsletter and the blog WorldCAD Access.

NB: The views and opinions expressed by the author in this article or in the eBook do not necessarily reflect those of Graebert as a company or publisher of this blog.

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