If you work on UK projects with an information management requirement, you'll be asked to name and track documents to ISO 19650. The standard looks intimidating, but the naming convention is simple once you see what each part is for: anyone, anywhere, should be able to tell what a document is, who produced it and whether it can be used, just from its name and status.
This article covers the naming, status and revision conventions in the UK National Annex to BS EN ISO 19650-2. Your project's information requirements may add to or vary them, so always check those first.
The information container ID
Every document, drawing or model is an information container, and each has a unique ID made of fields separated by hyphens:
- Project: a short code for the project.
- Originator: the organisation that produced the information.
- Volume or system: the part of the project it covers, or ZZ for all of them.
- Level and location: the floor or location, or ZZ when it doesn't apply.
- Type: what kind of information it is, such as DR for a drawing or SP for a specification.
- Role: the discipline that produced it, such as A for architect or S for structural engineer.
- Number: a sequential number, unique within the rest of the name.
So a structural drawing might be named:
PRJ1-ABC-ZZ-01-DR-S-000102
Read left to right: project PRJ1, produced by originator ABC, covering all volumes, level 01, a drawing, by the structural engineer, number 102.
Common type and role codes
A few of the codes you'll see most often:
- Types: DR drawing, M3 3D model, SP specification, CA calculations, RP report, MS method statement, SH schedule, CO correspondence.
- Roles: A architect, C civil engineer, E electrical engineer, M mechanical engineer, S structural engineer, W contractor, X subcontractor, K client, Z general.
Status codes: can I use this?
The status (suitability) code tells you what a document is fit for. It sits alongside the document, not in its name:
- S0: work in progress, not shared.
- S1: suitable for coordination.
- S2: suitable for information.
- S3: suitable for review and comment.
- S4: suitable for stage approval.
- A1, A2 and so on: authorised and accepted for that stage.
- B1, B2 and so on: partially signed off, with comments to address.
- CR: as-constructed record.
The practical rule on site: only build from information with an authorised status. A drawing at S3 is out for comment; it isn't a construction issue.
Revisions: P and C
Revisions show where a document is in its life:
- P01, P02 and so on: preliminary revisions while the information is being developed and shared.
- C01, C02 and so on: contractual revisions, once it has been authorised.
Each change to a shared document gets a new revision. The previous revision is kept, but it's superseded, and everyone needs to know it.
Where it goes wrong
- Numbers reused or typed by hand, so two documents share a name.
- The status kept in someone's email rather than with the document.
- Superseded revisions still in circulation on site.
- Different subcontractors following different conventions on the same project.
How Traklio helps
Traklio numbers documents to the ISO 19650 UK convention automatically for UK projects: you choose the type, role, volume and level, and the number is generated and locked at first submission. Status codes and P and C revisions are built in, the current revision is always clear, and anyone who opens a superseded one is warned first.