In August this year we released the MTM and Australia – General design catalogues.
We want to be transparent about the work we’ve done on these catalogues so far, what work is coming next and when, and how this affects both our Australian users, and our users worldwide. To do that, first we need to rewind.
How It Started
Early last year we completed and released our initial phase of work on what was called the Melbourne MTM catalogue, working with Arup Australia.
This package of work was purely customer-driven. This meant every item we created had been specifically requested, with all drawings provided by the customer, who was on-hand to answer any questions that arose from our engineers validating the drawings, in order to break them down into Lineardraft items.
This proved a bit of a challenge, as unlike other design ranges where there are drawings for each individual part with defined allocable increments, the assemblies provided for the Melbourne MTM catalogue were not separated into individual drawings. These assemblies often lacked details of critical parameters, including which components should be made available for use with the assembly in Lineardraft.
This meant Zebraware engineers had to forensically examine the drawings to ensure each individual part was accurately modelled, and that all the linkages, defining which items connected to each other, were correct. Our team was in regular contact with Arup Australia throughout this process to ensure certainty and clarity about the decisions we were making.
The work was successfully completed and released in February 2022, and included masts, foundations, and gantries.
This summer, conversations resumed between our engineers and Arup Australia about the next phase of the Melbourne catalogue, looking at the next steps we needed to take to expand the catalogue to be suitable not just for outline design, but for all stages of design. After reviewing the proposed content of the catalogue, it was clear we needed to make some changes.
So, What’s Changed?
Whilst our initial delivery had satisfied our customers’ requirements, this time around our engineers had a much greater understanding of what existed in the MTM design range, what items would be essential, and, most importantly, had more understanding of how the designers and engineers would use the items we were creating.
Our first change was to no longer solely rely on customer drawing contributions, and we reached out to MTM directly to acquire access to the approved drawing library. This gave our engineers a greater knowledge and scope of the design range. But that didn’t mean our communications with the customer decreased; in fact, it was quite the opposite.
Once our engineers completed their initial investigations of the design range, instead of only calling upon our contact at Arup Australia when we needed to discuss questions and potential sticking points, they effectively became a resource on the project, holding regular meetings to discuss all aspects of the catalogue.
These discussions were not just about the contents, but how the catalogue should be implemented and function within Lineardraft, so we could be sure our software worked intuitively for users of the catalogue. We knew this might prompt some development work to improve engineering capability within Lineardraft, and it has. These changes are planned for release in Q2 of 2024. More on that in a moment.
The Release Plan
With the contents of the catalogue established, along with the essential development work to create and improve functionality, we then set a schedule for the work, and a timeline for release. The following release structure will be the process for all new catalogues going forward.* Typically, there will be a minimum of two releases.
The first is the Initial Production Release, which will include enough items to allow users to work on early stage or outline design. For the MTM catalogue, this is what was released in August; and included masts, foundations, gantries, ornaments, catenary and auxiliary systems, and in span equipment. To explore the contents of the catalogue in more detail, be sure to check out the MTM Catalogue Explorer.
The second release will be the Final Production Release, which will include all the items required to be able to produce a detailed design with the catalogue. This release is planned for Q2 of 2024, and is set to include SPS, brackets, and both catenary and auxiliary wire supports.
"The [Final Production Release] is planned for Q2 of 2024, and is set to include SPS, brackets, and both catenary and auxiliary wire supports."
The associated development work will also be released at this time, which introduces MPA on gantry and direct attachment to gantry functionality to Lineardraft. Any changes in release timelines will be posted on our Software Roadmap.
So, with a clear plan for the MTM catalogue set out, one question remained – what about the parts from the original Melbourne MTM catalogue? This is where the Australia – General catalogue comes in.
What is Australia - General?
Most of the items created for the Melbourne MTM catalogue are steelwork (masts, foundations, gantries). This steelwork is not technically part of the MTM design range. It is essentially a range of accepted items that are commonly used by companies who are using the MTM design range.
Why are they being used if they’re not part of the range? Because there is currently a steelwork-shaped gap in the MTM design range, as the range itself is still being developed.
Additionally, the steelwork is based on Australian standards, so can be used in any region of Australia that doesn’t have steelwork in their local design range. Even for regions with design ranges that have steelwork included, this general steelwork can still be used, even if just as placeholders, as they are acceptable standardised parts.
This is why, rather than deprecating the items as part of the MTM catalogue, we have turned the old Melbourne MTM catalogue into Australia – General.
Not only does this allow us to stop calling it the Melbourne MTM catalogue (we know, it’s like saying “as ASAP as possible”), it means we can group all general-use Australian steelwork that’s not aligned with a design range into one catalogue that’s accessible to all Australian users. This means the Australia – General catalogue can, in the future, be used with any other Australian catalogues, such as our PTA catalogue.
This change was made as part of the initial production release in August. Pre-existing designs that used Australia – General items would not be affected by the catalogue name change. By default, we have given everyone who has access to the Melbourne MTM catalogue (now Australia – General), access to the new MTM catalogue.
What's Next?
The final production releases of the MTM and Australia – General catalogues remain on-track for Q2, 2024. Any changes in release timelines will be posted on our Catalogues Roadmap.
Please note, we will not be accepting catalogue change requests on these catalogues whilst they are in the production phase. Once the final production release has gone live, we will then accept catalogue change requests for new parts and item linkages.
*Learn more here about how we create catalogues, and how we process your change requests into catalogue updates.
