Spreadsheets are for accountants; smart documents are for engineers.
Blockpad has sponsored this post.
Isn’t it strange that one of the tools most associated with engineering is accounting software?
The accessibility of spreadsheets led to their widespread use in engineering, but they are not the best tools when traceability and conveying information can mean the difference between life and death. Mathematical software has attempted to overcome these issues, but still suffers when it comes to traceability and legibility.
However, a new option has hit the market: smart engineering documents. As the name implies, these are an alternative calculation tool specifically designed for the engineering community. Below, we discuss the top five differentiators and reasons for engineers to investigate replacing their spreadsheets with smart engineering documents.
1. Effective Unit Handling
Perhaps the biggest advantage of smart engineering documents over traditional spreadsheets is their unit intelligence. Units can be assigned to each element entered into a calculation or spreadsheet, and then those units stay with their elements as the blocks of information are moved and repositioned.
Using units with your engineering document provides the ability to do quick conversions between Imperial and metric units while maintaining consistency within calculations. Moving between inches and millimeters is as easy as changing the unit tag behind the number—the computations will automatically update to ensure that though units convert, the result doesn’t change.
Keeping the units straight throughout the full calculation is a skill drilled into the mind of every engineer. From the beginning of the calculation, you add units to every value, and then at the end of the calculation you use dimensional analysis to check that your result is in the same units that you expect. Engineering documents do these calculations for the engineer, and in the event of a calculation error the resulting units will make it obvious that something is wrong.
When trying to calculate a gravitational constant, for example, receiving units of ft/s instead of ft/s2 is an immediate red flag. Additionally, if a user attempts to add a value in ft/s with one in ft/s2 it will result in an error.
Engineering documents have other unit intelligence features, such as standardizing how values are displayed. A spreadsheet would be forced to display a length as a decimal, say 8.25 feet. A smart engineering document, however, can display the value as 8 feet 3 inches which could be a more appropriate way to show the results for a given industry or standard.
2. Equations Look Like Math
Spreadsheets require engineers to type equations and functions into a cell, and then the cell displays the results of the calculation. The drawback is that after the work is done, the pieces of the calculation can’t be seen—only the results.
Smart engineering documents show the entire formula and the values entered. This makes sense as engineers are trained to look at formulas on whiteboards and in textbooks. Being able to see the different pieces of the equation makes it easier for engineers to process and memorize them.
Additionally, troubleshooting can be done visually when using a smart engineering document. It is easy to check whether the inputs and outputs match up, and equations can also be copied and modified to perform real-time optimizations by changing variables and seeing the new results. Engineers can even use a three-step approach of showing the equation, values entered and results—all of this with units. Effectively, smart engineering documents take the word processor equation editor one step further by turning typed text into a living block of math that changes with the variables.
3. Word Processor Functions with Engineering Capabilities
While on the topic of word processors, consider how Excel often requires everything to be put into a table to share the data. Smart engineering documents, however, enable engineers to input equations, drawings, labels and other tags into a text document with word processing functionality.
The word processing user interface (UI) of smart engineering documents sets them apart from spreadsheets. Like in Excel, customization can happen where users choose different fonts, font sizes, styles and emphases. But by wrapping this functionality in a word processing UI, instead of cells, the user can easily create an engineering document where what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). This way, engineers can easily create engineering reports in the style mandated by customers, standards or corporate templates.
Consider the smart engineering document software Blockpad. It should be noted that with its WYSIWYG setup, the engineer can hide parts of the document so that they will not be presented to the customer. This IP protection functionality will keep the dependencies intact, even when changes are made with both visible and hidden portions of the documents.
4. Calculations Auto-update Intuitively
One thing that Excel does well is understanding the right order in which to perform calculations regardless of where those calculations might live within the spreadsheet. A value at the very bottom of the spreadsheet, or in another tab, might be critical to solving the cells on the first page, and Excel understands how to do all those calculations at once.
Tools like Mathcad, however, work with a concrete order to solve the full document. Generally, these tools start at the top, move from left to right, and then move down to the next line until reaching the end of the calculation.
Blockpad, like Excel, calculates formulas in order of dependence, regardless of where each calculation appears in the text. Each computation can be moved independently of each other and the inputs and outputs will remain consistent. Changing any computation in the text, however, will cause all related computations to update. This has a secondary benefit in that it enables engineers to do quick what-if testing to optimize a process or product.
5. The Ability to Work the Ethical Way
In the United States, engineers follow the ethical rules laid out by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). Many other jurisdictions have similar Codes of Conduct.
The first rule from NSPE is, “Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.” Part of keeping the public safe is using the best possible tools to make sure engineers have the highest possible fidelity in their calculations. The advantage of using smart engineering documents to perform calculations is peace of mind. When engineers know they are using the right tools to get and present accurate results, they can be confident they are meeting these ethical requirements.
Many engineers have had the experience of wrestling with an Excel spreadsheet for hours to make the cells, destinations and syntax line up while also presenting the results in a comprehensible way. Others have used unwieldy Excel calculations as a badge of honor, with the implication that the more difficult the spreadsheet is to follow, the more impressive the calculation is.
But smart engineering documents are the superior tool because they can handle that complexity and make things easier to understand and communicate.
The Evolution of Calculations
Smart engineering documents are built for engineers. They contain the best of both worlds: the ability to perform calculations, and to show real-time results, all in the same document. Users can control the inputs and outputs to optimize a design or do a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation. Furthermore, the word processing UI enables engineers to easily capture and present IP in a way that is comprehensible to anyone who understands standard mathematic notation and language consistent with engineering reports, documentation, standards and textbooks.
Smart engineering documents provide better equation and solution capabilities, while giving engineers the ability to display the results in any unit system. The units can also act as a check for the equations, letting engineers see that the outcome is formatted to meet expectations.
Engineers can control how the equation looks, how to display the results and how much of their overall workspace is shown to internal or external customers. In essence, smart engineering documents are the next tool modern engineers need to keep up with the evolving needs of the industry.
Learn more about smart engineering documents at Blockpad.