A short code is a spec-independent abbreviation for spec materials.
The Short Code field is mandatory whether it is highlighted with a green background color or not.
The main purpose of short codes is to give a quick and easy option to create manual estimations at the proposal phase of a project. During this phase, the specifications are usually not yet completed, so that manual estimations must be created without commodity codes and idents. The short code allows you to create bill of materials (BOM) data based on spec code, short code, sizes, and quantity only. When later the commodity codes and subsequent idents are added to the specification, Smart Materials is able to find the appropriate ident based on the above mentioned values.
Short codes are created and managed on the S.10.08 Short Codes screen, which is found in the S.10 Commodity Group and Parts branch underneath Smart Reference Data in the menu tree.
Or, simply double-click on the Short Code field in Window 1 or 2 of the S.50.06 Specification Management screen to open S.10.08.
Select a short code and use the Next Block button to open S.10.08 Window 2. Use the first (Parts to Short Codes) tab to define filters for commodity groups and parts depending on the previously selected short code.
Next, when you select the short code CAP from the example above for a specification item on S.50.06 Window 2, the list of values for commodity group and part will be restricted to the groups and parts assigned to the short code.
The short codes are further used on the specification header level to define filter geometrics for specific spec items. For example, for branch items, a special filter logic is implemented, which requires the branch table geometric definition on the specification header, with all short codes for branch items assigned. The user assigns only short codes representing the branch parts like BR90, BR45, and so forth to the branch tables to make sure that only branches are filtered by the selected branch table.
The special short code ‘%’ is used for a general wall thickness filter table in the specification header geometric definition. This short code is a placeholder for all used short codes on the specification item level. The assigned filter will be applied to all specification items.
The second (Allowed Option Codes) tab allows you to assign option codes to the selected short code. This action restricts the option codes to be used on spec items for a particular short code to the values defined on S.10.08.
For the short code CAP displayed in the picture below, only the option codes 1, 401, 521, and 541 are allowed.
