British Standard BS 7000-10 - Essay Example

Introduction: Design activities or the process that are meant for the development of a design now requires active participation of individuals from various categories as well as disciplines. In some cases, the development team comprises of people, who have now been the part of the design have specialization in different categories of design with the sole purpose of all these is to diversify the group as a whole. So, underscoring the requirement for an effective and uniform communication in the team, the most preferred thing is adopting a common terminology. The main purpose of this adherence towards a standard is to ensure forceful interlocution while progressing the work. British Standard for the vocabulary of terms in design management system is being presented through BS 7000-10 so that there could be better understanding of terms used while managing design and coordinating the work of various professionals who forms the design development team. All the terms and related definitions that are basically the found in various other parts of the BS 7000 series have been collated into this BS 7000-10. Apart from these, this standard contains many other terminologies that have got a very common presence in design practice and management. The compilation has been the most useful as well as eloquent reference in all discussions in the domain of design. This BS 7000-10 defines vocabulary that has got its use in design and its management including those that are being used in different areas with particular meanings in industry as well as commerce. The scope of this BS 7000-10 has been quite wide and actually covers all terminologies that have some use in the design management irrespective of the sectors. It might be the government, industry, business & commerce, services providers and the public sector enterprises. It has equivocally been applicable to all range of areas that includes technical, services, software, production and design. The terminology related to Intellectual property Rights and other rights have also been given due space in the compilation. In short one can easily figure out that this BS 7000-10 is meant for an able assistance to those who have the responsibility or an interest in design and its management. But at the same time, it is also meant for assisting those who are basically meant for providing a helping hand to the main designers but have no familiarity with the terminologies that are often used by the designers. British Standard Series is a clear example of one understanding according to which one can clearly figure out that it would not be useful to maintain just one standard for all forms of product design profession. This BS 7000-10 has been the glossary of terms that has its used in design management and was published for the first time in 1995. This guide has been more like on terminologies that have the capacity to better the design as well as development process as whole. It was not long after this that it was proposed that the range ought to be extended to include Guide to managing design in construction, published in 1996; Guide to managing the design of manufactured products, published in 1997; Guide the managing service design, published in 1994. The Consultancy Drafting Scheme (CDS) is used by the BSI and funded by the (then) DTI. In this, open tenders for the work are put out along with the specification for the standard. Those who bid are assessed and the successful bidder(s) are then given a set time in which to do any necessary research and to provide the draft standard. This is then assessed by a steering committee who may request changes or further work. The draft then goes out for public comment following the same path as any committee written standard. The advantage of the FCS is that is faster than a committee developed standard but it is more expensive. Over the years the suite has been increased to include BS 7000 -5: Guide to managing obsolescence, BS 7000 – 6: Managing inclusive design. And a new guide BS 7000-1 Guide to Managing Innovation was published in 1999. This latter standard was written because it was felt that British business was not planning their designs sufficiently far ahead and was developed through the Consultancy Drafting Scheme. The brief for the innovation guide was ‘how to design the product generation after the product generation after next’ – typically, what one should do now to plan for new products ten years ahead. The title of the standard doesn’t really state what the standard is trying to do. Three new standards from the CDS have just been published. These are the updated BS7000 parts 1, 2 and 10. The proposals for each of these were approved in November 2006 and they have now been through all of the standards development and drafting stages including the drafts for public comment and the subsequent changes emanating from these. Compiling each of these standards included some research of the types of companies that are at the forefront of the topic so that the standard includes the latest ‘thinking’ in that area. This can be a problem as those involved are relying on the goodwill of managers in relevant companies to assist by giving up their time without payment to be interviewed and to comment on the draft standards. The update of Part 10 comes with a lot more research of practitioners than the original standard and an article about the writing of this standard was published in Engineering Designer (May/June 2007) called ‘Whats in a Name?’ The structure of this standard conforms to BS0. The standard is a glossary of words used in design management shown in alphabetical order. Next to each word is a letter that indicates where in the design process it is most likely to be used. With the new suite of standards, BSI took the interesting measure of issuing the DPC s as a free download from their website. This new excellent new move means that the drafts are more widely available and it is hoped that the returning comment will be more thorough. All standards have to conform to BS0 – the ‘Standard for Standards’ and is a double edged sword. This ensures that all standards are produced to a similar format so if one is familiar with the structure of one, then they will be able to find their way through any. On the other hand, the ‘style’ can be considered unapproachable and unfriendly. It is clear that some people are put off by the ‘boring’ appearance and presentation of standards. In the past, this is one of the reasons why the Design Council have never promoted British Standards in their literature – which seems odd as they are both funded by the same government body but steps are being taken to rectifiy tthis. Another complaint that has been levelled over the years has been the poor marketing of standards. Until recently it seemed that, in most cases, all the promotion consisted of was a write up in BSI News. This preaching to the converted meant that the message of the standards often did not reach those who were likely to be the main users. This now seems to be changing as the marketing department of BSI endeavour to reach a wider audience. Read More