Creating a Project Checklist in SpecLink Cloud

Overview

Checklists are a method for automating section or paragraph selection (or exclusion) based on the specifier's needs.

The two types of checklists generally created are:

1. Section Checklists help automate paragraph activation / exclusion within the section.
2. Project Checklists help automate section activation / exclusion for the project.

This article will focus on Project Checklists. Learn more about Section Checklists here.

Project Checklists are a combination of creating a new section from a template, creating and editing user paragraphs, editing paragraph levels, applying tags, and creating cross-section links.

Review the following before attempting to build checklists:

• Create a New Section from a Template
• Basic Editing
• Paragraph Levels
• Understanding NP/NS Tags
• Create a Cross Section Link

Creating a checklist begins with deciding what the outcome will be. How will the checklist assist the specifier? It's advisable to create a handwritten draft of the checklist before beginning to build anything in SpecLink Cloud.  

Tips:

• Map, diagram, or sketch out your checklist before adding, tagging or linking paragraphs. The most useful checklists are those that are not over complicated. 
• Create and update checklists in an Office Master so they do not need to be recreated in multiple projects.

Creating a Project Checklist

Project checklists are best built in an Office Master project for reuse.

Follow the steps below to build a Project Checklist in an Office Master project.

1. Access the sections list of the Office Master Project where the Project Checklist will be built.
   
   
2. Click the red New button in the top left corner of the sections list.
   
   
   
   
3. From the menu, select Create from Template.
   
   
   
   
4. The New Section from Template dialog box will appear. In the Section ID field enter 000000 and in the Section Name field enter Project Checklist.
   
   
   
   The Folder field will automatically populate. The Suffix field will default to USER. This field is editable.
   
   
5. Click the blue Save button. A notification message will appear confirming the new section has been created.
   
   
   
   
6. Select the section so that it is active as shown below.
   
   
   
   
7. Access the new section by clicking its name, or right-clicking and selecting "Open in a new tab". All  yellow Master Notes have become blue "user" notes and are editable. These former Master Notes can be edited or replaced with new notes regarding the checklist section.
   
   
8. Apply the tag NP for Non-Printing to the title paragraph (0000) of the section. This tag will allow the links to be active, but the section won’t print and also won’t appear in the Table of Contents. 
   
   
   
   
9. Delete Parts 1, 2, and 3 by placing your cursor in each of those paragraphs, right clicking, and selecting Delete User Paragraphs.
   
   
   
   
10. When confirming the deletion a message will appear asking to confirm the deletion of all sub-paragraphs. Click Yes to delete all sub-paragraphs.
    
    
    
    The Checklist will now contain 3 paragraphs: the Section Title (0000), Update Notes (0001) and End of Section (0002).
    
    
    
    
11. In sequence 0001, change "Update Notes" to "Project Type:".
    
    
    
    This paragraph is already set to non-selectable (NS) and has a green link built in that activates this paragraph automatically upon the section being active (0000).
    
    
12. Create a new user paragraph below the Project Type paragraph by hitting the "Enter" key and then increase the indent of that paragraph to a level 2.
    
    
13. Enter "Hospital" in the new paragraph sequence 0002.
    
    
    
    
14. Create 2 more new user paragraphs on the same level and enter "Office Building" and "School".
    
    
    
    
15. Apply the non-printing NP tag to the new paragraphs.
    
    
    
    
16. Create red paragraph links from each of these options to the others. For example, test to ensure when Hospital is selected, Office Building and School should appear with a red link. 
    
    
    
    
17. Deselect the Hospital paragraph 0002. Confirm that none of the level 2 paragraphs (0002, 0003, or 0004) are active.
    
    
18. Create a cross section link from the School (0004) to the (0000) Paragraph of Section 105113. 
    
    
    
    
19. Activate the School sequence 0004. Using the sections list, confirm that Section 105113 has been activated.
    
    
    
    
20. Deactivate the School sequence and activate the Office Building sequence.
    
    
21. Note that the Metal Lockers section gets deactivated. The sections list tab may need to be refreshed.

From here, you can continue to expand and build links to activate as much as needed for each project type as you fill out your checklist.

Watch the video below to see the steps of creating a project checklist in action.