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APROS d.o.o. Construction Laboratory E-Commerce

In 2005, we modernized our business operations by launching the Construction Laboratory E-Commerce software package, which was entirely developed according to the specifications that meet technical requirements for laboratory activities.

By doing so, we guarantee our customers better quality and immediacy in performing services and issuing documentation.

Idea

The idea of having a computer program, designed to cover the construction laboratory?s business operations, became topical after the scope of work had been enlarged. The primary objectives were to take a load off fellow workers, who were doing heavy and monotonous work, and to enhance the quality of the documents (reports, invoices, construction situations) issued.

We found out that we had been very busy copying the results of measurements and tests, carried out for issuing reports. Major reports, which included several thousand test and measurement results, required a huge amount of time (even several weeks) and total concentration in order to avoid mistakes when copying data.

Computer technology allows a user to use digitally recorded data through several stages of doing business. The advantage lies in a huge time saving and in assuring high-quality data use.

Development Project

The basic guidelines were set for the computer program, which was being upgraded by customer requirements and national standards through all the stages of the development.

The Construction Laboratory E-Commerce development project required the overall approach to be taken by all company departments to achieve the objectives set. Therefore the development project was divided into separate stages in order to make it easier for us to monitor and finance them in accordance with the long-term time-schedule. Since the overall project was a big financial burden for us, we had presented the project to the ERBD Commission, which estimated that our development project was a prospective and qualitative step forward for the expansion of our company. That is why we obtained part of grants.

During the first stage, we produced a Software Database, into which all data were entered. Work orders are activated from this Database now. And work order data are transferred to the operational staff?s handhelds. Thus, the field staff do not have to copy data on objects after each test has been carried out. All laboratory tests are also entered into the Database. This enables us to constantly use the latest and the most appropriate data.

During the next stage, a software package was produced for handhelds. The package is designed for all field tests from static and dynamic module measurements of load-bearing capacity, density and moisture measurements by using isotopes to fresh concrete mix tests.

Then the most difficult part of the project was carried out. It refers to an automatic display / printout of test and measurement reports. By means of the software, it has been enabled to issue various kinds of reports. Thus, it is possible to select reports according to the kind of the investment plan (DARS [Slovenian Motorway Company], DRSC [the Directorate of the Republic of Slovenia for Roads], Slovenske ?eleznice [Slovenian Railways], etc.), because various technical specifications and tender requirements are associated with it.

During the last stage, the data were automated for invoicing purposes. Hence it is no longer necessary to manually enter accounting data according to single objects every day, but it is automatically done by synchronizing data between a handheld and the Database. Our Accounting Department just selects account objects and construction situations or invoices are automatically displayed / printed.

Assessment

The software package is now completed to such an extent that effectiveness assessment of implementation can be given.
When working in the field, the staff should observe consistency and accuracy needed for data entry so that there are no additional clerical tasks to be performed, except for the final list of displays / printouts of Reports for Customers.

We are all very satisfied with the achievements of our company, because an overall computer program has been developed for conducting business operations at all stages of our Construction Laboratory?s work. All colleagues? work has changed considerably. We are satisfied with better working conditions, as there is no longer any need to do time-consuming data entries. At the same time, we have achieved the highest possible information quality, because the data are automatically processed and human mistakes are no longer possible during data processing. Quite some time was needed for colleague training. However, while the modules of single project stages were being introduced, we were simultaneously trained for using single modules of the software package.

A Brief Presentation of Software Package Advantages:

1. Acquisition of measurement results by using handhelds in the field
The users used to collect the measurement results, obtained in the field, on paper forms. Later during the stage of producing reports, they copied these measurement results into a computer.

A software module has been produced within the framework of the project. This module operates on handhelds under the Pocket PC 2002 operating system. Now the measurement results are immediately entered into handhelds. Entering measurement results is very simple and quick enough for daily work in the field. By connecting a handheld to the working station in the company?s registered office, the data are transferred from a handheld to the joint Database.
All other data for issuing invoices and construction situations are also transferred during the data transfer stage.
Paper printouts of measurement results, obtained in the field, can also be provided, because, at investors? request, single reports on measurement results are sometimes stored at the construction site archive.

2. Acquisition of laboratory test results
In the cabinet laboratory, the users used to fill in paper forms by using test results. Later on, they copied the results from these forms into a computer when issuing reports and when additional data for accounting were needed.

The laboratory personnel can now enter both laboratory test results and accounting data into a computer. This makes the results of the latest laboratory tests immediately (upon synchronisation, usually on the same day) accessible to operational staff in the field. At the same time, the database is being filled up with the data for issuing reports. Therefore, there is no need to copy the results from paper forms when issuing reports.

3. Producing technical reports
The users had to copy measurement results from paper forms into various Excel and Word tables as well as into report proposals.

Filling in the joint Database with data on measurement and laboratory tests is done as described in the modules above. Now users just check the measurement results, stored in the joint Database, and display / print the technical report they need. Of course, during the stage of data check, it is possible to add notes on peculiarities of objects, and to choose objects processed according to subsections. Thus, reports are created according to all possible varieties, anticipated by long-standing experience in our activity.

4. Issuing invoices
Invoicing is absolutely simple now. When selecting a customer and an object, invoice data are automatically transferred to the period selected.
5. Transfer to current account book
The users had to manually enter the invoices issued and displayed from the software package into the invoice book.

An automatic transfer of created invoices from the software package to the invoice book has been created within the framework of the project.

6. Efforts towards providing data security
Data captured by handhelds are stored on an additional Flash card, by means of which all Pocket PCs have been expanded. Tests have proved that data remain safe on the Flash card even during the battery discharge so that no loss of data occurs.

We have established a daily protection system of storing the joint Database data on tapes, kept in a fireproof safe.

7. A possibility of direct data transfer from a handheld in the field into the joint database
At the present moment, it is possible to transfer data from a handheld into the joint Database in the company?s registered office by connecting the handheld to the working station.
In the further development of the software package, we are going to ensure direct data exchange between a handheld in the field and the joint Database, which is made possible by the continuous development of mobile communications.
The necessary minimum infrastructure includes: Windows 2000 Server, handhelds with the Pocket PC 2002 operating system, mobile telephones with a possibility of infrared connections and GPRS support, or other systems of rapid transfer of data. The system is projected to be automated to such an extent that the users will be able to quickly establish a connection from the field in order to exchange data with the joint Database.

8. A possibility of purchasing the Construction Laboratory E-Commerce software package
Due to a huge amount of time invested into the development of the Construction Laboratory E-Commerce high-quality software package, we have decided to put it on the market so that all interested laboratories can purchase it. The software package can be easily upgraded and expanded for the needs of various companies. This is done in accordance with your requirements at the premises of our business partner, who produced the software for us.
The package price depends on the projected number of software users and on the number of modifications required by a customer.
The software can be adapted for the use of test and measurement methods in accordance with any standards. It may be interesting for users or construction laboratories from any country in the world.


For more information or to request a quotation, please call +386/2 42 956 10 and ask to speak to the APROS company director or send us an e-mail: marjan.tancer@apros.info
Maribor, Jun 2005
Prepared by: Marjan TANCER, Company Director

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SOIL MECHANICS AND FOUNDATION ENGINEERING

The term soil mechanics refers to examination and description of mechanical properties of soils and rocks. The ground provides natural support for any construction, the weight of which must be carried without causing any deflections and deformations.

Excavated soils may be used as a construction material for road and water-storage embankments as well as for laying humus over bare ground after completing the construction.

Soils are made up of materials created by nature over infinitely long periods of time, during which the Earth?s original components had been undergoing the most varied mechanical, physical and chemical impacts, thereby changing their properties. They resulted in extreme heterogeneity of the part of Earth?s crust, which interests us in day-to-day practice. The crust consists of layers of various materials in various thicknesses. They were mainly caused by decomposition of basic rock below the surface layer.

The properties of earth materials, on which foundations are built, cannot be defined by using simple terms. Therefore, it is not possible to solve the basic problems of building foundations for structures through standard procedures, used, for example, in dimensioning structural units, made from standardised industrial materials.

FOUNDATION ENGINEERING HISTORY

Man the builder started using pile foundations for constructing dwellings over water after living in caves in the oldest periods. All the oldest civilisations and cultures left behind important technical monuments and remains. Prior to building these monuments, a variety of foundation engineering problems had to be resolved. From ancient times to the 19th century, the construction of the foundations for structures of usual dimensions was carried out primarily on the basis of tradition and personal experience of builders. Increasingly difficult problems were gradually solved in geotechnical practice. But the solutions have not always led to the desired outcomes. The best known example is certainly the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is a heavy building, 55m high. The construction of the tower began in 1173 and took place in three stages. This bell tower of the Romanesque Cathedral was built on non-consolidated and non-homogeneous ground. Despite its rigid circular foundation, the tower began to increasingly tip already during its construction, which lasted 180 years. The builders were continuously adapting themselves to an ever increasing inclination. However, the tower has not been finally balanced up to now.
The rational development of engineering sciences began in the 17th century. After 200 years of making experimental and theoretical studies, engineering sciences had reached such a level that they began to gradually change usual structures in the construction industry. Steel, cement and reinforced concrete, used as construction material, made it possible to design and construct entirely new facilities.

Karl Terzaghi, Austrian civil engineer, who had lived and worked in the USA and all over the world, laid the foundations for a new science, which sought and found rational solutions to previously unsolvable problems of non-homogeneous and diverse natural ground. In 1925, he published a book, in which he integrated the results of his revolutionary work into one system, thereby laying the foundations for further development.

FOUNDATION ENGINEERING TODAY

By testing soil samples, it is possible to determine characteristic properties of materials in the present age. On the basis of the results obtained, it is relatively easy to accurately establish both the bearing capacity of the ground and deflections of structures. The routine use of recipes and formulae is not desired in soil mechanics. The results, which are not going to disappoint us (because they reflect the real state), can be expected from soil mechanics, provided that theoretical and mathematical models are assessed by a combination of personal experience and logical assessments of natural factor impacts. Each object?s weight and load need to be transferred to the natural ground, to which the object needs to be firmly connected. The loads from the structure are transferred to a certain area on the ground, where, therefore, stresses and deformations occur. The increased stresses in the ground must not exceed certain threshold values in order to prevent ground breakage and collapse of a building pit or construction facility.

Therefore, nowadays the construction of a facility is commenced after drawing up geotechnical documentation, which is the condition for obtaining a site development permit. In addition, geotechnical documentation enables construction designers to choose foundations.

As a company, we draw up geotechnical documentation and do geotechnical monitoring of construction works. We participate in quality control and in exercising control over building foundations for more than 300 structures. We have a state-of-the-art laboratory for geomechanics and concretes. Our experts have wide experience in their fields of activity. And they are familiar with the state-of-the-art technologies applied in construction industry.

GEOMECHANICAL ENGINEER?S GUIDELINES FOR FUTURE INVESTORS AND FOR BUILDERS CONSTRUCTING NEW BUILDINGS

- An inexpensive parcel of land usually requires demanding and expensive construction of foundations.
- In hillside areas there is a risk of land sliding induced by excavation works done by us or our nearest neighbour.
- In hillside areas there are always deep cuts which require retaining walls for both the facility and access driveway.
- Flat areas with high groundwater levels represent a hindrance to constructing facilities; and they may also represent a potential risk (capillary rise, cellar and ground floor flooding, buoyancy).
- Check medium-term and long-term spatial plans in order to avoid unwillingly becoming a neighbour of motorways, railways, power transmission lines, quarries? one day.
- An adequate mode of constructing foundations for a new building anywhere in a country is almost always found. However, in this case, the foundation costs exceed even several times the costs of the entire building.
- When choosing a parcel of land near a brook, one should not forget that this brook may swell to a raging torrent of immense destructive power.
- Radon gas may penetrate into the dwellings from the ground. The short-lived radon decay products (polonium, lead, bismuth) can cause lung cancer.

In accordance with the above-mentioned facts, the shortest way is to place an order for producing a geotechnical assessment report prior to purchasing a building lot. Thus, it is easier for you to decide whether or not you may purchase the building lot. The geotechnical assessment is needed for obtaining a building permit. It also serves as the basis for a good project made by a construction designer and statics engineer.

Sometimes it is necessary to involve other experts, such as hydrogeologists, archaeologists, physicists, land surveyors as well as locals and neighbours, who can help by providing you with useful information.

In order to avoid problems later, which are most frequently associated with huge costs, please consult an expert for professional advice on foundation construction.

Head of Construction Laboratory: Jo?ef BERDEN, Construction Engineer

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