HDD PowerTool - AutoCAD Drawing import to HUB

Owned by Febin Mathews, created
Nov 03, 2023
3 min read

Reduce the Value Risk (PM)

 Problem Definition

HDD Powertool is a well received Tool from Technical Toolboxes that addresses most of the analysis that are required in the Trenchless Drilling. However we still need to address few of the pain points that our customers have been complaining for the past 2 years. One of them is the ability to import CAD files directly to the HUB platform. This could three important things for our clients

  1. Bring CAD drawings and design specification to the HUB

  2. Bring soil characteristics tied to the Geotech file to HUB

  3. Make HUB that unifying platform that allows the HDD PT users to make the design review and analysis in one place

 Target Customer

With advanced feature for viewing and editing CAD drawing within the program a new tier for HDD PT can be made available (HDD PT+) that could cater to the operators and contractors who normally don't have access to CAD program.

Existing customers can buy this as an add on feature that would enable them to complete the review and analysis in a single location ie in the HUB platform.

Validation Data

Standard CAD design drawings was provided by the following HDD design companies.

  • S&ME

  • RK&K

  • NV5 Services

Real Customer Problem Validation

“We also need a program that can export the profile from CAD, which calculates the min and max pressure for every rod of the created bore path without having to input additional information for each point.” - Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania/ Nisource https://technicaltoolboxes.atlassian.net/browse/TT-8938

Cooper Resources:

https://technicaltoolboxes.atlassian.net/browse/TT-4044

Jacob Hill, Ameren Services Company, Inc:

https://technicaltoolboxes.atlassian.net/browse/TT-7314

 Upvotes to the problem

@Joseph Pikas @jladner & @Phillip Resendez (Unlicensed) believes there is added value in providing this feature within the HUB platform. Many of our customers have been asking this as an added feature for the past two years. There client interactions are captured in multiple Jira tickets and recordings.

NV5 Team:

“I would really like to see HDD PT allowing import CAD drawings and creating bore profile sections in one go. Avoid the process of manually entering the profile configuration” - Jason A. Carty, PE, PMP | Project Manager | NV5

 Prioritization

Technical toolboxes own 100 % IP for HDD PT. Our main competitor in this space is Boreaid (last updated in 2018). We haven't made any significant update to our program in terms of features or calculations for the past two years. Having these major updates is a great demand generator, marketing and upselling opportunity.

 Potential Solution

Integrate HDD PT with DWGSee CAD.

  1. Create a workflow that allows the user to import her/his drawing to the HDD PT widget.

  2. Allow the user to select the list of data to be extracted.

  3. Once the import is done provide the option to view, edit and measure the sections within the profile.

  4. Extract polyline data (boreprofile) to automatically create the bore sections.

  5. Create pipe profile using the extracted data.

  6. Allow user to edit, update & modify the profile entry.

  7. Complete the borehole configuration.

Reduce the Feasibility Risk (Eng) 

Do we know how to build this?

AutoDWG offers DWGSee CAD that allows users to import CAD drawing for viewing and editing purpose. DWGSee CAD can be integrated to our HDD PT to enable this feature within HUB

https://www.autodwg.com/

A POC was created by AutoDWG showcasing the following features:

  • Import CAD drawing '

  • Extracting polyline data from the bore profile

  • Tabling and interpreting the data for use in HDD PT workflow

When do we expect to see real results? Which Phases?

 '-'

Ready For GA? Get the PMM involved (to be updated)

 

  • What is the impact to customers with this feature release

    • Is it an operational improvement or differentiating in nature (and therefore more worthy of promotion)?

  • Does this feature change the positioning we have for the product?

    • Is the feature substantial enough that the sales teams (SAs and/or AEs) should be trained on how it changes their sales motions?

  • What is the desired promotion activity and owner?

    • Blogs

    • Webinars

    • Product Page Update

    • Demo Video

    • Inclusion in an upcoming event

  • When can we expect initial screenshots and a video overview (for creating marketing materials)

  • Expected date of feature release and docs completion (so that we can work backwards with promotional materials)