We have received enquiries from specifiers in relation to manufacturers technical documentation incorporated into specifications through the Masterspec mDocs feature. Some Building Consent Authority consenting teams have requested that designers ONLY provide the relevant pages from the manufacturers documentation that is required to demonstrate compliance, rather than the whole document. They are requesting either the removal of the pages that are deemed irrelevant or to strike them out. Masterspec maintain that these documents need to be read in their entirety and that they are for reference and context.
The mDocs feature was developed to manage access and the control of manufacturers technical documentation and facilitate them being easily appended to associated specification sections created in Masterspec. We consulted extensively with designers, product manufacturers/suppliers, contractors and building consent authorities and mDocs was welcomed by all parties. Ultimately being able to provide detailed and relevant technical content directly to the constructor through the specification was considered a great step forward.
“Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied”.
- Robert Boyce
mDocs allows the specifier to quickly access the latest version of a document uploaded by the manufacturer or supplier. Importantly, these detailed documents are created and maintained by specialist technical content authors engaged by the Manufacturer or Supplier. The content is typically comprehensive and coordinated across various product documents and captures requirements unique to the products/ systems being specified. There is a significant risk associated with a specifier or any other third party altering the documentation prepared by the product manufacturer or supplier and then potentially taking on the liability for any unintentional issues resulting from the modified content.
Masterspec recommends that the specifier selects and appends only the relevant content available via mDocs for the product or system being specified. That content then must remain unmodified.