Home / Non-Accredited / Graphic Design & CAD / Managing a Drawing Office Training (2 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Managing a Drawing Office Training (2 days)
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Length: 2 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 14,642 EX VAT 3 Person R 9,476 EX VAT 10 Person R 6,472 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Managing a Drawing Office Training (2 days)
Your drawing office delivers correct, consistent drawings on time – with clear roles, enforced standards and controlled revisions.
A drawing office can make or break an engineering, construction or manufacturing project. When roles are unclear, standards are loose and revisions are not controlled, the wrong drawing reaches site or the workshop, rework mounts up and disputes follow. Managing a drawing office well is a skill most chief draughtspersons are expected to learn on the job.
This two-day course gives drawing office managers and section leaders a practical framework. Day one covers how a drawing office is structured, the roles from trainee to checker, planning and tracking the workload, leading and developing the team, and why drawing standards matter – including South African and international drawing standards. Day two covers writing and enforcing company standards for dimensioning, materials, title blocks and CAD, setting up a checking and approval process, and configuration management: identifying drawings, controlling changes and revisions, issuing and superseding drawings, and as-built handover. It closes with protecting the drawing archive and an action plan.
The course is built around real drawing office problems. Delegates bring their own standards, drawing registers or revision procedures, review them against good practice and leave with specific improvements to make.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Fewer drawing errors and superseded drawings reaching site or the workshop
- Clear roles, workloads and approval routes in the drawing office
- Company drawing standards that are written down and applied
- Revision and change control that stands up in a dispute or audit
For your delegates
- A practical framework for running a drawing office
- Tools to plan and track drawing work across projects
- A drawing checklist and change-control process to adapt
- A 90-day improvement plan for their own office
What delegates will be able to do
- Describe the roles in a drawing office and how work should flow between them
- Estimate, plan and track drawing work across several projects
- Explain why drawing standards matter and which standards apply to their work
- Draft or improve a company drawing and CAD standards manual
- Set up a checking, approval and sign-off process
- Apply configuration management to drawing numbering, revisions and change requests
- Control the issue of drawings, supersede old revisions and manage as-built records
- Plan practical improvements for their own drawing office
Who should attend
Chief draughtspersons, drawing office managers and section leaders, senior draughtspersons moving into supervision, engineering and project managers responsible for a design or drafting team, and document controllers in engineering, construction, mining and manufacturing organisations.
Course outline
Day 1 – Structure, people and standards
How a drawing office functions
- The drawing office's role in engineering, construction and manufacturing
- Roles: chief draughtsperson, section leader, designer, senior draughtsperson, trainee and technical clerk
- The checker and the standards section
- Interfaces with engineers, project managers, site and the workshop
- In-house versus outsourced drafting
Planning and managing the workload
- Estimating drawing hours and setting realistic deadlines
- Drawing registers and progress tracking
- Prioritising work across several projects
- Handling urgent changes without derailing the schedule
- Productivity measures that do not reward rushing
Leading the drawing team
- Allocating work by skill and development need
- Developing trainees and junior draughtspersons
- Giving feedback on drawing quality
- Keeping CAD skills current as software changes
- Retaining experienced staff
Engineering drawing principles and the need for standards
- Drawings as contract documents
- The cost of inconsistent drawings: errors, rework and disputes
- Projections, scales, line types and lettering
- South African and international standards: SANS 10111 for engineering drawings, SANS 10143 for building drawings and the ISO conventions behind them
Day 2 – Company standards, configuration and quality
Company standards
- Standards for dimensioning and tolerancing
- Material specifications and standard notes
- Title blocks, drawing numbers and sheet sizes
- CAD standards: layers, text styles, blocks and templates
- Writing a drawing office standards manual
- Rolling out and enforcing the standards
Checking and quality control
- The checker's role and a drawing checklist
- Self-checking before submission
- Approval and sign-off routes
- Recording errors and learning from them
Configuration management for drawings
- What configuration management is and where it came from
- Configuration items, baselines and the configuration register
- Identification, change control, status accounting and audit
- Revision control and revision history
- Engineering change requests and change notices
Configuration in practice
- Issuing drawings: transmittals and distribution lists
- Withdrawing superseded drawings so they cannot be used
- Issue for tender, issue for construction and as-built drawings
- Handing over drawings to maintenance systems
- Common data environments on BIM projects
Protecting the drawing archive
- File naming and folder structure
- Backups, version control and access rights
- Keeping work safe through power cuts: UPS, autosave and recovery
- Archiving and retrieving legacy drawings and scans
Action plan
- Reviewing your own drawing office against the course
- Three improvements for the next 90 days
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to about 20. Workbook, sample checklists and templates included; the content can be built around your own standards and drawing register on request. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“We were particularly impressed by the quality of facilitation and the practical relevance of the content presented. The programme was delivered with professionalism, clarity, and a strong emphasis on real-world application.”
“The facilitator effectively encouraged participation and used practical examples, discussions and interactive activities to ensure that the concepts were understood and could be applied in the workplace.”
“Business Optimization Training Institute facilitated Microsoft Excel Training for our company. The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa; we can also host it at a BOTI venue or deliver it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to groups of about 20. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table, or ask us for a quote.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Is this a CAD software course?
No. It is about running the drawing office: people, workload, standards, checking and revision control. For software skills, see AutoCAD Essentials (2D) (3 days) or the MicroStation Fundamentals Course.
Can it be based on our own standards and procedures?
Yes. Send us your standards manual, drawing register or revision procedure beforehand and the facilitator uses them as the working examples.
Can you run this course in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban?
Yes. We train on site at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and across South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online so a team spread over several offices can attend together.
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