Latest News - MASTERSPEC Delivery

Changes to Delivery of MASTERSPEC

by Christopher Bushnell, AIA, CSI, CCS,
ARCOM President and CEO

For more than 20 years, MASTERSPEC has been delivered to Licensed Users on electronic media from computer tapes, large disks, floppy diskettes, and finally to CD-ROM. The current MASTERSPEC CD contains the Section Text, the Supporting Documents, update instructions, tables of contents, and the MASTERWORKS software. LINX is sent on a separate CD.

With the advent of the Internet and the wide adoption of broadband, it is now feasible to deliver MASTERSPEC updates via Web download and to access MASTERSPEC directly off the Web. Because of these technological developments, the following changes to the delivery of MASTERSPEC will occur in the near future:

  • MASTERSPEC Section Text: Delivered by download from the ARCOM Web site.
  • MASTERSPEC Supporting Documents: Available directly from the ARCOM Web site.
  • LINX Software: Delivered by download from the ARCOM Web site.
  • Update Instructions and Tables of Contents: Delivered by download from the ARCOM Web site.
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The MASTERSPEC download will consist of the same files currently delivered on CD: the Section Text, PDFs of the Supporting Documents, and the MASTERWORKS software. The download will be self-extracting and will automatically launch the same ARCOM Installer program that is currently delivered on CD to install MASTERSPEC and MASTERWORKS or LINX software.

The HTML version of the Supporting Documents – the Cover, Evaluations, Drawing Coordination Checklist, and Specification Coordination Checklist for each Section – will be hosted on the ARCOM Web site rather than being included in the MASTERSPEC download. Licensed Users will continue to access the Supporting Documents via the MASTERWORKS and LINX software, or via an icon from the User’s desktop, which will go directly to ARCOM’s Web site rather than to a location on the User’s local computer or network where the Supporting Documents are installed. MASTERWORKS and LINX will automatically include the appropriate security access to the ARCOM Web site, so getting to the Supporting Documents will be as easy as it is now. For times when the User cannot connect to the Internet, such as during travel, MASTERWORKS and LINX will redirect the User to the PDFs of the Supporting Documents included with the MASTERSPEC download.

The change to Web access of the Supporting Documents will provide the following multiple benefits to Licensed Users:

  • Allow new features to be added, such as the ability to search across the Supporting Documents of multiple Sections
  • Provide easier access to Resource Links and other specification resources
  • Provide easier access to PRODUCT MASTERSPEC
  • Simplify the installation of MASTERSPEC updates because MASTERWORKS and LINX will always be pointed to the same location
  • Allow information to be more quickly distributed when it is updated

As MASTERSPEC updates are ready to be downloaded, ARCOM will notify Licensed Users and provide appropriate instructions. Because only Licensed Users will be allowed to download MASTERSPEC, all Licensed Users will be required to be registered on the ARCOM Web site.

If you have not yet registered on our site, please visit the following page to create an account.

The notification of the update will be sent to each firm’s ARCOM Web site account manager, who is responsible for setting up access for all users in the firm.

The change to Web delivery will be a significant improvement to MASTERSPEC. Licensed Users will receive MASTERSPEC updates more quickly and, therefore, make the system more current.

For more information contact a product consultant at 800.424.5080 (8:30 a.m to 5:00 pm, Mountain Time) or by completing a RFI form.

 

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