The simplest way, requiring minimal input
- If you have a design proposal open, make sure any changes to this are saved. You may wish to close the proposal by selecting the pull-down menu item ‘File > Close’.
- Click the ‘New’ icon on the ribbon or select the pull-down menu item ‘File > New > Proposal’.
- In the ‘New Proposal Wizard’ you must enter a name for the Proposal and identify yourself as the author. You may enter your full name or initials.
Tip - When you click in to the ‘Author’ field, a pencil appears to the right of this. When you click in the pencil some choices appear what will happen in future. Selecting an appropriate choice can speed things up next time.
- The wizard is a tabbed control so, to move to the next step, you can click ‘Next >’ or simply select the next tab. On the ‘Location’ tab you must specify the loading that the sign(s) will receive. This is done in a number of ways. You can either select:
- a fixed wind load that you may be given for your area by a structural engineer;
- a broad brush area for example Scotland inland or England coastal, based on loadings from the harmonised European Standard for fixed, vertical traffic signs (BS EN 12899-1:2007); or
- a bespoke location (environs) that is based on more refined information allowing often significantly lower loadings to be calculated using Eurocode 1 (BS EN 1991-1-4:2005). It is recommended that a bespoke environs is created before you start the proposal. See the additional Knowledge Base article covering the creation of bespoke environs.
- Select the wind load method that you wish to use for the design.
- Select an Environs associated with the wind load method.
This is the most basic information you need to start a new proposal. Signs can be added using the data transfer functions between KeyPOST and KeySIGN (export/import), or dragged and dropped from the signs palette in the main KeyPOST window. It is not therefore necessary, for creating a new proposal, to click ‘Next >’ to see the ‘Signs’, ‘Posts’ or ‘Ground’ tabs.