PLANS ONLINE - dot.state.tx.us

1 PLANSONLINET exas department of transportation plan Information Website User guide Page 1 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 plan Information Website User guide Providing Project PLANS and More! Table of Contents plan Information .. 2 What does this site provide? ..2 Who will benefit? ..2 System plan Information Home Page Contents ..3 PLANS ONLINE View, Search, Email, Print .. 4 View ..5 Table of Contents Pane ..6 Item View Pane ..7 Item Details Pane ..8 Toolbars ..10 Search ..13 Simple Search ..13 Advanced Search.

2 14 Saved Searches ..15 Email ..17 Print ..18 plan Information Website User guide Page 2 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 plan Information What does this site provide? The Texas department of transportation (TxDOT) provides free access to project PLANS and related documentation for bidding purposes. Projects include construction, maintenance, building facilities and airports. Project documents include engineering drawings, informational proposals, project addenda, contract PLANS and bid tabs. This site hosts a five-month rolling window of information on projects that are currently out for bid, including projects bidding in the current month and any advance PLANS that have been released by the Design Division. Information is posted on the site for three months after the bid opening.

3 Who can benefit? Contractors Sub-contractors Suppliers of materials CPM schedulers Project support service companies Other public entities such as city and county governments, utilities and railroads General public System Requirements For the best experience when using the TxDOT PLANS ONLINE web site to access project documents across the Internet, your system should meet the following minimum system requirements: Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, NT, or XP, each with the latest Service PackWeb Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer or higherScreen Resolution: 800 X 600 or higher Software Adobe Acrobat Reader or above Get Reader - For viewing proposals and addenda WinZip For downloading PLANS PLANS ONLINE databases use Alchemy Web software application by Captaris ( ), but it does not require special software.

4 The first time using Alchemy Web, if asked to download the free viewer tool, please accept this in order to use Alchemy. Also, turn any pop-up blockers off that might prevent the viewing of PLANS . plan Information Contents PLANS ONLINE View, Search, Email, Print - Find PLANS , proposals, addenda, and bid tabs for state and local letting databases for construction, maintenance, aviation and facilities. PLANS ONLINE FTP Download (Print) Download PLANS , proposals, addenda and contract PLANS for archiving and printing. Use this option if needing to print more than one page of the PLANS at a time. Reprographic PLANS Companies List of authorized distributors for purchasing TxDOT PLANS and proposals. Frequently Asked Questions Other links to related information. For questions, please contact PLANS ONLINE at or Information Website User guide Page 3 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 PLANS ONLINE View, Search, Email, Print The Letting Databases for each month contain the engineering plan set, informational proposal, addenda and bid tab for each project.

5 Addenda (revisions) are inserted in the original plan sets, as well as posted separately for convenient viewing. Enter a database by clicking on the month of interest. Once inside the databases, it is easy to select another month from the top-left dropdown menu. PLANS ONLINE provides two views that can be used to find and retrieve documents for viewing; the Explore view and the Search view. plan Information Website User guide Page 4 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 The Explore view allows you to browse through the contents of the databases, email and print. The Search view allows you to submit queries to search a single database or across multiple databases and select files from the search results list. View Clicking the Explore Tab opens the Explore View. The Explore view consists of three panes; the Table of Contents (TOC) pane, the Item View pane and the Item Details pane.

6 When viewing a document or image, the Item Details pane can also be displayed on the screen. The Item Details pane can be added to or removed from the view by clicking on the Show/Hide Item Details button (See Toolbars section). The Item View pane displays the contents of selected folders in the TOC pane or displays the selected item (document/image). The TOC pane is used to navigate the database(s). This pane is where the database to be accessed is selected and the contents and structure of the database can be viewed. Clicking the plus sign (+) to the right of a specific folder expands the folder and displays the contents of that folder. Clicking on an item selects the item for viewing. In addition to viewing the structure of your selected database and files contained in that database, you can also perform the following tasks in Explore view: View the details of an Item Download an Item to your workstation Email a selected Item Add custom columns to the Item view Sort Items based on a specific column These will be explained later in the manual.

7 plan Information Website User guide Page 5 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 Table of Contents (TOC) Pane On the left is the TOC (Table of Contents) pane where you select the database that you want to access and can view the contents and structure of your selected database. Select a database from the dropdown list. Switch between databases on the fly. Browse the contents of the selected database. Clicking the plus sign (+) to the right of a specific folder expands the folder and displays the contents of that folder. Clicking the minus sign (-) to the right of a folder retracts the folder listing. Clicking on an item displays the item in the Item View pane. plan Information Website User guide Page 6 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 Item View Pane The Item View pane is located on the right hand side of the Alchemy Web browser window.

8 From the Item View pane, you can view database items (files), view item details, download items to your local machine, and e-mail items. Toolbars give you quick, easy access to the viewing tools available in Item View. The toolbars displayed for use vary based on the type of document displayed in the Item View pane (image, PDF, Text, etc.). Viewing an Image File Viewing a Document While viewing the selected item, you can perform the following tasks: Download the item to your workstation Print a hard copy of the item View the Item Details E-mail the item plan Information Website User guide Page 7 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 Item Details Pane The Item Detail pane is located on the lower-right hand side of the Alchemy Web browser window. The Item Detail pane displays additional indexing information (metadata) for the database, the CCSJ folder and individual items (images/documents).

9 PLANS ONLINE provides Item Details on two item levels; the CCSJ folder and the document/image. The CCSJ folder details list information about the TxDOT project. The Item Details for the CCSJ folder can be displayed by clicking on the View Item Details button . Click on the Back link to close the Item Details for the CCSJ folder. View Item Details button plan Information Website User guide Page 8 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 CCSJ Folder Item Details The document/image details list information about the document/image displayed in the Item View pane. When viewing a document or image, the Item Details pane can also be displayed on the screen. The Item Details pane can be added/removed from the view by clicking on the Show/Hide Item Details button. Show/Hide Item Details button plan Information Website User guide Page 9 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006 Document/Image Item Details Toolbars Toolbars give quick, easy access to the viewing tools available in Item View.

10 The toolbars displayed for use vary based on the type of document displayed in the Item View pane (image, PDF, Text, etc.). Client Toolbar The Client toolbar is separate from the toolbars for the Item View pane and offers different options than the viewer tools. The Download button executes a standard Windows download. The downloaded file has the original file name of the file being downloaded. The Client Print button opens printing on the client workstation. It does not offer the options available through the Print button on the Item View toolbar. The Show/Hide Item Details button will add or remove the Item Details pane to the view. The Item Details for the document displayed in the Item View pane is shown. Item Toolbars The viewer Toolbars display the viewing tools that can be used when viewing files in the Item View pane.