scope:

The aim of this guide is to alert the reader to the potential problems of selecting and installing a CAD system by a concise overview, written with the experience of MOD user establishments and some of its major contractors. The guide poses a lot of questions, but does not attempt to give definitive answers because every organization's requirements may be different. The guide has been written so that a newcomer to CAD should be able to follow it, and to that end computer jargon has been kept to a minimum, however, the guide may also be of use to the experienced who are re-purchasing and may have forgotten some of the pitfalls or unknowingly missed them the first time.

While it has been written to cover the highest levels of the technology, it can equally well be applied to micro computer based systems.

Where possible immediate trends in the development of CAD technology have been included, but the pace of development is such that some details will inevitably become out of date although the general principles should not change.