Organization of building standards: Systematic techniques for scope and arrangement

An individual who refers to a standard, code, or specification should be able to find with ease and confidence the provisions he needs. The organization of a standard determines whether provisions can be found reliably and efficiently. Organization has objective qualities that allow it to be treated formally. The organization of a standard deals with both the scope (the range of subject matter of the provisions) and the arrangement (the grouping and ordering) of the provisions it includes. This report describes an innovative method for indexing and outlining that provides a systematic and effective tool for organizing standards or codes. Previously developed decision table and information network systems for analysis and representation of the provisions of a standard provide the context and need for an organizational system that capitalizes on their objective qualities. The development of the system is aided by the sciences of classification and linguistics. The basic element is the development of a classification for the provisions of the standard. Development of the classification constitutes a formal treatment of scope. The classifiers are keys to naming chapters and sections. Development of an outline from the classifiers constitutes a formal treatment of the arrangement. Necessary and desirable qualities for an organization are identified, verified, and adopted as objectives and guidelines for organization. Two functional groups of provisions are identified: requirements and determinations. This grouping makes possible a clear definition of the interface of the organizational system with the decision table and information network systems and provides part of the basis for systematic classification. A relevant basis is found for classifying requirements using an idealized model of the relation between syntax and semantics. This shows that a basic requirement names a thing as its subject and contains a required quality for that thing as its predicate. A faceted structure is recommended for a classification system that can meet the potentially conflicting demands of users with dissimilar purposes or backgrounds. The faceted classification provides a clear division between levels that are strictly logical and those that are not. Basic categories are expressed for engineering design standards for buildings to allow a meaningful starting point for their organization. Similar use of basic categories is recommended for other types of standards. A technique based on the performance concept is developed for systematic formulation of new standards. It is applicable to standards that are not expressed in a performance oriented fashion. Procedures are developed for forming an index and for forming outlines, and appropriate measures are defined for the comparison of alternate outlines for the same standard. Criteria for placement of provisions in outlines and for construction of outlines from the classification are proposed to promote the objectives of organization. Various outlining techniques are explored, and a computer algorithm for an interactive style of outline generation is developed and tested.