STB-TOOL GEBRUIKER

SEED ARCHITECTS
000-030.AUT.SEED AUTOMATION
AB.ER.MAN.000-030.USER GUIDE STB-TOOL
JULY 1, 2017

STB 2014 TOOL VERSION 1.04

In order to describe the tasks in an commission in detail, the Standard Task Description (STB) was drawn
up in 2005. This was renewed in April 2014 and is used by many architects and engineering firms to deter-
mine the division of tasks within a project. Increasingly, Consultants are increasingly taking on commis-
sions abroad. The need arose to apply the STB there too. Because there are only a few countries outside
the Netherlands where Dutch is the official language, a translation of the STB to English was required.
For this reason, SEED architects has developed a tool in which the STB is easily filled in and converted to
English. This tool provides a clear overview of the tasks that were difficult to realize with the currently
available software.

2. PROPERTIES

The tool is created in an Excel workbook that can be used from Excel 2007. The Windows system lan-
guages that are supported are Dutch and English. The programming language used is Visual Basic for Ap-
plications (VBA) and works on both 32- and 64-bit systems. The STB tool is not suitable for running on
other operating systems such as Apple OS.

3. INSTALLATION

Being able to use the tool does not require a special installation of Excel or Office. However, it requires a
correct and complete installation of Excel. There is no use of special folders. The Excel file can be saved
anywhere. In the security of Excel, the "running" of macros must be made possible. If macros are disabled
by default in the security settings, the document will not work. Search for enabling macros in the Excel
Help section.

4. USE

Depending on the security settings, when you open the STB tool, you will receive a security warning
depending on the settings. Allow the activation of macros by clicking on the appropriate button.
When the STB tool has been opened, you will see that a button has been added to the "quick access"
toolbar at the top of the Excel screen. With this button you activate the main form.
With the closing of the STB tool this button will automatically disappear.

Task overview

The following image shows in numbered sections how the STB-tool is built up.
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JULY 1, 2017
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7

4
5 6
9

1. At the location of number 1 you will find your name or logo. This part is locked and cannot be
changed. If you do however wish to change this please contact us.

2. Here you can fill in the most basic descriptions of your project. When printing, this description will
appear on every page.

3. In position 3 the current language display is indicated (perhaps superfluous). Changing the displayed
language takes place via the main form.

4. According to the STB, the tasks are divided into Themes. These themes are kept in order in the over-
view.

5. The tasks are indicated with task number, sub-task number, necessity and job description as used in
the STB 2014.

6. If the task occurs at a certain phase, this has been made visible with an indication of the number of
activities that belong to the task in a particular phase.

7. The 10 phases from the STB 2014 are displayed side by side in columns, so that it is visible at a
glance in which phases the task is performed. If desired, phases can be hidden and made visible
again via the main form.

8. At position 8 the participants are legible. Participants can be added to the number of 7. The cus-
tomer and his firm are permanent participants. The names of the participants can also be edited via
the main form.

9. With each task you can indicate who is responsible/executor of the task executive and which party is
supportive. This is indicated by filling in with the letters n and p. The letter n is shown as  and the
letter p as . Incorrect interpretations are automatically corrected.
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Main form

Activating the main form goes as described above via the added button in the quick access toolbar at the
top of Excel. The form looks like this:

1 2

4
5

1. In the section with the phases, the phases that will occur in the project can be turned on or off. The
phase is hidden in the overview when it is switched off.

2. In the section with the participants, 7 participants can be used and excluding the client and their own
office - turned on and off, with which they can be hidden or made visible.

3. By clicking on the button next to a participant, the name / description of the participant can be
modified via the following dialogue box:

Note: if the name / description of a participant is changed, this has to be repeated in the other lan-
guage.

4. By checking that the active tasks are to be filtered, only those tasks in the overview that have been
assigned to a participant at any stage are displayed. All tasks that have not been assigned are not
made visible.

5. Here you can switch languages. With this version only the languages Dutch and English are availa-
ble.
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Activities form

Each task has at least 1 activity. The number of activities that belong to a task per phase is indicated by a
number. The overview of the associated activities is represented by a right-click in the form below:

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3
4

1. In 1, the selected task, the associated phase and theme are displayed.

2. Under the job description, a maximum of 7 activities belonging to the task are displayed in a section.
As soon as there are more than 3 activities for the task, a scrollbar will be visible on the right-hand
side, with which you can go to the other activities.

3. The documents belonging to the activity are shown here. There are a maximum of 3 different docu-
ments per activity.

4. At position 4 the content of the selected document is displayed.

5. Next to each document a button is displayed as by 5. By clicking on this button a link can be made
with any document such as your own template or a specific project document. This makes it easy to
find a project document and link it to the contractually defined tasks and activities..
Note: only a link is made to the document. The document itself is not included. If the storage location
of the document is changed, the link must also be made again.
When clicking on this button the following form appears:
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Any desired document can be linked here. Only files that can be found on a physical path can be
linked.

When a file is linked to an activity, the button is colored blue in the activity form:

By clicking on a blue-colored button the linked document can be opened:

If the No button is pressed in this form, another file can be selected, after which the link will be
linked to the same document and replaced with the previous one.

If the link needs to be deleted, click the Cancel button.

After confirmation, the link to the document will been deleted and the corresponding button on the
activity form will be displayed in its original color.

The activity form does not have to be closed before the activities of another task have to be shown. If, on an
open form, the right-click on the number of the activities of another task is clicked, the content of the form
is immediately refreshed.

Tracking progress

There is the possibility to indicate on the task overview during the completion of a project which tasks have
been completed. To do this, you can double-click on the relevant characters  and  for the assignment of
tasks to participants. The red color of these characters will then change to a blue. If you double-click
again, the opposite happens.

5. Extra

Contact information:

SEED architects
Koelmalaan 350 / 2.8
1812 PS Alkmaar
The Netherlands
T: +31725679010
E: [email protected]
W: www.seedarchitects.nl