As one of Sweden's leading consultants Sweco always strives to deliver projects with high quality, on time and at or under cost. Trimble’s Quadri and Novapoint design software are among the most important tools in the box for Sweco. As we all know - it’s not only software that needs ongoing updates to run smoothly but the software users need an update now and then!
Trimble has a wide range of courses available from beginner to advanced. Advanced courses include topics such as Drawing Styles in Quadri, and Advanced Pavement for road designers. “In recent years there has been increased interest for custom courses adapted for specific customer requirements. Due to the pandemic we have also seen an increase in the interest for online- and e-courses,” says Jenny Johansson, responsible for training at Trimble in Göteborg, Sweden.
For Sweco, the Trimble training team created a custom training course for Trimble Quadri and Novapoint. In this customer story some of the participants in the training tell us about their thoughts and experiences of being trained in Quadri and Novapoint by Trimble.
“During the spring of 2022 we were contacted by Sweco in Karlstad,” Jenny tells us. “They wanted to arrange a special training in Novapoint for road designers so me and Albert Rexed at Sweco picked times and dates for the training session on location in Karlstad. Albert and I agreed that David Sandegård, our well known road expert with more than 20 years experience in Novapoint, should be the trainer. Many people don't know that David also has been doing research at Chalmers University of Technology in the field of alignment design for roads,” Jenny ends.
The word spread in the Sweco organization about the training in Karlstad and other offices also wanted to join. Another course was added to the mix, a training in Quadri (Common Data Environment). This training targets project managers, technical experts and quality checkers who review infrastructure models. “In cooperation with Jörgen Johansson, Regional Manager at Sweco, we agreed on content, time and place for the additional training sessions,” Jenny explains. “The Quadri part was agreed to be online and the additional road courses at the Göteborg and Växjö offices on location. In total we made 7 training sessions with a total of around 70 people attending.”
Alignment design and intersections
The training in alignment design and intersection design were held at the Sweco offices in Karlstad, Göteborg och Växjö. David Sandegård was teaching the course, one of the attendees, Alice Axelsson, had only good things to say. “David is an extremely competent person, and you really see that he knows all about Novapoint. It is really good to refresh old knowledge and learn new tricks in the software. It really enhances my daily work,” says Alice.
Axel Ydregården, is a road designer with six years of experience and attended the training in Gothenburg. Axel tells us he learnt Novapoint during his studies at Chalmers where he first got in contact with Trimble. “I’ve been working with different software for design and my experience is that Novapoint is easy to learn and that you are up and running as a user faster than with other software systems,” Axel tells us. When it comes to the actual training Axel agrees with Alice that the course leader was really good. Axel gives the training 9 points on a 10 grade scale. The only thing he misses out on is to learn more about the automatic intersection tool in Novapoint Road and how to perform detailed modeling of the roadbed.
Kerstin Holmer and Jesper Tannerfalk are both road designers working at Sweco’s Växjö office. Kerstin works mostly with road signs and road marking, while Jesper is working with road modeling and alignment design. They both attended the advanced road course in Växjö and like it very much. “For me there was not so much new stuff, because I’ve been working with Novapoint for the last 20 years, Jesper says but it’s always really good to refresh and learn how things really should be done, and not as you think it should be done.” Kerstin points out that she learned a lot of new things and especially appreciates the learning of all details in alignment design. “To learn and really understand alignment design gives me new possibilities in my daily work,” Kerstin explains.
“I strongly recommend other companies to arrange a custom training package from Trimble like this. We all need to expand our competences and learn new work methods. I feel I have taken many steps forward after attending the course,” Kerstin summarizes.
Quadri for reviewers
When you work with Quadri on a daily basis you learn about the concept of binder, workset, sharing and reservations. But if you are a project manager or a reviewer only using Quadri a little then and now - it can be a bit confusing, above all if you used to work with files. To ease up the process we set up a three hour online training course about the basics of Quadri, and how to use it when reviewing models.
Per Ceivik, team leader for the road designers at the Vänersborg office at Sweco, is one of the around 50 people attending the Quadri training. “I haven’t worked much in Quadri projects at all, and nowadays I hardly even work in any CAD-related software at all,” Per tells us. “In my role as project manager I often get in contact with Quadri because it is so widely used in Sweco. So I had a need to learn more about it, that's a fact! After the course I know how it works with binder, workset, drawing styles and the tools for review.” Per also gives credit to Trimbles course leader Jonas Wenner. “Jonas teaches in a nice and friendly way, and you understand that he has long experience with Quadri. After this training, I really want to work more directly in the model when I review and manage the projects. There are so many possibilities in Quadri when it comes to sharing information, measuring, extracting data and so on,” Per points out.
Jesper and Kerstin also attended the Quadri training and are both satisfied with it. “I’m new to Quadri so it was really useful to get a thorough understanding and explanation of how the system works,” says Kerstin.
Online or on location - which is best?
After discussing the matter with the attendees the picture is clear, when it comes to a course where all attendees should be practically involved and active, on-location is preferable. “When there is a lot of new functionality and you are supposed to work with that during the course I prefer a smaller group, and on location you can ask questions directly to the course leaders,” Jesper explains. “I also believe that the course leader has an easier job to make sure everyone is on track and understand when everyone is in the same room.”
“As an employer the online courses are a game changer because we can give so many more employees the opportunity to attend a course because it is a smaller cost,” Per Ceivik continues. Of course there are courses less suitable for online training, so that Trimble offers both solutions is perfect. Trimble has a really nice approach as a company—it is so clear to us as customers that you really care and want to help us to be better! We, at Sweco, really appreciate that,” Per sums up .
Do you find it interesting to get a tailor made training package for your company? Contact us at Trimble so we can create a package together.
We arrange training both online or in a course room. Courses where we meet in person can be arranged at your office, our office or in separate facilities.
More information:
contact.scandinavia@trimble.com
