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WinCan VX Section Header

The WinCan VX section (and lateral) header is quite different from the WRc versions due to the fact that this is a different inspection standard, but there are some similarities because both standards follow the guidelines laid out in BS EN 13508.

In this section we will look in detail at the section header, but not the node header. The node header is vitally important in HADDMS projects and cannot be ignored, but the general theme of the fields follows the section header and many of the fields only have simple Yes/No option lists so do not really need any detailed explanation.

In the WinCan VX headers there is a consistent colour coding to the field captions:

Grey – a regular data entry field.
Blue – a WinCan field that is not needed by the standard but is either needed by the software for data management or is a ‘nice to have’ data field in the reporting.
Green – a field that WinCan VX takes care of for you. You can of course overwrite the data in the field at any time, but for now you don’t need to worry about it and it will be taken care of in the background as you work through the inspections.
Yellow (or whatever colour is defined in the User Settings) – a mandatory data field that can be mandatory if;
- WinCan VX cannot function correctly without it, or
- leaving it blank will lead to a critical upload error with the shapefiles going into HADDMS.

Note – there are some fields that are conditionally mandatory by HADDMS like the ‘Connected Continuous Item’ (SUPP_CON) in the node header which is mandatory when the ‘Node Type’ (ITEM_TY_CO) is ‘CN’. There are no special colours for these fields, but the validator will detect them as critical errors when they are left blank.

Open a new blank section header and you will see the following fields down the left-hand side. These are fields relating to the object or the asset. Note – hovering your mouse pointer over the cation of a field will display the ‘tip-text’ for that field which will help to explain what this field refers to and also which HADDMS data field it refers to. They all refer to the pipe or the surface linear item:

Section

This is nothing more than a numeric counter inside the WinCan database. It is not a HADDMS data field.

Asset Style

This a very important field for WinCan that cannot be empty. It describes whether the WinCan object is a Section, Lateral or Surface item (or Drainage Asset, Connector Node or Region Item in the Nodes grid) as is described in the section Understanding Object Types.

Inspection Status

his is a pseudo-HADDMS field that sits in limbo between the HADDMS data and the internal requirements of WinCan VX. It is the field that has been described already in the section WinCan VX Project Setup and although it has no direct value in the HADDMS data fields, it does have a significant effect on the scoring values produced by WinCan VX so that they match with the HADDMS scoring results. Under the normal scoring of pipes, structural and service inspection grades are assigned values form 1 to 5 in a similar (but not identical) way to WRc projects, but in HADDMS data there are two additional grades – 0 for where the asset has not been attempted and 9 for where the inspection was attempted but was not successful. So, good use of this field will drive good scoring results.

PLR Suffix

This also is not a HADDMS required field, but follows exactly the same logic as the PLR Suffix field in WRc inspection data albeit with different values. In the HADDMS setup, the default value is ‘.1’ so after you create a pipe with upstream node CP1 and downstream node CP2 then the Supplier’s Reference for the field will be automatically created by the software as CP1.1 which is the extremely important ID of the asset. You should use increasing values of ‘.2’, ‘.3’ etc to describe multiple lines between similar assets in the same way they you do with X, Y, Z etc in WRc projects. This does not apply to node assets. Maximum 2 characters.

Supplier’s Reference

This refers and exports directly to the HADDMS field SUPP_REF in all shapefiles. In Sections, Laterals and Surface Items it is concatenated from the upstream node and the PLR Suffix at all times by the software as described in the previous section. Maximum 52 characters (50 characters for the Upstream Node ID plus 2 for the PLR Suffix).

DDMS Reference

This refers and exports directly to the HADDMS field PIPE_REFER (or ASSET_REF in nodes) and is the ID of the object on the HADDMS database. The field in WinCan VX is read-only because of the round-tripping principles. It does not matter what you decide to change the Supplier’s Reference to during your processing work, but if the DDMS Reference exists already on the system, then it must remain as it is. You will notice that when you create a new ‘uncharted’ asset that this field is blank and remains read-only, and also for the two nodes that are connected to the object. This is how HADDMS identifies uncharted assets, because the incoming data on upload has a SUPP_REF field value but it does not have an PIPE_REFER (or ASSET_REF) value, and as a result HADMMS automatically creates the PIPE_REFER (or ASSET_REF) on upload.

Total Length [m]

This is the full length of the continuous item from end to end along its geometric shape in metres and translates directly with the shapefile field LENGTH.

Town or Village

Is a free-text field where you can add information that will refer to the LOC_TOWN field in the shapefiles. Maximum 50 characters.

Road Name

Is a free-text field where you can add information that will refer to the LOC_ST field in the shapefiles. Maximum 50 characters.

Location

This data field defines where the asset is located. Advice - care should be taken by operators here because it is common to make mistakes like assigning the value ‘Left Verge’ to a pipe where it actually crosses the carriageway. The common mistake that people make here is that they think of where they are standing and the location of the manhole that they are inspecting from and enter this data but in reality, this field refers to the location of the pipe and not the manhole. Translates to the HADDMS field LOC_TYP_CO.

Upstream Node

This is the SUPP_REF of the upstream node and copies to the HADDMS field SUPP_REFUP in the continuous shapefile. Maximum 50 characters.

Upstream DDMS Node

Is read only because it is the HADDMS reference of the upstream node and is defined in the node data. Refers to field ASSET_REF in the point shapefile.

Upstream Node Type

Is the Node Type (ITEM_TY_CO) of the upstream asset.

Upstream Pipe Depth [m]

Is the depth of the pipe from the cover level at the upstream end. Advice – this is often incorrectly measured on site as the depth of the manhole. This is a pipe inspection, not a node inspection where the depth of the pipe and the depth of the node are two very different things, particularly where the chamber is a catchpit or a backdrop exists (always take the depth of the top rodding eye of the backdrop, not the lower exit point). Unit of measurement is metres, as defined in the caption. Translates to the shapefile field UPSTR_DEPT.

Upstream Pipe Invert Level [m]

This is the height above sea level for the pipe at the upstream end and copies to the HADDMS field UPSTR_INVE. This is not something that the CCTV operator usually needs to worry about and for this reason, the field is hidden from view when the user is logged into WinCan VX as an Operator and is only visible to users logged in to the application as Admin. Note for data processors – there is button in the Tools ribbon bar called ‘Calculate Invert Levels’ which will auto populate this field when the chamber cover level is defined in the node data and the pipe depth is defined in the section data. For this reason, it is not a good idea for operators to enter zero when the level is not known. It is better to simply leave it blank and then the ‘Calculate Invert Levels’ tool will skip the calculation for this asset because it has no validity.

Downstream Node

Similar to Upstream Node, but for the downstream end. Relates to HADDMS field SUPP_REFDN.

Downstream DDMS Node

Similar to Upstream DDMS Node, but for the downstream end.

Downstream Node Type

Similar to Upstream Node Type, but for the downstream end.

Downstream Pipe Depth [m]

Similar to Upstream Pipe Depth [m], but for the downstream end. Relates to HADDMS field DNSTR_DEPT.

Downstream Pipe Invert Level [m]

Similar to Upstream Pipe Depth [m], but for the downstream end. Relates to HADDMS field DNSTR_INVE.