When you know what parts you need, what they need to look like, and how you want them to behave, you can standardize your needs in the form of a parts list. If you think of the part catalog, the styles in your template, and the rule sets as being your well-stocked workshop, the parts list is the toolbox that you fill with only the equipment you need to get the job done. Parts lists are stored in your standard Civil 3D template so they’re at your fingertips when new jobs are created.
For example, when you’re designing a sanitary sewer system, you may need only a small spectrum of PVC pipe sizes and manhole types that follow a few sets of rules and require only a style or two. You wouldn’t want to have to sort through your entire collection of parts, rules, and styles every time you created a sanitary sewer network. You can make a parts list called Sanitary Sewers (or something similar) and stock it with the pipes, structures, styles, and rules you’ll need to get the job done.
Similarly, depending on the type of work you do, you’ll want at least a Storm Drainage parts list with concrete pipe, catch basins, storm manholes, applicable rule sets and styles, and a Water Network parts list containing PVC pipe and null structures as well as some cover-only rule sets. As you begin your first few pilot projects, you’ll begin to see which parts lists are most useful, and you can continue to build them as part of your standard template.
You can create parts lists by clicking the Parts Lists object and from the Pipe Networks tab and Network Tools, choose Create Parts List from the drop-down. We will be discussing this later in this chapter.