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Up to date information

When you use NBS Landscape, the software will let you know if you are using the most up to date information. If updated material is available, it will prompt you to download it.

Pre-written clauses

NBS Landscape contains pre-written technical specification clauses and preliminaries for selection and editing to produce project specifications. Clauses are authored by our team of in-house landscape architects, engineers, architects and surveyors to be concise and robust and are arranged in accordance with the Common Arrangement of Work Sections.

As the clauses are pre-written, very little typing is involved. Some clauses require additional information which you can either type in or complete with the use of drop-down lists of suggested solutions. Clauses are provided for both prescriptive and performance specification.

Guidance

General guidance with information on materials and design, including workmanship advice and tips on how to avoid pitfalls is provided for each work section. Extensive technical guidance is also provided to help you complete individual clauses.

Guidance provides access to technical information resources including websites and The Construction Information Service*.

Building product specification

NBS Landscape contains building product information to help create accurate and detailed building specifications. Manufacturer product information has been written specifically for NBS clauses and is checked for currency at each update.

Office standards

If you regularly work on similar projects, there is a facility to create, manage and update your own office standard specifications.

Printing and issuing

Flexible formatting options mean that you can present your documents using your corporate style. They can then be printed or exported to PDF.

Intuitive user interface

NBS Landscape has been designed to be intuitive and simple to use. Specifications and NBS Libraries are organised on the left-hand side of the screen. The centre of the screen is used for editing work sections. The right-hand side of the screen displays Guidance, NBS Plus, Help, and links to other information resources.

* The Construction Information Service is a searchable database of full text documents from publishers such as BRE and BSI. It is available as an online subscription service from IHS, telephone 01344 404434, email marketing@ihsti.com or visit www.ihsti.com.

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NBS Landscape is a subscription service. As part of the subscription you will receive updates on CD-ROM three times a year. Additional updates can be downloaded from the NBS website when available.

NBS Landscape is a selection of NBS work sections with landscape preliminaries, including those for ICE Minor Works, JCLI Agreement for Landscape Maintenance Works, JCT 2005 Minor Works and SBCC 2005 Minor Works. The product is intended for use on landscape and external works projects.

The scope and contents of NBS Landscape is listed below:

Current at March 2009
(NBS Landscape Update 2009-1)

Preliminaries/general conditions within NBS Landscape

Work sections

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NBS Software Licensing

NBS software can be licensed for use on standalone PCs, or for use on a network. When running on a standalone PC the software will be licence locked for use only on that machine.

For network installations, the software will be licence locked to the server PC. Other PCs on the network may access the licence on the server for concurrent use, up to the number of licences subscribed to.

System requirements

NBS software requires the following components in order to run:

1. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) or higher (download here)
2. Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 (download here)

All products require a CD-ROM drive if installing the software from CD.

In addition the software will run on the following platforms:

1. Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit (SP1)
2. Windows XP Professional (SP3)
3. Windows XP Home (SP3)
4. Windows XP Pro x64 (SP2)
5. Windows 2000 (SP4 with Update Rollup 1 – see MS kb891861)
6. Windows 2000 Server and above (for Server PCs).

Full instructions for installation are contained in the Getting Started Guide and help files provided in the software. Our software support team also provide assistance, and you can contact them on 0845 456 9594 (+44 191 232 9594 from outside the UK) and at support@theNBS.com.

Please note that the speed of running any software application depends upon several factors. The following specification is an approximate guide only.

Recommended minimum requirements for all NBS software:

1. Processor: Pentium III 1.0GHz
2. Memory: 256 MB (For Windows 2000/XP) 512Mb (For Windows Vista)
3. Free disk space: 1Gb
4. Screen resolution: 1024 x 768 in 32 bit colour.
    

Apple Macintosh

We have recently tested the compatibility of NBS software with Apple Boot Camp. The specification of the machine tested on is as follows:

1. iMac 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
2. 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440x900 resolution
3. 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo with 2MB shared L2 cache
4. 2.0Gb 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
5. 160GB Serial ATA hard drive
6. Slot-load 8x double-layer SuperDrive
7. ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory
8. Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0

Please Note: In order to run NBS software using Apple Boot Camp users will require a bona fide full version of Microsoft Windows: XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3, Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate with Service Pack 1. (No upgrade or multi-disc versions).

NBS have tested the Specification Family portfolio software (NBS Building, NBS Landscape, NBS Engineering Services), NBS Contract Administrator and NBS Scheduler successfully for standalone and network installations and the platform appears to be very stable.

Although the software has been successfully tested on this platform we cannot guarantee that the software will react the same with another specification Mac. Therefore, we cannot guarantee performance of our software when using Windows on a Mac. Support will be limited for any customers using our software on Mac as we will not be able to determine that the encountered problems are due to our software or the system used.

Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME and NT4

Microsoft has retired support for:

1. Windows 95
2. Windows 98
3. Windows 98SE
4. Windows ME
5. Windows NT4

Microsoft state that these operating systems are outdated and can expose customers to security risks. NBS do not support these operating systems and recommend that customers who are still running the above upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP (SP3), as soon as possible.

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