Why Your Engineering Firm Needs a Fractional CADD Manager Right Now

In today’s fast-moving transportation and civil engineering environment, the need for specialized expertise in OpenRoads Designer (ORD) has never been greater. However, hiring full-time CADD managers with the right certifications and experience comes with a high cost. For many firms—especially in light of the recent TxDOT budget pause, the solution is clear: a Fractional CADD Manager.

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What is a Fractional CADD Manager?

A Fractional CADD Manager is a senior-level expert who provides part-time or project-based leadership and support for your computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) operations. They bring the same strategic oversight, technical expertise, and quality control you’d expect from a full-time manager—but without the overhead of adding a full-time salary and benefits package to your headcount.

These professionals often hold advanced certifications in Bentley Systems, have years of hands-on OpenRoads Designer deployment experience, and stay current with TxDOT standards and digital delivery requirements.

1. Deep Expertise in OpenRoads Designer

OpenRoads Designer is a powerful but complex tool, and firms without in-house experts’ risk inefficiencies, rework, and non-compliant submittals. These mistakes can cost more than just money—they can damage your reputation and client trust.

A Fractional CADD Manager:

• Brings deep understanding of OpenRoads workflows, templates, and configuration.
• Provides training and mentoring to your team.
• Helps deploy and standardize your environment to accelerate design delivery.
• Ensures quality control and adherence to TxDOT CADD standards.

This is especially critical when firms are asked to collaborate across multiple platforms and file formats—often under tight deadlines.

2. Cost Savings Without Compromise

Engineering firms are under pressure to do more with less. The cost of hiring a certified, senior CADD Manager full-time can exceed six figures annually. For many, that’s not sustainable—especially during economic uncertainty or budget fluctuations like we’re currently seeing with TxDOT's project funding pause.

A Fractional CADD Manager allows you to:

• Access senior-level skillsets at a fraction of the cost.
• Scale up or down based on project demand.
• Avoid long hiring cycles and onboarding delays.
• Bypass the burden of permanent headcount while keeping projects on track.

You only pay for what you need—yet benefit from world-class knowledge and oversight.

3. Stay Ahead Despite the TxDOT Budget Pause

The recent pause in TxDOT project funding has introduced uncertainty and delay for many engineering firms. But that doesn't mean internal progress should stop.

This is a critical time to:

• Refine your internal CADD processes.
• Standardize project templates and libraries to meet TxDOT standards.
• Upskill your team and prepare for future projects.
• Keep deliverables moving, even if award timelines are shifting.

A Fractional CADD Manager can guide your team through this downtime and ensure your workflows are optimized—so you're not playing catch-up when budgets are released.

4. Focus Your Team on High-Value Work

Your project managers, engineers, and designers should be focused on designing and solving client problems, not troubleshooting software or managing digital deliverables. A Fractional CADD Manager lifts that burden.

They’ll handle:

• CADD application deployment and maintenance making sure you have the right version to do the job.
• Custom tool creation and optimization to streamline repetitive tasks.
• Configuration management and end-user support, whether you are in ProjectWise or on the server.
• Strategic workflow optimization.
• CADD Management leadership.
• Standards development and enforcement.
• Training and development.
• Program implementation expertise.
• Technology evaluation.

5. Conclusion

Fractional leadership is no longer just for finance or HR. In the evolving world of digital design, a Fractional CADD Manager gives you the edge—technical excellence, project continuity, and budget control—all without adding permanent staff.

At 5 Factor, our team includes experts with over 25 years of experience in Bentley systems, OpenRoads Designer, and TxDOT CADD standards. We know what it takes to deploy, optimize, and lead successful design environments without slowing down your delivery or increasing overhead.

As TxDOT firms navigate paused budgets and prepare for future surges in project demand, now is the ideal time to invest in expertise at a fraction of the cost.

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