Documentation | TiePlan

01Getting started

Create your account

Start at the sign-up screen. Enter your name, work email, a password, and the name of your site.

SIGN UP The site name appears on every document you print later.

Already have an account? Switch to Sign In at the top of the card. The first person to sign up for a site becomes its Site Champion, the admin who manages branding, documents and team seats.

02Getting started

Confirm your email

We send a verification link to the address you entered. Click it to activate the account.

VERIFY Didn’t arrive? Check spam, or sign in and resend.

03Getting started

Start your free trial

Open Settings → Billing, add engineer seats for your team if you need them, and start the 7-day free trial. Checkout is handled securely by Stripe.

Billing page showing the Site Champion licence and engineer seats, total updating

BILLING The total updates as you add seats. Each engineer gets their own login.

Good to knowThe trial gives you the full app with no watermark. You’re only charged after 7 days, and you can cancel any time before then. After payment, sign in once more to activate.

04The app

The workspace

The app has four parts: the toolbar across the top, the views menu on the left, the tool bar along the bottom, and the plan in the middle.

TiePlan workspace with the left views menu open over an empty canvas

LAYOUT Left menu: Interactive Views (Timing Plan, 3D, Calculator, Analysis) and Print Sheets.

The top-left buttons handle files and history, Load CSV, Save CSV, Map columns, Save plan, Recent, Undo and Redo. The top-right holds the theme toggle, panel toggles, New Window, Settings, Print and the activity log.

Meet the tools

The bar along the bottom holds every canvas tool. Point at one, or tap it, to see what it does.

Pan

Drag to move around the plan. Scroll the wheel to zoom toward the cursor.

05Your data

Import your holes (CSV)

This is where every plan begins. TiePlan reads a CSV export from Deswik or any other drill package and draws the holes for you.

Click Load CSV in the top-left, or just drag the file anywhere onto the window.

TiePlan finds the header row and auto-detects the columns (ring, hole, charge, delay and more).

Your holes appear as rings of circles, ready to time.

Holes drawn as rings R22 to R34 after a CSV import, all delays zero

IMPORTED Each row is a ring; each circle a hole. Grey “N/C” holes carry no charge.

Three ways inUse the Load CSV button, drag & drop the file onto the window, or, on an installed app, double-click a .csv file. Dropping a .dtm/.str file instead adds a 3D surface.

06Your data

Map columns for any CSV

A Deswik dump loads with no setup. If your export uses different column names, match them once with Map columns.

Each TiePlan field gets a dropdown, pick the matching column from your file. A live preview shows the first rows so you can check the match. Ring, Hole and Charge are required; the Apply button stays off until all three are set.

Save a mapping as a Profile and it’s a one-click choice next time the same format comes in.

AutomaticIf a required column can’t be found, the mapping screen opens by itself so you’re never stuck on an unusual file.

07The canvas

Move around: pan & zoom

With the Pan tool, drag the canvas to move it. Scroll the mouse wheel to zoom toward the cursor.

Pan tool active, showing the drag-to-scroll hint

PAN The bottom tool bar shows a hint for whatever tool you pick.

Lost your place?The Fit view (⤢) button resets the pan and zoom and fits the whole plan back on screen.

08Timing

Enter the delays

Pick the Edit delays tool and click a charged hole. A small panel opens where you set its delay in milliseconds.

Timing plan with delays entered on the first rings, shown in blue

DELAYS Blue numbers above each hole are the delay in ms; “dets:N” below is the detonator count.

The panel keeps a Reference value, always the last delay you set. The quick buttons (+25 +50 +100) add to that reference, so moving hole to hole builds the sequence for you: 0 → 25 → 50, and so on. Need an exact number? Type it in the manual box and press Enter.

ChainingBecause the reference follows your last value, you rarely type numbers twice, set the step once, then tap the same quick button down the ring.

09Timing

Tie-up & chain editing

Draw the firing links between holes, and shift a whole sequence at once when a delay changes.

Tie-up tool drawing a link between two holes

TIE-UP Drag from one charged hole to the next.

Chain edit on, connections between holes

CHAIN EDIT Shift every later delay together.

With the Tie-up tool, drag from a charged hole to another; when you release, the delay panel opens with the first hole’s value as the reference, so the link and the timing stay in step.

Turn on Chain Edit and changing one hole’s delay shifts every hole with a higher delay by the same amount, retime a run without touching each hole. Chain View draws the gap between consecutive delays right on the ring line.

10The canvas

Move holes, rings & rows

Switch to the Move tool to nudge things into place. What you drag depends on where you grab.

Move tool active with the hint: Move, drag hole or shift+drag ring

MOVE The hint says it all: drag a hole, or Shift + drag to take the row with it.

Shift-drag a whole rowHold Shift, then drag a hole. That hole and every hole to its right in the same ring move together, perfect for re-spacing a row without dragging each one. Release Shift and you’re back to moving a single hole.

One hole: drag the circle. It snaps to the grid and locks to a row or column after the first step so holes stay aligned. Hold Alt for free diagonal placement.

A row: Shift + drag a hole, it carries the holes to its right in that ring.

A whole ring: drag the ring’s grid line; the ring and everything on it moves as one.

Fine-tune: drag the ring’s end handle to lengthen the line, the blue number to reposition a delay label, or the green name to move the ring label.

11Timing

Fill in the plan details

The panel on the right holds the facts that print on every document, stope, firing number, ring range, detonator and booster counts, and firing instructions.

Right-hand details panel: Design/Stope, Firing #, Rings, Detonators, Boosters, counts, remarks

DETAILS Counts fill in from the data; the text fields are yours to edit.

12Visualise

See the blast at a glance: heatmap

The Heatmap shades the plan by a value you choose. Open its menu to pick the mode.

Energy distribution heatmap overlaid on the timing plan

HEATMAP Modes: Charge kg · Delay ms · Drill Length · Energy Distribution.

Linked to 3DThe heatmap also shows in the 3D view, and it follows the rings you filter there.

13Mark up

Annotate the plan

Add notes, boxes, lines and arrows to call out anything the crew needs to see. Pick a tool and drag on the canvas.

Drawing a box, with Box Properties panel

BOX

ARROW

LINE

NOTE

Click a shape to select it, handles appear to move or resize it, and a Properties panel sets colour, thickness, fill and rotation. Copy, paste and duplicate with Ctrl+C / V / D; remove it with Delete. Your marks save with the plan.

14The canvas

Ring actions

Right-click a ring’s name for quick operations on the whole ring.

Ring right-click menu: Mirror Ring, Rotate / Extend Line, Ring Properties

RING MENU Mirror 180°, Rotate / Extend the line, or open Ring Properties.

15Timing

Clear all delays safely

Starting the timing over? The Clear delays button wipes every delay in one step.

Confirm dialog: Clear ALL delays, keeps N/C holes, undoable

CLEAR N/C holes are kept, and it’s fully undoable with Ctrl+Z.

16Visualise

Simulate the firing

Press Simulation to play the blast through in time. Watch holes fire in sequence and catch timing problems before site.

Simulation panel with play, reset, progress, speed and sound

SIMULATE Play / reset, scrub the progress bar, set speed and sound.

173D

Inspect in 3D

Open 3D View to see the holes in their real geometry. Left-drag to orbit, scroll to zoom, right-drag to pan.

3D view of the drill pattern with the Scene panel

SCENE Camera presets & colour-by.

OBJECTS Filter rings, size holes.

The side panel has four tabs: Scene (camera presets, colour-by), Objects (filter rings, size the holes and labels), DTM (surfaces) and Properties, click any hole to read its full detail.

3D Properties panel showing a hole's delay, charge, explosive and coordinates

PROPERTIES Delay, charge, explosive, drill length and collar coordinates.

183D

Add a surface (DTM)

Drop a .dtm or .str file onto the 3D view to place your holes against the real rock surface.

SOLID

WIREFRAME See holes through the surface.

19Tools

Blast calculators

The Calculator view has the everyday blast maths built in, powder factor, burden, Kuz-Ram, PPV and more.

Calculator view with powder factor and a list of calculators

CALCULATE Type values in, or pull them straight from your design.

20Tools

Blast analysis

The Analysis view reads your plan and summarises it: charged holes, total explosive, MIC, timing gaps and energy per ring.

ANALYSIS Maximum Instantaneous Charge, timing-gap checks and the ring breakdown.

21Output

The document pack

One import produces the whole pack, cover page, charge sections, log sheet, shopping list and checklist, each in your branding.

COVER

CHARGE SECTIONS

LOG SHEET

CHECKLIST

Switch between them in the left menu under Print Sheets. Edit the field labels and headings on any document from Settings → Documents.

22Output

Printing: whole plan or an area

Hit Print. On the timing plan you choose how much to print.

Print timing plan dialog with Whole plan and Select an area

PRINT Fit the whole plan to the page, or mark a region and print just that.

23Your work

Save, back up & restore

Your work saves as you go. You can keep plans in the cloud and pick up where you left off.

Cloud settings with auto-backup and saved cloud plans

CLOUD Auto-backup & saved plans.

Welcome back, restore a previous plan dialog

RESTORE Pick up a recent plan on launch.

Use Save plan (cloud) and Recent in the toolbar, or Save CSV to download a file that re-opens with everything intact, delays, offsets and drawings.

24Make it yours

Branding & settings

Put your company on every document. Upload a logo, choose a document theme, set the language, and switch between underground and open-pit mode.

LOGO Light & dark versions.

Document theme settings: Classic, Banded, Fluent and colours

THEME Document look & colours.

25Make it yours

Team & roles

The Site Champion adds engineers to the site and sets their role, so every blast on site carries the same standard.

Team settings with a Site Champion and an Engineer member

TEAM Each member signs in with their own account; seats are billed per engineer.

26Reference

Keyboard shortcuts

The handful of keys worth learning.

`Ctrl`+`Z` / `Ctrl`+`Y`	Undo / redo
`Ctrl`+`S`	Save a CSV copy of the plan
`Ctrl`+`C` / `V` / `D`	Copy / paste / duplicate the selected shape
`Delete`	Delete the selected shape
`Esc`	Close a menu or popup, clear the selection
`Shift` + drag a hole	Move that hole and the rest of the row
`Alt` + drag a hole	Free diagonal placement (skip the axis lock)
Mouse wheel	Zoom toward the cursor
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`N`	Open a second synced window
`Enter` / `Esc` in the delay panel	Apply the value / close

Learn TiePlan, one step at a time