[en] In August 1984, Brookhaven National Laboratory submitted a proposal to the Department of Energy (DOE) for the construction of a Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Since then funding has continued for the detailed design of RHIC. The hardware for RHIC consists of two concentric rings of superconducting magnets in a 2.4 mile circumference with six intersections. Bunches of ions will travel in opposite directions in each of the two rings and eventually collide head on at one of the six intersections. The hardware design involves complicated facilities for liquid helium cryogens, cryostat design, and pipe systems. The greatest challenge however is the ion beam position relative to the geometric center of the rings. There are three hundred and seventy-two dipole magnets that are ten meters long and weigh 4300 Kg (4.5 tons) each. Each dipole must be positioned in the ring to ± 0.5 mm. In addition, there are four hundred and ninety-two quadrupole magnets that must be positioned to ± 0.1 mm which is a total position error. This total position error includes all the surveying and part tolerance. To accomplish this task requires detailed planning and design of the cryostats which contain each magnet and the tunnel assembly throughout the 2.4 mile circumference. The IDEAS' software package provides a way to analyze this large scale problem. 11 figs