topic Re: How do you audit projects? in Project data & BIM

How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:36:16 GMT

Hey everyone,

Wanted to start a chat about project auditing.

Is anyone doing it? What do you look for if you do and how?

Re: How do you audit projects?

Nathan Hildebrandt — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 01:19:48 GMT

This is a great topic and worthy of discussion. There are several ways I audit a project when it comes to model review. Firstly I use a series of views with specific layer combinations and graphic overrides to identify specific things I want to make sure are not in the model.

Then the rest at the moment are a series of Interactive Schedules where I can check views are saved with correct settings and the like.

Other tricks I have seen from other users is checks on dimensions and modelling accuracy for 90 degree modelling. Auditing really comes down to what are the key issues you need to check for your practice, based on issues you find when you do project checks.

I also have a detailed manual audit that I do on project files where I check a project against 83 criteria and mark actions for rectification.

There is a great tool developed here out of Brisbane called BIM beats. Sadly they haven't got any Archicad clients yet to fund the development for that plugin but it identifies a whole lot of issues that practices can action against for Revit users right now. https://bimbeats.com/

Re: How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:35:51 GMT

Not sure what it is like on the other side of the fence, but I am finding Archicad quite fragile when it comes to projects. A lot of things can impact performance and not enough tools to identify and fix issues.

Frankly, for a "BIM" software, there is very little info a BIM manager can draw out of Archicad.
I desperately need better tools to manage projects as we have a lot of time wasted on spinning wheel.

Re: How do you audit projects?

Barry Kelly — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 01:44:13 GMT

Also use Graphic Overrides to highlight possible problems.

Such as dimension with static nodes - you want to avoid these if you can.

Or maybe walls less than 100mm thick and taller than 3000mm (or what ever requirements you want) as these walls may need cross bracing.

Or elements that don't have a classification.

Basically create a GO to highlight elements that might require attention.

Barry.

Re: How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:33:33 GMT

Key is I have access to data. In both cases it is a matter of relinking source for Power Bi to a new file. xml for attributes and csv for element info.

Re: How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:33:02 GMT

Oh, and Power BI is interactive so you can click on "Unclassified" for example and it highlights where items are...

Re: How do you audit projects?

Nathan Hildebrandt — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 03:54:39 GMT

I think that the auditing capability for a non computer programmer is limited not only in Archicad but Revit also. It is why there are so many products created to understand why the software isn't performing well on the other side of the fence. Many Archicad users haven't been questioning it. Maybe because the software works well, or maybe because they don't know any better. I agree that there needs to be something developed by a software developer that lets us understand what we are doing wrong in the software to improve its use and efficiency. Here is a presentation from Matt Wash from BIMbeats on their product and use in Revit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=einG-MeWKmU

This is what we need to investigate as a community to get greater efficiency in Archicad. Identify the general issues that all users may do by mistake, which can be fixed.

Re: How do you audit projects?

DGSketcher — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 08:46:06 GMT

Like @Barry Kelly I find, as intended, GOs are the near perfect tool for my model checks and can be used to highlight 2D elements if that is what you want to see. They fail when it comes to parameter checks on objects but these can be managed through schedules. I think the checks are there in AC without resorting to exporting data, you just need to ask the right question in the right place.

Re: How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:13:12 GMT

Ignorance is a bliss I guess. After seeing this I feel like I am working with a stone axe. If Graphisoft is serious about mid to large studios, they need to give us the tools to be competitive. We need insight!

Re: How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:35:10 GMT

This is not viable option on large projects unfortunately as we have hundreds of viewpoints.

Yes there are some checks there, but they are not suitable on large scale. I need aggregated data that will give me insight.
Some checks simply don't exist - SEO for example or take the model report - it gives you IDs of problematic elements in a text file!!! Am I supposed to copy paste each ID to Find & Select? There should be a button to take user directly to the element. Again, I can and have previously pushed this data back into property and used a GO to see the elements, but this is once more time consuming. In other words, very costly.

Re: How do you audit projects?

Nathan Hildebrandt — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 23:41:45 GMT

IMO the dashboards you have shown provide some insight into the file itself, but I don't see how they can give an insight into model and file performance. There are a lot of other file checks/audit components that need to be undertaken to fix performance issues. Attributes are only a small piece of the puzzle (well they are for me, because of how strict I am with them).

The areas that need checking are unused section/elevation/detail markers, non placed views, number of modules, library management, elements that are still in the file that are no longer needed (old options) etc. These items have a bigger impact on file performance than attributes and properties in most cases. Some of these I believe can be accessed by Python currently?

What part of the audit process are you looking to automate? The modelling and information validation component or the performance part?

Re: How do you audit projects?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:45:05 GMT

Both as we need files to be of high standard for IFC coordination and embodied carbon analysis and files need to perform well.

It is not a lack of knowledge either. At least I think it's not. We have a team of 4 BIM managers, 3 of which previously worked with Central Innovation (GS distributor here in Australia).

I understand being strict helps, but we can't be beating the staff with a stick for any mistake. Overall it is not possible to have all of your team members highly skilled in Archicad. There will always be newstarters and graduates who will make mistakes as we all do. But it should not be possible for someone to inadvertently introduce a problem into the file that is very difficult to detect and costs the entire team in terms of loss of productivity.

Re: How do you audit projects?

Nathan Hildebrandt — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 01:04:59 GMT

Understanding that extra detail I can narrow down to only a couple of practices that you would be working with. For the IFC checking, I would be using Solibri with custom rulesets to make sure that the file aligns with your client's deliverables.

Sadly you need flexibility in Archicad for most users. With the project in Teamwork you could set up roles that have restrictions to perform some of the tasks you don't want them to perform. That isn't my preferred approach, I don't use a stick approach either, I would be investing in more training to train people correctly on the areas where you are getting the main issues, so they understand the problems that they are creating.

Re: How do you audit projects?

AllanP — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 05:41:29 GMT

As you are asking all the right questions, are you the one that didn't work for Central Innovation?

I rarely see question/answers from them in this forum.

Re: How do you audit projects?

LFBIMMAN — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 10:29:38 GMT

In my office we audit models based on our standards and best practice as advised by the Archicad staff. We check things like

- Layer numbering Conventions (Visual Check)

- Correct use of Pen sets (Visual Check)

- Elements on correct layer (Schedule Check)

- Elements on correct renovation filter (schedule check)

- Correct Use of layer combinations (Visual Check)

- Correct use of model view combinations (visual check)

- correct use of Graphical Overides (Visual Check)

- Renovation filter management (Visual check) to ensure renovation filters have been shared to other disciplines.

- All elements have been classified (Schedule Check)

- All drawing sheet criteria has been met (North arrow, Key plan, legend etc)

- Project north has been set (Visual check)

- project information has been set (Visual check)

- Standards Library parts in use (Visual check)

We also run BIM specific audits too that check for specific requirements of projects.

One thing that I feel is the main cause of projects running or behaving badly in my office is the use of the embedded library..... As a whole we make sure that our libraries are linked in through BIMcloud . But things like Custom objects, Foreign objects & even IFC data can clutter the embedded library . I make sure that this folder is as small in size as possible! Graphisoft have recommended it to be under 100mbs at all times but we keep it under 10mbs by using project specific yellow folders - these are also uploaded to BIMcloud and referenced in models that way.

I also recommend running the audit & fix on your models or saving a local copy & re-uploading to BIMcloud.... this dramatically reduces the file size.

Drawing manager is another good way to check your drawings & speed up your models, my understanding is that anything in red is being looked for by the software, which would mean slower load up times etc.

In library manager you can see missing or duplicate library parts.... this is also something that clutters models and increases processes & load up time.

finally in options I believe the default autosave is after "each step" which to me is unnecessary and slows working, I changed it to autosave every 5 minutes.

Hope this helps

Re: How do you audit projects?

Erwin Edel — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 08:45:58 GMT

We use a schedule to check proper classification, which in turn also tackles any layer issues. The layer should be the first 2 digits of the 4 digit classification system we have.

I do find that using some sort of filter on such a schedule, for example per layer, speeds things up a lot. Generating a big schedule takes a long time and it is easy to get lost with how far you got.

I model pretty much every project (we are a small firm), so I'm mostly correcting my own mistakes and I am pretty obsessed with neat modeling so generally don't check for modeling errors (since I would have noticed them long before and corrected them).