An office template is a predefined, “empty” file that contains all the necessary information for starting a new project, based on the applicable national and company CAD/BIM standards.
An office template will dictate that all new projects work to an agreed consistent standard and will ensure efficiency of workflows and usability of the project files, producing the highest quality delivery.
It can offer:
- Immediate project start-up with pre-set Views, Layouts and Publisher Sets, including predefined naming conventions.
- Reduction in bad workflows / methods by introducing structure.
- Faster familiarization for new members of staff with more elements being predefined.
- Increased productivity for all staff members.
- Consistent drawing production types and styles with predefined Pen Sets and Graphic Overrides.
- Consistent data output, based on client-specific, national or international standards, with predefined Properties and IFC schema data mapping.
- Consistent modelling and data input based on predefined Favorites.
- Easy information take-offs with predefined Schedules.
- Easy project consistency checks with predefined Schedules and Graphic Overrides.
- Better collaboration with other external consultants who use different software packages.
Learn more about Template Creation with our BIM Manager Program
Office Template Strategy
A template should be relevant to the types of projects the office undertakes and the requirements for compliance with specific standards. It may also need to tackle bad habits and ways of working through new set-ups and functions.
An indicative, but not exhaustive list of goals, is provided below:
- Compliance with national or international standards.
- Increase of productivity and minimization of bad workflows.
- Provision of clean and consistent design and data outputs.
- Minimization of concept and production issues.
- Aid collaboration with external consultants who use other software packages.
Depending on the complexity of the template, its development might take days or weeks. Intermediate reviews for certain features should be considered and some re-work may be required.
An analysis of the usual deliverables of the typical projects in the office will help the Template Manager define how the template will be structured and what it will be able to deliver out-of-the-box. In typical BIM workflows, “reverse engineering” a typical EIR (Exchange Information Requirements), is a good way to define the typical project’s deliverables (drawings, documents, data).
What are the steps for a successful office template?
Step 01 – Define how many templates are needed
The first decision that needs to be taken is related to the number of templates that will need to be developed. One single office template is probably the most common approach. However, some offices, working with various project types, may require multiple office templates.
Key factors for this decision are:
- The number of types of projects the office specializes in (e.g. residential, commercial, healthcare, etc.).
- The level of detail that will be predefined in the template (e.g. the template has all the required properties embedded or it has some basic properties and the rest will be added at the project start-up based on specific project requirements).
Step 02 – Define the source for the template development
The second decision that needs to be taken is related to how the template development should be started. Three main options can be considered:
- Start from the Archicad default template file and alter it to suit the office needs,
- Start from a finished project and remove the project-specific information to end up with an office template, or
- Develop an office template while the first pilot project is under way and uses the default Archicad template. This last option may suit offices which migrate to Archicad from a different software package and they have never had a template, or they have never worked on a live project using the software.
Step 03 – Define how the template will be tested
An important decision that must be taken in the development process is how the template will be tested before it is rolled out for general use. There are two main options available:
- The template is tested on a pilot project.
- the template is tested outside live projects by recreating possible scenarios of use.
The way the new template is going to be rolled out needs to be considered also. There is the option of testing the template on a pilot project which minimizes the time spent for training upfront, or the option of rolling out the template for all new projects, if training has already been provided to all staff and the template has already been tested on existing workflows and it has been proven that it works as expected.
The pilot should include measurement at all key stages to aid management and to make sure the template is used correctly.
The size of the office and the complexity of the projects are crucial factors which will define the chosen approach.
How to approach the Archicad Template—dependencies and order of development
Once the strategy for development is in place, a plan on which elements of the template and in what ordered will be developed has to be put in place. A lot of Archicad’s functionalities and tools are connected and affect each other, so carefully planning the work, means that there will be no re-work of areas that were missed at the stage when they were required to be looked at.
For instance, to be able to define the Graphic Override Rules that will be applied to the project views, other areas of the template should be already finalized, such as Classifications, Properties, Zone Categories, Renovation Filters, Line Types, Fill Types, Pens and Surfaces.
There are several different routes that one can take in their template development, and one of them is presented below.
It groups all elements of the template which need to be looked at in logical categories (e.g. attributes, data management, etc) and lists them all underneath its category and by other of development. The only element which is out of context in the diagram below and cannot be created at the suggested order is Project Indexes, which require the development of the Project Structure elements first.
To learn more about Archicad Template Creation, sign up for the BIM Manager Program on Graphisoft Learn.
