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DEMOS
BSD LinkMan-E BIM Tool
User Scenarios

User scenarios for linking 3-D BIM models and the specifications range on a continuum from minimal integration -- amounting to just barely beyond word processing specs and CAD -- to highly advanced -- full "BIM" implementation and office masters in bsd SpecLink-E (SLE). Many organizations will progress along this continuum, some gradually, others in fits and starts.

MINIMAL INTEGRATION: THE SPEC IS PREPARED LAST, INDEPENDENTLY OF THE 3-D MODEL.

The specification preparer, whether an in-house employee or a consultant, is often physically remote from the Revit modeler. However, if there is a network connection that enables linking the Revit project model file to LinkMan-E, the spec writer can use the Assembly and Products dashboards in LinkMan-E (LME) to identify assemblies that are used in the Revit model and corresponding products he needs to specify. The spec writer then either uses the SLE Project view to identify the spec sections and text needed, switching to SLE itself to do that, or uses the LME Products Dashboard to actually "turn on" the relevant spec text.

Some cooperation of the Revit modeler is necessary, to get the LME equivalent of the Revit objects loaded into LME's Revit Project view and subsequently re-synchronized, but the Revit modeler needn't know anything else about LME or SpecLink-E. The spec writer can review the names of the actual Revit objects and link them to LME assemblies if necessary. If the Revit modeler has used Autodesk-provided objects that BSD has pre-linked to LME, the spec writer need make no other links. If custom Revit objects are used, and the spec writer has no access to the actual Revit project file via the Revit software or a viewer, the internal details of the objects will not be visible - that data would have to be acquired verbally.

In the long run, the spec writer would reduce production time by using the LME dashboards to link an SLE office master for this client or project type to an LME office master project of the same type for re-use on multiple projects. LME provides for user-added assemblies, products, and links to be available in other projects, not just the project they were generated in.

ADVANCED INTEGRATION: THE SPECIFICATION AND THE 3-D MODEL ARE PREPARED IN PARALLEL, BOTH FROM MASTER "LIBRARIES."

The architect or other design professional has become a BIM expert and has developed an "office library" of Revit building objects and has linked them to LME. The specification writer has prepared one or more "office masters" in SLE and linked them to LME. The Revit modeler builds each model by using as many of the "pre-linked" objects as possible -- either the Autodesk-provided objects or those from the office library. The modeler may begin with "generic" objects that have little internal detail and later change these to more detailed objects as the design progresses. The Revit modeler doesn't pay much attention to LME at first and in many cases will not even have it running.

When the model is sufficiently developed to provide useful information to the spec writer, the Revit modeler connects the Revit project file to LME and the spec writer connects the appropriate SLE office master file to LME. Both the specification writer and the Revit modeler, and possibly the project manager, use the LME dashboards for coordination review. When they open LME, the dashboards show the status of Revit objects and SLE sections and text, plus the relationships between them.

The LME Revit Project view identifies any Revit objects that are not linked to an LME assembly. The LME Assemblies Dashboard shows the products to which each assembly is linked, and also identifies assemblies not linked to any products. The LME Products Dashboard shows which products are already included in the specification and which are not. All the dashboards can be set to show only "discrepancies" — for instance, where Revit shows an object but SLE shows no specs, or where SLE shows a spec for a product that is apparently not used in the Revit project. After resolving the obvious discrepancies, verbal communication may be necessary to reconcile other discrepancies identified.

As in the minimal integration scenario, the spec writer either switches to SLE itself to edit the specs or uses the LME Products Dashboard to actually "turn on" the relevant spec text. The Revit modeler must use Revit itself to modify the project objects, if necessary. Under some circumstances it may be unnecessary to modify an actual Revit object if the LME Assembly it is linked to is also linked to the proper products. The spec writer could also delete the original user-added link and connect the Revit object to another LME Assembly in order to provide more detailed links to the specification.