IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

How Small & Medium Sized Firms Streamline Operations with Clarity

By Matt Mason, Director of Software Solutions

When it comes to Revit models, analytics and task automation are powerful tools. Historically, however, access to this type of functionality has been out of reach for small and medium-sized firms. Having dedicated design technology staff to compile, review, and manage the reporting is overhead that many firms cannot afford. With IMAGINiT Clarity that is no longer the case. IMAGINiT Clarity makes efficient Revit management a reality for organizations of all sizes.

• Save time with task automation. Clarity automatically prints PDF sets that have been requested. It can also export DWGs or Navisworks files to share to Dropbox, BOX, or FTP sites. Collaboration with partners just got easier, as well. Clarity can receive models from partners and automatically clean them up as they come in. It’s like having a robotic BIM coordinator.
  
  
• Generate near-real-time information with automated data sheet creation. Creating data sheets for rooms, equipment, furniture, and other model information can be very time consuming for firms. Clarity automatically generates data sheets for over 20 Revit categories, including rooms, areas and spaces. Organizations get a head start with Clarity’s data sheet templates but can build the exact look and feel they want with HTML styles.
  
  
• Get visibility into Revit model health quickly and easily with analytics. Clarity includes automated project metric dashboards which offer insights into key areas, such as file performance, modeling performance, and best practices. With metrics, it’s possible to focus on business value by monitoring the health of models and responding proactively, if problems arise. Analytics data harvested by Clarity can also be integrated with other business intelligence programs like Microsoft Power BI and Tableau.

You may not have considered Clarity because it you thought it was just for Revit Server (that was true, years ago). But today IMAGINiT Clarity can work with Revit projects on your network drive, Collaboration for Revit as well as Revit Server and is accessibly priced for firms of all sizes. If your organization needs more time to focus on the work that truly delivers value to customers, you should take a look at Clarity. Feel free to contact us to learn more about how this solution can help your small or medium sized business.

Plan More, Firefight Less – Gaining Control With IMAGINiT Clarity Metrics

By Matt Mason, Director of Software Solutions

BIM coordinators have a tough job. They must stay on top of many different projects and some days can have nothing but issues to address – making them feel like they do nothing but put out fires. Ensuring that Revit models are well-managed is essential, but opening numerous models to audit them on a regular basis is time consuming. Fortunately, technology exists that can address this challenge.

IMAGINiT Clarity offers task automation and analytics that provide insight into Revit models. This dramatically reduces the need to manually open files in order to discover what’s happening. BIM coordinators can monitor the pulse of projects right from the Clarity metrics dashboard.

For example:

• File performance. It’s fairly easy to keep an eye on Revit metrics like file size, open time, and sync-to-central time. These indicators offer visibility into the user experience and user satisfaction. They also are indicators of model “hygiene". Models that are slow to open or sync may be a red-flag about the ways that models are constructed and maintained. Files that are consistently growing in size suggest that users aren’t cleaning up their models on a regular basis.
  
  
• Modeling performance. Clarity captures 19 Autodesk-defined criteria which can help identify why Revit models are running slowly. A few examples include complex sketches, multiple loops, sketch areas that are too large, overlapping walls, and more.
  
  
• Modeling analytics. These metrics shed light on whether teams are following Revit modeling standards and best practices, or if they are instead engaging in behaviors that would be considered anti-best practices. Clarity tracks the number of unplaced views, families used, model group usage, line styles, links, and CAD links, to name a few.

Clarity also enables users to configure proactive email alerts. Within Clarity, BIM coordinators can configure threshold values for different metrics which indicate that a Revit project may be in trouble. If these thresholds are met or exceeded, or the value changes dramatically since the previous measurement, Clarity will alert the BIM coordinator.

Thanks to IMAGINiT Clarity, BIM coordinators can gain greater control over their organizations’ Revit models and take a more proactive approach to resolving problems before they become true crises. To learn more about Clarity and how it can help your firm, feel free to contact us.

7 Things to Consider When Deploying an Integrated Workplace Management System

Your organization has decided to take the plunge and implement an integrated workplace management system (IWMS). Based on our experience working with numerous companies, there are several steps you can take to ensure that your IWMS deployment provides positive impact to the organization. Here are seven best practices to consider:

1. Find an executive sponsor. If you haven’t already done so, it’s a good idea to find an executive sponsor for the project. This individual is responsible for endorsing the implementation, as well as obtaining resources and removing project obstacles if necessary.
   
   
2. Enlist support from the IT team. The IT team is an important player in the IWMS implementation process. Getting their buy-in early is essential. The IWMS must fit into the organization’s existing IT infrastructure and it will likely integrate with other systems that are critical to operations.
   
   
3. Identify champions in each IWMS area. Workplace management covers many different disciplines ranging from real estate to space planning and management, move management, asset management, environmental and risk management, building operations, and more. It’s a good idea to find an individual in each area who will act as a champion for their part of the IWMS.
   
   
4. Focus on the data first. Data is the key ingredient that makes an IWMS successful. Be sure your team understands what information is essential to fulfill your goals, otherwise, your system may become bogged down with unnecessary data.
   
   
5. Use a staged deployment process. Implementing the IWMS in a phased way is helpful. It makes the deployment less overwhelming and the team can build momentum by demonstrating successive wins to the organization. This reinforces the system’s return on investment.
   
   
6. Decide which systems will be integrated into the IWMS. The ultimate goal of an IWMS should be to create a “single source of truth” for facilities management information.
   
   
7. Work with an expert. IMAGINiT’s facilities management team has worked with hundreds of clients in a variety of industries. The lessons we’ve learned in the field help clients avoid problems that are common in IWMS deployments. The result is shorter, smoother implementations which means your organization can be on the road to return on investment sooner.