Turning to Ideate Software for a Solution

Ranked number one on Fortune Magazine’s 2019 World's Most Admired Companies list in engineering and construction, Jacobs is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of highly technical professional services. Its staff of more than 77,000 creates solutions to deliver a more connected, sustainable world through services including scientific, technical, professional and construction and program management for the business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. Its staff’s extensive client-application experience and digital intelligence enables them to analyze complex problems from multiple perspectives and deliver complete, high-value solutions. 

Choosing Ideate BIMLink for Revit Revision Management

When looking into establishing a method of revision management for Revit models, Paul Cook, a Civil 3D, BIM & CAD Technician at Jacobs, learned about a limitation within Revit: you can’t view the revision history of each sheet in schedule form.

“I’ve had success with Ideate Software tools on several projects, so looked to them for a solution. I read their Help page on managing Revit sheet-based revisions,” said Paul. “It looked like Ideate BIMLink enables the creation of a document issuance record, and the Help page mentioned an Excel Macro template and dataset that Ideate Software offers free-of-charge to customers. I reached out to the Support team for details.”

Jan Sako, Support Manager, Ideate Software, sent Paul the information as well as links to short how-to videos that demonstrate how to use Ideate BIMLink to quickly and accurately update all sheets with the proper revision or sheet issuance information at one time.

“It was exactly what we were looking for,” said Paul.

Customizing the Spreadsheet for Jacob’s Unique Requirements

Jacobs uses an alphanumeric revision number that shows on sheets, in place of the Sequence number, that they have assigned to the ‘Issued To’ parameter to represent the Revision Number.

“Ideally, we would have this showing on the DIR tab on each issue instead of the issue count number, so I reached out to the Ideate Software Support team to see if they had any ideas,” said Paul. “Glynnis Patterson, the Director of Software Development, responded with two suggestions. Although neither quite worked, they sparked some thoughts. I managed to achieve what I was after by using Excel formulas on a new tab to recreate the register. It’s basically a clone of the DIR tab using cell links, except that where an issue is shown on the ‘DIR’ tab, it searches for the ‘Issued To’ entry for that sequence number and reports that instead of the issue count.” 

Paul also added a few extra things, like highlighting the issues that aren’t tagged as ‘Issued’ in Revit and a count of how many drawings were issued on that date. 

“I appreciate how responsive the Ideate Software Support team was and how flexible Ideate Software tools are,” said Paul. “I’ve already thought of other ways to customize the spreadsheet, and I know that if I have any trouble, I can give Ideate Software a call.”

About Ideate Software

Ideate Software allows Revit users to have unprecedented control over their data and solve persistent problems in Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner (AECO) workflows. Ideate Software solutions enable Revit users to save time, increase accuracy, improve project deliverables, and elevate design.