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Creating a Power BI Dashboard

Here are instructions on how to export model health data from a Revit file using Ideate Automation and display it in Power BI. The Power BI template from Ideate Software is a starting point that you can modify to suit your needs.


Software Requirements

First, confirm that your setup meets these requirements:

  • Power BI Desktop — September 2023 (Version 2.121.644.0 or later)
  • Installed Ideate Software:
  • Ideate Automation — version 3.0 or later — download and complete the Open File task first!
  • Ideate BIMLink — version 6.2 or later (May 2023)
  • Ideate Explorer — version 4.8 or later (May 2022)   download them all here
  • IdeateApps — version 1.15 or later (May 2023)


Initial Setup

If you are a subscription customer, you can request the Power BI template and associated files from Ideate Software. You will receive a response email with a download link.

Initial Setup

Download the zip file, double-click, and select “Extract All.”
 

IMPORTANT: Don’t accept the default folder location for these files. You must extract them directly to the ‘C:\’ drive for this workflow to function correctly. Refer to the image below for the correct entry.

Power BI Template

The Ideate Software Health Check folder will be created on your ‘C:\’ drive, and it will contain the following subfolders:


  • Dashboard Template with these files:
  • Ideate Dashboard — v3_0.pbit — Power BI Dashboard Template. The template file references the exported data and shows the interactive dashboard visualizations. Important: The template file must not be moved to the Data Folder.
  • Metric.xlsx. This file sets the threshold values that change visualizations from black to red. Metric.xlsx file must not be moved into the Data Folder. You may modify this file to your company’s threshold values.
  • Time Stamp 
  • This sample Data Folder (.xlsx files) contains a sample dataset to view the visualization and familiarize yourself with the dashboard. When the template is launched, you will be prompted to enter the “Folder” location. It refers to this folder. You can change the data location later or replace the files here with your company’s Ideate Automation exports. Only correctly formatted xlsx exports should be placed in this folder.


Ideate Automation

Create the Ideate Automation Task


  1. Launch Ideate Automation. Find the shortcut on your Desktop after installation.
  2. Hit “Create” to start a new task.
  3. Pick the script “ISW-Health_Check-PowerBI” in the “C:\ProgramData\Ideate\Ideate Automation\Custom Scripts\PowerBI” library. This script was placed here in the Initial Setup step.
Task Script Selection

4. Review the description of this task and note the product requirements. Hit “Next.”


Set Script Variables

Fill in the required script variables:


  • Revit Files: Select one or more Revit files to process for a health check. Go to “Manage” if you haven’t added the files into your Automation Files list yet.
  • Export Folder: Browse for a location to save the Excel data files. This will be your Data Folder, per the details in the Initial Setup section above. It can be located on your local drive or BIM 360 / ACC. 
Task Script Variables

Review defaults and optional variables:


  • Use File List Checkbox: This will allow you to use a txt file that includes a prebuilt list of models on which to run the health check. Generate this list using the script “AUT-Generate_Revit_File_List.”
  • Template File Location: The template is required to ensure data format consistency across various Revit models. The preset tabs are expected to be in a specific sequence by the Power BI template.
  • Exported File Name: For time-stamped data, the export date is required.
  • Link Library Path: Ideate BIMLink definitions are configured to work with the Power BI export. They are placed in the script folder by the Dashboard Files.exe by default. 
  • Include Annotation Issues: Runs the Annotation Issues check using Annotate from IdeateApps. This increases the run time of the script, as all workests need to be opened and all views checked for issues.
  • Include Views on Sheets Only: Only runs the Annotation Issues check on Placed views. Views not on a sheet will be skipped.


Hit “Next,” then review the script inputs on the Confirm Task Selections page. 


Start the Automation Task

  1. First, confirm that all changes have been Synced with Central. When you are ready to proceed, pick “Save and Run” to start Revit and proceed to export data. The Status field will indicate the task is Running.
  2. Once the task is finished, you should see a “Completed” status on the Home page. At this point, you can use the right-click menu or the Schedule button to set regular repeat of this task, or you can pick “Clone”’ to change some of the variables.


RESULTS: A uniquely named Health Check Excel file for each of the selected Revit files, located in the Data Folder.


Power BI

Loading Data into Power BI

The Ideate Dashboard — v3_0.pbit is the template file that contains the dashboard visualizations. Find it here: C:\Ideate Health Check\Dashboard Template.

  1. Open the .pbit file with Power BI by double-clicking on the file or in Power BI, select File>Open Report>Browse Reports.
  2. Be sure to change file type to Power BI template files (.pbit) when browsing for the template.
  3. After starting Power BI, the dialog shown below will appear.
  4. Enter the Data Folder path (custom or C:\Ideate Health Check\Time Stamp) and Select “Load.”
Power BI

3.  If you see a pending change to queries, select “Apply Changes.”

4.  It is a best practice to refresh the data in Power BI — Home Tab > Queries Panel > Refresh.

Power BI

5.  Once the data loads, you can save it with a name that follows your company standards as Power BI files (.pbix) to a folder associated with a specific project

6.  When opening the .pbix file, you need to Refresh the data to add any newly created exports into the visualization list.


Using the Power BI Template for Different Projects

The automated exports for different projects should be set up to be saved to project specific folders. Do not store any other files in these folders, or the Power BI query will not function correctly.

  1. Create your folder structure like this:
Folder Structure

2.  Open the Ideate_Dashboard template file 

3.  Set the Folder path to the project-specific data folder

4.  Once the data is loaded, save as a .pbix file in a different subfolder from your data exports

5.  Now you can make a project-specific shortcut to the .pbix file on your desktop or put them all in a holding folder. 

6.  Here is where the two paths necessary for the template to function are managed:

Power BI Folder Structure
  • The visualization Metric file:
Data Source Settings
  • The Data Source Folder (./Time Stamp by default)
Edit Parameters

Visualizations

Revit Model Health Check
  • General
  • Filters: File Name and Date are filters applied to the data visualizations. The underlying data is not affected.
  • Thresholds: Metric.xlsx file is loaded in Power BI and used to conditionally format the viz cards. You can modify the Metric.xlsx and the conditional formatting thresholds will change.
  • Warnings Rank slicers (4 - High, 3 - Medium, 2 – Low, 1 – Not Ranked): These can be selected using CTRL+Click. If they are black, they are selected, If they are white, they’re unselected.
  • Project Information: Used as a value to filter dashboard information by File Name and Date for the following visuals: Revit Version, File Size, number of Warnings, Warnings per File Size, Views not on Sheet, Model Lines, Model Groups, Detail groups, Avg. Annotation Issues/ Sheet, CAD Imports, and In-Place Families. 
  • Model Groups: Sum of Model Groups filtered by File Name and Date.
  • Detail Groups: Sum of Detail Groups filtered by File Name and Date.
  • Views Not on Sheets: Dependent and Independent Views not on sheets (primary views not calculated) on filtered date/file.
  • Avg. Annotation Issues/Sheet: Issue count divided by number of sheets on filtered date/file. Issues include 0 Length Dimensions, Annotation Clashes, Blank Tags, Elevation Marks with no Elevations, Hidden by Element, Orphaned Tags, and Not Visible Elements.
  • CAD Imports: Sum of CAD Imports on filtered date/file. Control + Click “Details” button to see details, including Created By.
  • In-Place Families: Sum of In-Place Families on filtered date/file. Control + Click “Details” button to see details, including Created By.
  • Warnings Over Time: Information on warnings changes over time. 
  • Top Warning Descriptions: Filtered by File Name, Date and Is Hidden set to False. Types of warnings can be picked above by the slicer (4 - High, 3 - Medium, 2 – Low, 1 – Not Ranked) that can be selected using CTRL+Click. If they’re black, they are selected and if they’re white, they’re unselected. Is Hidden is set to False in this visual so you are only seeing warnings that are not set to hidden with Ideate Explorer. If you’d like to see if there are any hidden warnings, you can see that under Detail Information (2) Tab or CTRL+Click on the (i) Icon under Top Warnings Description visual.
  • Detail Information Tab (1): Detailed information about CAD Imports and In-Place Families including ‘Created By’.
  • Detail Information Tab (2): Detailed information on Warnings details, Totals and Hidden Warnings. 


Migrating to Automation 3.0 and Power BI 3.0 Template

Version 3.0 contains major updates to the data exports using Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, and Ideate Annotate.


The updated ISW-Health_Check-PowerBI script no longer ships with Ideate Automation; Ideate Software subscription customers can request it. The script has been redesigned to allow more flexibility and to support scheduling directly in the Ideate Automation UI. 


If you had Automation Tasks utilizing the previous iteration of the Power BI script, you need to recreate them using the new script. Following the request, you will get an executable that will place files in C:\ProgramData\Ideate\Ideate Automation\Custom Scripts\PowerBI and here C:\Ideate Health Check 
These will include the script file and Ideate BIMLink definitions optimized for the new Power BI 3.0 template
.

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