How to COBie-ize Revit MEPF Models for Efficient Data Deliverables

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So we're going to go ahead and start-- clip myself in. I'm Birgitta Foster.

PECK SUKPHISIT: And I'm Peck Sukphisit.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: We're going to be tag teaming this today. So how many are you-- let's try this. How many are you contractors in here? All right, how many of you are on the design team, design side? Oh, good. Is there any owners get some deliverables out of this? And then lastly, how many of guys are actually using the toolkit and delivering COBie right now? How much fun is that?

I'm with you, so don't think we're here saying everything's perfect and great. But we have real world experience with it and we want to share it. There are some important pieces that are part of the workflow that some may know and some may not. There's part of a deliverable that has issues and we're helping you find options to those solutions.

We are not going into the COBie toolkit, if that's what you thought. But most of the stuff we're trying to do is prepare the model so that if you already had gone ahead and what we call COBie-ize. So Peck and I came up with that term when we were working with some projects, and they didn't want the central model to be messed with so we had to pull one out. And we started doing the toolkit, so we were like, well, how do we tell the diff-- well, why don't you go ahead and COBie-ize it and we'll start looking at the exports kind of thing. So that's where the term COBie-ize came from.

So we're going to go ahead and get started here. We're going to do a little introductions.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yep. Well, I'm Peck, and I have about-- over 19 years of experience in the architectural field. And right now currently I'm providing on-site BIM support for architectural engineering firm. So I've been on both sides of the fence. And I've specialized in Revit and COBie deliverable, and also BIM workflow. And for extra time, I also do college level Rivet training and AutoCAD.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Well, some of you I know, so some of you know this. But I'm just going to run this real quickly. So my background, I'm a mechanical engineer. I have an MBA.

But I started out with a manufacturer, and then I went into an engineering firm-- mechanical engineering there. I worked with a caterpillar dealer doing large engine-driven pump packages. I've been with a general contractor, did stuff of clean clean room installations at Intel. I've been with an owner, which is with Sandia National Labs. I've been with the standards organizations. There's Building Smart Alliance out of DC.

And most of my efforts right now are at the international level, where I'm the lead on the data dictionary working group. I'm on the secretary of the user comm and then I'm on the standards committee executive. This all has to do with a lot of the IFC work that's being developed. In my spare time, I work for VDCO Tech-- both of us do. And then I also am domestically involved with BIM Forum on their LOD group. And I'm also on the BIM consortium with the Corps of Engineers-- so seen a lot, been around, and actually trying to work on bringing the industry forward.

A little bit on our company-- I got to throw this in. Peck and I work for VDCO Tech. We do BIM services, but we also work directly with owners. We have Broward County right now. We have a contract with them as their BIM staffing. But go check us out if you're interested in seeing more about us. Good.

PECK SUKPHISIT: So how to COBie-ize the Revit MEPF model for efficient data deliverable. So basically now this today we're going to walk you through the process.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So what we're going to do here is to show you how to prepare the models, and then we're going to talk about how the-- the importance of the architectural-- this is where they're really the MVP in some levels on the data deliverable and they don't know it. We're going to talk about how to match. We're going to talk about validate, and then actually how to address when you don't have spaces for equipment.

There's no rooms, there's no spaces. How am I supposed to deliver it? Where do I get the rooms from? COBie says I have to have a room and I don't have a room.

And then, lastly, we're going to talk about where you can get the extension and some information on getting more. There's a lot out there that's really supportive that we're not going to get into, because it's enough. But the most important one we want to close with is how to append to a single file. A lot of times they don't want individual. They want an appended file. And I want to make sure everybody understands how that process works.

And finally, you will see our tips, things that we're saying, hey, take note. Take note. Do this, but make sure you look at this, too. And that'll be where you'll see that.

So what we're going to do is we're going to show you-- these are the important steps. This is what we're going to go through and takeaways at the end. But in other words, during the-- when you link your models, what you need to make sure everything is done to make sure you get the right setup. Then we're going to talk about MEPF models. Again, that's going to be where you use certain steps, and we're going to show you how to use them to make sure you get some automation to make that quicker-- and then, finally, again where you can get it and a little bit on pending files. Go ahead.

PECK SUKPHISIT: So first of all, first thing we need to do is verify architectural and structural link to MEPF. And you'll notice that on the MEPF we have a little slash. So it depends on your contract, because you can have a single MEPF model or individual models, so you have four, for example.

Now, what do you need to do is look in your project browser. Look under Rivet Links. You must have the room bounding selected, because what it does is it's recognized the room bounding that's coming in from architectural model and structural model.

Next, you need to follow by-- look at the model level. Make sure that they are aligned. So in this instance, there's a structural top of the slab level. And then you have architect also provide finished floor level.

And this is very critical, because you want to make sure that the architect is using the level that they want, because that can be indicate the floor level. You want to be the same throughout the project. You don't want to be hour one and then you have hour two finish, which that incorrect.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: I'm the data side. So one of the things I don't think people realize is in your deliverable on these-- COBie spreadsheet-- is the facility tab. That information is actually captured in your project information tab. And what we see a lot of times is people do their export and next thing you know, they've used a template, so all this information is from another project. That happens a lot.

So what ideally happens-- to be honest with you-- is what we want to do is-- oh, and by the way, there's no schedule. The COBie toolkit has all those pre-determined schedules. There's no schedule to show what the project data-- what that tab would look like. So that's why it's important to look at there first.

But what happens a lot of times is I'd really like to see the architect set it up, get this all setup so that when you link the models up, you can transfer that information. So you're not worrying about it. You just transfer what they put up. And so the setup for you for that part of the deliverable has already been established. And you can use transfer project standards, and there's a project info click, and you can bring it over.

So if you talk to your-- like in your PXP plan-- talk about this a little bit. Because if you're doing COBie deliverable, you really need to have that setup once and reuse it, and not continue to everybody do a different kind of setup in here.

PECK SUKPHISIT: So now we have start have to match the data from architectural room number through MEPF space number. So first, you need to go and look in the plan view and make sure that view display toolbar setup to visual style vectors hidden line. And you're going to select Interior and Referent under space, because that's going to make the space visible once we're adding them.

Next, you're going to Ready to Create Space. Go to Analyze tab.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Now, if you've already created your spaces, this is in case you haven't created spaces. You're doing your workflow as it goes. But if you've already created spaces, already done this, step two will show you where to go, but we're just trying to get the full workflow.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Go to space then select on the contextual tab place spaces automatically. And, of course, once you automatically insert space, everything turns green because we insert your reference and interior selection. Then, of course, you're going to see how many space are automatically created. That will pop up so that let you know.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: And then rinse and repeat, basically, on all floors that apply.

PECK SUKPHISIT: So spaces represent in green. And if it's not already on the space tag, go to annotate tab. Go to tag all. Make sure that come in, so through all the floors. And, of course, we can start to confirm and validate with the space schedule. I assume that everyone know how to create the space schedule.

I have level number and name. Obviously, number is just random, space to say default to main-- I mean to space. And now we are preparing to validate.

So we could do it manually or we could do it automatically. But in order for us to do automatically, go to edit schedule. Make sure that you select include element links. This going to bring you-- allow you to bring in the architectural rooms.

And switch to room, and then go to room number name. And don't forget area, because area could be basically a little check that you know that the space is valid or not. So this is the result. That's what you're going to see. On the left column is MEPF space information, which it's doing correct. Then the right is the architectural model room information. And, of course, you can see some that is blank, because the architect never assigned space to that-- never assigned the room to that space.

Next, have you guys used space naming utilities before? Great tool-- Of course, you go to Autodesk app store for it, download, install. Once you select the space naming utility, name and numbers come up. Make sure that all level are selected. And once you're on, this is when you're going to see the-- you're going to see side by side the match.

Now, let's go back to a step further. What happened for the invalid rooms? Those are non-existing or no room assigned. So in this case, for example, that little space behind the water fountain is invalid. And, of course, when you look at the schedule, you see here is architect number assigned for it, and of course the space name and utility doesn't know where it's to match up to, so-- and also that 4 square foot standing out right there. That's anomaly. So that mean, of course, you're going to go manually delete that out, or you can use your filter or sorting and then just get rid a bunch of them.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, and then sometimes what you'll have is there's some white area-- like you see all green but then there's certain places it's white. And when it's white often there's just no space or room there, and so it just has one blank across. So, anyway, we just want to make sure you understand, those are common so don't freak out. Those happen.

And like Peck says, for your deliverable, you really need to delete those so that you don't pull them over. And really, you guys, we really shouldn't be editing the spreadsheet. It should come corrected and then come over. I know there's a tendency to do that. I understand, but it really needs to be something that is repeatable-- and so, just a little word of caution there.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yep.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So I'm going to talk-- Peck and I are going to talk about this a little bit. So we run into this a lot. Peck's half-time in a MEPF firm supporting them. And so, they're doing a lot of these deliverables, working on a lot of large projects.

And we find that this is something that people don't understand how to solve sometimes. And so, we're just going to try and give you some options. We're going to go through about four options based on what it is.

So, for instance, these are some situations where you have them on the roof. The roof doesn't usually have any space to find up there, or on the exterior of the building, so outside the building-- chillers, generators, stuff like that that kind of sit out there but don't have any really space assigned to them. Architects don't have any space-- I mean, there's just no rooms and stuff.

The other situations are above ceiling in an interstitial area, in walls-- so when they're placed in the wall, they don't understand there's a room right there. So they're sitting back. The other one is when you have smoke dampers.

Again, I'm working mostly on the assets that-- or equipment types that you will need for your deliverable for COBie. There's other stuff in here, but I'm not trying to address that. I'm trying to address the basic equipment that you're going to see on your deliverables. So in walls, you'll have panels. You also have fire dampers, which will be between two walls. And how do you get those assigned to a room? And then finally also below grade-- you'll have a sump pump down there. How do I able to get that space to cover that?

So these are just four different ways we're going to go through to address some of these. Go ahead, Peck. So the first way--

PECK SUKPHISIT: The first one, we need to create a new space. So on the roof, they are pretty straightforward, create space-- in this case, for capturing the condensing unit or air conditioning. Make sure that the level of the unit-- make sure that the space is captured, because sometimes it's wall mount, a little bit higher, so you need to verify the space volume height a little bit.

What architects also a lot of times overlook is the exterior space. Remember, it's beyond 5 feet away from the building, which is usually the generator sits or some electrical vault. So confirm with the architect, make sure that-- how do you want to assign this space name.

So, in this case, they say, oh, you know what? Go ahead call the exterior north, so at least I know the general area where the equipment is located. And, of course, that's the whole generator, for example.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, we had a couple of situations where the building that actually-- the renovation project was actually in a building adjacent to a parking garage. And they also had condensing units sitting outside into the parking garage structure. And so, it was outside of the scope of the job, but at the same time it was a piece of equipment we had to deliver on.

So a couple of ways we do that-- we often we rather go and talk to the FM people, at least tell them what do you think. And they're usually like I don't know. We don't call that or will tell us what we want it to be called. Because really it's ultimately their data. So if you can get to them. If not, kind of what we're talking about is on the exterior-- at least if you say exterior north or something, just kind of generally they know it's outside on the north side of the building. So those are just little defaults that you can use if you don't have any access or you're trying to just get the deliverable done.

So the other ones that we look at are above ceilings-- VAVs, our good friends, fans, things like that that are up in the interstitial or above a room that hasn't been captured, so like that. In-wall-- again, fire panels, electrical panels, smoke dampers, things like that, fire dampers, things that are actually built into the wall and don't really associate with a room when you run your first-- when you start looking at your schedules and stuff. Go ahead, Peck.

PECK SUKPHISIT: So we can address the issue of above the ceiling equipment asset. So, as you can see, it's by default it's going to 9 feet. A lot of time, maybe you have already working with MEPF firm. They already have the space in place. However, those space normally using a mechanical to capture the CFM, but you need to modify that space to extend it up to underside of the structure, basically.

And now you cannot do this manually. You cannot use the select instance in our instance. You have to do this manually. So I normally just do the window click. Go to Filter, select that. And go to the property palette and manually adjust the limit offset.

Now, we use minus 3 inch, because we don't know how high that is, but as long as I can just slightly below the level above. So I want to make sure that it's captured correctly. It depends on the structure. In this case, it's like-- if you have double 20s or framing, you know at least you go into that.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah?

AUDIENCE: So when you've got a space that's being bound by architecture, when it hits that ceiling, it's going to stop. What are you guys doing about [INAUDIBLE]?

PECK SUKPHISIT: Right, OK. Yeah, because if the ceiling is select on the room bounding but because-- remember, you make sure that the room bounding is off from the architecture or-- I know.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: It's for the deliverable. So, I mean, that's what we're-- I know. I know. And, again, this is the challenges we have with those. It does tweak things.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Right. We can start to run into this a little bit of a situation how the architect does think about that.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: I want to make one comment on those deliverables. Don't make it the week before you're supposed to do your CDs. Come on, you guys-- I mean, excuse me, not you guys. I mean, really it should be a week after you do your CDs. I mean, really I've had more times where we went and delivered and the next thing you know, the CDs got changed and my delivery is off. So just what I'm saying is if we can get the CDs out and then you can go that's with the models a little bit. So it's just a work-around. I understand.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yes, sir.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] Is there a reason that you would use that as opposed to if you have a slab thickness that [INAUDIBLE]?

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Oh yeah.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yeah.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah. We just said negative because some are-- you don't want to sit there and goes at 3 inches-- I mean, excuse me. Is it 8 feet, 9 feet, 10 feet? It's just-- exactly. You look at your slab. Do minus 5, whatever is kind of-- but it gets it--

AUDIENCE: Below the actual [INAUDIBLE].

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's just our first default.

AUDIENCE: I've had pretty good success with the room tabulation point.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Well, we're coming to that. Hold on. We're only at an option two. That's option four. So option one is create spaces. Option two is to extend. Now we just talked about extending up. Next thing we're going to talk about is-- oh, rinse and repeat if you have to do this on all your floors.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Now, we're going to extend space. Of course, maybe now is the time to look down, especially elevator pit. Sometimes you look, you're always looking up. You don't see the-- what's below you. So in this case, usually I'd do for the elevator pit. You want to make sure you capture the sump pump and some equipment.

And what I normally do is do a section cut-- simple. And you can do it via project instance property, or you can just manually drag it down, and easy as that.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So this is one place where you do it by space. The other one we were talking about, you want to pretty much do more globally. All right, option three--

PECK SUKPHISIT: Option three.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Option three will be-- well, we're going to give you an example, but essentially you have something in an unbounded space. In other words, it may be downstairs-- and we're going to show an example in an airport-- where you don't have a bounded room but you need to have that room bounded to make the space. So we'll give you an example real shortly, but that's where we start using the space separator.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yep. So a baggage sorting area is a good example that we ran into. It's open space, but on the ceiling they've got heater, fan equipment that we need to track.

So in this case we just go in. We use a space separator running across and be able to capture. And don't forget that you make sure the volume of the space is captured your asset.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: All right, number four.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Number four, OK-- so currently the airport project that I'm working on, you've got the passenger area. And the roof and the ceiling extend over the retail area. And this is the limitation of space that it's basically a cube that going all the way up. How do we address that? And also same thing with similar to panel mounted in walls, because if the-- we're going to start looking to the room calculation point.

Double click the asset, bring up the family, and of course, make sure you look into property palette. Look at the room calculation point, select it on. And once you have that, you're going to see a little node with a little X, Y, Z coordinate.

Then use your mouse. You just drag it out across. One thing should be careful about is you want to be far enough but not too far. Because you're editing a family, so that's going to happen throughout your entire project, and so moderation, basically.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, so one side I didn't put it in here. So then once you do this and you go back to your wall panel, you can see that little access thing. And then that's when you can go in and drag it out.

What gets funky in this situation is you think your panel's in a certain direction and you pull this out, the little-- you drag it out there and then when you get it it's in another room. It's on the backside. And so, sometimes it's a little bit of tweaking.

But the bottom line is, yes. This is option four. Before they had some of these other tools, this was your option. You had to take all your VAVs and drag them all up. But now with some of these other things, we've been able to avoid that. But these are, again, those unique situations where you can't get to the room and you have to find the room and attach it to it.

And this is the quick and dirty way, by the way. If you have one or two, don't mess with the other options. Go to this. So does this one make sense? Do you guys play with this at all?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah.

AUDIENCE: You need a panel for everything.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, I know. I know.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Right, right. So yeah, anyway-- I mean, again, we're trying to just give you four options, ways to deal with situations. And that way you can pick which works best.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yes, sir.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] transparent clearance zone. [INAUDIBLE] calculation point within that clearance zone. It gets into your space without going too far away.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Good point. Thank you.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

PECK SUKPHISIT: My rule of thumb is what is the easiest way to access that space that have the hierarchy over.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So like fire dampers or what?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: But see, that's the thing. We're looking about if you had to go find it. I don't care what it's servicing. Do you see what I'm saying? So everyone gets that--

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, so this is something everyone-- and that's a great point, because that's what happened originally with COBie and stuff. Everybody's like, well, which room it services? And I'd go, I don't care what it services. I'm looking to find it. So when you're looking at this concept, you're delivering information to someone who is trying to find it.

AUDIENCE: Gotcha.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: And so, that's that. Now, when you look at systems-- that other tab they've got-- that's where those things would connect over there. No, good question. I agree. Those sometimes aren't always the intuitive in terms of why this is important. Our buddy-- enough said.

I'm just going to give you two places to locate this. It used to be up in the app store, but apparently I couldn't find it up there either. So they have it at the Autodesk Knowledge Network. Have you guys found that? That's one place you can get it.

This is actually something the-- the second place here. This is something Autodesk actually put together. And this is actually probably a better location. It's got a couple other tools here that you might want to look at-- classification manager. Right now, in a lot of the Revit right now is-- I don't know. The omni class is like three years old or something. You know what I'm saying is it doesn't match up and then you've got to go play around with the text file and all of these things. We've all done that.

Well, that's what this is intended to do. So look at the classification manager. They do have a model checker that's a little more expanded. And so, I think this is actually some really good opportunities. Go ahead.

AUDIENCE: Your presentation up there is slightly different than the material from [INAUDIBLE].

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, this is the website that I just copy and paste off this.

AUDIENCE: Well, no, I mean your entire presentation, there were some slides in the options and stuff that are not in the material.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: It will all be available, you guys. And we tried to do it so that if you printed it, it wouldn't sit on top of each other and-- even though we do a lot of animations.

So back to the interoperability. So this is something-- it's funny. They don't even put Autodesk up there. You know they're hiding. But it is all theirs, but it's great. It's great. It's good to have.

So this, again, is where you can get the COBie extension. It goes back a few, maybe 15. But that guide, I could sit here and talk two hours on it, and that guide is better than whatever I would say. So I decided not to talk about it. So I really think this is really where you guys, if you really want to get more information, really, it's really a very good breakdown. And I think there's a forum on there, too, so I mean lot of opportunity to like-- I don't get. What do you do?

So the COBie extension or the toolkit has all sorts of little fun things to do and get things going. And, again, if those of you who haven't seen it, this is the interface. But, again, look at the guide.

I just want to bring this part up. I mean, this is something I just want to make sure everybody-- let's clear the air a little bit on COBie on what's required and what's not. And everybody's, oh my god, the spreadsheets. Who thought of this?

What I'm trying to articulate here real quickly is what is really required and what's really optional. So when you get these requirements, you're like, oh my god. They want COBie and they're not telling me anything.

First of all, COBie will only-- one of the things, if they don't tell you what assets they want it on, you should ask. They don't want it on light-- well, they do on light fixtures. I don't know why. But the point is is that's one thing you need to make sure. You need to understand what they want the information on.

And as a default, if you guys were not told, look at your mechanical schedules. What has scheduled maintenance? Best guess-- I mean, it's better than nothing.

So keep that list as tight as possible. You don't have to give everything. So if they don't tell you, I'd go to the mechanical schedules, look at your pumps, your air handlers, your chillers-- best guess, but don't go beyond that. Don't push it too far, because they don't even know what to do with all that.

So if you really want to do some diligence and really show value back to them and that you know what you're doing, go to your mechanical schedules, maybe VFDs. But I'm just saying keep it high level and just give them a small section cut of it and let them come back and say, oh, I want something else. But don't go whole hog. I swear that you'll drive yourself crazy, especially on light fixtures.

So what I'm trying to get here is everything in the yellow is what you'll be entering-- previously fields that are carried forward from the other tabs. Green is optional, you guys. If they don't tell you, it's really not required.

So that's the basics. So basically everything to the left of the purple field's required. Names have to be unique, you guys. And what we mean by that is you can't have-- they can't have the same-- you can't say transformer and transformer. It has to be a transformer-- some voltage, some voltage. So make sure they're independently-- don't duplicate names. That's all I'm trying to say.

And the other piece is if you are a design firm and you have VTCO tech air handler, that ain't going to cut it, either. They are trying to put this into a system that they're going to be searching. They just want to know it's an air handler. By putting your name or having a manufacturer name under type doesn't help them. That actually makes them look like I can't use this information. So those are just little tips over there.

The required tabs are in yellow, seriously. And those are client-specified over there. If they don't specify them, you seriously don't really have to deliver them. Again, clients have to tell you whether they want zones.

Some of these are not mandatory. And I'm just trying to tell you. If they ask for them, then that's what's deliverable. But if they don't really give you any guidance, you can go by this kind of approach.

Those purple fields-- everybody is like what do you do with the purple fields? They don't do anything with the purple fields. They're intended to be able to be pulled into another system so they know where it came from. And then they actually if you want to go bi-directional, they actually have the GUIDs to go back and forth. That's the intent. Not much is going on at this moment totally with some of the CMMS systems, and that's what COBie's for.

So the purple fields are really-- you can also see where it actually came from and what software. I mean, that's really the best thing. But really those as a deliverable commonly is not as viewed as some. So bottom line-- left of purple field, yellow tabs are required-- right of purple fields are client-specified or optional, as is these ones down here. Does that all make sense? I just wanted to--

PECK SUKPHISIT: You had a question?

AUDIENCE: Yeah. The software fields-- is there any kind of standardization of how you would write that in there? I mean, everybody here in this room--

BIRGITTA FOSTER: You don't have to write it in.

AUDIENCE: --would understand. So it is--

BIRGITTA FOSTER: It's only if you're pulling it in and out of software. That's the only way you can do that, because of the GUIDs and everything. If you want to be helpful, you can go ahead and put what software. It came out of Revit 2006 or something-- drag and drop it down just to give them a reference. But if you're not going in and out of software, that purple fields right now are not necessarily required.

AUDIENCE: As far as the spreadsheet up here, [INAUDIBLE]. But that is information from the model [INAUDIBLE].

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, it will populate it and stuff. And so, I'm saying if it populates, you can give it to them. But if not all of it populates and they didn't ask for it, don't feel like you have to go spend time trying to populate it. So that's a good point.

AUDIENCE: I just wanted to be clear that some of the people that hear that--

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah so, well, I mean even if you're manually filling it out, these rules still apply. But I think his point is if you take it out of the model and you get some of that information back there, just leave it there. But the point is is if they're not asking for it, don't feel like you you have to go through the extra effort and complete it. I think that's all I'm trying to say.

Personally, my opinion is if they didn't ask for it and it came out, I hide it. Because the next thing they know, why are these other ones not there and you spend all this time arguing over why it's there and why it's not. But exactly true-- it's already comes out, give it to them.

AUDIENCE: It's not valid, data though, if it's default information [INAUDIBLE].

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, I mean, and so there's-- either way, you can give it to them if you feel comfortable, but the quality of the data-- or you can actually just delete it or hide it. Because, again, in some cases it's either bad data. COBie is not a panacea for delivering bad data. It delivers bad data just quicker. And there's BIM [INAUDIBLE] here that will help you fix whatever data that might need to be fixed.

How are we getting here on time? We're doing good. Because we want question and answers, too, so give you a little bit of time on that.

Append files-- often they don't want separate files. They don't want just one architecture from-- they like to just get one file. And if you give them everything in your model, that's not a good way to do it.

So we're just going to talk about this real quick. Typically, what you [INAUDIBLE] architectural model in your-- get you all setup there, then you can go ahead and start with-- we start with a mechanical model, right?

PECK SUKPHISIT: Yep. We start off with mechanical model, because that is the most populated. That's the way I see it.

So you run the export for mechanical model. You will make sure that you have contact, facility, floor-- let's see.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: I got on the next slide. So we're good. We're good. But we just wanted to show you the steps. It's repeat, repeat as needed. Again, if it's all in one model, this may all happen at once, but it's just depending on what you do. And the reason you're wanting to do that-- rinse and repeat, OK.

So what we're trying to do is this first one you use create new. And you just go through-- let's just say at this point as required. As applicable, you go down and do any of these checks. So I'm not trying to say don't check them. I'm just saying as an easy one.

So what you want to do is the first file that you export out-- whether it's any of the-- sorry, plumbing or anything. But again with the mechanical because it has most of it first, you get all of that. You want to get the contact, as you were saying. And so, that will actually populate all those. So that's the beginning of the file as a new created one.

PECK SUKPHISIT: And now, since we already export the mechanical, now we're ready to do the rest. So he's going to select type, component, system. And you don't want to select those top rows anymore of contact, facility, floor space, and so on, because we already exported that once already. So it's going to keep compiling if you do that.

And make sure that you select it on the [INAUDIBLE]. And it's going to have a menu that say you want to append? Make sure you go there.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, because if you click them all, then you get facility, facility, facility.

PECK SUKPHISIT: [INAUDIBLE] floor.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So, again, all it's doing is taking any of the new information and tagging it below. That's all this pending does. So, essentially, your first export will look like that. Then you do your plumbing. In comes the next set. Then you do your electoral-- in comes that, and then finally if you've got fire protection.

So it just cascades down, but it puts it all in one file and you're not redoing the first couple of sets. So it's just a quick way to do a-- use the toolkit in a way to do a deliverable that maybe you want to combine of the sheets. Maybe you're doing the plumbing and mechanical and you just want to get that deliverable out without two different deliverables. So in wrapping up, told you what we said we're going to say now. Hopefully, you can tell me if I said this. So go ahead, Peck. Tell them about workflow.

PECK SUKPHISIT: So we cover room bounding. Make sure that you select next is a level. As you can see on the last slide with the export, if the floor you've done correctly, you only have the floor that you want to export. But if you make a mistake and you have a deviation, you can start to see that the randomness of the floor level that it get export. And, of course, facility type data, that's coming in from architects, and using the project standard.

And we use the space schedule to verify space and room. Make sure that match. And any time an architect modified their room information-- because the client always come back and say, hey, can you change the room number-- you've got to run the space naming utility again. So you just have to be aware of that. And analyze tabs, space naming-- and, of course, you look at the full option. How do you address the issue of ceiling heights, the depth, the area that is not being defined? And, of course, COBie export-- we've got two site for downloading COBie extension, appending export for a single COBie file deliverable.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: So hopefully we've touched on all of those. If we didn't, get your money back. Good luck.

So, again, hopefully at the end you learned how to prepare the models for more efficient workflow. There's always variations. It's not always perfect. People don't hand off models. I understand all that, but if we can look at what we're trying to get to and you can work around that one.

This is really important. I've presented recently on this. I really think the architecture model, it really is the most valuable player in the state of deliverable. If you look at the data that needs to be delivered, yeah-- I mean, the mechanical stuff, yeah, it looks like you've got a lot of information delivered and stuff like that. But if you don't have the space in the room right, it doesn't matter. You can give them all sorts of information. They're no better than they got before. They just have it on a spreadsheet now with the wrong rooms.

So my point is is really being able to do the setup properly when you link those models. And use these steps so that you do carry forward the most current that you have-- rooms-- into the spaces is huge, and creating those spaces where there aren't any, because then they can find it. But if you can deliver it with no spaces-- and it doesn't help them, to be honest with you.

So that's why I think making sure that the architect understands that their role-- matter of fact, a lot of times on the design side, that's who delivers this. They're responsible for this, so they should understand how important they are. So I wanted to say that again. Anyway, so then we decided to make sure we understand how to match them, how to validate it. And then if you don't have them when you validate, where are those spaces supposed to go and how to do that-- and then finally where you can get the extension and then a little bit on the appending, because I think that's not always very clear to people on how and why you would do that-- friendly tips.

So when you guys get there, if you could help us out on that one. And then lastly, this is Peck and I have our email addresses here. We're both on LinkedIn, so find us there, if you want to read more about us, whatever, or want some help. We're willing to help, so if you guys send us some emails with some questions, seriously, we're here to give you some advice. So with that, we'd like to say thank you.

PECK SUKPHISIT: Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

AUDIENCE: I just wanted to throw out there [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Thank you.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

PECK SUKPHISIT: Thank you.

AUDIENCE: I have a question directly related to that. I know there's some good Dynamo scripts out there that are readily available to create the spaces and name them the same as the room. That utility, same thing [INAUDIBLE].

BIRGITTA FOSTER: No, I mean if you want to go run the right scripts-- I mean, or pull an app down. I mean, it depends. I mean Dynamo is getting more and more powerful in that regard. Those of us in the room, a third of us will be programmers in another month. It's coming.

So embrace that, by the way. I swear. Once Rivet went with their open API, they went from having a handful of developers to-- I don't know-- 2 million developers out there, because all the Rivet users could be developers. So if you don't have a developer-- a programmer on your team right now, you'll go find them, because they're being scooped up-- or become one yourself.

AUDIENCE: Is this PowerPoint slide available on [INAUDIBLE]?

BIRGITTA FOSTER: I have no idea. But I'm just saying if the others are, this is no different than any of your other presentations. So if someone can help me out on that, I don't know. But this is going to be with Autodesk's, wherever they store all their presentations, and if it's in PDF. And if you don't have it, contact us and I'll send to you, seriously-- so plan B.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] construction firms. What's the best way to pre-load along this into our Rivet?

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Pre-load?

AUDIENCE: Yeah.

BIRGITTA FOSTER: I mean, are you using the design models or anything like that? I mean, a lot of the space information is where that would come from. Otherwise, if you're doing your own models, you--

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

BIRGITTA FOSTER: Yeah, so you bring in your product object. That will pull that information in. And then you have to COBie-ize it to get the data fields into there.

Now, one thing that I think the COBie toolkit does now that it didn't before was if you had manufacturer down here, it knew where to go to go get it, so you don't have to redo it. But there is some of that balancing that you're going to have to do. So there is some additional work. I mean, the contractor deliverable-- if it isn't reused from the design side-- can be a little bit more work, I mean, to be honest with you.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] And what do they do with it?

PECK SUKPHISIT: So the question is the contractor get the spreadsheet, what do they do with the spreadsheet?

AUDIENCE: Well, [INAUDIBLE].

BIRGITTA FOSTER: What does the owner do with it?

AUDIENCE: Yeah, what does the owner do with it?

BIRGITTA FOSTER: A lot of times they don't know what to do with it, because they asked for it but it's like they ask for BIM, and they get these models and where do they put them? But the point is the intent of that whole deliverable is for them to-- a lot of their CMM-- their maintenance management systems have adopted COBie as a import standard. So if you give that to them, they can actually import it in.