Rocket Fuel Your Productivity in Revit

FABIO ROBERTI: Hello, everyone. It's fantastic to be here at Autodesk University to speak about your productivity in Revit. I am Fabio Roberti, and at HKS I work as a regional practice technology leader. I help to implement the digital strategies and the support process from the ISO 19650.

I'm also the author of the book Increasing Autodesk Revit Productivity for BIM Products with the co-author Decio Ferreira. I'll give away three copies of my book, but only in the presidential conference in New Orleans. If you need further information, please check out the book in the Amazon website.

At HKS, we believe that the design should build trust between our collaborators, our clients, and the people using the place we design. These are three of our products-- Kuwait Children's Hospital, Sofi Stadium, and the Amaala Yacht club. Let's watch a short video about the HKS.

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- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- At HKS--

- --we believe in exploring--

- [INAUDIBLE]

- --health--

- --curiosity--

- --challenging assumptions--

- [INAUDIBLE]

- --testing ideas--

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- [INAUDIBLE] test [INAUDIBLE]

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- Tinkering.

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- Testing.

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- Failing.

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- Failing and learning from it all.

- To design places--

- --that heal--

- --that perform--

- --that teach--

- --that soothe--

- --that thrill--

- --that empower--

- --that connect us.

- HKS.

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FABIO ROBERTI: Thank you. HKS has many offices in multiple locations. I'm based in the London office.

Now, these are the learning objectives for this class. We are going to learn about how to increase Revit productivity and be more efficient. Learn about productivity methodologies with a focus on time management. And we'll also explore five real-world examples on how to improve productivity in Revit. And you'll learn about increasing the ROI with customized training to increase the productivity.

Now let's find out what you should know about Revit productivity. Revit productivity is connected to these three factors-- hardware and infrastructure, software training and settings, better information management. And in this presentation, I will cover these three factors. But most of the companies are in a good position for hardware infrastructure and software training. The focus of this presentation is on better information management.

The main point of this presentation is to influence people to be aware that better information management is very important for productivity. We can get more efficiency if we have the correct information at the correct time. Do you agree?

After using Revit for a few years, you already know the software. So how can we increase productivity? The answer is all about better information management across the whole team. It helps to avoid errors with the work and avoid wasting time on projects. Your company may already have standards, but the ISO is an international standard that helps in this process.

HKS has implemented, and we are also certified for, the ISO 19650 standards, and also the 9001. And the ISO 19650 supports better information management for BIM projects. Please raise your hand if you are aware of the ISO 19650.

And also, have you implemented the ISO 19650? If not, please research it online, more information about it. It is quite interesting, the process, and it does really help when we're managing BIM projects.

Information management standards can be divided into three levels we have the organizational standards, the national standards that is specifically for each country. And there's also the ISO, which is our international standards. The best standard is the one that you apply correctly, and it should be well-documented to improve information management processes.

There are multiple methodologies that you can use to measure productivity. The basic formula is output divided by input, which equals productivity. It can be the design plus drawing sheets divided by labor hours equals productivity.

The methodology used to measure productivity depends on your company sector. There are different ways to measure productivity. And it is, therefore, key ways how to measure productivity. We have time management, tasks completed by the workforce, personal performance, and the ratio to manufacture a product. In this presentation, we will focus on time management, which is fully connected to information management.

Now I want you to think about the best and the most productive projects you have worked on. So think about it. Choose the best and the most productive projects you have worked on.

Why have you selected this project, and why do you have this project in your mind? Maybe everyone knew what to do and had the information at the right time. And now I want you to think, what was the importance of the project manager or the project leader in this project?

And also, what makes a great project manager? So did you think about these points? What makes a great project manager?

Well, in my view, information management is what makes a great project manager and successful projects. So you have the information at the right time to work on your project. Do you agree?

Information management is fully connected to increase productivity and efficiency. These are the three key points. The critical factor when it comes to improving productivity is to have quality and precise inputs to produce models and drawings.

Without quality inputs, there is a risk that you have to redo work, which will reduce the overall productivity. Quality inputs for digital production will allow you to be more efficient in Revit and become a team player that meets every single deadline. I will explore more about quality information in the next part of this presentation.

Now let's talk about information management. When talking about information management, we need to describe the key points for high-quality information. The information management process with high-quality information is the key points to improve productivity and efficiency in Revit. Let's see these key points.

First we start with accuracy-- verifiable source. Completeness is the ability to effectively deliver all the required values. Consistency is correct format and without duplication or conflict.

Also, right time, so the information is available when it's required We have also relevance, the information fits for purpose. This clarity enables users to perceive the information.

And the final is the correct level of detail, so you have the correct requirements for the desired outcome. So these points define what is high-quality information. That is our goal to use on projects.

Now let's see why high-quality information is important for us. Well, we use the information to make decisions and develop the projects. High-quality information helps us to plan the strategies and objectives. The data can be quickly analyzed. Also, it contributes to reducing risks and costs on projects.

In blue, as you can see in the slide, I have highlighted two main points that are important for this presentation. It's the way to increase the efficiency and productivity and identify project dependencies. We speak about these two points during the presentation.

Once we have high-quality information, we need to talk about the process of information management. Each company has a specific way of information management, but the ISO standards, which is our international standards, provides guidance as you can see in the diagram. Firstly, we start with the 9001, which is the standard for organizational management.

There is also the ISO 55000. It's for asset management. We have the ISO 21500. It's for project management.

And finally, we have the ISO 19650 for information management in BIM projects. You can use it as guidance from the delivery phase to the operational phase, as you can see in the green arrow. So it starts from the delivery phase to the operational phase.

And if you have high-quality information between the delivery phase to the operational phase, your productivity and efficiency will increase for sure. You may have different standards in your company. But if you are working with high-quality information, and you also-- if you have a good process, you are in the correct path.

Now let's talk about team management, which is also important for productivity in BIM projects. Good team managers will provide information at the right time for the users to motivate and perform all their activities. There are multiple ways to manage teams, and I'll talk briefly about decentralized project management.

In decentralized teams, decision-making power is distributed across multiple individuals or teams. The decisions and the project planning will be collaborative, and it will receive advice let's say from the BIM manager about BIM deliverables, time frame to complete a specific activity, and the potential risk to the given information. In the image, you can see the three typical options for decentralized project management. So you have these three options that eventually, you can apply the principles in your organization.

Now let's see the benefits of decentralized planning. The main points for this presentation are highlighted in blue. There are these three points.

Collaborative decisions-- everyone participates in the planning. And the critical path is precisely with multiple dependencies defined there. So these are the three points that we are going to focus on in this presentation.

Also, it's good at defining what is a good plan. So what's a good plan? A good a plan is when it's acceptable to everyone. The team is confident in achieving the milestones. And also, the team in this process receives regular updates that provide fast feedback to avoid delay, so we can change the course of the project to speed it up or avoid delays on specific activities.

In our industry, as we all know, we have multiple specialists from different sectors who can provide a device to create the critical path to deliver the project and the information we need to connect or to add to be models. Each sector specialist needs a set of information to deliver their work. The key point is to increase the productivity in receiving and providing the correct information at the correct time, so having the design authority, management data, visualization, fabrication, manufacturing. So there are different specialists on each sector that can provide information to manage the project.

As you can see, we have many applications in our industry. So we need to guarantee data flow between the applications and the users from different sectors. So we can see how many applications. There are even more than we are displaying now. But there are so many applications, we need to ensure the data flow between all these applications is reliable.

One of the critical points in project management is to identify the project dependencies. [INAUDIBLE], productivity, and the efficiency will increase if you manage well the project dependencies. The main point of this presentation is to find project dependencies to perform tasks in Revit, and avoiding wasting time re-doing work.

Why do we need project dependencies? Well, it helps to lay out the sequence of tasks. It helps to define the critical path, identify the necessary resources to complete the task. And you'll also identify any action, any opportunity to accelerate the project tasks. So then if you know the project dependencies, you can see a rating in specific points to avoid delay.

Project dependencies help to gain productivity, and is fully linked to Revit tasks. And a simple example is to have the survey model before starting the modeling process. It makes sense, but sometimes the project starts without the survey.

And even later stages, the teams carry on working without the survey. And then of course, this can generate delays in the project. So then it's very important to identify the project dependencies and try to push for the information to come at the right time for users to model and [INAUDIBLE] and avoid wasting time.

Now do you know this children's book? Maybe you have provided it to kids or have read this book. Well, in this book, you need to find Wally or Waldo in a very crowded image. Where's Wally is from the UK and some countries, and there is also Where's Waldo from the US.

Do you know this book? Well, my daughters are very good in searching and finding Wally. But you find a Wally too easily. We're getting older, and don't have the practice to find Wally.

So now probably you'll be asking, what's the connection to this presentation? What do you think? Well, the key point is the searching process that we can all develop not for Wally, but for project dependencies. We can search for project dependencies to gain productivity in Revit.

In the image on the right, how many potential project dependencies can you find? You can check the tall building with the glass and the blue facade. So how many dependencies can you image in this building you could point out. Well, maybe it is the glass facade position or the drainage system for the trees. There are many options.

In this example, we can gain productivity in Revit by waiting to receive the slab edge position before refining the panel size. So the main point is to gain productivity in Revit based on a sequential order of activities. So firstly, it is to wait to receive the slab edge.

And then, after that you will find the panels. So this, we avoid wasting time by refining the panel before receiving quality information about the slab edge. So this is a quick example, but it gives the idea of just the importance about the project dependencies.

When we're working or planning tasks in Revit, you need to keep in mind the process of finding dependencies to gain productivity. Here, you can see typical dependencies. But there are many others. This could be the delay in receiving the building survey, the delay to receiving BIM models and model updates.

And this probably you have an expensive project, you are waiting for maybe a structure or in updates, or maybe architecture updates. And then you need to hold it until you develop your model. When you receive it, maybe it's too late to update or you need to redo part of your design.

There is also asset management requirements that maybe is not set up to the project, a numbering system that's not defined-- all things that is very easy to do. Incomplete data requirements, model coordinates not defined, multiple dependencies on the daily activities. So during the process of working in Revit, you can identify all the users on the project and identify all these small dependencies that they need to pool information to be more efficient in Revit. So they're key points to highlight the importance to find the dependencies when working with Revit.

In the UK, we use a document called Master Information Delivery Plan-- MIDP, to list show the deliverables, including drawings, models, reports, and other documents. [INAUDIBLE] it's similar to a drawing register, but with more documents. You can see that there is a column to track the dependencies to deliver the milestone.

On the right, you can see highlighted in red a column that we can track the dependence based on the milestones. If we have a dependency that represents our risk, or becomes a risk during the project, we can complete the risk and dependencies summary. This document helps to inform the client and task team about risk and dependencies on the deliverables.

Well, to work to your productivity and efficiency in Revit, you need to ensure these four factors are aligned. First is good information management, the software and the process, training check the Revit dependencies, and ensure the hardware infrastructures are correct. So this is the way to increase your productivity to the next level, with these four parts aligned.

Let's check out the action plan to increase your productivity in Revit. First, you need to define the BIM used and deliverables. Allow centralized the planning and collaboration decisions. Research for quality information.

Use good information management processes. List Revit tasks and dependencies to reach your objectives. Resolve the project dependencies before refining the model. Prioritize decision tasks in conjunction with project deadlines, and measure and evaluate the progress. So this is the action plan that you can apply in your company.

Let's look at five examples to improve productivity in Revit. The most important part in this concept is how to manage information to avoid the [? re-working. ?] The examples will help to explain the planning process to increase productivity. Let's have a look.

The first example is about setting up a Revit project. A correct setting out can resolve many [? problems ?] that appear during the project. And these are the key points. The first, with a naming convention, very easy to resolve, but not always easy to resolve it in a project. Collaboration standards, survey strategy, model split strategy, level of information needed, BIM use and deliverables.

I have highlighted in blue the naming convention is important to resolve, because not always is it resolved right in the beginning of the project. Do you agree? Have you seen projects with this issue? So managing information to work smarter is an important part of our methodology. And if you combine this with Revit best practices, it can take your productivity to the next level.

Now let's have a look at what's happening or what can happen if you change the project number during the projection. These are the issues. So first, you need time to change the existing PDFs, update models and drawings. It is going to affect the document controller, and there is potential data loss continuity in the CDE. If you redefine the naming convention at the beginning of the project, it can save so much time and things to do.

Another example is what about when we have multiple applications? So we don't want to move files manually to the correct position. So when we work with multiple applications, it is important to have the model aligned to the same coordinate system, so we don't keep it moving.

So we need the project origin and the coordinates for multiple softwares defined at the beginning of the project. So if you're working in partly in AutoCAD for some reason, then Rhino, ArCADia, or Revit, all the applications are important to set up in a single region. So we can import, and we load the models without problems.

Changing the numbering system in the middle of the project is a waste of time, and you can resolve it easily at the beginning of the project. The client needs to approve the rooms, doors, windows numbering system, which also needs to be aligned, if it's possible, with the facility management system to guarantee a continuous flow of data. This process avoids re-working during the project, and it's best to get it right by the first time. It's not overly difficult to find these room numbers, doors, or windows. So then we can define this at the beginning of the project.

Now let's talk about the training versus productivity. We can't increase the productivity without training. And the return on your investment will increase with well-trained staffing. There are multiple options to provide training, which is the main factor for companies to quickly implement Revit on your team.

And you also bring existing users to a good level of productivity. As you can see in the graph, as you provide training, the staff gets more knowledge about the software increasing productivity. And you increase your return on your investment for training, software, and hardware.

We can, again, improve productivity in Revit by using time management principles and prioritize the tasks in Revit. This is a very interesting process, and the Revit tasks can be divided into these four quadrants. First task is you do tasks with immediate priority. Is the plan frequently worth doing?

Consider-- these are the tasks that may be worth doing. And drop, avoid wasting time. You can divide these tasks. But it's important to keep in mind using the process of working with quality information, and you also check for project dependencies.

Now, it's a simple example. But let's see how we can use the quadrant in a door schedule that you can produce in Revit. As I said, it's just a simple example, but it gives the idea how to manage the tasks.

So in do, maybe you find a door numbering approval by the client, list the fire door rating, parameters to be added here to the door schedule, and check the structural opening. So then you move into plan, maybe checking the door frame sizing, and check the Family and Type names. This is the option to consider checking the door materials and the door tolerances.

And then there is a part of the low impact that you should drop. There's a selection of ironmongery set in the wrong stage. So I'm going to select the ironmongery set in very early stage. And you also maybe check the door gap between the panels. So this is just a simple example, but the key point's to prioritize the Revit tasks to gain productivity.

Now I'm going to ask you, how good is your time management to prioritize tasks and avoid the real work? So think about how you are doing this process. We all have different ways of working, but it's clear that good information management and time management is going to increase your productivity and efficiency.

Great, so let's talk about the software training and processes. These are the strategic objectives for the training scheme. Firstly, you need to access the staff knowledge. You need to identify the current training process. And if you have something in place, find the training issues or problems.

Define the training budget. Identify the experts in-house, because they're going to support the teams. Establish a process to measure the progress. And identify the current resources-- training rooms, training material, and Revit template. To manage and create your company training scheme, you can take these strategic points and develop into actions.

A strange problem across many countries is to bring in, actually, people to attend the training. Do you agree? It's not so easy to take people from projects to attend training. Sometimes they are too busy to attend training or they don't see the specific value on the training itself. But for sure, without training, we are not able to increase the productivity.

I believe that most of companies have similar processes to customize training based on roles or functions. So each role receives the suitable training. Currently, the industry has a trend of increasing the value of information management, which improves productivity and opens our industry for better collaboration between multiple sectors, including clients, lawyers, FM teams, and manufacturers. We need to increase the knowledge of information management.

And here, I have highlighted in blue additional training that should be useful for staffing. It's the basic training for project management and information management. I believe with these processes in place, they can see a different way to manage information, which leads to have more, let's say, productivity processes to one day facing information to manage and provide information to users or part of the team to gain productivity in products.

The concept of BIM is evolving, and is getting more and more connected information management. Project management and information management runs side by side. And you need more training about it across the whole team.

Now I'm going to ask you, how fast and efficient will be this team if each member has a basic training of project management and information management? What do you think? I feel this team will fly.

They will manage the information and the tasks more efficiently. They will work with reliable information, and they will achieve the objectives quicker. So the key point is to train the staff to manage information in a better way, which you need to be more efficient

Now I'm going to ask you, is BIM the new silo, if you take in consideration BIM, clients, lawyers, FM teams, and manufacturers? What do you think about it? Is the information connected between these sectors?

What do you think? Well, in my view, BIM is not a silo yet, but we need to do more to improve and ensure reliable information about these sectors. It's the way to improve information management processes and it is your guarantee or improves the data-- how the data flows between these teams.

Information management will help in collaboration and the data flow between these and other sectors. And the key message is that you need to do more to improve information management processes, and further training is required. Once we have better information management processes, we may produce structured information that can be used for digital twins, IoT, machine learning, robotics, AI for design, construction, and manufacturing. We need to increase the value of quality information with a stronger information management process. This will also bring the whole industry and new partners to a different level.

Information management will help with the collaboration that flows between these and other sectors. So that's right. We can just-- very good. Says here.

Casey and Fiona have published a paper from the UK framework, and these are the key points. The focus is on information management. Not all sectors understand that BIM is not only 3D modeling, and you need to engage with more parts of the industry. Information management promotes connections with other digital initiatives, like digital twinning, IoT, and others.

Good information management will result in structured data. And at the end of the day, we are all information managers. So let's get better on it.

We can see a clear message from the industry to focus on information management, where we will change after providing training for more information management and project management, which brings the team to see and manage information in a different way. And as you can see, in the slide, there is the link for the website. If you want to see the full paper, just follow the link.

We can't keep productivity at the correct level without the suitable hardware infrastructure. So now let's talk about it. These are the key points defining Revit workstations. First, you need to decide if you need a laptop, a desktop, or a VDI system. After that, you need to select the fast processor, the best graphics card, computer memory, or RAM, and the fast hard drive.

Revit to works made in a single processor, so we need the fastest single core. There are a few other activities that is multi-core, such as printing but which is mainly a single-processor software. In this case, we need to select the processor that has the maximum speed in a single core.

For this, you need to check the maximum frequency per core. The Intel processor is usually the maximum turbo frequency, as you can see from the image. The information is not so easy to find, so you need to have your processor type and check online in the Intel website to find the maximum turbo frequency.

You can see that maybe you buy a laptop with 3.7 gigahertz. But in reality, the maximum is 4.5. And then if you compare with different laptops, maybe both have 3.7. But the maximum can go to a different level.

Graphic cards is another important factor for Revit performance. The RTX technology improves real-time ray tracing, and its best technology used within [? scape ?] between motion and [INAUDIBLE]. You can use the website userbenchmark.com to compare the graphics cards and choose the best type for you, and compare with the cost-benefits. The graphic card should have at least 4 gigabytes of dedicated memory RAM.

Well, the computer memory and the solid-state hard drives complete the package to have the best workstation for Revit. I would recommend 64 gigabytes for memory or RAM if you work every day with Revit, and also larger projects. It is a good reminder to restart the PC from time to time.

Sometimes, they leave the PC on for many days, which can reduce the performance. And the most frequent problem you can see is the lack of hard drive space after installing multiple softwares. So in these days, you need to install so many versions and software and plug-ins Revit needs at least 30 gigabytes free in the hard drive to perform well, and you open larger models.

Let's check what we have learned in this presentation. You have learned the following points-- quality information is essential in increasing productivity in Revit and the definition of equality information. We also learned the importance of project dependencies to create a critical path to model Revit.

Use Time Management in Revit, with do, plan, consider, and drop. Provide the project and information management training to increase productivity and efficiency on your teams. And final is the four key elements to rocket your productivity in Revit, which is good information management with the right information at the right time, Revit task dependencies, software and process training, and hardware and infrastructure.

Thank you for attending this presentation. And please share and recommend this class to your colleagues if you like. These are my contact details if you want to contact me at any point. Thank you.