BIM project and elements

BIM Import – Guide for users of MainManager

Here are the steps described that need to be followed when an import of a BIM model is made from IFC files. It is necessary to check if the file/model is set up in the right way for it to be possible to use it for object creation in MainManager. In this guidance it is assumed that in most cases the objects (both locations and systems) are created from the BIM model, but it is also mentioned what to do if the objects already exist in MainManager. 

The whole BIM process can take place in the <BIM processing> step in the <Building Archive> process. Here below this is divided up to what actions must be made in each sub step. 

Guidelines for Supplier

It is very important that in the early stages of the design process it is clear to the people that are working on the BIM models that they follow defined guidelines that describe how they should build up the BIM model in order to minimize the work needed when using them in FM. The most important point is that the BIM elements are coded with the right format and always using the same attribute for the coding. MainManager therefore has a template for Guidelines that each customer adjusts to their needs and is recommended that they deliver to their suppliers of BIM models.

BIM Projects

Here you have an overview over all BIM projects on the selected site. You can expand each project to see the BIM models it consists of.

Here it is possible to create BIM projects and BIM models under that project from an IFC file. Both project and model can be imported with an action <Register BIM projects and models from IFC files>.

Each IFC file is created as a BIM model in MainManager, each BIM model belongs to a defined BIM Project. That is, a BIM project can consist of several merged BIM models (for example one BIM model for each profession group). The BIM project is always located on a specific site.

The user can select one or more IFC models, decide if each IFC file will be separate project or merged into one project (then the user has to enter project name, otherwise the name of the IFC file is set as project name for each file). The action then creates new BIM project and syncs the BIM models over to the Bimsync server. When the models have been synced over it starts to import the BIM elements from the model and registers them in MainManager. The user can see the status of the import through the status column in the BIM model list. When the import is finished the user that created the model gets an email notification and the status icon turns to green.

If for some reason the action does not import the elements back to MainManager it is possible to import the BIM elements manually afterwards from the models. This is done with a special action from the BIM model called <Import model elements from Bimsync>. 

In the same manner you manually force the IFC file to be synced over to Bimsync with the action <Resend model to Bimsync>

If you want to add one or more models to an existing project, then you can select the project and run the action <Add BIM models to BIM project>

The new models are then added to the project, the IFC files are synced to the Bimsync server and afterwards the BIM elements are imported into MainManager similar to when the <Register BIM projects and models from IFC files> is run (see description above).

If BIM model is deleted it is also removed from the project on the Bimsync server. If a project is deleted it is also removed from the Bimsync server. 

If a new version of an IFC file needs to be imported, it is done by selecting the model and run the action <Update BIM model to new version>. Then a new IFC file is selected and then it is exported as new version of the model to the Bimsync server and finally the BIM elements are imported to MainManager. Details of that action will be described later in this text. 

After this step has been successfully run BIM elements will then be visible in the <BIM elements> sub step of BIM Processing.

The user can locate the BIM project on another site unless one or more of its BIM models has been connected to the MainManager object structure. Then this possibility is locked.

BIM Elements

An overview of the BIM elements that are imported from the BIM models is shown in this sub step. Each element has a lot of attributes describing details on the element. For example, volume, price, product number and so on. One of these attributes contains information on the type (IfcElementType) that can be a system part, equipment, location in building etc. Additionally, for each BIM element, all its different attributes are available through <Show attributes>.

When actual operation objects are created in MainManager they can be linked to one or more BIM elements (in one or many different BIM models). The objects can be created automatically from the BIM elements following some rules, but it is also possible to connect the elements to existing MainManager objects afterwards. How this is done is described below. 

What the user does here:

The user does not need to do anything in this sub step other than to make sure that all the elements from the model have been imported. The user can see elements status, filter and group them, see if new elements have been added/changed after re-import, etc.