Manage Your Communication
When working on projects within your office or across the world in multiple offices, communication is key. In the drafting board days, people would hold more meetings reviewing plans, discussing next steps, producing redlines, etc. The drafting board forced communication between the team members. The digital days of today offer far more tools to facilitate collaboration, but the communication breakdown is a real issue. This article covers a basic technique to leverage a “splash” page to better communicate across your team at the model level and at the project level. This is just one of many ways to approach the topic of communication.
Setting Up Your Splash Page
When setting up your splash page you need a way to communicate within your structural model with others accessing the same Central file. You also need a way to communicate across all discipline models for the project. The first step shown in Figure 1 is to set up a new communication model. The only thing required in this model is a floor plan that will be used to enter notes you wish to share with the entire project team. This model will be linked into all the models used on the project. I recommend that once you establish this view/model you purge the file to keep it as lightweight as possible. My file shown here is 1mb.
Figure 1: Project notes in communication model
Figure 2 shows an example of a project splash page. The left-hand side contains an area to place notes that will be visible to others working on the same structural central file. The right-hand side is the linked-in communication model, which will contain notes pertaining to the project.
Figure 2: Project splash page
Settings
In my example I use a sheet as my starting view. This way every time someone goes into their local copy this splash screen is the first thing they see. Very quickly a team member can have a snapshot of anything going on in the project that may be urgent. To make this all come together I have done a few things.
- Created a plan view called “STARTING VIEW”
- Linked in my communication model to my starting view. Make sure you turn off the visibility of the communication link in all other views. I also recommend placing the communication link on a unique workset that can be turned off in all views as well.
- Place this “STARTING VIEW” onto your splash page sheet. No viewport label is needed so make sure you set that accordingly. You may also want to create a unique category for your sheet so it does not appear grouped with your construction documentation sheets. Also make sure your splash page sheet does not appear in your sheet list. Figure 4 shows these settings.
- Set your starting view to open to this splash screen sheet.
Figure 3: Starting view
Figure 4: Properties of your splash page sheet
Figure 5: Setting your starting view
Keep it Simple
Now you have everything in place to communicate with your team at the model level and the project level. In our firm we have all disciplines under one roof so I make sure the Architectural, Structural, Process, and MEP models all link in the same communication model. This way we all share the same project notes. I would recommend keeping this simple. I have seen splash pages that contain too much information and they are just ignored. At the start of a project kickoff, define the information that will be posted on the splash page. This is essential to place the accountability on the project team. Some ideas could be as follows:
- Have the deliverable schedule with a sign off area for Quality Control
- List tasks completed
- Have an area for Questions / Concerns
- Include project member contact information
No matter what you decide to place on your splash page make sure it is part of your project workflow and there is an accountability factor. Without this in place, great ideas tend to get ignored.
Summary
This is just one method of communication to be applied to your Revit Structure model workflow. Technology these days is moving at a rapid pace and there are too many choices for file storage and project communication. Autodesk is pushing its A360 technology, BIM 360 Docs, BIM 360™ Field, BIM 360™ Glue, Collaborate for Revit, etc. Planning and project execution has never been more critical for the success of a project. And above all, establish a communication workflow on all projects. Team members have to know what their responsibilities are and when, how, and with whom to communicate. Make this clear and simple and you will experience more successful project executions.
