Document Controller Bridges 2D and 3D Projects

How many hours have you peered over the light table looking for changes in drawing sets? Or, more importantly, how much did the change that you missed cost the project in terms of time and money? How can you concentrate on prioritizing the changes to the drawing sets when you can’t even locate the change amidst the piles of drawings? And when changes are being submitted fast and furiously at the eleventh hour, how can you and your team keep track and properly assign RFIs?

 

This problem further compounds itself when we introduce 3D models to the project. How do you know what elements have been modeled and to what accuracy? How can you tell what has changed in the model and if that has been included in the drawing set? Furthermore, if the change is significant enough, how do you get the estimating and scheduling teams involved?

 

Most of our customers are feeling the pain of today’s construction projects hovering in two worlds: 2D drawings which are contractually binding and 3D models which help us build better, faster, and less expensive buildings. So how can we change our process and/or technology to manage the 2D/3D hybrid world we live in?

 

Meet Document Controller. This new module in the Vico Office workflow:

•  Allows you bring in and manage multiple pdf drawings and 3D models;
•  Allows you to organize your 2D drawings and 3D models into a structured project registry. This provides automatic mapping and quick comparison between large drawing sets and models. With this “one version of the truth” teams can quickly identify which drawings have changed, and then investigate;
•  Makes sure that everyone on the project team is working on the latest and greatest drawings and models;
•  Automatically locates which specific drawings and 3D models have changed from one version to the next in minutes. A color coded table in the dashboard view will show you a list of models, documents, their version, and their changes so you can focus on just the items which have changed;
•  Allows you to compare the changes in both 2D and 3D in two modes:
  •  Highlight mode with color coding: presents the two overlay drawings or models using different colors to identify the new and old geometry;
  • Slider mode: drag a slider bar across the screen to reveal each of the two overlay drawings or models;
•  Allows you to track changes. The identified changes can be clouded and issues generated. These clouds and issues are automatically transferred to any new versions so teams can’t lose track of any changes. And historical data for changes can be easily retrieved. Each Issue can be give a priority, status, snapshots, notes, and even be part of a collaborative report which allows the users to track dialogue from each meeting to resolve issues.
• 

Insert reference planes into the 3D model both vertically and horizontally. The 2D drawings slide into the model on these reference planes to compare the differences between 2D and 3D information.

 

 

Vico Office Document Controller lets you:

•  Automate the task of scouring documents for changes, clouds, and notes;
•  Automate the task of pouring over 3D models for updates;
•  Be more thorough with document and model checking. Since Document Controller catches everything, your output is more complete Comparison Reports;
•  Track the identified changes as issues and delegate/assign the responsibilities to resolve them;
•  Speed the project by putting everyone on the same page with the current drawing sets and current models instead of wasting time searching three different FTP servers;
•  Find that one elusive change that always get through.

 

What makes Vico Office Document Controller unique in the construction industry is the ability to compare the coordinated 3D models with the 2D contract documents. Users can slide in drawings onto reference planes in the 3D model and compare what has been drawn to what has been modeled. Finally, there is no longer a disconnect between the 5D BIM Workflow and the contract.

 

Vico Office Document Controller is an indispensable addition to the 5D Workflow. Not only does it allow you the peace of mind knowing that all drawings and models have been checked, all changes have been noted, and estimates and schedules revised, but you can also match up the coordinated models to the contract documents before kicking off prefab efforts.

 

To help you and your team learn more about Document Controller within the Vico Office 5D workflow, we’ve put together these resources:

 

Webinar: Watch the debut of Document Controller on Fridays with Trimble

Web Page: The market impetus behind Document Controller

Blog: With Document Controller There Are No Surprises

FAQs: Read through frequently-asked questions about Document Controller

 
 

2D-3D Change Management

The construction industry is in the middle of a sea change. Many firms are adopting BIM for Construction, but the official contract documents are still executed in 2D. In many ways, general contractors are asked to run parallel efforts: one to keep the 2D documents in order and one to keep the 3D models in order, but there are not enough hours in the day to manually inspect drawing sets and model versions for changes, and certainly no way to compare the 2D with the 3D.

 

Until now. 

 

Vico Office Document Controller allows GCs to do three very cool things: (1) compare 2D drawing sets to find changes between the versions; (2) compare 3D model versions to each other to locate changes; and (3) compare the contract documents to the coordinated 3D models. Now what used to be a parallel effort can be incorporated into the Vico Office 5D Workflow. Now design managers, document managers, BIM managers, and field engineers have the program they need to reduce project risk by locating changes very early in the process.

 

How much does finding a change in preconstruction save you versus finding it out in the field?

 

Vico Office Document Controller is a very powerful, and unprecedented, 2D/3D change management solution. Unprecedented because it handles changes in documents, models, and allows users to compare the 2D drawings with the 3D model before work is sent out for prefabrication. And one more item to note, it allows the 3D model to be compared with the 2D contract document which bridges the gap between the paper and model worlds.

 

The comparison of drawings is accomplished with a very easy-to-use color-coded system: green means no changes were detected; red means that changes were detected. Now the user can pinpoint those changes by placing the two document versions on top of each other and using the slider bar to reveal the changes. Another method is the highlight mode which reveals changes much like a light table. Once located, the changes can be clouded and annotated and logged in the Vico Office Issue Manager. These issues can now be routed for discussion, or even to estimators or modelers to consider the impact of changes.

 

In just the same way, users can also compare 3D model versions. Again, with either the slider bar or highlight mode, new elements, deleted elements, and changed elements can be revealed. These, too, can be clouded, annotated, and routed to the correct teammates. And with a right-mouse-click, new model versions can be activated for quantity takeoff. And if you know Vico Office, those new quantities ripple through the schedule and cost plan and update each.

 

 

Learn more about Vico Office Document Controller with these links:

Product: Vico Office Document Manager

FAQs: Read frequently-asked questions about Document Controller

Webinar: Introducing Vico Office Document Controller

Blog: Vico Office Document Controller Means No Surprises.
       

You have received this email because of your interest in Virtual Construction and BIM initiatives. For more information on Vico Software, 5D BIM service offerings, or the AGC BIMForum, please visit the Vico Software website or contact Holly Allison directly at +1-978-882-0170 x118.