Considerations when Implementing Revit

Essentially when firms decide to make the transition to Revit^®, there are many things to consider on the front end. This is not a decision or task to take lightly. Major items to consider include size of the organization, training, project deadlines, the users’ attitude toward change or more importantly their resistance to change and full or partial implementation. Additional issues to consider may include hardware requirements and size of projects.

The size of the organization is important to consider because it involves training requirements, costs of hardware upgrades, and project size. A large organization may choose to train a few key players and use them to slowly implement the software while others can continue with the original way of working thus preventing any possible conflict with project deadlines. Large organizations may want to use these few trained professionals on a smaller project to allow the users to get comfortable and proficient with the software and increase their efficiency and productivity before jumping into a large project.

Smaller organizations may benefit by taking the fast and full implementation approach. It is difficult to free up time with an organization that has few people working on many projects. Initially small organizations may see a slow down because of the limited resources but once implementation is complete, the increase in productivity will be fast and steep.

When implementing Revit many firms will find they need to reconstruct their current workflow. A clear and concise set of guidelines will help make the transition easier. There will be issues any time users are expected to work outside of what they believe to be the norm. Firms that deal with the issue of managing change will have a higher success rate in transitioning to Revit.

Just because the current solution works does not make it the best solution. People have a strong fear of change especially when it comes to something as important as their career or business. A user can subconsciously sabotage an implementation out of fear of change. So, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is calming these fears. Point out that this implementation is not a threat to their position and will in fact enhance and ease their current workload.

The transition from a traditional 2D CAD package to Revit can be a giant undertaking for most firms, but the benefits from this transition far out weigh any obstacles that may be encountered.

3D building information modelers like Revit require better collaboration, coordination and a new way of thinking. The main strengths of using Revit include ease of use, better coordination of documents, automation of tasks, quick and easy presentations, better communication between the design and the build team, and interoperability between traditional 2D and 3D CAD programs.

Revit was created by architects for architects. There is no more trying to visualize in a 2 dimensional world when we all work and live in a 3 dimensional world. The interface is easy to navigate and is simple to operate. It will take some education to learn the product and all it has to offer and the time it takes may initially offset any efficiency and productivity. Once learned the speed and efficiency gained from using such a product will overshadow the time taken to learn Revit. Most users find the learning curve with Revit to be very reasonable considering the power behind it.

There is a better coordination of documents with Revit. Because everything in Revit is built off a common database, information can be extracted easily. Spreadsheets for schedules and quantities can be generated along with fine 3D presentations all from the same common set of information. All aspects of the design are linked with the database so any change whether it is in a floor plan or a schedule is reflected and recorded accurately. Designers gain the confidence of knowing that any information entered will not accidentally be forgotten in one area because everything is linked.

Worksets allow design teams to collaborate and effectively assign portions of the design to members of the design team. With worksets in Revit, users can break up the design in many possible configurations resulting in better collaboration and communication as well as the ability to have multiple members working on the same design.

One great benefit of using a 3D building information modeler is the ability to automate many tasks that in the current 2D packages take more time and effort than they are worth. Take schedules for instance. Schedules in Revit can be created one time and used in a template. As the design grows that schedule is automatically populated. No more manually typing in each bit of information and no mistakes in case the design changes. If a window is added to the floor plan it is automatically added to the schedule. When an engineering change order comes in requiring a change to that window, the schedule is updated automatically.

Users can choose while in Revit to work in a floor plan view that essentially appears as a 2D view or work in a 3D view. Either way the design is generating in both. With Accurender built right inside of Revit, those 3D views can quickly be turned into photorealistic renderings. Images of the design site can be added to the background to show what the design will look like when completed. Virtual walkthroughs, fly-bys and pan files can also be created to convey a more accurate vision. Although these appear to be complex animations, the time and effort it takes to create them is minimal.

The interoperability with Revit does not stop with AutoCAD^®. Revit was not originally designed by Autodesk and held no bias regarding AutoCAD or Microstation^®. Revit works seamlessly with both 2D packages. Revit offers the ability to import or export to both AutoCAD and Microstation. Whether the firm is an AutoCAD or Microstation firm makes no difference in the transition to Revit.

With the increased productivity that comes with implementing a product such as Revit, design firms will find their projects finishing faster and with less work. Other members of the design team can be freed up to work on additional projects, thus resulting in increased revenue.