Dashboards and reporting

BIM dashboard: reporting drawn from IFC models

A BIM dashboard is a report built on the data in IFC models, not on spreadsheets filled in by hand. It reads what the delivered files contain: objects, their properties, their quantities and their classifications. When BIM requirements are attached, it adds property set completeness and a compliance score.

It serves quality leads and project managers first. They have to report on the state of a model without opening every file in a viewer, and without copying figures from one tool to another. The report starts from the file.

Two uses meet here. The ready-to-read report, in Power BI or HTML, shows where the delivery stands. The raw export, as CSV or JSON, is for people who prefer to run their own calculations in Excel, in Power BI or in another analysis tool.

Power BI or HTML: dashboards in SeveUp App

The "Create a dashboard" task assembles a report from the models of one or more folders, the BIM requirements and, when the report template asks for it, an external table such as an Excel workbook. Two formats come out of the wizard. A Power BI template arrives as a .pbit file, to open in Power BI Desktop; the Microsoft documentation on report templates explains this format. An HTML dashboard is already connected to your data.

Report templates are managed in the "Reports" library, with the "New template" button and two types: "Power BI (.pbit)" or "HTML report (.html)". An HTML file is checked before import. Organisation-level templates show up there automatically, which saves uploading the same template again from one project to the next. The templates on offer vary by plan.

At the "Templates" step, nothing is required. With no choice, the wizard produces the "BIM compliance" dashboard in HTML or a "Blank" Power BI template, depending on the "Output format" picked in the review. Several checked templates give a ZIP, which mixes Power BI and HTML when their types differ.

For a Power BI output, the "Editable project (PBIP)" box delivers text files to edit in Power BI Desktop and version with git, following the Power BI project format described by Microsoft. The project does not contain your access key. It reads data through a link limited to this report, and that link can be revoked. On the HTML side, with a single template and a single folder, "Create and open" shows the report in the folder, then "Share online" creates a public link copied to the clipboard.

Download model data as CSV or JSON

The "Download the data" task extracts tables from a selection of models. The zip is built server-side, then you get a download link valid until the date shown. The export covers the latest revision of each model.

Eighteen tables are on offer: sixteen tables extracted from the IFC file and two IDS validity tables. By default, the "Common tables" are checked, meaning "Objects", "Properties", "Quantities" and "Classifications". The "All tables" button adds the rest, from "Object types" to "Space boundaries" by way of "Materials" and "Relations".

In CSV, the separator is a pipe and every value is quoted: this is the same data as the data served to the dashboard. In JSON, each table becomes an array of objects. The "Grouped" option puts all models in one file per table, with a RevisionId column, while "One folder per model" keeps each model's tables apart.

The "IDS validity by model" and "IDS validity by entity" tables only exist in CSV. They stay unchecked by default. They assume an IDS already attached and scored, which is not guaranteed for every model in a selection, and the export flags them as not applicable when no IDS control is attached.

Create a BIM dashboard step by step

The help guide create a dashboard shows every screen; here is the sequence from the tasks page.

1. Open "Tasks", then, in the "Data" section, the "Create a dashboard" card.
2. At the "Folders" step, pick at least one folder: "Next" stays disabled without one. At the "BIM models" step, check the models to include.
3. At the "BIM requirements" step, keep the sets to evaluate. Organisation requirements that are not attached to the folder arrive unchecked.
4. At the "Templates" step, pick one of your organisation's templates or one from the "SeveUp catalogue", or leave it empty. The "External table" step only opens when the template reads an external table.
5. In the "Review", check the report name and the announced output, then click "Create", or "Create and open" for an HTML report on a single folder.

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Common mistakes in BIM reporting

The most frequent one is generating a report without any BIM requirement. The dashboard then has neither Pset completeness nor a compliance score, only the model data. The wizard says so, and for a template that reads requirements it asks you to check "Create anyway, without BIM requirements". If no IDS exists yet, import one into the "BIM requirements" library before running it again.

Organisation requirements also catch people out. They arrive unchecked, because they are often meant for another project, and an unchecked set produces no score section. In the catalogue, templates listed under "Other templates (missing data)" expect data the space does not have yet.

The external table needs a Data-type document in the selected folders. Without one, the wizard asks you to upload a workbook from the folder's Documents tab first. A workbook whose contract differs from the one the template expects feeds no data into the dashboard; the wizard flags it without blocking generation.

On the export side, read the status. "Partial" means a table is missing: the zip holds a .ERROR.txt file in its place. "Failed" and "Expired" call for a "New export". Beyond the maximum number of models per export, which the wizard shows along with how many to remove, you need to trim the selection or run several exports.

Going further

The guides create a dashboard and download model data walk through every screen. The compliance score depends on requirements: the BIM requirements and IDS topic explains how to write them, and the guide check BIM requirements with IDS how to attach them. For the health of the files before any report, see IFC model quality audit; to organise models and folders, BIM project organization.