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4-Ways-BIM-Managers-Can-Harness-the-Power-of-HIVE

Are you a BIM Manager or in charge of BIM management for your organization? If you’re looking for a better solution to store, manage and control your BIM content, HIVE provides several solutions for finding and organizing not only BIM content but all file types across your organization. 

Harnessing the Power of HIVE

HIVE can not only be used as a cloud-based tool to store families but it can also be used by BIM Managers to ensure everyone has easy access to the files they need and is using the most uptodate standards. Searching for these files within HIVE is a streamlined process that will save your company time and money. 

Using HIVE to store template content

Did you know that HIVE can be used to store information typically stored in your template? By utilizing HIVE to store your template elements, you can have a simple template file for your organization where users can pull in only the items needed for each project. Elements that can be stored in HIVE include Schedules, Line Styles, Sheets, Drafting Views, System Families, View Templates and more.

To do this, first, create a new template library and then ensure the library is selected before adding any elements. Next, simply open the Revit file with the elements you want to bring into HIVE. Then open HIVE and select Add Content > Add Revit Project Elements.  

Add template content to HIVE

Add Content and Add Revit Project Elements buttons within HIVE

HIVE will then scan through the Revit model and let you select which items you bring into HIVE. By using HIVE to store template content, users can pull only the items they need into their projects, avoiding large file sizes and the need to purge the Revit file of unnecessary elements. Within HIVE you can also set up libraries to help organize your content. If you currently have different templates for different kinds of projects, you can set up libraries to reflect those template types. You can also set up libraries based on discipline, manufacturer content or even client-specific content.

Setting up libraries to organize client-specific content

HIVE makes it easy to create different libraries for use within your organization as well as separate libraries for client-specific content. Because HIVE can store any file type, this is not just limited to Revit elements. You can also store cut sheets, client logos, go-by sets or any information the client has provided to you.

To create a library, you can either open the HIVE application, go to Add Content > Create Library or go directly to the CTC website. Once your library is created, you can add Revit content (as described above) as well as add any additional file types your client has provided to you using the Add Files or Add Folder commands. This way you will have one location where all your client-specific information is stored and, as you will see below, you can even set up permissions for accessing files.

HIVE also allows the option to not have specific library content uploaded to the cloud. This allows your organization to store client-specific files within HIVE, but with the added security of not being uploaded into the cloud while remaining searchable and useable by your organization.

Using permissions to control library access

Once your libraries are set up, you can control the permissions by username or group type. By default, all users will be in the Everyone group, but you can create additional groups for Architectural, Structural, MEP, etc. to select which users have access to which libraries. You can also choose which level of access each user has within the library.

There are three levels of access: Consumer, Contributor, and Manager. Consumer means they can access and use the files. A Contributor can do everything a Consumer can as well as rate and comment on files within HIVE that the HIVE Admin can view and make any adjustments as necessary. A Manager can be used for your more advanced users who may need access to control a specific library or libraries but not have full Admin permissions.  You can control the access level of each library separately as well. So a user may have Consumer level access to one library and Manager access to another one.

set up library permissions

Setting up library permissions

Being able to individually control the level of access each user has within the libraries ensures they can access exactly what they need, which streamlines the search process and saves time and money within your organization.

Additional HIVE Management Tools

On the HIVE dashboard within the CTC website, there is a lot of data the HIVE Admin can collect to ensure that HIVE is being used efficiently. From here, you can view search statistics such as total searches, searches with zero results, search-to-drop ratio along with many other statistics. These statistics will allow you to see how useful the content inside of HIVE is for your organization and what categories you may need to add to.

You can also view the most used families, including the number of uses as well as unused families, to help you determine if there are any files your company no longer needs. Viewing and using these statistics ensures you not only have the content your staff needs but that the content is tagged appropriately and easy to find. Best of all, utilizing the HIVE dashboard on the CTC website can be done from any computer, phone, or tablet as long as you have an internet connection.

Conclusion

HIVE is a very powerful tool that enables easy access to not just Revit files, but any files that your team may need. From Revit files to company standards and client documents, it’s all at their fingertips using the quick and easy search function within HIVE. Manually searching through network folders hoping to find the correct file is a thing of the past.

Stephen-Beveridge

Kerry Sanders

AEC Technical Specialist

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