One of our favorite types of emails to get from customers starts like this… “Is it possible to do [XYZ] with this app?” Sometimes the answer is a straightforward yes or no, but others rev our creative engines! This post covers one such question that has popped up in our inbox a few times over the last year: Is it possible to quantify Wall Materials, the individual layers of Revit Walls, in a Power BI report with Tracer for Revit?
It sure is.
Here are the steps you can take to create your own version of this report. Select the example images to open an enlarged view, if desired.
Free Resources
- Open our published interactive report in your browser for a closer look!
- Download the files used to create this example.
- Start using Tracer for Revit with our free 15-day Trial.
Part 1: Start with a Power BI report
Start with a Power BI report that contains your Revit data, ensuring that it includes Wall data and geometry for this exercise.
Tip: Use our Tracer for Revit templates! You can also use the sample files provided above as a starting point, replacing the File Path parameter with your .db’s file path.
Related videos: Getting Started with Tracer for Revit
Part 2: Create a Wall Materials Schedule
1.Create a Material Takeoff Schedule in Revit, selecting “Walls” as the category.
2. Choose any fields you would like to have in your report, including “Type”, “Material: Area”, “Material: Name”, “Material:Cost” and “IfcGUID” for this example.
The IfcGUID field will be used to connect this data to the Revit data you harvested with Tracer.
The resulting schedule should be similar to this example.
3. Begin exporting the schedule by navigating to File > Reports > Schedule.
4. Select the options for your Schedule and Export to a CSV. For proper formatting, do not include the title. If any of your Schedule values include a comma — for example, as part of a Material name — change the Field delimiter to a unique character. In this example, a vertical bar (|) is used.
Part 3: Import your Wall Materials CSV to Power BI
In your Power BI menu, select “Get Data” and choose the option for a CSV file. Verify the table format, and then select “Load”.
Part 4: Create a Relationship between your CSV and Revit .db
Connect the “IFCGuid” fields in your ElementParameterText and CSV tables, and set the direction of the relationship to “both”.
Related video: Power BI Relationships and Data Transformations
Part 5: Customize your Report
Verify the report is functioning as expected, and add visuals that communicate your Material data.
You made it to the end! Thanks for following along. Have questions? Reach out to our team at apps@provingground.io.