BIM Catalog Development for 90% Faster Submittals

Challenge

We have already realized several projects for this client, and this had to become integrational for a few products we already worked with. It put extra incentive — we wanted to make sure that our client’s customers can use whatever we co-developed before to the fullest. Here is what we had to face in order to achieve it:

Regulatory Compliance in Construction Materials

Construction is a highly regulated field, every material used must meet strict specifications. Professionals involved in construction and repairs need to ensure that all the products are certified accordingly. Any delay in creating submittal packages or problems with confirmation back-and-forth games with regulators mean loss of time and money for real construction or restoration projects.

Efficient Project and Document Management

The traditional process of sourcing documents for each construction material is time-consuming and inefficient. Moreover, professionals often need to manage multiple projects simultaneously, requiring a unified and easy-to-navigate system for document and project management. To get a submittal package right and make all the data in it unified can cost dozens of extra work hours.

Integration and Data Synchronization

A major requirement was the integration of the BIM catalog site with Microsoft Dynamics for real-time data synchronization. This integration was crucial to ensure the catalog’s data accuracy and up-to-dateness, as well as hussle-free database operations for our client.

User Accessibility and Global Reach

Given the global nature of construction projects, it was essential to make the products BIM catalog accessible in different languages (when available) and adaptable to various international standards and certifications. 

Solutions

Our Front- and Back-end engineers developed a comprehensive BIM catalog site that provides detailed information about each construction material. The site includes all necessary certifications and specifications, making it easier for professionals to find and verify the compliance of materials. 

This approach not only streamlines the compliance process but also ensures safety and adherence to industry standards. 

We’ve designed a user-friendly interface allowing users to save various configurations and documents in their profiles, eliminating the need to collect them from scratch each time. The site enables management of multiple projects with an advanced filtration system and thought-out sorting capabilities. 

These features significantly reduce the time and effort required in managing construction projects and related documentation. A user can generate a submittable package consisting of dozens of unified pages for products ranging from glue to brick in minutes. 

Here are some of the key features that make this catalog so efficient:

• Unified product database centralized all relevant certificates and documents for streamlined access;
• Custom package building allows users to select needed certificates on demand instead of combing through everything;
• Multi-format downstream generation enables seamless hand-offs to partners; 
• User cabinet and saved configurations per project reduces redundant setup work;
• Advanced filtering and search simplifies document lookup by type, language, and more. We worked hard on sorting, to make sure no matter how you look for something, should you mention even one characteristic right (name, certificate type, etc.), an in-built search engine gets it right. 
• Optimized algorithms generate full packages in minutes or even seconds instead of hours. It takes just 5-10 seconds to generate a single document or two, and up to 10 minutes to prepare a full submittal package for some grand construction.
• New functionality allows editing already built configurations to alter submissions.
• Multi-lingual support for many products and certifications in catalog supports global construction standardization

Our dedicated Manual QA expert meticulously tested every aspect of the site, from user interface and experience to data integration and synchronization. They conducted thorough tests to ensure compatibility with different web browsers and responsiveness to various screen sizes, crucial for users accessing the site from different devices.

The QA process also involved validating the site’s functionality in terms of document management, project handling, and data filtration. The team performed end-to-end testing of the user journey, ensuring that every feature, from login to document download, worked flawlessly.

By developing an intelligent hub to consolidate, customize, and streamline compliance document preparation, we saved construction firms tremendous manual effort and delays preparing needed submittals.