Cross tables

In the main menu, located under Overviews, you can find the cross tables feature.

Cross-tables are tabular overviews of the requirements in BriefBuilder. These kinds of tables tend be very useful because they provide overview and because they can be edited in an Excel-like way.

In this article, we’ll explain all the ins and outs of cross tables. Would you rather just have a quick into? Then watch the video below.

Creating a cross table

On the cross table’s selection page, you can do two things:

Select a predefined table definition (made by you or another project participant);
Create a new cross table.

In this article, we’ll focus on how to create a new table definition for a cross table, explaining all the possible selections.

If you want to know more about how you can save table definitions for later usage, read this article.

Creating a table definition

To create your own table definition, you have to click on the button New .

When creating a new table, you get to see various selection possibilities for both the table’s rows (the y-axis) and columns (the x-axis):

For the rows, you can select a tree, a tree part, or a combination of trees. These are objects of which you want to see their requirements.
For the table’s columns, you can select what you want to see per object, i.e. standard properties, relations with other objects, descriptions, labels, and/or files that have been uploaded for an object.

TIP: you can also create a new table definition on the basis of an existing one. In that case, you do the following:

(1) Select the table definition you want to use as a basis
(2) Click on Definition to see the table’s set-up
(3) Make the desired modifications to the table’s selections.
(4) Click on Save and select Save selections as new table definition.

Selecting the table’s rows

For the cross table’s rows, you first have to select the tree for which you wish to see the requirements.

Optionally, you can use the Select tree part button to limit your selection to a specific object or group of objects (e.g. only electrotechnical objects or only particular locations in your project).

Please note that some tables may be heavy on data and therefore slow to lead. Selecting only a particular part of a tree will certainly help!

Also note that if you are using object labels and typicals in your model, you can use these as selections to narrow down your selection.

Use Label filter (if your tree has labels) and ‘Instance of ‘(if you are working with Typicals) as additional selections for your table

Selecting the table’s columns

The next step is to decide what type of requirements you wish to see as columns. Most often, you will want to see standard properties and/or relations to other objects.

Standard properties

For the standard properties, you can either select individual standard properties or entire property tables. The latter can be done by using the icon.

Select what you want to see from the standard property tables available for the tree you picked

Simple example of a ventilation table, showing a building’s spaces and the required ventilation rates. The selections for this table are: the tree Spaces & locations (for the rows) and the standard property Ventilation rate (for the columns).

This is the selection that you have to use if you want to see the relations between the objects in the chosen tree and the objects in another tree.

For example, if you have chosen Spaces & locations tree for the rows, you may want to select the Systems & elements for the columns to see which elements are placed in which spaces.

Select which tree you want to see the relations of with the tree you choose in Step 1

Simple example of an table showing the required number of power outlets per space. The selections for this table are: the tree Spaces & locations (for the rows) and the treepart (in this case a single object) Power outlet for the columns.

Advanced options

Under advanced options, you will find a couple of extra options for your cross tables. We’ll explain them below.

Combine two trees for the y-axis

Combining two trees on the y-axis may sound complex, but it can be very practical. It can, for example, be useful to show both the spaces and the user equipment that has to be placed in those spaces as rows. See example below.

Here, we can see what user equipment (chosen as the combined tree(part) for this table) is placed in a room (chosen as the combined tree), as well as how many power outlets (chosen as the related objects) are placed in that same room

To create this overview, you have to select Spaces & locations as your main tree and User equipment as the Combined tree(part). See below.

Additionally, you choose to show the properties of the objects of the combined tree. This option can be found under the header columns, called Standard properties combined tree(part).

You can add those too, if that is what you want to have in your table.

Note: the requirements for the combined tree will only be visible, not editable. Their prime purpose is to provide useful context for the rest of your cross table.

Include descriptions

When you want to have the objects’ descriptions as column in your table, you just have to check the Descriptions box under the header Columns.

Note: unlike the other columns, you will not be able to edit the descriptions in the cross table.

Include labels

To include the objects’ labels as column, you must check the Labels box under the header Columns.

Include uploads

To get an overview of all the uploads per object, tick the Upload box.

Note: the Upload column is just an overview: you will not be able to upload or delete files there.

Saving your table definitions

Once you have defined your table set-up, you can save it for later use. For this, you have to click on the button Save table settings.

Depending on your role and its permissions, you choose to save the table definition for your own use or for it to be accessible for all the model’s users.

For the latter you have to check the box Visible for all users of this model.

More explanation about table definitions can be found here.

Please note: you probably don’t want everybody to be able to save their table definitions as ‘visible for all users’ because then you would get a very long list of saved table definitions.

Therefore, the ability to save table definitions for general use is a dedicated permission. By default, it is assigned to the role requirements manager and verification manager. If others need this permission as well, this can be arranged via the roles menu (Settings > Model > Roles)

Table legenda

The cross table users color to indicate whether there is a relation or a property value present. The color coding is as such:

Grey: cells where a relation or property value is not possible/not allowed
White: cells that are empty, but where you can enter a relation or a property value
Blue: cells where there is a relation or a property value present
Green: cells where there is a relation or property value present inherited specifically from a typical object

A good example of grey cells as seen in the image above is the GFA/UFA factor (third column from the left). This factor can only be defined at the level of a building or group of spaces. So, for the spaces, all these cells that are grey.

You can also see green cells in the image, indicating that the open workstation has inherited two values (usable floor area and security zone) from the typical object it is connected to.

Editing in the table

Cells can be edited in the following ways:

Typing in a value (quantity/distance in case of relations)
Deleting a value (quantity/distance in case of relations)
Double clicking on a cell (relations only: it creates a relation, without a quantity/distance)
Clicking on your delete button when having a cell selected

TIP: for quick navigation in the table, click on ENTER in one cell and you will move to the cell below. When clicking on TAB, you move to the cell on the right.

If you are using Advanced options to add a Combined tree(part) to the cross table, please note that you cannot edit any data from the combined tree(part). It is only viewable. The names of the objects are greyed out to indicate that they cannot be edited.

Copying data to multiple cells

You might want to copy particular requirements (properties/relations) to multiple cells. You may, for example, want to apply the same indoor climate requirements to all the spaces in your selection.

You can do that in two ways:

(1) You can “drag” the value of a cell:

Select the cell (or multiple cells)
Move your cursor to the little blue corner (lower corner on the right side)
Click on that and hold on to your mouse button
Drag the value to the cells where you want to have the same value

Click on little blue rectangle in the lower right corner, and hold on to your mouse button, to ‘drag’ a value over other fields

(2) You can use the well-known CTRL-C / CTRL-V short cut.

Select the cell (or multiple cells)
Click on your CTRL button and the letter C (simultaneously)
Select the cell (or multiple cells) where you want to have the same value
Click on your CTRL button and the letter V (simultaneously)

TIP: you can also use the CTRL-C and CTRL-V shortcuts when you want to copy-paste data from a Microsoft Excel sheet into BriefBuilder.

Download as Excel

You can download the table in Excel format by clicking on the icon, right next to the table’s name.

Depending on the size of the overview, it may take some time to download the file. You can find the file in the Downloads folder of your computer.

Some examples

See below for some examples of commonly used cross tabels and how to make them.

Indoor climate table

In building projects, indoor climate experts usually prefer to see their requirements in a tabular way. To create such overviews, do the following:

Select Spaces & locations for Tree(part)
Select the relevant property table (e.g., acoustics) for Standard properties
Click on Show

Placement table

In both infrastructure and building projects, it will be useful to see where technical systems/elements are placed spatially. To create an overview of this, do the following:

Select Spaces & locations for Tree(part)
Select Systems & elements for Related objects
Click on Show

Security zoning table + cameras

In a building project, you may want to check your security zoning requirements against the requirements for the placement of cameras. To create an overview of this, do the following:

Select Spaces & locations for Tree(part)
Select the relevant property table (the one with Security zoning) for Standard properties
Select Systems & elements as for Related objects.
Use the Select tree part button to select the object Security camera
Click on Show

Adjacency matrix (aka ‘proximity chart’)

How should a project’s different spaces, or buildings, or locations be positioned in relation to one another? You can make a diagram of this (see here), but also a matrix. For this, do the following:

Select Spaces & locations for Tree(part)
Also select Spaces & locations for Related objects.
Click on Show

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