In the main menu, located under Overviews, you can find what we call the cross tables – requirements. This is a tabular or Excel-like overview of the requirements in BriefBuilder.
The cross tables’ function is to give you an overall overview of the requirements in the model and will enable you to edit the requirements in an Excel-like way (using ‘cell dragging’ and filtering).
In a cross table, you will be able to view a tree (e.g., Spaces & Locations or Systems & Elements), or part of a tree, in combination with the following data:
a) standard properties
b) relations with other objects
c) or a combination of both.
Sounds complicated? Take a look at the video for a quick explanation or read the article below for all the details.
Selection window
The first thing you get to see when clicking on the cross table menu item is a number of selection possibilities, which you can use to define and limit what you want to see.
Step 1: Select a tree(part) for the table’s rows
The first step is to select of tree(part) you wish to see the requirements. The objects of the selected tree (part) will be shown as the rows in your cross table.
You can use the Select tree part button to limit your selection to a specific object or group of objects.
Please note that some tables may be quite heavy on data, which increases the table’s loading time. In that case, consider (pre)selecting only a part of particular tree.
If you are using object labels and typicals in your model, you can use these as a filter to further limit your selection. These filters can be useful when you want to manage specifications for a particular type or category of objects.
The next step is to decide what type of requirements you wish to see for the objects in the selected tree(part): properties, relations, or both.
Step 2: Select a standard property table for the table’s columns (if relevant)
The next selection option gives you the possibility to select what standard properties you want to see in your cross table.
For example, if you have chosen Spaces & locations earlier, you perhaps want to select the table Acoustic comfort here to see which acoustics requirements apply to the selected spaces.
Note that this is an optional step. If you are not interested in the properties, but only the object’s relations, head over to Step 3.
TIP: You can select multiple standard property groups at the same time.
TIP: as a default, the selected tree is presented on table’s y-axis. If you prefer to have them on the x-axis, then click on the button that says Swap rows and columns.
Step 3: Select a tree(part) for the table’s columns (if relevant)
This is the selection that you have to use if you want to have a cross table in which you see the relations of earlier chosen tree with the objects of another tree.
For example, if you had chosen Spaces & locations earlier, you may want to select the Systems & elements to see which elements are placed in which spaces.
The objects of the chosen tree will be shown as columns in the cross table.
Editing in the table
The cross table will show whether there is a relation or a property value present. You will notice that these cells can have different colors. The ‘colour 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. So, all the cells that are greyed out for that standard property are NOT buildings.
You can also see green cells in the image, indicating that the open workstation has inherited two values for its standard properties (usable floor area and security zone) from the typical object it is connected to.
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.
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
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
(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. If you click on that icon, you will get an Excel download of that particular overview.
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 as tree under Rows
- Select the relevant property group (e.g., acoustics) under Columns (properties)
- Ignore the selection Columns (tree)
- 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 as tree under Rows
- Ignore the selection Columns (properties)
- Select Systems & elements as the second tree under Columns (tree)
- 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 as tree under Rows
- Select the relevant property group (the one with Security zoning) under Columns (properties)
- Select Systems & elements as the second tree under Columns (tree)
- Use the Select treepart button to select the object Security camera.
- Click on Show