7.

ADVANCED MANUAL
Copyright © 2009-2021 RIB Technologies Pty Ltd
This document may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written authority of
RIB Technologies Pty Ltd.
All rights reserved.

Acknowledgements
buildingSMART® copyright images and documents reproduced with kind permission of buildingSMART® International.
RIB gratefully acknowledges the contribution and assistance of the following individuals and
organisations in the preparation of this document:
Mr. Dana K. “Deke” Smith, National Institute of Building Sciences and buildingSMART® Alliance Washington DC

Matthew Johnson, Powe Architects Brisbane

Rob Jackson, Bond Bryan Digital, Sheffield, UK

Kim Harris, Graphisoft Sydney

Jeffrey W. Ouellette, Nemetschek Vectorworks Inc.Columbia MD

Angel Velez, Autodesk® Inc. Waltham MA

Jared Banks AIA, Shoegnome Architects, Seattle WA

ADVANCED MANUAL

Contents
1 Introduction 9
1.1 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costX® Product Range 9
1.2 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costX® Training Options 9
1.3 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costX® Help Files 9
2 Drawing Files 10
3 2D Drawing Files 11
3.1 Raster
............................................................................................................................................
and Vector Files 11
3.2 PDF
............................................................................................................................................
Files 12
3.3 CAD
............................................................................................................................................
Formats 12
Layers.................................................................................................................................. 12
Blocks.................................................................................................................................. 12
Polylines
.................................................................................................................................. 13
3.4 Model
............................................................................................................................................
Space and Paper Space 14
3.5 X-Refs
............................................................................................................................................ 16
3.6 2D............................................................................................................................................
DWF™ , DWFx™ and DWG™ from Revit®. 17
3.7 What
............................................................................................................................................
to Ask For (2D only) 19
3.8 Scaling
............................................................................................................................................ 19
3.9 Units
............................................................................................................................................
of Measure (UoM) 20
4 3D Drawing Files 22
4.1 3D............................................................................................................................................
Drawings and BIM Models 22
3D Drawings
.................................................................................................................................. 22
BIM Models
.................................................................................................................................. 23
4.2 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costX® and BIM Models 23
4.3 DWFx™
............................................................................................................................................
files from Revit® 24
4.4 Revit®
............................................................................................................................................
Model Structure 25
4.5 DWFx™
............................................................................................................................................
Files - What to Ask For 26
5 Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) 27
5.1 The
............................................................................................................................................
IFC Standard 28
5.2 The
............................................................................................................................................
IFC Model Structure 30
5.3 IFC
............................................................................................................................................
Model Entity Definitions 31
5.4 Property
............................................................................................................................................
Sets 32
5.5 Proxies
............................................................................................................................................ 32
5.6 Quantities
............................................................................................................................................
in the IFC 2x3 Coordination View 32
5.7 Base
............................................................................................................................................
Quantities 33
5.8 Quantities
............................................................................................................................................
in the IFC Standard 35

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ADVANCED MANUAL

5.9 Quantities
............................................................................................................................................
in IFC4 36
5.10 IFC
............................................................................................................................................
Files and iTWO costX® 37
5.11 IFC
............................................................................................................................................
– Issues to Consider 38
5.12 IFC
............................................................................................................................................
Files - What to Ask For 39
6 3D Measurement and BIM Quantities 40
6.1 Importing
............................................................................................................................................
3D Drawings and 3D BIM Model Views 40
6.2 3D............................................................................................................................................
Drawing Navigation 41
6.3 BIM
............................................................................................................................................
Model Navigation - Model Trees 44
6.4 Model
............................................................................................................................................
Schedules 46
6.5 Setting/Verifying
............................................................................................................................................
Units of Measure (UOM) for 3D Drawings 49
6.6 3D............................................................................................................................................
Measurement (3D Point Mode) 51
6.7 Import
............................................................................................................................................
BIM Dimensions (3D Object Mode) 53
6.8 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costX® BIM Templates 54
6.9 The
............................................................................................................................................
Model Definition Tool (Model Maps) 56
Model..................................................................................................................................
Maps 56
Basic ..................................................................................................................................
Model Definitions 56
Custom
..................................................................................................................................
Model Definitions 59
Default
..................................................................................................................................
Model Map Expressions 63
Importing
..................................................................................................................................
Dimensions Using the Model Map 64
Mapping ..................................................................................................................................
Filter 65
6.10 Create
............................................................................................................................................
Object-based Dimension Groups 66
6.11 Mapping
............................................................................................................................................
Syntax 69
Properties
.................................................................................................................................. 69
Supported
..................................................................................................................................
Functions and Operators 70
Worked
..................................................................................................................................
Examples 70
Properties
..................................................................................................................................
Including Categories 71
Combining
..................................................................................................................................
Properties 72
6.12 XNUMBER
............................................................................................................................................
Feature 74
6.13 XTEXT
............................................................................................................................................
Feature 74
6.14 Assemblies
............................................................................................................................................ 75
6.15 User-Defined
............................................................................................................................................
Model Properties 79
6.16 Cost
............................................................................................................................................
Coding a BIM Model 82
6.17 Quantities
............................................................................................................................................
Audit 83
Review
..................................................................................................................................
Dimensions 84
Additional
..................................................................................................................................
Measurement 84
6.18 Drawing
............................................................................................................................................
Sets 85
6.19 Duplicate
............................................................................................................................................
Object IDs 87

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ADVANCED MANUAL

6.20 BIM
............................................................................................................................................
Dimensions – Workbooks 88
6.21 3D............................................................................................................................................
DWG™ Earthworks files from Mudshark 89
7 Extended Dimension Group Properties 91
7.1 Measured
............................................................................................................................................
Dimensions Tab 91
7.2 Dimension
............................................................................................................................................
Group Expressions 92
7.3 Custom
............................................................................................................................................
Quantities 94
7.4 Variables
............................................................................................................................................ 95
Types..................................................................................................................................
of Variables 95
Using..................................................................................................................................
Variables in Dimension Group Properties 95
Editing
..................................................................................................................................
Variable Properties for Multiple Dimension Groups 97
Bulk Changing
..................................................................................................................................
Variable Values for Multiple Dimensions 98
8 Zones 99
8.1 Use
............................................................................................................................................
of Zones 99
8.2 Creation
............................................................................................................................................
of Zones 99
8.3 Measuring
............................................................................................................................................
Zones 99
8.4 Setting
............................................................................................................................................
Default Zones for Drawings 100
8.5 Changing
............................................................................................................................................
Zones 101
8.6 Zone
............................................................................................................................................
Filters 101
8.7 Zones
............................................................................................................................................
in Workbooks 101
9 Rate Libraries 102
9.1 Manually
............................................................................................................................................
Creating a Rate Library 103
9.2 Importing
............................................................................................................................................
a Rate Library from Excel® (CSV) 104
9.3 Copying
............................................................................................................................................
Rates 107
9.4 Rate
............................................................................................................................................
Build-Ups 108
9.5 Project-Specific
............................................................................................................................................
Rate Libraries 109
9.6 Importing
............................................................................................................................................
Buildsoft Price List 109
9.7 Import
............................................................................................................................................
BCIS® Schedule of Rates 110
10 Phraseologies 111
10.1 Dragging
............................................................................................................................................
Phrases into an Estimate 112
10.2 Import
............................................................................................................................................
Phraseology via CSV file 113
10.3 Import
............................................................................................................................................
BCIS® Schedule of Rates as a Phraseology 115
11 Values and Constants 116
11.1 Values
............................................................................................................................................ 116
11.2 Constants
............................................................................................................................................ 117
12 Workbooks 118
12.1 Adding
............................................................................................................................................
Workbooks 118
12.2 Workbook
............................................................................................................................................
Tools 120

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ADVANCED MANUAL

References
..................................................................................................................................
(audit tool) 121
Recalculate
.................................................................................................................................. 121
Locking
.................................................................................................................................. 121
Cell ..................................................................................................................................
Protection 122
Convert
..................................................................................................................................
Live Links to Static Values 122
Rounding
..................................................................................................................................
Options and Decimals Display 122
Workbook
..................................................................................................................................
Functions 123
HLOOKUP
..................................................................................................................................
and VLOOKUP Functions in Workbooks 124
Secondary
..................................................................................................................................
Quantities 125
Generate
..................................................................................................................................
Codes 125
Adding..................................................................................................................................
Tagged Notes to Workbooks 126
12.3 Workbook
............................................................................................................................................
Values (Named Cells) 127
12.4 Using
............................................................................................................................................
Code Libraries in a Workbook 128
Setting
..................................................................................................................................
up Code Libraries 128
Coding
..................................................................................................................................
Workbooks 129
Coding
..................................................................................................................................
Rate Build-ups 129
Generating
..................................................................................................................................
Workbook Grouped by Code 130
12.5 Using
............................................................................................................................................
Zones in a Workbook 132
Setting
..................................................................................................................................
Default Zones for a Workbook 132
Filtering
..................................................................................................................................
Dimension Groups by Zones in the Workbook View 132
Default
..................................................................................................................................
Zone Precedence 133
12.6 Using
............................................................................................................................................
Rate Libraries in a Workbook 134
Adding
..................................................................................................................................
Rates to a Workbook 134
Rate..................................................................................................................................
Functions in Workbooks 135
Copying
..................................................................................................................................
Workbook Rate Sheet into a Rate Library 136
Disabling
..................................................................................................................................
Live Links 136
Rate..................................................................................................................................
Descriptions in Workbooks 137
Rate..................................................................................................................................
Mark-Ups for Workbooks 139
12.7 Templates
............................................................................................................................................ 140
Based
..................................................................................................................................
On 140
Merging
.................................................................................................................................. 140
iTWO
..................................................................................................................................
costX® Standard Templates 140
Bill of
..................................................................................................................................
Quantities Workflow 141
13 Reports 142
13.1 Drawing
............................................................................................................................................
Reports 142
13.2 Exporting
............................................................................................................................................
Dimensions to Excel® 142
13.3 Exporting
............................................................................................................................................
Workbooks 142

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ADVANCED MANUAL

13.4 Workbook
............................................................................................................................................
Reports 143
13.5 Report
............................................................................................................................................
Templates 144
13.6 How
............................................................................................................................................
to Copy a Report Template 146
13.7 How
............................................................................................................................................
to Edit a Standard Report Template 147
13.8 How
............................................................................................................................................
to Edit a Custom Report Template 148
iTWO ..................................................................................................................................
costX® Custom Reports Guide 149
FastReport
..................................................................................................................................
VCL 6 User’s Manual 149
14 Exporting and Importing 150
14.1 Exporting
............................................................................................................................................
Projects and Buildings 150
14.2 Importing
............................................................................................................................................
Building with Drawing Files 150
14.3 Exporting
............................................................................................................................................
and Importing Reports 151
14.4 Transferring
............................................................................................................................................
Data between iTWO benchmark and iTWO costX® 151
15 Revisions 152
15.1 Building
............................................................................................................................................
Revisions 152
15.2 2D
............................................................................................................................................
Drawing Revisions 153
Revise
..................................................................................................................................
2D Dimensions 153
Adjustments
..................................................................................................................................
in Revise Mode 156
15.3 3D
............................................................................................................................................
Drawing Revisions 159
Revise
..................................................................................................................................
3D Dimensions and Promote BIM Dimensions 160
Promote
..................................................................................................................................
BIM Dimensions 165
Revision
..................................................................................................................................
Log 166
Compare
..................................................................................................................................
Drawings 166
Bypass
..................................................................................................................................
Revisioning 167
16 Integration into iTWO costXL 168
16.1 Opening
............................................................................................................................................
iTWO costXL 168
16.2 Enabling
............................................................................................................................................
iTWO costXL in Excel® 170
16.3 Using
............................................................................................................................................
iTWO costXL Data 171
16.4 Show
............................................................................................................................................
Dimensions 172
16.5 Edit
............................................................................................................................................
Function 172
16.6 Other
............................................................................................................................................
iTWO costX® data 173
16.7 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costXL Functions 173
16.8 Refresh
............................................................................................................................................
Data 174
17 iTWO costX® Networking 175
17.1 Network
............................................................................................................................................
Features 175
17.2 Network
............................................................................................................................................
Administration 176
17.3 External
............................................................................................................................................
database Connections 176
18 iTWO costX® Customization 177

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ADVANCED MANUAL

18.1 iTWO
............................................................................................................................................
costX® Options 177
18.2 User-defined
............................................................................................................................................
Quick Access Toolbar 177
19 System Administration 178
20 Further Information 180
20.1 Additional
............................................................................................................................................
Reading 180
20.2 Free
............................................................................................................................................
Training Videos 181

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ADVANCED MANUAL Introduction

1 Introduction

This document provides a descriptive overview of the key functions of iTWO costX® and the principles of
measurement involved in using iTWO costX®.

Readers will gain a better understanding of the concepts described within this manual if they have a prior
basic familiarity with iTWO costX®, gained either by reading the iTWO costX® Introductory Manual
(essential) or having had some previous exposure to iTWO costX® (not essential).

1.1 iTWO costX® Product Range

The iTWO costX® Family of Products ranges from fully-featured iTWO costX® through to iTWO costX®
takeoff 2D, which are available at differing price points. This manual describes the key features of iTWO
costX® but not all features are available in all products. Refer to the table below for a comparative
overview of product features.

1.2 iTWO costX® Training Options

iTWO costX® training courses are available either on-line or can be delivered in your office by one of RIB’s
iTWO costX® Consultants. Training material includes comprehensive manuals, videos, sample files and
worked examples.

The training courses include learning the basic principles of measurement and workbook structure within
iTWO costX®. You will also be guided to mastering advanced functionalities, such as revisioning (design
change updates), subcontractor comparisons, zoning for functional areas, rate libraries, sorting by multiple
codes, custom reports, and advanced measurement including automatic quantities generation from 3D BIM
models (not available in iTWO costX® 2D versions).

1.3 iTWO costX® Help Files

In addition to the training manuals, iTWO costX® contains very comprehensive Help Files. They are easily
accessed at any time whilst you are working in iTWO costX® by using the F1 key, or clicking the help icon
which is in the top right hand corner of the screen.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Drawing Files

2 Drawing Files

A major advantage of all versions of iTWO costX® is that they support the widest possible range of 2D and
3D drawing file types, including;

§ Various 2D raster image files - BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, PDF

§ 2D and 3D PDF Files

§ 2D and 3D DWG™ , DXF™ and DWF™ from Autodesk® AutoCAD®

§ 2D and 3D DWF/DWFx™ from Autodesk® Revit®, AVEVA PDMS™ and other supporting applications

§ 2D and 3D RVT files from Autodesk® Revit®

§ 2D DGN™ from Bentley® Microstation®

§ 3D 12Da from 12D Model®

§ 3D IFC files from all supporting applications such as Graphisoft® ArchiCAD® and others

§ 3D SketchUp

§ 3D DWG files from Brightbox Mudshark earthworks calculation software

Because iTWO costX® loads such a wide variety of drawing types, it is very useful as a universal drawing
viewer. Other viewer software includes Autodesk® DWG TrueView™ for DWG™ files and Autodesk® Design
Review for DWF™ files. These allow you to view, mark-up, convert, export and print drawing files.

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ADVANCED MANUAL 2D Drawing Files

3 2D Drawing Files
3.1 Raster and Vector Files
Graphics files exist in either raster or vector format. A raster file is an image made up of a grid of pixels
(called a bitmap) eg. a photograph or a scanned copy of a drawing. Raster images are resolution dependent,
which means they cannot be enlarged on screen (ie. zoomed in) without loss of image quality. Raster file
sizes are dependent on the number of pixels involved. Because large bitmaps require large file sizes, there
are several compressed formats that have been developed such as JPEG and GIF.

Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves and shapes or polygons,
which are all based on mathematical equations, to create images on a computer screen. This means they
can contain various levels of embedded drawing intelligence, and can be scaled up (zoomed in) without
loss of resolution. Vector file sizes are dependent on the amount of data in the drawing.

Essentially, a vector file is a drawing, whereas a raster (image) file is a picture of a drawing.

All CAD programs are based on vector graphics. However the drawings are often published and issued in
one of the raster image formats which means that the inherent resolution and intelligence is lost. iTWO
costX® can deal with both formats but uses different modes of measurement for each, reflecting the nature
of the image data available. Point Mode is basically a measurement overlay on top of the drawing, whereas
Line Mode attaches to the vector lines within the drawing. In this way, iTWO costX® utilizes vector data to
improve the speed and accuracy of measurement, and is able to exploit drawing intelligence. Hence vector
files are preferred to raster files. If you have no choice but to use raster files it is important to establish the
scale either by entering it (if known) into the Drawing Properties or by using the Calibrate function (see
Scaling).

Scale verification is important because most raster images are scaled to an arbitrary size to fit onto a page
and since they are images, there is no useful geometry available to determine the scale. In the case of a fax
or scan, the scale may also have been distorted during transmission.

Some drawings contain a combination of raster and vector components. iTWO costX® will provide a warning
when such drawings are loaded.

iTWO costX® also provides an option to work in Point Mode from a vector drawing to enable measurements
to be taken without attaching to drawing lines. Simply click the “Point” button to switch between modes.

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ADVANCED MANUAL 2D Drawing Files

3.2 PDF Files

Currently, the most common standard for document exchange is PDF (Portable Document Format) which is
an open standard that enables documents to be published in a format which is independent of the
software that created them. PDF files can be either raster or vector, but which type they are will not be
apparent until you open them. The standard published output from CAD programs is a vector PDF which
contains vector co-ordinates but little else of the embedded intelligence of the CAD files from which it is
generated. This means that measurement can be done in Line Mode but advanced iTWO costX® tools which
rely on CAD intelligence are not available. Hence a vector PDF is preferable to a raster PDF but still not as
useful as a CAD file. It is helpful to obtain a vector PDF with Layers (see CAD Formats) although some PDFs
with no in-built layers automatically get layers generated by iTWO costX® from the various types and colors
of geometry.

3.3 CAD Formats

The 2D CAD formats (DWG™ , DWF™ ) are capable of being rich in content and iTWO costX® can exploit this
intelligence with various advanced measurement tools. These include:

Layers

Designers use layers to collate and categorize objects or entities within a drawing, eg. walls on one layer,
doors on another. The final drawing is made up of all the layers stacked on top of each other. When
designers export a set of drawings for distribution they often do not enable the layers which means
downstream users can only view the complete drawing. However, if the layers are enabled, iTWO costX®
can filter the display to make viewing and measurement much quicker and easier. Layers can also be
enabled in a vector PDF export from CAD, but are not available in raster images.

Blocks

A block is a pre-defined grouping of lines, arcs and circles to depict a typical object, eg. a door, or a
collection of objects such as a typical furniture layout. Instead of having to re-draw the object multiple
times, the designer can simply select the relevant block. iTWO costX® makes use of blocks by counting all
instances of a typical block with a single keystroke. The designer needs to enable block data when
exporting CAD files. Block data is not available in PDF files.

A single click multiple Block count

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ADVANCED MANUAL 2D Drawing Files

Polylines

CAD drawings are made up of lines and arcs. The polyline command allows designers to group a series of
lines or arcs into a single continuous entity. For example, four separate lines could be drawn to depict four
walls to enclose a room. However, if these lines were drawn as a polyline, then the closed polyline would
represent the room bounded by the four walls. Polylines can be made up of any combination of lines and
arcs to create highly complex shapes, and are used by designers because it is quicker and easier to select
and manipulate a whole complex shape in one go rather than each of its component parts. If polylines have
been used, iTWO costX® is able to read them and automatically return the area and perimeter of the shape,
no matter how complex, with a single keystroke which is clearly a very powerful function.

A single click Polyline area measure

The default export condition for CAD files is often configured to strip intelligence out of published files,
which means the designer actively has to reset the export options if the intelligence is to be retained.
Presumably the default is based on the assumption that the intended recipients simply don’t have tools
that can read digital drawing files, or may be an attempt to protect perceived copyright.

In any event, it is quite possible to ask for drawings with all intelligence retained, and generally if it is
understood that there is nothing untoward in the request, the designers are happy to comply. Often their
concern is that the drawing may be altered if they issue it in an “active” format, so they need to understand
that iTWO costX® is not CAD software so you will only be viewing the drawing in a “read only” environment
which does not enable you to make changes.

Although iTWO costX® supports numerous file formats, as there are a number of CAD software houses
producing a variety of file types, iTWO costX® has been optimized to the most widely used, which is the
DWG™ format produced by AutoCAD®. Most alternate file types can be converted for export as a DWG™ but
again it may need to be explained that there are a number of settings that could need to be changed or
enabled to retain the intelligence.

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ADVANCED MANUAL 2D Drawing Files

3.4 Model Space and Paper Space

Another important aspect of CAD files is the concept of Model Space and Paper Space. Model Space is
literally the digital space in which a virtual 1:1 model of the project is drawn up, whether in 2D or 3D. When
plans, sections and elevations need to be issued they have to be scaled down to fit on 2D paper sheets for
viewing or plotting purposes. Paper Space is where this happens, and also where the drawings are arranged
and managed, and information such as title blocks and legends is added. The Paper Space view accesses the
required design information via “viewports” to Model Space. A Paper Space sheet will therefore be to a
nominated scale eg. 1:200, and it will comprise single or multiple viewports to selected model space views
or details, plus additional information which is drawn on directly.

A typical DWG™ file will contain tabs which house the alternate Model Space and Paper Space views.

iTWO costX® typically looks for Model space views since these contain the active model and hence are the
most accurate with no scaling required as they are at 1:1. If the file contains both Model Space and Paper
Space, iTWO costX® provides an option to load either or both. It is also possible to view the full DWG™ file
to verify its Model and Paper space components by using the free viewer software “DWG TrueView™ ”.

In the following example opened in DWG TrueView™ , the DWG™ file can be seen to contain two tabs. The
“Model” tab contains the 1:1 working model and the “Revision J” tab contains the scaled Paper Space view
and incorporates the title block and legend.

View of the Model Space “Model” tab in DWG TrueView™

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ADVANCED MANUAL 2D Drawing Files

View of the Paper Space “Revision J” tab in DWG TrueView™

Generally, when adding a DWG™ file into iTWO costX® which contains both Model Space and Paper Space
views, Model Space would be selected. This can however sometimes mean that useful information which
has been drawn directly onto the Paper Space view may not appear.

If you decide to load the Paper Space view, be aware that although it is to a nominated scale, the direct
viewports to the Model Space will usually be at 1:1 whereas the lines and other information drawn directly
onto the Paper Space sheet will be scaled at the nominated scale. Therefore the Paper Space sheet may
contain a number of differing scales, even though it all looks the same. When adding the drawing you
should set the Drawing Properties to the nominated scale.

iTWO costX® is able to differentiate between viewport data and drawn data on a Paper Space sheet. If the
data is held in a viewport, iTWO costX® will determine the scale (normally 1:1) based on the underlying
vector data. If you are using Point mode without the Snap function (which means iTWO costX® is not
reading the vector data) iTWO costX® will interpolate the correct scale.

If the data is drawn on the sheet it will be at the nominated scale and iTWO costX® will apply the scale as
set in the Drawing Properties.

Therefore, when you click to measure a line, iTWO costX® will scale the line according to its source. This
means that viewport lines and drawn lines need to be measured separately, and cannot be combined in a
single dimension. (They can of course be measured as separate dimensions in the same Dimension Group).
To make it easier to see which lines are selectable, after the first click, the non-selectable lines from other
viewports / paper are faded automatically and then on completion of the dimension, the full color is
restored.

When loading a Paper Space view it is therefore important to verify the intended scale, and enter the scale
in the Drawing Properties dialog. Crucially, be sure to then verify the scale using the “m” key check on
several known X and Y dimensions, especially if using Point mode without the Snap feature.

Preferably, work in iTWO costX® from the Model view. If desired, it can sometimes be worthwhile to print a
set of the Paper space views in A3 or A4 simply to use as a reference. Do not, of course, use these hard
copies for measurement purposes.

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ADVANCED MANUAL 2D Drawing Files

3.5 X-Refs
Another aspect of CAD workflow which needs to be understood is the use of External References – called X-
Refs. An X-Ref is an ‘external reference' to another AutoCAD® drawing file. Basically this means that one
file can reference many other files and display them as if they were all one file.

X-Refs are used in larger projects for many reasons:

§ They keep the file sizes down.
§ They allow many users to work on individual components of a project.
§ Every time an X-Ref is loaded, it is the most recent version of the drawing.
§ X-Ref's can be updated, added, or unattached from the main drawing at any time.
§ You can X-Ref drawings that they themselves X-Ref other drawings (nesting).
X-Refs enable project information which is relevant to multiple drawings to be held in a separate single file
from where it can be referenced by each of the multiple drawing files, rather than having to replicate the
information separately on each file. Typically, such information may include title blocks and company
logos, or building sections or site datum data.

If X-Refs have been used, then when the drawing file is transmitted the X-Ref files need to accompany it or
they cannot be accessed and will not appear in the view. Sometimes when loading a drawing into iTWO
costX® a warning message may appear if X-Ref files cannot be located.

This is not necessarily a problem if the missing data relates to logos or titles - or even, as in this case, a site
location reference and a Section reference which are not relevant to the measurement to be taken from
the subject drawing - so it is sometimes acceptable to proceed. However it is of course highly advisable to
determine the nature of the missing data and obtain any missing files.

A typical drawing file folder incorporating X-Ref files may look like this, for the drawing SD 007 - J.

In this case, the relevant drawing file is 1591_SD007.DWG. This is the only one that needs to be loaded into
iTWO costX® for measurement, but all the accompanying files must be kept in the same file path so that

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they can be accessed by iTWO costX® to link to the X-Refs and enable the X-Ref data to be displayed in the
drawing view. This creates a file storage issue, can complicate the transfer process, and needs a level of
management.

An alternative is to request that when the drawings files are exported from CAD the binding of X-Refs
option is used. The “Binding” option simply means that all the files are consolidated (or “bound”) into the
drawing files with the result as shown here, which is obviously far simpler to manage. However, be aware
that binding can alter some CAD references within the drawing files, so be wary of bound X-Refs if using
the iTWO costX® revisioning facility.

3.6 2D DWF™ , DWFx™ and DWG™ from Revit®.

Revit® is highly sophisticated 3D CAD modelling software. Rather than drafting plans and elevations, a 3D
virtual model is created within Revit® from which 3D and 2D “views” may be generated and viewed on-
screen, and 2D “sheets” may be published in a variety of formats. The model can be accessed and shared by
various design disciplines to provide a level of interoperability which supports “BIM” – Building Information
Modelling. (See 3D Drawing Files). When designing in Revit®, a menu of “objects” (walls, doors, windows,
etc) is used instead of drafting using lines. Each of the objects is held in a database which contains detailed
properties (also called “parameters”) about the objects. These properties, or parameters, can be accessed
to create comprehensive schedules.

Many designers currently use Revit®, but routinely issue the 2D drawing sheets as basic PDFs because
Revit® model files are in RVT format which can only be read by the Revit® program.

However, Revit is also able to export in CAD formats such as DWG™ and DXF™ , and in a format called DWF™
(Design Web Format) or DWFx™ . Essentially DWFx™ is an open format read-only file which contains
restrictions on some of the model data provided – however it is still data rich.

DWFx™ files are not a replacement for CAD formats such as DWG™ because DWF™ was developed as a
secure file format by Autodesk® to issue design data to non-Revit® or CAD users for them to view, review,
or print design files. DWF™ files are highly compressed and hence smaller and faster to transmit than
design files. Designers can publish individual sheets or multi-sheet 2D drawing sets from multiple 3D
drawing views, all within a single DWFx™ file.

Views and Sheets

The BIM model is a virtual representation of a physical model and as such can be viewed from any angle. In
the same way that you might take photographs of a physical model from different directions, within the
CAD program “views” can be generated of the virtual model. Views can be 3D such as perspective or
orthographic projections, or 2D such as plans, sections and elevations. Because they are all views of the

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single model, changes made on one view will appear on all the others. The designer will create many such
views as a design aid but not all will be intended for issue.

When the designer wishes to publish drawings, selected views will be placed onto “sheets” which can then
be printed. Sheets will contain title blocks and the view will be scaled so that when printed onto paper the
sheet will conform to industry standard paper sizes (eg 1:200 @ A3). By placing views onto sheets, the
designer creates a construction set of documents.

The image below shows the Revit® browser for a typical building for which a series of 3D and 2D views and
sheets have been created.

iTWO costX® is able to read DWF™ , DWFx™ and DWG™ files. However, the DWF™ exports have the
advantage that the file is a single multi-sheet file whereas the DWG™ export creates an individual file for
each view. Also the Designer is likely to prefer to issue files in a non-CAD format. However, it is possible
that 2D DWG™ files of specific views may have better iTWO costX® measurement functionality eg. use of
layers, polylines and blocks, than their 2D DWF™ equivalents.

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3.7 What to Ask For (2D only)

1. Check what design package the designers have used to draft the building, eg. AutoCAD®, Revit®,
ArchiCAD®, or Microstation®. These are some of the more common products in use today.

2. If Revit® is the design package request a multi-sheet DWFx™ export with 2D sheets of all plans,
elevations and sections. Initially use the DWFx™ files, but if additional measurement functionality is
required then ask for a DWG™ file for the relevant sheet(s).

3. In all other situations request DWG™ files (all competent design packages will output to DWG™ format)
with layer and block information switched on and all rooms and areas set as polylines. If the revisioning
facility will not be required on the project, the binding of X-Refs option could also be used to
consolidate the file set.

4. In some cases PDF files are standard mandated output, in which case if you cannot convince the design
team to change, then request vector PDF files with layers.

5. If you receive raster image files, always inquire if the vector equivalents or DWG™ source files can be
obtained in their place. Sometimes in the early feasibility or sketch design phase only hand drawn
sketches are available. If so, in order to maintain a digital, paperless workflow, these should be
scanned and added into iTWO costX® as image files.

6. Request that all files are optimized as recommended in the RIB document “Digital Drawing Files for
Measurement Purposes – Simple tips for a collaborative approach to improved drawing file
intelligence”.

If working in 3D as well as 2D, refer to DWFx™ Files - What to Ask For and IFC Files - What to Ask For.

3.8 Scaling
Drawing scales should always be checked and verified, even when working in 1:1 Model space. To do this,
simply verify a known dimension by using the ”Measure Distance” button or the “m” key. For scaled
drawings, if the scale is known, enter it into the drawing properties when adding the drawing. Then when
the drawing has been loaded verify the scale using a known dimension (preferably a figured dimension but
otherwise the width of a door opening or similar). If an incorrect answer is returned, the correct scale
needs to be calculated and the drawing properties amended accordingly. If Point Mode is to be used on a
Paper Space viewport, first verify the scale by measuring a known dimension in Point Mode.

For PDF drawings or image files with an unknown scale, use the Calibrate function. Calibrate can only be
used prior to taking any dimensions, after which the button is disabled unless you delete all the
dimensions. The calibration will be calculated to numerous decimal points. You can use the calibrated
result, or use calibrate to identify the scale then click the “Reset Calibration” button to cancel the
calibration and then open Drawing Properties and insert the scale, eg. rather than using a calibration of
199.8442 you could Reset Calibration and then insert a scale of 1:200.

The other major benefit of inserting the scale is that the scale can later be amended in Drawing Properties
which will automatically adjust all dimensions measured from the drawing so far, whereas a calibration
factor cannot be reset once dimensions have been measured from the drawing.

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3.9 Units of Measure (UoM)

It is important to understand the concept of Units of Measure (UoM). There are two aspects: the UoM of the
Drawing, ie. how it was drafted; and the UoM of the Building, ie. the units that you are going to take
measurements in. The two can be completely different as iTWO costX® automatically converts dimensions
from the Drawing UoM to the required Building UoM.

The UoM of the drawing (DWG™ ) file is simply notional units. In other words it is not defined as any
common UoM (eg. meters, inches, millimeters) or anything other than units. When a drawing is first
designed, the author will generally work using a scale setting where 1 unit = 1 common UOM (eg. 1 unit on
the drawing represents 1 millimeter). Hence the scale is referred to as 1:1. Therefore a wall that is 5000
units long may represent a 5000 mm wall. This will often be described within the text on the drawing so
others can take measurements etc.

There is no way to automatically identify the UoM that 1 Unit represents from the drawing file itself.
Typically metric countries use mm (or sometimes m for civil drawings), and the USA uses inches.

Since iTWO costX® allows the Building UoM to be user defined, (ie. the units you want the measurements
to be taken in), iTWO costX® automatically converts dimensions to Building UoM from the Base (Drawing)
UoM – however, for this to be accurate the Base UoM has to be set correctly on the drawing properties.
iTWO costX® assigns a Base UoM when the drawing is loaded but this may be altered by the user.

The setting that iTWO costX® assigns into the Base UoM when the drawing is loaded is based on a number
of factors.

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When the first drawing is added on a computer, iTWO costX® looks at the Measurement System option and
uses either mm or inches as a default. To preset the default units, select either the Imperial or Metric
Measurement System option located in the General section of iTWO costX® Options. If Imperial is selected,
units default to Feet and Inches throughout the program. If Metric is selected, units default to Meters
(Building UoM) and Millimeters (Base UoM) throughout the program as these are the most common. These
defaults may be overridden if required for specific projects.

When subsequent drawings are added, iTWO costX® uses the same Base UoM as was used previously
because generally they will be consistent.

PDFs are slightly different. PDF files are automatically calibrated to the UoM (mm or in) based on the
Measurement System setting (metric or imperial). Even if the PDF drawing has text with measurements
written in inches, if the Measurement System setting is metric then the UoM will be set to mm. In this
situation iTWO costX® automatically calibrates the drawing to reflect the UoM as mm, and therefore the
resulting metric measurements will be correct if the PDF has been scaled or calibrated as described above.

As always, after the drawing has loaded, check a known dimension using the “m” key to verify the settings.

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ADVANCED MANUAL 3D Drawing Files

4 3D Drawing Files

(Not available in iTWO costX® 2D versions)

4.1 3D Drawings and BIM Models

It is important to understand the difference between BIM models and 3D Drawings.

3D Drawings

Traditional 2D and 3D CAD programs use vector graphics to replicate the human process of drawing on
paper. Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves and shapes or
polygons, which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images. This is distinct from raster
graphics, which is the representation of images as an array of pixels as is typically used for the reproduction
of photographic or scanned images.

Regardless of whether it is rendered in 2D or 3D, a vector based CAD drawing like the following example of
an AutoCAD® DWG™ file is simply a collection of lines, arcs and text.

2D Plan View 3D View

Because they are based on geometric data, these graphical models cannot describe the physical attributes
of the entities they represent, nor the relationship of the entities to each other. To overcome this
limitation, design-related industries have developed object-based data model applications, specific to
their operating environment, that can represent the physical and performance attributes of entities in
addition to their graphical properties.

In the case of the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) industry this translates to a data model
built around building entities and their associated inter-relationships. The interface remains graphic, but
geometry is only one of the properties of the entities, which will also contain physical and performance
data such as spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of the building
components.

The objects within the model are termed “intelligent” because the database defines their properties and
their behavioral relationship with other objects. A door knows that it is a door, and when it is placed into a
wall the wall knows it has to have an opening to suit that particular door. The parametric properties are
inter-related. If the door size is changed, the wall opening will change to suit. All of the physical and

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functional characteristics of the building model are held in the central database. As the model develops, all
of the objects within it parametrically adapt themselves to the new design. These models are therefore
rich in information that can be extracted and used for a variety of examinations to assist in design,
construction and operational optimization.

BIM Models

The process of optimizing the design by interrogating and analyzing the data within the model is referred to
as Building Information Modelling (BIM). Consequently, the data model for a building is often referred to as
a “BIM model”.

Since the database holds all the information for each of the model objects, it will always represent the
latest iteration of the design – and crucially, as a database, it is capable of being interrogated in various
ways to extract differing types of data. Hence, the more data that is added to it, the wider the range of
examinations such as building performance, schedules and costs that can be leveraged from it to select the
best options.

This means that if multi-disciplinary teams are using a common software platform, they can use the model-
based technology to share building data and collaborate on design, construction and lifecycle management.
Detailed design information can be quickly and easily created which improves efficiency and saves time
and money, and the design can be tested and proven before work starts on site, saving time and money
particularly in early clash detection.

Ultimately, the implementation of BIM has the potential to allow all team members to contribute to the
creation of better buildings, delivered faster and more reliably, with reduced environmental impact over
the entire building life cycle. This is why many industry authorities are actively campaigning in support of
BIM, and governments worldwide are starting to mandate the use of BIM.

4.2 iTWO costX® and BIM Models

iTWO costX® is able to view data models in DWF™ , DWFx™ and IFC format and utilize the database
information to automatically generate quantities. These formats are explained in more detail below. Of
course, the quality of the output is reliant on the parametric coding of the objects within the database.
Currently, 3D CAD is often used primarily for design visualization and the database might be minimally
populated because the model is only intended to be used to generate 2D plans, elevations and sections
and the data model is not intended to be shared. However, the situation is rapidly changing as advances in
software technology allow other team members to find selective ways to model elements in BIM, and
interrogate the model database to suit their needs. Now, with iTWO costX® the quantification and
estimating disciplines are also able to participate in the collaborative BIM team effort and designers are
responding to this change by increasing the amount of object data held in the database.

However, for estimating or scheduling purposes it will generally be necessary to augment the BIM data
with additional measurement from 2D or 3D drawing views.

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4.3 DWFx™ files from Revit®

Many designers currently use 3D CAD software to create BIM models, but because they cannot share the
data models with third parties, the output will generally be limited to drawing views (but not object data)
exported to graphical CAD formats such as DWG™ , or 2D drawings printed to paper or PDF.

To enable Revit® users to better communicate with other team members and stakeholders, Autodesk®
developed an open file format called DWF™ (Design Web Format) or more recently DWFx™ . First
introduced in 2D form in 1995, DWF™ has continued to evolve and now all Autodesk® and a variety of third
party design applications can publish data-rich 3D models in DWF™ and DWFx™ format. DWF™ is a
proprietary product, but is an open format insofar that Autodesk® publishes the specification and makes
code libraries available to developers of other applications with a DWF™ Toolkit.

DWFx™ files differ from CAD formats such as DWG™ because DWFx™ is a read-only secure file format which
enables Revit® design data to be issued to non-Revit® and non-CAD users. Similar to Portable Document
Format (PDF), the files can be viewed and printed but they cannot be edited. They are also highly
compressed and hence smaller and faster to transmit than their source design files, but do not contain the
complete model data.

Designers can publish individual sheets or multi-sheet 2D drawing sets from multiple 3D drawing views, all
within a single DWFx™ file and they can edit the data so that the content of the DWFx™ is limited to only
what they want the recipient to see.

Section 8 of the RIB document “iTWO costX Drawing File Optimization” contains suggestions for how
designers can improve the content of DWFx™ files for estimating purposes.

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ADVANCED MANUAL 3D Drawing Files

4.4 Revit® Model Structure

Within the Revit® object library, information about the model objects (also termed Elements), is classified
into a hierarchical structure of Categories, Families, and Types. The data held about the objects is referred
to as the Type Parameters. When placed into a building model, the occurrence of the object within the
model is called an Instance. The data determining the behavior of the object in a particular instance is
referred to as Instance Parameters. The Instance Parameters will usually include certain dimensional data
(quantities) of the object.

The following extract from the Revit® Architecture 2010 User’s Guide overviews the classification system.

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The image on the left below shows the family structure within the Revit® browser for a typical building. As
an example, Structural Columns=Category, M_Concrete-Round-Column=Family name, 450mm=Family Type.

When a DWF/DWFx™ file is opened in iTWO costX®, the properties of each model object can be viewed
(image on the right below) and used to extract data from the model using any combination of object
properties. Users have the option to either define Model Maps to customize the data extraction from the
model, or to generate automatic quantities using the standard iTWO costX® BIM templates.

Column Properties viewed in

Revit® browser showing iTWO costX® including Length
Family hierarchy and Volume properties

iTWO costX® ships with a selection of BIM templates. The templates are XSLT files which have been written
specifically to automatically extract and sort data from 3D DWF/DWFx™ model files. The default template is
called “Revit® General” and this template extracts the data and categorizes it in accordance with the Revit®
family hierarchy to create a list of dimension groups using the Revit® category to name the dimension
group folder, and the Revit® family name + family type to name the dimension group. The quantity will
generally be drawn from the first dimension property. Refer to iTWO costX® BIM Templates for more
detail.

Because this template relies on the model data being presented in standard Revit® family categories, it will
generally only produce satisfactory results when used with a DWF/DWFx™ file exported from Revit®.

4.5 DWFx™ Files - What to Ask For

Even if you first receive paper drawings or PDFs, check if the designers have used Revit® 3D BIM software to
draft the building. If so, request a multi-sheet DWFx™ export with a default 3D model view (or series of 3D
views each showing different elements) and 2D sheets of all plans, elevations sections and details. Use the
3D views to import BIM dimensions, then use the 2D sheets to check and augment the quantities. Ask for
additional DWG™ files for any individual sheet where additional measurement functionality may be
required. (see What to Ask For (2D only)). If an IFC is specifically required from Revit®, refer to IFC Files -
What to Ask For.

Request that all files are optimized as recommended in the RIB document “Digital Drawing Files for
Measurement Purposes – Simple tips for a collaborative approach to improved drawing file intelligence”.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)

5 Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)

BIM provides an integrated approach to building design, procurement and ownership by combining and
sharing centralized model-based data to reduce waste, improve productivity and produce better buildings.

The BIM software primarily used by building designers includes Revit® by Autodesk®, AecoSIM® by
Bentley®, and ArchiCAD® by Graphisoft®. All have a native file format (RVT, DGN, PLN respectively). These
file formats and their underlying data models are proprietary and cannot communicate directly with each
other. This lack of interoperability between these and other major software platforms operating in the
buildings network has long been a major constraint to the widespread adoption of BIM.

The International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) was established in 1995 as a non-profit industry led
organization with the goal of establishing industry-wide, vendor neutral open standards for BIM file
interoperability. In 2005 the IAI was reconstituted as buildingSMART® International.

The data model standard published by buildingSMART® for open BIM interoperability is IFC. Adopted as an
ISO standard, IFC is intended to be a common format to enable data sharing and exchange across multiple
applications and disciplines. The IFC schema has as its scope "to define a specification for sharing data
throughout the project life-cycle, globally, across disciplines and across technical applications". Given such
a wide-ranging scope, the IFC schema is inherently complex, and broader than is usually required by any
specific discipline at any particular point in the project life cycle. Therefore most practical IFC
implementations are governed by what is termed a Model View Definition which is a subset of the IFC
schema that contains the data specification for a particular use case, or exchange scenario (See The IFC
Standard).

Applications such as Revit® and ArchiCAD® are built around their own proprietary data model and are
optimized to interact with it. In contrast, the IFC data specification is a neutral encapsulation of all relevant
building data, regardless of the interface system. In other words, just as Revit® has internal rules and
parametric programming to express the relationship between a column and a beam, IFC specifies a neutral
representation of the same relationship, based on its own open geometry and data standards (STEP and
EXPRESS). The purpose of IFC is to provide a neutral nexus for translations between dissimilar systems.

IFC-compliant applications can either export, import, or both export and import, IFC data models and re-use
or edit the data. Because each of the proprietary data model formats have their own architecture, the
import and export process usually involves mapping or translating the data between their internal schema
and the IFC schema – and back again. Owing to these differing data structures, the translation process can
involve data loss because of the lack of appropriate place holders for certain data. In practice, this means
that “round-tripping”, ie. exporting an IFC from an application, and then re-importing back in again, may not
re-create the original model in its original format, and certain features may no longer work. This is not so
much an inherent failing of the data system itself, but arises more from the way IFC has been implemented
in the host authoring application. Consequently, buildingSMART® has launched a certification program
aimed at improving the quality and robustness of IFC implementations. The “IFC Certification 2.0" process is
a detailed quality control of the IFC interfaces of participating software developers.

However, at this point, differences in the authoring application’s import/export routines and differing
standards of implementation will often result in an IFC that does not match the source file and therefore
potentially may not satisfy the full intent of the data exchange.

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5.1 The IFC Standard

The currently implemented IFC standard is IFC 2x3 Edition 3 (Feb. 2003) as amended by IFC 2x3 TC (Technical
Corrigendum) 1 (July 2007). TC1 did not significantly change the core data structure of the IFC 2x3 exchange
file and both versions can be used for IFC implementation and certification.

IFC4 (formerly called 2x4) was released on 12 March 2013, published as ISO Standard 16739. It will be the
basis for upcoming IFC solutions and incorporates numerous improvements and enhancements over the
current IFC 2x3 release. Implementations will start appearing in authoring applications from 2016 onwards.

As stated earlier, IFC cannot replicate the authoring functions of the various proprietary BIM applications,
nor is that its intention. It is a file format whose purpose is to facilitate cross-discipline data sharing and
exchange by providing a broadly based, vendor-neutral repository for data relating to building objects and
their associated geometry, properties, and relationships.

The process of sharing data via the IFC format is termed an IFC Exchange. In practical terms, the need to
convert the host data to IFC format and the fact that the IFC is structured to support a multiplicity of data
types across a wide range of disciplines can lead to a high level of complexity in the IFC model. IFC
exchanges therefore follow what is termed an “Exchange Requirement” which specifies the data that
needs to be present in any given exchange and thereby limits the scope of the exchange to more
manageable proportions.

The buildingSMART® Standard for Processes, formerly called the IDM (Information Delivery Manual),
defines typical exchange requirements for a given discipline or scenario, so that different audiences can
focus on the data relevant to them. The standard specifies what data is needed, by whom, and at what
point in time. An associated IFC View Definition, or MVD (Model View Definition) defines a subset of the
IFC schema that will satisfy the specified exchange requirements. In other words, when you open an IFC
governed by an MVD, you are only seeing selected parts of the information which goes to make up the
entire data model.

The MVD provides implementation guidance for all IFC concepts (classes, attributes, relationships, property
sets, quantity definitions, etc.) used within the subset. It thereby represents the specification for the IFC
export by BIM applications, so that their exports satisfy the exchange requirements.

The commonly used MVD for the AEC industry is the IFC2x3 Coordination View Version 2.0. This can be
extended with add-on model view definitions to support additional exchange requirements which
currently include:

§ The Quantity Take-off add-on view which adds the ability to transmit base quantities for selected
spatial, building, building service and structural elements.

§ The Space boundary add-on view - it supports the use of BIM in thermal and energy review by adding
building element to space relationships.

§ The 2D Annotation add-on view - it supports the exchange of additional 2D element representations
and annotations of building models

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§ The IFC2x3 Structural Analysis View

§ The IFC2x3 Basic FM HandOver view

Work is currently underway in defining the first IFC4 based BIM work flow support definitions (MVDs)
based around a Reference View and a Design Transfer View.

For further details refer to www.buildingsmart.tech.org.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)

5.2 The IFC Model Structure

As described above, the IFC format is a neutral data schema that makes it possible to exchange information
between different proprietary software applications. In essence, it defines a structure for the way that the
information covering the many disciplines that contribute to a building throughout its lifecycle can be held,
categorized and presented.

It is important to have an appreciation of this structure to enable you to navigate through the IFC and find
the information you want.

An IFC Model is made up of various entities. The entities may be physical such as walls, doors, etc. or can be
abstract such as spaces, activities, organization, etc. All will have a range of properties such as name,
geometry, materials, relationships, etc. The IFC schema specifies the hierarchy of these properties, as
shown in the following diagram.

Hierarchy Chart of Building Elements (buildingSMART® IFC 2X3

Model Implementation Guide v.2.0)
(ABS) = Abstract Entity

Each building entity (eg. IfcWall) is defined as a subtype of IfcBuildingElement, which in turn is a subtype of
IfcElement and so on, up to the root entity IfcRoot. Attributes are associated with each entity, so that
IfcWall inherits most of its attributes from its parent entities (termed supertypes).

All the upper level entities are abstract, which means they cannot of themselves exist as an instance. The
IfcWall entity, however is not abstract which means it can be “instantiated” to create instances of the wall
object within the building model.

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5.3 IFC Model Entity Definitions

At the most fundamental level, IFC defines all entities as rooted or non-rooted. Rooted entities derive
from IfcRoot and have an identity (with a GUID – Globally Unique Identifier code) with attributes for name,
description and revision control. Non-rooted entities do not have an identity and instances only exist if
referenced from a rooted instance. IfcRoot has three attributes: IfcObjectDefinition relating to object
occurrences and types; IfcRelationship which defines relationships between objects; and
IfcPropertyDefinition which captures extensible properties about objects.

IfcProject encapsulates an overall project and includes contextual data such as name, description, default
units, currency, etc. A valid IFC file must include a single IfcProject instance to which all other objects can
relate. A project can include multiple buildings, stages, etc. and can also reference and draw data from
other projects such as product types.

IfcProduct is the base class for physical objects with subdivisions for spatial elements, physical elements,
structural analysis components, and others. Products may have associated definitions for materials, shape
representations, placement in space and quantities. Spatial elements include IfcSite, IfcBuilding,
IfcBuildingStorey and IfcSpace. Building elements include IfcWall, IfcBeam, IfcDoor, and others.

Various relationships can be associated with these types of entities. An aggregation relationship can collect
spaces into a story, whilst a containment relationship can locate one entity inside another. This means that
any building element – wall, beam, column, door, etc – can be associated with any spatial element – a site,
a story, or a space.

Definition of Spatial Elements (buildingSMART® IFC 2X3

Model Implementation Guide v.2.0)

Whilst the IFC is structured to accommodate these relationships, the responsibility for creating them lies
with the authoring application that exports the IFC. If the correct associations are not explicitly made in the
source file, they cannot proceed in the IFC and hence may not appear in a downstream application. Thus,
how a model file is prepared for export to IFC is extremely important and is a critical factor in the ultimate
success of the IFC exchange process.

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5.4 Property Sets

Some properties of an object are absolute. These fixed properties are termed Attributes. Other properties
are more variable because they may be seen or interpreted differently by different parties, or may be
contextual, or assigned to an object by a relationship. These types of properties can be grouped together as
a “Property Set” and added to the object as additional parameters to suit particular situations. The
properties within a set can be either standard (conforming to the rules of the IFC schema) in which case the
set name will begin with the prefix “Pset_” or they can be custom, which means they are created by the
exporting application and the names of these sets will normally include the name of the authoring
application.

5.5 Proxies
When BIM applications export to IFC, the data has to be mapped from the host schema into the IFC schema.
Many architectural object classifications have direct IFC counterparts and will be mapped accordingly, eg.
an object having a Wall-subtype in ArchiCAD® will be classified as IfcWall. If an object has no corresponding
IFC element type it will be exported as a Proxy. The default setting is to export the proxy as a general solid
object in a generic IfcBuildingElementProxy element. As a general solid object, it has geometry but no
properties which is obviously undesirable and therefore to be avoided. It is possible to map objects to
alternate IFC elements prior to export, to reduce the number of proxies, or proxies can be defined with
geometry and property sets to behave like regular entities.

5.6 Quantities in the IFC 2x3 Coordination View

When exporting an IFC file, IFC-compliant architectural BIM software maps the IFC export to the
requirements of the IFC2x3 Coordination View v2.0 MVD. The main purpose of this View definition is for
sharing of model data between the architectural, structural and MEP disciplines for coordination purposes.
The view definition does not specify requirements for export of dimensions (termed “out of view”).

Quantity Properties Out of View (buildingSMART® IFC 2X3 Coordination View Definition v.2.0)

Generally, this will mean that a standard IFC exported from architectural BIM software will not include
quantity data, unless the Quantity Take-Off add-on view extension has been used to include Base
Quantities in the export (see Base Quantities) or the dimensional instance properties (ie. quantities) of the
host model have been specifically included in the IFC export as a Property Set . Note that some IFC Viewer
software such as Solibri® Model Viewer calculates quantities and displays them as entity properties. These
quantities are not an attribute of the IFC file, and have been separately calculated by the Viewer program
from the IFC geometry. Consequently, the same IFC opened in iTWO costX® (or other IFC Viewers such as
Data Design System® DDS-CAD) will not have those quantities. Because these quantity values are not
explicit model properties and are not based on the original model and intentions of the model author, their
accuracy is dependent upon the calculations undertaken by the Viewer program and the data it uses as the
basis of the calculations.

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5.7 Base Quantities

In 2006 buildingSMART® commenced work on a definition of model-based quantities to create an open
standard for quantification of building spaces and elements, termed “Base Quantities”. These are described
in the buildingSMART® document “Information Requirements for Model-based Quantities - Definition of
Base Quantities” dated 2010-12-08 reproduced in the Appendix.

To augment the IFC 2x3 Coordination View definition, the Quantity Take-off add-on view adds the ability to
transmit Base Quantities for selected spatial, building, and structural elements. However, it is important to
note that Base Quantities are not explicit dimensional properties of the model – they are separately
calculated from the model geometry as part of the IFC export process.

Currently, Base Quantities can generally be included in an IFC 2x3 export as a checkbox export option.

Graphisoft® ArchiCAD® 15 Export Options

IFC 2X3 Reference Guide for ArchiCAD® 15

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Base Quantity definitions have only been written for selected elements, and Base Quantities are only
included in the export for those elements. The elements are:

§ Spaces § Columns
§ Walls § Members
§ Openings § Coverings
§ Windows § Curtain Walls
§ Doors § Ramps
§ Slabs § IfcRailing
§ Beams

No Base Quantities are provided in the IFC for excluded elements such as Casework and Plumbing. Footings
and Roofs do not have Base Quantity definitions as these are “container” elements, meaning they are an
aggregation of sub-components (slabs, beams, etc). The sub-components can contain their own quantity
information but when aggregated into IfcRoof or IfcFooting the quantities are not identified. It is expected
that these will be available in the IFC4 release.

Example of Wall Base Quantities Example of Space Base Quantities

It is also possible for Base Quantities to be manually entered by the user, overriding the automatic
calculation during the export process. The Base Quantity specification only indicates the standardized
means of measuring and recording the quantity data, to eliminate possible errors in receiving applications
that may miscalculate any automatic derivation from the given geometry. Preferably, the dimensional
instance properties of the model should be included in the IFC as a Property Set as these are explicit model
properties unlike the Base Quantities which are separately calculated from the model geometry as part of
the IFC export in accordance with a set of rules published by buildingSMART®.

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5.8 Quantities in the IFC Standard

Although the Coordination View Definition does not include quantities, quantity definitions are supported
in the IFC 2x3 standard so it is possible for an IFC file to include model quantity properties as core
attributes or as a Property Set. The quantity definitions are broadly generic to provide flexibility to meet
the particular requirements of local or regional methods of measurements, and the different purposes for
which quantities may be needed. Quantities can be assigned to objects through the IfcElementQuantity
class. This is defined in the IfcProductExtension schema. Each instance of IfcElementQuantity can contain
one or more instances of IfcPhysicalQuantity, which defines the various forms of quantity properties. Five
types of quantities are defined, which apply to spaces as well as objects.
§ Length (as IfcQuantityLength)
§ Area (as IfcQuantityArea)
§ Volume (as IfcQuantityVolume)
§ Count (as IfcQuantityCount)
§ Weight (as IfcQuantityWeight)
Each type of IfcPhysicalQuantity has a value attribute that is defined according to the equivalent defined
data type within the IfcMeasureResource schema e.g. the value of an IfcQuantityLength is given by an
IfcLengthMeasure.

Each instance of IfcPhysicalQuantity must have a name that defines the context for its usage. For example,
a wall may have several area measures. These could have context names such as footprint area, left wall
face area, right wall face area etc. The areas would be given by three instances of the area quantity
subtype, with different Name string values. The Name attribute defines the actual usage or kind of
measure. The interpretation of the name label has to be established within the actual exchange context.

Additionally, each quantity may have an associated informative description that can be used to explain or
further qualify the Name attribute. Each instance of IfcPhysicalQuantity may also have a unit, subject to a
separate set of rules.

If the unit is given, the value for unit overrides the global setting of the project-wide units within
IfcProject.UnitsInContext. If the value for unit is omitted, then the unit defined within UnitsInContext is
used. In order to find the applicable unit, a measure type is provided for each measure value.

Definition of Physical Quantity (buildingSMART® IFC

2X3 Model Implementation Guide v.2.0)

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5.9 Quantities in IFC4

For details of the new IFC4 standard, refer to https://technical.buildingsmart.org/standards/ifc/ifc-schema-
specifications/. Two changes relating to support for new BIM workflows and 5D model exchanges which
should appear in IFC4 implementations are stated as:
§ Standardized quantities for QTO - Definition of international base quantities, defined as separate XML
schema + configuration files linked to IFC spec. This includes the welcome addition of a BaseQuantities
Definition for IfcRoof Element.

§ Major efficiency improvement for 5D - Similar rework for cost items and construction resources, now
linked to schedule and BIM. This relates to the definition of cost items within 4D schedules.

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5.10 IFC Files and iTWO costX®

Owing to differences in implementation by the various authoring applications and the multiplicity of
supported data types, IFC file configuration and data content will differ between projects. Consequently it
is difficult to define a standard for automatic quantities extraction via an iTWO costX® BIM Template. Data
extraction from an IFC file is therefore supported with Model Maps and Object-based Dimension Groups
(see Import BIM Dimensions (3D Object Mode)).

As described in IFC Model Entity Definitions, the IFC Model defines Spatial Elements and Physical Elements
in terms of their individual properties and their relationship with each other. IFC Viewers browse the
model by space, then by objects within the space. In the IFC Viewer example below, the Spatial Elements
IfcBuilding and IfcBuildingStorey (01 – Entry Level, 02 – Floor, etc) form the main branches of the model
tree, with each story (space) containing its associated building elements. The iTWO costX® Model view is
different and groups the model data by object types (with spaces included as a type) as this avoids
repetition and is better suited to measurement purposes. Spatial data is of course retained in the object
properties so the model can be filtered by space by use of the right click custom filter options (see 3D
Drawing Navigation) and the spatial data can be referenced in Mapping Definitions (see The Model
Definition Tool (Model Maps)).

To assist in model navigation and provide greater flexibility in the creation of Model Maps, iTWO costX®
also generates an IFC “FriendlyTypeName” as an identifier for objects within each element.

IFC Viewer Model View iTWO costX® Model Views and FriendlyTypeName

Use Right click Custom filter to filter the iTWO costX® view by IfcBuildingStorey

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5.11 IFC – Issues to Consider

§ IFC is an open standard data specification. The responsibility for populating the IFC with the
appropriate parametric properties and relationships lies with the host authoring application.

§ As an open standard, IFC by definition cannot exactly replicate a closed proprietary system. Hence an
IFC is not an exact copy of a proprietary data model, but is an alternate representation based on its own
open geometry standard (STEP).

§ Proprietary data models need to be mapped to their corresponding IFC categories which may involve
translation routines, override settings, and creation of additional IFC-specific parameters.

§ Objects that do not have corresponding place-holders in the IFC schema may need to be manually
mapped to an alternate IFC element prior to export. If this is not done they will be exported as a
general solid object Proxy (IfcBuildingElementProxy), which means that the geometry gets exported
but not the properties.

§ Export of quantities is not part of the IFC 2X3 Coordination View definition. Consequently, a standard
IFC export from most IFC-compliant AEC applications will not include quantity data unless the model
dimensional properties are specifically mapped to the IFC as a Property Set, or the Base Quantity add-
on is used. A MVD for IFC4 has not yet been written but when published is expected to include Base
Quantities by default.

§ Base Quantity values are calculated from the model geometry as part of the IFC export process and are
not explicit properties of the host model. The model dimensional properties should be included in the
IFC as a Property Set in preference to, or in addition to, Base Quantities.

§ Base Quantity definitions have currently only been written for selected building elements and spaces,
and the quantities included in a Coordination View IFC with Quantity Take-Off add-on will be limited to
those elements.

§ After the designer exports the IFC, they are likely to review it in an IFC Viewer such as Solibri® Model
Viewer before they issue it. Solibri® calculates quantities and displays them as entity properties and
this can cause some confusion because these quantities are not an attribute of the IFC, and have been
separately calculated by Solibri® from the IFC geometry. Hence they may potentially see three
alternate sets of quantities - the model dimensions, the IFC Base Quantities and the Solibri Quantities.
Of these, the model dimensions are preferred because they are explicit properties of the model itself.
Next are the Base Quantities which are calculated from the model geometry in accordance with a set of
rules published by buildingSMART®. The Solibri® Quantities are not part of the IFC. Consequently, the
same IFC opened in another Viewer such as DDS-CAD Viewer will not have those quantities. Similarly,
those quantities will not be available when the IFC is opened in iTWO costX®.

§ Different standards of IFC implementation by the various authoring applications can lead to data loss in
the IFC exchange. buildingSMART® and others are working to improve implementation standards and as
the AEC industry generally moves to greater acceptance of IFC it will begin to realize its potential as a
robust and powerful file format.

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5.12 IFC Files - What to Ask For

Even if you first receive paper drawings or PDFs, check if the designers have used Revit® 3D BIM software to
model the building. If so, a DWF/DWFx™ export is preferred to an IFC for measurement purposes because it
is more closely integrated with the Revit® model. Refer to DWFx™ Files - What to Ask For for details.

If the designers have used alternate BIM software such as ArchiCAD® or Microstation®, or if an IFC is
required from Revit®, request an IFC 2X3 Extended Coordination View export with Base Quantities, or IFC4
when available. Also request that model dimensional properties get mapped to the IFC as a property Set.
Prior to export they should also ensure that objects are mapped to their correct IFC categories, which may
involve use of translation routines, override settings, and creation of additional IFC-specific parameters.

In addition to the IFC, request a full 2D set of plans, sections, elevations and details in 2D DWG™ format as
described in What to Ask For (2D only). Use the 3D view to import any available BIM dimensions, then use
the 2D sheets to check and augment the quantities.

Request that all files are optimized as recommended in the RIB document “Digital Drawing Files for
Measurement Purposes – Simple tips for a collaborative approach to improved drawing file intelligence”.

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6 3D Measurement and BIM Quantities

6.1 Importing 3D Drawings and 3D BIM Model Views
iTWO costX® can be used to load, view and filter 3D drawings such as DWG™ , SKP or DGN™ files, and 3D BIM
model views in RVT, DWF™ , DWFx™ or IFC format. You can measure areas, lengths and counts on screen, or
automatically import dimensions from BIM models via default BIM templates, customized Model Maps, or
special object-based Dimension Groups.

§ The Add button in the Drawings section of the Home ribbon or the Drawing section of the Drawings
ribbon is the default import setting for all image, 2D and 3D drawing files.

§ It will also import a 3D view from a RVT, DWF™ , DWFx™ or IFC BIM model file. The RVT, DWF™ and
DWFx™ may be single view, or multi-view comprising multiple 3D and 2D views and sheets. The 3D
view can be used to generate dimensions from the BIM data and the 2D views and sheets can be used
to measure additional quantities in 2D mode.

§ Some 3D drawings can be switched between 2D and 3D in the Drawing Properties box.

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6.2 3D Drawing Navigation

The iTWO costX® Dimension View features an easy to use 3D viewing navigation system, including a view
cube for rotating and aligning the drawing and the ability to move through a building to see the 3D model
from any position or angle. Individual drawing objects can be shown and hidden (e.g. hide the roof to
access the interior of the building) and the whole building can be shown in shaded, transparent or
wireframe mode.

The navigation tools include:

§ Display control buttons on the Drawings ribbon and in the View section of the Home ribbon. These
icons can be selected simultaneously or separately and provide different views. Transparent mode is
useful for identifying hidden measured objects. Wireframe views are not always available in some
drawing files;

§ Similarly to a 2D drawing you can zoom in and out via the mouse wheel. You can also click and hold the
wheel to pan around the drawing. It is also possible to rotate the drawing by holding the left click on
the mouse and moving the mouse;

· Click on the View Cube arrows or facets to rotate or reset the building views;

§ Hold the “E” key (the “eye” function) and move the mouse forward or backward (ie. cursor up and down
on the screen) to move through the building;

§ The Layers tab provides layer functionality, similar to 2D drawings.

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§ A right mouse click menu provides more tools. Right click in a blank area of the drawing view, and by
clicking on the Area field, portions of the model can be isolated by dragging a rectangle over a selected
area to isolate the area for display and BIM import.

§ For individual objects hover the cursor over a drawing object to select (highlight) it – then right click to
open menu options.

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§ Object Properties displays the parametric properties of the selected object. Create Dimension Group
relates to measurement (refer Create Object-based Dimension Groups).

The filter section of the menu allows specific objects or groups of objects to be filtered to Show, Hide
or Import.

The filtering may be by default family grouping, or by custom parameters. Simply click on the required
field to display the entire family (eg. Walls) or filter by the family type, name or object. The Area
selection tool is also available.

The Custom parameters are selected by clicking the Custom field, and then checking the relevant boxes
in the Object Properties box which opens. In this example, only the Non-bearing walls at Level 1 will be
displayed.

§ Show All Objects recovers all hidden objects. Reset View is useful to recover a view, eg. after using the
eye function.

§ Ghost View shows hidden objects in a faint outline, which helps to identify the placement of displayed
objects within the building.

§ Filtered 3D Views can be saved with the Save View button and viewed in the Views tab.

§ The Opening BIM Drawings option in the Drawings tab of iTWO costX® Options allows the last filtered
view or full view to display when opening BIM drawings.

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6.3 BIM Model Navigation - Model Trees

The Model Tree is accessed via the Model tab which provides an at-a-glance view of the entire hierarchical
structure of the objects within a 3D BIM model, and the data within it. The tree format of the tab allows any
part of the model to be easily selected, progressively filtered, and displayed. This can be used to audit a
model to determine what data is available for measurement purposes.

To use this feature, first add a 3D BIM file (eg. DWFx™ or IFC), then click on the Model tab.

The hierarchical structure of the drawing objects will be displayed in a tree format. Each section may be
expanded to reveal the object hierarchy.

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Click on any item to filter the display. As you drill down through the tree hierarchy, the filtering becomes
successively more precise.

Multiple branches of the Tree may be selected simultaneously. Simply hold the Ctrl key and click on the
desired branches, or select one branch then hold the Shift key and click on another branch to multiple
select all intervening branches.

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6.4 Model Schedules

A Schedule Panel in the lower half of the viewing screen lists all the parametric properties of the model
objects selected in the Drawings and Model tabs. This is the same data shown when the right click “Object
Properties” menu option is used. To open the Schedule panel, click on the Schedule button in the BIM
section of the Dimensions ribbon, or click on the Expand bar at the bottom of the screen. You can also drag
the Expand bar to increase the size of the pane. The Schedule provides a valuable insight into the amount
of data built into the model, how it has been structured, and what is available for measurement or
specification purposes. A right click menu also has options to save or copy data to your clipboard for pasting
into other programs. Hence it is possible to filter the drawing view to, say, doors or windows, save or paste
to Excel®, and publish the Schedule. There is also an option to display the Object Properties of the object
on a selected row. To close the Schedule, simply click on the bar.

To see what data is available in a model, open the Model tab and select the highest level of the Model tree
(Drawing) to display all objects.

Then open the Schedule panel. The parametric properties of all objects in the model will be scheduled. It
will be immediately apparent that different objects have data assigned in different fields. For larger
models the Schedule can take some time to generate so it can be preferable to filter the view as described
next prior to opening the Schedule.

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With the Schedule panel open, click on branches of the Model Tree to select elements or objects to display.
The Schedule data will update each time to display the properties of the selected objects. Opening the
elements and selecting their sub-branches will filter the Schedule data still further, all the way down to
individual objects. By this means the user can determine what data is available to customize the
measurement of particular objects.

Whilst in the Model Tab, moving the cursor over a displayed object will highlight the corresponding line in
the Schedule; and clicking a line in the Schedule, will highlight the corresponding object. This assists with
Model and Schedule navigation.

The Schedule columns can be filtered by clicking on the button at top left of the Schedule panel. Check or
uncheck to display/hide columns.

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There are also right-click menu options when holding the cursor over the schedule. The Isolate Object
option is only available in the Drawing View.

The column data can be sorted by clicking on the column heading. Click on the arrowhead to invert the sort.

If more than one tab is open to enable multiple 3D drawings to be viewed, the schedule open/close is not
synced and the status is kept per tab. If there are two 3D drawings open in tabs and both have the schedule
open, each tab will hold the schedule for its associated drawing without needing to reload the schedule
when switching between tabs.

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6.5 Setting/Verifying Units of Measure (UOM) for 3D Drawings

When a drawing is added to a building, the Base UOM and UOM for Object Dimensions settings are
retained from the previously added drawing, and should be verified to ensure they are applicable to the
new drawing (refer to Units of Measure (UoM)). This is important when working with 3D models because
UOM in BIM models are commonly not defined. There is no way to automate this verification, which needs
to be done by the user.

For most BIM drawings, you can verify the UOM either by reviewing dimensional data in the schedule
panel, or by measuring a known dimension as a check prior to commencing the actual measurements. One
drawing type that requires slightly different handling is RVT files from Revit. In RVT files, the Base UOM of
the drawing and the UOM for BIM properties in that drawing can use different measurement systems. For
example, a drawing can have all the geometries (drawing Base UOM) set to feet but the properties for
length, area and volume set to mm, m2 and m3. This means that you won't be able to determine whether
the Base UOM of a RVT drawing is set correctly by simply reviewing the schedule data. In such a case, you
need to verify the drawing Base UOM by measuring a known dimension using the 3D Measurement (3D
Point Mode) tools and then trying to select different drawing UOMs until you get one that results in the
correct value.

When the Import Dimensions Using BIM Template function is used, iTWO costX® will automatically select
standard UOM settings and a warning notice will advise of the units selected.

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The resultant quantities should always be reviewed, and it will be immediately apparent if the UOM needs
to be changed.

The Schedule Panel is used for reviewing and assigning Units of Measure to all dimension fields. This is
done by moving the cursor to the column heading and using the right click menu options to assign the units,
and must be done whilst in the Model tab, not in the Drawings tab.

In this example, no UOM was defined in the model for length data so the right click menu was used to
assign mm. However mm had in fact already been automatically selected by iTWO costX® so the quantity
was correct because mm is the default standard for most metric drawings.

However, in the same model, Area data was scheduled in mm2 rather than m2 so it was necessary to assign
the correct UOM to the Area field, as below, to obtain the correct quantity.

Quantity before correction

Quantity after correction

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6.6 3D Measurement (3D Point Mode)

The 3D measurement tool allows areas, lengths and counts to be easily taken off 3D drawings. 3D
measurement is slightly different to 2D because reference points have to be established to determine the
location of the dimension in 3D space. This is done by selecting node points (angles or intersections) at the
edges of object surfaces to define the extents of the measured dimension.

§ Create or select a Dimension Group to measure into.

§ Click on the Point button in the Type section of the Dimensions ribbon. 3D Measurement cannot be
undertaken if Object Mode is enabled (see Import BIM Dimensions (3D Object Mode)).

§ To measure areas, hover the cursor over the plane of the object to be measured. A small green
selection point will appear at node points (angles or intersections) of object surfaces. iTWO costX® can
measure between all such points occurring in the same plane of the 3D object. Click to start the
measurement at the required selection point, then move to the next point, click, and move on. In the
final segment move the cursor towards the original starting point and then press Enter to complete the
area.

§ Negative measurements can be taken in the same way by clicking the negative button on the
Dimensions tab. Then click the Both button to display the complete measurement.

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§ The 3D Quickpoint feature allows the face area of walls, floors, roofs, etc. or any face in a single plane
3D drawing to be captured in a single click. Select the area Dimension Group to measure into, then hold
the Shift key, point the cursor to the area, and click. Ctrl plus Shift will join adjacent areas. To capture
the area of multiple surfaces of a single object, hold the “L” key and click.

3D Quickpoint (Shift Key) 3D Surface Area (“L” Key)

§ Lengths are measured by clicking on a selection node to start the length, then moving the cursor to a
selection node at the other end of the length to be measured. When a blue connecting line appears,
left click the mouse to capture the length. Hold the Ctrl key to continue to another selection point and
combine multiple segments into a single length. Be careful to select points in the correct plane of
measurement.

Point to point length measurement

Combined length in same plane (front face of wall opening)

Combined length in mixed planes (front face to back face)

§ 3D Quickpoint also works for lengths. When in a length Dimension Group, hold the Shift key to capture
the length of a line or surface edge in a single click.

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§ To measure counts, hover the cursor over a selection node, and when a green point appears, left click
the mouse to register the count.

§ The Measure Distance (M key) tool is also available for 3D drawings.

6.7 Import BIM Dimensions (3D Object Mode)

iTWO costX® has the ability to extract data from BIM model files or multi-sheet 3D and 2D DWF™ and
DWFx™ files, with several extraction methods available. As described earlier, BIM models often contain
dimensional data such as lengths, areas and volumes. The opportunity therefore exists to use this
dimensional data for quantification purposes, instead of measuring the quantities.

In order to access the object data required for the BIM import, iTWO costX® Object mode needs to be
enabled by clicking the Object button in the Type section of the Dimensions ribbon. iTWO costX® will
generally default to Object mode when a 3D file is loaded.

There are three options available for data extraction: 1) by use of iTWO costX® BIM Templates; 2) by use of
Model Maps; 3) by creation of special object-based Dimension Groups.

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6.8 iTWO costX® BIM Templates

iTWO costX® ships with a selection of BIM Templates. These templates are XSLT files which have been
written specifically to extract and sort data from 3D DWF™ and DWFx™ model files. The extracted data can
be sorted by using various object parameters and the default template, called “Revit® General”, categorizes
the data in accordance with the Revit® object hierarchy of Element Category, Family name and Family type
(refer to Model Space and Paper Space). By using the “Import Dimensions Using BIM Template” button and
selecting the Revit® General template, iTWO costX® will create a list of dimension groups using the Revit®
Category to name the Dimension Group folder, and the Revit® Family Name + Family Type to name the
dimension group, and import the relevant dimension property as a quantity. An example is shown below.

§ Use the Add button to import a 3D DWF™ or DWFx™ view. For ease of measurement, the right click
menu may be used to filter the view to show only the required category of objects.

§ In the Dimensions ribbon click the Import button drop-down arrow and select “Import Dimensions
Using BIM Template”.

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§ A dialog box will open listing the available BIM Templates which map the Revit® model parameters,
generate the dimensions, and sort them into Dimension Group folders and Dimension Groups. “Revit®
General” will name the folders by Category, and the groups by Family Name and Type. Select the
required Template, click Open, and iTWO costX® will automatically create the Dimension Groups
populated with the dimensions of all objects displayed in the drawing view.

§ In Revit®, it is possible to combine two or more models into a single consolidated model. When a
model is combined, an additional heading “RVT Links” is inserted at the top level of the family naming
hierarchy. In this situation, the BIM templates with the suffix “(grouped by 2nd level of Model tree)”
should be used.

§ In addition to default properties, designers are able to add additional data to objects called Shared
Parameters. An example of a Shared Parameter may be an elemental coding which may be named QSID
or Element Code. If the designer has done this, the template “by QSID or ELEMENT CODE” will sort the
dimensions into QSID or Element folders instead of by Category. These and other additional parameters
may also be added in iTWO costX® as a User Defined Model Property.

§ These BIM templates are written around model data being presented in standard Revit® family
categories and will generally only produce satisfactory results when used with DWF™ and DWFx™ files
exported from Revit®. For IFC files, Model Maps or object-based Dimension Groups should be used.

§ The ProSteel template is optimized for DWF™ files exported from Bentley® ProSteel®. The Duplicates
Only template only extracts objects with a duplicate ID. The User Defined Only template only extracts
objects that have had user properties added (see User-Defined Model Properties).

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6.9 The Model Definition Tool (Model Maps)

The Model Definition Tool allows users to configure a Model Map to extract data from a BIM model using
any combination of object properties. This means that instead of generating quantities using the standard
iTWO costX® BIM templates, users have the option to define Model Maps to customize the quantities
extraction.

Model Maps

The iTWO costX® BIM templates rely on the data in BIM models being configured in a consistent manner
(eg. by Family Name and Type) which is why they are optimized for DWF/x™ files from Revit®. However,
different authoring applications configure their data in different ways, and DWF/x™ or IFC files from
different applications will present differently. Hence a standard template cannot be applied and the iTWO
costX® user will need to interrogate the data model to access the data relevant to them. The Model Maps
allow users to determine what specific data will be extracted from the object properties within any model
to generate quantities, so they are not reliant on the generic settings in the iTWO costX® BIM templates. By
filtering down through the Model tree, the data extraction can be at whole of drawing, category, sub-
category, group or object level. At object level, the definition will be unique to the selected object,
whereas at the higher levels the data extraction will relate to all sub-sets below the selected branch of the
tree.

Hence the Model Maps feature can be used to tailor data extraction to a specific object or group of objects,
or can be used at a higher level to replicate the BIM template approach and create unique mapping
templates specific to the way a particular designer has configured their object libraries.

Basic Model Definitions

In the following example, the same Structural Columns shown in the BIM template example above have
been selected for measurement. From the Schedule data, the column headings show that Length and
Volume data is available, as well as Base level, Top level and size (Level3 heading).

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§ Click the Model Maps button in the BIM section of the Dimensions ribbon.

§ A dialog box then opens in which users can select from a list of existing Model Maps, or create (Insert) a
new one. Model Maps can be assigned as Global or may be Project specific. Existing Model Maps may be
edited, but will then be over-written. In the example here, a new Model Map with the name “Concrete
in Columns” has been created.

§ The Model Map ribbon and view opens, which displays the Model Tree, the filtered Model view, the
Schedule, and the Mapping Definition tab. If necessary, filter the Schedule columns as described in
Model Schedules to make the Schedule easier to navigate.

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§ To assign the Model Definition, the user filters to the Structural Columns branch of the model tree, and
then drags and drops the required data field from the Schedule into the corresponding field in the tab.
Use the “+” symbol to concatenate data. Free text in double quotes may also be entered, or a
combination of both. In the example below, the Level1 and Level3 data will be combined to name the
dimension group folder, the Top Level data will categorize the dimension group, and the Measurement
Type will be volume, using the data from the Volume field in the Schedule.

Note that the Length property has also been defined, to return both length and volume quantities. The
Default Display setting determines which is displayed in the Dimension group.

§ The Preview tab provides a preview of the resultant dimensions.

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§ Dimension group sub-folders can be created by inserting a \ character in the name path.

§ More complex expressions can be entered into the mapping fields using a combination of Schedule
data, Custom Quantities, Constants, functions, Variables and operators. Refer to the Dimension Group
Expressions section in iTWO costX® Help for more details.

Custom Model Definitions

The Add button located in the Custom Quantities group on the Model Map ribbon can be used to create
custom fields to allow additional model data to be brought into dimension groups. Custom Quantity fields
can either be added as blank fields or prefilled from a Custom Quantity that already has a BIM expression
defined in System Administration.

In the following example, the Model Tree has been filtered to display the 600 x 600mm Columns.

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A new Model Map has been inserted, named Column Measure. The Model Map has been configured as
follows, to measure the columns by Volume, separated by building Top Level, and also to show a Formwork
area and rebar weight in Tonnes (using a factor of 190kg/m3).

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Whilst still in the same Model Map view, the definition can be copied (right click menu), then the tree
filtered to the 457 x 457mm columns, the definition pasted, and the Model Map fields edited to be
configured in the same way as the 600 x 600 mm columns.

The Preview can then be filtered to the Structural Columns heading to view all columns in the group.

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No actual measurement takes place whilst in the Model Map screen. After previewing, you can return to
the Mapping Definition tab and continue to amend and preview various measurement configurations. Each
change will overwrite the previous settings and be saved as it is entered.

It is important to observe the correct syntax when entering expressions into the mapping fields to create
model definitions. Model properties must be enclosed in square brackets eg. [Family Name]. Free text
including spaces must be in double quotes eg. “Formwork”. Separate pieces of text may each be joined
with a + sign, eg. [Level3] +“ - ”+ [Top Level]. Mathematical formulas can be enclosed in round brackets eg.
[Length]*(0.5*4). Complex formulas including “IF” statements are also supported. “IF” statements support
=, <, <=, >=, > and != (does not equal) for value comparisons. Example IF([Thick]<=150,[Area],0). Refer to
Formula Syntax and the Dimension Group Expressions topic in iTWO costX® Help for more details.

When you are satisfied with the Model Definition, exit Model Map mode by clicking the Close button on
the Model Map ribbon.

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Default Model Map Expressions

To simplify the creation of Model Maps, an option is available in the Mapping Definition pane called Use
default expressions for blank fields.

When this checkbox is enabled, if no formula has been entered into the relevant fields by the user, then
certain derived quantities will be automatically calculated from default expressions. The definition will
remain blank, but when a Dimension group is generated using the Model Map, the quantities will be
provided and the default expressions can be viewed under the BIM Dimensions tab of the Dimension
Group properties.

The default expressions depend on the measurement mode selected and are as follows:

Count Length Area Volume

BIM Count 1 1 1 1

BIM Height Use Default Height Use Default Height Use Default Height Use Default Height

BIM Multiplier Use Default Multiplier Use Default Multiplier Use Default Multiplier Use Default Multiplier

BIM Offset Use Default Offset Use Default Offset Use Default Offset Use Default Offset

BIM Volume {Area} * {Height} {Area} * {Height} {Area} * {Height} {Area} * {Height}

BIM Wall Area {Length} * {Height} {Length} * {Height} {Length} * {Height} {Length} * {Height}

The ellipsis button at the right of the fields in the mapping definition pane allow access to the expression
editor dialog for editing model maps. Refer to Dimension Group Expressions for more detail.

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Importing Dimensions Using the Model Map

Whilst in the Dimension view, select the Import Dimensions Using Model Map option under the Import
button in the Dimensions ribbon.

A Select Model Map box will open. Select the required Model Map by clicking on its name to highlight it,
then click the Select button.

The drawing view does not need to be filtered because the Model Map will only import the data applicable
to the objects filtered in the Model Tree at the time the Model Map was created. However, those objects
must be displayed in the view in order for the Model Map to work.

The Dimension Groups and Folders will be automatically created, populated with the dimension data as
defined by the Model Map as shown in the preview.

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Mapping Filter

The Model Map pane contains a Filter button. Click to open the filter. The upper Filter field allows text
strings to be entered to search the mapping definition. The lower Nodes field has a drop-down menu to
select whether to show nodes from only the current or from other drawings. Select and then click Go.

If the “other drawings” option is selected, definitions added to the Model Map in other drawings which do
not have a corresponding node on the current drawing will be shown in gray, from where they can be
opened, copied and pasted into nodes in the new drawing. This is particularly useful when the node
heading structure in drawing revisions changes owing to linked files.

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6.10 Create Object-based Dimension Groups

In Object Mode, special Dimension Groups can be created which draw their dimensional data from object
properties rather than by measurement.

§ Use the Add button to import a 3D DWF™ , DWFx™ , IFC or RVT view. For ease of measurement, the right
click menu may be used to filter the view to show only the required category of objects.

§ Hover the cursor over an object to select (highlight) it, then right click and select Create Dimension
Group. The Dimension Group Properties dialog will open. Enter the properties in the Properties tab of
the dialog box.

Add any custom parameter names and UOM in the Custom Quantities tab.

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Then open the BIM Dimensions tab and enter the required expressions in the relevant fields to define
the required data, or click on the ellipsis button to the right of the relevant field to open the
Expressions Editor.

§ Refer to Mapping Syntax and the Dimension Group Expressions section in iTWO costX® Help for more
detail on mapping expressions.

§ When the expressions are all complete, click Insert.

§ A Dimension Group will be created which will be initially empty, but is ready to receive data from
objects in the model according to the expressions entered in the BIM Dimensions fields. With the
Dimension Group selected, it is now possible to click on the objects to be measured in the drawing
view and iTWO costX® will retrieve the data from the object properties and use it to populate the
Dimension Group. Note that it will do this for any object, so be careful to only click on the required
objects. Also note that it may be necessary to open the schedule in the Model tab and assign units such
as mm to the length property to ensure that quantities are correctly calculated.

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As an alternative to clicking on the objects to be measured, one of the right click filter menu options
“Import Objects In” enables objects to be selected based on a set of filtering criteria.

§ With the Dimension group selected, select (highlight) an individual object by hovering the cursor over
it, then right click to open the menu and move the cursor over the “Import Objects In” option.

§ Simply click on the required field (eg. Family Type 600 x 600mm to measure all 600 x 600mm
columns).The Area selection tool is also available.

The Custom parameters are selected by clicking the Custom field, and then checking the relevant boxes
in the Object Properties box which opens. In this example, only the 600 x 600mm Columns at Level 5
will be measured.

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6.11 Mapping Syntax

The expressions used in Model Map definitions and object-based Dimension Group properties are
generally built on the functions and formulas used in Excel®.

Properties

To retrieve the value of a property from a BIM object, the property name must be enclosed in square
brackets. For example:

[Width] retrieve the value of the Width property of the measured BIM object.

To use only a specified number of characters from the property, use the LEFT or RIGHT function. The left
function specifies the number of characters to use from the left side of the property, and the right function
specifies the number of characters to use from the right side, as shown below. The first parameter is the
property in square brackets and the second is the number of characters.
LEFT([Category],20)
RIGHT([Family Name],20)
If the same property name exists with multiple categories, an exclamation mark can be used to separate
the category and name in the property specification:

[Profile!Construction] retrieves the value of the Profile property in the Construction

category
[Profile!Identity Data] retrieves the value of the Profile property in the Identity Data
category
[Start Date!Construction] retrieves the value of the Start Date property in the
Construction category

On rare occasions, the same property name can exist under multiple paths in the BIM data. Slashes can be
used to specify the correct point in the BIM hierarchy for the desired property value:

[\\IfcWall\Plaster\NetVolume] retrieves the NetVolume specified against IfcWall\Plaster on

the BIM object
[\\IfcWall\Brickwork Clay\NetVolume] retrieves the NetVolume specified against IfcWall\Brickwork
Clay on the BIM object.

Literal text can be included in the expression by enclosing it in double quotes. If the text already has a
double quote (”), place a second double quote in front of it.

For example: “Marble” would result in Marble.

“Faux “”Travertine””” would result in Faux “Travertine”.

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Supported Functions and Operators

Refer to the Dimension Group Expressions section in iTWO costX® Help for details of the Functions and
Operators supported in expressions.

Worked Examples

To retrieve the value of a property from a BIM object, the property name must be enclosed in square
brackets. For example:

[Type Name] retrieve the value of the Type Name property – would give “Plain”

Extracted numerical quantities are always converted into the appropriate building units as they are
extracted from the BIM objects. For example, suppose the example object is being used in a building that
uses meters as its Base UOM:

If we were to extract the Height Offset from Level property, it would be converted from the millimeter
value stored in the object property, to a meter value, which matches the building unit.

[Height Offset from Level] retrieve the value of the Height Offset from Level property – would
give “3 m”

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If no unit is specified in the BIM property value, the values specified in the drawing properties are used as
the default units for the quantities. Suppose the drawing is configured as follows:

If we retrieve the value of the Volume property, which has no units included in the property value, it will
assume that the value is in Cubic Meters as set in the drawing properties (also see 6.5 above):

[Volume] retrieve the value of the Volume property of the measured BIM object –
would give “1.94 m3”.
Properties Including Categories

In the sample properties for the wall shown above, the Name property exists in both the “Concrete Precast
200 200” and “IfcWallStandardCase” categories. We can no longer just say [Name], as this doesn’t make it
clear which of the two Name properties we want to use. To differentiate between them, an exclamation
mark can be used to separate the category and name in the property specification.

[IfcWallStandardCase!Name] retrieves the value of the Name property in the

IfcWallStandardCase category
[Concrete Precast 200 200!Name] retrieves the value of the Name property in the
Concrete Precast 200 200 category

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Combining Properties

In many cases, none of the properties contain the required values, but a calculation using one or more
properties can be used to get the required value. iTWO costX® supports the four basic arithmetic operators:
+, -, *, and /, as well as brackets ().

Example 1

For example, suppose we want the area of the door with the properties as shown above. To calculate the
area of the door, we need get the product of the height and the width. To do this, we need to use a formula
that multiplies the properties together:

[Height]*[Width]

Each property will be evaluated, and then the resulting quantities multiplied together to give the final
answer (assuming the building is being worked in meters):
2

The formula to be used for the area is therefore [Height]*[Width], which gives a resulting quantity of
12.24m2.

Example 2

The properties for the duct above don’t give a height for the duct. We can calculate this from the object
properties by subtracting the Bottom Elevation from the Top Elevation. To do this, we need to use a
formula:

[Top Elevation] - [Bottom Elevation]

Once again, each property will be evaluated, and the final value calculated. This will work as follows, again
assuming the building is using meters:

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Example 3

Consider another duct. In this case, we want to know the external height of the duct. The object properties
do provide us with a height; however, this height is the interior height of the duct and the thickness of the
duct is not provided by any of the available object properties. The only way for us to determine the exterior
height is to divide the area by the length. This can be done using the following formula:

[Area] / [Length]

The steps iTWO costX uses to determine the value of this formula, working in meters, are:

Example 4

Suppose we want to calculate the perimeter of the ceiling tile in use with the fire sprinkler whose
properties are shown above. To do this, we need to add twice the length to twice the width of the tile. The
formula for calculating this is as follows:

Or alternatively:

Each gives a resulting quantity of 2.4m in a building that uses meters as the building unit.

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6.12 XNUMBER Feature

Model definition formulas in Model Maps or Object-based Dimension Groups can reference dimensions or
other numbers which form part of a text string, eg. a Family Name or Type description. For example, for a
column with the Family Name “600 x 300mm” a dimension of 600 or 300 can be derived to multiply by the
length of the column to calculate the face area.

In the mapping definition field, the formula XNUMBER( text, index ) will return the index number found in
the text. If no index is specified, the first number will be returned. If no number is found at the specified
index, 0 will be returned. In the column example, the formula would be XNUMBER([Family Name]) to
return a value of 600 or XNUMBER([Family name],2) to return a value of 300.

The XNUMBER function is also available in Workbooks and iTWO costXL. Also see XTEXT below.

6.13 XTEXT Feature

Property values can be either text or numeric or a combination of both. The values are interpreted
differently according to the destination field eg. if the destination would normally contain text, the text
value will be returned but if the destination would normally contain numeric values, the text will be
converted to a numeric value. If the value cannot be converted to a numeric value, zero will be returned.

Text Fields

Properties in the following fields will be returned as text. All other fields will return the value as a number.
· Folder
· Dimension group
· Dimension
· Zone
· Weight UOM
· Custom # Name
· Custom # UOM
For example, a [property] with a value of 00153mm would return a text value of '00153mm' in the above
fields but would return a numeric value of 153 in the other fields, with the same UOM of the building eg. if
the length UOM of the building is meters, the property value would return as 0.153m when placed in the
Length field. A property with a value of “Wall” would return a text value of Wall in the above fields but
would return a numeric value of zero in the other fields.

If a numeric property placed into one of the text fields above is required to be treated as a number it
should be enclosed in an XNUMBER function as described in XNUMBER Feature. If a text value placed into a
numeric field is required to be treated as text it should be enclosed in an XTEXT function. As an example,
say a length property is to be multiplied by a value depending on the value of another property the formula
for the length value might be set as:

=[LENGTH] * IF(XTEXT([MARKER]) = “TRUE”, 1, 1.5)

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This would multiply the length by 1.5 if the value of property MARKER is set to ‘TRUE’. Without the XTEXT
prefix, if the value of the text in the property [MARKER] was ‘TRUE’or any other string, because it is being
evaluated in a numeric field, it would be converted to a numeric value of zero and the formula would fail.

The behavior is affected by the use of mathematical operators and whether there are units included in the
property value. A property [LENGTH] with a value of “00153mm” would return a text value of ‘00153mm’
when used in the text fields. If the [LENGTH] property was used in a formula of ([LENGTH]+5) in the same
text fields, it would return a numeric value of ‘00153mm5’, however if the [LENGTH] property had a value of
“00153” with no units, then the same formula of ([LENGTH]+5) in the same text would return ‘158’. In this
situation the XNUMBER prefix is not required.

6.14 Assemblies
In Revit®, multiple elements can be combined into a single assembly that can be independently scheduled,
tagged, and filtered. Most model elements can be included in assemblies, and layered elements such as
walls, floors, flat roofs, etc are invariably modeled as assemblies.

Floor Assembly in Revit 2012®

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When exported to a DWF/DWFx™ an assembly such as the floor shown above appears as a composite
whole and its component parts, or layers, are not separately identified within the 3D DWFx™ view and are
not represented on 2D views and sheets.

iTWO costX® screen shot of composite slab assembly

It is important to obtain full details of the assembly components so that each can be individually itemized.
To assist in this the designer could be requested to provide additional information in the form of details or
schedules.

Alternatively they could use the Revit® “Parts” function which will break the layered assembly into its
constituent layers. The layer data will then be available in the DWF/DFWxTM export. Typically this might
apply to elements such as:
§ Walls (excluding stacked walls and curtain walls)
§ Floors (excluding shape-edited floors)
§ Roofs (excluding those with ridge lines)
§ Ceilings
§ Structural slab foundations

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The disassembled slab will now import with the “Revit® General” BIM Template in separate constituent
Parts, as follows.

iTWO costX® screen shot of disassembled slab Parts – dimensions imported with “Revit® General” BIM Template

Each layer of the assembly is an individual Part with its own discrete Object Properties. The Identity Data
properties have been expanded to contain details of the individual layer and this data is available for the
BIM Template to create the separate Dimension Groups.

The Parts properties can also be viewed as branches of the Model Tree.

Model View – Assembly Model View – Parts

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The Parts properties can readily be used to create mapping definitions for Model Maps.

iTWO costX® screen shot of disassembled slab Parts – dimensions imported with Model Map

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6.15 User-Defined Model Properties

This powerful feature allows an iTWO costX® user to insert additional data into the BIM Properties
Schedule, which will attach to the corresponding object within the model. The data can then be used for
measurement purposes as part of the normal iTWO costX® BIM workflow via iTWO costX® BIM Templates,
Model Maps and object-based Dimension Groups. Examples of user-defined data might include elemental
or trade coding, additional dimensions, formula calculations, life-cycle data, etc.

§ To use this feature, first add a 3D BIM file (eg. DWFx™ or IFC).

§ Open the Schedule panel. If desired, first filter the view to show only selected elements or objects to
which additional data is to be added.

§ Right click over the Schedule and select “Save Entire Schedule to Excel (xlsx)”.

§ An Open File dialog box will open. Select a name and location for the xlsx file and click Save.

§ If the xlsx file doesn’t open automatically, open it in Excel®. The spreadsheet is a copy of the iTWO
costX® schedule, with each row corresponding to an object in the model (identified via its unique
identifier code in the EXBIMID column), and each column containing object properties. New columns
for additional property data may now be inserted into the spreadsheet, with the additional data
specific to each object being inserted into the applicable row in the spreadsheet.

§ For ease of working in the spreadsheet, data may be filtered or sorted, and columns may be deleted to
reduce clutter. The deleted data is not lost (because it is an attribute of the model file in iTWO costX®)
it is simply being removed from the spreadsheet. However, be careful not to delete the EXBIMID
column as this is required to tag the additional data to its intended object.

§ In the example below, four new columns have been added so that the Beam Width, Beam Depth, Slab
Thickness, and Beam Height can be inserted against each object.
IMPORTANT: When adding new columns, do not use the exclamation mark (!) or forward slash (/) in the
column names. Columns with "!" or "/" in the heading will be ignored during import.

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§ When the adjustments are complete, save and close the amended xlsx file.

§ If the drawing to which you want to attach the Excel file is stored in the cloud. Upload the Excel file to
the same cloud storage.

§ Return to iTWO costX® and open the Drawing Properties dialog by clicking the Properties button or by
double-clicking on the drawing name. In the Properties File Name box click on the ellipsis (… ) button to
open an Open File dialog box and navigate to the saved xlsx file. Click Open to attach the file to the
drawing properties and then click Update to close the Drawing Properties box.

§ The Schedule will re-load and the new data automatically maps to its host objects. The added columns
will be highlighted in yellow and will also appear in the Object Properties as User Defined properties.

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§ The additional data is now available for measurement purposes. For example, the four user-defined
columns could be used in a Model Map definition to calculate additional data. It is also possible to add a
QSID column in this way and use it with the QSID BIM Template.

NOTE: adding user-defined properties in this way does not alter the source DWFx™ drawing file, it only
changes the drawing properties within iTWO costX®. However, within iTWO costX®, changing a
properties file has the same implications as changing a drawing file. Therefore, user-defined properties
can only be added prior to import of any BIM dimensions or measurement of any quantities, because a
drawing file cannot be changed after quantities have been measured from it. When an Excel® external
properties file is attached to a drawing in iTWO costX® it automatically gets locked as read-only, and
cannot subsequently be edited and re-attached.

If it is desired to add additional properties to the same drawing after import or measurement of
dimensions, there are two options:

1) delete the existing Dimension Groups and re-measure them after updating the properties. If the
dimensions were based on BIM imports this can be done relatively easily. To update the properties, either
delete the existing external properties file and create a new one, or copy the existing read-only file and
edit the copy. Then open the drawing properties and attach the new or edited file.

2) add a Building Revision and promote the drawing file, using the same drawing file but with updated
user-defined properties. This process is described in 3D Drawing Revisions.

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6.16 Cost Coding a BIM Model

By entering cost codes into a BIM model, it is possible to use a model map in combination with a rate library
(as described in Rate Descriptions in workbooks) to automatically generate a priced estimate complete
with item descriptions by following a few simple steps. The process is as follows:

§ Create a Rate Library complete with item descriptions and rates. Each rate item will have a unique code.

§ Add user-defined properties to the BIM model. Insert the appropriate cost code from the Rate Library
into the BIM Schedule against the relevant object in the model.

§ Define a model map which uses the cost codes to name the Dimension Groups.

§ Import the BIM dimensions using the model map.

§ Generate a workbook from the Dimension Groups. Select “Rate Description” in the "Description From"
box and check the Live Quantity Link and Live Rate Link boxes (See Rate Descriptions in workbooks).

§ Check the other boxes as required (eg. Expand Live Rate Links if the rates have build-ups).

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§ Click OK and a workbook will be generated which uses the quantities from the model and the
descriptions and rates from the Rate Library to create the estimate.

Note that if you do not have a Rate Library, one can automatically be created as follows:

§ Create a Rate Library but at this stage do not create any rate items, leave the library empty.
§ Follow the remaining steps as detailed above.
§ When generating the workbook, check the Create Missing Rates box. The workbook will be generated
without any descriptions or rates, but at the same time the Rate Library will be automatically populated
with a blank rate item for each object in the model.
§ Go to System Administration, open the Rate Library and edit the new rate items to include descriptions
and rates. It may be quicker to export the library to Excel® to do this, and then re-import it (See
Importing a Rate Library from Excel® (CSV)).
§ Repeat the process as detailed above.
§ This Rate Library will also be available for all future models. The Create Missing rates box will add
additional items into the rate Library for all new objects in subsequent models.

If the rate items have coded build-ups, the workbook rate functions can be used to analyze the estimate.

By implementing a process similar to that described above, it is possible to co-ordinate Rate Libraries with
model Object libraries to achieve a very high level of automation to the process of generating
comprehensive , fully priced estimates from BIM models.

6.17 Quantities Audit

It is important to note that BIM dimensions are generated from the properties of the model objects that are
visible in the drawing view. A 3D view will capture all objects but with 2D views in Object Mode it is
necessary to have a selection of views from various angles to ensure all objects are visible. A wireframe
view is useful for this purpose.

However, even if all objects are visible, the quantities will only represent objects that the designer has
incorporated into the model. The earlier in the design stage, the greater the number of missing objects,
despite the fact that the 3D view may appear impressively advanced. Therefore, any BIM dimensions
generated at an early stage of the design will not represent the full scope of works of the building because
not all objects have yet been added to the model, ie. the design is incomplete. It is also common for
designers to add additional details and notes onto the 2D sheets, so there may be information on the
sheets that has not been added into the data model. Hence when using BIM dimensions, it is critical to
identify the missing scope items so that additional quantities and items can be measured and priced in the
workbook to make proper allowance for the work yet to be designed.

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Review Dimensions

When Dimension Groups or Folders are selected either individually or cumulatively (by holding the Ctrl key
and clicking on them), the dimensions are highlighted in green on the drawing view and may be reviewed.

The drawing view can also be filtered or set to Transparent to assist in identifying the location of objects.
There are also right click menu options to Isolate Dimension Group or the Dimensions tab can be opened
and individual dimensions may be isolated.

The data displayed in the Dimensions tab can also be configured as required. Click on the * button and
check the required fields.

Additional Measurement

Instead of a single 3D view, a multi-view DWF/DWFx™ containing a 3D view and a set of 2D views and
sheets (plans and elevations) can be imported. The BIM dimensions are taken from the 3D view, and then
additional quantities can be added to the BIM dimensions by creating new Dimension Groups and Folders
and measuring from the various views and sheets either in Object Mode or manually in 3D or 2D in Vector
mode.

Additional DWF/DWFx™ , DWG™ , PDF or image files can also be added at any time to augment the model
data and to form a basis for additional measurement.

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6.18 Drawing Sets

When a multi-view DWF/DWFx™ is added to iTWO costX®, the component views and sheets are defined as
a Drawing Set. This means that object-based dimensions imported from any view or sheet also display in all
the other views and sheets in the set.

It is also possible to add disparate views and sheets from the same model as separate DWF/DWFx™ files
and then subsequently bind them together as a Drawing Set so that objects previously imported in one
view display on all the newly added related views. This only applies to imported BIM dimensions, not to
measured dimensions.

Sets created automatically are named using the name prefix in the Drawing Properties. To display Drawing
Sets, click the Drawing Sets button.

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To bind together separate DWF/DWFx™ files from the same model into a Drawing Set, firstly add the new
drawings. Then click the Drawing Sets button to open the Drawing Sets box, then click Insert to open the
Drawing Set Properties box. Enter a name for the new Drawing Set and select the drawings to be included
in the set.

BIM dimensions imported from the original drawing will now also display on all the associated newly added
drawings within the Drawing Set. Drawing sets can be created at any time, including after the dimensions
have been imported. This means that if additional drawings are obtained in order to import some
additional dimensions or measure some additional quantities, previously imported BIM dimensions can be
displayed on the new drawings.

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6.19 Duplicate Object IDs

All objects within a BIM model are identified by a GUID – Globally Unique Identifier code. The GUID is used
to match the properties held in the model database, such as dimensions, to the applicable objects
displayed in the drawing view. Normally, every object will have its own unique GUID. However, similar to
X-Refs in 2D CAD drawings, it is possible to link multiple instances of a typical object or group of objects
into a model. If the multiple instances all have the same GUIDs, the dimension properties will only apply to
the original instance, not to the multiplicity of instances. For example, if a typical apartment layout were to
be repeated twenty times in a model, and the GUIDs were duplicated, the quantities would only apply to
one rather than twenty. If a model with duplicate IDs is opened in iTWO costX®, a warning with
recommended action will open as shown below. The RIB document “Digital Drawing Files for Measurement
Purposes – Simple tips for a collaborative approach to improved drawing file intelligence” offers advice to
designers on how to remove duplicate IDs.

The Check BIM Objects button on the Dimensions ribbon will also identify duplicate or unused objects in
Dimension groups.

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6.20 BIM Dimensions – Workbooks

(Not available in iTWO costX® takeoff 2D)

Within the Workbook View, there are a number of different ways the quantities can be transferred to the
workbook.

The first example is to create a workbook in the standard format by basing it on a previous job, then
dragging and dropping the dimension groups into the appropriate cells. Alternatively, if the family names
are going to be used regularly, workbook templates with link formulas to those names may be set up. Rate
libraries linked to those same named items could also be established to automate the pricing process.

Another method is to create a workbook from the dimension groups. To do this click the Add workbook
drop down menu and select Generate Workbook from Dimension Groups.

This will generate a two level workbook with live linked quantities. The dimension group folder names will
be shown on the first level and the dimension group name and quantities will be shown on the second
level.

The quantities can be identified using the right click Show Dimension Group function.

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6.21 3D DWG™ Earthworks files from Mudshark

MudShark from Brightbox Software is a specialist application used to calculate bulk earthworks. Working
from 2D and 3D drawings and CAD files it builds a 3D model defining how the site currently exists and how
it will exist after all earthworks are complete. This information is used to perform simulations of the
earthworks. The end result is a richly visual and very precise representation of cut and fill, stripping,
respread and simple structure foundations. For more information refer to https://brightboxsoftware.com/.

Mudshark has a special 3D DWG™ export configuration specifically designed to interface with iTWO costX®.
The file can be opened in iTWO costX® with all earthworks quantities included as BIM properties.

§ Use the Add Drawings button to add the Mudshark file in the normal way.

§ Open the Model tab to view the data structure within the file.

§ Open the Schedule to view the BIM data from the file.

§ Quantities can be imported either by use of the supplied BIM Template or by creation of a Model Map.

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The 3D DWG™ file needs to be correctly configured in Mudshark for export to iTWO costX®.

§ Prior to export, all required data visibility should be enabled by checking the items in the 3D Site List.

3D Site List in Mudshark

§ Then under the main project menu, select Export> Visible Site and save as a DWG™ file.

Export Visible Settings in Mudshark

§ The DWG™ file can then be opened in iTWO costX®.

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7 Extended Dimension Group Properties

7.1 Measured Dimensions Tab
Under Dimension Group Properties, fields such as Default Height enable derived quantities such as volume
or wall area to be automatically calculated as a product of the measured area or length dimensions
multiplied by the default height value entered.

The Measured Dimensions tab provides additional fields in which dimension group expressions and values
can be entered to calculate additional quantities derived from measured or manually entered properties.

The Measured Dimensions tab is very similar to the BIM Dimensions tab, except that it specifies the
expressions that will be used for non-BIM dimensions measured using line or point mode take-off and for
manual dimensions, whereas the BIM Dimensions tab specifies the expressions that will be used for object
(BIM) dimensions.

When a dimension group is created, certain available fields will be pre-populated with default expressions,
determined by the measurement mode of the dimension group. If the measurement mode of an existing
dimension group is changed, the default expressions will also change.

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The default expressions are as follows:

Default Expressions

Count Dimensions Length Dimensions Area Dimensions Volume Dimensions

Fields Multiplier Use Default Multiplier Use Default Multiplier Use Default Multiplier Use Default Multiplier
Count [Count] [Count] [Count] 1
Length {Count}*{Height} [Length] [Length]

Width Use Default Width Use Default Width Use Default Width Use Default Width
Height Use Default Height Use Default Height Use Default Height Use Default Height
Offset Use Default Offset Use Default Offset Use Default Offset Use Default Offset
Area {Length}*{Width} [Area]

Wall Area {Length}*{Height} {Length}*{Height}

Volume {Area}*{Height} {Area}*{Height}

7.2 Dimension Group Expressions

Dimension group expressions are formulas entered into the fields in the BIM Dimensions and Measured
Dimensions tabs of the Dimension Group Properties. An expression can contain many components:
dimension fields, functions, constants, custom quantities, variables, etc. When constructing expressions,
you must use a period (.) as the decimal separator and a comma (,) as the parameter delimiter, no matter
what the actual symbol is in your locale. The Dimension Group Expressions section in iTWO costX® Help
provides detailed guidelines on how to develop your own expressions.

For ease of entry of expressions, an Expression Editor can be opened by clicking the ellipsis button to the
right of each Field in the BIM Dimensions and Measured Dimensions tabs of the Dimension Group
Properties. The editor will open ready to enter expressions for the selected Field. Alternate Fields can also
be selected from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog.

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The tabs in the lower section of the dialog contain all the data that can be referenced in an expression. To
select an item in one of the tabs, double-click the item or drag it to the expression box, and it will be
inserted into the current expression at the current cursor position. Enter the required operator between
each of the items to complete the expression formula.

The Expression Editor comes with built-in syntax highlighting, which displays various components of an
expression (such as functions, variables, brackets and dimension fields) in different colors. It is also
possible to find matching brackets using CTRL-SHIFT-B, which will toggle the cursor between the matching
open and close brackets. If the expression entered into the editor is invalid owing to the absence of an
operator, a bracket or similar, a red border will display around the expression box.

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7.3 Custom Quantities

Custom Quantities give you the option to create custom fields on dimension groups to calculate additional
quantities. You can create Custom Quantities specific to a dimension group in its Dimension Group
Properties. You can also set up frequently used Custom Quantities in System Administration, and then
reuse them across standard dimension groups and dimension groups in various Buildings and Projects. A
CSV file of Custom Quantities can also be imported directly into System Administration. For detailed
information on how to set up or import Custom Quantities in System Administration, refer to the Custom
Quantities section in iTWO costX® Help.

Custom Quantities can be added to a dimension group by using the Insert button outlined in red below.
When adding a Custom Quantity, you can either enter a new Custom Quantity name or select it from the
drop-down list, which displays both the Custom Quantities from System Administration and from other
dimension groups in the same building.

Once the name of a Custom Quantity is defined on the Custom Quantities tab, a new field with the defined
name will be added to the BIM Dimensions and Measured Dimensions tabs, where you can enter an
expression to specify how the value of the Custom Quantity is to be calculated. If a previously defined
Custom Quantity is selected in the Name field, the UOM field and the corresponding fields added to the
BIM Dimensions and Measured Dimensions tabs will be automatically populated with the UOM and
expression(s) defined for that Custom Quantity.

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7.4 Variables
Variables are used in dimension group expressions as placeholders for values that might change from
dimension to dimension. A variable can be dynamically assigned a value by user input, and therefore
allows the calculation of quantities to be based on the user’s response to the question posed by the
variable.

Types of Variables

There are two types of variables in iTWO costX: Standard Variables and Dimension Group Variables.

Standard Variables can be set up in System Administration and are available to all dimension groups and
Standard dimension groups (i.e. they can be reused across Buildings and Projects), while Dimension Group
Variables are only available to the dimension groups in which they are defined. If a Standard Variable is
referenced by any expression, a copy of the referenced Standard Variable is created and stored with the
relevant dimension group. In other words, a Dimension Group Variable is automatically created based on
the referenced Standard Variable. Although these two variables share the same name, they are treated as
different variables. Editing the properties of one does not affect the other.

For both types of variables, you must specify a default value and a data type for each variable. Setting a
default value saves you from the need to specify variable values for the most common cases.

The data type of a variable determines the kind of data the variable can hold. You can assign one of the
following data types to the variable.

Data Type Description

Number Allows users to assign a value to the variable by entering a number.

Selection Allows users to assign a value to the variable by selecting the value from a list
of pre-defined options.

Boolean Allows users to assign a True or False value to the variable by selecting it from a
True/False dropdown.

Using Variables in Dimension Group Properties

When constructing expressions in Dimension Group Properties, you can set up both types of variables
directly from the Dimension Group Expression Editor. To create a new variable, click the Insert button in the
Variables tab of the Editor and insert the details in the Variable Properties dialog. If the Add Standard
Variable checkbox at the bottom of the dialog is unticked, the variable will be created as a Dimension
Group Variable. If the checkbox is ticked, the variable will be created both on the dimension group and as a
Standard Variable. A Folder field will appear below the checkbox, allowing you to select which folder in the
Standard Variables section of System Administration that you want to add the Standard Variable to.

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To reference a variable within an expression, you can use the XVAR(), XTEXTVAR(), or XNUMBERVAR()
function. These three functions use the same syntax, which takes the variable name as the single
argument. For example, to use the variable “Excavation Depth” and the Area field to calculate the volume
of excavated material, the expression can be written as XVAR(“Excavation Depth”)*{Area}. The difference
between these three functions is that XVAR() will try to work out whether it is better to return the result of
the variable as a number or text, whereas XTEXTVAR() and XNUMBERVAR() will force the result to be
treated as text and a number respectively. For more detailed information about these functions, refer to
the Using Variables in Expressions topic in iTWO costX® Help.

It is possible to use an undefined variable in the expression as you will be prompted to create it when you
click the Update button in the (Standard) Dimension Group Properties dialog. However, the easiest way is
to define the variable first before referencing it. By doing this, you don't need to manually type in the
variable or worry about the syntax rules for variables. Simply double-click the variable or variable value
that you want to reference in the Variables tab of the expression editor, and the selected item will be
inserted into the current expression with the correct syntax.

After a variable is referenced by a dimension group expression, depending on the setting of its Scope field,
the variable value can be set on a per-dimension-group or a per-dimension basis.

If the Scope field of the variable is set to “Set per Dimension”, a default value for the variable can be set
using the Variables tab in Dimension Group Properties. Dimensions measured into the dimension group
will use this variable value by default. However, the variable value can be changed individually for each
dimension using the Variables tab in Dimension Properties.

If the Scope field of the variable is set to “Set on Dimension Group”, the variable will not appear in the
Variables tab in Dimension Properties. You can only change the variable value using the Variables tab in
Dimension Group Properties, and all dimensions in the dimension group will use the same variable value.
It is possible to use the custom function XGETDIMGROUPVAR() in workbooks to establish live links to values

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of variables whose scope is “Set on Dimension Group”. For detailed information about the
XGETDIMGROUPVAR() function, refer to the XGETDIMGROUPVAR() topic for workbooks in iTWO costX®
Help.

In the variables list in Dimension Group Properties, variables with different scopes can be differentiated by
the icon at the right end of each variable. Variables whose value can be set per dimension use the
dimension icon ( ), whereas variables whose value can only be set on dimension group use the dimension
group icon ( ), as shown in the example below.

Editing Variable Properties for Multiple Dimension Groups

The right-click menu on dimension groups has an Edit Variable Properties option which can be used to edit
the properties of a variable for multiple dimension groups. For example, if you needed to add a new option
in a selection list for a particular variable. This option launches the following dialog, which lists all the
variables referenced by the dimension groups that are selected. Simply choose the required variable, click
Next to edit its properties, and then click Update to apply your changes to all the selected dimension
groups that reference the variable. The changes will not cascade to existing dimensions in the dimension
groups – they will only be applied to new dimensions.

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Bulk Changing Variable Values for Multiple Dimensions

You can set variable values for individual dimensions during take-off or update the values after take-off.
For detailed information on how to set variable values during take-off, refer to the Dimension Takeoff with
Variables topic in iTWO costX® Help.

If values for dimension variables are updated after take-off, the quantities will be automatically
recalculated and updated. You can mass update variable values for multiple dimensions in the same
dimension group.

· For variables that have their scope set to "Set on Dimension Group", simply change their values using
the Variables tab in Dimension Group Properties, and all dimensions in the dimension group will use
the selected variable value. See the Using Variables in Dimension Group Properties section above for
more details.

· For variables that have their scope set to "Set per Dimension", follow the steps below to make a mass
update:

1. Select the required dimensions from the same dimension group, and then choose the Change
Variable Values option from the dimensions right-click menu or from the Change drop-down
menu on the Dimensions ribbon.

2. The Change Variable Values dialog is displayed, listing all the variables that are referenced by the
selected dimensions. Select a new value for the required variables, and then click OK.

NOTE: If a variable has the same value in all of the selected dimensions, its value will be
displayed in the value field. For variables that have different values in the selected
dimensions, their value field will display “<Multiple Selections>” for Selection type variables,
“<Multiple Values>” for Boolean type variables, and a blank value for Number type variables, as
shown above. It is possible to specify a new value for a variable even if it has different values
in the selected dimensions.

The new value will be applied to all the selected dimensions that reference the variable.

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8 Zones
8.1 Use of Zones
Zones allow the capturing of measurements against specific attributes, such as different departments,
basement, podium, tower, or Stage 1, Stage 2, etc. This eliminates the need to have a separate building for
each cost center. Zones are grouped by zone categories. Each dimension can be associated with up to 8
different zone categories at the same time.

8.2 Creation of Zones

Zones are created at the Building level using the Zones tab in Building Properties. New zones can be added
at any time in Building Properties and existing zoned dimensions can be re-allocated.

Zones can be added either manually or by selecting from the Standard Zones in System Administration.
Each zone must have a zone name and a description. Zone names must be unique within the same category,
but they can repeat across categories. The maximum length of a zone name is 100 characters.

8.3 Measuring Zones

Prior to measuring a dimension, select the required zone from each zone category in the Zone Selection Bar
above the drawing window (shown below).

Once one or more zones are selected, all measurements taken from then on are assigned to the selected
zones. A different zone can be selected at any time, in which case all subsequent dimensions will be
assigned to the new zone. If working with multiple zones, try to ensure that dimensions are captured in the
correct zone otherwise they will have to be changed afterwards.

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8.4 Setting Default Zones for Drawings

You can set default zones for a drawing by using the Zones tab in its Drawing Properties. The Zones tab is
enabled when there are zones in the current Building and it only shows the Zone Categories that contain
zones. You can select a zone from each Zone Category as the default zone for the drawing. Fields in the
Zone Selection Bar above the drawing window will default to the selection made here each time you open
the drawing.

When measuring from the drawing, it is possible to select a zone other than the default from any Zone
Category in the Zone Selection Bar. However, Zone Categories in the Zone Selection Bar will be restored to
their defaults if the drawing is closed and reopened.

To prevent a default zone from being changed, click the padlock button to its right. Its parent Zone
Category will be locked in both the Drawing Properties and the Zone Selection Bar, and all dimensions on
the drawing will be locked to the default zone. If any existing dimension on the drawing uses a different
zone for the locked Zone Category, the dimension must be updated to use the default zone.

If you do not wish to set a default zone on the drawing for a certain Zone Category, select "<Do Not
Change>" from the Zone Category in the Zones tab. The Zone Category will be set to either of the
following in the Zone Selection Bar each time you open the drawing:

· If the drawing is the first drawing opened in the Building, the Zone Category will be set to "<Blank>" or
the first non-blank zone depending on whether it is a required Zone Category (i.e. whether it allows
the <Blank> zone to be used).

· If there are other drawings already opened in the Building, the Zone Category will use the same setting
as was set on the last opened drawing.

NOTE: When a Zone Category is set to "<Blank>" or "<Do Not Change>" in the Zones tab, the padlock
button to its right is disabled and the Zone Category cannot be locked.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Zones

8.5 Changing Zones

The zone of a dimension or a dimension group can be changed from the right mouse click menu.

8.6 Zone Filters

The filter button to the right of each zone category allows viewing of a selected zone to check correct
dimension allocation and verify zone content.

If more than one tab is open and one tab has dimension group filtering applied (including Zone filtering for
the Dimension View tab), the filters are not synced and the filter only applies to the tab it is on.

8.7 Zones in Workbooks

Once zones are set up and dimensions have been taken in the required zones, live linked information in
workbooks can be filtered according to the required zones. For more details, see Using Zones in a
Workbook.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

9 Rate Libraries

(Not available in iTWO costX® takeoff versions)

Through the use of Rate Libraries, it is possible to link items measured in an estimate to rates in a library. As
a result, the rate cell in the workbook may be populated with an “XGetRate” formula and shown in green
(live-linked). When Rate Libraries get updated, all “XGetRate” cells will automatically update (unless
locked). If rates are to be manually amended, then simply overwrite the formula by entering the rate.

Rate Libraries may be created from scratch by using the Insert button and manually creating the individual
rate items, or can be imported in a variety of formats. Under System Administration, select Costing > Rate
Libraries > Import.

All rates are assigned to a Location and only rates with the same Location as the active Project, or rates in
<Default Location>, can be accessed from workbooks.

This section describes how to manage Rate Libraries in System Administration. For details about how to use
Rate Libraries in workbooks, refer to the Using Rate Libraries in a Workbook section below.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

9.1 Manually Creating a Rate Library

To manually create a Rate Library, enter System Administration. Click the Rate Libraries button under
Costing and select Insert. In the dialog enter a name for the Rate Library and select the upper Insert button
to save the Rate Library to the system.

Reopen this new Rate Library by double clicking on it or by clicking Edit. When the Rate Library is open,
select the Insert button to create rate items.

Enter the code for the rate and set the location. Make sure the location is the same as the project location
you wish to use it in. <Default Location> can be accessed by all projects, ie. all locations.

The description may be as brief or detailed as you wish. When the rate is added to a workbook, the
description can be brought in at the same time so having comprehensive descriptions can be worthwhile.
The rate group is optional but will allow multiple rates to be grouped together for organizational purposes,
which can be very helpful with extensive Rate Libraries. The unit of measure can be typed in or selected
from the drop-down list. The rate can be directly entered as a numerical value, or the rate calculation icon
clicked on to insert a rate build-up.

To complete the rate calculation, click Update; and to add the rate to the Rate Library, select the Insert
button.

Double clicking a rate in the Rates tab (under the Workbooks list) directly opens the rate for editing without
having to open System Administration.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

9.2 Importing a Rate Library from Excel® (CSV)

iTWO costX® has the capability to import a price list or set of rates into an iTWO costX® rate library from a
formatted text file. The standard formatted text file is a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file in which items
are placed one per line and the attributes (code, description, etc) are separated by commas. Excel®
spreadsheets can be exported as CSV files so this is the method by which rate libraries held in Excel® can be
imported into iTWO costX®.

Within Excel® the rate list you wish to import must be in a specific format. Each rate must be on a separate
line, and each line must include rate data in the following order of columns:

Item Code, Description, Rate Group, UOM, Rate, Location

No headings defining the fields are required. Rates should be entered from the first line. The Item Code is
the only mandatory field. Fields that are blank (except Location) cannot be omitted, ie. must be left blank.

Additional fields after the Location field are ignored.

Rates that contain letters or other illegal characters are imported as zero (0).

Rate build-ups can be included in Excel® CSV imports/exports, in which case an additional column is
inserted on the left with an item code I for the line item, immediately followed by B for the associated
Build-Up items. See Rate Build-Ups for more details.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

Once the Excel® sheet is correctly formatted it should be “Saved As” “Other Formats” and saved as a .csv
(Comma delimited) file, then you can import it into iTWO costX®.

To import a CSV rate library, in the Rate Libraries section of System Administration, select the Import iTWO
costX CSV option from the drop-down menu under the Import button.

The Import CSV Price List dialog is displayed (shown below).

Select the CSV Price List File (.CSV) you wish to import and click Open.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

The Rate Library Properties dialog is displayed (shown below).

The Rate Library Name field represents the name of the new rate library into which the data will be
imported. When the CSV Price List File is selected, the file name is automatically filled in, however the
name can be changed or edited if required.

The Location drop down selection list is a mandatory field and specifies which location the rates refer to.
This is then used to determine which rates to use when rates are live-linked in workbooks. If the selected
CSV Price List File contains a location for every rate, this field is not required and is therefore not displayed.

Notes may also be added to the rate library in order to easily identify it at a later time. By default, the notes
field contains a small message about the import including the file it was imported from. Click the OK button
to start the import.
Rate libraries can also be exported to CSV with the Export to CSV option under the Export button. This can
be used to export, copy and edit, (for example to a different Location) and then re-import rate libraries,
The name of the re-import must be different to the existing library, or alternatively delete the existing rate
library before re-importing the amended version if it is to be over-written.

The Update button allows a selected Rate Library to be updated with data from a CSV file.

When updating a Rate Library from CSV, you can choose to use one of the following update modes:
· Add and Update only - This option can only be used to add new rates or update existing rates. When
this option is used, iTWO costX® compares the contents of the CSV update with the existing Rate
Library, and applies new or revised data to the existing Rate Library. The update process does not
remove any rate.
· Delete existing rates before importing - This option removes all of the existing rates in the selected
Rate Library, and adds all rates in the CSV update file to the Rate Library.

Rate libraries can also be exported as an iTWO costX® EXF file for archival purposes or to share with other
iTWO costX® users.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

Text File Formatting

The format of the CSV file is critical to the successful import.

· Each rate must be on a separate line.

· Each line must include the attributes of a rate delimited by commas in the order:
Item Code, Description, Rate Group, UOM, Rate, Location
· No heading row defining the fields is required. Rates should be entered from the first line.
· The Item Code is the only mandatory field.
· Blank fields are denoted by entering no text or spaces between the commas.
eg. AA23.4,Timber,,m,23.44
· Fields that are blank (except location) cannot be omitted. Each line must contain at least 4 commas.
· Additional fields after the sixth (Location) field are ignored.
· Rate must be a number in the format typically used for $.
ie. 1,000,000.00 or 1000000.00
· Rates that contain letters or other illegal characters are imported as zero (0).
· Any attributes that contain commas, must be surrounded by double quotes.
eg. AA23.4,Timber flooring,"Timber, Hardware",m,"1,023.44","New York"
· Double quotes that are part of the string must be repeated to distinguish them from the quotes that
surround the string.
eg. "AA,23 1", "Tim""ber floor" would be broken down into the attributes:
· AA,23 1
· Tim"ber floor

The following text is an example of a small CSV price list in text format for import.
a11,Chipboard flooring,Timber,m2,"1,222.23","Sydney"
f34.1,Hammers,"Timber, Hardware",no,100,Melbourne
"s1 3","Hardwood",Timber,in,435.66
e1-12,Paint,"Paint and glue",ft2,1.004,"Los Angeles"
"AA108","Pine Lengths > 5m",Timber,m,36.4484

9.3 Copying Rates

A Copy button in Rate Library Properties will create a new rate based on a copy of an existing rate.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

9.4 Rate Build-Ups

Rate values may be built up or calculated in the Rate Calculation spreadsheet which is accessed by clicking
the spreadsheet button in the Rate field of the Rate Properties box.

Note that when in the Rate Calculation sheet it is possible to insert a rate (right click and select “Insert
Rate”) from another library to create a hierarchy. For example, a rate calculation could include labor or
material rates from other libraries. If the labor item is updated in the labor library, the rate calculation in
this library is automatically updated when the rate library is recalculated.

Rate build-ups can be included in Excel® CSV imports/exports, in which case an additional column is
inserted on the left with an item code I for the line item, immediately followed by B for the associated
Build-Up items.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

9.5 Project-Specific Rate Libraries

If it is required to edit particular rates in the library for a specific project, copy the library and re-name it
with the name of the project, then edit the copy. To limit the number of libraries in the database, the
project libraries can be exported and filed with the project files.

9.6 Importing Buildsoft Price List

There are various options when importing a price list from Buildsoft.

The Import Trades To option allows the BS trades to be imported into either the description or rate group
columns in the iTWO costX® Rate Library.

If the BS rate build-up has separate labor and material columns, these will be aggregated into the iTWO
costX® rate column as two separate line items. The Add LM Codes checkbox will insert LAB and MAT codes
into the iTWO costX® rate calculation sheet and these can be used for coding purposes (Refer to Using Code
Libraries in a Workbook).

The @@ References option allows BS job references to Global Sheet items to be imported either as
numbers or as an XGETVALUE formula which creates a link to an iTWO costX® Value. By checking the Add
Missing Values box, an iTWO costX® Value is automatically created for each @@ reference.

These are created as iTWO costX® Global Values, which the user can then edit as Project Values by creating
a Project Value using the same Value name.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Rate Libraries

9.7 Import BCIS® Schedule of Rates

Subscribers to the BCIS® may download an abstract Schedule of Rates as a CSV file which can be directly
imported into iTWO costX® as a Rate Library.

Firstly create the abstract, then download as a CSV. Save the CSV file to a suitable location.

Then use the Import button in the Rate Libraries dialog to import the CSV file into iTWO costX®.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Phraseologies

10 Phraseologies

(Not available in iTWO costX® takeoff versions)

The Phraseologies section in System Administration can be used to create model descriptions for use in
workbooks. It is typically used when descriptions in a workbook are required to be in a prescribed format,
e.g., to be in accordance with a Standard Method of Measurement.

Phraseologies support formatting per level including bold, italics, underline as well as font and font size.
Phraseology text retains the format set when dragged and dropped to a workbook.

Rate codes can also be associated with phrases in Phraseologies so that when the phrase is dragged and
dropped to the workbook, the associated rate is automatically live linked in the rate column.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Phraseologies

10.1 Dragging Phrases into an Estimate

You can quickly and easily drag phrases in Phraseologies to a workbook from the Phraseologies tab, found
in the workbooks Drag and Drop Window.

Click on the text to select it, and hold the Ctrl key to select multiple text strings to build detailed
descriptions. Release the Ctrl key, and drag and drop the text into the workbook. Each string of a multiple
selection will be placed on a separate line. To combine the strings into a single description, move the
cursor to the destination cell, then hold the Alt key, move the cursor slightly so that the blue highlighted
cells compress to a single cell, then click.

When joining text using the ALT key, it is possible to choose which separator character to use between the
words or phrases. The default is for the separator to be a space. Use the Click for Options and Filtering
button in the Drag and Drop Window. In the Separator box, insert the required separator character.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Phraseologies

10.2 Import Phraseology via CSV file

Phraseologies can be created in Excel® and imported into iTWO costX® via CSV files.

The format of the Excel® file is as follows:

· Column A; Item code (Optional)

· Column B; Unit of Measure (only inserted against the lowest level description)

· Column C; Rate Code (Optional)

· Column D; Main Heading (highest level description)

· Column E onwards; Headings, sub-headings, descriptions, etc. each on a consecutive row and placed
sequentially in Columns E,F,G etc. to form branches in the Phraseologies tab tree structure.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Phraseologies

Once the Excel® sheet is correctly formatted it should be “Saved As” “Other Formats” and saved as a .csv
(Comma delimited) file, then you can import it into iTWO costX®.

Phraseologies can also be edited in iTWO costX®.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Phraseologies

10.3 Import BCIS® Schedule of Rates as a Phraseology

Subscribers to the BCIS® may download an abstract Schedule of Rates as a CSV file which can be directly
imported into iTWO costX® as a Phraseology.

Firstly create the abstract, then download as a CSV. Save the CSV file to a suitable location.

Then use the Import button in the Phraseologies dialog to import the CSV file into iTWO costX®. Selecting
the Create Rate Library checkbox will create an associated rate library with the Phraseology. Formatting
options can be selected now, or later by opening the Phraseology and editing the options.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Values and Constants

11 Values and Constants

11.1 Values
(Not available in iTWO costX® takeoff versions)

Values can represent any variable numeric amount that you wish to reference in workbooks. For example,
Values may represent mark-up allowances, percentage factors, GFA values, and even boolean values that
are used in conditional 'If' functions in workbooks (use 1 and 0 to represent true and false). Values can be
dragged and dropped from the Values list into your estimate (such as the Factor column in workbook Cost
or Rate sheets), and will then be live-linked so will update in the estimate when they are adjusted.

Values can be established on a Global or Project basis, or both. Global Values are created in System
Administration. Project values can be assigned as a Project Property at any time. If given the same name,
Project Values take precedence over Global Values. Hence, a Global Value can be established at a default
amount with live-links pre-established in workbook templates, but can then be overwritten as a Project
Value for specific projects.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Values and Constants

11.2 Constants
Constants can represent any fixed numeric amount that you wish to reference in workbooks. For example,
Constants may represent steelwork weights/m or surface area/m, roof pitch factors, or the like. Constants
are live-linked, so they will update in workbooks when they are adjusted.

Constants can be entered individually using the Insert button or may be imported as a list via an Excel® CSV
file. Each constant must be on a separate line and must include the attributes of the constant delimited by
commas in the order: Name, Value, UOM, Folder. Refer to the iTWO costX® Help topic “Importing Constants
From CSV” for more details.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

12 Workbooks

(Not available in iTWO costX® takeoff versions)

This section assumes that you are familiar with the basics of workbooks, as described in the Workbooks
section of the iTWO costX® Introductory Manual. This section provides supplemental information about the
various functions of workbooks.

12.1 Adding Workbooks

The drop-down menu under the Add workbook button contains several options.

Add Workbook: Creates a new workbook which may be blank or based on an existing workbook in the same
or another Project, Building or Revision. The User Columns may be re-named in the Column Names tab.
Workbook Properties may be viewed and edited by double-clicking on the workbook name or by using the
Properties button.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

Copy Workbook: Copies the current workbook. The copy requires a different name.

Subcontractor Workbooks: Refer to the iTWO costX® Subcontractor Comparison manual.

Generate Workbook Grouped by Code: Refer to Using Codes and Zones in a Workbook.

Generate Workbook from Dimension Groups: Creates a workbook with Dimension Group Folders at level 1
and Dimension Groups at level 2. This can be useful to replicate the measurement format in the workbook
or if you require a copy of the Dimension Groups, for referencing or for checking. It does not generate
workbook items for zero quantity Dimension Groups. Also see Cost Coding a BIM Model and Rate
Descriptions in workbooks regarding the use of cost-coded Dimension Groups to auto-generate priced
estimates.

Generate Workbook Reverted to Source Format: This will revert a workbook grouped by code back to its
original format.

Restore Workbook from previous Revision: Refer to Workbook Tools.

Import options: Imports the nominated file converted to iTWO costX® workbook format.

Import Quote from EXQ: Refer to the iTWO costX® Viewer Guide.

Import Workbook from CXF: Imports data from the CostWeb online Construction Cost Information Service.

Import Workbook from Excel: Refer to the Importing Workbook Data from Excel topic in iTWO costX Help.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

12.2 Workbook Tools

The Workbooks ribbon contains a selection of tools and functions.

A right-click contextual menu also provides various options. Cell formulas and values can be copied, and
multiple cells in a row or column can be selected by dragging the mouse and then copied into multiple rows
or columns.

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References (audit tool)

This can be used to check whether and where Dimension Groups have or have not been used by providing
useful “Unused Dimension Groups”, “Used Dimension Groups” and “Zero” values (quantity and cost, ie.
unpriced items) listings.

Recalculate

The Recalculate button is used to refresh all workbook data, for example after live-linked data such as
dimensions, rates, etc have been amended. When a workbook is recalculated, an Invalid Links warning
identifies which cells contain a link formula for which there is no source data (eg. a Dimension Group with
no quantities, or an empty rate library item). An iTWO costX® option exists to automatically recalculate a
workbook prior to printing a report (refer to iTWO costX® Options).

Locking

Workbooks may be locked under the Properties button (or double click on Workbook name) – check the
“locked” box. This is good practice upon completion of the work and is an alternative to promoting if there
will be no further revisions. If files are to be exported for viewing it is good practice to lock or promote
them.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

Cell Protection

Workbook cells may be locked to retain data. Use the button on the Workbook ribbon for
individual or groups of cells (hold left mouse click to select groups of cells).

To protect linkage to sub-sheets, select “Protect Hierarchy” from the right mouse click menu.

The “Highlighting” button highlights either formula cells or protected cells.

Convert Live Links to Static Values

A right-click menu option on the Workbooks list will convert live links in the selected workbook to static
values.

Rounding Options and Decimals Display

iTWO costX® can be set to default round up or round down at install in Server Administration (network
version) or in iTWO costX® Options (standalone). The default decimal places to display for each workbook
column can also be set separately for Quantity and Rate sheets in iTWO costX® Options.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

Workbook Functions

Live links into a workbook cell can be created for a wide range of functions either by clicking the “Function”
button on the Workbooks ribbon or right mouse click “Insert Function”. Refer to the Help files for
definitions of Workbook Standard and Custom Functions.

The Exclude Quantities button can tag a Quantity value in a Cost sub-sheet so that it does not get included
in the quantity column value rolled up into the parent sheet Quantity cell (XSUMTOTQTY()). Select the cell
to be excluded and then click the button.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

HLOOKUP and VLOOKUP Functions in Workbooks

These functions exist in Microsoft® Excel® and now work in iTWO costX® in the same way, with the
exception that iTWO costX® does not support named ranges and so functionality in Excel® requiring named
ranges is not supported. Their function is to search for specific information; HLOOKUP searches for data in
rows and VLOOKUP searches for data in columns.

The HLOOKUP function searches for a value in the top row of a table or an array of values, and then returns
a value in the same column from a row you specify in the table or array. The formula takes three arguments:
the value to search for, the range or array of cells to search in, and the row in the array from which to return
the result. It searches for the stipulated value in the first row of the array, and returns the corresponding
value from the specified row on the same column of the array.

=HLOOKUP(3,A1:E4,3) returns "Third"

=HLOOKUP("B",A2:E4,3) returns "Beta"
=HLOOKUP(A6,A1:E4,4,FALSE) returns the #N/A! error as there is no exact match in row 1 for the search
value in cell A6
=HLOOKUP(A6,A1:E4,4,TRUE) returns "Delta" as 4 in row 1 is the largest value less than the search value in
cell A6

The VLOOKUP function can be used to search the first column of a range of cells, and then return a value
from any cell on the same row of the range. The formula takes three arguments: the value to search for, the
range or array of cells to search in, and the column in the array from which to return the result. It searches
for the stipulated value in the first column of the array, and returns the corresponding value from the
specified column on the same row of the array.

=VLOOKUP(3,A1:D5,3) returns "Third"

=VLOOKUP("B",B1:D5,3) returns "Beta"
=VLOOKUP(F1,A1:D5,4,FALSE) returns the #N/A! error as there is no exact match in column A for the search
value in cell F1
=VLOOKUP(F1,A1:D5,4,TRUE) returns "Epsilon" as 5 in column A is the largest value less than the search
value in cell F1

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

Secondary Quantities

iTWO costX® workbooks can automatically display secondary quantities appended to workbook
descriptions, such as the area of a slab measured by volume, or the lengths of steel members measured by
tonnage. This feature is controlled by a simple right mouse click command in the cost sheet (thus allowing
multiple cells to be selected), or the Secondary Quantities tab in the Qty sheet. The Exclude Row button
allows rows to be selected for exclusion from the secondary calculation.

Generate Codes

The report writing functions in iTWO costX® can automatically generate page reference codes for line items
and these can be written back into the workbook. However sometimes it may be desired to generate line
item reference codes within a workbook without having to print a report. This can be done with the
Generate Codes button which allows a variety of coding formats to be generated automatically and written
into the workbook. A dialog box opens enabling the settings for the code generation to be entered.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

Adding Tagged Notes to Workbooks

Notes can be attached to workbook cells and tagged with a red marker. Select the cell to receive the Note
and then click the Add Note button. A dialog box opens enabling the text to be entered, tagged to the
target cell. All Notes can be viewed in a summary. Right-click menu options also allow notes to be added
and edited.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

12.3 Workbook Values (Named Cells)

Cells within workbooks may be named so that they can be referenced via a live link by other cells in the
workbook, or in other workbooks. This is done by right clicking on the subject cell and selecting “Name
Cell”.

The named cell is then listed in the ‘Workbook Values” tab under the dimension groups from where it can
be dragged and dropped into any other workbook in any Building, Project or Revision.

To locate the source of a Named cell, right click on the value in the list to “Show Named Cell”.

The list may also be searched and filtered by use of the Click to Show/Hide Filter button.

The named cell feature enables composite summaries of figures from multiple Buildings to be collected in
a single summary workbook. All Projects in the database will be listed under Workbook Values with the
current Project listed first by default. Expand the required Project to show available Buildings and then
expand the required Building to show available workbooks. Available named Cells will be listed under their
host workbooks.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Workbooks

12.4 Using Code Libraries in a Workbook

Code Libraries allow sorting and creation of workbooks by codes. When working in a workbook, you can use
codes on cost sheets, eg. to categorize estimate line items by element or trade; on quantity sheets to
differentiate quantities eg. by location; and on rate sheets or in Rate Libraries to sort rate items eg. by
labor, plant or material.

Codes can also be combined with zones to add another parameter to the quantities captured. This enables
the workbooks to be further analysed.

Setting up Code Libraries

Code Libraries can be set up under System Administration. It is possible to export and import EXF file Code
Libraries and import Code Libraries from Excel® CSV files.

A Code Library can have unlimited levels of grouping hierarchy. Each level supports a code and a
description. The code must be unique within the same Code Library and it is this code that is placed in the
workbook or Rate Library for iTWO costX® to reference. It is advisable to avoid using non alphanumeric
characters (& * # – %) in the code. Alphanumeric codes are clearer and preferred.

Code Libraries are listed under the Codes tab in the Workbooks Drag and Drop Window. Right-click the
Code Library name to edit the Code Library or insert a new parent-level code, and right-click a code item to
edit the code. To add a child code, right-click a sibling code that shares the same parent as the code you
wish to insert and select the Insert Code option.

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Coding Workbooks

The A column or ‘Code’column of a workbook is the most visible column to use for coding, however as this
column is used for section, page and/or item references when generating reports, eg. in a Bill of Quantities,
it is advisable to use the workbook user columns to the right such as the I or J columns for coding. These
columns can be re-named in Workbook Properties.

Codes can be manually typed into the code column, or dragged and dropped from the Codes tab in the
Dimension Group window.

It is possible to have multiple codes in a cell, which is particularly useful in assigning the same heading to
items in different code locations. Multiple codes are separated by a semi-colon (;) in the cell. Note that an
item with two codes is replicated, not split. Therefore if concrete has been measured in m3 in an elemental
estimate and separate supply and place trade sorting is required, the code for both supply and place would
be placed after each concrete measurement. When the workbook is generated by code, a copy of the
concrete item will appear in both supply and placing, i.e. replicated.

Coding Rate Build-ups

The User columns are available within rate build-ups and can be coded. This is particularly useful when
using composite rates for elemental items, for example a wall rate build-up may contain timber studs
(carpentry), linings (plasterboard) and paint (applied finishes). Rate build-ups can also be coded with labor,
plant and material coding. Note that the columns being used should correlate with those of the workbook.
Also see Rate Build-Ups.

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Generating Workbook Grouped by Code

To utilize the coding feature it is necessary to generate a new workbook based on code, which is available
from the drop-down menu under the Add button on the Workbooks ribbon.

After naming the new workbook it is necessary to select the Rate Library (if coded) to use, then select
which sub-sheets to sort (cost only, cost and quantity or cost and rate – depending on which levels coding
has been applied to), then the Code Library and Code Library Level and finally the Code Column, ie. the
column in which the codes have been entered.

You can generate a workbook with any number of levels. For each workbook level, the relevant Code
Library, Code Library Level and Code Column must be specified. If cost and rate sheets are to be sorted and
the coded rate or rate build-up is linked to a Rate Library, check the “Expand Live Rate Sheets” box.

When “OK” is clicked, an entirely new workbook is created but the two workbooks are not linked. This is
important, as changes to either the original or the coded workbook will not affect the other. However, live
links are retained in the new workbook, so where live link information is adjusted, such as a quantity in a
dimension group, then this adjustment will be reflected in the sorted workbooks by simply doing a ‘re-
calc’. Therefore it is advisable to select a primary base workbook to which any changes will be made, and
then generate a new workbook each time a code generated workbook is required. Locking code generated
workbooks is a good measure to ensure changes are only made to the primary workbook.

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All workbooks generated by code place an optional location reference in parenthesis at the end of each
description. This enables the relevant item to be located in the original workbook. Each number represents
a level or location, hence a reference (3.1) will be located in row 1 in the second level of row 3. Where a
letter is indicated, such as Q, then the item is located in the quantity sub-sheet of the relevant column.
Hence in the case of (3.1Q) the original item is located in row 1 in the quantity build-up to row 3. Select the
“Append Row Path” box to enable this feature.

When generating workbooks grouped by code, iTWO costX® will automatically detect potential issues like
double coded items with values, and show them in a warning at the end.

The sorting of workbooks based on code can also be carried out on workbooks that have already been
sorted.

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12.5 Using Zones in a Workbook

It is possible to specify that only dimensions in a certain set of zones be included in the workbook. You can
set default zones for an entire workbook to create zone-specific workbooks and reports. You can also filter
the dimension groups list in the Workbook View by zones and use individual zone-specific dimension
groups in the workbook.

Setting Default Zones for a Workbook

When a workbook is created in a building, the default setting is to have no zones applied so it will display
global quantities, ie <All> zones. To create zone specific workbooks, add another workbook based on the
global workbook but with one or more Default Zones applied. Default Zones can be set in Workbook
Properties by moving the required zones from the Available zones box into the Selected zones box. Once
Default Zones are set, the dimensions displayed in the workbook will be only those which were assigned to
the selected zones at the time of measurement.

Filtering Dimension Groups by Zones in the Workbook View

The Dimension Groups tab in the Workbooks Drag and Drop Window provides the ability to filter
dimension groups by zones. This tab shows the Zone Categories that contain zones for the current Building.
To filter the dimension groups list by zones, select the required zone from each Zone Category, the list will
be filtered to show only dimension groups that contain dimensions from the specified zones, and the totals
in the dimension groups will also be updated to show the results filtered by the selected zones.

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Default Zone Precedence

If the dimension groups list in the Workbook View is currently filtered by zones and you drag a dimension
group into a workbook, the dimension group will carry its zone property with it - the zones that the
dimension group is filtered by are selected by default in the Add Quantity box. You can change the selected
zones if required.

The zones selected in the Add Quantity box take precedence over the default zones set in Workbook
Properties. This allows you to over-ride the Default Zone setting of a workbook so that quantities can be
included in the workbook using zones different from the workbook defaults. If in the Add Quantity box no
zones are selected for a certain Zone Category, the default zones selected for that Zone Category in the
Workbook Properties are used.

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12.6 Using Rate Libraries in a Workbook

Adding Rates to a Workbook

To add rates in a Rate Library to a workbook, you can use the Edit function from the Function button or right
mouse click to insert “XGetRate” links, or drag rates to the workbook from the Rates tab in the Dimension
Group window.

NOTE: Rates can also be manually input into a workbook without the use of libraries, or can be built
up by drilling down to a Rate Sheet by double-clicking on the rate cell.

When dragging rates to a workbook, if a rate is dropped into the Description column B, a line item will be
created. However, if it is dropped into the rate column E, only the rate will be entered into the destination
cell. If it is dropped into the rate column E with the ALT key pressed, iTWO costX® will create a Rate sub-
sheet and put the rate in the new sub-sheet. If the rate has a build-up (see Rate Build-Ups), it will put the
details from the Rate Calc into the Rate sub-sheet.

The Add Rate dialog allows various options to be selected. Automatic Drag and Drop (AutoDrop) will stop
the dialog box appearing during the drop and will automatically insert the data with default values. Refer to
the Estimates Options topic in iTWO costX® Help for details on setting defaults including Live Rate Link or
static values.

A rate code can also be inserted into any cell which the rate column can reference with the formula
“XGETRATE(cell ref)”. This will return the relevant rate in the rate column.

Rate information can also be added when you drag dimension groups to a workbook. The Default Rate
Library set in Workbook Properties is automatically selected when dragging and dropping dimension
groups.

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Rate Functions in Workbooks

If a rate is dragged and dropped into a workbook rate cell on a Cost Sheet with the ALT key pressed, iTWO
costX® will create a Rate sub-sheet and put the rate in the new sub-sheet. If the rate has a build-up, it will
put the details from the Rate Calc into the Rate sub-sheet. Rate build-ups can also be dragged and dropped
into a Rate Sheet. First open the Rate Sheet for the subject line item. Then drag and drop the library rate
into column E in the Rate Sheet but before releasing the mouse click, hold the Alt key, then release. The
rate calculation items will be inserted into the Rate Sheet.

It is also possible to copy and paste Rate Calculation items into a workbook Rate Sheet. Select a live rate,
open the Rate Properties (use the Show Source button or right click Edit Rate), and open the Rate
Calculation.

Hold left click and drag the mouse over the cells in the Rate Calculation that you wish to copy, then copy,
close the Rate Calculation and Rate Properties boxes, then paste directly into the workbook Rate Sheet.

Rate build-ups can also be coded for sorting purposes (see Coding Rate Build-ups).

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Rate calculations carried out in the user columns of a workbook Rate Sheet can be summarized on the
parent Cost Sheet by using the “XSUMRATEUSER(Column)” function in a Cost Sheet cell, which will carry the
total of the nominated user column up from the Rate Sheet onto the Cost Sheet. Note that in the formula
the column numbering starts at column I which being the first user column is column 1; J is 2, K is 3 and so
on. Also note the use of IF statements and the re-naming of workbook columns in the following example.

Copying Workbook Rate Sheet into a Rate Library

Workbook Rate sub-sheets can be copied to a Rate Library from a right-click menu option, either as a new
rate or as an update of an existing rate.

Disabling Live Links

An iTWO costX® Option enables users to select whether rates brought into workbooks default to live-links.
If this option is not selected the rates will be dropped as static values. This condition applies to a number of
cases including when a rate is dragged and dropped to a workbook, generating workbooks, and when
expanding live rate links. Refer to the Estimates Options topic in iTWO costX® Help for more details.

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Rate Descriptions in Workbooks

Rate descriptions can be auto-inserted into workbooks either via a Dimension Group drag-and-drop option,
or when creating a workbook from Dimension Groups. To use this function, the rate codes should be used
to name the Dimension Groups. Then, when dragging and dropping a Dimension Group, simply check the
“Use Rate Description:” box in the Add Quantity dialog box. The Dimension group name (which will be the
rate code) will be inserted into the A:Code workbook column, and a formula will be inserted into the
C:Description column (XGETRATEDESCRIPTION(A1)) which will link to the relevant description for that code
in the Rate Library, and into the E:Rate column (XGETRATE(A1)) which will link to the relevant rate for that
code in the Rate Library. This allows a fully priced estimate item with full description to be automatically
created when the Dimension Group is dragged and dropped.

When creating a workbook from the Dimension groups, use the Generate Workbook from Dimension
Groups menu option.

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Then select the Rate Description option from the drop-down menu in the Description From box in the
Workbook Properties dialog box.

The Fill Code Column box will insert the rate code (Dimension Group name) into the A:Code workbook
column.

The Create Missing Rates box will insert a rate item into the Rate Library for any code which does not
currently exist in the Rate Library. The rate item can then be edited to include the missing data.

The Live Quantity Link and Live Rate Link boxes will maintain the workbook linkages to Dimension Groups
and Rate Libraries.

The Expand Live Rate Links will insert any rate build-ups into the underlying rate sheet under the rate cell.

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Rate Mark-Ups for Workbooks

Mark-up factors can be directly entered into the factor column of a workbook Cost or Rate sheet or Rate
calculation sheet. These factors can be live-linked by using a Value, Constant or other Rate Library item in
the factor column, which enables them to be bulk-adjusted. The Mark-Up button on the Workbooks Ribbon
can modify all rates by a factor throughout a Workbook. If any rows are to be excluded from the Mark-Up,
select the row and then click the Exclude from Mark-Up drop-down menu option.

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12.7 Templates
Dimension Groups and workbooks can always be created from scratch. However by creating templates with
pre-prepared Dimension Groups already live-linked to workbooks with full item descriptions, a lot of time
can be saved plus a quality rigor is introduced by standardizing the templates to company standards. By
using templates the ‘live links’ from the Dimension Groups and Rate Libraries into the workbooks are
already in place and as a result the tasks required are only the capturing of quantities into the pre-prepared
Dimension Groups. Then click the Recalc button to refresh the workbook template. The templates should
be retained in the Templates Project folder and strict protocols introduced to ensure they are not
overwritten. The Templates Project does not appear in the Select Building dialog unless the Templates box
is unchecked (it is checked by default).

Based On

For new buildings, create a Building name relevant to the subject project and use “Based on” to base the
new Building on the desired template. The new building will then have all the template details (Dimension
groups and workbooks) but the template remains unchanged.

Merging

Merging can be used when a building already exists, to bring in a template or previous project to add to the
work already undertaken, or to combine a number of separate buildings into a single consolidated building.
When merging, it is better to create copies of the files to be merged and merge the copies so that the
originals are retained. Either merge one copy into the other, or create a new empty building and merge all
the copies into it. Merging should only be done once because if it is repeated, all the dimensions will also
be repeated, ie. doubled. Hence it is better to merge when work is complete and unlikely to be amended.
When merging, Dimension Groups get combined but workbooks do not – the incoming file will create new
workbooks. Like-named Dimension Groups are combined unless there is a mismatch - eg the assigned
height in Dimension Group properties – in which case the incoming Dimension Group is automatically re-
named and the workbook linkages in the incoming workbook updated to reflect the new name. To
reinstate the linkages to the original Dimension Groups, delete the re-named Dimension Groups, delete
the new workbook, and replicate the new workbook from the incoming template by using “based on”
rather than “merge”.

iTWO costX® Standard Templates

iTWO costX® includes with some basic templates to assist with getting underway in Cost Planning and
Estimating. However it is important for user companies to develop their own templates to embed their
own working practices and quality protocols.

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Bill of Quantities Workflow

Templates can also be used for Bills of Quantities or scheduling, however as these are based on more
detailed information and are generally far more project specific, a generic template approach may not be
appropriate. Instead a set of protocols and procedures and use of a Master SMM Template or Standard
Phraseology can be used such as the following example;

Initial Set Up

§ Determine Project and Building naming/numbering protocol.

§ Load drawings and specification on to server.

§ Load up drawings for general use by team into the iTWO costX® building. Users can load any additional
drawings required for individual trades. Use naming protocols and check scales.

§ Use “Based On Workbook” to load a copy of the SMM template into a master workbook in the iTWO
costX® building.

§ Team members create a separate workbook for the trade to be measured and copy and paste their
measurement trade from the master workbook to the trade workbook.

Measurement

§ Write job specific Preambles, General Items, Allowances and Measurement clauses in the workbook.

§ Create Dimension Groups to follow the bill items. When setting up a Dimension Group the Folder will
be the Trade name and the Name will be the measured item. The height option for vertical members
may be used, or instead put into the Dimension Group title with the length measured from the drawing
and the height to be added in the workbook. The latter tends to make workbook review easier as the
dimension trail is more apparent. Descriptions in the Dimension Groups can be written in short.

§ When dragging and dropping the quantity to the workbook, the rounding can be set in the Add Quantity
box.

§ Area measurements can be placed in the D column and a 1.00 placed in column E, likewise a cubic
measurement will have a dimension in columns D, E & F.

§ Column G is for factors rather than columns C, D, E or F. Column C is for numbers.

§ Steelwork or reinforcement can be measured length in column D, weight (kg/m) in column E and the
conversion to tonnes 0.001 in column G. The default for each column is two decimal points, as the
weight and conversion are in three decimal places, change this by using the ribbon button.

§ Although the brief description comes with the quantity when you drag and drop, additional annotation
can be used to identify location if necessary.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Reports

13 Reports

(Not available in iTWO costX® takeoff versions)

There are a number of options available to create report output from iTWO costX®.

13.1 Drawing Reports

The Reports button on the Drawings ribbon provides a means to print the drawing window display to a
report or publish a PDF or DWF. Reports can be printed to hard copy, PDF or to a selection of file types.

13.2 Exporting Dimensions to Excel®

The Export button on the Dimensions ribbon will export dimension groups and dimensions to an Excel®
spreadsheet.

13.3 Exporting Workbooks

The Export button on the Workbooks ribbon provides options to export workbooks to a variety of third
party applications.

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13.4 Workbook Reports

The Reports button on the Workbooks ribbon contains three options. The “Print Current Sheet to Report”
will print the currently displayed Cost, Qty or Rate sheet.

The “Print Multiple Workbooks” option allows any or all workbooks within the Building to be selected and
the content at each workbook level either merged or itemized in a consolidated report. “Print Workbook to
Report” applies only to the currently selected Workbook. In both cases, the required report output is
selected from the list of report templates.

The Report Suites tab allows you to insert a Suite to enable reports selected from the Reports list to be
grouped as a Suite and printed as a batch from single mouse click.

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13.5 Report Templates

The Reports window, which can be accessed by clicking the Report button on the Workbooks ribbon,
contains a list of report templates that can be used to generate workbook reports. A report template
contains formatting properties which determine report content and layout. By editing a template, it is
possible to manipulate the report output. iTWO costX® ships with a selection of default report templates
which you can use as they are, or copy and edit to suit your requirements.

There are two types of report templates: Standard and Custom. Standard templates allow a degree of
customization but only within defined parameters. You can customize report content by selecting options
such as which levels of a workbook and which columns to include, as well as various formatting and coding
settings. Custom templates are fully customizable.

NOTE: For detailed information about Standard templates, refer to the Standard Reports section in
iTWO costX® Help. For detailed information about Custom templates, refer to the iTWO costX Custom
Reports Guide, which is included as a PDF document in the iTWO costX installation folder (the default
path is C:\Program Files\Exactal\CostX\Doc).

If a Standard template does not give you enough customization, you can convert it to a Custom template by
using the Convert button on the Reports window.

NOTE: Standard templates that include workbook Qty and Rate subsheets cannot be converted.

The default report templates shipped with iTWO costX® are referred to as “System” report templates and
are shown as either “Custom (System)” or “Standard (System)" in the Reports window, as shown above.
“System” report templates cannot be edited, but they can be copied and the copy can then be edited.

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Several sample report templates are also included with the iTWO costX® download package as EXF files,
which can be imported into iTWO costX®. These sample report templates, including Bill of Quantities
Classic, Quantity Breakdowns Detail, Cashflow Forecast and Unpriced Items, can be found under the
following path: C:\ProgramData\Exactal\CostX\Samples\Reports.

Report templates can be exported and imported (using the “Import iTWO costX Data” and “Export Report to
EXF” options located in the 'Backstage View') which is useful for sharing and also for archiving of job-
specific reports rather than keeping them in the Reports list.

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13.6 How to Copy a Report Template

To copy a report template, select it from the Reports window, then use the Copy button.

This will bring up the Insert Report dialog, which allows you to insert some high level properties for the
new report. The Insert Report dialog provides access to different settings depending on whether you are
copying a report for workbooks. In both cases, the Name, From Level and To Level fields are mandatory.

Name is the name of the report that will be used in the report listing and in the EXF table of contents if the
report is exported.

The From Level field allows you to select the workbook level from which data will be available in the
report, and the To Level field allows you to select the workbook level to which data will be available in the
report excluding any quantity or rate sheets.

When you are satisfied with the settings, click Next to create the new report.

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13.7 How to Edit a Standard Report Template

Click a report title to select it, and then use the Edit button. The partial Workbook data option will make the
editing process faster for large workbooks. The Edit function can be restricted to selected users.

The Report Properties box will open.

Each of the tabs contains various settings to configure a particular set of properties. Refer to iTWO costX®
Help for details of how to manipulate each of the Report Properties tabs. Note that while editing report
properties, the report can be previewed at any time but this does not save the settings. The Update button
must be used to save the edited report properties. Note also the ability to Filter reports by Code which also
has an option to check for bold, italic, and underline description formatting on headings or on items only.

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13.8 How to Edit a Custom Report Template

Click a Custom report title to select it, and then use the Edit button.

The Custom Report Designer will open, as shown below.

1. Menu bar: provides access to options, help, etc.

2. Toolbars: provides functions to allow you to modify existing report objects
3. Report Tree: shows the objects that exist in the current report
4. Object Toolbar: allows you to create new report objects
5. Object Inspector: allows you to see the properties of existing report objects
6. Design Workspace: shows the layout of the current report “page”. The tabs above the report tree allow
you to switch between the pages of the report, the data area, and the code associated with the report.
7. Data Tree: shows available data that can be dragged and dropped to create new report objects. The tabs
above the data tree allow you to view the various kinds of data you can use.

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iTWO costX® Custom Reports Guide

The iTWO costX® Custom Report Builder allows fully customizable and programmable report templates to
be created. The iTWO costX® Custom Reports Guide provides guidance on the use of the Custom Report
Builder and covers the most commonly required customizations. For more advanced functions such as
vertical bands, refer to the FastReport VCL 6 User’s Manual.

FastReport VCL 6 User’s Manual

FastReport VCL 6 is the underlying report builder engine to the iTWO costX® Custom Report Builder. A
comprehensive user’s manual PDF document is included in the iTWO costX® installation folder (the default
path is C:\Program Files\Exactal\CostX\Doc\CustomReports).

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ADVANCED MANUAL Exporting and Importing

14 Exporting and Importing

14.1 Exporting Projects and Buildings

Exporting allows iTWO costX® jobs to be shared with other users or for viewing with the free iTWO costX®
viewer. It also means that finished projects may be exported to a separate archive server to reduce the size
of the iTWO costX® database. If desired, first lock the workbooks, then click File > Export and select the
appropriate export option. Alternatively Projects may be exported or imported using the relevant buttons
in the Projects section of System Administration. Once exported to a secure server, the Project may be
deleted from System Administration. A prompt will ask if it is to be exported first. It can always be
imported back in the future.

The content of the exported file may be customized as shown below, and password protection is optional.
The iTWO costX viewer Only box may be enabled to restrict access to the file to the Viewer only.

14.2 Importing Building with Drawing Files

Imports a building and prompts for a Project to attach it to. Therefore you need to set up a recipient Project
before the import. You will be prompted to nominate a separate folder to place the drawing files.

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14.3 Exporting and Importing Reports

Reports may be exported (Export Report) and imported (Import iTWO costX® Data). This is useful for
circulating standard reports between standalone users. It also allows job specific reports to be exported to
a separate job file so that the Reports window does not become too crowded.

14.4 Transferring Data between iTWO benchmark and iTWO costX®

iTWO costX® provides seamless integration with RIB's cloud-based iTWO benchmark system, which allows
you to create conceptual estimates based on historical data from similar projects or benchmark a particular
estimate against historical estimates.

Workbook data in iTWO costX® can be uploaded to iTWO benchmark, and cost analysis data in iTWO
benchmark can also be downloaded directly into iTWO costX®. For detailed upload and download
procedures, refer to the following two topics in the Help file.
· Exporting Workbook Data to iTWO benchmark
· Importing Workbook Data from iTWO benchmark

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ADVANCED MANUAL Revisions

15 Revisions

(Not available in iTWO costX® 2D versions)

15.1 Building Revisions

The Building Revisions function in iTWO costX® enables the scope of a project to be managed and tracked.
During the course of a project, designs progressively change as design work proceeds or in response to
unforeseen circumstances. As revised drawings are progressively issued to reflect the design changes, the
Building Revision status in iTWO costX® can be incremented at which point the existing drawings and
workbooks are locked, and the drawings “Promoted” from the previous to the new issue. Previously
measured quantities then get updated in accordance with the drawing changes. The Revision tool can also
be used even if the drawings have not changed, to lock cost plans or estimates at milestone issue points.

All Buildings are set to “Initial” by default. The first Revision added will be allocated Revision Number 2,
with each subsequent Revision numbered consecutively. A new Revision is created by using the Add
button on the Revisions ribbon. A Building Revision Properties box will open, which will show the revision
number and provide fields for the user to name the Revision and add notes. Click Insert to create the
Revision. This immediately locks the existing drawings (indicated by a padlock symbol), preventing any
further measurement, and will also lock the current workbooks.

Drawings, dimensions, and workbooks from previous revisions may be viewed at any time by using the
Current drop down selection list located in the Building Revision section of the Revisions ribbon, creating a
comprehensive audit trail. A comparison can also be carried out between current and previous drawings or
workbooks.

More information can be found in the Revisions FAQ section of the Help files.

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15.2 2D Drawing Revisions

After a Building Revision has been created, the existing drawings are then “Promoted” to their later issue.
iTWO costX® superimposes the dimensions that were measured on the previous version of the drawing to
the same locations on the promoted version of the drawing, and displays them for comparison by the user
so a decision can be made to retain, adjust, or re-measure them. Any vector mismatch (ie. where a
dimension no longer aligns because the drawing has changed) is highlighted on screen to assist in the
comparison, which is done for all area, length and count dimensions. When the adjusted dimensions are
accepted, the dimension group quantities are automatically updated.

Revise 2D Dimensions

§ Add a Building Revision as described above. The drawings will all be locked.

§ Select the drawing to be promoted. Then click the Promote Drawing button in the Drawing Revision
section of the Revisions ribbon.

§ At this point, you can choose a new drawing file (ie. the revised version of the drawing) or keep the
same drawing file (ie. the existing version of the drawing). The latter might be used when, for example,
only selected drawings get updated and you still need to measure from the non-updated drawings, so
in those cases you keep the same drawing.

§ If you select the "Choose a new drawing file" option, an Open File dialog box opens.

NOTE: If cloud storage support is enabled, you also need to select the storage provider for the new
drawing using the drop-down field under the "Choose a new drawing file" option. If the new drawing is
located on a local drive or network share, select Windows File Path; If the new drawing is stored in the
cloud, select the name of your cloud storage provider. For details on how to enable cloud storage
support, refer to the topic Cloud Options in iTWO costX Help.

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Select the revised drawing file and click Open. The revised drawing file will load and the Drawing
Properties box will open. The drawing name will be carried forward from the existing version of the
drawing, so at this point, if desired, you can amend the name. Click Update to accept the new drawing.

The new drawing will be displayed with the dimensions measured from the previous version of the
drawing superimposed over it, ready for you to make the necessary adjustments.

If the revised drawing is one of many and some or all of the others have not changed, the Bulk Promote
Drawings button allows multiple drawings to be promoted at once.

Note: After a drawing has been promoted, it can be useful to get an understanding of the overall extent
of changes before starting to adjust the individual dimensions. To do this, click the “Compare Drawings”
button or the “Compare” button on the Drawings ribbon to compare the two versions of the drawing and
select Compare Drawing to Previous Revision.

Use either Match Objects, Match Line, or Overlay modes for the comparison. With the former two options,
the Layers tab can be used to highlight or isolate aspects of the changes.

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Exit Layers mode by clicking the Drawings tab and then click the Close button to return to normal drawing
mode where the dimensions can be revised.

It is also possible to measure dimensions from the Comparison View in Point mode when comparing 2D
drawings by objects or by lines, or using an overlay. Click the Measure button to enable Point Mode
measurement into a selected Dimension. Snap is enabled by default. Snap can be temporarily disabled by
holding the "B" key.

Dimensions can only be taken on the current drawing revision.

When the Measure button is on, Mark-ups can be added and right-click menus on dimension groups and
dimensions are enabled. When Comparison is closed, Mark-ups are retained on the current drawing and
measured dimensions for the current drawing are highlighted in the drawing window when selected from the
list, and can be deleted, adjusted or accepted as usual.

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Adjustments in Revise Mode

When dimensions are initially captured via the sticky cursor, they attach to drawing lines which define a
length, or the border of an area, or to register a count. In Revise Mode, iTWO costX® identifies where lines
have been moved, deleted or added in the revised drawing. These changes directly impact on the
dimensions which are attached to the original location of the lines. iTWO costX® enables the dimension
attachment to the line to be re-established in its revised location, and the dimension updated accordingly,
or the dimension deleted if it is no longer required.

When a drawing is promoted, all Dimension Group totals will reduce by the amount of the dimensions
taken from that drawing. If all drawings contributing to the Dimension Group are promoted, the total will
reduce to zero. The zero figure only relates to the revised version of the drawing, pending adjustment or
acceptance of the existing dimensions, which have been retained and can be viewed by opening the
Dimensions tab.

The drawing and each dimension group will be tagged with a caution icon to show that they contain un-
revised dimensions.

The dimensions measured from the previous version of the drawing will be superimposed onto the revised
version. Where dimensions match up with the revised drawing they will show in green, but where a line
has moved so that the dimension no longer matches up, it will show in yellow.

Each Dimension Group now needs to be revised by accepting the dimension as shown on the revised
drawing, or amending the measurement to relocate the dimensions to their revised locations. This is done
via mouse click on the superseded (yellow highlighted) line, and then either hold the click and drag the line
to its new location, or release click and then click on the new location.

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In order to revise the area dimension below, the previous measurement shown in yellow is relocated to its
new position on the revised drawing by a simple click and drag or click and drop, and the quantity will
automatically update.

If the re-attachment is successful the line will turn green highlighted. Then the new dimension can be
validated by right click “Accept” or by clicking the “Accept All” button on the ribbon. The green highlighting
will fade, the caution tag will disappear and the revised dimension will appear in the Dimension Group.

Dimensions that are no longer required, (eg. if an item has been deleted from the revised drawing) are
removed by use of the “Delete All Invalid” button or the “Delete Dimension” right click menu option.
Dimensions that have not changed can simply be accepted.

Any dimensions that are not validated will remain at zero, but can be validated or adjusted later (until the
revised drawing is again promoted, at which point they would be lost). In the meantime you can continue
to measure new items or dimensions as usual.

If you accept a dimension but then wish to undo the change, click the “Restore Mode” button. This will
display the dimension in its original location. To restore the dimension, click the button or use
the “Restore Dimension” right click menu option. Then click on the “Restore Mode” button again to close
Restore mode.

If the revisioning exercise appears to be onerous, a decision can be made to delete the dimension and
simply remeasure the item in normal measurement mode from the revised drawing.

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A Revision Log button will list all the changes.

After the validation exercise is complete, the locked workbook can now be promoted by use of the
“Promote Workbook” button and all linked quantities will be updated to the revised figures.

To undo the revisioning and restore the previous drawing version, delete the revised drawing. The drawing
title will disappear from the Drawings list. Then click the “Restore Previous” button and a box will open
from which the previous version of the drawing can be selected and re-loaded. The restored drawing will
still be locked, but can be promoted again to the same or a different drawing file. Workbooks can similarly
be restored.

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15.3 3D Drawing Revisions

A new revision is created using the “Add” button on the Revisions ribbon. This immediately locks the
existing drawings and models, preventing any further import or measurement. After a Building Revision
has been created, the existing 3D drawings and models can be “Promoted” to their later issue.

After a drawing has been promoted to a new revision, all Dimension Group totals will reduce by the
amount of the dimensions taken (either measured manually or imported) from that drawing. If all drawings
contributing to the Dimension Group are promoted, the total will reduce to zero. The zero figure only
relates to the revised version of the drawing, as the existing dimensions are retained in the previous
building revision.

For dimensions previously measured manually in 3D Point Mode, the revisioning process is similar to 2D
drawings as described in 2D Drawing Revisions. When the drawing gets promoted, the drawing title and
each Dimension Group containing measured or manual dimensions will be tagged with a caution icon to
show that they contain unrevised dimensions. iTWO costX® superimposes the dimensions that were
measured on the previous version of the drawing to the same locations on the promoted version of the
drawing, and displays them for comparison by the user so a decision can be made to retain, adjust, or re-
measure them. Any vector mismatch (ie. where a dimension no longer aligns because the drawing has
changed) is highlighted on screen in yellow to assist in the comparison, which is done for all area, length
and count dimensions. When the adjusted dimensions are accepted, the Dimension Group quantities are
automatically updated.

For BIM dimensions previously imported from a 3D BIM model, the process of revising the dimensions after
the model gets promoted is different because iTWO costX® is able to automatically update the dimensions
in accordance with the properties of the revised model. This is done as a separate step after the drawing
file has been promoted, by use of a “Promote BIM Dimensions” button.

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Revise 3D Dimensions and Promote BIM Dimensions

§ Add a Building Revision as described above. The drawings will all be locked.

§ Select the 3D drawing to be promoted. Then click the “Promote Drawing” button in the Drawing
Revision section of the Revisions ribbon.

§ At this point, you can choose a new drawing file (ie. the revised version of the drawing) or keep the
same drawing file (ie. the existing version of the drawing). The latter might be used when, for example,
only selected drawings get updated and you still need to measure from the non-updated drawings, so
in those cases you keep the same drawing.

If the drawing being promoted already has external properties attached (refer to User-Defined Model
Properties) a third option is also offered, which is to keep the same drawing file but attach (choose) a
new external properties file. External properties which were added to the previous version of the
drawing can then be added to the revised version of the drawing. Each of these options is described in
more detail below.

“Choose a new drawing file”

If you select the "Choose a new drawing file" option, an Open File dialog box opens.

NOTE: If cloud storage support is enabled, you also need to select the storage provider for the new
drawing using the drop-down field under the "Choose a new drawing file" option. If the new drawing is
located on a local drive or network share, select Windows File Path; If the new drawing is stored in the
cloud, select the name of your cloud storage provider. For details on how to enable cloud storage support,
refer to the topic Cloud Options in iTWO costX Help.

Select the revised drawing file and click Open. The revised drawing file will load and the Drawing
Properties box will open. The drawing Name will be carried forward from the existing version of the
drawing, so at this point, if desired, you can amend the name. Click Update to accept the new drawing.

§ All imported BIM dimensions for that drawing will revert to zero. Any measured or manual dimensions
will be tagged with a warning icon.

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§ If any BIM dimensions were previously imported from the model, these do not get updated at this
stage. Instead, a box will open referring you to the ‘Promote BIM Dimensions” button which needs to
be used to update BIM dimensions after a model has been promoted.

This is only a prompt so click OK to proceed. However, before promoting the BIM dimensions, there are
two optional interim steps:

1) If any units were previously assigned to the original Model Schedule (refer to Setting/Verifying
Units of Measure (UOM) for 3D Drawings), these do not get cleared when the model is promoted.
Instead, they are retained and applied to the new Schedule. If the object properties are consistent
between the previous and revised versions of the model, the retained units will most likely be valid
for the revised file. However, if object properties have been amended, or new objects with
different properties have been added into the model, the units may need to be amended or
relocated. Units can be assigned or amended at any time, but the reason for doing this now is to
ensure that the UOM of the dimensions when they get promoted are consistent with when they
were previously imported. Open the Model Schedule, review the assigned units, and amend or add
units as required via the right click menu. Then close the Schedule.

2) At this point there is also the opportunity to insert an external properties file (refer to User-Defined
Model Properties). If you wish to do this, open the Schedule and follow the steps as detailed in
User-Defined Model Properties. The reason for doing this now, before promoting the BIM
dimensions, is so that iTWO costX® can include these changes as part of the revision. If they are not
done now, they cannot be added later (except as a subsequent revision) because iTWO costX® does
not allow drawing or model properties to be changed after quantities have been measured or
imported from it.

§ The existing imported dimensions and Dimension Groups now need to be updated according to the
properties in the revised model (as augmented by an external file if the opportunity was taken to add
one). Click on the “Promote BIM Dimensions” button on the Revisions ribbon.

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§ Dimension groups tagged with a warning icon contain manually measured dimensions. These
dimensions need to be revised and accepted in the same manner as 2D drawings. This can be done
before or after the BIM Dimensions are promoted.

“Keep the same drawing and properties files”

All existing dimensions are retained using the same drawing and external properties files.

§ All imported BIM dimensions for that drawing will revert to zero. Any measured or manual dimensions
will be retained.

§ If any BIM dimensions were previously imported from the model, these do not get updated at this
stage. Instead, a box will open referring you to the ‘Promote BIM Dimensions” button which needs to
be used to update BIM dimensions after a model has been promoted.

This is only a prompt so click OK to proceed.

§ Click on the “Promote BIM Dimensions” button on the Revisions ribbon.

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“Keep the same drawing and choose a new external properties file”

A File Open dialog box does not open to allow a new file to be selected. Instead, the same drawing is set in
the Drawing Properties.

§ All imported BIM dimensions for that drawing will revert to zero. Any measured or manual dimensions
will be retained.

§ If any BIM dimensions were previously imported from the model, these do not get updated at this
stage. Instead, a box will open referring you to the ‘Promote BIM Dimensions” button which needs to
be used to update BIM dimensions after a model has been promoted.

This is only a prompt so click OK to proceed. At this point (before promoting the BIM dimensions) you
can update the previous external properties file, save it with a different name, and re-attach it to the
drawing as follows:

§ Open the Schedule. Right click over the Schedule and select “Save Entire Schedule to Excel (xlsx)”. A
box will open as shown below. Select Yes.

§ A File Open dialog box will open to the location of the existing external properties file. The existing file
should not be over-written because it relates to the previous revision which is retained in the system.
Therefore, amend the file name and then click Save.

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§ The renamed xlsx file will open in Excel®. The spreadsheet is a copy of the iTWO costX® schedule, with
the external properties data from the previous revision added to the far right of the schedule, with the
data specific to each object being inserted into the applicable row in the spreadsheet.

§ The spreadsheet can now be edited to include additional data.

§ When the editing is complete, save and close the Excel® file.

§ Open the Drawing Properties. In the Properties File Name box click on the ellipsis (… ) button to open a
File Open dialog box and navigate to the saved xlsx file. Click Open to attach the file to the drawing
properties and then click Update to close the Drawing Properties box.

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§ The Schedule will re-load and the external properties data will automatically map to its host objects.
The added columns will be highlighted in yellow and will also appear in the Object Properties as User
Defined properties.

§ The existing imported dimensions and Dimension Groups can now be promoted, as augmented by the
new external file. Click on the “Promote BIM Dimensions” button on the Revisions ribbon.

Promote BIM Dimensions

When the “Promote BIM Dimensions” button is clicked, iTWO costX® will process the revised model
properties by scanning for each object’s GUID (refer to Duplicate Object IDs) and comparing these to the
previous model file. If the dimension properties of objects with the same GUID have changed they are
revised accordingly, and if the GUID no longer exists its dimensions are deleted. Objects with a new GUID
are skipped. A prompt box will then appear, click OK.

The “Import Dimensions Using BIM Template” or “Import Dimensions Using Model Map” (whichever was
previously used) should now be run again to pick up the new GUID objects that have been added into the
revised model, or they can be manually measured.

The “Check BIM Objects” button on the Dimensions ribbon will identify any duplicate IDs or objects with no
corresponding Dimension Group.

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The workbook can now be promoted and all existing linked quantities will be updated. Use the
“References” button on the Workbooks ribbon to identify all new Dimension Groups (ie. new objects
added into the revised model). Add the necessary new items into the workbook to incorporate the new
Dimension Groups.

Revision Log

The “Revision Log” button will list all the changes as a comparison between the previous and revised object
dimension properties.

Compare Drawings

Each model revision can be visually compared against others by use of the “Compare Drawings” button or
the “Compare” button on the Drawings ribbon. The Match Objects option should be used. A “Use tolerance”
option allows minute drawing changes to be ignored. Use the Layers tab to filter the comparison display,
which can also be printed by use of the Reports button in the Drawings Tab. Click the Close button in the
Comparison Tab to return to the Drawings view.

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Bypass Revisioning

In cases where the revised drawing and model may differ significantly from the previous issue, and owing
to the speed and ease of importing BIM dimensions via BIM Templates or Model Maps, a two-step process
could be considered:

1) add a revision to identify and record changes that have occurred in the drawing and model files and lock
the existing revision; promote the drawing but do not promote the BIM dimensions:

2) delete the existing Dimension groups (for imported BIM dimensions) and re-import the BIM
dimensions from the revised drawing and model file. The Dimension Groups will then be fully
consistent with the latest revision and not be a mixture of previous and revised model properties.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Integration into iTWO costXL

16 Integration into iTWO costXL

(Only available with Network versions of iTWO costX®)

iTWO costXL is an Excel® Add-In which allows data in iTWO costX® to be accessed and live linked within an
Excel® spreadsheet. iTWO costXL supports Excel® 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2021.

16.1 Opening iTWO costXL

After installing iTWO costXL, a new iTWO costXL group is placed on the Data ribbon in Excel®.

NOTE: If the iTWO costXL group is not available after installing iTWO costXL, refer to Enabling iTWO
costXL in Excel® for instructions on how to enable it in your Excel®.

Clicking the Connect button automatically connects to the iTWO costX® database using the last saved user
login details. If you wish to login as a different user, click on the drop down arrow of the Connect button
and select Manual Connect, then enter a username and password, check the Save For Automatic
Connection box if you wish these details to be used by default, then click OK.

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After connecting you are able to select the Project, Building and Revision that you wish to access.

To view the selected building data, click the Show the iTWO costXL task pane icon.

The iTWO costXL task pane will be opened to the left of the sheet and displays the data from the selected
Building. Use the buttons to minimize or close the pane.

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16.2 Enabling iTWO costXL in Excel®

After installing iTWO costXL, it may not be immediately available in your Excel®. You need to enable the
iTWO costXL add-in in your Excel® before you can use it.

To enable the iTWO costXL add-in, complete the following steps:

1. Start Excel®, and then click File > Options.

2. In the Excel Options dialog, click the Add-ins category.

3. In the Manage box, select COM Add-ins, and then click Go.

4. The COM Add-ins dialog box appears. Select the check box next to iTWO costXL, and then click OK.

A new iTWO costXL group should now be available in the Data ribbon of your Excel®.

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16.3 Using iTWO costXL Data

With the task pane now displayed it is possible to drag and drop data from the task pane into the Excel®
spreadsheet.

§ Dragging a Dimension Group from the Name column will place the Name, Quantity and UOM into three
adjacent cells.

§ Dragging from the UOM column will place the Quantity and UOM into two adjacent cells.

§ Dragging from the Quantity column will place just the Quantity into the target cell.

When the Dimension Group is dropped, a dialog box opens. It is possible to select a revision, one or more
zones (default includes all zones), and the quantity type.

Once the desired selection is made, click the Insert button and the data is transferred to the sheet.

It is possible to select a single Dimension Group or multiple Dimension Groups by using Ctrl or Shift keys to
multiple select. If dragging multiple Dimension Groups into a workbook be sure to select Dimension Groups
of the same measurement type (eg. all Area) as the dialog box needs to display options for a measurement
type common to all selected Dimension Groups eg. If an Area and Length were selected the measurement
types available for selection would be Length and Count.

The Auto Drop feature is enabled from the Data ribbon. When enabled the dialog box (shown above) is not
displayed during the drag and drop process and all values are dropped based on the default for each
dimension group selected.

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16.4 Show Dimensions

Once a Dimension Group has been dropped into a sheet it is possible to see what has been measured. This
is done by right clicking over the cell containing the measurement and selecting Show Dimensions.

A window will appear displaying details of the drawings and dimensions to the left and displaying the
drawing with the measurements overlaid to the right. The drawing window can be panned and zoomed as
within iTWO costX®. When the mouse cursor rolls over either a drawing or dimension in the list the drawing
window contents display the selection.

16.5 Edit Function

To review or change details of the dimension eg. zones included, rounding etc., select Edit Function from
the right click menu.

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16.6 Other iTWO costX® data

The iTWO costXL Task Pane can also access Workbook values, Rate Libraries, Constants and Values under
each of the respective tabs.

Note that iTWO costXL cannot directly access iTWO costX® workbooks. To access workbook values, use the
Named Cell function (refer to Named Cells) in the iTWO costX® workbook. Named Cell values are listed
under the Workbook Values tab in iTWO costX® and it is these values that are available in the iTWO costXL
Task Pane.

16.7 iTWO costXL Functions

iTWO costXL Functions are fully integrated into the Excel® Insert Function system so can be easily entered
into a cell.

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16.8 Refresh Data

The data in the Excel® spreadsheet is live-linked to the source iTWO costX® database. Therefore, if the
iTWO costX® data is amended, the Excel® spreadsheet values can be refreshed accordingly.

To do this, click on the Refresh button on the Data ribbon. This will also refresh the data in the Task Pane.

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ADVANCED MANUAL iTWO costX® Networking

17 iTWO costX® Networking

17.1 Network Features

Improved productivity

§ Ability for multiple users to be working on the same job at the same time on the same set of drawings;

§ All users work to a common template;

Improved information management

§ Only one file exists which eliminates duplication;

§ All users can access central Rate and other libraries;

§ Single file ensures the server file is the latest version - eliminates version mismatch;

§ No need to merge buildings.

Improved user flexibility

Concurrent license agreement provides flexibility for any users to log in at any time (up to the license
number limit), and no need to transfer licenses when staff leave or join.

Ability to implement a password policy

A password policy can be set up to do these things:

§ Prevent users from choosing commonplace passwords by creating your own password blacklist.

§ Require users to change their password after a specified period of time.

§ Set a minimum password length and require specific character types, including uppercase characters,
lowercase characters, numbers, and symbols.

The password policy applies to users of iTWO costX client, iTWO costX server admin, and iTWO costXL. For
detailed information on how to configure the password policy, refer to the Password Policy section of iTWO
costX Help.

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ADVANCED MANUAL iTWO costX® Networking

17.2 Network Administration

The Network software is held on a server, and client software is held on each user computer. Under iTWO
costX sever admin, user names are held and permissions may be set for each user which will determine
which features they are able to access when logged onto their client computer. The server has optional
authentication Audit logging of user logins and logouts.

17.3 External database Connections

An iTWO costX® API is available which allows external programs and databases to directly interface with
iTWO costX® including both reading and writing for most iTWO costX® data types. The iTWO costX API
binaries, sample files and documentation are included with the iTWO costX® server installer. Refer to the
iTWO costX® API Guide.

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ADVANCED MANUAL iTWO costX® Customization

18 iTWO costX® Customization

18.1 iTWO costX® Options

Within iTWO costX®, it is possible to set various customization options for the program. These options
include workbook specific options (such as default rounding settings), drawing specific options (such as
hardware acceleration), and global options (such as metric or imperial units).

For details on the various options, refer to the Program Options section in iTWO costX Help.

18.2 User-defined Quick Access Toolbar

Users may create a customized toolbar using the More Commands option from the customize Quick Access
Toolbar switch.

Drag and drop the command icons from the Customize window into the toolbar space by hovering over the
switch until the cursor icon x changes to a +.

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ADVANCED MANUAL System Administration

19 System Administration

Location is set for each project. Prices from the rates library are organized according to
their location. Thus prices are being correctly sourced from the rate library according
to the location of the project. In a network scenario, these locations are seen by all
users.

Constants are fixed values or figures that can be referenced in workbooks. You can
think of it as a rate library but for a unit of measure or tonnage. Constants do not
change for each project (eg. steel weight in kg/m for typical members).

Custom Quantities give you the option to create custom fields on dimension groups
so as to calculate additional quantities.

Dimension Groups are a grouping of dimensions of the same measurement type and
generally the same object being measured. Dimension groups may be of type Area,
Length, Count or Volume. Standard Dimension Groups are useful to establish
measurement protocols for consistency and to avoid having to create groups from
scratch. They can be imported and exported via Excel® CSV files (refer to the Standard
Dimension Groups section in iTWO costX® Introductory Manual).

Zones are set up on Buildings to allow dimensions to be categorized and extracted on

a per level/unit/story/functional area basis and could even be used to sort
dimensions by time (the stage of construction). You can later filter by these zones.
Standard Zones are global and can be added to all Buildings and seen and used by all
network users. (Refer to Zones).

Variables are used in dimension group expressions as placeholders for values that
might change from dimension to dimension. A variable can be dynamically assigned a
value by the user during take-off. Standard Variables are global and are available to all
dimension groups and Standard dimension groups (i.e. they can be reused across
Buildings and Projects).

Units of Measure holds typical abbreviations and properties for units of measure.
Rounding and decimals to display can be assigned and edited here.

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ADVANCED MANUAL System Administration

Code Libraries are used as a lookup or mapping file when workbook items are re-
sorted according to codes. For example, a Code Library can be used to re-sort items
from an elemental to a trade format or vice versa. It can also be used to sort by any
other coding categories such as functional area, building level, building block, options
etc. (Refer to Using Code Libraries in a Workbook).

Phraseologies. Standard phraseologies or model description libraries may be

imported into iTWO costX® and accessed via a Phraseologies tab to drag and drop text
into workbooks. Text strings may be selected individually or combined to create
detailed descriptions. (Refer to Phraseologies).

Rate Libraries are a collection of prices that can be referenced into a cost worksheet.
They can be flat prices for items or built-up composite rates of items. Rates can be
imported by CSV or entered manually. Rate libraries are location sensitive except
Default Location which is global. (Refer to Rate Libraries).

Subcontractors holds Subcontractor details for use in the Subcontractor Comparison

feature. (Refer to the Subcontractor Comparison Manual).

Values can represent any numeric amount that you wish to reference in workbooks.
For example, Values may represent percentage factors, allowances, GFA values, and
even boolean values that are used in conditional 'If' functions in workbooks (use 1 and
0 to represent true and false). Values are live linked so will update in workbooks
when they are adjusted. Values may also be set up on a per project basis. Project
values take precedence over global values with the same name.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Further Information

20 Further Information

20.1 Additional Reading

These documents are available under the iTWO costX installation directory (the default path is C:\Program
Files\Exactal\CostX\Doc).

The iTWO costX® Introductory manual is essential reading for all users of iTWO costX®
products.

Digital Drawing File optimization aims to provide general tips and guidance to
Designers for the more common drawing file formats on how the files may be arranged
and optimized to improve team communication, and specifically to assist in the
quantities measurement and estimating activities. It is not intended to be a mandatory
requirement for using each file format within iTWO costX®, but rather to reflect some
of the more common optimizations which are of benefit.

The Custom Reports Guide provides a guide for how to use the iTWO costX® Custom
Report Builder to create fully customized report output from iTWO costX®.

The Viewer and Quote Guide provides guidance to users of the iTWO costX® viewer for
viewing EXF files exported from iTWO costX® and for Quoting with the iTWO costX®
viewer.

The Subcontractor Comparison Manual provides detailed guidance on use of the

Subcontractor Comparison feature within iTWO costX®.

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ADVANCED MANUAL Further Information

20.2 Free Training Videos

The iTWO costX Website www.itwocostx.com contains a series of training and demonstration videos, as
well as other useful resources.

Demonstration videos

Training videos

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