topic Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI' in Data Exchange Forum

Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 10:02:43 GMT

This blog post discussed the workflow of Data Exchanges in the context of linked or federated Revit models, shedding light on existing challenges and offering practical solutions. It further demonstrates, through a detailed demo video, the process of leveraging Data Exchanges in Power BI to craft insightful dashboards.

Federated Revit Model

A federated model in Revit is a composite model that integrates multiple discipline-specific models (such as architectural, structural, and MEP models) into a single, cohesive model. This allows for better coordination, clash detection, and overall project management. Each discipline maintains its own model, but they are combined for coordination purposes.

Linked Revit Model

A linked model in Revit refers to a Revit file that is referenced within another Revit file. Linking models is a common practice for incorporating external discipline-specific models into a main model without merging them into a single file. Linked models retain their independence but are displayed and coordinated within the host model.

Data Exchange Created from Federated Revit Model

Creating a Data Exchange from a Federated Revit Model (incorporates linked models from various disciplines) is possible using Revit Connector and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC). Individual elements from the linked Revit models remain distinct entities within the Data Exchange. If you're using the ACC to upload the Federated Revit Model, please ensure you have all the linked models visible in that Revit file.

Loading in PowerBI Data Connector

Data exchange created from a Federated Revit Model can be successfully loaded into PowerBI using the Autodesk Data Connector. A few key points are:

Individual Elements: Elements from the linked Revit models are listed as separate rows in PowerBI.
Parameters: Parameters from the linked Revit models are listed as individual columns in PowerBI.
Pre-filtering: The "Filter By = category" option works on all the elements from the linked Revit models.
Property Selection: The 'Select Properties' drop-down lists all properties from all elements of the linked Revit models.
Unique Revit Element Id: Each element from the linked Revit models is identified by a unique Revit Element ID.

Known Limitations

Coloring and cross-highlighting in the Autodesk Data Viewer may not work as expected due to the current implementation. In this implementation, an element from the viewer is represented by two things: the element itself and the RVT Link. This can result in incorrect coloring and highlighting, as the 'RVT Link' overrides the element's properties.
No out-of-the-box property available 'Linked Revit Model' which can help to distinguish elements respective to each Linked Model.

Workaround

To address coloring and Cross-highlighting limitations, follow these steps:
1. Go to Transform Query Editor.
2. Remove the rows corresponding to "Revit Category Type Id = RVT Links".
3. Close and apply the changes.
4. After performing these steps, coloring, and cross-highlighting should work as expected.
To address the missing property 'Linked Revit Model' limitation, manually create a custom 'Project Parameter' in each of the linked models which can help to distinguish respective elements.

Demo Video

(view in My Videos)

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

r_simoes — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 13:54:51 GMT

Hi @rakesh.borse,

Is there any progress regarding this issue?

I understand that it is a workaround that works, but it is not practical to define a value for all elements (even if it is a type parameter) in each model.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 16:53:56 GMT

Hello @r_simoes,

Our Development team is working towards fixing the issue of not having out-of-the-box property available 'Linked Revit Model'. Fingers crossed soon we will have a good news!

I appreciate your patience and interest in Data Exchange.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:25:03 GMT

Hello all,

I'm trying to do the same practice in our project for a federated view in Revit. I have created the Data Exchange file on ACC and I have connected my Power BI file to that Data Exchange. The viewer is showing the federated model, but the issue is model is not interactive and I cannot select any element from the viewer. Any workaround you gents suggest? See attached please and thank you

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:36:03 GMT

Hello @Amirmahmoud.Moeini,

Can you confirm if the issue is observed only in PowerBI and not in the ACC viewer? Is it possible to provide us the access to the Exchange so that we can investigate?

Thanks and Best Regards,

Rakesh Borse

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

r_simoes — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 08:51:07 GMT

@Amirmahmoud.Moeini

There is an item in Data Exchange content for each Revit Link file linked to your model, as you can select any element by category in Power BI.

You can query its properties, but they are not related to its elements, nor to the elements of the linked file from which they come. At least it wasn't that long ago, I don't know if there has been any update regarding this issue.

Try filtering the elements by category and see if they are from different files. If so, follow @rakesh.borse workaround.

It's not the perfect solution, but it works.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 13:25:38 GMT

Hello @rakesh.borse ,

Thanks for replying. Yes, this only happens inside PBI. I can select the elements when I open the Data Exchange file in ACC. Yes, I can grant you access. Can you please share your email address with me?

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 13:28:08 GMT

Thank you for your insight. The problem is that I cannot select the elements in the viewer. I belive I need to fix this firts. Also, there's no interaction between the data slicers and the visualization.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 13:55:46 GMT

My email id is rakesh.borse@autodesk.com

Please share the exchange with me. Thanks.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 14:03:26 GMT

Thank you Rakesh, I granted access. The data exchange name is '3D-test' which is coming from the Revit file called ' FedTest'. Please let me know if you have access issues.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:57:05 GMT

@rakesh.borse I think using the Revit connector solved the issue, am I right?

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:15:12 GMT

Yes, the Exchange created from the Revit connector is working fine. I have created the same in your folder: Exchange name: 3D-test-From-Revit Connector. You can try that.

We are investigating what's wrong with the Exchange created by ACC. Could you please provide access to our dev engineer ravindra.bhadale@autodesk.com?

Also, please note that we have released v2.0.9 which I recommend you to upgrade. Download from here: https://apps.autodesk.com/BIM360/en/Detail/Index?id=630329146206435612&appLang=en&os=Win64

Please note that Autodesk is having a next week off, so please expect a delay in response.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Rakesh

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:21:37 GMT

Thank you @rakesh.borse - Yes I checked the new one from Revit connector and it's working. That would be great because I often create data exchanges directly from ACC. I will grant access to Ravindra in a minute. Also, I have updated the connector to v2.09. Please let me know if your team fixes the ACC data exchange issue. Thank you for your support Rakesh

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

Amirmahmoud.Moeini — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:54:30 GMT

@rakesh.borse , Also, I forgot to mention that we have problems using Revit data connector. It fails during the process of creating the data exchange. Is this related to some other add-ins installed in Revit? for example we have Newforma (BIM Track) add-in

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 13:58:06 GMT

Hello Amir,

It seems the data exchange '3D-test' is deleted. Could you please restore it so that we can investigate it in detail?

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

MohamedElmasri — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 22:38:31 GMT

Hello @rakesh.borse ,

I have created a federated file on my laptop and create data exchange on ACC.

I tried with one discipline ( structural ) = Successfully done and connected in Power BI

I tried with many disciplines = the file get error in the processing , so Is there any updated about the workflow you mentioned in the original post here ?

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 03:58:28 GMT

Hello @MohamedElmasri ,

No, we have not made any changes. Could you please share more details about the issue? I want to know if when you say 'file got error in the processing', it means the exchange has a processing error in the ACC? If yes, please share the exchange links so we can investigate what went wrong. I would request you to write to data.exchange.support@autodesk.com for better and faster collaboration.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

mahmoud_rawi9JPZQ — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:55:04 GMT

Hi @rakesh.borse ,

After connecting power bi with data exchange from ACC, please find the link below for your reference

https://acc.autodesk.com/docs/share/projects/5a835985-b55e-4045-9d26-0c75480d4d66/files?shareId=deb311d6-f6b4-4487-8eb5-98e049086017

This error appears after loading data.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

rakesh.borse — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:29:17 GMT

Hello @mahmoud_rawi9JPZQ ,

Thanks for the screenshot; it's helpful. We had this issue earlier, which was fixed in v2.0.9. Can you confirm if you are using the latest build, v2.0.11? You can find it here: https://apps.autodesk.com/BIM360/en/Detail/Index?id=630329146206435612&appLang=en&os=Win64. If you're on the latest version and still experiencing this error, we will need temporary access to the exchange so that we can quickly debug and attempt to resolve the issue.

The root cause of the issue is duplicate column names. The exchange gets loaded in the 'transform query' but fails to load after 'Close and Apply' or fails to load after direct load. A workaround can be to remove such columns with duplicate names. Refer to the example in the screenshot.

Re: Workflow Demo on 'Data Exchange from Federated Revit Models To PowerBI'

MohamedElmasri — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 04:23:06 GMT

Hi @rakesh.borse ,

could you tell us the main columns that are mandatory to use ACC Data Exchnage

I got catch these columns,

Element ID
Element Name
Exchange Id
Exchange Name
ExternalElementId
Family Name
Federated Viewer Mapping
Last updated
name
Operation
sample.viewer
Revit Category Type Id
Revit Element ID
urn

so, if you could help us with that It would be useful , since I have the same error that @mahmoud_rawi9JPZQ had.