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COMMs

  • Updated

Important

Introduction

COMMs vision: It’s about communicating insights from checking and visual inspection in Solibri Cloud (CheckPoint). The goal is to create a new, interactive, and immersive experience that allows users to communicate model quality insights.

Key Concepts

COMM item or Communication item: the "insight" itself — it contains metadata, source info (how this COMM item came to be), link to 3D scene and the elements, viewport, and screenshots in CheckPoint. All this data is presented as a pop-over right panel summoned by user actions.

Solibri Cloud (CheckPoint) utilizes the following concepts:

  • Details tab: where you name it, set status/priority, provide details, assign someone, and see screenshots.

  • Elements tab: shows the model elements involved and lets you focus on them.

  • Comments tab: shows the comments added to this particular COMM item.

  • COMM bubble: the representation of COMM item in 3D viewer in CheckPoint.

  • COMM list item: the representation of COMM item available inside "COMMs" tab in the main left panel in CheckPoint.

  • COMMs tool: 3D viewer tool that allows user to create COMM items directly in the 3D viewer in CheckPoint.

COMMs from Visual Inspection in CheckPoint

You can create a COMM by selecting elements directly in the 3D viewer. Use this when you've spotted something on specific element(s).

Note

COMM item created from visual inspection can be related to multiple elements in the 3D viewer. Press down "Ctrl" key and click on elements you want to "add" as a part of this COMM item.

How to create COMM directly in the 3D viewer:

  1. Open the COMMs tab and turn on the COMMs tool.

  2. Click the element(s) you want to flag.

  3. Fill in the details in the editable COMM bubble, and click Create COMM to save.

What you get:

  • In case of single element selection, COMM bubble will be pinned to that location.

  • In case of multiple elements, COMM bubble is pinned to the location of the last element you've selected with COMMs tool.

  • A COMM item with screenshots, metadata you fill in, and a list of the elements you picked.

  • In the Elements tab you can copy their GUIDs to find them quickly in the authoring tool or Locate in 3D to focus on each one in the 3D viewer.

Note

To discard the COMM item that hasn't been yet saved, click anywhere twice outside of the COMM bubble.

COMMs from Checking Results in CheckPoint

Use this to report check failures using COMMs to track what has failed, what has been reported, and assigned.

Note

COMMs from checking results can only be created from the results produced by rules from Project and Company libraries. COMM item created from checking results always indicate what rule, from which library was run when a COMM item had been created.

  1. Run a rule from project or company library and review the failures presented in the data viewer.

  2. In the data viewer, select the failures you want to communicate as one COMM item using checkboxes on the right side of the checking results table.

  3. Click "Create COMM" icon-button in the top right corner of the data viewer, represented by a bubble icon. The details will automatically include the "source". In this case it's the Library and Rule title that generated this result.

  4. If you select more than 100 items in the data viewer to create a COMM item, the items will be automatically split into batches, where elements related to the same checking result will be placed inside one COMM item. So, multiple COMM items will be created, each containing relevant elements. You will go through batches one by one in the COMMs editor panel, where you can adjust each COMM item status, priority, due date, assignee and description per batch, if needed.

What you get:

A COMM bubble pinned to one randomly selected element per COMM item. The bubble is placed above the bounding box that element.

A COMM item that represents the whole selection with screenshots, metadata you fill in, and a list of the elements derived from the initially selected checking results.

In COMM item Details tab you can see the indicator of what rule, from which library was run when a COMM item had been created. Clicking the "3D Preview" icon button next to the rule and library indicator will show that rule's results in the 3D viewer.

The Elements tab lists representative elements. The list shows how many elements are related to this particular COMM item. You can click to "Isolate selected in 3D viewer", which will allow you to see only the relevant elements. From the list of elements you can copy individual GUIDs to find those elements quickly in the authoring tool or "Locate in 3D" to focus on each one individually in the 3D view.

How to use COMMs in your CheckPoint workflow

The elements that need attention are communicated via COMMs. COMMs represent the areas in your BIM models that need adjustments. Once those elements are found and fixed or adjusted in the BIM authoring tool, the new model version is uploaded to the same model set in CheckPoint and now it's ready for review.

Case 1. New model version, but the same element still fails the check

When you run the same rule from the same project or company library on a new model version, and the elements with the same GUID are still causing check to fail, the COMM icon in the checking results table indicates whether an item had been previously reported via COMMs. You can click on the COMM icon in the data viewer row to inspect how the new version of the model addresses the elements that had been previously reported as problematic.

Case 2. New model version, but the same element doesn't fail the check

When you run the same rule from the same project or company library on a new model version, and the elements with the same GUID are not causing check to fail, they won't be reported in the checking results as "Failed" anymore. However, COMM item related to this element will be preserved in the list of COMM items in the COMMs tab.

If the element in the new model version is still present with the same GUID, but the element location has changed, the COMM item will stay connected to this element and will highlight it in the new location in the 3D viewer. You can then change this COMM item status to "Resolved".

If the element with that GUID is deleted or can't be found in the new model, the original COMM item will still be present in the list of COMM items in the COMMs tab. This element GUID will be documented, but the element won't be possible to locate in the 3D viewer as it doesn't exist anymore in this model version. You can then change this COMM item status to "Resolved".

Tip

Name COMMs so people know the area and issue at a glance (e.g., "Level 6 — MEP vs Wall clashes near Core A").

Note

By default, all new COMMs are created with status "New", priority "Medium". You can always change the values, but these fields cannot be empty.

COMMs with Desktop app issues integration

COMMs can be used together with the Solibri Desktop app. When CheckPoint integration is active, issues created in Desktop’s BCF Live Connector will also appear in the list of COMMs in CheckPoint. Learn more here: BCF Live Connector - CheckPoint COMMs integration

Q&A

What COMMs are related to project/model/model set?

COMMs list shows COMMs related to Model set that is currently loaded in CheckPoint. If you are using COMMs with Desktop app integration, COMMs from issues created in desktop for this project will appear in the list of COMMs.

How does COMMs feature work if some models in a model set are hidden?

If a needed model is hidden, the COMM bubble will still show in the 3D viewer and the COMM items list in CheckPoint. Clicking the COMM will highlight the elements in question in a "ghost" manner, allowing you to understand that the model is hidden.