BIM and Construction Specifications for the 21st Century

Who is BSD?

• Building Systems Design, Inc. (BSD) is a software company specializing in

applications for the architecture/engineering/construction market

• The company was founded in 1983

• Headquarters are in Atlanta

• Staff comprises 43 employees, including architects, engineers, spec writers and

software programmers, plus outside consultants

• Major products are:

– BSD SpecLink®-E

– BSD LinkMan™-E

– BSD CostLink®/AE

• Our customers include thousands of firms and individual users in all 50 states

• Last year BSD SpecLink software was used to prepare specs for 20,000 projects

What is BSD LinkMan-E?

It’s the most innovative communications and coordination toolavailable for linking BIM to construction specifications;

it provides interoperability between BSD SpecLink-E & Autodesk’s Revit.

• It’s an interoperability manager (LinkManager) that initially connects Revit

and BSD SpecLink-E

• It’s a client-server application using SQL Server, but it can also run alone

on a single computer

• It provides “dashboard” views of a project to show status of project data

in each linked application― highlighting discrepancies for corrective

action

• It has a built-in database of thousands of assemblies and building

products that are pre-linked to BSD SpecLink-E and Autodesk’s Revit

• It allows specifications to be automatically edited and updated with data

from BIM

• It permits linkage between customized objects in Revit and specification

text in BSD SpecLink-E

What is BSD LinkMan-E?

BSD LinkMan-E – An Overview

BSD LinkMan-E Architecture

• A Client-Server Application Using SQL Server

• Multiple Components:

– Client Software Runs on User’s Computer

– Server Software and Database Run on WAN or LAN

– All Components Can Run on Standalone Computer

• Uses a Revit Add-in to Communicate

• SQL Server-Based Master and Projects Databases

• MS SQL Server Built Into BSD Server Install

• No Separate License; No Database Administrator

• Independent of BSD SpecLink-E; Available as an Add-On Application

LinkMan-E includes a database comprising a taxonomy of assemblies and products that is mapped to objects in each of the linked applications

Assembly objects show in Revit View

The dashboard views display the status of objects across applications – allowing the user to confirm correlations and correct discrepan-cies between the data in SLE and the data in Revit

Product objects show in SLE View

BSD LinkMan-E Architecture

How Does LinkMan-E Work?

Ribbon Bar shows Applications Tab

Each of the main views is accessible via its own tab. Here is the Revit Project view, which displays the status of assemblies in Revit

LME imports data about Revit objects that are present and active in a Revit project

The lighter background color and green status box highlight

objects that are present andactive in the Revit project

Checkmark shows theRevit object has beenlinked to an assembly

object in LinkMan

Data from Revitincludes quantities

and number ofinstances

How Does LinkMan-E Work?

Applications Tab expands or collapses view to show all or only active products

The SpecLink Project view displays the current status of products in the specifications

The SpecLink tree shows which sections are currently active in the SpecLink-E project

Checkmark shows the SpecLink object has been linked to a Product object in LinkMan-E

The lighter background color and green status box

highlight products that are specified in the SpecLink project

Text shown on a lightbackground is actual text

currently selected inSpecLink for the project

How Does LinkMan-E Work?

The Assemblies Dashboard shows the status of assemblies in each of the linked applications, allowing project manager to see correlations and mismatches

Products missing from thespecifications can be

“turned on” in SpecLink-Eby clicking here, under

“Select”

Lighter color in LME columnindicates assemblies that areactive in one or more of the

linked applications

For a given assembly,LME shows which products are included and their status in each linked application

Yellow status box in theSpecLink-E column indicates

only some of the products comprising the assembly arecurrently active in SpecLink-E

How Does LinkMan-E Work?

The Products Dashboard View shows the status of LinkMan–E products in all linked applications -- and can be collapsed to clearly show conflicts among active products

The lighter color across all three columns indicates appropriate correlations, whilegray on one side or the other shows discrepancies

If “Auto Select Specs” is not activated, the project manager can manually “turn

on” any individual products missingfrom the specifications by clicking in the

“Select” column, therebyautomatically selecting appropriate

section and product text in SpecLink-E

“Auto Select Specs” command allows automatic selection in SpecLink-Eof any products missing from the

specifications, based on datafrom the Revit project

The project manager can use this view to determine whether corrections must be made in Revit and/or in SpecLink-E

Assemblies that include thehighlighted product are shown

below, with current status of eachassembly in each application

How Does LinkMan-E Work?

Although many Revit elements have been pre-linked to LinkMan-E, users may create or import their own objects into Revit and link to LME, then link to the appropriate sections and specific products in BSD SpecLink-E

By opening the Revit Project and Assemblies Dashboard in the same window, users can drag and drop elements to create links to LME

The links created by this drag-and-drop process persist from one project to the next, so it is a simple matter to create an “office master” of linked objects

How Does LinkMan-E Work?

BSD also provides several hundred Revit objects that have been pre-linked to LME and are therefore connected to BSD SpecLink-E.

For example, there are more than 200 intelligent wall types that can be sorted and selected by attributes such as overall thickness, fire rating, and sound rating

We hope this brief introduction to BSD’s innovative interoperability product has intrigued you enough to ask for more information about LinkMan-E. Or

let us give you a one-on-one demo of the product.

Thank you for your interest!

Call us toll-free at888-BSD-SOFT

(888-273-7638)

orvisit our website at

www.bsdsoftlink.com