HIVE Revit Family Standards
Description
HIVE Standards is a collection of tools that are useful to BIM managers for monitoring and maintaining standards adherence for the organization. This system is configured in the HIVE Portal and runs pre-defined checks on Revit family content in selected libraries. It can also be customized to include standards as configured by the organization.
The checks are performed on qualifying content in a library. This means that of 1000 items in a library, there may only be 250 items that qualify. The primary qualifiers are:
families of versions greater than Revit 2020
families that can exist outside of a Revit project model
families that have not been automatically upgraded (checks the source version only)
Configuring Family Standards
Parameter Standards
Include Shared Parameter Use in Automated Rating: if a shared parameter file has been uploaded to HIVE, it will be used in this check
Include Custom Parameter Use in Automated Rating: checks for parameters not typically found in families (such as builtin parameters)
Include Custom Parameter Naming in Automated Rating: checks that custom parameters meet the established naming rules
Include Parameter Grouping in Automated Rating: checks that parameter groups follow established rules
File Size
Sub-category Standards
Reference Plane Naming
Search Result Culling
Exclude Public Content with Combined Rating Less than Minimum: content from public libraries rated below this threshold will not be shown in search results
Exclude Org Content with Combined Rating Less than Minimum: content rated below this threshold will not be shown in search results
Common Standards
Running Checks
In the list of the organization libraries, check the boxes at the beginning of each library that you wish to have checked. When checked, a green plus button will appear in the actions area at the upper right of the list. Click this button to begin the process.
A message will appear stating that a check on the Revit content in the selected libraries will be scheduled. Choose OK to schedule or cancel.
NOTE: The checking process uses Autodesk platforms to run in the background, without user interaction. Each Revit content will be checked for all versions and, depending upon the number of items and service volume, may require several hours complete the run. Because of this, there will not be any status indicating how long it will take or when it will be done. A notification will be sent when complete.
Considerations and Best Practices
Run the check again if several pieces of content have been updated, however
Be conservative with the number and frequency of running checks!
The checks will be performed on all stored versions of the family (2019-up)
The results of the check and ratings that are stored do not correlate to user ratings
The check will require quite some time to complete depending on the number of items - consider a trial run on a smaller set of content before choosing several or very large libraries
The checker will only run once on a content item. For example, if the item is associated with three libraries that have been selected for checking, the check will only be performed one time on that item.
The checks performed are intended to provide a baseline of quality built from known best practices. In some cases, a manual review is recommended periodically to ensure the results are consistent
HIVE Family Standards Rating Conventions
Properties
HIVE Rating - Average of all ‘Global Review’ scores
Organization Rating - Average of all ‘Corporate Review’ scores
FilePath - The path to the Revit family file
FileName - FamilyName.rfa from file being reviewed
FamilyType - “Model” or “Annotation”
Category - Family Category Value
ReviewDate - Date the Family Check was run in MM/DD/YYYY format
ReviewNumber - GUID generated at time of Run
Scoring
IdentityData
Score 5 if
URL, Manufacturer and Model values are used
Score 1 if one of the parameters do not have a value
Null or no value if family is Annotation or Category is Detail Component, Mass or Profile
DetailLevel
Score of 0 until all check is completed
5 if each detail level has something different showing in plan view
3 if Coarse is different from Medium and Fine but Medium and Fine are the same
1 if no change is detected for any detail level
NULL (Empty in Excel) if Family type is Annotation or family category is a Mass or Profile
Detail_Level3D
Score 5 if Coarse, Medium, and Fine show different levels of detail in the family while in a 3D view
Solids and model lines should not have the same settings to not show or show at varying levels of detail
Solid X doesn’t show at medium and coarse
Solid Y doesn’t show at Coarse
Model Line Z shows at all detail levels
Model Line A doesn’t show at medium and fine
Score 3 if Medium and Fine are the same but Coarse is different
Score 1 if all levels show no change in the family
NULL or no value if Annotation, Profile or Detail Component
VisibilityPlan
Score 0 until further evaluation
Score 5 if All Solid Geometry is off in RefLevel Floor Plan or RefLevel Ceiling Plan views and a detail Item, generic annotation, detail lines or filled region is visible in plan view (Ref Level)
Score 3 if any solid is visible in plan at any detail level, but 2D components also exist in plan… See Optimal rules to determine if 2D content exists in plan
Score 1 if only solid geometry is visible in plan view at any detail level
NULL or no score if Annotation, Detail Item, Mass or Profile
VisibilityGeneral
Score 5 if the family is visible in all views including sections
Score 1 if geometry is not showing in any of the views
NULL or no score if Annotation, Detail Item, or Profile
ImportedContent
Score 5 if no trace of imported content is left behind. (Materials, Sub-Object Styles, etc..)
Score 1 if: Traces of Imported geometry remains in the model
GeometryFlex
Score 5 if the geometry in family is constrained
Solids must have sketch locked to reference planes and non-sketched faces locked to reference planes
Detail/Model Lines must have ends soft constrained to other linework and position locked to a reference plane
Detail Items must have sketch locked to reference planes
Nested model families must follow same rules for internal geometry and have placed instances locked to a single reference plane in X, Y and Z directions
Nested Detail/Annotation families must follow same rules for internal geometry and have placed instances locked to a single reference plane in X and Y directions
Any arcs in families may be directly dimensioned
No geometry should be locked to any geometry other than reference lines or reference planes
Score 4 if the family should be reviewed by a person
If any of the ‘Optimal’ criteria is not able to be validated for a specific piece of geometry the related _Comments field should state “MANUAL REVIEW RECOMMENDED: ” and list any element ID of the component that is being questioned.
If the component is in a nested family, list the name of the nested family
Score 1 if the family has geometry that is not constrained per rules in Optimal settings
If Action required is used the related _Comments field should state “MANUAL REVIEW REQUIRED: ” and list any element ID of the component that is being questioned.
If the component is in a nested family, it will list the name of the nested family
NULL or no score if Family_Type is Annotation Symbol
TypeFlex
Score 5 if No error show when loading a family into a project and family is generating all available types without error
Score 1 if Errors appear when loading or if when the type is changed the model flexes with errors
HostFlex
Score 5 if family is able to be placed in host and host can flex 30% larger and smaller with no warnings
Score 1 if optimal rules are not met
Null or no score if Family is un-hosted or is line based, Annotation, Profile or Detail component
MEPConnectors
Score 5 if connections exist in the family
Score 1 if ‘Category’ is MEP related based on discipline association settings but no connectors exist in family
Null or no score if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings and no connectors exist in family
MEPConnectorDescriptions
Score 5 if (a) Connector Description field is populated and linked to a parameter in the family
Score 4 if description is not populated
Score 3 if Description is populated but no parameter is linked
Score 1 if Description is not populated and no parameter is linked
Null or empty value if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings
MEPConnectorMapping
Score 5 if all linkable Connector parameters are linked to parameters in the main family
Score 4 if:
not all the important parameters are linked to parameters in the family
Important connector parameters are parameters not in the ‘Identity Data’ group in the connector properties
Currently Utility and Connector Description are the only parameters in the Identity Data group
In related _Comments, “Action Recommended: “ and List element ID values for each connector where action is recommended
Score 3 if Important parameters are linked to parameters in the family
Important connector parameters are parameters not in the ‘Identity Data’ group in the connector properties
Currently Utility and Connector Description are the only parameters in the Identity Data group
Score 1 if no connector parameters are linked to parameters in the family
Null or empty if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings
MEPConnectorDirection
Null or empty if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings and no connectors exist in the family
Also NULL if all connectors in the family are electrical connectors
Score 5 if Duct, Pipe, Conduit or Cable Tray connectors have the arrow (Connector Direction) pointing away from the solid on which they are hosted
Score 1 if Value 5 and NULL rules are not met
MEPConnectorLinking
Null or empty if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings
Score 5 if the system type is set to “Global” or “Fitting” and there is more than one connector in the family of the matching system type, then there is a link between 2 connectors of the type fitting or of the type global
Score 3 if connectors are linked but are not of type fitting or global
Score 1 if more than one connector of type fitting or global exists but there is no link
MaterialApplication
Score 5 if all solid geometry has the ‘Material’ parameter linked to a material parameter in the family and material is not ‘By Category’
Score 4 if all solid geometry has the ‘Material’ parameter linked to a material parameter in the family and any material is ‘By Category’
Score 3 if any solid geometry has material assigned but not linked to a parameter
Score 1 if any geometry doesn’t have a material assigned to it and is not linked to a parameter
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation, Profile or Detail Component
Score 1 If Structural Material value exists and is NOT filled with a non-‘Default’ Material
Null or empty If Structural Material Value does not exist or is not using Structural Categories
MaterialPhysicalProperties
For Categories Structural Columns, Structural Framing, Structural Foundations, Structural Connections,
Score 5 If all materials referenced by types in the family have physical properties
Score 3 If more than 50% of materials referenced by types in the family have physical properties
Score 1 If no materials referenced by types in the family do not have physical properties
Null or empty if family is not using Structural Categories
MaterialThermalProperties
For categories Doors, Windows, Curtain Wall components and Structural elements:
Score 5 If all materials referenced by types in the family have thermal properties
Score 3 If more than 50% of materials referenced by types in the family have thermal properties
Score 1 If no materials referenced by types in the family do not have thermal properties
Null or empty if family is not using Arch Categories Categories
TypeCatalogUsage
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation
Score 5 if a type catalog exists in the same directory as the family and the family has fewer than 2 types OR (no type catalog exists AND the number of types in the family is equal to or fewer than 5)
Score 4 if a type catalog exists, but the types in the family are the same name as the types in the type catalog
Score 3 if the number of family types in the family is equal to or fewer than 10 and no type catalog exists
Score 2 if the number of family types is equal to or fewer than 15 and no type catalog exists
Score 1 if the number of types is greater than 15 and no type catalog exists
OmniClassNumber
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation
If FamilyCategory is Detail Items or Mass:
Score 5 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has value
Score 1 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has no value
AssemblyCode
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation
If FamilyCategory is Profile, Detail Items or Mass:
Score 5 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has value
Score 1 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has no value
Warnings
MasterSharedParamater
Score 0 at start until one of the following values update it
Score 5 if the Shared Parameter is found in the Master shared parameter files and
Shared parameter name matches
Shared parameter GUID matches
Shared parameter data type matches
Score 3 if:
Score 1 if a parameter is a Shared Parameter and is NOT from the master list
Null or no value if Family type is Annotation or Family Category is Profile
CustomParameter
Name Rules tab in Options
ParameterGrouping
Score 5 if all parameters are grouped appropriately and appropriate groupings determined by the settings on the Valid Groups tab in options
Score 1 if parameters are not group appropriately per settings in Valid Groups tab in options
FileSize (KB)
SubcategoryStandard
Score 5 If no sub-categories exist in families not available from the Sub-Categories Settings and no custom subcategories are empty/unused (Company Specific)
Score 3 if no sub-categories exist in families not available from the Sub-Categories Settings but at least one custom subcategories is empty/unused
Score 1 Sub-Category is custom (Not built in) and is not in the Sub-Categories Settings list
SubcategoryUnused
Score 5 if Each custom Sub-Category has geometry assigned
Score 3 if Sub-Category is listed in the Sub-Categories Settings list, but has no geometry assigned
Score 1 if Sub-Category is custom (Not built in), not listed in the Sub-Categories Settings list and has no geometry assigned
ApprovedParameter
Score 5 if more than 50% of custom parameters match shared parameters or if there are no custom parameters
Score 3 if more than 0, but less than or equal to 50% of custom parameters match shared parameters
Score 1 if custom parameters exist and no parameters match the shared parameter file
Null or no value if:
ParameterName
Preview
Score 5 if family preview settings match HIVE Preview Generator settings
Score 1 if any of the above rules are not met
Score NA if family is not sourced from HIVE
ReferencePlaneName
Score 5 if every reference plane has a value in the name parameter
Score 4 if less than 25% of the reference planes are not named
Element ID of unnamed reference planes recorded in related comments field
Score 3 if less than 50% of the reference planes are not named
Element ID of unnamed reference planes recorded in related comments field
Score 1 if greater than 25% of the reference planes are not named
Element ID of unnamed reference planes recorded in related comments field
Null or no value if FamilyType is Annotation