Create an Impressive Dashboard in Power BI in Just 5 Minutes

Start from SeveUp App

Unlock the potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM) with our guide on crafting a remarkable dashboard swiftly using Power BI. Elevate your data visualization skills and delve into the world of impactful BIM dashboards effortlessly within a 5-minute timeframe. Let’s revolutionize your BIM experience!

Before starting, ensure you have a SeveUp app account for an immersive experience! Create your project on SeveUp by following our tutorial here. Then make sure you have Microsoft Power BI installed. Follow our tutorial on how to install it here

Open your BIM dashboard just downloaded from SeveUp App

Launch Microsoft Power BI

Open up Power BI. We need to open the file you want to use in order to save it and then start building on it.

Navigate to “File”

 At the top of the page, click on “File”.

Choose “Browse”

Then click on “Browse Reports”.

Select your .pbit file

Select the .pbit file that you want to use and click on “Open”.

Click “Load”

A pop-up will appear with the file loaded into it. Click on “Load” to start the process of uploading your file into Power BI.

Go to “File”

Now that your file is open, you need to save it as a .pbix file so you can start working on it.

So click on “File”

Opt for “Save As”

Now click on “Save As”.

Save your project as .pbix

Type in the name for your project and choose the .pbix file type. Then click on “Save”.

Add a “Slicer” to create your object class tree

Click on “Slicer” to start your BIM dashboard creation

Now you can populate your dashboard with the data you want to access. You can add a Slicer card to your visual so that you can access all the asset classes easily.  A Slicer is basically just a form of filtering the assets. 

On the right hand side of Power BI, you’ll see 3 panes – Filters, Visualizatiosn and Data. Under “Visualizations”, click on the “Slicer” visual to add it to your dashboard.

Move and resize your “Slicer”

Move and resize the “Slicer” in your dashboard. You can move these visuals around your dashboard to customise your look as you like.

Populate your ”Slicer” with data

To populate this visual with information go to the Data pane and under “WT_Assets”, scroll to “Class” and drag it over to “Field” under “Visualisations”. Now you can see that the visual is populated with that data. 

Now unclick the visual. 

Add a pie chart to your BIM dashboard to sort objects per level (storey)

Click on “Pie chart”

Now you can add a Pie chart to sort the assets according to the storey they’re on. Click on the pie chart icon under Visualisations.

Move and resize your “Pie Chart” 

Now move and resize your “Pie Chart” to where you want it on your dashboard.

Populate your “Pie Chart” with data

Now you can populate your “Pie Chart” with data and format it. 

Under the “Data” pane, scroll down to “WT_AssetSpatial” and then to “BuildingstoreyAssetName” and drag that into the “Legend” field. 

Drag it again into the “Values field”.

Drag it again into the “Values field”.

Begin by selecting “Format Your Visual”

Customize the appearance of the “Pie Chart”

Click on “General”

There are two tabs “Visual” and “General”. Click on “General”.

Toggle “Title” to the “off” position

Toggle the “Title” button to the “off” position. Now you’ll see that the details of the data used in the pie chart has disappeared. This will clean up the visual for you.

Add a table to add Assets information and calculation

Click on “Add Table”

Now you can add a table that will show you the Assets information and their calculations. Under “Add Data to Your Visual”, click on “Table” to add it to your dashboard.

Move and resize your table

Adjust the size and position of your table. It will be showing 2 columns  with the names of each of the assets so make sure it’s not too narrow.

Populate your “Table” with data

To add some data, go to the “Data” pane and click “WT_Assets”. Then drag “ObjectType” over to “Columns” under the “Visualisations” pane.

Then drag “Assetld” over to “Columns” under the “Visualisation” pane.

Choose “Count”

Under “Assetld” click on “Count (distinct)” to add in the calculations.

Now unclick the card

Add another table for Quantity Take-Off display

Click on “Add Table”

Under “Add Data to Your Visual”, click on “Table” to add it to your dashboard.

Move and resize your table

Move and reposition your table to where you want it.

Populate your “Table” with data

Under “Data” scroll to “WT_QTO” and then drag “Name” over to the “Columns” field under the “Visualisations” pane.

Add an Advance Card visual to display the number of assets selected

Click on “Advance Card”

Now you can add an “Advance Card” visual to display the number of assets selected. Under the “Visualisations” pane, click on “Advance Card”.

Move and resize your card

Move and resize the visual to an appropriate place.

Populate the “Card” with data  

Under “Data”, populate the visual by scrolling to “WT_Assets” and then drag “Assetld” over to “Data Field” in the “Visualisations” pane. 

Click the down arrow next to it to choose Count. 

Select “Format Your Visual”

Now to clean that card up you can go to “Format Your Visual”.

Toggle “Category” button to “off”

Toggle the “Category” button to “off”.

Change “Display units”

under “Data Label” you can choose the display unit you’d prefer. Click on “Display Unit” and choose “Auto”. 

Now unclick the card.

Add an Advance Card visual to display the value of the selected quantity on your BIM dashboard

Click on “Advance Card”

Add another Advance Card visual to display the global area value of the selected quantity. Under the “Visualisations” pane click on the “Advance Card” visual. 

Move and resize your card

Move and resize the visual.

Populate the “Advance Card” with data

Under “Data” click on “WT_QTO” and drag over “Value” into the “Data Field” under the “Visualisations” pane.  

Click on “Format Your Visual”

Toggle “Category Label” to “off”

Go to “Category Label” and toggle it to the “off” position.

Start by selecting “Data Label”

Next, access the dropdown menu under “Data Label”. In the dropdown menu, choose “Display Units”,within the “Display Units” submenu, select “None”

Finally, click on “General”

Staying under the “Formet Your Visual” pane, click on “General”.

Toggle “Title” to “on” position

Toggle the “Title” button to the “on” position and drop down the menu.

Click on “FX”

Click on “Fx” next to the “Text” field. This will bring up this pop-up where we choose the Format Style and Fields.

Click on “Fields”

Click the drop-down arrow under the “Fields” tab and search for “QTO”. Scroll to “Name” and this will show you the first name. 

Now click OK. 

Click on “Visual”

Under the “Visualisations” pane, click on “Visual”.

Toggle “Postfix Label” to the “on” position

Toggle “Postfix Label” to the “on” position.

Populate the “Advance Card” with data

Go to the “Data” pane and under “WT_QTO”,  drag “Unit” into the “Postfix Field” to complete the visual.

Now, you dashboard is ready to use. Llet’s see an example of how the data can be easily accessed within just three clicks. To access data related to the doors in the project, follow the example below.

Start navigate inside your BIM dashboard

Begin by selecting “ifcDoor”

Next, locate the asset class called ‘ifcdoors’ within the ‘Slicer’ visual

Finally, click on ‘Storey’:

The piechart is divided into the different storeys or levels of the building. On the “Pie Chart”, choose a storey (level) that you would like to see. 

Click on “Update”

In the 3D BIM viewer in the centre of the BIM dashboard there are options at the bottom for how you can view the data. Normally this button will show “Current” with the number of assets displayed in the 3D viewer. Now that you have chosen different criteria it will show “Update”. Click on this and the BIM viewer will update the display to show all of the selected assets.