How a healthcare design firm achieved a 67% time savings by utilizing Room Data Sheet Templates that were connected to Revit.
“The more streamlined you make the process, the better. That’s why we like Layer. Layer has an uncomplicated dashboard. Layer’s support team has helped us speed up the time it takes us to accomplish our goals!”
Roy Carroll, Senior Clinical Planner, Kasian Architecture & Interior Design
The Challenge: Sharing Static Spreadsheets
Inputting room data into spreadsheets is common practice in the healthcare design and construction industry. Hospital buildings are complex. A lot of data goes into designing spaces. Oftentimes, more than one person is contributing to the spreadsheet.
For Kasian, passing static spreadsheets back and forth via email grew tedious. The workflow wasn’t cloud based and the Kasian team manually copied and pasted data from spreadsheet to spreadsheet.
Additionally, their spreadsheet didn’t link to Revit, resulting in siloed data.
Their healthcare projects included a renovation and addition for an emergency room, a dialysis unit, and a new joint venture project for another dialysis center. A lot of rooms in healthcare projects often repeat.
The Kasian team wanted a solution that could reduce redundant work across their projects.
The Solution: Implementing a Layer Template to Increase Profitability
The healthcare design team sought a cloud-based solution and found Layer.
Before implementing Layer on a project, the Kasian team developed a Room Data Sheet template based on their company graphic standards. They created the typical fields often used on their previous projects.
After collecting architectural data, such as finishes, glazing type, mechanical, and electrical characteristics, they easily replicated the format using Layer’s Document View tool, then saved it as a template.
Senior Clinical Planner Roy Carroll says, “Layer templates are attractive for us because we have one template that we can copy across several projects. It increases efficiency and profitability.”
From there, they rolled it out to their healthcare projects. “Once you have a Layer template set up, the rest is easy peasy. Every piece of data is accessible and not buried in a spreadsheet”
Kasian invited their MEP consultants to collaborate in real-time on data entry. The form-based input ensured that their data was consistent and complete. “It’s simple for them,” said Carroll.
“The more streamlined you make the process, the better. That’s why we like Layer. Layer has an uncomplicated dashboard. Layer’s support team has helped us speed up the time it takes us to accomplish our goals!” exclaimed Carroll. “I really enjoy the fact that Layer offers face-to-face support when I have questions.”
As for what’s next? Kasian is looking forward to testing it as a project hand off tool for their clients. The Layer team will be there to help them roll it out.
“It’s a great benefit that I can learn the process from Layer’s personal operational tutorials and coaching, the Layer Customer Success Team are almost work colleagues in a way! You can customize the formatting to suit the individual project or personal needs. Some of our clients don’t really need or want all the engineering details, they just want something user friendly to read.”