Importing and exporting files for Viewpoint made simple

A key feature of Atvero is enforcing project standards through the control of file names. For internally generated files, Atvero keeps an eye out for invalid file names, and only accepts documents that adhere to pre-defined naming schemes.

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We talk about ISO 19650 a lot, and the requirements this brings to file names. Most importantly, a lot of important information about the file’s metadata is encoded into the file name. This file name (be it BS-1192 based, the UK annex to ISO 19650 or your own project naming scheme) is the name the document or drawing will have throughout its life cycle, independent of status or revision.

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However, when exchanging information, commonly by interacting with Common Data Environments (CDE), the file names will contain additional information such as the file’s status, revision, or title. This means when files are downloaded from a CDE and uploaded into Atvero, they can appear to be different files based on the filename.

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Many of our customers use Viewpoint as a CDE, and this has a particular way of encoding information into the filename. An export from Viewpoint also contains all the iterations of a document (such as being marked as accepted), but for most of our customers only the originals are required.

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Therefore, before being imported into Atvero, files need to be renamed. However, this process can be laborious. “Renaming Viewpoint files becomes complicated when there are large volumes of documents. In some projects, we have over 10 to 12 contractors, each sends 20 to 50 files into our CDE at any given time. Trying to rename all these files means we have dedicated staff just to rename file after file.” – one of our customers stated.

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To make this process better, we’ve now added a Viewpoint mode to file imports. Atvero can now decode filenames to extract the base filename, as well as status, revision, and title, and set this metadata automatically. It means each version of a file is now added to the correct record automatically.

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We also provide support for uploading into Viewpoint. Files are automatically translated from the internal format into the Viewpoint format, making upload easy.

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With this new feature, our goal is to help users improve productivity by eliminating manual processes that are cumbersome and prone to errors. “When it comes to importing files, we want anyone within the team to be able to perform this process, instead of designated staff members. With Atvero’s new automated Viewpoint mode, importing files now contains less friction, allowing our project teams to fully focus on their roles instead of the mundane admin.” - a customer commented on how they can benefit from the new Viewpoint feature.

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In the future, we aim to streamline workflows from even more CDE systems so that our customers can maximize efficiency.

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