Metadata

Documents in BIMcollab Twin are always part of a location, project or project phase (Note: A document linked to a location or project does not have a phase). Many different kinds of documents are included within a project or a phase. A set of data is requested upon the upload of documents that make each file distinguishable from the others and this set is called metadata. Metadata that is assigned to a document makes it findable and filterable.

There are some fields in the submission of metadata that are preset by the project administrator and some that can be inserted freely. The prescribed values that are set by the admin are, for example: status, spatial structure, discipline, labels and manufacturer and the fields that can be added freely are the descriptions or dates. 

The admins can learn how to set up the values such as Disciplines, Status, Label, Companies,... on our Starter Guide for BIMcollab Twin Admins. 

Below is an overview of all fields in documents which are made mandatory by default:

1. Document number: a unique number or code for this document. Document Naming Convention, a scripted naming formula set by the project admins, can be turned on per project phase, to help with structured and consistent document naming. 
2. Descriptions: a textual description of the contents of the document
   
3. Document date : the issue date of the first version of the document
   
4. Spatial structure (location, project, phase, attached to) : the spatial structure is the plots, buildings and floors as created in the location and projects.
   
5. Document type: the document types provide an initial subdivision of the documents. It is easy to filter by types in the navigation of the documents module. A choice of standard document type can be made.
   
6. Discipline: the list of disciplines can be set per each BIMcollab Twin space. The classification of disciplines can vary greatly per project.
   
7. Manufacturer: The list of manufacturer matches the companies associated with the space users.
   

The above mentioned data can be listed in our Excel file template. Uploading this Excel file along with your documents, eliminates the need to insert the data manually. This excel file is called the upload list. 

Some information may change per version, so these fields are maintained per version of the document:

1. Version number: number or letter to indicate the version.
2. Version date: date of the current version.
3. Status: a document must always be assigned one status. The statuses can be set per space.
   

Some information are not mandatory to include but you have the option to use them and further enrich the data, for example:

1. Labels: a document can be assigned one or more labels to provide documents with additional prescribed properties. Labels are set per each space by the space administrator.
2. Version description: description of the changes.
3. Scale: scale of the drawing.
4. Paper size: size of the sheet needed to print documents later.
5. Custom metadata: space-specific metadata fields, which can be created by space administrators

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