Model Checker, Ensuring Data Quality

What does the Model Checker do?

One Click LCA automatically checks your inputs for plausibility and too generic definitions. The checking results will be shown on the mapping page after you have imported the data to your design, an example is shown below. 

 

 

If you wish to see the exact rows that the warnings concern, download the list of issues. You can download an Excel file, which will include the data you have imported and the information of the issues. The information for exact rows with issues can be found in the second tab called 'Issues'.

 

How do you use the Model Checker?

This feature is available right after you import an excel file or a BIM model from e.g. Revit, Simplebim or IES. The model checker highlights potential issues with your data, it is meant as an aide to help understand the quality of your uploaded data.

 

The type of issues that our model checker will automatically detect are as follows:

 

1. Potential Issue: 'Error: Implausible thickness'

The error means that the marked material row has untypical thickness compared to the chosen material type. This could indicate that a component that the mapping is not correct, for instance, a structure having steel studs is modelled as a solid geometry but mapped to a resource with solid steel resulting implausible thickness for steel which is normally less than few centimeters thick.

 

Recommended Action - 'Check or correct defined thickness'

Download the Excel and check the 'issues' tab. Once you have located to rows with the error warning, check your data from the model to find out if the material actually is that thick or if it is, for instance, a structure with air holes or several materials modelled with solid thickness.

 

Suitable fixes can be chosen based on the results:

• If the material is not named correctly and is therefore mapped to a wrong kind of material you can fix the labelling either in Model or modify the excel tab that contains all the materials and import the corrected data from the Excel
• If the material is non-solid or a structure (such as 'window' with glazing, air, and frame) you can map it to matching data-set containing the structure. (Still, it might be a good idea to fix the label as in the option a.) The materials with layers can be found at the tab called 'Constructions' or by structure names such as 'Window' or 'Drywall'
• If the thickness or quantity of the material does not seem to be correct you can correct it in the model or modify the excel tab that contains all the materials and import the corrected data from the Excel
• Choose 'decide later' and handle the data in the Questionnaire page

2. Potential Issue: 'Warning: Generic definitions'

The warning means that the material name in the model contains terms like “default” or that we could not find a material name. These kinds of labels cannot be used to map the data reliably to LCA datasets.

 

Recommended Action - 'Add more specific information about the materials or map datapoints manually'

Download the Excel and check the rows with errors from tab “issues”. Once you have located to rows with the error warning check your data from the other excel tab containing all model info or directly from the model to find out what the material actually. Then you can either:

• Fix the label in the model
• Modify the excel tab that contains all the materials and import the corrected data from the Excel
• Choose a suitable dataset for the data in the UI. Your choice will not be memorized but you’ll get your calculation done immediately.

3. Potential Issue: 'Info: Unidentified data'

The info means that we could not find any mapping recommendations for your datasets based on previous mappings in One Click LCA. This is not an error but a normal situation that is caused by using a bit different labels in the model that we have seen before. All you need to do is to map these data rows to some environmental datasets in One Click LCA. We’ll remember your choices and map them automatically next time.

 

Recommended Action - 'Map unidentified data manually'

Unidentified data simply means the naming or labeling of the material names have not been seen before by our import mapper. You will need to make choices for the 'unidentified' materials and save these. Upon saving it will store these mappings into our mapping database, and will assign these automatically once you upload materials with the same naming or labeling in the future. 

 

Note: To improve the video quality once the video has begun, you should open 'Settings' (gear icon), then select 'Quality', and choose the highest available resolution.

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How to improve your model?

Check how to improve your BIM model from our guide at the following section of our customer support centre 'BIM modelling guide for LCA'