A Material List is essentially an outline specification, but with workflow attached. You can create Master Lists of preferred products which can be copied in 2 clicks from project-to-project and then you have Project Material Lists. Your Library contains all of these in one place. Firms use Master Lists in different ways, from a single comprehensive Master List to various Master Lists by project type (K12, higher ed, corporate) by discipline (interiors, landscape, structures, MEP) or by specific client. Everyone in your organization can be given view and edit permissions and work from one central place. External team members or partners can also be invited to a specific List to collaborate in the entire workflow of materials decisions.
Crowdsource lists appear in their own section at the bottom of the page. These are lists created by users in the BE Community to target a specific topic for everyone to contribute to, or copy from – we can all contribute a little and save tons of time, each doing the same research! You can also “pin” your favorites to the top, displayed as cards.
The “View All” button can be used in a few ways. First, to make reporting for the AIA Material Pledge fast and easy! Second, to help clients with their ESG reporting and finally, to be strategic within your own firm and analyze what product categories you want to focus on for improvement each year.
- MENU BAR: Click here to go directly to Catalog, create Company Standards, BE-Xchange (salvage/reuse)
- FAVORITES: Master Lists or Projects that you “pin to top” show up here as your favorites. Currently only 6 show at once, but you can have more. If your sort your list by different column headers, favorites will change.
- ALL PROJECTS TABLE: The table contains all of your company’s Master Lists as well as Projects. Master Lists are curated to be your centralized Preferred Products that can be copied in 2 clicks to any project! You can have hundreds or more and sort or search based on many factors. When projects are completed, you can archive them. If a Project Material List is set to Private it will only show up in the Library of those who were invited to that Material List. Private lists are usually used for NDA projects or for Master Lists that are being curated and haven’t been finished yet.
- ARCHIVE: By clicking the 3 dots in the table or Favorites cards, you can select Archive (for completed projects) and those can be shown or hidden. For now, you can ONLY archive projects you “own”, not ones created by others.
- PUBLIC CROWDSOURCE LISTS: Anyone can create a topic that they want the community to contribute to! Those lists show up here and can also be searched or sorted. Once you open a Crowdsource list, you can copy items from it to a Master or Project list.
- AIA Material Pledge Reporting: The “View All” button lets you see (and export) your organization’s portfolio-wide data. You can control what data is displayed and then export the view you want to a spreadsheet. You can do this to upload that data to AIA’s DDx to report for the Pledge, or for ESG reporting or simply to assess where you’re at to target strategic areas for improvement.
Design firms can also choose to create a custom branded portal for your company’s library, or for your clients! Design firms can also monetize the use of our free BuildingEase platform to support clients by helping them create standards and/or Master Lists that they can use for all projects in their portfolio.
