Accessing Material Quantities in Power BI

Hi Speckle Team!

We are currently trying to build up our own Power BI Report Template regarding the Build of Quantities. For this we need not only the volumes (m3) but also the material type.

This parameter shows up as an ID in Speckle instead of the name of the material itself. For now, we have been able to solve this issue by replacing the ID value directly in the Power BI query by the Material we know the element is related to. I think it would be really useful if we would be able to get this Material Name directly instead of converting the ID to it manually.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to hear from you! :slight_smile:
Best,
Raquel

CC: @AlexHofbeck @ltascheva

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Hey @rmsantos!

What’s the source application for this model? If it was created using Revit, I wanted to let you know that our Revit data structure already has a field for material quantities (materialQuantities), which includes area, volume, and material objects (with their names and all of their parameters).

I understand that our new front-end may have some limitations on how you can examine the data structure of your model, but please know that we’re working hard to address those. You can still use Power BI to see the full structure of your objects and extract the relevant keys.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns, I’m here to help!

3 Likes

Hi @gokermu ! Thanks for the fast feedback!

The projects which I am checking are all coming from Revit. I can see the “MaterialQuantities” field which you mention, but I can’t somehow select it because it is grey.

I can find this “MaterialQuantities” in another field inside Level > Material Quantities > Parameters, but can’t find the right parameter in there unfortunately.

2 Likes

Hi @rmsantos,

We are aware of the limitation on our front-end and are currently working hard to fix it. However, this limitation should not affect the Power BI side, where you can view the complete structure of your Revit data and easily examine the materialQuantities structure. Please let me know if you need any assistance with that!

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Hi @gokermu,

Thank you for the information! Makes sense!
If I get crossed with more questions or I if I need assistance with it I will let you know. :slight_smile:

Best,
Raquel Mirra Santos

Hi @gokermu,
to add to Raquels post …
The material names seem to not be visible in PowerBI, at least not with the Method of getting data by expanding.


In the past, I replaced the material id values by trial and error and assigned them materialnames of what I assumed the ID might be. I also took a look at your videos and tried those methods, but it showed me errors every time. I’m using PowerBI version 2.18.1. Am I missing something?
Best,
Alex

Hey @AlexHofbeck ,

Expanding data within the UI has limited space so it may not show all the relevant keys. If you can share a sample file, i’d be happy to create a POC.