Established in 1985, Stellar is an industry-leading design-build firm that incorporates architecture, engineering, and construction into an integrated approach. Each division focuses on its area of expertise, and they work together to provide clients with the one-on-one attention required to achieve the company’s mission of creating long-term value by understanding each customer’s goals and delivering comprehensive, innovative solutions that exceed their expectations.

The Challenge 

Stellar believes in the power of repeat business. Whether you are a Fortune 100 company or a new startup, they promise to provide the best possible service so that you will return to them again in the future.  

“To build long-lasting relationships with customers, everyone regularly takes stock of the technology we use, the processes we follow, and our workflows to ensure we work as efficiently as possible,” said David Mueller, Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Manager, Stellar.  

One area that emerged as a potential place for improvement was in the transfer of data between the 100 Autodesk Revit software users and the 50 AutoCAD users at Stellar as well as outside consultants. The existing process involved the architects and engineers utilizing Revit to export their CAD backgrounds consistently and forward them to the AutoCAD users, to ensure  that they always had access to the most up-to-date information. As business increased and the Revit users got increasingly busier, this process became more challenging to maintain, and it was time to investigate ways to automate the process.

The Solution 

During an introductory conversation between an IMAGINiT account manager and the Stellar VDC manager, the IMAGINiT representative discussed how many other multidisciplinary firms like Stellar are currently benefitting from utilizing IMAGINiT Clarity software, which automates Revit processes and would help address their challenges.  

“It was clear that the account manager listened, understood our business, and knew how to help,” said Anthony Harwood, VDC Developer, Stellar. “That was the beginning of a successful partnership with IMAGINiT.” 

The Results 

Recognizing that IMAGINiT Clarity would solve the problem of getting CAD backgrounds to AutoCAD users automatically and so much more, they worked with IMAGINiT to: 

1. Secure and implement six licenses of IMAGINiT Clarity for Revit 
2. Train five Stellar users on IMAGINiT Clarity through instructor-led online training 
3. Develop standardized approaches and templates to ensure each new product had automation 

“Our teams, who had been following the same processes for years, have embraced IMAGINiT Clarity because of the clear benefits,” said Anthony. “After a demonstration, they knew that the software would save them a tremendous amount of time, make their jobs easier, and improve collaboration.”

Stellar uses IMAGINiT Clarity to automatically:

1. Export CAD backgrounds from Revit and deliver them to AutoCAD users 
2. Update a Federated model every time construction deliverables are produced 
3. Produce progress sets and deliver them to a network folder location 
4. Create PDF deliverables based on a published set of names and put them into the right spots (like in Autodesk Construction Cloud, BIM 360, Glue, or Procore) 
5. Detect if a change has been made to a file, and if so, export that file to the appropriate places, so that in the morning, users will have access to the current version 

“With IMAGINiT Clarity, our once-manual process of exporting/printing information is now automated, saving us 10,710 hours since we started using it in November of 2019; 915 in the last month alone,” said David. “The benefits go far beyond the time savings. With IMAGINiT Clarity, we ensure all our teams have the right information at the right time. This keeps projects moving, keeps employees happy, and helps us deliver an outstanding customer experience.”

Consistent with their goal of ensuring that they are not missing any efficiencies, Stellar recently had IMAGINiT come out and conduct a review on their usage of Clarity. “We learned of a few new features, but most importantly, we validated that we were going down the right path,” said Anthony. Stellar also requires their design staff to complete Knowledge Assessments of their Autodesk software skills within the first few months of every year and then complete all recommended training by the end of the year. “This policy ensures that everyone keeps current on software updates and maintains the skills they need,” said David.

Stellar is continuously looking into new ways to leverage IMAGINiT Clarity to streamline processes. “One thing we are looking at now is taking data from all our projects and process groups, and gathering project queries in Clarity to create a Power BI graph that mirrors the utility matrix,” said Anthony. 

“We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with IMAGINiT,” said David. “Their software is outstanding, the support they provide has far exceeded prior software providers, and they have demonstrated over and over that they are here to help us succeed.”