Aggregate project data prior to importing into eTool
If you're modelling a large-scale project with multiple functions (assets) in eTool, how you organise your material data before you import it has a big effect on both the .CSV import time and how easy the finished model is to work with.
Why large imports slow down
The most common cause is duplicate data. Materials take-off information exported from BIM software, or pulled from a detailed cost plan, often lists the same material many times over — once for every area or element it appears in, rather than once in total.
For example, a detailed cost plan might list 50 MPa concrete foundations separately for every area of the building, when the eTool model only needs one entry: a single template with the combined quantity.
It is recommended to aggregate this data before you import it — for example, using a pivot table in a spreadsheet. Watch the video below to see the process in action, or follow the written step-by-step walkthrough underneath it — both cover the same method, using a Revit export as the example.
If you're linking a Revit model directly
Linking a Revit model straight to eTool doesn't fully solve this on its own yet. eTool will average quantities automatically within the same category, but any row with a different material name or composition name still comes through as a separate line, and you'll need to assign a template to each one manually. eTool's team is working on automating this aggregation, but until that's in place, exporting to a spreadsheet and aggregating manually — as below — is the faster route for large projects.
Step-by-step: aggregating data exported from a BIM tool (Revit example)
- Export your quantities from Revit (or your BIM tool) into a spreadsheet, and work through it one construction category at a time — structural items, slabs, piling, finishes, and so on. A full structural items list looks intimidating at first, but most rows collapse into a handful of repeating types once you look past the individual element names.
- Group rows by material, not by their exact description. Most structural work is either concrete or structural steel, even though the export will use many different-sounding names for elements that belong to one or the other:
- Concrete — sum anything with "concrete" in the name: reinforced concrete walls, concrete columns and beams, concrete slabs, etc.
- Structural steel — sum everything else: hollow sections, angles, fabricated sections, universal beams, studs and anchors are all general terms for structural steel elements.
- Sum the volume (or mass, for elements measured that way — steel is often reported by mass) for each material group, ignoring size differences. It's common to have many different column and beam sizes in a model, but if they're all the same material, they collapse into one quantity for that template.
- Keep ground floor separate from upper floors, even where the material is identical. For example, concrete floor volume typically needs at least two rows: the ground floor slab kept on its own, and the upper floors aggregated together by like type (e.g. concrete upper floors summed in one row, composite metal upper floors summed in a separate row) — because eTool treats these as different templates.
- Repeat across each category — do the same for structural slabs and piling (for example, summing all your piling concrete into one figure) — until you have one row per like-type per category. By the end, you should have rows covering categories such as: foundations, frame, upper floors, ground floor slab, basement slab, and finishes items like external walls, roof, curtain walling, and glazed doors and doors. These are the core items typically needed for a basic LCA.
- Once aggregated, follow the CSV import steps below, matching each row to its eTool template using the Template Name / Template Unit / Asset ID rule.
What counts as one entry
Aggregate material quantities into a single row for each unique combination of:
- Template Name — the eTool material template the quantity maps to (e.g. "50 MPa concrete")
- Template Unit — the unit that quantity is measured in (e.g. m³)
- Asset ID — the function the material belongs to
Two line items only combine into one if all three match. Different Asset IDs, or different units, stay as separate rows even if the Template Name is the same.
Importing the aggregated file
Once your data is aggregated, run the .CSV import as normal and match each row to its eTool template. eTool adds together the quantities for every row that shares the same material template, unit, and Asset ID — so the aggregation you do in the spreadsheet is what determines the final quantity against each template in the model.
Working with multiple functions (Asset IDs)
If your design has more than one function, import the functions first using Bulk Import, then add an Asset ID column to your material .CSV. Each row is then assigned to the correct function automatically during import, rather than needing to be sorted manually afterward.
Why it's worth doing
Aggregating before you import:
- Reduces .CSV import time on large projects
- Keeps the finished model easier to navigate and use
- Saves you time later in the project
When not to aggregate
Aggregation isn't always the right call. If you know you'll want to test an improvement recommendation against just one part of a lump-sum entry later, keep it separate now — once quantities are combined, you'd need to unpick the aggregation to isolate that part again.
Only aggregate items that share the same category (e.g. substructure, superstructure, finishes) and sub-category (e.g. foundation, ground floor, frame). As you gain experience with eTool, you'll develop a feel for which items are safe to aggregate and which are worth keeping separate from the start.
Need help?
Contact the Software Support team if you'd like a hand setting this up.