Coulter BIM Information Management

A common issue when preparing for stage-end reviews or information drops is checking whether each discipline has actually submitted their deliverables to the Common Data Environment (CDE).

You’d think it would be straightforward — but once you’re managing multiple consultants, models, and drawing packages, keeping track of who’s uploaded what becomes a full-time job in itself.

Luckily, Excel can handle this quite elegantly with just a simple helper table, a few formulas, and a little logic.

Step 1: Create a Helper Table

Start by building a small table that lists each discipline and the company responsible.

This table is your reference for quick lookups — Excel will use it to check which company should have uploaded which file.

Example table:

Role Company

AR Alpha Architects
SE Structura Engineers
CE CivilCo Consultants
EE ElectroTech Engineering
ME MechDesign Solutions
LA GreenScape Landscape
DA DesignAxis Interiors
CL Project Client Team
FS FireSafe Consultants
HS HealthSecure Advisors
CM BuildCore Management

Keep this on a separate tab named something like HelperTable.

Step 2: Import or Link Your CDE Export

Export your latest issue register from your CDE — whether you’re using Autodesk Construction Cloud, Asite, Aconex, or another platform.

Most systems allow you to export metadata like Filename, Revision, Discipline, and Company into an Excel or CSV file.

You can link this data directly using Power Query (recommended) or paste it into a sheet named CDE_Data.

Step 3: Add a Formula to Check Each Discipline

In your main report, add a new column named Check and use a formula like this:

=IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH([@Discipline],HelperTable[Role],0)),”Issued”,”Missing”)

Or, if you prefer XLOOKUP:

=IF(XLOOKUP([@Discipline],HelperTable[Role],HelperTable[Company],””)<>””,”Issued”,”Missing”)

This formula searches your helper table for each discipline and reports whether that discipline has issued any files.

Example output:

Discipline File Count Status

AR 25 ✅ Issued
SE 18 ✅ Issued
CE 14 ✅ Issued
EE 0 ❌ Missing
ME 0 ❌ Missing
LA 9 ✅ Issued

With one glance, you can see who’s on track and who’s falling behind.

Step 4: Expand for More Detail

You can easily build on this setup. For example, extend your helper table to include:

Role Company Deliverable Type Expected Count

AR Alpha Architects Drawings 25
SE Structura Engineers Models 2
ME MechDesign Solutions Reports 3

Then use formulas to check expected counts versus actual uploads.

This adds another layer of assurance for your TIDP or MIDP reviews.

Step 5: Automate Refresh with Power Query

If you link your CDE export folder into Power Query, you can refresh the data anytime new files are uploaded — Excel will re-run all your checks automatically.

Your report effectively becomes a mini dashboard showing which companies have issued their deliverables at each milestone.

Why I Like This Workflow

There’s no shortage of dashboards and automated reports out there — but Excel remains king for flexibility and transparency.
It’s accessible to everyone on the project, doesn’t require custom software, and integrates beautifully with your existing CDE exports.

Sometimes, the simplest workflows are the ones that actually get used.