The alternative to Excel for tracking BIM deliverables
TL;DR — Tracking deliverables in an Excel is free, instant and mouldable to any project. That's why it's still alive. And that's why it fails: diverging copies, no link to the real CDE files, no reminders, and reports that go stale the moment anything changes. MIDP Manager keeps what's good about Excel (you start fast, you talk in ISO codes) and fixes what breaks: a single source of truth, linked to Autodesk Forma/ACC, that tells you what's overdue.
Why Excel persists
It's not laziness. Excel wins at the start:
- Free and no procurement — the coordinator already has it.
- Mouldable — any ISO naming convention, any discipline, in five minutes.
- No learning curve — everyone knows how to use it.
The problem isn't starting. It's sustaining it when the project grows.
Where it breaks
| What you need | What Excel gives you |
|---|---|
| A single source of truth | Several copies over email, none of them the right one |
| The real status of each deliverable | What someone told you on WhatsApp last week |
| A link to the file in the CDE | None — the plan and the repository live apart |
| Due-date reminders | You set them by hand, or they don't exist |
| Client reports | Built by hand and stale in an instant |
| ISO 19650 traceability | No history of transitions or versions |
An overdue deliverable that nobody sees stalls a clash detection that stalls the site. Excel's cost isn't the licence: it's the drawing that fell behind without anyone noticing.
What MIDP Manager does differently
You start just as fast — or faster. You generate the deliverable set from a curated catalogue (by building type and discipline), or you import it from your Autodesk Forma/ACC folders by parsing the file names. The TIDP is built in minutes, with ISO 19650 code, expected format, responsible party and due date.
Status updates itself. The first upload to the ACC folder is linked without approval (the name matches the drawing code) and the deliverable is marked as delivered. Name/format deviations are flagged automatically. There's no one to chase over email.
What's blocking the site comes first. An overdue agenda: what's behind, what's due in the next 7 days, status by project and workload by responsible party. The client report stops being a separate job.
Without losing the language of the trade. ISO 19650 vocabulary with no glossary (TIDP, MIDP, LOD, discipline, originator, naming convention), in Spanish, English or French.
What you gain and what you give up
- You gain: a single source, a live link to ACC, alerts, traceability, reports that don't go stale.
- You give up: the total freedom of an empty cell. MIDP Manager is opinionated — it follows the ISO 19650 structure. If your process is deliberately non-standard, an Excel lets you do anything (for better and for worse).
Who it's for
- BIM Coordinators who track in Excel today and chase status over email/WhatsApp.
- Teams on Autodesk Forma/ACC who want to close the plan ↔ repository loop.
- Practices that report progress to a client and need the number to be real.
Get started without migrating by hand
You don't need to re-key your Excel field by field: import the deliverables from your ACC folders and the board builds itself.