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. Kalma MIDP Manager keeps what's good about Excel (you start fast, you code your deliverables) and fixes what breaks: a single source of truth, linked to Autodesk Forma/ACC®, that tells you what's about to fall due and what's overdue.
Why Excel persists
It's not laziness. Excel wins at the start:
- Free and no procurement — the Project / Design Manager 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 construction project. Excel's cost isn't the licence: it's the drawing that fell behind without anyone noticing.
What Kalma 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 an existing list or straight from your Autodesk Forma/ACC® folders by parsing the file names. The MIDP is built in minutes, with codes based on ISO 19650 or your firm's own, 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 blocks the site comes first. An overdue agenda: what's behind, what's due in the coming 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. Kalma 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
- Project or Design Managers who track in Excel today and chase status over email, WhatsApp or CDE folders.
- Teams on Autodesk Forma/ACC® who want to close the plan ↔ repository loop.
- Practices that report progress to a client or Head Manager 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 existing list or read the deliverables from your Forma/ACC® folders and the board builds itself.