Setup the initial Area hierarchy in Field

Design your project hierarchy

Say you have one building with two levels, and five apartments on each floor. Here’s how you could design the project hierarchy.

Create and import your area hierarchy

Once you’ve agreed on the design of the project hierarchy, you can create the structure in Excel. 

1. Navigate to Field > Areas > Areas and sub-areas > Add Areas and select Import areas using Excel. 
2. Download the Area template when prompted and open it in Excel.
3. Open the Area worksheet within the Excel file. 
4. You'll see the template that defines the area hierarchy for your project. 
5. Complete the area hierarchy.
6. Save the file as a .xlsx file. You can give it any name you like.
7. Import the file.

How do I import the Excel file?

1. Save the file as a .xlsx file. You can give it any name you like.
2. From Aconex click Field, then Settings. Click Add Areas and select Import Areas.
3. Drag and drop the file in the space provided, or click to choose the file.

Important points:

• Save the file as .xlsx file. You can give it any name you like.
• Do not rename the predefined worksheet names (i.e. Instructions and Area).
• If you add more columns, you must maintain the same format and use consecutive numbering (ie: Level 07, Level 08, Level 09).
• Ensure each entire row (or area) is unique. Do not create duplicate rows.  
• Don't leave any blank rows.  
• Don't use cell formatting in the excel sheet (e.g. merge, alt+enter, etc).  
• The character limit of every cell is 256 characters.  
   

How do the column headers work?

• The column headers in the first row of the template (Level 01, Level 02, etc) represent the hierarchy for your areas and subareas.
• You can adjust the number of columns as needed, but make sure you continue with the consecutive pattern (Level 03, Level 04, Level 05, etc).
• Your project name is used as the 'parent' area in your Field project. You do not need to include the project name in this import file. Aconex will automatically manage that for you.
   

Excel Template Example
If Building A has four floors, and each floor has two rooms, then the hierarchy will be defined in the template as follows: