The purpose of this article is to provide you with a basic step-by-step guide on how to create a floor plan using a DWG or DXF file in the DotActiv software.
Applicable Products: DotActiv Enterprise
Creating The Floor Plan
Step 1: Open the DotActiv software with a database. Ensure that you toggle the ‘Select Database’ box and select the appropriate configuration.
Step 2: Navigate to ‘File’, then ‘New’, and ‘Open New Floor Plan’. Please find an example of what it will look like in the screenshot below.
Step 3: Save this as the new floor plan folder for the store, for example ‘NEW FLOOR PLAN_MONTANA.flp’.
Step 4: After you have saved the new floor plan, drag and drop the DXF file into the DotActiv software.
It is important to note that the file the architect will send you, will most likely be a DWG file. This means that you have to use a cloud converter to convert that file to a DXF file. Please find a link to CloudConvert here and read more about how you can import or export DXF and DWG files in the DotActiv software here.
Step 5: Once imported, you will need to ‘clean’ the DXF floor plan. You can do this by deleting any unnecessary layers on the file, the layers box will pop up on the left-hand side of your DotActiv screen. However, if it is not there you can navigate to the floor plan tools panel and find it in the ‘View’ section, as seen below.
You may delete all layers named ‘Grid’ and ‘Demo’ or ‘Demolished’. If you are unsure you may untick the visible tick box and work through each layer to determine which layers are necessary and which aren’t. Layers such as trucks or any layers outside of the floor plan can be removed. This can also be done by dragging your mouse over the lines you wish to remove so that it is selected and then clicking the delete button.
The image below indicates what the new floor plan will look like then after you’ve dragged and dropped the DXF file.
Step 6: Before you can add the planograms to the new floor plan, you will need to add the ‘Gondola Blocks’, and ‘Gondola Ends’.
Learn more about gondola blocks and their purpose in this article here. If you would like to know how to pack objects on your new gondola blocks in the DotActiv software, read how to do so here.
Step 7: Once completed, you will need to create a planogram folder that will contain all the planograms you require when flowing through the store. The drop counts of the planograms will be based on the data analysis used by you.
Step 8: Once the planogram folder has been created and the gondola blocks added, the planograms can be pulled into the floor plan using two methods:
- Option 1: Drag the planograms onto the new floor plan. After all, planograms are added, your new floor plan will be created.
- Option 2: Add gondolas by using a function within the DotActiv software.
- Navigate to ‘Add Gondolas’ and select ‘Clustered Gondolas’. Ensure that the store code has been set under store detail on the floor plan properties. Place gondolas in the correct flow according to the layout of the store (Shift up and down to move categories into the correct flow) and click ‘OK’. Learn how to bulk add gondolas to a floor plan in this article here.
- Click on ‘Resize By Existing’ found in the ‘Automation’ section and select the folder that you have created. [Please note this function ONLY resizes based on what is classified in the database]. Read more on how you can resize gondolas based on existing planograms in this article here.
- Lastly, pull gondolas into the correct flow on the floor plan.
Step 9: The final step will be to use the “Resize By Existing” and “Update Facts” functions in the DotActiv software. These two functions will collectively import sales into the store from the database.
Using the ‘Resize By Existing’ function, select the folder which has the new floor plan planograms.
Please note that the store codes need to be added into the store detail which can be completed by opening the floor plan properties window and navigating to the ‘Store Detail’ section and then adding in the code into the store code section.
Thereafter, click the ‘Import data’ dropdown and select the ‘Update Facts’ function. Select all market fields in order to pull store-specific data into the floor plan.
Printing The Floor Plan
Your floor plan will now be created, in order to print the floor plan to PDF please follow the steps listed in this article.
Should these steps not work for you, please log a ticket for our Support team who is always willing to assist.