March 24, 2026

Making the Switch: Your Guide from RAM Structural System to RISA-3D + RISAFloor

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If your team relies on RAM Structural System for multi-story buildings, you’re used to a module-driven workflow that separates gravity, lateral, and foundation design. Moving to RISAFloor plus RISA-3D keeps the building-centric approach but offers a more integrated, transparent, and flexible experience.

Step 1: Understand the Two-Model RISA Workflow

In a typical RISA building workflow:

RISAFloor handles gravity framing and floor systems on a story-by-story basis.
RISA-3D manages the full 3D structural model and lateral analysis.

These two models are tightly linked so that gravity loads, framing, and diaphragms transfer automatically into the lateral model, helping you keep building behavior cohesive without switching interfaces.

Step 2: Bring Your Building Layouts into RISA

When moving from RAM Structural System, plan to re-create your building layout while reusing as much existing information as possible.

A practical process is:

Export floor layouts from your current CAD or BIM tools.
Rebuild your floor systems in RISAFloor, defining grids, stories, materials, and typical framing patterns.
Transfer the RISAFloor model into RISA-3D to perform lateral and overall building analysis.

This approach lets you maintain a clear separation between gravity and lateral workflows while keeping the models synchronized.

Step 3: Leverage BIM and Mixed-Material Capabilities

For many firms, switching is about more than just replicating their previous workflow; it’s about taking advantage of broader capabilities.

With RISA you can:

Synchronize with Revit to keep structural models aligned with the architectural design.
Design mixed-material projects that include steel, composite steel, concrete, wood, and masonry within the same family of tools.
Use RISAFloor ES to design two-way reinforced concrete slabs in the same environment instead of adding another specialized product.

This flexibility is especially valuable as more projects combine materials or require coordination across multiple disciplines.

Step 4: Implement Gradually with Pilot Buildings

As with any significant software change, incremental adoption helps your team adapt without disruption.

Start with:

A small office building or light commercial project.
A mid-rise residential or mixed-use structure where both gravity and lateral systems are important.
A project that resembles your “typical” workload so that lessons learned can be reused on future jobs.

These pilots let you refine your RISAFloor and RISA-3D templates, QA processes, and documentation standards before rolling out the workflow across your entire portfolio.