The Lowdown on Autodesk Construction Cloud

By now, you have probably heard about the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC). You may have also heard that it is construction management software that can change the way you do business. But, what exactly is the Autodesk Construction Cloud, how does it relate to BIM 360, and what can it do to make your job better?

For those who already know about or use BIM 360, an oversimplified way of thinking of ACC is BIM 360 on steroids … plus more. It enables you to connect project data, teams and workflows so you can more seamlessly collaborate on a project.

When you start a project, you now have two choices:

1. Start your project on the BIM 360 platform, like you always have.
2. Start your project on the new ACC platform.

What’s the difference? you might be wondering.

Some differences are minor while others are considerable. For example, all the modules included on the ACC platform are “Bring Your Own Subscription” (BYOS). BYOS has been a feature unique to BIM 360 Design, where the project administrator can invite others with a BIM 360 Design subscription to join a BIM 360 project, whether they are internal or external to his/her company. Autodesk explains other differences on its Knowledge Network.

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You may also be interested in the free resource Software Collaboration for Modern Projects.  

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If you’re an existing BIM 360 customer, let me clarify: you will not lose access to all the great BIM 360 tools you are currently using. That is not changing.

AEC industry collaboration will simply be easier with new BIM Collaborate, which helps coordinators, project reviewers and others who do not need access to co-author designs. BIM Collaborate will give you access to these tools:

• Autodesk Docs
• BIM 360 Document Management
• Design Collaboration
• Model Coordination
• BIM 360 Design Collaboration
• BIM 360 Model Coordination
• Glue
• Insight (project analytics and predictive insights)
• Administration

With new BIM Collaborate Pro (formerly named BIM 360 Design), you have access to additional tools that do enable co-authoring of designs:

• Revit Cloud Worksharing
• Collaboration for Civil 3D
• Collaboration for Plant 3D

If your design firm is using the BIM 360 Design Collaboration module, you need to start using the included “Model Coordination” module. While BIM 360 and the new Unified Platform are similar in functionality at this time, they each have a different development roadmap going forward.

That is just the very tip of the iceberg!

If you subscribe to the Autodesk Architecture Engineering and Construction Collection, Autodesk Docs is now an entitlement product you have access to in that collection. Docs gives teams access to a common data environment that’s cloud-based. It acts as a single source of truth for all teams across the entire project lifecycle. Autodesk Docs is also available in Autodesk Build and, as noted above, BIM Collaborate and BIM Collaborate Pro.

In my technical advisor capacity, I’ve received many questions over the past few days about these Autodesk changes, and I’m sure there are many more to come. After you review the FAQ links for general questions and answers, I encourage you to reach out to the Applied Software BIM 360 experts for more details around Autodesk Construction Cloud and how it can help you work smarter and more efficiently and make your job better.  

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Other Applied Software resources:

The 6 Improvements to Design Collaboration That Will Beautify Your Design Life.

From Courage to Communication to Collaboration – BIM at Burning Man.

Cutting-edge Construction Software You Should Know About.