True Collaboration: Design Collaboration with BIM Collaborate Pro

Autodesk BIM Collaborate Pro is one bundle of tools on the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) platform, a bundle of cloud services around collaboration, cloud hosting of models, cloud coordination, and project management tools. What was called BIM 360 before 2020, with products in their own information silos, is now ACC, where transferring data among tools is becoming seamless. Autodesk BIM Collaborate Pro is one of those products.

When it comes to using BIM Collaborate Pro (formerly BIM 360 Design), the key concept is collaboration. BIM Collaborate Pro empowers teams with coordination tools to avoid misalignment, catch errors early and save the company money. In addition, data can be captured across project lifecycles and displayed in dashboards that track resolution of project issues and highlight completion status of milestones.

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Using BIM Collaborate Pro:

• Keeps projects on schedule with real-time design collaboration, including extended project teams and cross-discipline model coordination.
• Provides document management for effective communication and coordination, helping users understand edits and context using intuitive change analysis and advanced project analytics.

The objective of BIM Collaborate Pro workflows is collaboration, and it helps users achieve that with three services:

1. Design Collaboration with Cloud Collaboration for Revit and Desktop Connector, which facilitates collaboration with AutoCAD, Civil 3D and Plant 3D.
2. Document Management with Autodesk Docs.
3. Model Coordination with Insight.

For designers working in BIM Collaborate Pro, Design Collaboration (specifically Revit Cloud Collaboration) is where they spend most of their time when working on an ACC project.

Cloud Collaboration

Day to day, most interactions are usually centered around the ability to work on a cloud-hosted Revit-workshared project – Revit cloud collaboration.

The Desktop Connector is utilized by AutoCAD, Civil 3D and Plant 3D users that need to host DWG files and Civil 3D data links in the cloud and work on them without having to download and upload them. It’s also useful for uploading Revit projects from design team members that are not using ACC when models need to be linked into a cloud-hosted Revit model. Desktop Connector creates a virtual drive on your computer that you can navigate to like any other drive or folder.

Sharing Data

In addition to Revit cloud hosting, the Design Collaboration module has an efficient, effective method of workflow for controlling the sharing and consumption of design team data – for the inhouse teams and outside consultants and stakeholders. Each team’s data is secure. Teams don’t have access to each other’s information unless it is published and shared.  

Regarding sharing of data, the Design Collaboration module indicates each team’s progress on a chart in a form that appears as “swim lanes” (shown above). Color coding makes it easy to see teams’ progressive interactions with data.

 

All the services included with BIM Collaborate Pro – Design Collaboration, Document Management and Model Coordination with Insight – work with seamless transfer of data among themselves and the various workspaces. Users simply navigate to the service that best fits what they’re trying to accomplish. You won’t need to move your data; it’s going to be there for you.

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