BEST PRACTICES FOR USING

BIM 360 TEAM AND

COLLABORATION FOR REVIT

Realizing the benefits of

cloud-connected collaboration
 CONTENTS 02

The benefits to a cloud-connected 1. HOW TO REDUCE PROJECT ERROR AND MINIMIZE DATA FRICTION 3

BIM project team are quantifiable.

2. HOW TO FINISH PROJECTS FASTER 5
Take a deep dive into how you can
benefit from improved collaboration 3. HOW TO WORK FROM ANYWHERE 7

in the design phase using Autodesk

4. HOW TO SPEND LESS ON IT 9
BIM 360 Team and Collaboration
for Revit. 5. HOW TO CO-LOCATE VIRTUALLY 10

6. HOW TO SPEND LESS TIME COORDINATING, MORE TIME DESIGNING 12

7. HOW TO WIN MORE WORK 14

8. HOW TO CREATE PROJECT TRANSPARENCY AND CLARIFY APPROVAL LINES 16

9. HOW TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE BEST TALENT 21

FIND OUT MORE 22

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 22

BENEFIT 1 06
03

1. How to reduce project

error and minimize
data friction

Revit users are familiar with worksharing, a worksharing mechanism in Revit, which means
design method that lets multiple team members that Communicator will inform all designers
work on the same project model at the same working on the project when someone uploads
time, which is critical for collaborative design design changes to the central, cloud-based
in BIM. However, a key part of collaboration model. This ensures that everyone is informed
is person-to-person communication, and as design changes occur. No more versioning
the more dispersed teams are, the more control headaches!
important efficient communication becomes.
Good communication means you not only chat Even non-Revit users —such as the project/
between designers, but also that you have near building owner—can access model information
real-time understanding of the changes that all without the need for data translation (for
designers on a BIM project are implementing. example, .rvt to PDF) via BIM 360 Team. BIM
Communicating in real-time can reduce project 360 Team lets you share your design and project
error by helping you resolve issues as they files with designated project members, without
occur, rather than collecting and waiting to the need for Revit or additional software.
address them later. This reduces the threshold to implement a
cloud-based collaborative environment and
This communication is enabled in Collaboration helps you deliver the right data, at the right
for Revit via the Communicator, a chat-based time, to the right people.
communication platform integrated within
Revit. It allows you to not only communicate
with individual designers, but also to share
information with the whole design team,
share screenshots of key discussion areas
in the design, send emails, and more. Even
better, Communicator is integrated within the
BENEFIT 1 04

Communicator Communicator

When design changes are uploaded to The chat function in the Communicator
the model, the Communicator automatically enables you to talk and share information
updates users on the project. with individual designers or the whole team.
BENEFIT 2 05

2. How to finish
projects faster

Getting design feedback from co-workers, co-

designers and the whole project team is critical.
The sooner feedback gets to the designers, the
faster they can take corrective actions, making
sure minor problems don’t expand into costly
rework.

In the past, providing data to reviewers meant

sending files by email, FTP or similar means.
There was the risk that the person reviewing
didn’t have the native design software, which
meant the designers had to spend time
translating the file into another format like PDF.
The era of connectivity requires a tool that
allows you to communicate in real-time, without
the hassle of translating or sending packets of
information.

Because Collaboration for Revit stores its data

in BIM 360 Team, you can share project data
with anyone, simply by inviting them into the
project. They can use the viewer in BIM 360
Team to view, rotate, zoom into, and even
search within the model. There’s no need to
download any software or use Revit: the data is In BIM 360 Team, anyone can
simply available in the cloud to be viewed by all view, rotate, zoom into, and even
invited. search within the model.
BENEFIT 2 06

Both the web interface and mobile app let you

add and view mark-ups, so you are always
communicating on the latest version of the
data.

Not only does this cloud-based workflow allow

for immediate feedback, it also alleviates the
problem of having to dedicate time to frequent
live meetings between project members just
to cover small issues that could be more easily
resolved with a cloud-connected workflow.
All of these features enable designers to focus
on their primary task: designing. It means
less hassle and time spent on organizing
meetings, converting files, manually uploading
information etc. - and more time to dedicate to
finishing high quality projects faster.

You can also add and view mark-ups

from a mobile device via the app.
BENEFIT 3 07

3. How to work from anywhere

Bringing people together on an AEC project

helps you deliver projects faster and minimize
errors.

With Collaboration for Revit and BIM 360 Team,

all it takes to bring a team together is creating
a project within BIM 360 Team and inviting
people into it. Since the whole interface is web
based, it doesn’t matter where each person on
the design team is physically located: the single
source of truth for the project is the data in the
BIM 360 Team Hub.

These projects can then be

easily shared with your team.

You can quickly create new projects and

label them with background information.
BENEFIT 3 08

To work in Revit directly on project models

hosted in the cloud, designers need a
Collaboration for Revit subscription. Then they
can open cloud-workshared files from within
Revit. Cloud-based Revit worksharing frees
Revit users to work from anywhere, eliminating
the barriers of firewalls or limited access.

You can view, share, and review over 100 file

formats in BIM 360 Team without the need to
download and use the native authoring tool.

100+
FILE FORMATS
SUPPORTED

.rvt .ifc .nwd .fbx

BENEFIT 4 09

4. How to spend less on IT

So if everyone is working on the same model

at the same time, how are these changes being
communicated to the other members of the
team? The idea is to create a master project
model, known as a central file, situated in a Firm A Firm B
location that is accessible to everyone. Each
designer creates and works on a local copy,
which then communicates with the central file.

Collaboration for Revit puts the central

file in the cloud (within a project hub on
Autodesk’s BIM 360 Team) and the local copies
communicate with it. This means that the
design company/companies do not need to +
manage the server, nor do they have to open
firewalls, setup policies, etc. The only thing each
user needs is a subscription to Collaboration for
Revit.

Combined with the fact that there is no

investment or setup required on the server side,
a company can easily switch to Collaboration
for Revit and start communicating with all
stakeholders as soon as entitlements have been
By hosting in the cloud, design teams
assigned to the designers.
can avoid server maintenance costs
while enabling access for everyone.
BENEFIT 5 10

5. How to co-locate virtually

The cloud-connected BIM workflow lets you co-

create, no matter where you are, and proactively
provide real-time feedback without waiting for
data to be sent by drafters and engineers. But
how do you follow up on and make decisions
about incorporating feedback? When project
teams are physically located in the same room,
it’s easier to sit down together and explain
mark-ups and get clarification, but what if the
whole team is geographically dispersed?

You can specify who can review information and

who can also manipulate and modify the source
data. The viewer role can look at information
and mark up the documents, but they can’t edit
the files themselves. This supports a workflow
in which data is created, then passed on for
review after which editors update the design
files accordingly.

Virtual co-location is a huge time- and

cost-saver; people don’t need to spend time
and money traveling and teams have less
With the role function, you
need to rent and furnish physical offices.
can specify who can review
Collaboration for Revit and BIM 360 Team
information and who can
were designed to bring design teams together
manipulate and modify the
virtually, bypassing the need for expensive
source data.
office or IT infrastructure.
BENEFIT 5 11

Live Review Live Chat

Real-time communication
means that collaboration
can be achieved regardless
of physical location.

Live Review enables

multiple people to
discuss files using the
same shared view.
BENEFIT 6 12

6. How to spend less Publish Settings

time coordinating,
more time designing

Let’s face it – designing is cool, but translating

When sharing project
the design into 2D PDF sheets for others to
information, you can
view and review isn’t so interesting. We’d rather
choose which specific
just have people review the data as it becomes
views you want to
available.
make available.

As a designer, you get to decide what you’d

like to have reviewed. The whole project, or 2D
information as it becomes available? 3D Views?
With Collaboration for Revit the designers get
to choose what’s available for review. Designers
work on a ‘live’ model of the project, which
remains a hidden file on BIM 360 Team. When
the design team is ready to communicate their
ideas, they publish their model to a visible
file on BIM 360 Team, ready to be reviewed by Once the views have
others. been selected, you
can publish the model
Before publishing, you can decide which views in the ‘Manage Cloud Manage Cloud Models

and sheets should become part of the published Models’ dialog box.
project by selecting the appropriate views in
the ‘Publish Settings’ Dialog box.
BENEFIT 6 13

This workflow helps you streamline the

coordination between designers and reviewers:
as the project progresses, more information can
be added to be reviewed.

All of this happens automatically at the push of

a button with no need to extract information,
translate sheets or send zipped files across. This
is a huge timesaver for designers, so they can
focus on what really matters: developing their
ideas.

The end result is a published

Revit model on BIM 360 team
in which only the selected
(published) views and sheets
can be marked up.
BENEFIT 7 14

7. How to win more work

Import/Link RVT
The era of connectivity means you can also
harness the power of the cloud to provide
incremental billable services. Building analysis,
creating stunning visuals, or simulating airflows
benefit from using the cloud. Achieving the
best building design you can conceive can help
you establish a reputation and win recurring
work. Collaboration for Revit
allows you to link in cloud-
With cloud tools, project teams can be based Revit models from
assembled from anywhere around the globe different disciplines.
to bring together the best team suited for
a project.

For example, if you are working in a team with

different technical disciplines, Collaboration for
Revit helps you communicate between these
disciplines by letting you link in cloud-based
Revit models from different disciplines.

You can then use ‘Copy/

Monitor’ to follow up on
changed reference elements
from those other disciplines.
BENEFIT 7 15

The master file and linked files reside in the

cloud, while the project team can input data of
their own and consume other disciplines’ data,
regardless of any participant’s geographical
location.

The publishing engine in the background takes

all linked Revit files into account, coming up
with a complete building model that shows all
relevant information from all disciplines.

The cloud revolutionizes everything: not only

can you use cloud computing to solve the most
complex design challenges, you can team up
with colleagues in other disciplines from around
the world to participate in any project.

All linked Revit files are taken

into account, creating a complete
building model showing all relevant
information from all disciplines.
BENEFIT 8 16

8. How to create project

transparency and clarify
approval lines

The more relevant project information shared

on BIM 360 Team, the better. You can track
markups, use the viewer to visualize just about
any file format (including Revit files with
references), and start a live review session. You
can upload more or less any file relevant to the
project to BIM 360 Team including tech specs,
minutes of meetings, commissioning checklists,
etc).

And it’s easy to reference these non-design

documents to technical components by copying
the link to the document on BIM 360 team and
then pasting it to the URL property inside of the
Revit family type.

Project information can easily

be made available to the team
through shareable URL links.
BENEFIT 8 17

Non-design elements can be referenced by

pasting the link into the URL property inside
of the Revit family type.
BENEFIT 8 18

Uploading the file to BIM 360 team exposes all

parameters to the BIM 360 Team viewer, which
means you can select the component within the
viewer, open the property window and click on
the hyperlink in the URL property. This will then
open up the linked document.

When the files are uploaded to

BIM 360 Team, the hyperlink to the
relevant document remains available
through the URL property.
BENEFIT 8 19

Reviewers can also check the differences

between versions.

BIM 360 Team keeps track of all versions

uploaded to the system, so you view the
history of a document and select two versions
to compare, revealing what has been deleted,
added and changed on a geometrical level, as
well as on the metadata or information level.

Historical versions of
documents are tracked and
'can be easily compared
with Version Compare.'
BENEFIT 8 20

Linking documents and

comparing versions
clarifies a project’s
structure and provides
a follow-up system in
the communication
between designers and
reviewers.
BENEFIT 9 06
21

9. How to attract and You can use these features in BIM

retain the best talent 360 Team to manage and control
your project:
To build up a flourishing business, it’s important
to provide your team with tools they love
working with that help make their daily jobs
easier, and that enable faster, collaborative
workflows.
Use the calendar to define project
The construction industry is notorious milestones, organize project
for delivering information at given, fixed meetings, or detail site visits.
milestones. Usually design and modifications
happen up to the last available minute, then
the team has to create sheets in PDF format.
This can require people to spend up to a full
day of work before every milestone, extracting
information out of a BIM model for others to Define and document your BIM
review. protocol in the wiki pages.

Beyond offering cloud-based data storage, BIM

360 Team can also be used for project delivery.
BIM 360 Team lets you create wiki pages, setup
project meetings through calendar invites,
and define and setup discussions on topics
Create discussions on best practices,
important to the project.
outcomes of live review sessions.
 22

READ THE FREE EBOOK About the Author

Get up and running quickly
with hands-on tutorials in
the Kickstart Guide

The Kickstart Guide walks you through the

basics of setting up a project in Collaboration
for Revit and getting your team together. With
downloadable Revit datasets and detailed
step-by-step directions, the Guide provides
everything you need to explore and experience
how this collaboration service can work for you. Ives Veelaert has been a data management consultant
within the architecture, engineering, and construction
(AEC) industry for nearly 25 years. He has advised on
and set up the data management structure for many
companies, including the renovation of the European
Community building in Brussels. He joined Autodesk,
DOWNLOAD THE
Inc., 10 years ago and now helps AEC customers
KICKSTART GUIDE
understand Autodesk’s EDM (engineering data
management) solutions. Ives has a master's degree
in engineering.

[email protected]
@Veelaei
http://autodesk.typepad.com/bimtoolbox/