BENTLEY SYSTEMS, INC.

ProjectWise Application
Integration for Revit
Frequently Asked Questions
Prepared by Bentley Professional Services
10/26/2016
Version 1.4

ProjectWise and MicroStation are registered trademarks or trademarks of Bentley Systems, Inc., in the USA and other countries. Autodesk,
AutoCAD, Revit and Revit Server are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and other countries. All other brand
names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
ProjectWise Application Integration for Revit overview .......................................................................... 2
Why: ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
What:..................................................................................................................................................... 2
How: ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ............................................................................................................... 3
1 - Can we use Revit with ProjectWise?................................................................................................ 3
2 - Does ProjectWise work with 64 bit Revit? ....................................................................................... 3
3 - What new changes were added with the ProjectWise SELECTSeries4 release? ............................. 3
4 - Our company will have projects inside and outside of ProjectWise, can our designers turn on and
off integration? ..................................................................................................................................... 4
5 - What Performance Considerations should we make when Worksharing on a High Latency
Network?............................................................................................................................................... 4
6 - What defines Worksharing in Revit? ............................................................................................... 5
7 - What are the types of Revit Worksets? ........................................................................................... 5
8 - How can we plan our Revit Worksets more effectively? ................................................................. 5
9 - What should we consider when planning our Worksets? ............................................................... 5
10 - Are there Examples of Worksets Available? .................................................................................. 6
11 - What are some of the reasons for using Worksets over just using Element Borrowing? ............. 7
12 - When using Revit in ProjectWise are there any other general suggestions that might help
performance?........................................................................................................................................ 9
13 – What is the preferred method for opening a Revit file in ProjectWise? .................................... 10
14 – How do I remap Links when import a Project into ProjectWise? ............................................... 10

ProjectWise for Revit FAQ Page 1

Introduction
This is the ProjectWise Application Integration for Revit Frequently Asked Questions list (FAQ). It
provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions related to the application integration,
project implementation, and modeling strategies for Revit projects that are integrated with ProjectWise.
The contents of this document are intended for ProjectWise Administrators, Project Managers and
Designers who are working on Revit based projects integrated with ProjectWise.

The answers contained within this FAQ relative to the Revit workflows/processes are based on
Autodesk’s recommendations for Implementing Revit in a WAN environment.

These recommendations represent both Bentley’s BIM process expertise along with the BIM industry’s
best Revit practices and in most cases are not specific to ProjectWise integration.

ProjectWise Application Integration for Revit overview

Why:
The ProjectWise Application Integration for Revit was created to answer an industry need to Store,
Manage and Securely Access all project related data in a single repository, rather than in separate
purpose built systems. Having all the project data in a single secure and auditable location facilitates
true real time team collaboration across the project participants and all of the document types including
the Revit models. ProjectWise offers the following benefits to Revit users:
• Improved performance of Revit file transfers
• Support for Revit data and managed access, versions and workflows
• Ability to manage Revit standards, families, and templates
• Support for Revit linked-file relationships
• Change alerts for notifications of dependent file changes
• Management of CAD import/export and exchange
• Ability to record custom audit trail events for the central file

What:
The current ProjectWise Explorer Client Integration Supports Revit Version 2015 through Revit version
2017. The most current and complete Application Integration Compatibility Table can be found on BE
communities. Application Integration Compatibility Table

How:
The ProjectWise integration extends the existing Revit LAN (Local Area Network) capabilities into a
ProjectWise WAN (Wide Area Network) teaming solution. In moving from a LAN to WAN environment,
the benefit of exposing your project data to team members across the globe is highly desirable and
provides a myriad of benefits to the project team in terms of communication, real time access, security,
Audit Trails and dynamic collaboration. Realization of these benefits is contingent upon proper BIM
process execution; therefore, it is important that all the team members be aware of these benefits to
the project and the project teams in order for them to fully appreciate the need for correcting modeling
practices. The very nature of a WAN does bring with it some challenges especially in the area of data

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transmission rates on high latency networks. ProjectWise utilizes a Delta File Transfer (DFT) in order to
eliminate redundant data transmission and offers a Caching Server strategy to speed communications
on these higher latency networks.

The data still needs to move across the WAN; so while moving from the LAN and taking advantage of
all the WAN benefits, some techniques, practices and expectations will need to be adjusted in order to
optimize the process for the realities of a WAN environment.

Contained in this FAQ are suggestions and recommendation for working with Revit Central files in a
WAN High latency environment. While these recommendations are in a “ProjectWise” FAQ they are
based on suggestions and requirements gathered from Autodesk and the Revit BIM community at large.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1 - Can we use Revit with ProjectWise?

Yes. You can manage and access Revit files (*.RVT) files in ProjectWise the same way you would manage
any other file type. When you double-click on a Revit file, the file is automatically checked out to you,
the associated Revit application is launched, and you will be in a Revit design session. When you exit
Revit, you will be prompted by ProjectWise to check the file back in. If the file is a Central file you will
want to make a new local copy of the file so that you do not open and check-out the master Central file
and lock other users out of the Central file.

2 - Does ProjectWise work with 64 bit Revit?

Yes. The most current and complete Application Integration Compatibility Table can be found on BE
communities. Application Integration Compatibility Table

3 - What new changes were added with the ProjectWise SELECTSeries4 release?

 Overall performance improvements

 An option to disable ProjectWise Integration (temporarily) with Revit without having to uninstall
the feature
 Manage RFA-type catalogs as sets
o Ensure type catalog set is not broken by move or rename
o Scan Ref discovers and builds RFA-type catalog sets
 You can now use an image stored in ProjectWise when creating a decal type
 You can now use an image stored in ProjectWise as the background image when rendering the
open project in Revit
 You can now export a rendered image to ProjectWise
 The .dat files are no longer locked when a user has the Worksets dialog open
 Revit files remain unlocked during the file open process
 Enhanced Notification messages now include the user name that has locked the file.

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4 - Our company will have projects inside and outside of ProjectWise, can our designers turn on and
off integration?

Yes. ProjectWise Application Integration for Revit adds a tool to the Revit ribbon bar that allows the
designer to choose for themselves if the project they want to work on is integrated with ProjectWise.

5 - What Performance Considerations should we make when Worksharing on a High Latency Network?

Revit Central File Size: In general, when working on a Central file it is suggested that when
you have 6-8 people working on the same Central file, performance
will begin to slow down.

If the Central file is large enough to warrant more than 6-8 people
concurrently in one Central file then you should consider breaking up
the Central file into multiple Central files.

Autodesk suggests that you should also consider breaking up a large

Central file into multiple files if the Central file is greater than 200 MB
in size. This is based on a 64-bit version of Revit; with the 32-bit version
of Revit they suggest 160 MB in size for each Central file.

The 200 MB suggested file size is directly related to the amount of RAM
on the 64-bit workstation. The amount of local workstation RAM
required for a Revit file is approximately 20 times the size of your
compacted Revit file. So the more RAM your workstation has the larger
your Revit file can be, before you need to break the file up into multiple
files.

Revit Groups: When using Groups use them sparingly. The more Groups a Revit file
has the slower the file becomes. If you are using Groups make sure you
avoid having different parts of an object in multiple Worksets.
It is a good practice to have all the objects in a Group within one
Workset.

Make components instead of Groups and in place of Families.

Source: Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012

Autodesk White Paper: Model Performance Technical Note
Ideate White Paper: Best Practices – Revit Worksharing

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6 - What defines Worksharing in Revit?

When Autodesk refers to worksharing in Revit they are generally referring to the use of Worksets in
Revit. As defined by Autodesk, “a Workset is a collection of building elements (such as walls, doors,
floors, stairs, etc) in the building.” Worksharing is an extremely important concept when collaborating
on large Multi-office, Multi-discipline projects with multiple consultants.

7 - What are the types of Revit Worksets?

User-Created Worksets: User created and managed Worksets that define a group of model
elements. The Worksets “Shared Levels And Grids” and “Workset1” are
created by default and can be managed by the Revit User.
Family Worksets: For every family type that is created or loaded into a Project, a Workset
is automatically created.
Project Standards Worksets: The Standards Workset defines the project settings such as dimension
styles, Line styles, annotations, materials, tags and any other Revit
Standards.
View Worksets: All Views created in a project will have its own Workset type.

Family, Project Standards and View Worksets are automatically created and managed by Revit and
cannot be renamed by the Revit User. The “Shared Levels And Grids” and “Workset1” Worksets are
automatically created by Revit, but are treated as User-Created Worksets and can be renamed by the
Revit user.

Source: Autodesk Revit WikiHelp

8 - How can we plan our Revit Worksets more effectively?

Planning how you are going to use Worksets in a Revit Project can be compared to setting up
Level/Layer or Reference/Xref standards in MicroStation or AutoCAD. Each Workset represents a way to
separate out how your project team will interact and work with the Revit Central file. Although you
may not need to get as detailed as Level/Layer standards can be in MicroStation or AutoCAD you should
still go through the appropriate planning and documentation process for a successful project.

Worksets should be planned out in advance to optimize the Size of the Project, the Number of Team
Members, the Team Member Roles and Default Workset Visibility. Look at the project in a holistic
manner rather than isolating individual components.

9 - What should we consider when planning our Worksets?

Size of the Project: The Size of the project should dictate how you divide up the workload in
the Revit Central file. The building elements and workload
considerations should be used to determine what Worksets are
necessary. You should separate the project into Worksets that will
minimize the need for users to interfere with each other.

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Number of Team Members: The Size of the project team will affect how you define your project
Worksets. A good rule of thumb is to have 1-2 Worksets per user on a
project. The initial Revit Central file can be setup for a single user to
work up a concept and then add additional Team Members later, but
during this process make sure you have considered how the Revit
Central file will grow and how the team members will coordinate the
different disciplines.

Team Member Roles: Revit Team Members will usually work on a specific discipline or a
specific role within that discipline. The Project should be subdivided
into Worksets that are based on the discipline or role within that
discipline. Dividing up the Worksets in this fashion will give each team
member more control over their portion of the Revit Central file.

Default Workset Visibility: Once Worksharing has been enabled, you will be able to control when a
Workset is visible in a view. If you know that a Workset is not necessary
you can turn off visibility of that Workset in that View. If you turn off
the Worksets that are not necessary, Revit will display the view faster,
because Revit does not need to figure out if the elements in the
Workset need to be displayed.

When you initially create a new Workset, you can control the visibility of
the Workset. The Workset can be visible or invisible in each view by
default. Consider which Worksets need to be visible by default and if
they do not, make sure they are set to be invisible when they are
created. Overall performance will be improved if the Workset does
not need to be visible in every sheet or view of the Revit Central file.

You can also improve performance by limiting the visibility of the

Workset by using the Selective Open with Worksets when opening the
Revit Project.

Source: Autodesk White Paper: Multi-user Collaboration with Revit Worksets

10 - Are there Examples of Worksets Available?

Revit Workset Example from – “Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012”

Building Exterior: The shell or exterior of a building might be a specific role that some of
the Architectural team members may be working on, depending on the
size of the building. In this example the Workset might include the
exterior skin of the building. It is not necessary to break up each floor of
the building into a separate Workset; it should depend on how you are
breaking up the workload.

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Building Core: The core structure of the building could be setup as a Workset. In this
example this would include the internal core structure that might
include any elevators, stairs, slabs and columns. Again you should take
into consideration how the workload will be distributed. Each floor
could be within its own Workset or within one Workset for the entire
building depending on the building size and work distribution.

Internal Partitions: The Internal Partition walls could include all internal Partition walls.
Again in a small building this might be one Workset, but in a larger
building you might have one Workset for each floor.

FF&E: FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment). This Workset could include
all Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment for the entire building or broken
down by floor as well. You may want to even divide these Worksets
down even more and break out the Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment
as their own Worksets. Again it all depends on the Project Team
Members roles and workflow.

Site Elements: Lastly in this example, you could place all of the Building elements that
exist outside the building, but are a part of the building site within its
own Workset.

Source: Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012

11 - What are some of the reasons for using Worksets over just using Element Borrowing?

In a LAN Environment Autodesk recommends that you work in your local copy of the central file and not
make Worksets editable. When you edit an element that is not being edited by another team member,
you automatically become the borrower of the element and can make the changes you need. It is
recommended that you synchronize with central frequently as you work. Synchronizing relinquishes
borrowed elements by default, allowing other team members to edit them.

Although this methodology works well with smaller design teams in a LAN environment it is not always
effective with larger project teams in a WAN environment.

Element Borrowing: When working on smaller projects in a LAN environment where the
users on the project may not interfere with each other, multiple
Worksets may not be needed and Element Borrowing is more than
adequate.

When using Element Borrowing, it is recommended that you

synchronize with the central file frequently so that you do not maintain
ownership of those elements and prevent other users from modifying
those elements.

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 Autodesk suggests, when editing a Central file, users must have
exclusive ownership of each element they wish to change. Ownership of
any element that a user edits will be granted transparently for any
element that a user does not own. This process must occur instantly to
avoid lags and delays during model manipulation. Most users perceive
an operation that completes within 200ms as “instantaneous.”
Therefore, Autodesk suggests that a user must be able to acquire
ownership of an element in less than 200ms.

Autodesk has done testing on High Latency Networks and has

reported that when Collaborating on a High Latency Network Element
Borrowing may not be as effective as using Worksets.

When the ProjectWise Integration server is managing Autodesk Revit

files the ProjectWise Integration server and its Caching Servers will be
restricted by the same performance limitations as Revit Server.

In a High Latency WAN Environment with Revit Server or ProjectWise Integration Server, the model data
is replicated between the Central Server/ProjectWise Integration Server and each Local
Server/ProjectWise Caching Server, the permissions data still resides exclusively on the Central
Server/Integration Server. This keeps a single, consistent view of permissions state, minimizing the
opportunity for model corruption. But this also means that all operations requiring access to
permissions state borrowing elements, relinquishing elements, and managing Worksets are transacted
directly with the Central Server/ProjectWise Integration Server, even if Revit is connected to a Local
Server/ProjectWise Caching Server.

Autodesk Internal tests indicate that if the latency between Revit and
the Central Server exceeds ~100ms, element permissions cannot be
granted in less than 200ms. The ProjectWise Integration server will
have the same issues over a high latency network.

That is because approximately 90ms are used for processing, leaving the
balance of the time available for network transport. Hardware
compression technologies do not change this calculation, as they only
reduce the volume of data moved across the network, not the minimum
time required to get from one point to another.

As a result, this workflow is not advised for users at sites with high
latencies to the Central Server. Any attempt to do so will result in a
noticeable lag in element borrowing, degrading the user experience.
The ProjectWise Integration server will also be restricted by the same
workflow when working over a high latency network.

Autodesk suggests that these users should take ownership of elements

before attempting to modify them – either through explicit borrowing
or by checking out Worksets.

Worksets: When working on a High Latency Network it is important that users take
ownership of elements in the Revit Central file before they attempt to
modify them.

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 Users can take ownership of an entire Workset if they are the only one
who is working on that Workset, this will eliminate the need to use
Element Borrowing on the fly.

If a user cannot take ownership of an entire Workset, then the user

should try to take ownership of the group of elements they would like
to work on at the same time, to avoid Element Borrowing on the fly.

Worksets can also be used when you want to reserve parts of a project
so that only the assigned user can edit the elements in that Workset.

Dividing a Revit Project into Worksets makes it easier to make whole

sections of a project editable at once.

You can also control overall visibility in a Revit Project when you link the
Central files into other Revit projects.

Source: Autodesk Revit WikiHelp

Autodesk White Paper: Use of Revit Server on High Latency Networks

12 - When using Revit in ProjectWise are there any other general suggestions that might help
performance?

Synchronize with Central: As suggested earlier it is a good practice to synchronize with Central so
that you relinquish borrowed elements and do not lock them out to
other users. It is also a good idea to synchronize with Central when you
are using Worksets at least once an hour or however often your
workflow demands.

Revit Central File Naming: To help identify the Central file you can place them in a separate
subfolder and/or put the word Central in the name of the Central file.

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13 – What is the preferred method for opening a Revit file in ProjectWise?
Opening a Revit file from ProjectWise Explorer by double clicking on the Revit File is the preferred
method.

When opening a Revit file from ProjectWise Explorer, the file is not locked as read only while the file is
downloaded. It only gets locked when the “open file” (see image 1) dialog appears. When the user
selects open, Delta File transfer runs and any changes are downloaded then the file is unlocked and
ready to be worked on. If the Revit application is open on the local workstation and a file is double
clicked in PWE this behavior is respected.

However when a Revit model is opened from within the Revit application (see Image 2) and Revit
reaches into ProjectWise, the file is locked for the duration of the file opening process.

Image 1

Image 2

14 – How do I remap Links when importing a Project into ProjectWise?

With the release of the Revit 2013 Add-in for ProjectWise a new tool is available called “Resolve Links
dialog”. This dialog opens automatically when you open a Revit file from ProjectWise Explorer that
either contains broken links, or links that are pointing to local documents. Use the controls in the dialog
to fix any or all of the links as needed.

Note: Remapping multiple Links to the same Revit file should be avoided as this is not a normal Revit
workflow.

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