BIM360 Best practice setups

[jagostinho74]

Currently looking for sharing some Best Practice advice on working with projects in Autodesk Construction Cloud using the Docs, Design Collaboration and Model Coordination modules.

I'll share my findings so far in the hopes they are useful for anyone set on the same exploratory path such as myself and that it will spark some comments on other (better) ways of doing it.

The setups described below seem to allow for a workable Clash and Issues Management workflow which I am still exploring.

*presented snapshots taken from multiple sources

Cloud Project Setup

Create a folder structure by discipline, or by originator. Example below if by discipline:

Model Setup

1. Setup different 3D Coordination views, one for each filtered set of elements you want to clash against other sets, example for Architectural views below. There are benefits on not having elements repeated in multiple views. If you are familiar with Navisworks, look at each of these views as containers for one or more Sets selected for clash testing. 
   • 3D Coordination - Inserts 
   • 3D Coordination - CTA Structure 
   • 3D Coordination - Stairs and Railings 
2. Add them to a Set on the Publishing Settings menu. 

Name the Set so that it informs on the name of the Model where it came from. This is useful for when you are sharing Packages in the Design Coordination module. 

Model Coordination Space Setup

1. Create Coordination Spaces on the Model Coordination Module. One for each Discipline. Each Coordination Space looking at the folder where the models for that discipline are.
• Architecture
• MEP
• Structural
2. One for multi-discipline coordination. Looking at the Shared folder in which all the discipline models are shared when they are consumed or saved into the Shared folder.
3. Create one View for each Clash Test you would like to perform in each Coordination Space

NOTE: You cannot rename or delete Coordination Spaces, just deactivate them, so give it some thought before you create new ones.

[gareth.spencer1]

Hi @jagostinho74 ,

A typical folder structure can vary from project to project and from company to company. It all depends on how you wish to use it for a specific project. If you are working internally you may not need as many folders to help sharing files between project teams. 

If you are using the model coordination having one folder and placing a copy of each disciplines model to clash against can make it harder to clash. It will clash everything which is included as part of the model view. So when you share or publish the model to the folder you user will need to only publish the required elements in the model 3D view(s) and not everything as you noted.

It can make things easily if have subfolders or separate folders to clash specifics such as Structural frame v Ventilation, or Architectural v Structural.

I have a question about how you are linking the coordination space to folder were the models are stored. Are you using the WIP model or do you have a separate folder with a model which is not the live model? So you are not running a clash constantly on the live model which is being worked on. It is better to have a model which is frozen at a time to run any clashes on to then report back.

I would be happy to discuss sometime if you need to @jagostinho74 

[jagostinho74]

hi @gareth.spencer1 ,

Thank you for your reply 🙂

At the moment, I am using one Coordination Space for each discipline and another dedicated one looking at the Shared folder (which is where the copies of the consumed package models are place).

This will allow for each discipline to have their own internal space for checks between their models and latest consumed versions of the other consultants' models and another "collaborative" space for inter-disciplinary coordination.

The distinction you mention about having different folders for different clash tests is achieved via the publishing of the different 3D views for each model together with the saved Views on the Model Coordination module in the cloud (see images below).

Does this make sense to you?

It was not very clear to me when you mention "folders". Do you mean multiple folders in the Docs module? And you manage them by pushing copies of the live models to each of the folders?