Difference between synced, published, shared and consumed models

[ThierryMonteyneSWECO]

Still having issues what's the difference between the synced model and published model, Why not push this further like Share and Consume? Here's a simple graphical scheme:

[KyleB_Autodesk · Accepted solution]

I love the diagram.  If I understand your question, I can clarify things.

Revit Cloud Worksharing (RCW) manages the "live" state of the Revit Models on a project.  For performance reasons, it's actually not managing a .RVT file for any given model, but instead a binary chunks called Element Streams that together make up the RVT file.  In fact, an RVT file never actually transfers between Revit and RCW; it's always encrypted Element Streams under the hood.

On the BIM 360 side of the equation, its "currency" is full-formed files, which can be downloaded an viewed.  So, we have the Publish process from RCW, which bundles the Element Streams into an RVT (including Links), and sends them to BIM 360, where translation is kicked off so that the specified Revit Views are viewable on web & mobile.

As a result, you can have a later version of an RCW Model in Revit that's not downloadable or viewable in BIM 360, unless you Publish the Model into BIM 360.

Make sense?

-Kyle

[anil_mistry]

Hi @ThierryMonteyneSWECO,

I'm just checking in to see if you need more help with this. Did the information that @KyleB_provide provided work for you?

If so, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Thank you and have a great day!

[Anonymous]

So, when a user sync's to B360 all the views should be visible to the project team for just the Revit file they all are working on. We have had a condition where views have been created in Revit; the file sync'd. When the team members reload the latest version the created views are not necessarily visible. Why is that? Is this a Publication issue? When I say team I mean only the modelers in my company.

Please clarify,

John

[Charles.Ball]

If I can jump into the discussion also. I cannot add any new information but I feel my question is along the same lines and think it would be beneficial to have the answer here than in a separate thread. 

We have architectural and mechanical models done in house and collaborated (linked) in BIM360.  When changes to either model are made, a simple synch or reload of a link will allow users to see the changes made. However, when we make changes we must first publish the model before our outside consultants (structural) can see the changes. Why is that? All models are stored in the same folder on BIM360 and they are linked to each other with that folder as the path. 

[DeepakMaini]

@Charles.Ball @Anonymous let me explain this workflow (apologies for the long explanation).

To understand this workflow, imagine a multi-disciplinary environment where you are the Architect working in the Architecture team folder. You also have the Structure Consultant working in the Structure team folder, Mechanical consultant working in the Mechanical team folder, and so on.

In this case, you will not have access to the Structure or Mechanical team folder to link their live Work in Progress (WIP) models, unless you are a Project Admin. And even then, you would not want to live link their models (trust issue).  

Let us now look at the working of BIM 360 Design in this case to understand various versions.

Scenario 1: Your own team members (Revit users who have live access to the Work In Progress (WIP) models in your team's folder). Every time you make changes to your design and sync, your team members can sync or reload the latest to see the changes. This is also termed as a "High Trust Environment" where you trust everyone in the team, hence they get live access to your WIP models. In this case, PUBLISHING IS NOT REQUIRED as you are live linking the WIP models from your own team folders. 

Example: In your Architecture Team, you have 10 Revit users working on a couple of Revit models (linked) from the Architecture Team folder (Facade and Base Building). They have live access to the models and can sync or reload to see the changes. So if these 10 users sync their models 10 times a day, you will have 100 Sync versions per day (shown in the 1st column of the image added by @ThierryMonteyneSWECO ). These models ARE NOT available on the Document Management interface as Syncing will not make these models available on BIM 360 Docs.

Now, what if you have Non-Revit members in your Architecture team, such as Project Architects? They still want to have a look at the model every now and then. In that case, you will Publish the model (manually or scheduled publishing). Publishing is a process of making your Revit models (with the selected views and sheets in the Publish Set) available on the Document Management interface for your Non-Revit team members to view in a Web Browser or a tablet device. NOTE THAT in the Web browser or tablet, they can only see the views or sheets you included in your Publish Set in Revit. The Published versions are shown in the 2nd column of the image added by @ThierryMonteyneSWECO.  Hence the number of versions in the 2nd column are less than the first column (twice a week compared to 100 times a day). 

Scenario 2: The Revit users of external teams (Structure, Mechanical, Electrical, and so on). These users work in their own Team Folders and you do not have access to their models (like you don't have access to theirs). Now, as per your BIM Execution Plan, you decide to share your models with other teams once a week. In that case, you will have to Publish the latest models. Once the models are Published,  you can share them as packages with other teams using the Design Collaboration service.

Example: Structure Team Publishes its model twice a week (for their Non-Revit users). However, they are only required to Share their package with you Once a week, as per the BEP. This is shown in the 3rd Column of the image by @ThierryMonteyneSWECO . Hence the number of Shared versions are less than the Published versions.

Once that happens, you get a notification (optional) that the Structure Team has Shared a package. You can then compare their current shared version with the previous one. If the changes they made are going to cause issues in your model, you can inform them about that and decide NOT TO CONSUME their package. In that case, the Structure consultant makes the changes and then publishes and shares the package again. You then Consume their updated package that is copied into your Team's consumed folders (Architecture > Consumed > Structure). This is shown in the 4th column of the image by @ThierryMonteyneSWECO.

Because you can decide not to Consume all the Shared Packages, hence the number of Consumed versions are less than the Shared versions. 

Hope this makes sense.

Cheers

[Charles.Ball]

How do you control what files are high trust or not? All of the files are in one folder (Project files\Drawing Files) in our BIM360 project. I collaborated to cloud through Revit and then linked the files to our Arch model and Mech model. Nowhere did I see an option for the level of trust to assign the file. The structural firm added its model to the same folder.  They have Edit level permission of the folder. I can open any of the files in Revit including the consultant's files. However, if I do that and make a change (not that I would) and synch, when I open my own model and update the link I don't see any changes.

I am the Account Admin. 

How does BIM360 know what level of trust to assign? It seems that it has automatically assigned the trust level (correctly). 

[DeepakMaini]

The system does not do that. This is what you do when you are setting up the project and creating Design Collaboration Teams in the Project Admin > Services > Design Collaboration page. You create different teams and add members to them. The members in your team will have live access to your WIP models. The members in other teams who are not added to your team will only get access to your Shared packages that they consume.

This course gives a good description of how to set up teams and add members:

https://customersuccess.autodesk.com/course?id=322

This Autodesk University class has a Handout that can be used as a bible to set up BIM 360 Design Projects from scratch and the entire workflow:

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/BIM-360-Design-Opening-Doors-Real-Collaborative-P...

[Charles.Ball]

Thank you for the links and the explanation. But I am still having a little trouble understanding. You've done a great job explaining and I understand how it is "supposed" to work but  I don't see it working that way on my end.

We have no teams set up. Everyone collaborates everything into the same BIM360 folder, in the same way, all have the same permissions. The only difference is some of us work for one company and the others a different company. Yet somehow the files from the outside company(s) need to be published and the ones from the same company don't. Perhaps I am trying to understand something that doesn't really matter.

I understand from your other posts this is not the best way to do things but we are new to BIM360 and needed to jump in right away. I'll definitely be following the links you provided to do it correctly in the future.

[KyleB_Autodesk]

---

@Charles.Ball wrote:

We have no teams set up. Everyone collaborates everything into the same BIM360 folder, in the same way, all have the same permissions. The only difference is some of us work for one company and the others a different company. Yet somehow the files from the outside company(s) need to be published and the ones from the same company don't. Perhaps I am trying to understand something that doesn't really matter.

---

Based on the above, it sounds like the Structural Consultant has established the linked relationship between their models and yours using published versions in Desktop Connector, as opposed to using the Revit Cloud Worksharing service.  If they created a linked relationship using Revit Cloud Worksharing, they'd see the same "live link" behavior your team is observing.

This other thread is helpful with first principles in this area.  Let us know if you have specific questions.

Cheers,

Kyle

[chubbard]

Question

Is the Revit file in the consumed folder the same file as in the original WIP folder? Or is it a copy? If someone were to open the Revit file it would not change the original correct? 

IE Arch packages and shares Revit file 

MEP cannot access the Arch folder but can access the consumed model in their folder. Any changes they make for visibility purposes are not made to the WIP file correct?

[DeepakMaini]

Hi @chubbard, the Revit file in the Consumed folder is a copy of the file in the original WIP folder, not the original file.

A really cool thing about this technology is that if the Mechanical team tries to open the Consumed > Architecture model, the system will show the folder is empty, as shown below. They will see the file in this folder while linking, but it will show empty while opening the file from this folder. So to make any changes, they will actually have to download the file from Docs and then make changes to that downloaded file, which will not be the same as the one in the Consumed folder.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[rodyn.collera]

This didn't actually explain the differences. It is too technical and didn't actually cover what was asked. It would be good if Autodesk created a presentation that went over their very confusing cloud worksharing without getting into technical stuff. Make it simple. We do not care about what it does in the background or how it does it. We just want to know what it means for us users.

[chubbard]

What I would like to see is a field in B360 that tells you what type of Revit file you are looking at. Cloud model, work share cloud or uploaded. We have added a field to our site so we know about our models, but often work off other sites and it's a guessing game where to access the file. 

[jagostinho74]

What you are saying @DeepakMaini , is that the version numbers being reported for the different copies of the same model are not related?

If one using @ThierryMonteyneSWECO (excellent) diagram, would it be something like this?

Could this then explain why I read different version numbers when I am creating a shared package and when I access the same package afterwards?

[whitney_jeff]

If I understand correctly (no guarantees!) then the Architect controls what I can see in the Published folder?  Because currently I have published our set, but the Published folder reports that it is empty.

[kenhogan]

I love the diagram but don't only packaged models get processed to the shared folders for Design Collaboration but Published maybe be consumed by choice?