Folder permissions

[PaulFrancoisStorm]

BIM 360 has the makings of a great Common Data Environment, but there are always improvements that can be made. Here are some comments I can make to this end, and perhaps be corrected in my understanding by others of more experience?

Collaboration for Revit (C4R) files are stored in the root folder. That means that all C4R users have access to everybody else’s WIP models (Picture 1). This is a fundamental problem for a lot of companies (who likes uninvited guests?).

1. Permissions must be set on a folder level, and one must be able to set more restrictions on the folders as one drills down into the folder structure. Currently one is limited in restriction to the parent folder, and can only allow more access and not less.
2. C4R files should not be stored in the root folder, but in folders that can have restrictions placed on them by the client.
3. The BIM 360 Desktop Connector is a fantastic tool. It would be nice for the entire project to sit on the cloud, libraries included. It would be good to create folder structures and copy in families at will (not one folder at a time).(Picture 2)

[KyleB_Autodesk]

Paul,

Thanks for joining the conversation, and taking the time to articulate what you're looking for.  You'll find that most of what you're looking for is possible when cloud worksharing on Next Gen BM 360:

1. Access Permissions
   The biggest change in the historical behavior of cloud worksharing in C4R is the ability to onboard cloud workshared model(s) into a specific Folder in a next gen BIM 360 Project, and those model(s) inherits the access permissions defined by that Folder.
   
   This foundation is the basis for the whole "controlled worksharing" workflow that we focused on for BIM 360 Design.  Document Management is the file/folder view of the Common Data Environment, while Design Collaboration provides managed workflows that avoid requiring team members to traverse file/folders.
   
   What's not there at the moment, is the ability to reduce access as you drill into a Folder hierarchy.  What's the scenario where this is problematic for you?
   
   
2. Good feedback on the Desktop Connector.  I'll pass it along to them.

Cheers,

Kyle

[PaulFrancoisStorm]

Hi Kyle,

That is fantastic news! I made the mistake of presuming that because I could “see” the C4R files in the root folder that others would automatically have access them. I will test this using one of our accounts.

With regards to the drilling down into folder permissions: consider images 1 and 2

• Picture 1: AEC UK BIM folder structure adapted to BIM 360 Team
• Picture 2: BIM folder structure on  BIM 360 Docs as per AEC UK Protocol.

In both cases, providing access to the parent causes complications:

• Picture 1: External C4R invitees now have access to the subfolders, not just the BIM models within the BIM subfolder.
• Picture 2: More importantly, as this is per the AEC UK Protocol, any invitee now has access to all the discipline’s models. This should be by invite only.

Thank you for passing on the comment regarding the Desktop Connector. There is another item I may mention in this regard (besides being able to upload folders structures with files contained in them):

• If a file was not opened explicitly (downloaded/synchronised) from BIM 360 Team, then Revit is unable to load them. This goes for Shared Parameter files, families and the likes. Revit links worked. Is BIM 360 Docs different in this regard? I would love to know that this is an improvement to look forward to in the future, perhaps Revit 2019.#? To put it differently: Load a family library onto the cloud. Use Desktop Connector. Leave the library alone for 72 hours. Go to Revit, Insert Load family from BIM 360 on the hard drive and that is where the process fails.  
• If you have a different process to suggest I would appreciate that.  

Thank you for the great product you guys are developing!