It's quite difficult to comprehend that the construction industry is still largely fragmented, with an estimated 25% of companies within the industry working on half a dozen different applications and, globally, as much as 70% still heavily reliant on paper-based systems. According to Autodesk, who quoted the figures, this makes integration on a typical project where team members are trying to collaborate and share data on different systems and platforms extremely difficult.

In such a situation, applications don't 'talk' to each other, team members publish documents in different formats, and office and field managers need to be trained on several different applications to correlate the information and set up reviews and approval processes to handle site issues with disjointed team members - manually, haphazardly, or using an uncontrollable email system. It's no wonder that errors creep in, time schedules lengthen and issues remain unresolved.

This, then, is the background to Autodesk Docs, the CDE-based document management platform that brings together documents, drawings and models into a single, cloud-based environment to standardise document control and create effective, secure and auditable approval workflows. With Autodesk Docs, team members have access to a central repository which connects documents and data across platforms, creating a single source of truth that allows reviews, markups and annotations to be conducted centrally, and ensures that documents are made available to team members with the right permissions, in the right versions and just when they need them.

FULLY DOCUMENTED
Until recently, Autodesk Docs was a standalone CDE or Common Data Environment, but it is now included within the three principal Autodesk Construction Cloud solutions for the construction industry. These are BIM Collaborate with its Design collaboration, clash detection and model coordination tools; Autodesk Take-off for 2D and 3D takeoffs and Scope Analysis; and Autodesk Build with its range of construction-based tools. It is also available with Autodesk's AEC Collection.

As a cloud-based application it acts as the central document storage facility for all construction documents and data, and is available through an MS Explorer-style browser. It also includes complete access and permissions control using folder-based assignments of permissions based on individuals, roles or companies.

Documents and models are automatically assigned versions when they are uploaded to the CDE and are available for visual comparisons with earlier versions of the same document, allowing project team members to easily keep track of design changes. Documents also include full MS Office 365 integration, which allows MS Office documents to be checked in and out within the browser - similar to the way SharePoint works.

A comprehensive set of customisable review and approval workflows enables Autodesk Docs users to initiate, audit or review documents, locate issues in both 2D documents and associated 3D models, and assign review processes to team members. They can also submit transmittals and produce reports that provide complete audit trails and communications history on their subsequent completion and/or closure. The review process provides additional tools for locating issues within a floorplan or 3D model. You can effortlessly switch views between either or share them on a split screen.

CDE ISO 19650
To facilitate the sharing of documents and models between applications used on a typical project, Autodesk Docs supports ISO-19650 for construction project workflows as the default standard, with its naming conventions assigned to individual folders within the CDE.

Additional and customisable attributes can be assigned to documents within ISO-19650 to define status, revision levels and classifications. New files uploaded to the CDE are auto-checked against the file naming convention, and those that don't conform are parked in a separate holding folder for renaming and assigning manually.

VIEW FORMATS
As you would expect from a company that has been involved in the CAD industry for some time, the list of viewable formats is comprehensive and ranges from JPEGs, TIFFs, PNGs and DWGs and IFCs. Any information in any of these files can be viewed in both 2D or 3D formats. RVT files, for example, can be viewed in 2D plan format or as a 3D model. IFCs and one or two other files are only viewable in a single native format. The CDE also includes common video formats including MP4, and standard Office 365 documents: Docs, XLS and PDFs.

PROCESSES AND WORKFLOWS
Autodesk Docs gives all users the ability to navigate and share all pages and views of documents, markups and comparison tools - providing they have been invited onto the team as an individual, company or role-based member via Folder Permissions. It's a straightforward process which allows architects and engineers, as Initiators, to define who will have access to the various documents they are about to upload so that they can be reviewed and approved.

Reviews are conducted by Auditors who check the documents and add comments and markups. Annotated documents used to be sent by email to team members who needed to respond and take action on the markups, but this is a disruptive process that wastes time and is open to misinterpretation. The first reviewer is invited on board by email, but the review process itself is contained with the document, as Autodesk Docs displays a list of team members alongside the document and allows tasks to be assigned to them, invites them to comment, and directly associates them with the document.

This provides a complete audit of all actions and responses for each review, and which is available to the Approver, who checks everything and selects the appropriate approval status. Approval processes can be configured to suit the complexity of a document, allowing reviews to be conducted in just one step, or ensuring that numerous reviewers have to check a document before it is approved. Once a review is completed it is attached to the CDE as a PDF.

REVIEWING REVIT FILES
You can open Office 365 files directly within Autodesk Docs, but you can also open up Revit models including element properties. Once opened you can inspect a Revit model in detail, either by slicing it in any direction, or by using the visibility settings to hide elements such as ceilings to see what's underneath. You can also apply measurement tools to define the height or width of an object.

You also have access to the 2D version of the Revit model, and can switch between the element you have isolated within the model directly to the same point in the floorplan, and vice versa. The process uses a handy icon that allows you to navigate around the floorplan, but also indicates which direction you would like to be looking in when you switch back to the 3D model. Displaying both views side-by-side and opening up a dialogue with review members allows detailed examinations of each issue to be made. For greater elucidation other evidence, such as photos and associated documents, can be added to the review.

Updated and approved documents are stored with the latest revision numbers. Both the 3D Revit model and 2D floorplans can be used to display what has been changed between one revision level and the next. This is accomplished quickly and easily by Version Compare. After indicating which file versions need to be checked, the results are displayed and colour-coded in the model itself or in the floorplans. Green, for instance, indicates the changes to the red original. Yellow coding in the model shows which elements have been affected by the changes, and each of these can be clicked on to provide further information on associated activity.

A SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH
Autodesk Docs eliminates duplication, misinterpretation, errors, time-wasting and breakdowns in communication. It allows regulated workflows and processes to be defined and ensures that project members are provided with the documents and information only they need, and only when they need it.

It is also the single source of truth on a project - the Common Data Environment that keeps a complete record of documents and information about the project and a record of the activity of project members with regard to that information - available for inspection for any subsequent purpose, from asset management to litigation.

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