Document Management as it should be; connected, integral, complete, and evolving

If you’re already using Autodesk Docs much of what I’m going to be covering in this blog will be familiar to you. You'll know how Autodesk Docs integrates seamlessly with Document Management, eliminating any need to switch between open apps and documents. It is incorporated beneath the entire solutions suite that is Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC).

You’ll also be aware that it continues to evolve – with regular updates adding features and benefits that make your tasks easier to manage.

Autodesk Docs: The foundation layer of innovation

Over the last year or so, Autodesk has made some remarkable refinements to its document management system, Autodesk Docs, an essential underpinning product within Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Collection (AEC).

First introduced in 2019, Autodesk Docs was of great assistance to the industry because it was in place when COVID hit. As companies’ teams became dispersed, Docs helped keep the wheels of AEC turning, enabling and connecting teams regardless of location.

Now it has become even more of a unified solution, providing a constant connection between every action taken on every document; control, versioning, and approvals. Everyone will know where everything is, all the time, wherever they may be.

All project data in one place: Integration is key

Although there’s undisputable logic in keeping all project data in one place, I still often meet with Symetri customers who treat this golden rule as if it were just a loose guideline.

Instances arise of some project data being in one place, or subsets of project data being siloed. Some housed within one application and the rest kept elsewhere but, despite the fact that this approach may have a semblance of order (as long as everybody knows what data is where, and when it was put there) it is an unstable foundation for efficiency.

Even so, the approach works for those who follow it, they say, because the diverse software solutions they use are integrated and, most importantly, their professional teams are adept at spotting when the reliability of the information they are receiving from others needs to be verified.

What is integration?

It’s not too much bother to ask around a bit, see who last worked on a document or drawing and make sure no-one has touched it since. That’s a behaviour that just gets assimilated into the normal daily round of busyness; sometimes it’s a little annoying, but most of the time it’s quietly accepted as being what it is. All jobs contain some element of a tedium factor after all, don’t they?

This interpretation of continuous workflow misses the point that if applications are not part of the same suite, they are not actually integrated just because they sit on the same computer. Leaving one application to go into another, and then going back again, has only the loosest association with the meaning of integration.

Gartner defines ‘Integrated Software’ as: “A business software productivity program that incorporates a number of applications…into one product, allowing data sharing between all or most modules”. This is what Autodesk Construction Cloud is built for.

Why put off until tomorrow what you can put off forever?

Making the move to Autodesk Docs may seem like a time-consuming chore to some. I know what it’s like when other priorities take the focus off of looking at internal process improvements.

Before I came on to the Symetri team I worked for almost 20 years in the construction industry and in engineering consulting; roles which included project/engineering/ and CAD technician. So, I’m familiar with the way of working that says ‘get the job done and come back and look at any details later’.

The thing is, following on from a successful project, any need to go back and do a ‘post mortem’ seems to evaporate. The next project comes along, the next deadline looms, and things have a tendency to roll on as they always have done.

In one of my recent blog posts (‘The non-digital approach to construction projects’) I talked about the approach that says if something is not broken then there often appears to be no need to fix it;  projects appear to roll on quite successfully, as they always have.

No alarm bells ring. No seismic ruptures interrupt workflows, or are not perceived as seismic and are not felt to be noticeably disruptive. This approach does not acknowledge that even ‘acceptable’ processes can be improved; improvement being very much the launch-pad for innovation.

If you’re using another document management solution then now is the time to consider that post-mortem. Can you do things better? Can you streamline your workflows? Are you confident that every brick in the foundation layer, of your organisation’s ability to innovate, is truly in place?

Overview of Autodesk Docs Benefits

Consistent, reliable, sharable: Common Data Environment - The beating heart of Autodesk Docs

Remove the tedium of software toggling and you eliminate wasted time which, itself, has a habit of mushrooming. It distracts, interrupts the flow of creativity, and adds costs to the project. The converse is also true, that when time is filled with forward momentum, focus is retained, concentration maintained, and costs contained. These are among the many benefits of basing all project document activity in a common data environment (CDE), making document management simple.

The CDE is the heart of Autodesk Docs.
Complete integration constitutes the arteries;
distributing efficiency, reliability, accuracy and auditability
throughout the entire body of your projects and associated activities.

One source | One view | One team

The entire project team can use and collaborate through Autodesk Docs. Important to note here is that if you are using an external document management system (outside the ACC and the AEC Collection) you may occasionally come across incompatibility issues with third parties. They’re not insurmountable but neither can the need to switch between systems and/or formats be thought of as best practice; once again, time is wasted, focus diluted, and a certain degree of frustration can arise.

How much more efficient it is when architects, designers, engineers, contractors, sub-contractors, drafters, detailers, virtual design and construction managers, project managers, owners, fabricators, and any other project participants to whom you grant the appropriate permissions are all – very literally – on the same page at every stage?

Autodesk Docs now underpins and connects Bridge

When you’re using Autodesk Docs, you can now use Bridge to automatically connect both folders and files between their own IP hubs. You can also set up automated sheet sharing, reducing mundane tasks. Disconnecting and removing automations at the end of a project is a one-click task.

See what you need to see at the exact moment in time you need to see it                                                                                                                                

• Control: Align team members -- track and resolve issues across teams from a single centralised issue list.
• Attention to detail: Streamline review and approval workflows. Publish and aggregate all multi-discipline models in a single folder to enable automated clash detection.
• Collaboration: Attach documents as references to RFIs, Meetings, Forms, and Assets to improve collaboration and reduce miscommunication.
• Continuous improvement: Improve accuracy, reduce errors and rework
• Broader horizons: Be more confident, more organised, more in control of time, costs, projects, and ultimately your inherent powers of innovation.
• ISO 19650 compliance built in: ISO 19650 workflows are incorporated in Autodesk Docs helping you comply with the standards across the whole project lifecycle.

Time for change?

BIM 360 Docs is moving towards end-of-life. There will be ample advanced notice when the time approaches but now is a good time to plan your next move. I recommend the very best place to make that move to is Autodesk Docs.

If you have the AEC collection and/or are using the Autodesk Construction Cloud, go take a look at it. The interface is simple. The effort is minimal. I believe you’ll find the change to your workflows to be significant.

If you want to know more, or want guidance with the transition, or any other matters related to streamlining document management in your company, please get in touch.  

Author

Sean O’Dwyer

Sean is AEC Division Manager at Symetri – Ireland’s leading software provider. Sean has worked in the Irish Construction Industry for over 25 years, with experience in Civil and Structural Engineering. He has extensive experience in the fields of BIM, Lean Construction and implementing new workflows, ISO 19650 and BIM certification. A respected digital innovator in his field who specialises in integrating new digital tools and workflows to enhance client capabilities.