What better day than Labor Day to begin a 3-part series on how BIM 360 Docs helps Civil Engineers! However, rather than doing an in-product demo style presentation, I am posting the animated story boards we created to help convey BIM 360 Docs benefits.
(Thought you might be interested in how we build/organize our thoughts before creating content 😊 )
In today's installment, we see how using BIM 360 Docs reduces the amount of paper used in a typical office while improving overall productivity at the same time. We do this by comparing two fictional engineering firms. In short, Susan's firm uses BIM 360 Docs and Randy's firm does not.
Check out the video to see several ways Randy could benefit from a BIM 360 Docs workflow.
As projects and designs evolve, they will no doubt require changes. Fortunately, BIM 360 Docs makes it easy to assign those changes to the appropriate members of a project team. It will also ensure that no work item goes unfinished, by tracking each issue through completion. In today’s installment, we’ll learn how to use BIM 360 Docs to create and manage issues.
Generally speaking, issue creation is as easy as pressing “push pins” into a plan sheet where changes are needed. Each pin contains a description of the change, the person it’s assigned to, and a due date. As a courtesy, when an issue (or pin) is created, an email notification is sent automatically to the responsible party. Changing an issue’s status will also change the pin color (and send additional notifications) ensuring that issues can be tracked “at a glance” and resolved as quickly as possible.
If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below that walks through some sample workflows using issues…
BIM 360 Docs makes it easy to prepare a project for collaboration. Its intuitive controls for members and permissions ensures the right people have access to the right content at all times. The collaborative process starts by sending “invitations” to all stakeholders who will actively participate in the project. Once a new member is activated, the Project Admin grants access (and assigns permissions) to designated project folders.
In today’s installment, we’ll explore the process of adding members to a BIM 360 project. We’ll also learn how to assign (and demonstrate the effect of) folder permissions. If you are interested, I’ve created a pair of videos below that walk through everything…
Historically, project plan sheets have been printed as paper documents. As projects grow, so does the volume of paper used to print them. With each revision, (and stakeholder) the number of printed sheets needed for everyone to stay current becomes a significant challenge. Some of the worst setbacks to projects have been caused by stakeholders designing (or worse yet building) from an outdated set of plans.
Fortunately, BIM 360 Docs represents a cloud-based repository for project plan sheets and supporting files. By making digital PDF plan sets available via. the cloud, BIM 360 Docs represents a “single source of truth”, ensuring all stakeholders are working from a current set of plans. In addition, BIM 360 Docs eliminates the need to transport rolls of paper between the office and job site. Just imagine being able to access (or review) any current plan set for any project using a mobile phone or tablet!
This is just one of the productivity gains you can expect from BIM 360 Docs. If you would like to take Docs for a test drive, please take a look at my new “Getting up to speed with BIM 360 Docs” video series to help get you started. I’ve included a link to the initial playlist below… There’s more to come!
