How to Automate Repetitive Tasks on BIM 360 to Improve Cloud Collaboration

JUAN TENA FLOREZ: Hello, [INAUDIBLE], And welcome to my class. My name is Juan Tena Florez, and I am the Regional Digital Design Manager at KEO international Consultants. I am based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and it's my pleasure to speak in front of all of you. I'm very proud to have been selected among so many classes submitted.

I hope that you can enjoy this class as much as I enjoyed preparing it. And I know that this is a virtual event, but it won't be-- engagement-- we will not have as much engagement as in person, but I will try to keep you engaged. And I hope that you will stay till the end to the Q&A session, so that you can ask me any questions as well. I guess if you are attending this class, it's because you will probably would like to do something more important and spend less time doing some repetitive task, and spend your time doing something more interesting, as this repetitive task doesn't require any skills or expertise.

So first of all, I would to speak a little bit about our company, KEU. It's a highly integrated and agile [INAUDIBLE] ranked by INR in the top 125 international design firms, in the top 20 international [? BMC ?] firms, and by Bold Architecture as the 50th largest global architecture firm, and the first firm in the Middle East region in 2021, [INAUDIBLE].

KEU is a creative enterprise, but innovation is a way of life. Where uniquely sourced with end-to-end services, to the clients from inspiration through conceptualization, to realization of planning, design, or [? prayer ?] delivery, in the built and natural environments. For over 57 years, we've led the vision contributing to many of the world's most ambitious projects and iconic places in the Middle East. KEU is continually pushing innovations that will crystallize a client's vision by promoting design excellence, high standards, and delivering quality, and using experience and expertise to resolve complexity and realize opportunity. BIM is our standard way of delivering projects.

And it is use of what most of what we do. It plays a powerful role on unifying and aligning our processes, standards, and procedures. And our isolating 650 [? kite ?] mark certificate by BSI demonstrates evidence of it. But also, an IT service provides select, since means of this year, and we pride that BIM advisory and consulting services.

So getting to the point of the class now. Topic of how to automate repetitive tasks on metrics to improve cloud collaboration. I would like to give you a summary of the four different learning objectives that I summarize in the class. First, I will identify eight different options to automate task and interoperability between BIM 360 and other platforms. I will show you seven different tasks that we can automate that currently is done manually, and that could save you a lot of time.

I will show you five different integrated tasks in order to integrate with our platforms with BIM 360. And finally, I will show you four different project migration options, with on-premises files to BIM 360. So any project that you may have in your local servers and you would like to migrate to BIM 360, I will show you what's the best approach to that.

Now the first learning objective. Identify the different options available to automate task and integrate with other tools and BIM 360. So before getting into that, we need to understand that there are three different types of tools available in the market now. We have web-based platforms that you can access from your web browser. And get into interaction. Then we have the desktop-based applications. On the last type, is a cloud platform, which also will be accessed through a web browser.

So the first of the different options, is ACC Connect, also known as [? Mercado. ?] It's a cloud-programming platform, so therefore in text that's on your web browser. It has a library that allows you to integrate more than 200 applications. It's a connected experience between all these applications. I integrate all these software applications easily. And also gives you a dashboard that can give you a real-time access to critical data, in case that you need to understand the different process that it's happening in the platform while transferring or giving this automated task.

I will show you now a little bit was an introduction of the platform. Currently, they have things even the way that looks, as you could see, that is a little bit of the difference between the PowerPoint and these. So it's quite simple as well. You have your progress, the dashboard, and the community library, and then some other tools to help you out to connect with other activities.

So we have the Projects, where you can just organize your different recipes, so these different tasks that will create is called a recipe. And we can organize in Projects. And then, as I said, we have these recipes that you will create like that. And then we have the connections. The connection is what we have explained, that we have more than 200 connections. We create any connection. You will see here the list of all the different servers that we can connect.

Cloudsfer. It's a web-based platform as well. It's an On-premise to cloud transfer, or a cloud-to-cloud and migration solution. It supports about 20 cloud storage providers, such as BIM 360, OneDrive, Office 365, and many others. It also provides a solution from your [? tax ?] system to other 12 different On-premise systems. And companies and users can migrate their data in a fast and secure manner, while continuing to work on their source systems.

And let me show you as well. It will be, [INAUDIBLE] So we will need to have your username and password. And it's quite simple and straightforward, the interface. You will have, on the left, these different options for the plans, the summaries, or the users that you may have added into your account. And then you just have the source and target. It's as simple as that. You just need to select from where to where you would like to connect, and here you have these 20 different options that you can select, from one to the other.

A third option is 360 Admin Tools. It facilitates administration, migration, transformation, or real-time information task. It's, again, a web-based platform. It allows you to transfer information between projects, accounts, hubs, a few cloud storage platform as well. It has also some real-time dashboards, so that you can as well visualize the data that is being either transferred or with the users. And also can manage the task of assigning users massively to different projects or to multiple projects, or a user to multiple projects.

And let me give you another view of that aspect. So this is the hub of 360 Admin Tools. Want to give you an understanding of all the different-- it has the different dashboards for the access that you can filter by the different accounts. And let me ask back here. I will explain details later.

If that one is the transfer up, is again thinking on other web-based platform. With a transfer app, that you can transfer these files between different interest accounts or projects only. So 360 to 360. Can be even [INAUDIBLE] BIM360 projects. The only request that we'll have is a policy for BIM 360 [INAUDIBLE], and then you will access the app. And the benefit is you no longer need to have to download your files locally, and then upload to the new BIM 360 location. So this is, again, similar to the previous one and one on the left, on the right, you select from where you would like to transfer to what is your target, and you will just transfer files. And it's really that simple.

So going back here, to show you quickly. To log in, just need your email and credentials. And you will need to log in to your BIM 360 account. They will ask you for your address, credentials, and you will have to allow and authorize the app. And similarly to where we like to transfer, we will have to do the same step. I'm allowing it.

So you will see the price listed on the left and the right, and your selected files. So this tool allows you only to transfer files between one to the other, from where to where, and you will just click. You can see it's not quite intuitive, but this arrow over here, as you select files on the left and the target on the right, click on the arrow, and the file will [INAUDIBLE].

And the next one is the 360Sync. 360Sync automatically transfers, organizes, archives project files across applications. Now is the first app that we say is not web-based. It's a desktop-based application. And, of course, they will save you time [INAUDIBLE] and effort to automate the file transfer process and maintain this stability data entry between different platforms. It can automatically update your 360 files whenever you upload or update any file to your computer server or BIM 360 project. And it's very easy to set up and to use.

So let me give you, as well, an overview. So that is 360Sync. This is an app, as you can see. It's as easy as a [INAUDIBLE]. Your connection, you will need to add your connection to BIM 360, as I have here. You just need to give your credentials and your passport.

And finally, you need to add your projects. And for the project, you just need to provide a name. And after doing it-- for the mapping of what you would like to map, [INAUDIBLE]. And one of the biggest benefits of 360Sync, as well, is that you can either run it once or you can schedule it as you wish.

The next one is another web-based platform called IMAGINiT Clarity Cloud. It's a task automation that runs in the cloud with no on-premise hardware. So similar to the [INAUDIBLE] It's where they hosted-- fully hosted BIM 360 platform. That takes care of repetitive Revit, AutoCAD, and BIM 360 tasks. So you can schedule a task to do automatically, [INAUDIBLE] See, it's multiple formats. And you can also do an interest made to get files for you to leave them in 360 to the [INAUDIBLE] or to move files in 360.

So let's take a look at this. So again, it's another web-based platform, where you will have to just setup your account, your preferences. Once that is done, you will need to create a new project. Just to give a name and a number, and office location, and type. So that will be based on the different integrations that you have done.

So currently, it's only within 360. And once you have a project, is when you can either will have a home that will give you an overview of the task defined. Files, so you can navigate to see the files. And then you can define the different task that you will run, so you will see the current and the complete tasks. We will go into the details later.

The next one is the BIMrx Cloud Manager. This is another desktop-based application. It's just to simplify similarly the BIM 360 management. Here we can manage multiple projects simultaneously and enable data synchronization between, again, intranet servers or local information with the cloud. We can create multiple BIM 360 projects simultaneously, manage our users easily, and unfiltered as well, the many members that we have. And the last thing is that we can automate the model publishing, upload and downloading with custom integration, and intelligently sync this local folder of files to and from BIM 360.

So this is [INAUDIBLE] differently to other tools. Something that I would like to recommend them is to actually when they provide a trial, similarly to other tools, is that they give a limited trial, so currently I cannot tell you, as the trial last 15 days. So you can see the different automation tools that can be done, and the different jobs that you can automate.

And the last one is Autodesk Forge. It's a cloud-based developer platform from Autodesk and most of all of these tools that we have seen is based on [INAUDIBLE] as for is the basis of BIM 360. And from here, anyone can create their own apps and access the basic API, management API, all the different APIs given by Forge. Here you have a web-based platform, but you can just sign in and start creating your apps.

OK, on all of these, you need always to consider the different admin settings that you need to add. So for all of these apps to work, you need to go to your account admin. You need to be an admin of your account. And you need to go either to the apps-- here you will see all the different apps that are integrated in BIM 360. And you will need to authorize them in order to be used in your hub.

And similarly, in case you have a Client Hub that you want to integrate, you will need to ask them to similarly authorize these apps. The other way, as well, some other apps instead of from the apps dialogue, we need to do it through the custom integrations. So in settings, custom integration. We'll add custom integration, and we'll have to follow the steps given by these different apps. This is a basic step for this to work.

So the second objective to automate these different tasks. I will show you, as an example, the first one is to export PDF with markups. Something that has happened to us in a few periods is that our team has created a market in several PDFs, and all that then needs to be shared with someone else that doesn't have access, or need to be uploaded to a client, management system. So in summary, the person will have to go on up in [INAUDIBLE] and export. And then that file will be downloaded, and then upload it, manually to the client portal.

What we can do with ACC Connect, we can create a recipe to actually automate this task. So if I go back here. So this is deployed here, we have 60 different PDFs, all of them with markup. So someone will have to go here, export, wait for file to export, and all of that. So you can see how time-consuming, and even it can lead into an error that you may miss one file. So the recipe will be as simple as gathering the information from the location, exporting the program, and then following different actions so that the files would be obtained. Either, you can just get it there if you want to upload to or select it to upload to the same [? print, ?] but to a different folder, or you can even download or upload to another location. So this is the first automation that I wanted to show you that saves a lot of time.

Something quite common nowadays is that clients, they have their own BIM 360 as their Common Data Environment, but they use it as, if you understand a little bit of the [? Iceland ?] [? thing ?] [? 650 ?] and how it works on how information is managed, from work-in-progress [INAUDIBLE] So clients are using their BIM 360 platform as their published [? CV ?] environment. And either the leader of the party will have their own BIM 360 set for the team to collaborate in the platform, but they will have their WIP and shared information. And once established, they will need to transfer all that information to the client's BIM 360. So the step will be for the managers, or the controllers, to download that, upload to the client. As you can see that, could be quite time-consuming as well.

So we have three different tools to automate that task-- ACC Connect, 360 Sync, or BIMrx Cloud Manager. But I will show you, as one of these three examples, is using a cloudsfer.

So it would be as simple as first we need to connect to our BIM 360 account. It will be similar to the dialogue that I showed you with the transfer up. You will need to allow and to authorize the app to connect. And we just need to go to your project and in your hub, select the project in the client's hub. I will not select here anything, just for the sake of the demonstration.

You select the folders that you want to transfer, and then you select the target of where you want to transfer that information, and then you create the plan. Automatically, that will create all these plans that you see here. Once it's completed, once in progress, that will be completed. And it's as simple as that.

We can-- so that's the one-time sync, which is the one that I was going to explain later. So the live sync, it can be done as well, with the risk they sync. Let me show you now. With 360 Sync, what we can do, as I explained earlier, once we defined the project, we have the mapping-- that mapping, we ask you to give your name.

Here, we define from where to where, so here, as you can see, I only see my connection to these hubs. So depending if the client has authorized this app to actually be on that project, then you will be able to select the point that you want. And then to transfer to that specific-- I forget.

So once you save it, I would need to give a name. So as I already have one prepared. Once it's defined, then you can either play, so run. It will run one time. Similarly to what I saw on the other app. [INAUDIBLE] So that's when it comes that is a kind of live sync, because you can schedule this for any days, or any specific days. You can repeat this. So if you repeat this action every minute, then it is kind of a live sync. And then, how much will be the reason of this?

And once you save that, every minute it will look for the rate that you will select. You will automatically look for a new file, and then transfer to our clients. And the other one that was explaining earlier. So with Cloudsfer, the one time sync, we can do it with that which supposed to demo that I was trying to explain. And then I'm going to show you, as well, with the 360 Admin Tools.

I mean a backspace. OK, with the 360 Admin Tools, we go to the sync projects. So I have to log in with my name on this account. I will authorize the tool. And it's not working out. So, even though that is recorded, sync cannot line them up. So that will be another option, to do it with the Admin Tools.

We can do that will be sped up. But note that, with the transfer up, we can only select files but not folders. OK, now I will show you a different task-- a different automation task--C that we can do with Clarity Cloud from the daily Revit model daily published. So in BIM 360, currently you can only do it on a weekly basis, not on daily basis. Then we will see, as well, on the Clarity Cloud in transmit. So with Revit, if you would like to eTransmit, you will have to go to your File Explorer and navigate to the 360 project and sync that model. And depending on how big or small that file is, it may take longer. And then go to Revit and select one-by-one file, and transmit. AutoCAD is similar, but you can select several files.

And the last thing that we can automate with clarity, is to print or export from Revit and AutoCAD into these formats. And I believe, contrary to all of this, with PDF, is only when the results are in 2022 version. And we can also support schedules. So let's look into IMAGINiT Clarity now.

Here, when we define the task. I have here, as an example, [INAUDIBLE] this task. You will see, we just need to provide a name. We need to select the device that we want to do.

So here, it will be listed, this sample project. We're going to have one target model. If we have more, it will list all the models that we have defined in the [? WIP ?] area. And all the CAD files, as well, in case that it's a different task. And then the common dialect that we see in the applications for printing and so on. And then what is important here, is if you want to be on demand or is scheduled.

Depending on that, it will be just a one-time run. If it's a schedule, it will ask us when we want to that to happen. So we can select the date. And here is the export PDF. But if we go back to the [INAUDIBLE] that can be done only currently quickly. Here we can select a daily basis, so the model will be automatically published on the dates, and the time that we choose.

Then we have the BIM 360 user management and bulk assign. We can use see that to fix the 360 Admin Tools or the Cloud Manager. Both are quite powerful. We just need to select Account, the projects that we want to assign, we can select one or multiple. And then we can filter by either email, we can filter by name, we can filter by company, by role. And then with one tick, we can select them all, and then assign, and all of them will assign automatically. Quite similar to Cloud Manager, but on the left, you see the list of projects. Here are the users, and then the roles. Is read them similar on the left. And you can also even test for navigation to see your active users, and active users but pending. You can filter them as well.

OK, then integration with other platforms. BIM 360 link to OneDrive is similar in order to have a backup. Some companies use OneDrive as local storage. We can as well link both. In this case, we are using SD Connect. And basically, we need to connect to both BIM 360 and OneDrive.

And as an example here, so that will be the recipe, where we define the path, and then how the file will be automatically uploaded to the path in OneDrive. And the other way, from OneDrive to BIM 360, we can do it as well using 360 Admin Tools or Cloudsfer. So let me show you in Cloudsfer how this will work. It's going to be login again. And we just need to define from where to where. Here we can select from OneDrive. We will connect.

It will ask a similar login credentials with our email ID and authorization. And then we'll see here different folders within the project within your OneDrive that you can sync between one and the other. We can also transfer from 360 to other platforms, such as Dropbox. We can even create a kind of conditional formula so that we can even filter a specific format, so we can, for example, say, OK, I want only these [? villages ?] with transfer. And we'll do it by getting these formulas.

The other way around, if we have a document in Dropbox that we'd like to transfer to BIM 360. Here you'll see this is a longer recipe that needs more [? repairs ?] because it needs to replicate the same-- we're using this to replicate the same folder structure so that to ensure that we will follow that arrangement. Something else is BIM 360 to Outlook or Slack. If you are a person that don't like the way that you receive so many so many emails, to simplify that you can use this to post messages on Slack.

So in case the things that we can take is if there is an issue, you will get your message on Slack. There is an issue created. Please, look into it. Or there is any document. And that will be the same.

It's a quite simple recipe. And I mean, in Slack, you will get, OK, this is the project. This is the title, and this is the description. Or this is the file, and you have, and that will be right.

And the last objective is about this on-premises files to BIM 360. So here we have four different options. First one is Cloudsfer. The only thing that we need to define differently to what I showed you, is to we find the agent. So we need to install Cloudsfer for on-premises agent.

We'll download. We'll assign. We'll copy and paste the document that we're giving it by that. And we'll run it, and once that is done, the BIM 360 authorization system is what I showed you earlier. And you just can select. And let's close this.

In Cloudsfer, what we can do is select the file system. We'll connect. It will look for our implementation that is to be running so that we can look. And I will open it.

One thing we'll find the files that you have in your computer. And then you can transfer from one to the other. The other option is what I showed you earlier as well, with 360 Sync. Here we can select as well, not only the BIM 360 connection, but also Windows. Here we don't need any on-premises agent. It will be just a matter of selecting the folders, saving, and we can as well create a schedule or run it one time.

BIMrx Cloud Manager is quite similar. We have to create the local projects, and then we'll have to select from where to where we like to transfer them. And the last one is ACC Connect.

That is quite similar to the first. We have to create an on-premises agent. We'll have to create an on-prem group, add the agent, run the agent, and then create a recipe that will use the Agent locally. And then to select the target or interest.

And that was the last item that I wanted to explain. I hope that you enjoyed the glass. And I hope that now you will stay for the Q&A session. And I hope to see you there. Thank you very much for attending. I hope to see you soon. Bye.