In Case You Missed It: Must-See Autodesk Updates for Construction Owners 

In today’s fast-paced construction industry, owners need to navigate a complex web of teams, technology, and data to ensure their capital project(s) are delivered with top-notch quality, on-time, and within budget. The sheer volume of information and moving parts makes it essential for owners to cut through the noise and focus on the priorities that truly matter.  

With 95% of all data not used from projects (according to FMI), we know something needs to change. Owners and other stakeholders must find what they are looking for when they need it, to make better decisions. The benefits are undeniable. According to a recent report from Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by Autodesk: with better and more accessible information, there is a 73% reduction in operations costs, 67% improvement in ability to track performance, and a 50% increase in average profit growth annually for data leaders.  

At Autodesk, we’re committed to empowering all construction stakeholders with the tools and insights they need to harness data effectively, ensuring project success. With that, let’s dive into a few of our recent top releases that will help owners cut through the noise. 

Asset Systems 

Eighty to 90% of the total lifecycle cost is incurred during operations. For owners, minimizing this cost is critical to help drive bottom line growth and build a healthy profit margin for your organization.  

Asset System in Autodesk Construction Cloud helps you track all the elements of your assets in one place during and after your capital project so you can minimize your operations cost. Imagine, during commissioning, you have one light but it’s not just a single light – it’s connected to other systems like the switch, wiring, breakers, etc. You care about that one asset, but truly, you care about everything associated and connected to that item. Asset System gives you a way to track all your assets in a much-simplified manner.  

Sample Project Templates 

Owners care about building standards to help them finish projects faster and more efficiently, get usable data they need to eventually operate their asset, and to ensure quality of their build (what they intend to be built is what is built). With Sample Project Templates, we are helping more quickly build those standards, especially for those just starting with Autodesk Construction Cloud.  We are just getting started. Here is a walkthrough on this capability. 

Activity Log 

Owners need a way to track and audit what all is going on in their projects and by who to help increase transparency, meet compliance, and in the unfortunate case of disputes, a way to help resolve. With Activity Log, owners have a native in-product log that gives an audit trail of activities across Autodesk Construction Cloud workflows. Rather than having to extract activities and search through, now you can find what you are looking for directly on Autodesk Construction Cloud.  

Coordination Object Colors 

Keeping track of the progress of your project is critical for many owners, whether you have internal teams doing the work or you are working with your third-party GCs. What better way to effortlessly track your assets and projects, while improving coordination and planning work in specific industry segments, than through visual representation? 

Coordination Object Colors in Autodesk Construction Cloud allows you to cut through the noise and see what’s going on in your project and understand the dynamics of your assets. This means less time wasted and more time making the decisions you need to meet your business objectives. 

These are just a handful of features we believe resonate with your needs as an owner. Hear what some of peers are saying about it: 

More Autodesk Construction Cloud Release from 2024 Owners Should Know 

With hundreds of releases for Autodesk Construction Cloud in 2024 alone, let’s look back at a few key features our owners are raving about from earlier this year.   

Security and Standards 

  • Admin - MFA Enforcement: Admins can require MFA for anyone not using SSO within and outside the company when accessing projects. This increases security which is critically important for owners hosting external vendors and consultants in their instances 

Data and Insights 

  • Building Connected and TradeTapp Power BI Connector: Data Connector is now available in Power BI for data from BC Pro and TradeTapp. This feature allows Owners to build dashboards for their bid and / or risk data in addition to other dashboards giving them greater visibility into their overall capital project.  
  • Data Connector - Support for Microsoft Fabric: Data Connector has a supported connector directly into the Microsoft Fabric framework This means that with a one-time simple set up, your data can seamlessly flow between Autodesk Construction Cloud into any of the applications supported by Microsoft Fabric including Power BI and Copilot. With the Connector, businesses can take advantage of their data in one place and opens the doors for more sophisticated insight and data capabilities for owners. 
  • Work Plan: This new feature enables teams to create independent and connected work plans in the context of the schedule to understand handoffs and constraints better as well as proactively track schedules. This is beneficial for those owners who are using it to plan key milestones and decisions, commissioning and handover schedules. Work Plan gives owners a more granular view of the schedule to understand where things are, risks to the plan, and opportunities to help bring it back on schedule.  

Scalability  

  • Model Coordination - DGN Files Supported for Aggregation: DGN files can now be aggregated in Model Coordination. For manufacturing and infrastructure owners that use Bentley products, this enhancement helps bring them into a common data environment in Autodesk Construction Cloud.  
  • Files - View and Create Issues for DGN Files (& others stp, skp, fbx, iwm, ipt, iam, obj): DNG files can be viewed in Docs, and issues can be added to them just like with other 3D models. This feature offers similar benefits to Model Coordination for DGN files, but it further enhances collaboration by allowing users to view and add issues directly within Docs. 

Document Management 

  • Files – Packages: Files can be bundled into packages and referenced to Assets. Instead of having to link single files to Assets, entire packages can be referenced to give teams easy access in the field.  

At Autodesk, we are dedicated in providing owners with innovative tools that enables them to streamline their projects and improve their bottom line. To learn more about how our latest releases can benefit your teams, reach out and schedule a demo to learn more.  

Ike Nwabah

As Senior Manager, Ike leads the Audience Segment team in Construction Marketing and has a diverse background and many years of experience in B2B technology across a variety of industries. Most recently, Ike led marketing at Higher Logic and at Armor Cloud Security. Ike has a passion for deeply understanding customers and building go-to-market strategies that drives value for their organizations. He and his team are focused on building strategic points of view leveraging market and customer insights to inform and accelerate growth for our business, partners, and customers.