Today, the concept of staying connected has never been more important in the construction industry. Whether you’re linking teams, data, or operations, connectedness is key to improving efficiency, reducing errors, and meeting project milestones.
Earlier this year, we told you that one of our big 2020 goals was about making your work-life easier with Autodesk Construction Solutions. To continue this trend of simplification, we’re excited to announce more than 15 product updates and enhancements that connect your teams and work. Scroll below to learn about all the latest construction product updates including a new out-of-the-box, no-code integration platform, Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect, a Data Connector feature from BIM 360, a new addition to PlanGrid’s Advanced RFIs to streamline the process, and much more!
Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect
Construction projects are complex, involving many stakeholders, processes, and technology platforms that each serve critical needs on a project. Enter Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect. Previously known as PlanGrid Connect, the newly branded Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect now supports integrations for both BIM 360 and BuildingConnected, in addition to PlanGrid. Connect provides an out-of-the-box, no-code platform so you can create flexible integrations without relying on software engineering resources.
Build a connected business, simplify and automate daily tasks, and drive productivity and data analysis by customizing how information is shared between the applications your team uses the most. Every integration can be tailored to fit your organization’s exact needs and is automatically updated as technology platforms improve and your business scales. With a library that allows you to build integrations between hundreds of applications in one place, connecting your most important applications has never been easier.
Through a single click, Data Connector allows teams to quickly extract project data from BIM 360 for customized use in other robust business intelligence tools. The Data Connector saves teams time and money by giving them a tool to extract data without needing expensive APIs or custom code as well as improving data visualizations to make more informed business decisions.
When the field team creates an issue with BIM 360, whether from the Issue Log or a drawing, they are now able to select from a list of issue templates that have been created by the Project Admin. Once a template is selected, the issue details are automatically filled in, saving them time and manual entry. Instead of entering information over again for each and every issue, the field team simply needs to fill in what is remaining such as by adding a photo or selecting the root cause.
This second feature for issue management within BIM 360 is Pin Issues to Locations, which builds upon the idea of automatically filling in the issue details. Like Issue Templates, the goal is to save the field team time and effort to resolve issues faster. Based on the location breakdown structure set in the Project Admin tool, when a field team member drops an issue pin on the drawing, BIM 360 will automatically know the location to fill in. Not only does it save the user time, but it also improves data's accuracy since there's less risk of human error.
BIM 360 RFI permissions have changed. Now in-progress RFIs are only visible to members who are part of the RFI workflow; closed and distributed RFIs are viewable by all. Users can also alter more information in a closed RFI, modify the location of RFI pushpins, and create RFIs from their Android device.
The BIM 360 Submittal workflow have also changed to allow Submittal Items to progress through the workflow on their own without needing to be associated with a package. This means packages are no longer used for processing. With this change, the workflow is clear and becomes more flexible.
With the introduction of the Design dashboard, Executives can now view cross-project analytics specifically as it relates to design risk. The new Design dashboard in the account level Insight module showcases risk prediction cards across all BIM 360 projects, including a Design Risk Heatmap, which is powered by Construction IQ, Approval Reviews, and Design Issues by Status.
The Checklist Summary report is now available through the Insight module, allowing teams to easily schedule and share this report, which was previously only available through direct download. Additionally, the Issue Summary report is now available as an Excel download, which includes Custom Attributes.
New filtering capabilities are now available in the Issues cards in visible through Insight or Project Home dashboards. Users are now able to drill down to “My Company Issues” as well as filter by “Due Date” or Status” and easily navigate to the Issues tab in Document Management through a single click on the new “Go to Issues” button. Additionally, a new partner card is now available for Matterport, giving teams visibility into 360-ƒdegree photos directly from within BIM 360.
BIM 360’s meeting minute toolset now allows Meeting Organizers to attach documents, drawings, and models from the Document Management module to meeting records and items, increasing visibility and accessibility to critical information. Advanced text editing is also available to help emphasize, highlight, and organize information.
A new Permissions API enables BIM 360 users and partners to add, “read,” and “write” permissions.
Increase collaboration across all project stakeholders with customizable link sharing options, including public sharing, expiration dates, and version sets.
Get the most out of your construction technology by integrating the software you already use with BIM 360 Cost Management. Cost Management's APIs are publicly available, enabling you to easily integrate with other software, including Rhumbix, Quickbooks, and more.
To learn more details on these releases, please see the BIM 360 Connect & Construct Blog.
PlanGrid Advanced RFIs continues to streamline the RFI process by allowing you to return an RFI to the previous state.
Rolling out this week, PlanGrid now offers the ability to sort and filter Submittals within the new Submittal list on mobile (iOS and Android).
Now Field Report drafts can be viewed by multiple reviewers before submission. Depending on the specific Field Report template and level of collaboration needed, users can check a box to indicate if the Field Report draft should be made available for viewing before it gets submitted. If checked, when users review a Field Report draft, they’ll see a module indicating that the draft can be viewed ahead of submission and how many reviewers have access to review it. This capability ensures that the information entered in a Field Report captures the full scope of work and provide a true picture of jobsite progress.
Photo reports are shared with the project team to provide a visual record and keep stakeholders informed about various project milestones. Use filters to narrow down the list of photos to just what needs to be included in a photo report. From there, the photo report module has a number of options to allow you to customize the report’s description, how photos are sorted, and what information about each photo should be included such as the photos’ title, date added, and GPS location.Additionally, use mobile shortcuts to directly upload photos to the Photo Gallery and use media thumbnails to view, at a glance, which files in the Photo Gallery are photos, 360 photos, or videos.
The new Custom Forms API allows users to easily extract field report data for use in Connect recipes or customer dashboards, and access to field report templates provides greater organization and transparency. With this level of information users are able to better visualize their data and make more informed decisions.
To learn more details on these releases please see the PlanGrid Blog.
We are constantly striving to make all of our products better! Please sign up to help provide feedback on any of the Autodesk Construction Cloud products including Assemble, BIM 360, BuildingConnected or PlanGrid.
