Introduction to the Activity Log in Autodesk Construction Cloud 2024

Introduction to the Activity Log in Autodesk Construction Cloud 2024

The Activity Log in the Project Admin area of Autodesk Construction Cloud is a new feature introduced in Q1 of 2024. This feature provides an audit trail of all activities and actions performed across various workflows within ACC. By introducing this feature, ACC aims to provide construction teams with a centralised and detailed record of all project-related activities, enabling better tracking, auditing, and understanding of project changes. This further improves the workflow of ACC and better aligns to the concepts for information management, framework for collaboration and CDE covered in part 1 of ISO 19650.

Centralised Activity Log

The Activity Log tracks and logs all activities related to files, issues, RFIs, transmittals, and other project data within the platform. This feature makes it quick and easy to analyse how the project evolved over time from one centralised location, with activities arranged chronologically for easy navigation. The image above shows project activity grouped within its respective “Product Type” such as “Issues”, “Docs” and “Admin” giving a high-level overview of where the activity originated from.

Member Tracking

The Activity Log records crucial details such as who performed an action, what action was taken, and when it occurred, providing a comprehensive audit trail. This ability to see which team members worked on specific tasks enhances transparency and accountability. The image above highlights the actions taken from different members in the project under the “Member” column. The name of the member is also bolded under the “Activity Details” column to add emphasis to the individual.

Flexible Filtering Options

Users can filter the Activity Log by team member(s) and time periods, allowing for greater granularity when drilling down to a specific project phase or individual contributor’s activities. The images above shows the various types of date filtering such as “Past 31 days”, “Past 7 days” and “Today” for quick selection, as well as the option to define a custom date range. Below the date range filter, the image above shows the ability to filter by one or more members.

Convenient Navigation

The Activity Log includes clickable links that direct users to the specific activity in question, such as an issue or transmittal etc. This convenient navigation feature streamlines the process of accessing and reviewing relevant project data. The image above highlights that a member has viewed “issue #18”. Clicking on this link will take the user directly to “issue #18” so further analysis could be done.

Addressing a Critical Need

Prior to the Activity Log, ACC users lacked a convenient way to view the project’s activity history in one place. While they could check individual file activities through the “view file activities” option in Docs, this approach only provided a limited view of a specific file’s history, not a comprehensive log across the entire project.

To gain some level of activity tracking, users had to rely on exporting data through the Data Connector and visualising it in external tools like Power BI. However, this process required additional effort and did not provide a native, in-product audit log.

The lack of an Activity Log made it challenging to understand the sequence of events, track changes made by different users, and identify potential issues or disputes that may have arisen during the project lifecycle. After listening to feedback from ACC users, the introduction of the Activity Log addresses the limitations above and makes tracking project activity quick and easy.

A Comprehensive Solution

In summary, before the introduction of the Activity Log in 2024, ACC users lacked a comprehensive, centralised audit trail and had to rely on limited file-level activity views or external data exports, making it more difficult to track and understand all user activities across the platform. The Activity Log addresses this critical need, providing construction teams with a powerful tool for enhancing transparency, accountability, and project understanding.

Written by Kevin Vong – Software Technical Specialist