Enhancing Construction Efficiency with Autodesk Construction Cloud

Enhancing Construction Efficiency with Autodesk Construction Cloud: A Deep Dive into Sheet Utilization

In the fast-paced realm of construction, where every detail matters and efficiency is paramount, technology plays a pivotal role in streamlining processes and driving productivity. One such groundbreaking solution revolutionizing the construction industry is Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), a comprehensive platform that empowers teams to collaborate seamlessly, manage projects effectively, and deliver exceptional results.

ACC Build is a Subscription in the ACC portfolio. ACC Build provides a centralized platform for managing all aspects of construction projects, from preconstruction planning to project closeout.

It offers tools for document management, bid management, project scheduling, cost management, and quality control, among others.

Sheets within Autodesk Construction Cloud Build offer an innovative approach to project documentation and management for our onsite team. Traditionally, construction projects relied heavily on paper-based drawings and documents, leading to inefficiencies, errors, and delays. With Sheets, these challenges are addressed head-on, as the platform facilitates the creation, distribution, and tracking of digital construction documents in a centralized and collaborative environment.

Sheets enable seamless communication among project stakeholders. Through features such as markups, comments, and annotations, team members can provide feedback, flag issues, and initiate discussions directly within the context of the project documentation.

In today’s dynamic construction environment, mobility is key. Sheets within ACC are designed with mobility in mind, enabling on-site teams to access, review, and update project documentation from any location, using any device. Whether on a construction site, in a meeting room, or on the go, stakeholders can leverage the power of Sheets to stay connected, informed, and productive.

So, what is a sheet? Well essentially 1 Sheet in ACC Build represents a single drawing sheet from a Revit model or a single PDF document. Looking at the images below you can see 4 Sheets have been Published from a Revit model.

When looking in the Revit model you can see here are the 4 Drawing Sheets that were Published into ACC from the Revit. These drawing sheets were originally created in Revit by a Technician. Who then published the whole Revit model with drawing sheets included into ACC Docs.

With the Revit model published into ACC Docs, this is then coordinated and reviewed using the ACC Collaborate Subscription. Once the Revit model has gone through the Lead Design Team Coordination process it is then published into ACC Sheets and Build.

With the Revit model Published the Autodesk Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology scans, links and labels sheets, optimizing them for search, filtering, and automatic linking.

So now that we understand what a sheet is and the Process for Publishing Sheets into Build, we need to now consider our use of sheets. Then we need to be aware of the sheet subscriptions available

• Build 550: Access up to 550 sheets across all projects.
• Build 5000: Access up to 5000 sheets across all projects.
• Build Unlimited: Access an unlimited number of sheets

Your sheet count is the total number of sheets that you have access to in the Sheets tool across all projects that you are a member of. All sheet versions count toward your sheet plan limit.

When you reach your limit of sheets, when you try to access the Build module you will be greeted with a warning:

It is from here that we would remove ourselves from any projects that we are no longer involved in.

By removing ourselves from a project this will increase our sheet number back up by the Number of Sheets we were using in the Project we have left. Now this can sometimes cause problems for a user as they may jump from Project to Project and be asked to work on multiple projects at any one time. Shown below is an example and breakdown for using sheets, the problems we face and how we can counter this issue.

User 1 – Subscription: Build 550 Sheets
User 2 – Subscription: Build 550 Sheets

Project 1: 100 Drawings that are published to Sheets area.

User 1 Publishes those 100 sheets which leaves them with 450 sheets. From there the 100 drawings are revised and then re published. That then leaves the user with 350 sheets.

Project 2: 200 Drawings that are published to Sheets area.

User 1 is added to Project 2 and publishes 200 sheets this leaves them with 150 sheets. From there if those 200 drawings are revised and then republished then it will push User 1 over the 550 sheet limit as they are trying to Publish 200 sheets with only 150 left.

There are a few scenarios here that could potentially solve this problem.

• User 2 is added to Project 2 with a total sheet limit of 550 Sheets. That user can then Publish the revised drawings from the Files location into Sheets area. This would use 200 sheets from that person’s limit leaving them with 330 sheets left.
• User 1 is removed from Project 1 as all the sheets that need to be published have been published. That users sheet count will then gain back the 200 sheets they lost with publishing in project.
• The third option is only possible if we have purchased the Build unlimited licence model. What this will allow us to do is create an additional Project generic user. This will be a Project email address that is registered to an ACC Build licence. By having this Project based user they will have the full 550 sheets dedicated to that one project. This means that not only will the Individual users (User 1 & User 2) be able to use their sheet count to publish to the sheets area but also the Project Generic User can use it’s Sheet number to publish drawings to the Sheets area as well.

So we  can see that any company adopting ACC Build and Sheets will have to be carefully managed with the number of users spread across multiple projects and also the way in which drawing files are published to the sheets area. Rather than publishing every single file to sheets, focus on GA or layout drawings that the onsite team can use to markup the work they have done or make comments or raise issues from a site perspective.

To conclude, Autodesk Construction Cloud represents a paradigm shift in the way construction projects are planned, executed, and delivered. Within this transformative platform, Sheets serve as a cornerstone, empowering  Construction Site Teams to streamline project documentation, enhance collaboration, and drive efficiency at every stage of the construction lifecycle.

If you are interested in learning more about how ACC Build can help your business, please feel free to contact us at Graitec.

Written by Matt Smith – Software Technical Specialist