BIMcloud SaaS - Management features and tools

[Andrea Polgar]

In this article we would like to talk about the management aspects of BIMcloud SaaS (Software as a Service) concerning its features. If you are new to BIMcloud SaaS, this article provides a quick introduction to management tasks and possibilities, as well as a helpful starting point. Even if you are already using our product, you may still uncover novel aspects about BIMcloud SaaS.

 Typically, the management responsibilities encompass the following tasks (on top of the user and license management):

• Structuring projects
• Defining and assigning permissions
• Handling Libraries
• Generating snapshots

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Structuring projects

For structuring projects you can use tags, BIM Projects and folders.

 

Tags

Use tags in BIMcloud Manager to categorize and locate your Projects, BIMcloud Projects, Libraries and folders. For example, tag the two projects that you work on daily, then use search and filter to quickly display these projects in the navigator. Tags are for personal use: no one else who accesses the BIMcloud will see the tags you are using. Go to the My Tags page of BIMcloud Manager to see and manage your tags.

Find out more:

Create or Duplicate Tag

Add Tag to Item

Find Items by Tag

 

BIM Projects and Folders

You can store various file formats on your BIMcloud and organise them in to folders. There is also a special kind of folders, called the BIMcloud Project. In a BIMcloud Project you can create folders and store any kind of file formats. But why is it so special? Isn’t I just a main folder with sub folders and files? The associated ‘Teams’ make the them special. Teams in BIMcloud SaaS are groups of users associated with a specific project. They represent disciplines and consist of individual users.

Find out more:

Create BIMcloud Project

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Permissions

There are various methods for assigning permissions to users. You can do it by  

• adding Users to specific Default User Groups - for beginners we suggest to go with this method
• adding Users to specific Team with a permission set
• adding Roles to Users or Custom User Groups at the Access Panel - for users with advanced knowledge

 

Default User Groups

Default User Groups with predefined roles and permissions are provided on BIMcloud Saas. The User Groups are linked to roles and associated permission sets. Administrators can customise users, groups, roles, and permissions. For beginners we do not suggest to edit the Default User Groups. There are 3 types of Default user groups:

• "Archicad" for tool usage and view management,
• "Management" for project and user management,
• "View" for view-only access.

Find out more:

Assign Users to User Group

 

Teams with permission set

A Team is a group of Users associated to a BIMcloud Project. When you create Teams for a BIMcloud Project, you select Team Members from existing BIMcloud Users.

Teams can be assigned specific permissions to access BIMcloud Projects or you can grant identical access to all members by selecting the ‘All Team members’ option.

Please note that:

• Users' existing permissions override team permissions.
• Users can be members of multiple teams.
• Teams are project-specific and cannot be reused for multiple projects, but teams with the same name can be added to multiple projects.

Find out more:

BIMcloud Project Teams

Permissions for BIMcloud Projects and Teams

Grant Role to Users or Custom User Groups

Once a User or a User Group is available on the BIMcloud Manager, you have to grant a Role to the User or User Group at the Access Panel. Access Panel is available at all of the Pages (eg. Project, Users etc.)

Let's see an example with Project permissions.

Select the Project and at the Access Panel add the User or User Group to the selected project. With this action you just defined who will have access. After adding the User/User Group you have assign a Role which is basically a set of permissions, defining what the users can or cannot do in the Teamwork file or in the BIMcloud Manager.

Default User Groups do not differ from custom User Groups, but they are already added to the Access Panel of all the Pages with a pre-defined Role.

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Libraries

Libraries are essential parts of Archicad projects.

To make it sure everyone can access the Libraries, your team member are using in their teamwork project, you have to upload them to your BIMcloud.

You can upload and manage Teamwork Libraries form Archicad, under File > Libraries and Objects > Manage BIMcloudLibraries… 

Find out more:

Upload Libraries

 

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Snapshots

Creating snapshots are important part of the management tasks.

Snapshots are backups of the project or library that can be created and managed using the controls in the Snapshots panel. Snapshots can be created manually at any time or scheduled automatically according to a defined schedule.

To create and schedule snapshots, a user must be part of either the Management – Project Managers or the Management - Service Administrator group.

There are two types of snapshots:

• PLN Project Snapshots and
• Teamwork Project or Library Snapshots.

PLN Snapshots contain model data only and can be reopened as solo Archicad projects. Teamwork Project Snapshots include model data as well as BIMcloud related information such as user data and roles. Library snapshots contain all the Library Part data, excluding reservation data.

Snapshot files are saved to an external location in the Google storage system, and the location is not configurable.

Find out more:

Create Snapshots

Restore Snapshots