Are you tired of endless coordination meetings and sifting through countless emails to resolve design clashes? What if there was a way to automate clash detection and streamline your project workflows? Say hello to Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) and its powerful Model Coordination service!

This new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a step-by-step guide to setting up an Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AECO) project in ACC and configuring Model Coordination for effective clash detection. While this guide is tailored for new users, it provides clear instructions on the “Who, Why, and What” of each action, making it easy to integrate into your firm’s current workflows.

Here’s a fun, creative, and simplified look at how this SOP can transform your project management:

1. Project Kick-off: The Digital Foundation

Think of the initial project setup in ACC as building the foundation for your digital project headquarters. The Project Administrator, typically a BIM Manager, Project Manager, or IT Lead, creates a central, secure platform for all project data and team collaboration. This is where your team will live and breathe, ensuring everyone is working from a single source of truth throughout the project’s lifecycle.

  • How it works: The Project Administrator logs into ACC, clicks “Create a project,” and fills in key details like the project name, type, and dates. They can even select a Project Template to pre-populate folder structures and permissions, saving valuable time.
    Next, the Project Administrator invites all team members, assigning them a company and role (e.g., Architect, Structural Engineer). This isn’t just for show; roles are crucial for defining permissions and ensuring everyone has the right level of access.

2. Organizing Your Digital Workspace: A Place for Everything

A well-organized file structure is the secret sauce to a smooth project. The Autodesk Docs service acts as your project’s document management hub. The BIM Manager takes the lead here, creating a logical folder hierarchy to make sure files are easy to find and manage. This is a prerequisite for setting up Model Coordination spaces and prevents models from being placed haphazardly.

  • How it works: The BIM Manager navigates to the Docs module and creates a standardized folder structure, like 01_Design, 02_Coordination, 03_Shared, and 04_Published. The 02_Coordination folder is particularly important as it will be the source for Model Coordination.
    After creating the folders, the BIM Manager sets permissions to protect the integrity of the data. For example, they might give the BIM Manager and Design Leads “Edit” access to the

02_Coordination folder, while other team members might only need “View only” access.

3. Clash Detection: Your Automated Superhero

This is where the magic happens! Configuring Model Coordination is all about enabling automated clash detection and issue tracking.

  • How it works: The Project Administrator ensures the Model Coordination service is activated in the Project Admin module. Then, the BIM Manager creates “coordination spaces,” which are independent clash detection engines that automatically check for clashes between specific sets of models. For instance, you could create a space called Structural_MEP_Coordination and link it to a folder in Autodesk Docs containing those models.

Once the spaces are set up, Design Leads simply upload their latest models to the designated folder. The system automatically processes the models, and all detected clashes are visible in the Clashes tab of the Model Coordination module.

When a clash is found, the team can create an “issue” directly from the clash to formally document it. The issue can be assigned to the responsible party, given a due date, and tracked until it’s resolved. This transforms a chaotic process into a trackable, streamlined workflow.

By following this SOP (link below), AECO firms can quickly set up their projects in ACC and use the Model Coordination service to streamline design coordination and clash detection. It’s time to say goodbye to manual, time-consuming processes and hello to a smarter, more efficient way of working!

Contact us for more workflow discussions and information!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SDS step-by-step guide for setting up a new (AECO) project in Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) and configuring the Model Coordination 2025