Need advise on setting up the best way to collaborate

[wbk]

Hello All,

We are currently in the process of analyzing the different ways to collaborate with different firm's using a central BIM in Revit 2012.
We already have some experience setting this up using AutoCAD Architecture with Xref's and a BuzzSaw account, but want to see if Revit can offer improvements.

We were thinking of using work set’s in combination with the Revit Server. We are testing this method and it seems to be working nicely. I attached a image to explain our thoughts on setting this up.

We have these 'ingredients':
- 10 different company’s (disciplines) working together. Each has an own work set.
- Each is responsible for their own Work set. (would be nice to lock a work set to a company)
- Multiple users per company.
- Highly detailed models created by everyone (large, complex files)

Can u advise if we are on the right track for our needs, or do we need a different approach? (splitting up the model in work sets per level, or creating work sets per company/user?)

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,

Wouter

[BMcCallum]

Can you provide some detail on the actual project(s)? How many storeys (above and below grade), building type, area, etc.

We have setup a site-to-site VPN between our Calgary studio and a datacentre where we have virtual workstations and a virtual server running Revit Server. This addresses the need for the workstations to be able to 'see' (ping) the central server, which is located in our Calgary studio.

You may have issues with using Revit Server over the WAN, especially if one of your partners is connecting on a slow link. RS does not like slow links.

[wbk]

BMcCallum,

Thank you for replying!

We mostly create residential buildings wich are 3/4 storey's high. A typical project consists of 25 houses, wich are not of the same type, nor are they catalog-houses. The level of detail we create our model in, is at the stage that those models are 1:1 used for production of elements.

Currently, when creating a project of this size and complexity in ACA, the computer's we use are having trouble to handle the information (i7 950, 12Gb, Nvidia GTX480)

Regards