Setting Up for A360 Collaboration for Revit

In my earlier post, I gave a quick introduction to A360 Collaboration for Revit. Your next question might be: “where can I get started?”

I recently went through the process of setting up the collaboration environment for our DevTech AEC team. The best instruction I found so far is this page on help.autodesk for Revit >> A360 Collaboration for Revit >> Get Started with Your A360 Collaboration for Revit Subscription ^(*1)

The above instruction is very good, and it’s simple enough. That said, there are a few things that I felt fuzzy till I get the big picture of workflow, and I stumbled a little at one point. (Mainly due to the fact that I have been using BIM 360, I had assumed it would be the same as BIM 360 while there is a slight difference. Also I was using a mail reader which I don't use everyday.) While my memory is still fresh, let me share my experience here with some comparison with BIM 360. This might help you understand the workflow better and troubleshoot if you encounter any. Please refer to the detail through the above link. 

Since it’s in the cloud, there is no need to install a server, of course. It’s about getting a license/entitlement and inviting people.

*1) Note: as of this writing, two videos on the page are missing. This is already reported to the product team.   

Subscribe A360 Collaboration for Revit

This is done by a Contract Manager of your company.

1. First, you will need to purchase subscription with the necessary number of users/licenses. If you are an ADN member, you can request for NFR version. 

Once your order goes through, you will receive an e-mail with order details with the links to Autodesk Account, which looks like below: 

2. Go to accounts.autodesk.com. Add users to your contracts. (Refer to the document here)

Each user will receive notification saying “your permissions have changed”: 

Note: Here is one difference from  BIM 360. I have Enterprise contract for BIM 360, from where I can invite any people without any license. Unlike BIM 360, you will need to assign a license to individual users here in order for the users to be invited to a project. 

At this point, all users in your team have a license (or entitlement) to use A360 Collaboration for Revit.

Create an A360 Team Hub

This is done by any users with A360 Collaboration for Revit license. A 360 Team Hub is a site where you can create projects. It is like a host in BIM 360.

3. Go to accounts.autodesk.com. Create an A360 Team hub.
   
   You can do this by clicking “Access Now” button next to your A360 Collaboration for Revit entitlement: 

 

Hub link may look like https://gmail1234.autodesk360.com, and may not look memorable. If you don’t remember your hub URL, go to www.autodesk360.com. Then sign in from the “SING IN” link on the page: 

If you access from autodesk360.com, it will take you to myhub.autodesk.com, which lists all the project you are invited. You can switch to your own hub by going to your profile image at the top-right corner:    

 

Note: Here is another difference from BIM 360. Individuals who have A360 entitlement can have their own hub. In BIM 360, we will have one host for entire team.

4. If you want, you can invite people to you hub. Go to your profile image >> click [Invite] under your Hub name. (To invite people to your project as oppose to hub, see the next section.)   

Create a Project and Invite Team Members  

This is done by any users. 

5. From your Hub, create a project. (refer to A360 help >> A360 >> About projects) 
6. From your project, invite people  (see A360 help). 

Note: You can only invite people who has “A360 Collaboration for Revit” license. In BIM 360 enterprise license, you can invite anybody within the maximum numbers of users allowed to have within the given host. 

Troubleshoot: If the user reports that he/she does not receive an invitation e-mail, ask he/she to check his/her spam folder, or Promotions tab in Gmail. One thing I stumbled was that some of (and not all) invitation e-mail went to Promotions tab instead of Primary Inbox when using Gmail. 

Install Revit Add-in

This needs to be done by all users who are using Revit collaboration feature. 

7. Download and install an add-in which enables A360 Collaboration for Revit 2015.

You can download from the product page. Or as of this writing, you can download directly from here. (please check the latest. There might be update.)

Now you are ready to use A360 Collaboration for Revit feature with Revit. For further instruction about Collaboration feature in Revit itself, please refer to the product help >> A360 Collaboration for Revit. 

Mikako  

Update 8/13/2015: there has been a change in A360 contract management process. C4R uses a single hub instead of individual members of the project needing to create their own hubs in order to join a project. Please refer to this post for more detail.