As a BIMcollab administrator, you set up your space so your team can collaborate on models, issues, and documents in one place.
This is a brief guide covering the essential steps to get your team started quickly.
💡 Tip: For more detailed guidance, follow the BIMcollab Academy course on setting up your space.
Step 1 - Activate your BIMcollab space
After the purchase of your BIMcollab space, you will receive:
An email with the order confirmation.
An invitation email with an activation link.
As the first user, you will be set as the space administrator, and you can add additional administrators later if needed.
Click on the activation link in the email.
Create your password.
Log in to your space (e.g., example.bimcollab.com).
Step 2 - Add users and assign licenses
Before creating projects, add users to your space so they can access BIMcollab.
💡 Tip: If you need to add multiple users at once, you can use the import CSV option instead of creating users one by one. See Import users into BIMcollab from a CSV file for more information.
Space-level roles
Understanding space roles helps you control who can access and manage your BIMcollab space.
There are two different types of roles a user can have:
Space Administrator - Can access the Space administration page and manage all space settings.
User - Can only see the projects and data to which they have access based on their project role.
Read more about space roles: BIMcollab roles overview.
Add users and assign licenses
To add users to your BIMcollab space:
Click on the gear icon to go to the Space administration page.
Go to the Users tab, and click on the New user button.
In this menu, you add the user information and set controls, including:
Company
Helps control visibility and responsibilities across issues and documents based on company assignments.
Space roles
Space administrator or User roles determine what the user can see and do, such as accessing settings, managing projects, or working with issues and documents.
Permissions (create projects / add users)
By default, only space administrators can add users, but they can grant selected users permission to create projects and add users without giving them full access to space settings.
Licenses
Assign one of the two available licenses to users: a BIMcollab license for access to the BIMcollab platform, or a BIMcollab Zoom license (if included in your subscription) for full model checking functionalities in BIMcollab Zoom, the desktop application.
After a new user has been created, they will be notified by email and prompted to set a password to be able to log in to the BIMcollab space.
For a detailed explanation about adding users: How to add new users.
Step 3 - Create a new project and add team members
Within a BIMcollab space, all collaboration happens through projects. Users are then invited to each project, where they are Team members who will perform the actual collaboration.
All Projects tab
On the project side, all users see the My Projects tab, which gives access to the projects they are part of. As an Administrator, you additionally see the All Projects tab, visible for administrators only, which shows all the projects that have been created in your space.
Learn more about the All Projects tab: How to manage a BIMcollab Space.
Create a new project
The first project (and subsequent projects) can be created by an administrator or users with appropriate create project rights.
To create a new project:
From the My/All Projects tab, select the + New project button.
Enter a project name and code, and press Create.
You are taken to the project Settings tab, where you can define its information.
Read more about project settings: Define project settings.
Add team members
Users are invited to each project, where they are Team members. Team members are assigned roles that define their access and responsibilities within a project.
To add team members:
Go to the project Setting tab, and from the General menu, select the Team members sub-menu.
Click on the Add team member button to add one or multiple members.
Enter the team member's information and choose their role and permissions.
Read more about adding team members: Adding team members to a project
Step 3 - Define project properties
Additional information, such as issue properties and document metadata, can be assigned to BIMcollab items. This information helps control visibility and responsibilities, while also making items easier to find and filter.
Issue management properties
Issue properties can be used to manage issue visibility, as well as used in filters and searches.
Administrators who are in the role of Project leaders can set up issue properties by:
Going to the project Setting tab.
From the Issue management menu, set up values for each issue property.
Read more about adding Issue management properties here: Define project settings.
Document management properties
Document metadata is added to documents at upload, and can be used to control document access and visibility, as well as for filtering and searching.
⚠️ Attention: When uploading documents, you can choose between two upload methods with different metadata requirements. In the default upload setting, adding metadata is optional, while in the advanced upload setting, metadata is required.
Read more about advanced upload settings: Advanced upload document settings.
Some document metadata can only be modified by Project leaders or users with specific permissions, while others can only be set by administrators from the Space administration page.
To set up space-level metadata:
Go to the project Setting tab.
From the Documents management menu, define Disciplines, Document labels, and Status.
For additional information about other Document management settings, like Document naming Conventions and Upload settings: Define project settings.
What’s next?
Now that users have been added and projects are set up, you can set up other space-level settings and start collaborating in BIMcollab.
Start working on projects: Learn how to participate in projects and coordinate on issues, documents, and models: Get started with BIMcollab as a User.
Manage your space: Configure space-level settings: How to manage a BIMcollab space.
Work with CDE features: Set up and manage document workflows, naming conventions, metadata, phases, and team roles: CDE settings.
Create reusable project templates: Standardize project setup, and reuse predefined settings for future use: Creating a new project template.
Define BIM requirements: Use IDS (Information Delivery Specification) to set and validate model requirements: Improve model quality with IDS (Information Delivery Specification).