IT Support for Architects and Design Firms

Document how each project moves from proposal to archive. Record Revit and CAD versions, model locations, linked files, point clouds, render tools, plug-ins, templates, consultant exchanges, issue tracking, plotting, and client delivery. The same filename can represent very different collaboration models.

• File-based Revit worksharing on a local server
• Revit Cloud Worksharing for concurrent cloud collaboration
• Non-workshared cloud models for one-at-a-time editing
• A common data environment for published documents
• Ordinary Microsoft 365 files with separate sync and permission rules

Autodesk states that file-based Revit worksharing is not designed to behave like a LAN central model in Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, or similar replication services. Conflicting sync activity can produce incompatible local models, lost work, or central-model corruption. Use a supported file server, Revit Server, or cloud worksharing design.

• Identify the worksharing type for every model
• Do not assume a local cache is an independent backup
• Match the Revit release used by each cloud model
• Test consultant access and linked-model workflows
• Document detach, archive, restore, and transfer procedures

Size workstations for measured models and applications rather than job titles alone. Review CPU, memory, GPU, storage, displays, network, drivers, render engines, point clouds, and peripheral requirements. Remote work may use cloud worksharing, a supported remote desktop design, or controlled office infrastructure.

• Keep graphics drivers and applications on tested versions
• Stage major upgrades against representative projects and plug-ins
• Avoid unsupported VPN access to file-based central models
• Measure latency and upload performance
• Maintain spare capacity and a replacement path

Project access spans employees, contractors, consultants, clients, and joint ventures. Use named accounts, multi-factor authentication, least privilege, role-based groups, external-sharing rules, expiry dates, and an offboarding checklist covering Microsoft, Autodesk, VPN, remote desktop, file servers, and project portals.

• Separate ordinary and administrator identities
• Review external users and dormant projects
• Keep project owners responsible for access decisions
• Log material permission changes
• Preserve required records when accounts are removed

Version history, model versions, local caches, archives, and independent backups solve different problems. Write the recovery point and recovery time needed for active models, published sets, contracts, email, finance data, and shared libraries. Test recovery with applications and dependencies, not only by opening a copied file.

• Protect backup administration from production credentials
• Keep copies outside the primary failure boundary
• Test linked files, permissions, fonts, templates, plug-ins, and licensing
• Record actual restore time
• Document archive formats and version dependencies

Separate urgent incidents from routine requests. Publish an escalation path for an inaccessible active model, failed synchronization, unavailable licence, broken plot workflow, or security event. Maintain known fixes and environment documentation so support does not improvise against the only production model.

• Define affected project, user count, deadline, and business impact
• Capture screenshots and journal files without exposing sensitive content
• Coordinate changes with the project owner
• Record the fix and prevention step
• Review recurring failures after the deadline

• Autodesk: Revit files and cloud-synced services
• Autodesk: remote-access options for Revit
• Autodesk: identify Revit worksharing type
• Autodesk: Revit Cloud Worksharing