Overview of Collections
Collections allow you to organize content in Content Catalog and control how groups of people can access and control content for a given collection. Collection permissions allow you to build collections that can use for many things from an open source crowd managed collection like the sand box mentioned below, a company managed and approved set of content available internally and externally, to a restricted work in progress collection for collection editors only.
There are a few defining aspects of a collection to be aware of:
Content can be associated to one or more collections
Content is identified by file name so it can only exist once across all collections on a given ACC hub. Any approved uploads of the same named file will become the next revision of the existing file already in Content Catalog.
Collections use Groups to manage the permissions that group has to the content in the collection
Edit permissions on content in multiple collections are additive. This means if I can edit content in one of the collections, then I do not need edit rights in all the collections it belongs to, in order to edit it.
Collections editors can approve or decline, content uploaded to a Collection that is pending. This happens when a user has upload right but no edit rights for a given collection.
One ACC Hub or Multiple?
A few things to know about Content Catalog being used on multiple hubs:
A hub can host only one instance of content catalog
Some companies may have multiple hubs and therefore may be able to setup multiple instances of Content Catalog for their company
Instances of content catalog across multiple hubs cannot share or sync any information. They are completely separate.
The same members can be added to multiple hubs and therefore a single user can have access to multiple hubs
When searching, a user can only search across multiple collections within one hub instance of Content Catalog. If a user has access to multiple, they must know which hub to access for the content they are looking for
We often get the following questions form companies with multiple hubs:
Should I have Content Catalog in only one hub or multiple hubs? Historically we have always recommended one instance of UNIFI when we sold to customers with the idea that it is your single source of truth that helps bring together your scattered, duplicated efforts by many at your company. This idea certainly remains for the same reasons and therefore continues to be our first recommendation to use only one hub.
What about regional content that is meant to be different but have the same naming conventions? While it may be beneficial to use multiple hubs for this reason, it will not allow you to manage everything form one place and allows for another silo that can become a place for duplicated efforts. It also requires users have to select the proper hub more regularly, another barrier to ensuring they find what they need quickly and easily. The historical recommendation of using a naming conventions that allow for one instance of Content Catalog remains our best recommendation.
How many Collections should I have?
You can create an unlimited number of Collections in Content Catalog, but we find that our most successful customers strive for simplicity: less is almost always more. Maintaining a streamlined Collection strategy will not only make it easier for your users to learn and use Content Catalog but also make your life as a BIM manager much simpler, as it will shorten training time for new users.
If you want an added layer of organization to your content, but still want to maintain that streamlined Collection structure, you could use tags. For example, you could tag content by project name or spec number. This prevents you from letting your number of Collections get out of control. With Tagging also comes Saved Searches for more granular collections of content.
Collection Organization Strategies
When we introduce people to Collections, we suggest the following strategies:
Strategy #1: Make a New Collection Based on Content Management
The first strategy for establishing Collections is to consider how you manage content. Some points to consider are if you separate client-specific or project-specific content, or if you have different managers for different subsets of content. Your current content management plan gives you the first clue as to how to organize your Collections.
Strategy #2: Organize Collections by Discipline
A second strategy to consider is to organize Collections by discipline (for example, Architecture, Mechanical, etc.). This makes the search much easier because it prevents content overlap.
For example, if someone searches "panel,” the desired result for an architect may be exterior cladding, while an electrical engineer is likely looking for an electrical panel. If these were separated by a discipline-specific Collection, Content Catalog could easily filter out the content of other disciplines, thus preventing users from wading through other people’s content.
Strategy #3: Sandbox Collections
Sandbox Collections allow you to store un-vetted content in Content Catalog. In this Collection, all users can have admin access to this, which allows you to accept contributions from anybody. You could also just have one Collection admin that approves content with less stringent standards. These contributions can be inserted, rated, and tagged by everybody else. This crowd-sourced method helps your team to efficiently test the acceptance of content before graduating it to other, more vetted/refined Collections.
Examples of Collection Organization
When deciding how to organize your Collections, it is critical to consider what unique business objectives you are looking to accomplish by uploading your content to Content Catalog. For some clients, security permissions and project-level access are paramount. For others, enabling quick search is the primary objective.
Each of those goals is best accomplished by a different Collection organizational structure, and we encourage you to work closely with a Content Catalog BIM Specialist to evaluate what theme will work best for your firm.
Here are some examples of successful Collection setups:
Example #1
This is a global firm with different admins for different regions of content. There’s a general company Collection, but the content is also divided based on region:
Company Collection
UK Company Collection
US Company Collection
Development (Admin only)
Marketing (Marketing Imagery)
Sandbox
Example #2
This is small to a large firm that works with both imperial and metric projects. There’s a singular content manager or a team of power users. Several users within the firm are making the content:
Company Collection Imperial
Company Collection Metric
WIP (Admin Only)
Crowdsource Content
Example #3
This is a small to large firm with multiple disciplines managing their own content and a company culture of improving content on each project with a place to collect it:
Architecture Company Collection
MEP Company Collection
Structural Company Collection
Work in Progress (Admin only)
Project Contributions
Example #4
This is a small firm with no BIM manager, but there are multiple power users:
Company Collection
Sandbox
Additional Collection Strategies
No matter what your firm’s unique requirements are, here is a list of additional recommendations every firm should keep in mind when designing the Collection strategy that will work best for your team:
Imperial vs. Metric
Location/Regional Collection
Project Collection
Client Collection
Sandbox/Unvetted
Once you consider all these factors and lay the framework for your Collection structure, everything should fall into place and run more efficiently. You may want to revisit your Collection structure occasionally so ensure that it’s still working best for your firm’s workflow.