Navisworks

By audience

BIM Coordinator

• Append every discipline's model into one federated NWF and re-run clash tests as each trade republishes, rather than re-aggregating by hand.
• Group, filter and assign clashes in Clash Detective, then push them out as Coordination Issues to Autodesk Construction Cloud so the responsible trade sees them.
• Run time-based clash tests against a TimeLiner sequence to catch conflicts that only exist during one construction phase.
• Use Switchback to jump from a clash straight to the offending element in the source authoring tool.

BIM Manager

• Standardise how each discipline publishes into coordination by fixing the NWC export settings the authoring tools use.
• Set search sets and clash rules once and reuse them across projects so results are comparable between jobs.
• Give reviewers and clients the free Navisworks Freedom viewer to open an NWD without consuming a subscription.
• Audit incoming model quality — object hierarchy, property sets, units and coordinates — before it reaches the coordination model.

Construction Management

• Link the imported construction schedule to model objects in TimeLiner and play the sequence back to test the build order.
• Run 5D by attaching cost items to TimeLiner tasks and watching cost accrue across the simulation.
• Compare planned against actual dates in the simulation to see where the sequence is slipping.
• Walk the federated model to resolve constructability questions before they become site rework.

Estimator

• Take off lines, areas and counts straight from the coordinated 2D sheets and 3D models instead of re-measuring from PDFs.
• Keep the takeoff tied to synchronised Revit and AutoCAD project views, so a model revision surfaces as a quantity change rather than a silent error.
• Export the Quantification workbook to Excel to carry quantities into whichever estimating system the firm actually prices in.
• Measure against the federated model rather than one discipline's file, so nothing between trades is missed or double-counted.

Architecture

• Export the architectural model to NWC and see it federated against structure and MEP rather than only against its own links.
• Review and respond to coordination issues raised against the architectural model without leaving the Autodesk Construction Cloud loop.
• Check the design against the real assembled model in a viewer that opens formats the authoring tool cannot.

Structural Engineering

• Federate the structural model with architectural and MEP models to find penetrations and hard clashes with framing and slabs.
• Check erection sequencing and temporary-works interference against the TimeLiner schedule.
• Measure and count structural members straight off the coordinated model with Quantification.

MEP Engineering

• Clash-test duct, pipe, conduit and tray runs against structure and against each other, which is the single highest-volume use of Clash Detective.
• Resolve clearance and access problems in the federated model before fabrication drawings are released.
• Track which clashes are assigned to which service and whether they have been closed, via Coordination Issues.

By phase

Design

• Federate in-progress discipline models to find interdisciplinary problems while the design can still absorb them.
• Give the design team a review environment that opens the formats the authoring tools cannot read directly.
• Return coordination issues to Revit and Autodesk Construction Cloud so they are fixed at source rather than annotated.

Pre-Construction

• Run the full clash-detection and resolution cycle so interferences are closed before anyone is on site.
• Build the 4D sequence in TimeLiner and test the proposed build order, including crane and workspace conflicts.
• Take off lines, areas and counts with Quantification and export to Excel to feed the estimate.