Trimble Connect Overview Trimble Connect reduces costs and improves efficiency for buildings and infrastructure projects. It does this by consolidating and seamlessly exchanging information throughout the Design, Build, and Operate phases of a project. Owners, Architects, Contractors, and Engineers all leverage a variety of different software and hardware tools to contribute their deliverables to a project. These deliverables can be 2D drawings, specifications, documents, or 3D Building Information Models (BIM). Many of these software and hardware tools can import and export files to pass information from one stakeholder and tool to another. This process can oftentimes be disjointed, tedious, and complex to manage and keep up to date. Before Trimble Connect After Trimble Connect 1
Trimble Connect minimizes the effort and cost of managing files for project stakeholders, and returns the focus back to the project itself. Trimble Connect has accomplished this by creating a robust and open cloud based project collaboration platform that software and hardware vendors can directly plugin to. These are some of the tools in the Trimble family that Trimble Connect has direct integrations with. It s also very easy for users to leverage the Desktop File Sync tool to exchange files with other software and hardware solutions through Trimble Connect. Trimble has also created a plugin for Autodesk Revit that enables users to publish models to the Trimble Connect cloud. Those models can then be managed, viewed, inquired, and even commented on by other project stakeholders without having to have the Revit software. These integrations simplify and expedite the sharing of up to date information in a variety of workflows. In a design workflow an Architect using SketchUp publishes his 3D model directly to the cloud without having to export and manually upload any files. An Owner can be across the country or world and easily review that model in his web browser. He can add comments directly in the model, and the Architect can instantly review those back in his office. The Structural Engineer can reference the Architect's model in Tekla Structures and then publish his structural model back to the Architect for iterative design coordination. 2
Models can be easily published from the Architect, Structural, and MEP designers to Trimble Connect. Those models can be combined together into Trimble s VICO Office software to generate estimates and 4D schedules from. As new versions of the design are published to the cloud, VICO Office shows the estimator that new versions of the design are ready to compare and adjust the estimate and schedule. 3
3D models uploaded to Trimble Connect can be attached to RFI s, Change Orders, Assets, or any records in Prolog and ProjectSight. In the image below you can see how the 3D model makes it easier to understand the impact described in this RFI related to a steel base plate. Here we have a construction workflow where key layout points are extracted from the digital 3D Building Information Models in the office. The points are seamlessly passed through the cloud to Robotic Total Stations in the field. This eliminates the error prone and time consuming process of manually transferring layout information from 2D construction drawings and using a 2 person layout or survey crew. Layout summary and field discrepancy reports can be captured with Trimble Field Link using rugged mobile tablets. These reports are published back to the cloud for the project manager and team members in the office to review. 4
Trimble Connect democratizes access to 3D Building Information Models (BIM) for all project stakeholders whether they are on the Web, Desktop, or a Mobile Device. Anyone can create comments directly in the 3D model and assign those comments as ToDo s to other stakeholders. Trimble Connect securely stores, manages, and transfers project information through the cloud. Project information is hosted and backed up across the globe with primary project hosting sites in North America, Europe, and Asia. There are robust folder and user permissions administrators can manage to maintain project integrity. There are check in and check out features to lock files currently being edited by a user. All versions of files are maintained and easily accessible. 5
Additional Features: Reports from model objects can be exported to Microsoft Excel. Clash Checking can be performed to identify collisions between models. Documents and Models can be grouped together into Releases which can be submitted between different project stakeholders. Automatic instant or daily digest email notifications of project activities Filterable Activity History Feed to track the latest updates. Scheduled desktop file synchronization to reduce latency in updating the latest files and information. Free Text Search and Filters to easily find files and comments. Robust API (Application Programing Interface) that allows companies to integrate with, embed, and extend Trimble Connect creating an open ecosystem for collaboration. 6
Trimble Connect is priced for frictionless adoption and is comparable to generic online file sharing services. Trimble Connect is sold as an annual subscription service (SaaS) based on one of the 3 pricing models shown below. Business account pricing allows a set number of users to create and collaborate on an unlimited number of projects with unlimited storage size. Pricing is at a sliding scale, so with more users the price per user goes down. FREE Personal accounts have unlimited functionality but a limited number of times the product can be used before needing to upgrade to paid account. Project Pricing allows unlimited users and storage for a project. This is optimal when the number of users isn t known and the costs need to be fixed for a project budget. The Trimble Connect subscription price is based on the contract value of the project for your company. If a project spans multiple years, the subscription is charged each year. Project pricing is $2,200 where the contract value of the project for your company is <= $20 million. For projects greater than $20 million please contact connect-sales@trimble.com. Enterprise pricing allows companies unlimited projects, users, and storage and offers the most optimal scaling and pricing model when Trimble Connect is implemented across an entire company. Please contact connect-sales@trimble.com for more information. 7