Autodesk Forma Terminology: A Quick Reference Guide

• Account/Hub: The highest organizational level representing your company.  

• As-Builts: The final set of documents (sheets, RFIs, and submittals) that reflect the building exactly as it was constructed. 

• Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC): The unified cloud platform that hosts Docs, Build, Design Collaboration, and other products to connect workflows and data. 

• Autodesk Forma: Autodesk's AI-powered, cloud-based platform for early-stage planning and conceptual design. 

• Common Data Environment (CDE): A repository for a single source of truth used to collect, manage, and distribute documentation for the entire project team.  

• Federated Model: The outcome of integrating multiple distinct models—including architectural, structural, and MEP—into a unified project. This aggregation allows for comprehensive visualization, such as a 3D view, to assess how various elements align within the overall design. 

• Forma Board: A digital collaborative canvas used to gather design intent, images, and live data widgets to present a project story to stakeholders. 

• Level of Development (LOD): A scale (e.g., LOD 100 to LOD 500) that defines the level of detail and reliability of a BIM element at different stages of the project. 

• Module: This term is often used interchangeably with “product.” In the platform, you can expand the product picker to access products like Data Management or Design Collaboration, which are activated at the account or project level. 

• My Home: A centralized workspace where users can access projects, switch between tools, and monitor activity across the Forma platform. 

• Outcome-Based Design: A methodology where design decisions are driven by real-time performance data (like sunlight or noise) rather than just aesthetic or spatial intuition. 

• Product: This term is often used interchangeably with “module” in the platform; you can expand the product picker to access products like Data Management or Design Collaboration, which are activated at the account or project level. 

• Project: A specific workspace within an account where files, members, and tools (like issues or transmittals) are managed. You can change which project you are in by expanding the current project and selecting another one. 

• Project Files: The primary folder structure in Data Management where all design data must be stored to be accessible by the Design Collaboration and Model Coordination products. 

• Proposals: Different design iterations or options created for the same site from the Design product. Users can compare multiple proposals side by side using the same environmental metrics. 

• Site Context: From the Design product, automatically generated 3D maps of a project’s surroundings, including terrain, buildings, roads, and property boundaries, often pulled from curated regional databases. 

• Tool: A feature within a product, such as Files, Issues, or Reviews, used to perform tasks.  

• Account Hub: Formerly known as Account Admin. This product or module is where admins can create projects and project templates; add members, companies, and roles; and review subscriptions and other settings. 

Account Access Level  

• Executive: Has read-only or limited access to view project information, dashboards, and reports. This role is intended for leadership and stakeholders who require visibility into project status and records but do not perform project setup or content management. 

• Hub Administrator: Formerly known as Account Administrator. Has full administrative control over the hub and is responsible for managing hub settings, creating and configuring projects, managing user access and permissions, maintaining standards, and overseeing overall system governance. 

• Standards Administrator: Responsible for managing, maintaining, and enforcing standards within the hub. This role reviews and approves templates, folders, naming conventions, and record documentation to ensure consistency and compliance across all projects. 

Project Access Levels 

• Project Administrator: Manages specific project settings, including adding members and activating products.  

• Project Member: A user with access to specific tools and folders as assigned by administrators.  

• Project Files Permission Levels: Controls that determine what a user can do (e.g., view only, create, edit, or folder control).  

• Data Management (formerly Docs): This is the centralized document management solution that serves as the common data environment for the platform.  

• Issue: This refers to a formal record used to track, manage, and share information about tasks or problems until they are resolved. Issues can be linked to both 2D and 3D files and assigned to particular users, roles, or companies. In Data Management, all project issues are displayed no matter where they were first created. 

• Markups: Notes, callouts, and/or drawings added to 2D files to communicate changes or feedback. Unlike issues, markups are not tracked or assigned. 

• Review: For submitting project files for review and approval using a structured approval workflow created by the project admin. 

• Transmittal: A formal means of sending project files to other team members, complete with a tracking log and audit trail.  

• Version Control: The system that automatically tracks changes to files. Every time a file is uploaded with the same name or published, the version is incremented (e.g., V1, V2).  

• Bridge: A tool used to share sheets and files across different projects or accounts while maintaining a live link for updates. It connects projects so information can flow between them without giving full access to everything. 

• Consume: The action of a team officially accepting another team’s shared package. When a package is consumed, it is copied into the consuming team's Consumed folder for use as a background reference. 

• Correspondence: A tool for managing formal project communications (like emails or letters) within the platform to maintain a complete audit trail. 

• Issues: Used to flag concerns or required changes in project documents. Issues can be created on teamwork or shared files; are linked to sheets, models, or packages; and can be reviewed, updated, and tracked across Design Collaboration and Forma Data Management. 

• Package: A set of models, views, and sheets shared with other project teams as a formal record of design progress. 

• Project Timeline: A visual timeline at the top of the Design Collaboration>Home tool page that displays the history of packages shared and consumed by all teams. 

• Revit Cloud Worksharing: A service that allows multiple team members to work on the same Revit model simultaneously in the cloud. 

• Share: The action of making a package available to other teams on the project timeline. 

• Team Space: A designated section within the project reserved for each individual design team (such as Architecture or MEP). It serves as an active platform that accurately represents the latest developments of your team's internal work prior to its distribution to the broader project group. 

• Watch Groups: A feature that allows users to monitor specific models or elements for changes. You receive notifications when the “watched” items are modified in new packages. 

• Active Coordination Space: The current coordination space. A notification displays when it was last checked for clashes or had any model updates.  

• Clash Detection: The automated process of identifying where geometric elements from different models (e.g., a pipe hitting a structural beam) overlap. 

• Clash Matrix: A grid view that displays all models in a coordination space. The intersection of a row and column shows the total number of clashes between those two specific models. 

• Coordination Space: A designated folder in Data Management where models from different disciplines are aggregated to perform automated clash detection. 

• Issue: A formal record created to track a problem, such as a clash or a design error, until it is resolved, pertaining to Model Coordination. Issues can be assigned to specific users with due dates. 

• Models List: The list of models included in the coordination space, which were used during the most recent successful clash. 

• Snapshots: Static images captured from a view that can be saved to Forma Data Management for team members who don’t have access to the full 3D coordination tools. 

• Views: Saved snapshots of specific model aggregations and camera positions within the Model Coordination space, used for focused review sessions. 

• Automated 3D Takeoff: The process of extracting quantities directly from a BIM model’s properties (e.g., grabbing the Volume property of all concrete walls). 

• Bidding: (requires a BuildingConnected Pro subscription and a BuildingConnected account). This is the central platform designed to streamline the bidding process. It allows general contractors to find qualified subs and manage communication during the tender phase. 

• Budget: The original contract value broken down by cost codes. It tracks the “Revised Budget” as changes occur. 

• Contracts: Formal agreements with subcontractors or vendors. These link the budget to actual commitments. 

• Change Order Request (COR): A formal request sent to the owner or client for an adjustment to the contract price or schedule. 

• Payment Applications: The digital process for subcontractors to submit invoices and for general contractors to manage the schedule of values (SOV). 

• Potential Change Order (PCO): An early-stage record of a change that might affect the project cost. 

• Assets: A tool to track the lifecycle of project equipment and materials from delivery and install to final commissioning and handover. 

• Forms: Digital checklists used for safety inspections, daily reports, and quality control (QA/QC). They can be created from templates or uploaded as Smart PDFs. 

• Issues: Formal items used to document and track work that needs attention, such as safety violations, design defects, or installation errors. Issues are assigned to specific users with a status (e.g., Open, Pending, Closed). The issues shown in Build are all issues created in the project regardless of the product they were created in. 

• Photos: A centralized gallery for all project images. Photos can be tagged by location, linked to specific issues or RFIs, and filtered by date or uploader. 

• Request for Information (RFI): A formal process used to clarify gaps or conflicts in construction documents. RFIs follow a defined workflow from the contractor to the architect or engineer and back. 

• Schedule: A way for team members to see a timeline of the current tasks.  

• Sheets: The digital versions of construction drawings. These are version-controlled and allow for hyperlinking, callouts, and the placement of markups or issues directly on the plan. 

• Submittals: The process of gathering and approving product data, shop drawings, and samples to ensure they meet the project specifications. 

• Submittal Item: An individual component (e.g., Steel Joist Shop Drawings). 

• Submittal Package: A group of related items bundled together for a single review (e.g., Division 05 - Metals).