Create & Sync Tickets with BIMcollab

Overview

When a project is connected to BIMcollab, tickets can be kept in sync between PlanRadar and BIMcollab. Site teams report and update issues in PlanRadar, BIM coordinators work on the same issues in BIMcollab, and both sides stay up to date.

These are ordinary PlanRadar tickets — there is no separate kind of ticket and no separate way to create one. A ticket syncs when both of these are true:

• The ticket uses the BIMcollab issue form.
• The ticket sits on the BIM layer that is selected in the project's BCF server connection.

A ticket that uses the same form on any other layer is an ordinary PlanRadar ticket and is not sent to BIMcollab.

This article covers working with these tickets: creating them, which fields sync, how to check the sync status and how to open a synced ticket in the BIM model.

Setting up the connection is covered separately. Read more in Connect a BCF Server to Sync with BIMcollab.

How to Access the BIM Model View

To open the BIM model view:

• Webapp
• Mobile

The BIM model view is the usual way to work with these tickets, but not the only one. A ticket also syncs when it is created from the ticket list, the calendar or a plan view — it then carries no BIM position. See What the Ticket Stores below.

Also see Tickets BIM View.

Create a Ticket That Syncs with BIMcollab

Creating a ticket that syncs works exactly like creating any other ticket — you only select the BIMcollab issue form and the configured layer.

Selecting the BIMcollab issue form when creating a ticket:

The read-only BIMcollab fields are not shown while you create the ticket. They appear on the ticket once the first sync brings values for them.

Read more in Create a Ticket.

What the Ticket Stores

Where you create the ticket decides what is stored with it, and therefore what BIMcollab receives:

A ticket without a pin still syncs to BIMcollab. In the webapp, a snapshot, viewpoint or pin cannot be added to it afterwards.

The Model Snapshot

Tickets created in the BIM model view also store a snapshot — an image of the model as it looked at that moment. It is taken automatically and cannot be re-taken or edited.

The snapshot includes selected and highlighted elements, section cuts, measurements and which objects were shown or hidden. It does not include ticket pins.

The snapshot is shown in the same card as the ticket's position, not in the journal. Click it to open it in full screen. There is only ever one snapshot per ticket.

Add a BIM Position Later (Mobile)

On iOS and Android you can add a position to a ticket that was created without one, as long as it is on a layer with a BIM model. This also captures the snapshot and the viewpoint.

To add a BIM position:

1. Open the ticket
   
2. Tap Add BIM position
   
3. Drag the pin to the position you want
4. Tap the green ✔ to confirm the position
5. Tap Done
   

View a Ticket in the BIM Model

A ticket that was created in the BIM model view stores the exact view of the person who created it. View in model restores that view: the camera position, which elements were shown and hidden, the section cuts and the selected objects. Any selections, sections and filters you currently have set are cleared.

To open the ticket in the model:

1. Open the ticket from the list
2. Click View in model
   

A ticket that has no stored position opens the model in its default view instead.

How tickets open, and how their pins are handled in the BIM view, is described in Tickets BIM View.

Delete a Synced Ticket

Deleting a synced ticket in PlanRadar also deletes the matching topic in BIMcollab.

If a topic is deleted in BIMcollab, the PlanRadar ticket is deleted as well on the next sync. It is only kept if the connection uses the sync priority PlanRadar changes overwrite BIMcollab and the ticket was edited in PlanRadar in the meantime.

How Syncing Works

Syncing applies to tickets that use the BIMcollab issue form and sit on the connected BIM layer. Once such a ticket syncs, the same issue is kept up to date on both sides. The sections below describe which fields travel, when they travel, and what is fixed for the lifetime of the ticket.

Fields and Sync Direction

The BIMcollab issue form carries two kinds of field: fields that sync in both directions and fields that BIMcollab owns and fills.

Anything else is never synced — your own custom fields, custom fields on the BIMcollab side, and comments and notes in either system.

• The PlanRadar Assignee is never sent to BIMcollab. It works the other way round: when a sync brings an assignee from BIMcollab whose email address matches a project member, that member is set as the PlanRadar assignee. The email address itself is always kept in the read-only BCF Assignee field.
• Fields that BIMcollab owns are read-only text in PlanRadar and show the value exactly as BIMcollab sends it. Once a sync has filled them, the values stay visible even after the project is disconnected.
• An empty field in PlanRadar never clears the value in BIMcollab.

The BIMcollab Pill

A BIMcollab pill marks what the integration is responsible for. It appears in two places, with a different scope in each.

The BIMcollab pill on a ticket's fields and on tickets in the list:

• On a ticket the pill marks individual fields: the ones that sync in both directions and the read-only ones that BIMcollab fills. It is shown only while the project has an active connection and the ticket is on the connected layer — in other words, only while those fields really are being synced.
• In the ticket list the pill marks the whole ticket. It appears on every ticket that uses the BIMcollab issue form, and identifies the form rather than an active sync.

How Statuses Are Translated

Status is the only field whose values are translated, because BIMcollab knows only three statuses: Active, Resolved and Closed.

Because several PlanRadar statuses become Active, a sync from BIMcollab never replaces a more precise PlanRadar status. A ticket set to In Progress in PlanRadar stays In Progress. A ticket that arrives from BIMcollab as Active is created as Open.

When Changes Are Synced

Every synced ticket shows when it was last synced.

Sync information on a ticket:

• Changes you make in PlanRadar are sent to BIMcollab immediately, in the background. You never have to wait for BIMcollab, and there is no confirmation to click.
• Changes made in BIMcollab arrive automatically every 4 hours.
• While a project is disconnected, nothing is synced. Tickets created in the meantime are sent to BIMcollab with the next connection.
• Every change PlanRadar sends appears in BIMcollab under the user who signed in for the connection, whoever made the change.

To bring in changes from BIMcollab right away:

1. Click Sync BIMcollab
   

The Sync BIMcollab button and the last-sync time are shown in the ticket list while the form filter is set to all forms or to BIMcollab issue. There is no manual sync in the mobile apps.

The same manual sync is available on the project's BCF server card. Read more in Connect a BCF Server to Sync with BIMcollab.

Tickets Created in BIMcollab

Tickets created in BIMcollab arrive in PlanRadar on the connected layer with BIMcollab's snapshot and viewpoint, but without a pin — View in model restores the viewpoint, and there is no pin to fly to.

Changes that come from BIMcollab are not attributed to a named PlanRadar user. The ticket shows Created by BIMcollab, both in the ticket list and on the ticket itself.

What Cannot Be Changed on a Synced Ticket

• The layer is locked. A synced ticket cannot be moved to another layer.
• The position cannot be deleted.

The pin can be repositioned. This captures a new snapshot and viewpoint, and both are sent to BIMcollab with the next sync.