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Best practices for copying projects

Ensure a smooth process for your team when copying new projects.

The project copy feature puts your organization in control during the setup and administration process, giving your team access to new projects fast. You no longer need to wait for new projects to be delivered, or template projects to be updated. You can copy projects in minutes and update your templates the same way as you update your active projects.

Before you copy a project, follow our guidelines to ensure a smooth delivery.

Step 1: Decide who can copy projects

  • We recommend creating a new user role to manage who can copy projects, and limiting this to a few users. You could name the role 'Copy projects'.
  • The newly created role must have two assets granted - Edit Project Settings and Copy Project.  No other assets need to be granted.
  • Assign the role to the users who will copy projects. Note: users who need to fully administer the copied project also need to be assigned the role your organization uses for Project Admins.

Step 2: Manage your template projects

  • Make sure only users who can copy projects (as decided above) are invited to your template project(s). It's important to note that anyone who has been invited to a template project may have access to edit project settings, and could make changes to the approved configuration. 
  • Any owned project can be copied, but we suggest only copying template projects, per your agreed processes. A consistent configuration makes it easier for project teams to adopt and use the system. It also makes reporting easier if, for example, you need to compare processes across your projects.
  • Communicate any changes to the project template to your team. See Managing change as you implement Aconex.

Step 3: Copy a project

  • Use an approval process to get confirmation from key stakeholders before a project is copied. You can use mail forms or mail approvals to do this. This prevents multiple users from creating the same project more than once. 
  • After copying a project and making your changes, export a Project Settings Report so you have a record of the configuration. You may consider uploading the settings report to the document register and transmitting it to other project participants.
  • Send an Activation Request via Aconex if you need to enable features such as Model Coordination or Field on the new project.

What's next?

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