As previously announced, BuildingConnected API has onboarded as a member of APS (Autodesk Platform Services) under the larger Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) umbrella product API. In this blog, we will give you an overview of API and explain what is in the first released of the BuildingConnected API on APS.
Product Overview
BuildingConnected is the online platform that connects owners and builders through an easy-to-use, streamlined bid and risk management process. The BuildingConnected product suite includes three sub products:
- BuildingConnected Pro – leverage the largest network in the North America, help invite the right vendors, manage proposals, and award the best bid, soliciting prices during the bidding phase of construction.
- Bid Board Pro – manage bid invites with the online bid board and helps make right decisions.
- TradeTapp – qualify subcontractors through automated analysis and recommendations so that you can mitigate risks sooner. (Not the part of this API release)
For more information about the product and how to use, please refer to following resources:
- BuildingConnected main product page
- BuildingConnected Pro resource hub
- Bid Board Pro resource hub
- TradeTapp resource hub
You can also find the quick overview of the BuildingConnected Pro and Bid Board in the Field Guide section of the developer guide. The page contains the minimum amount of information, yet good enough for you to get started with API.
API Overview
In this initial release of BuildingConnected API on APS, there are the total of 28 read endpoints, which allow you to extract data objects in BuildingConnected Pro and Bid Board Pro in following areas:
- Projects (BuildingConnected projects. Different from ACC or BIM 360 projects.)
- Bid Packages
- Invites
- Bids
- Opportunities
- Project Bid Forms
- Scope-Specific Bid Forms
- Contacts
- Users (of the company of the API caller)
For those who are familiar with the legacy BuildingConnected API, you may notice that this is a large expansion of available data points compared with the legacy version. The new version includes bidder contact data, leveled bid data, bid forms, internal company employees, and opportunities.
The query string parameter filter[updatedAt] makes it easier to support ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) workflows for developers who wish to store and manipulate the rich history of bidding data they have in BuildingConnected and to sync Bid Board with their CRM (Customer Resource Management) tools.
The new API also includes linked ACC project information. Soon ACC users can extract data from linked BC projects and API users can access bidder files using the Data Management API. (This feature is in beta and will be launching near future.)
Note: At the time of this writing, API is accessible only for the customers with paid BuildingConnected subscription. Development environment to work with the API as 3rd party or a developer license is currently being worked on. We will update you when it becomes available.
API Technical Notes
Below are some technical notes that might help you when starting with API.
- The base url is:
https://developer.api.autodesk.com/construction/buildingconnected/v2 - The API supports 3-legged authentication only. (i.e., the API access right is the same as the user in the UI.)
It may worth mentioning that the way license is assigned in BuildingConnected (BC) is different from ACC. The subscriptions for BC are by offices, not by individual users; i.e., a user has access to Building Connected Pro and Bid Board Pro only when he/she belongs to an office that has those subscriptions. An API user of an office with no subscription can access only GET users endpoint.
- project id in BC is different from one in ACC. Project id in BC is 24 character while one in ACC is UUID or GUID. When there is an association between the two, you will find ACC project id in currentAccLinkedProjectId field in GET projects response. There may be more than one BC projects linked to one ACC project.
- User id of BC is unique in BC environment and different from the user id used ACC or id known as Autodesk id. AutodeskId field of GET users is null if the user hasn’t created nor linked his/her Autodesk ID in BC.
Link with Autodesk Construction Cloud
Now BuildingConnected (BC) is much more integrated with Autodesk Construction Cloud unified products through Autodesk Docs as file storage location. When a BC project is linked to an ACC project, BC swaps to use Autodesk Docs as the primary file provider for projects and bid packages. BC leverages Docs by choosing a specific folder to be shared with bidders. This is done in two places:
- On the project level (so that all bidders on the project see all content under this folder).
- At the bid package level (so only bidders invited specifically to that package see a given folder’s contents).
You can find the IDs of these folders in the GET projects and GET bid-packages endpoints response field currentAccDocsFolderId. BC will keep track of the folder if it is moved around. And its sharing functionality overrides any permissions set on the folder in Docs (i.e., disabling sharing on Docs will not stop BC from sharing folder content with bidders).
Documentation
- Developer Guide
- Step-by-Step Tutorials
- Reference Guide
Code Samples on GitHub
If you have any question, feel free to contact us through our APS support channel, or reach out to senior product manager Cory Kintz at https://calendly.com/autodesk-platform-services .