If you already do this for a living: The gates, not the states. Most CDE problems are a missing check between work in progress and shared, or teams coordinating against files that never passed it.
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“Upload it to the CDE” is said a hundred times a week on most projects. But a common data environment is not a folder in the cloud. It is a set of tools plus an agreed workflow for how information containers (models, drawings, documents) are produced, checked, shared and approved.
The structural engineer saves the working model to a shared drive every evening. The coordinator runs clashes against it on Monday, prints 140 issues and walks into the meeting. Half the beams have already moved: the engineer was halfway through a redesign. The meeting argues about which model is right, and nothing is decided.
The engineer keeps the redesign in work in progress. On Thursday the team checks it, moves it to shared with status S1 and revision P04. The coordinator runs clashes on P04 only and writes the revision on the meeting agenda. Everybody looks at the same model, and the meeting decides 12 issues.
The four states
Work in progress (WIP). Information a task team is still developing. Only that team should see it. If you coordinate against another team’s WIP, you are coordinating against something that may change in five minutes.
Shared. The task team has checked the container and made it available to others in the delivery team. Shared information is suitable for a specific purpose, usually coordination, and is labelled with a status code that says what it may be used for. This is what clash detection should run on.
Published. Information that has been reviewed and authorised for use beyond the delivery team: for construction, for the client, for handover. Publishing is a formal decision, not just a file move.
Archived. A record of everything that was shared and published, with its history. When someone asks “which model did we base that decision on?”, the archive answers.
- • Your task team
Each move widens who may rely on the model, so each move needs a decision. Clash detection runs on shared models, never on someone’s work in progress.
The gates between states
The moves between states are where quality happens:
- WIP → shared: the task team checks its own work against the project’s information standard: naming, metadata, content and model health.
- Shared → published: the lead appointed party reviews and authorises it, and the appointing party may accept it.
- 1Prepare in work in progressMandatory
The task team finishes the model it is responsible for.
Output: A model file named to the project convention
Gate: Self-check done: name, coordinates, purged views and links - 2Check the information
Run the agreed checks: requirements (IDS), naming, clashes inside the discipline.
Output: A short check report
Gate: Every failure is fixed or listed as an agreed exception - 3Share for coordinationMandatory
Move the file to the shared area with a status code that says what it may be used for.
Output: The model in the shared area, with a status code
Gate: The status code matches the purpose (e.g. coordination only) - 4Review and authorise
The lead appointed party reviews the federated set against the plan.
Output: Review comments, or an approval
Gate: Approved by the person named in the BEP - 5Publish and record
Approved information moves to published, and the previous issue to the archive.
Output: A published revision and an updated register
Gate: Register and transmittal updated
A gate is the question a reviewer asks before the next step may start. If the answer is no, the model goes back one step.
Each gate should be fast and routine. If it is slow or skipped, teams start emailing files around and the CDE stops being the single source of truth.
Why coordinators care
Your clash runs, issue logs and meeting minutes are only as reliable as the models behind them. Before every coordination cycle, confirm that each discipline has shared a checked model and note the revision you used. That one habit prevents most “but that’s an old model” arguments.
Key takeaways
- The CDE is both a set of tools and an agreed workflow for managing information containers.
- Work in progress is visible only to the task team that produces it.
- Shared information has been checked and can be used by others for coordination, but it is not yet approved for construction or handover.
- Published information is authorised for its intended use; archived keeps the full history.
Your notesSaved locally
Related tool
Define which disciplines are tested against each other, with tolerances, priorities and owners.
Open Clash Test Matrix →