Almost every project has the same recurring question: where is the latest drawing?
One person opens the file from an email. Another takes the copy from a chat group. On the company server there is a file called "Drawings_final_v2_lastedit_OK.rvt". The three differ, and nobody is certain which one is right. It only becomes clear when something gets built from the wrong version.
So what is a CDE, and how does it fix that? This article answers four questions. What is a CDE, really? How do its four information states work? How does it differ from a shared drive? And how far does Vietnam now require one?
What is a CDE
CDE stands for common data environment. Vietnam's standard TCVN 14177-1:2024, adopted from ISO 19650, calls it môi trường dữ liệu chung. It defines a CDE as the agreed source of information for a project. It is used to collect, manage and distribute that information through a managed process.
The definition reads a little dry. In plain terms: a CDE is one single place holding all the project's information, and everyone has to take their information from it.
The key words are "managed process". A shared folder is also a single place, but it manages nothing. Anyone can drop files in, anyone can edit them, and nobody knows which version has been approved. A CDE is different: information can only move from one state to the next when somebody checks it and signs it off.
A note on terminology. The standard uses "information container" for a file or set of files managed as one unit — a Revit model, a drawing set, a schedule of quantities.
If you are new to the concept, read What is BIM? first. The CDE is the information-management side of BIM, and it is the core subject of the BIM Manager course at the Institute.
The four states of information
This is the heart of a CDE. Every information container sits in one of four states, and moves in one direction only.
1. Work in Progress. A task team's own draft. While the structural engineer is still building the model, it lives here. Other disciplines cannot see it, and should not. The reason is simple: an unfinished model taken into coordination only creates noise.
2. Shared. The team has checked its own work and pushed it here. From this point other disciplines can read it, coordinate against it and comment. But a container in this state is not for construction. It is only reliable enough to work with.
3. Published. Formally approved. This is the version used for the contract, for payment and for building. Anyone taking it to site can be confident it passed someone with the authority to approve it.
4. Archive. Superseded by a newer version. It is not deleted but kept. If a dispute arises later, this is where you check which version the parties were working to at the time.
What matters is not the four names. It is the three transitions. Moving from Work in Progress to Shared requires a check. Moving from Shared to Published requires an approval. Each carries the name of the person responsible.
That is precisely what separates a CDE from a shared drive.
How a CDE differs from a shared drive
Many firms believe they already have a CDE, because they have a network drive or a shared cloud folder. The table shows the difference.
| Criterion | Shared folder | CDE |
|---|---|---|
| The latest version | You ask around, or guess from the file name | The system states it; superseded files move to archive |
| Who sees what | Usually everyone sees everything | Permissions by role and by state |
| Approving drawings | By email, leaving no trace | A submission and approval workflow, recording who approved what and when |
| Comments and queries | Scattered across email and chat | Logged as issues or RFIs, assigned to an owner, tracked to closure |
| In a dispute | Very hard to reconstruct what happened | The full version history is there |
| File naming | Everyone does it their own way | One convention, validated by the system on upload |
The table makes the point: a CDE is not a place to keep files. It is a process with software attached. Buying the software without setting the process gives you an expensive shared drive.
How far Vietnam requires a CDE
Since 1 July 2026, a CDE is no longer merely encouraged. For one group of projects it is a legal obligation.
The instrument is Decree 217/2026/ND-CP of 19 June 2026, which sets out the Building Law in detail and replaces Decree 175/2024/ND-CP. Article 8 imposes three obligations that follow on from each other.
First, BIM data becomes mandatory. Under point a, clause 1 of Article 8, every new construction work of grade II and above must apply BIM from the feasibility study stage. Notably, this does not distinguish by source of funding. The investment decision-maker may grant exemptions only in specific cases, such as linear works or works involving state secrets.
Second, a CDE is required to manage that data. Clause 4 defines BIM data as a digital resource. The same clause makes the client responsible for establishing, managing and operating a common data environment on grade I works and above within public investment projects applying BIM. For other grades it is encouraged. More significantly, the BIM model approved and issued by the client on the CDE is the version used for comparison, checking and clarification of technical content.
Third, the data has to flow to one central place. Under clause 5, on completion the client must upload the as-built BIM model to the national construction activity database and hand the data over to the operator.
Together these form a pipeline: the law requires the data to be created, requires it to be managed in a CDE, then requires it to be filed to the national database. The CDE sits in the middle, so it cannot be skipped.
One further clause sits over all three. Clause 6 of Article 8 requires that managing, using, sharing and archiving BIM data comply with the law on information security, data protection, archiving and intellectual property. The rights and responsibilities of each party over that data are set in the contract. Put another way, a CDE is not merely a convenient place to keep files. It is where those obligations are actually discharged.
Two earlier documents laid the groundwork. Decision 348/QD-BXD of 2 April 2021 requires project parties to manage information in a common data environment. Decision 258/QD-TTg of 17 March 2023 set the mandatory BIM roadmap by grade of work.
On standards, Vietnam has adopted the ISO 19650 series as TCVN 14177-1:2024 and TCVN 14177-2:2024. These describe how to run a CDE in detail, including the four states above.
The practical consequence: when tendering for a project with BIM requirements, the submission has to state which CDE will be used and how it will be run. For clients on public investment projects of grade I and above, it is no longer a question of whether to have one.
The main CDE platforms
No platform is best for every project. But a handful of names come up again and again in tender documents, and it helps to recognise them when reading a client's requirements.
Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) is the one most often used by teams working in Revit. The part of it that acts as the CDE used to be called Autodesk Docs. In March 2026 Autodesk renamed the whole suite to Autodesk Forma, and the CDE component became Forma Data Management. How it works is unchanged, and much of the industry still says ACC.
Trimble Connect belongs to Trimble, the same house as Tekla Structures and SketchUp. Its strength is working in open formats, particularly IFC. That suits projects where the disciplines use different modelling software.
Oracle Aconex is aimed at large projects with many parties. Its strength is correspondence control and a durable audit trail, which holds up when a contract is disputed. The vendor is neutral, tied to no modelling software house.
Bentley ProjectWise is common on infrastructure: roads, bridges, rail, water. It copes well with the dense webs of reference files that linear projects generate.
Dalux is strong on site. Its mobile model viewer is fast, so field engineers actually use it. The company's CDE product is Dalux Box.
Alongside the international names, Vietnam has domestic platforms of its own, usually cheaper and with a Vietnamese interface.
Two groups of tools are often mistaken for a CDE. BIMcollab and Revizto manage issues and clashes; they sit alongside a CDE rather than replacing it. SharePoint and Google Drive are file stores, with no information states and no approval flow.
Choosing and running a CDE
With the field mapped, the next question is which one to pick. Do not start with "which is the best software". Ask these four questions instead.
- What authoring tools does the team use? If the whole firm works in Revit, a platform in the same Autodesk ecosystem saves integration work.
- Who will need to log in? If subcontractors and the client are included, the interface has to be easy and view-only access has to be cheap.
- Has the client specified a platform? Many large projects name one, in which case the firm has no choice to make.
- Who inside the firm will run it? This is the most important question, and the one most often skipped.
On that last point: a CDE needs a real administrator. That person builds the folder tree, sets the naming convention, assigns permissions by role, and keeps the approval workflow moving. It is usually the BIM Manager's job, sometimes shared with the BIM Coordinator. What is a BIM Manager separates the two roles.
What our classes keep showing: the hard part is not the software. The operations can be learned on any platform in a few sessions. The hard part is persuading the disciplines to give up emailing files, and to wait for an approval before a drawing is used.
Frequently asked questions
Is a CDE a piece of software?
Not exactly. A CDE is an information-management process, and software is only the tool that carries it out. Buying software without setting the process is not yet having a CDE.
Can Google Drive or SharePoint serve as a CDE?
At a minimum level, yes, if you build the folder convention around the four states and stay disciplined about approvals. But they do not validate file names, have no built-in approval workflow, and do not manage issues. Adequate for a small project; not for one with BIM requirements.
Does a small project need a CDE?
Yes, but a light one. All you need is one agreed place, one naming convention and one person responsible for issuing the official version. That alone avoids most version mix-ups.
Who in the company should learn CDE first?
Whoever is made responsible for BIM. Then the discipline leads, because they are the ones who have to move their own work through each state.
How does a CDE relate to clash detection?
Closely. Discipline models are taken from the Shared state on the CDE and federated for clash detection, usually in Navisworks. The results then return to the CDE as issues assigned to individual people.