Cloud Workstations / Guide
How to evaluate a remote BIM workstation
Test the tasks your team performs, not just the hardware specification.
Choose representative tasks
List the real work to evaluate: opening and saving a model, view changes, edits, synchronization, navigation, reconnects and any rendering or export task that matters. Agree what files can be used and how they will be transferred.
Record the application environment
Write down exact Revit and other application versions, updates, plug-ins, add-ins, deployment method, sign-in model and each party's licensing responsibility. Check current vendor requirements and virtual-use terms for the specific subscription and deployment. Do not infer support from an application starting successfully.
Set a workstation baseline
Record CPU, memory, GPU and graphics memory, storage, display resolution and peripherals for the proposed machine and the local comparison. These are test inputs, not a universal specification.
Check the endpoint and network
Test the actual laptop or desktop, monitors, input devices, office or home connection and any VPN. Record location, time, latency or interruptions that the teams agree are useful. Include the user's experience; a server benchmark alone does not measure interactive use.
Map collaboration and storage
Review ACC or the approved project store, permissions, worksharing, synchronization, local caches, temporary files, transfers, backups and support access. Identify which system is authoritative and who controls each copy. Do not assume a remote desktop is an official integration or changes the project's storage terms.
Agree security responsibilities
Document identity, user approval and removal, administrator access, isolation, encryption evidence, logs, incident contacts, retention and deletion. Distinguish controls verified in the actual configuration from requirements that remain open.
Agree licensing and workload acceptance
Have the customer, provider and Autodesk or other application licensing adviser confirm the named-user entitlement, virtual environment and any shared or multi-user use before the evaluation. Compare results to criteria chosen in advance, across repeat tasks and representative concurrent use.
Compare complete costs
Include workstation profile, usage hours, reserved access, setup, storage, transfer, endpoint upgrades, network, licensing, support, taxes and exit work over the actual project duration. State assumptions and unknowns; do not treat an estimate as a quote or a result as proof of savings.
Plan export and exit first
Test a copy of the agreed data export, verify readability in the destination environment, document retention and deletion, revoke access and confirm the customer can continue locally.
Decide from the evidence
Record pass/fail criteria, limitations, user feedback, cost assumptions and unresolved technical, licensing, commercial or security questions. Keeping work local or using a mixed arrangement can be the right outcome. This checklist is planning guidance, not Autodesk support or evidence of GlideCompute customer results.