Parcel Custody · preview

What a parcel means

Parcel Custody is available as a preview. Check a representative issue and return in your team's authoring tools before relying on it for a project handover. A parcel is a bounded part of a master model that you issue for someone to work on and later review when it comes back. For example, it might describe the north entrance or a particular floor. The parcel records the area of responsibility; an issued segment is the actual model file sent for that work.

The master is the model you are coordinating. Issuing a parcel, receiving a return and merging an approved return are separate events. A file being returned does not mean its changes have been accepted.

Define the area of work

Open Parcel Custody in the project and choose the master model. Draw creates a draft box. Adjust its position, dimensions, height and rotation while it is a draft, then save the parcel with the information needed to identify the work.

A saved parcel's extent is fixed. Its issued element list is a record of the exact issue, not a list recalculated from a later master. Check the selected model and parcel before issuing work. Elements without enough geometry evidence must not be treated as confidently inside or outside the parcel.

Copy and cut have different effects

Copy parcel model to CDE creates an issued segment in the project's Files area and records the source master and its elements. Copy leaves those elements in the master.

Cut removes the issued elements from a new master iteration after an authorized approval. It does not overwrite the earlier master. Approve cut of latest issue requires an issue from the current master, so an old issue is not permission to cut a changed model.

Bring back a return

Upload the returned IFC to the CDE. In Parcel Custody, use Import from CDE and select the returned revision for the relevant issue. The issue and the return stay as distinct records.

Matching uses the recorded Object ID first and then the IFC identifier. If those cannot establish the correspondence, use the explicit manual matching controls. Review that decision; the preview does not present an invented confidence score as proof of identity.

Review before approving

Read the comparison of unchanged, changed, moved, added, removed and unmatched elements. Missing geometry evidence stays incomplete. Compare the exact issued master with the master proposed for the merge, review quantities and clashes, and record the required overlap or collision decisions with a reason.

Validation unavailable means no validation answer was obtained. It allows a proposal to be saved but blocks approval. The saved validation evidence and the latest validation answer are labelled separately. If the master has changed since the proposal, make a new proposal against the current master.

Dry run, merge and history

Dry run previews assembly without changing the master. Its report is temporary. An authorized Approve and merge action consumes the approval once and produces a new master iteration. Finalize merged parcel is a later recorded action, not something an upload or an AI answer does for you.

History records the issue, return, proposal and master operations with their versions and reasons. Earlier iterations are retained. Restoring an earlier master creates another iteration; it does not erase the intervening record. Removed parcels retain read-only history access.

Workflow: coordinate an issued parcel and its return

This walkthrough describes the Parcel Custody preview. Before you begin, agree which master iteration is the source, what work the parcel represents and who is authorized to approve a cut or merge. Keep the issued file and its return associated with the same recorded issue.

1. Define and save the parcel against the intended master. Review the boundary and the available element evidence. Copy the parcel model to CDE to issue the work without removing it from the master. Use a cut only when removal is intended and the authorized approval has been recorded.
2. When the author returns an IFC, upload it to CDE and import that revision against the relevant issue. Inspect unmatched elements and resolve their correspondence explicitly where necessary. A similar name alone is not evidence that two elements are the same object.
3. Review the proposed changes and the master they would affect. Read quantity and clash evidence, record required decisions with reasons, and inspect the validation result. Saving a proposal is not approval. Unavailable validation blocks approval even when the proposal can be saved.
4. Use Dry run to inspect the assembly without changing the master. An authorized Approve and merge creates a new master iteration; confirm that iteration and the operation history before finalizing the merged parcel.

If the master changes during review, prepare a new proposal against the current master. Do not treat an earlier approval or a temporary dry-run report as permission to merge into a different iteration.