Managed Workspace support in ProjectWise Powered by iTwins is designed to pull application workspace files in order to increase the fidelity of the iModel.

Managed workspaces are a feature of ProjectWise. "Unmanaged" workspaces (a collection of support files in a given network share for example) are not supported at this time.

Workspace Considerations

In some cases, such as OpenBuildings Designer or ProStructures, failure to find any kind of workspace will cause the connector to fail the Sync job.

Similar to the way the application association of a file is used to help determine the proper connector, the file's associated managed workspace is used to find the files necessary for materials, schemas, linestyles, etc. that are defined for a given CAD file.

However, since a workspace can be further altered after checking out from PW and handing off to a desktop application, this means that some (or even most) of the required files may exist only on the desktop.  Since the Sync service can't access the desktop in that way, those files will not be found.

This is shown in the image below:

The user will need to review their managed workspace carefully to determine what necessary files exist in the managed workspace in the PWDI Work Area as opposed to what is handled on the desktop.

Another possible option (that does not require ProjectWise integration) for desktop workspace files would be to use the iTwin Synchronizer Client tool.

Generic Application Uses

Since a managed workspace is associated to a file, and the managed workspace configuration is read from PWDI, it is possible to synchronize files from DGN-based applications which do not specifically have a file-based connector.  For example, OpenPlant Modeler synchronizes via it's desktop application. 

However they can also be synchronized in ProjectWise Powered by iTwin by utilizing the workspace support feature outlined above.

In the case of OpenPlant, the managed workspace configuration needs to include a pointer to the schemas used by OpenPlant by pointing the MicroStation EC Schemas variable to the equivalent OpenPlant variable:

MS_ECFRAMEWORK_SCHEMAS > $(OPM_DIR_SCHEMAS)
%lock MS_ECFRAMEWORK_SCHEMAS

This is the same approach that would be used for Bentley Raceway & Cable Management (BRCM)

MS_ECFRAMEWORK_SCHEMAS > $(BRCM_WS_SCHEMAS)
%lock MS_ECFRAMEWORK_SCHEMAS

This is just an example of a potential  configuration, as each organization will have different configuration architectures. Therefore this may require some level of experimentation.

Further information can be found on Bentley's YouTube channel here: