— CDE Archive™ —
CDE Archive™ captures the full project record into your own Azure at completion.
— Overview —
See how CDE Archive™ closes out a project, in under two minutes.
This overview shows what happens to a project record after completion and how it ends up searchable in your own Azure. The brochure shares detail for your information.
— The problem —
Completed projects stay locked in a CDE platform you keep paying for every year.
When a project closes, its data usually stays in the CDE, stored under the vendor’s terms. Teams keep paying to hold projects nobody is working on, or export a partial record that loses versions, metadata and transmittals.
Years later a defect claim, an insurance question or an asset query comes up. By then the record may sit in a platform you no longer license. Asset owners, legal teams, and commercial teams are left looking for it.
Two ways to close out a project. One keeps the full record.
Most finished projects stay in the CDE and keep costing money, or get exported in part and lose the record. CDE Archive™ captures the whole record into your own Azure.
— The impact —
Your project record has to outlast the CDE vendor contract.
Asset owners need the as-built record for the life of the asset. Contractors need evidence for claims long after handover. Both depend on a complete record that teams can still open and search. Keeping it in your own Azure puts storage costs and retention rules under your control.
What does it cost to keep a finished project?
Closed projects left in a CDE keep collecting fees for as long as you need the record. Enter your own figures to compare that with holding the same data in your Azure.
How many finished projects do you need to keep?
Count the closed projects still held in a CDE, plus any finishing this year.
What does it cost to keep them in the CDE?
The figures shown are examples. Your CDE vendor can tell you what a closed or read-only project costs to keep.
What would storage in your own Azure cost?
Azure rates vary by region, storage tier and agreement. Check Microsoft's Azure pricing or your IT team for yours.
How long do you need to keep the record?
Think about contract, insurance and asset life requirements after handover.
— What it does —
CDE Archive™ moves a whole CDE into storage you own, in a single run.
CDE Archive™ captures the complete project, every file, version, folder, metadata field and transmittal, into your own Azure. The original file structure is retained in the record.
CDE Archive™ captures the whole project record
Every file, version, folder, metadata field and transmittal moves into your own Azure in one run, laid out the way the project team built it, then checked and ready to search with AI Insights.
— How it works —
CDE Archive™ operates as a planned close-out, run in four stages.
Each archive is scoped as a single project through to a whole estate of workspaces including; files, models, versions, folder structures, metadata, transmittals and records.
— Security & Data —
The CDE archive is yours - located in your tenancy and your data region.
Utopia Digital holds SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials, with 62 audited controls and independent penetration testing every year. The platform suits projects with Security of Critical Infrastructure obligations in rail, energy, water, aviation, and defence. Choose from 33+ Azure data regions so your data stays sovereign in the country you need.
Secure by design, zero files stored
Every Utopia Digital product streams your files straight between your systems and never stores them. We hold only encrypted credentials, configuration and audit logs.
Bentley ProjectWise
Autodesk Forma
0 FILES STOREDData streams straight through, in the Azure region you choose.
SOC 2 Type II and
Cyber Essentials
Independently audited against 62 controls across 8 security categories.
CertifiedZero persistence
file movement
Files stream directly between your platforms and are never stored in ours.
By designMultiple Azure
data regions
Choose the Azure region your data is processed in, to meet residency rules.
Your choiceAnnual penetration
testing
Independent penetration tests every year, plus cyber resilience exercises.
Every year— The Utopiaverse™ —
CDE Archive™ turns finished projects into a searchable library you own.
This is where the Utopiaverse™ comes together. Every project you back up builds the unified record in your own tenancy, kept current while the project is live. Because the data already sits in your Azure, AI Insights can search it with RAG and OCR across every project and every platform.
Welcome to the Utopiaverse™
Each Utopia Digital product adds a layer. Together they turn every CDE into one data foundation in your own Azure, ready for AI.
UTOPIAVERSE™
— Product family —
Five products on one platform, covering the whole of a project’s lifecycle.
CDE Sync™ runs during delivery. CDE Backup™ keeps a copy in your Azure throughout. CDE Migrate™ moves you when platforms change, and CDE Archive™ captures the record at completion. The Utopiaverse™ brings uses Azure, with AI Insights across the portfolio.
Four products. Two engines. One Utopiaverse™.
Every product shares the same connectors, the same zero file persistence architecture and the same SOC 2 Type II controls. What changes is what moves, how often, and where it lands.
The pairs people mix up are Sync against Backup, and Migrate against Archive. In both cases the engine is the same and the destination decides the product. Select a row to open it in the lifecycle view.
— Integrated CDEs —
— FAQs —
Common questions about CDE Archive™
What is CDE Archive™?
CDE Archive™ captures a completed project from its CDE, every file, version, metadata field and transmittal, into your own Microsoft Azure tenancy.
How do I archive a completed project out of a CDE?
Tell us the platform, projects and data size. We map how the structure lands in your Azure, capture the whole project in one run and hand over reconciliation reports.
How is CDE Archive™ different from CDE Backup™?
CDE Backup™ keeps a copy current while the project is live. CDE Archive™ captures the complete record once, at completion.
Where is the archive stored?
In your own Azure tenancy, in the region you choose. Utopia Digital never stores a copy.
Can we still open the archived files?
Yes. They sit in your Azure storage in their original formats, with folders and versions kept.
Does the archive keep version history and transmittals?
Yes. Every version, transmittal and workflow record is captured, with folders and audit trails intact.
What happens to comments and markups?
Where they cannot exist outside the source platform, they are kept as PDF snapshots.
Can we search our archived projects?
The archive is the base for AI Insights, which adds RAG and OCR search across your completed projects inside your own Azure.
Can we archive a whole estate of projects?
Yes, from a single project to thousands of workspaces, or as an ongoing service as projects finish each year.
How is CDE Archive™ priced?
Scoped and quoted for each archive, or included in the Enterprise Data Model.