You connect Bentley ProjectWise and InEight with a CDE integration that moves drawings, models, documents and metadata from a designer's ProjectWise environment into the owner's or principal contractor's InEight environment, and returns responses to ProjectWise. CDE Sync™ links both platforms through dedicated accounts, maps ProjectWise attributes to InEight fields and logs every transfer.
Why designers on ProjectWise deliver into InEight
ProjectWise is widely used by engineering consultants, particularly in civil, structural, energy and transport design, to manage large volumes of design files and their attributes. InEight is common on major capital projects, where owners and principal contractors manage document control alongside cost, schedule and construction. On those projects, the design consultant on ProjectWise has to deliver every package into InEight.
Without a connection, design deliverables are exported from ProjectWise, renumbered to suit InEight, attributes are re-entered and transmittals are rebuilt. Responses then travel back by email or download. On a design programme with thousands of deliverables, this work occupies document controllers on both sides and introduces mismatches between what the designer issued and what the owner holds.
What carries across between ProjectWise and InEight
CDE Sync™ synchronises documents and models with their version history and maps ProjectWise attributes to InEight's fields. Document number, revision, status and discipline arrive in the form InEight expects, and responses can return to a nominated ProjectWise folder. Every transfer is logged for audit and compliance.
The Bentley ProjectWise and InEight integration pages describe each connector, and CDE Sync for InEight covers InEight in more detail.
How to connect ProjectWise and InEight, step by step
Agree the exchange: which design packages move to InEight and which responses come back.
Obtain InEight's numbering, mandatory fields and transmittal requirements from the owner's document control team.
Confirm the ProjectWise folders and attribute sets with your ProjectWise administrator.
Arrange service accounts for both platforms with access to those locations.
Connect both platforms in the CDE Sync™ wizard and map attributes and status values.
Run a pilot exchange on one package and check documents and responses on both sides.
Switch on the schedule and extend to further packages.
Mapping rich design attributes
ProjectWise environments often hold many attributes per document, set up to meet the consultant's own standards or a client's digital engineering requirements. InEight will have its own required fields. Not every ProjectWise attribute needs to travel. The useful exercise is agreeing which attributes InEight requires, which it can accept as optional, and which stay with the designer.
Once agreed, those rules apply to every deliverable automatically, which keeps the owner's record consistent from the first issue to the last. Our guide to syncing ISO 19650 metadata between CDEs covers attribute mapping in more depth.
Day-to-day running is mostly about exceptions. A deliverable that fails one of InEight's mandatory field rules is reported rather than lost, and the designer's document controller corrects it in ProjectWise so the next run succeeds. The log of every transfer gives both parties a shared account of what was issued and when, which removes much of the reconciliation that usually happens at milestones.
It is also worth agreeing early how transmittals are handled. Some owners want each package to arrive with a transmittal record in InEight, while others only need the documents and their status. Settling this before the first run avoids rework and keeps the owner's record complete.
Security for major projects
Energy, resources and transport programmes often fall under the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act. CDE Sync™ streams files directly between ProjectWise and InEight without storing them, encrypts data in transit and processes it in the Azure region you choose. Utopia Digital holds SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials. See the Security Trust Portal and the global data region map.
ProjectWise, InEight and the Utopiaverse™
A ProjectWise to InEight connection is part of the Utopiaverse™, the connected record Utopia Digital builds across your platforms. CDE Sync™ keeps both aligned during delivery, CDE Backup™ keeps an independent copy in your own Azure, CDE Migrate™ handles moves onto or off either platform, and CDE Archive™ captures the record at completion. AI Insights searches design and owner content together, with answers that cite the source files. See also How Do I Connect InEight to My Other CDEs? and How Do I Connect ProjectWise and SharePoint?
See ProjectWise and InEight connected in the monthly live demo, or talk to the team about your programme.
