You enable AI to read Bentley ProjectWise by copying its documents, versions and environment attributes into a record you control, mapping those attributes into a consistent schema and indexing the content so an AI model can search it and cite its sources. The Utopiaverse™ does this in your own Azure tenancy, using CDE Backup™ or CDE Archive™ to bring ProjectWise content across, and AI Insights to answer questions with links back to the original files.
Why ProjectWise content is valuable for AI
ProjectWise often holds decades of engineering records for infrastructure owners and consultancies: drawings, reports, calculations, specifications and correspondence across many projects. That history is valuable for design reuse, asset management and bids, but it is hard to search. Datasources are large, folder structures vary between projects, and much of the useful content sits inside scanned drawings and PDFs.
Engineers often know the answer exists somewhere in ProjectWise but cannot find it quickly. AI search changes that, provided the content is prepared properly.
What needs to happen before AI can read ProjectWise
Three things need to happen. First, content has to be copied out of ProjectWise into a location AI can index at scale, without affecting the live system. Second, environment attributes such as document number, revision, status and discipline need to be mapped into a common schema, so AI can filter by them and so ProjectWise content can sit alongside content from other platforms. Third, scanned documents need OCR so the text inside them becomes searchable.
The Utopiaverse™ handles all three. Content lands in your own Azure, attributes are translated into a schema aligned with ISO 19650, and documents are indexed with OCR.
How to enable AI on ProjectWise, step by step
Decide which datasources and projects to include, starting with those your teams search most often.
Choose CDE Backup™ for live projects that need an ongoing copy, and CDE Archive™ for completed projects.
Set up the Azure tenancy and region that will hold the record, with IT and security.
Arrange a ProjectWise service account with read access to the chosen datasources.
Agree how ProjectWise environment attributes map to the common schema.
Let the content copy and index, then test AI Insights with real engineering questions and check the citations.
Extend to more datasources and to other platforms on the same projects.
ProjectWise alongside other platforms
Few projects keep everything in ProjectWise. Contractors deliver in Autodesk Forma or Procore, owners use Oracle Aconex, and the business works in SharePoint. Bentley's own tools, including Bentley Enterprise Connection Services (BECS), are centred on Bentley products and enterprise systems. The Utopiaverse™ is vendor-neutral, so ProjectWise content can be searched alongside content from every other platform on the same project. A question about a structure can then draw on the design record in ProjectWise, the contractor's documents in Forma and the owner's correspondence in Aconex at once. CDE Sync™ keeps those platforms connected during delivery.
What engineers can ask
Once ProjectWise content is indexed, engineers can ask practical questions. Which projects used a particular bearing type? What did the geotechnical report say about this site? Where was a similar detail approved before? Who signed off the last revision of this drawing? AI Insights finds the relevant passages, including text inside scanned drawings, and writes an answer that cites each source file, so the engineer can open the document and confirm the context before relying on it.
Security for engineering records
Engineering records for infrastructure can be sensitive. AI Insights runs natively on Azure inside your own tenancy, in the region you choose, so ProjectWise content is not sent to a third party to be indexed. Utopia Digital's products stream files without storing them, and Utopia Digital holds SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials. See the Security Trust Portal. Utopia Digital is independent and not affiliated with Bentley Systems.
ProjectWise, AI and the Utopiaverse™
Making ProjectWise readable by AI brings it into the Utopiaverse™. CDE Backup™ and CDE Archive™ bring content into your Azure, CDE Sync™ connects ProjectWise with other platforms, CDE Migrate™ carries history through platform changes and AI Insights answers questions across all of it. See also How Can I Enable AI to Read My Common Data Environment? and the ProjectWise integration page.
See AI over ProjectWise content in the monthly live demo, or talk to the team about your datasources.
