"Component Center empowers designers with a unified, intelligent library of reusable components, accelerating design workflows, ensuring consistency across projects, and integrating seamlessly across all your design applications – Bentley and beyond! Today, together with our users, partners, and collaborators like Digile, we are actively shaping what’s next – driving innovation and efficiency in design workflows." 

– Georgios Pavlidis, Product Manager

Overview

In complex infrastructure programs, precision, repeatability, and collaboration aren’t nice-to-haves - they’re mission-critical. ProjectWise Component Center (PWCC), Bentley Systems’ cloud-based platform, centralizes and standardizes digital components so multidisciplinary teams can work from a single source of truth for building information modelling (BIM) routine. Our teams use PWCC to deliver consistent, data-rich models faster and with fewer coordination errors. 

ProjectWise Component Center (PWCC) is a cloud-based digital component library that centralizes approved, standardized 3D components for use across Bentley design tools. Modelers pull components directly from the cloud and place them in their design files, ensuring everyone uses verified content with consistent properties and metadata. This fundamentally improves design flow and collaboration by eliminating duplicate local libraries and version drift. 

"At Digile, we adopted PWCC at the start of 2021 on a major infrastructure program and have since made it a core part of our delivery toolkit for BIM workflow."

How We Use PWCC

Centralized 3D Libraries, Used Live in Design 

The 3D libraries we develop are stored in PWCC and accessed by all modelers throughout design. Modelers place components directly from the cloud into active design files, streamlining placement for road furniture and related elements. PWCC becomes the shared truth: everyone accesses the same component definitions, parameters, and naming conventions. 

Typical components stored and used via PWCC include: 

• Road furniture: road signages (SGN), guardrails (GRL), bus stops, streetlights (STL), road studs (ROS) 

• Structures: pedestrian bridges (PBR) 

• Wayfinding: general and directional signages 

• Systems: electrical, mechanical, and services components 

"Across projects, our PWCC libraries typically include 300+ components per project component center."

Role-Based Governance 

PWCC access is governed by our BIM Manager and BIM Coordinator acting with administrator privileges. The platform supports granular access control down to user level, so we can allow or restrict access to content based on team role and project need - vital for content quality and compliance. 

When We Access PWCC in the Workflow 

Teams most often access PWCC during active modeling - for example, when placing road furniture (RF) such as signages (SGN), kilometer posts (KM Post), pedestrian bridges (PBR), streetlights (STL) and other associated elements. The flow is designed for speed: locate the right item by discipline and catalog, then place it directly. 

Technical Workflow 

Standards & Level of Development (LOD) 

Note: JKR refers to the Malaysia Public Works Department

• LOD: Libraries for this infrastructure project were generated during the Detail Design phase and modeled to LOD 300. 

• Standards: Components follow JKR BIM family naming conventions and are modeled to the drawing details and technical specifications, with parameters for assets such as dimensions, materials, and size. This ensures downstream reliability across documentation, coordination, and asset data handover. 

Taxonomy & Catalog Organization 

Components in PWCC are categorized by discipline and grouped into dedicated catalog folders for navigability and control. For example, all items related to a signage system live within a single catalog folder with specific details and unique metadata to speed discovery and filter results. We also organize content by work package and sub-discipline where needed. 

Sub-disciplines used in this program include: 

• Bridge 

• Road Furniture (Guardrail, Street Light, Road Stud, Bus Stop, etc.) 

• Signages (General Signage & Directional Signage) 

Placement & File Strategy 

PWCC components are placed directly into DGN design files using Bentley’s CONNECT Edition tools. The number of DGN files is driven by work package scope. Point placement applies heavily to these sub-disciplines: 

• Signages 

• Pedestrian Bridges 

• Bus Stops 

• Electrical Systems 

• Bridges 

• Guardrail & Road Stud 

"Bentley applications in our stack include OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition, OpenBridge Modeler CONNECT Edition and OpenBuildings Designer CONNECT Edition."

Creating Components (Source and Method) 

We do not build PWCC content by importing from existing CELL libraries. Instead, each component is created in MicroStation or OpenRoads from the approved drawings, authored as a single 3D DGN per component, and uploaded into Component Center. This ensures clean provenance, correct geometry, and standard-compliant metadata from day one. 

All project modelers who need to place components are granted access to PWCC for modeling tasks. This supports centralized, shared libraries and consistent placement behavior across the team. 

Challenges Without PWCC (and Why We Standardized) 

Before centralization, teams typically collide with: 

• Inconsistent components that trigger documentation confusion 

• No standardization (unreliable sources, missing essential properties) 

• Duplication and rework, especially when component versions diverge 

• Coordination issues and inefficient workflows across colleagues 

• Reduced BIM value overall due to fragmented content governance 

PWCC directly addresses these pain points by centralizing ownership, standards, and access to vetted content. 

Value Realized 

By deploying PWCC and enforcing project-wide usage, we achieved: 

• Consistency & Standardization 
  All modelers use the same verified components aligned to the right standards and conventions. This consistency dramatically reduces downstream coordination cycles. 

• Efficiency in Workflow 
  Centrally stored and easily accessible components (with the latest versions) cut search and re-modeling time and help us keep momentum in detail design.

• Data Reliability 
  Parameters and properties are embedded consistently in components, boosting productivity and ensuring asset data stands up to scrutiny across documentation and handover. 

Why It Matters 

For owners, designers, and delivery partners, PWCC’s centralization translates directly into better project outcomes: 

• Higher design integrity: Standardized, vetted components ensure like-for-like use across packages and disciplines. 

• Fewer coordination loops: With shared libraries and embedded parameters, teams resolve fewer content-related clashes. 

• Faster production: Accessing verified components from the cloud reduces rework and accelerates detailing. 

• Stronger asset data: Consistent parameters and naming conventions anchor reliable handover datasets. 

Conclusion 

ProjectWise Component Center has become a foundational pillar of our BIM delivery ecosystem. By centralizing verified content and enforcing standards—such as JKR naming conventions to LOD 300—it ensures every modeler, across OpenRoads, OpenBridge, and OpenBuildings, works from the same trusted building blocks. Whether placing SGN, STL, KM posts, PBR, GRL, or ROS, teams benefit from consistent geometry, metadata, and classification. 

This unified approach yields cleaner models, stronger data integrity, and seamless collaboration across disciplines. As we scale to more complex infrastructure programs, targeted enhancements in synchronization and reliability will unlock even greater value—supporting multi-disciplinary workflows, reducing rework, and accelerating delivery.

Need a PWCC-ready delivery partner? 

We deploy PWCC to bring consistency, speed, and data discipline to your next project - from standards and library build-out to governance, placement workflows, and change management. Let’s talk. 

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