Viva Civic integrates with Bluebeam Studio using the Bluebeam Studio API to support digital plan review with streamlined, automated workflows. This article explains how the integration works, how to activate it, and best practices for reviewers and administrators.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Activating the Bluebeam Integration
  • Prerequisites
  • Step-by-step: Connecting Viva Civic to Bluebeam
  • Keeping the integration connected
• Starting a Bluebeam Session
  • Automatic Initiation
  • Manual Initiation
• Collaboration and Review
• Completing the Review Session
  • Automatic closing of Bluebeam Sessions
  • "Finish Session" button (manual force-close for admins)
  • How redlined documents return to Viva Civic
• Benefits of the Integration
• Best Practices

Overview

Viva Civic allows jurisdictions to integrate their digital plan review processes directly with Bluebeam Studio Sessions. When a project moves into the plan review phase (typically the "Under Review" or "Plan Check" status, depending on your configuration), a Bluebeam Studio Session can be started automatically or manually to support collaborative, real-time plan review and markup by reviewers.

Activating the Bluebeam Integration

The Bluebeam integration must be activated by a Viva Civic administrator before staff can start sending plans to Bluebeam.

Prerequisites

• Administrator access to Viva Civic (to configure Connected Services).
• A Bluebeam account that will be used exclusively by Viva Civic to create and manage Studio Sessions.
• An active Bluebeam subscription for that account that supports creating Studio Sessions through integrations.

We recommend creating or designating a dedicated Bluebeam account such as viva@yourjurisdiction.gov (or similar). This account acts as the service account that Viva Civic uses to:

• Create Bluebeam Studio Sessions for each review cycle.
• Manage the lifecycle of those sessions (starting and closing sessions).

This account will not typically be used by an individual reviewer for day-to-day markups. Instead, it is the technical account that connects Viva Civic to Bluebeam. Individual reviewers will use their own Bluebeam user accounts and licenses to join Sessions and perform markups, following your organization’s licensing and access policies.

Step-by-step: Connecting Viva Civic to Bluebeam

1. Log in to Viva Civic as an administrator.
2. Go to Configuration > Connected Services > Bluebeam.
3. Click "Connect to Bluebeam".
4. You will be redirected to a Bluebeam sign-in page. Log in using the dedicated Bluebeam account you selected (for example, viva@yourjurisdiction.gov).
5. Review and accept any authorization prompts to allow Viva Civic to:
   • Create and manage Bluebeam Studio Sessions on behalf of that account.
   • Send documents to Bluebeam for plan review.
   • Retrieve redlined documents back into Viva Civic.
6. After authorization, you will be redirected back to Viva Civic and the Bluebeam connector status should show as Connected.

Keeping the integration connected

Once connected, Viva Civic will remain authorized to communicate with Bluebeam as long as:

• There is regular review activity (for example, new sessions created or existing sessions opened) roughly every 30 days or less; and
• Bluebeam continues to honor the authorization granted to Viva Civic (for example, the access has not expired or been revoked).

If there is no Bluebeam-related activity for an extended period, or if Bluebeam decides that the existing authorization is too old, the connection may effectively time out or be reset. In everyday terms, this is similar to being signed out of a website after not using it for a while, for security reasons.

In those cases:

• Viva Civic may no longer be able to start new sessions or retrieve redlines from Bluebeam.
• You may see an error or a status indicating that the integration is no longer connected.
• The typical fix is to return to Configuration > Connected Services > Bluebeam and click "Connect to Bluebeam" again, then sign back in with the same dedicated Bluebeam account.

If you change the password, subscription, or ownership of the dedicated Bluebeam account, you may need to reconnect Viva Civic following the steps above.

Starting a Bluebeam Session

Bluebeam Studio Sessions can be started from Viva Civic whenever a project is in the configured review phase (typically "Under Review" or "Plan Check").

Each review cycle is associated with its own Bluebeam Session so that markups and comments are clearly organized by cycle.

Automatic Initiation

Jurisdictions can opt to have Viva Civic automatically initiate a Bluebeam Session whenever a project reaches the review stage. This is usually tied to a specific workflow status such as Under Review or Plan Check.

When automatic initiation is enabled:

• A Bluebeam Studio Session is created as soon as the project enters the configured review status.
• The attached documents are automatically sent from Viva Civic to Bluebeam as part of that session.

This configuration reduces manual steps and ensures that a review session is always created at the review stage. However, it can also result in additional Bluebeam sessions being created that are never used when some cases do not ultimately require markups in Bluebeam, so there is a tradeoff between convenience and the number of sessions created.

If you would like to enable automatic initiation, please contact Viva Civic so our team can configure this behavior in your workflow.

Manual Initiation

Alternatively, reviewers (or administrators, depending on permissions) can manually initiate a Bluebeam Session from Viva Civic:

1. Open the relevant project record in Viva Civic.
2. Confirm the project is in the correct review phase (for example, Under Review or Plan Check).
3. Click the "Send to Bluebeam" button available within the project record.
4. Viva Civic will then create the Bluebeam Studio Session using the connected integration account.

Once created, the session can be opened by reviewers using Bluebeam Revu or Bluebeam on the web by clicking Join Bluebeam Session, where they can perform all of their markups and comments.

Collaboration and Review

After a Bluebeam Session is started, Viva Civic automatically:

• Creates a dedicated session for the current review cycle in Bluebeam Studio.
• Allows reviewers to collaborate in real time within Bluebeam Studio to redline, markup, and comment on the plans.

Reviewers can work together using Bluebeam’s markup and annotation tools. During this time, Viva Civic continues to track the application status and workflow, while Bluebeam is used for the detailed plan review.

Completing the Review Session

Once all reviewers have completed their work and the review cycle is ready to be closed in Viva Civic, the associated Bluebeam Session is completed and the redlined documents are brought back into Viva Civic.

Automatic closing of Bluebeam Sessions

Under normal conditions, you do not need to manually close the Bluebeam Session in Bluebeam. Instead, when the review cycle is marked complete in Viva Civic, Viva will automatically:

• Close the corresponding Bluebeam Studio Session.
• Retrieve the relevant redlined documents from Bluebeam.

This helps keep your review workflow consistent and ensures that documents come back into Viva Civic in a predictable way.

"Finish Session" button (manual force-close for admins)

Administrators may also see a "Finish Session" button in Viva Civic. This provides a way to force-close a Bluebeam Session from Viva Civic, for example if:

• A review cycle needs to be closed due to unusual circumstances.
• The Bluebeam Session is no longer needed but has not been closed through the standard workflow.

In regular day-to-day operations, you should not need to use the "Finish Session" button. The recommended practice is to complete the review in Viva Civic and allow the system to automatically close the session and retrieve the redlined documents.

How redlined documents return to Viva Civic

When the Bluebeam Session is completed (either automatically via the workflow or manually via "Finish Session"):

• Viva Civic imports only the documents that have actually been redlined or modified in the Bluebeam Session.
• Any documents that were sent to the session but not changed in Bluebeam are not re-imported and remain in their previous location or version in Viva Civic.
• The redlined documents are stored in Viva Civic’s built-in document management system, under the Attachments section.
• A new folder is created specifically for that review cycle, named using the project status and the date, for example Under Review - yyyy-mm-dd.
• depending on whether the review phase for that cycle is configured as Under Review or Plan Check.
• Within that folder, you will find the redlined versions of the documents that reviewers modified in Bluebeam.

This keeps the Attachments section organized and ensures that each review cycle has a clear snapshot of the documents that were changed during that session.

Benefits of the Integration

• Efficiency: Automates the workflow for starting, managing, and closing review sessions, reducing manual upload and download steps.
• Collaboration: Supports real-time collaboration among reviewers in Bluebeam Studio Sessions while Viva Civic tracks the overall application status and workflow.
• Documentation: Automatically organizes redlined documents by review cycle using clearly named folders within Viva Civic’s document management system.
• Accuracy and Versioning: Only documents that were actually redlined are re-imported, helping staff focus on changes while maintaining a clear audit trail of each review cycle.
• User-Friendly: Sessions can be initiated directly within Viva Civic, with a straightforward "Connect to Bluebeam" setup for administrators and a familiar Bluebeam environment for reviewers.

Best Practices

• Use a dedicated integration account: Configure a specific Bluebeam account (for example, viva@yourjurisdiction.gov) for the Viva Civic integration so that the connection is stable and not tied to an individual staff member’s account.
• Verify Bluebeam licensing: Confirm that the dedicated Bluebeam account and participating reviewers have appropriate Bluebeam subscriptions that support Studio Sessions and integrations, according to Bluebeam’s current licensing requirements.
• Train reviewers in Bluebeam: Make sure reviewers are familiar with Bluebeam Studio’s markup tools so they can work efficiently and consistently.
• Monitor review progress in Viva Civic: Use Viva Civic as the primary place to check review status and timing. Let Viva Civic create and close Bluebeam Sessions whenever possible.
• Rely on automatic closing: Use the standard workflow to complete reviews and allow Viva Civic to automatically close sessions and import redlines. Reserve the "Finish Session" button for exceptions or troubleshooting.
• Reconnect when needed: If sessions stop working or Viva Civic shows that Bluebeam is disconnected, go to Configuration > Connected Services > Bluebeam and click "Connect to Bluebeam" again to re-authorize the integration.

For additional help with Viva Civic’s integration with Bluebeam Studio, please contact our support team.