What Access Does an AI Drawing Review Vendor Need During a Pilot?
Helonic is an AI construction drawing analysis platform for general contractors and IT teams deciding what access to give an AI drawing review vendor during a pilot. An AI drawing review vendor needs much less access during a pilot than most teams hand over. It needs the drawings, a few user accounts, and, if you are testing the handoff, a connection to one project in Procore or Autodesk. It does not need your network, your project directory, or your bid numbers.
Direct answer. During a pilot, Helonic or any AI drawing review vendor needs accounts for the named pilot users, the frozen PDF set and specs, and one user's Procore or Autodesk sign-in scoped to the pilot project. It should not get admin credentials, other projects, your RFI log, your estimate, or sub pricing. Revoke everything on the last day.
What does the vendor actually need?
| Access | Scope | Who grants it |
|---|---|---|
| User accounts for your pilot team | The named people on the scope line, using company email | Your precon owner, through the vendor's sign-up |
| The frozen PDF set and spec book | Only the named sets, at the listed revisions | Uploaded by your team, not pulled by the vendor |
| Procore or Autodesk connection | One user's sign-in, limited to the pilot project | The project engineer or PM on that job |
| A point of contact | One person on your side for questions about the set | Named in the kickoff |
Your team uploads the files. The vendor should not need a link into your document management system to go find them. That keeps the set frozen and the scope obvious. The file list is in what files you need before the first review.
What should the vendor not get?
- Admin credentials for Procore, Autodesk, or anything else.
- A service account that can see every project in the company.
- The RFI log from the closed-out job. It is your answer key.
- Your estimate, bid numbers, or subcontractor pricing.
- VPN or network access. A cloud tool has no reason to be inside your network.
- Owner-confidential sets that have not cleared the owner's terms.
Keeping the vendor off admin accounts and off every other project is least privilege. NIST SP 800-53, control AC-6 states it as giving an account only the access its task needs. If a vendor asks for any item on the list above during a pilot, ask why in writing. The answers that should stop the pilot are in what IT will block.
How should the Procore or Autodesk connection be set up?
Through the normal sign-in flow, by one named user who already has access to the pilot project. The connection then sees what that user sees. Pick a project engineer on the pilot job rather than a company admin so the reach stays small.
Helonic connects this way, and nothing is pushed until a person confirms a finding. The details are on the Procore integration and Autodesk integration pages.
Who at the vendor can see your files?
Ask. A good answer names the roles that can open customer files, says why, and says whether access is logged. Ask also whether your files train any model. Helonic is SOC 2 compliant, encrypts data with TLS 1.2+ in transit and AES-256 at rest, and does not use customer data to train or fine-tune AI models, per its AI policy.
Get these answers as documents. How to read them is in what a security questionnaire should get back.
What should you revoke on the last day?
- Disconnect Procore or Autodesk from the vendor's side and from yours.
- Deactivate pilot user accounts, or move them to the paid plan if you bought.
- Ask for written confirmation that files were deleted if you did not buy.
- Note the revocation date on the scope line so the next evaluation starts clean.
Put the revocation step on the pilot calendar from how long a pilot should last. The pilot protocol is in how to pilot AI drawing review software, and the buying criteria, including security, are in what to look for in an AI construction drawing review platform.
Practitioner insight
“The vendor asked for a Procore admin account to make setup easier. I said no and had our PE connect from the one project. Took five minutes, and they could only see that job.”
Conversations with IT managers at general contractors who approved access for AI drawing review pilots.
Frequently Asked Questions
What access does an AI drawing review vendor need during a pilot?
What access should the vendor not get?
How should the Procore connection be set up for a pilot?
What should we revoke when the pilot ends?
Milind Sagaram
Co-founder & CEO, HelonicMilind is the co-founder and CEO of Helonic, where he leads product and go-to-market for AI-powered construction drawing analysis. He works closely with general contractors, project managers, estimators, and owners to understand how drawing quality drives project outcomes - and where AI can reduce RFIs, change orders, and rework. Milind has interviewed hundreds of construction professionals across project delivery roles, from preconstruction estimators at ENR top-400 contractors to facilities directors at institutional owners, and uses those conversations to shape both product direction and the way Helonic talks about the work.
- Construction project delivery and preconstruction
- RFI and change order economics
- Owner and GC workflows for drawing QA/QC
- Estimating risk and bid-stage scope assessment
Last reviewed by Milind Sagaram · October 2026