How listings are classified

Every product on AEC Integrations is classified four ways. Each way uses a fixed list of terms that we maintain, not free-form tags. That keeps similar products comparable, whoever wrote their listing.

Facet	The question it answers	Browse it at
Categories	What does the software do?	/categories
Audiences	Who is the software for?	/audiences
Phases	When in a project is it used?	/phases
Trades	What work does the buyer's company do?	/trades

A product's page lists its terms under "Categories", "Audiences", "Trades" and "Project phases". Each term links to a page of every product that carries it. The four facets are also in the site menu and the footer, and you can filter by any of them on the products list and in search.

A product can carry several terms in each facet, or none.

A trade is the work a company sells, such as Electrical, Roofing or Paving & Asphalt. A product gets a trade only when it has something specific to that work, such as trade-specific features, cost data, templates or takeoff tools. Platforms used across the whole industry get no trade.

So a trade page answers "what software understands my work". It is not a copy of the full product list. Most products carry no trade at all, and that is expected. The trades list shows a trade once at least one product carries it.

Every integration has a kind, which says how it is delivered. The page shows one of seven labels:

• Native
• API
• Webhook
• Marketplace app
• iPaaS, a third-party connector platform such as Zapier or Workato
• Partner
• Integrator, an integration built and maintained by a consultancy or systems integrator rather than by either product's company

On an integration page, the kind is part of "How you get it". When an integration has no name, its kind is the card's heading. See Reading an integration page.

Each integration records the data that moves between the two products, one type at a time, in one direction. The types come from a fixed list. Examples are Models, Drawings, RFIs, Submittals and Schedules. Vendors pick from the same list when they add data to an integration. That keeps "RFIs" meaning the same thing on every page.

One type of data, moving one way, through one integration, is the smallest thing we record. Each one carries its own agreement label. See Agreement states.

An integration page tells direction from the left-hand product's side:

• Outbound: it sends data to the other product.
• Inbound: it receives data from the other product.
• Both: data moves both ways.

If a product has a term it should not, or is missing one, use Suggest a correction on its page. See Requests and corrections.

• Previous: Checking an integration before you buy.
• How ranking works, including why a trade gives no ranking boost.
• How we research and verify listings.