AEC Technology Strategies 2007 Conference

Last month, I attended ZweigWhite's AEC Technologies Strategies conference that was held in Las Vegas on June 7 and 8. This is an annual information technology event targeted towards business and IT leaders in architecture, engineering, and construction. Since it is not focused on any one specific discipline, it serves as a good avenue to learn about technology issues and implementations across the broader spectrum of the AEC industry. It featured several keynote and concurrent focus sessions, and a closing keynote panel discussion on what clients and building owners want from technology. This issue of the "Building the Future" series captures the highlights of some of the sessions I attended that yielded new information and insights. I had the opportunity to present a keynote session myself that was focused on providing a status update on BIM and supporting technologies, some of which has been captured in recent reviews, newsletters, and articles in AECbytes.

Implementation of BIM at Walter P. Moore and Associates

One of the keynote sessions at the AEC Technologies Strategies conference was presented by Jim Jacobi, who is the Principal and Chief Information Officer at Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc., a leading structural, civil, and transportation engineering firm that was established over 75 years ago and has now grown to nine locations in the U.S. The company has been one of the early adopters of BIM, compelled by its benefits such as the potential to better understand the cost of design as it evolves and the ability to overcome the inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and coordination difficulties of the traditional drawing-based processes. Since engineers are accustomed to working with analytical models for structural analysis, the disconnect between these models and the drawings created using the traditional process was felt even more keenly. With BIM, drawings are guaranteed to be correct as they are derived from the structural model, which is synchronous with the analytical model. For Walter P. Moore and Associates, the data-centric BIM process represents a definite paradigm shift from the traditional drawing-based process, with drawing extraction as opposed to manual creation, a consistent data model as opposed to multiple data sources, improved decisions as opposed to costly revisions, a collaborative and parallel workflow as opposed to an individual and sequential one, and the focus on life cycle data as opposed to as built data. BIM is the hub of the data-centric process which integrates all the diverse multi-disciplinary tasks including 3D spatial design, structural design and analysis, connection design, visualizations, shop drawings, and construction drawings.

The firm started its BIM exploration in 2002 by looking at process industry solutions from vendors such as Intergraph and AVEVA. Subsequently, it explored and evaluated a number of solutions including Autodesk Architectural Desktop, Digital Project, ArchiCAD, and Bentley Structural before finalizing on Revit Structure in 2005. It currently has over 65 projects in production with Revit Structure in both steel and concrete, with size ranging from 18,000 to 3,000,000 square feet and height ranging from 1 to 80 stories. Notable examples include the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, the McCarran International Airport Terminal 3 expansion project in Las Vegas, and the 70-story tall Signature Tower condominium-hotel project in Nashville, Tennessee. Only a third of the architects it is working with are also using BIM, and so far, it has not found a lot of building owners pushing for BIM either. However, the internal benefits it has achieved in enhanced quality and efficiency are compelling enough for it to use BIM, even if the owner doesn't care for it.

With the firm also actively working in civil engineering, it is using Civil 3D to coordinate with its structural engineering models created in Revit Structure. It also uses NavisWorks extensively to bring the different disciplinary models created in different BIM applications together for electronic review and conflict detection, substantially reducing field rework and improving schedule and cost reliability. Jacobi gave the example of a project in which the firm was hired to do clash detection and succeeded in eventually reducing the conflict count from over 3,000 to 0. He found that the ability afforded by NavisWorks to walk through the facility with all the models in place was very empowering and expressed surprise that the application wasn't mainstream yet, given that it was such a breakthrough technology. (This might actually happen now with the recent acquisition of NavisWorks by Autodesk.) In contrast, in response to a question, he expressed some skepticism about the usefulness of open standards such as the IFC, in particular about the fidelity of the information it contained. Given the tight integration of structural BIM applications with analysis tools (see my reviews of Revit Structure and Bentley Structural) and the reliance on NavisWorks to bring together different disciplinary models, it wasn't surprising to find that interoperability didn't feature as a critical aspect of the firm's BIM implementation, as captured in Jacobi's presentation.

Other insights that Jacobi shared included some of the transformation issues the firm has faced in the move from the drawing-based process to the BIM process. The roles of the various staff are in flux, with drafters doing more value-added modeling tasks. Training is a critical requirement, but it is not sufficient by itself. What is needed is to build a critical mass within the organization to develop support for the process change. It can take up to a year for a firm to get fully competent in BIM, including providing the training and support infrastructure. The firm supplements the external training sessions it purchases with internal training. It is exploring changes in fee structure and engaging clients differently, as BIM involves more upfront work and provides enhanced benefits such as the ability to share models and achieve a higher order of collaboration. But so far, the firm hasn't delivered a BIM model as part of the contract yet. Some of the technological challenges the firm is facing in its BIM implementation include working on large projects and working between teams distributed across multiple offices. Typical file sizes range from 50 to 80 MB, which make sharing too slow across a WAN. Also, the firm prefers to avoid using the workset sharing feature in Revit. It may, however, look at WAN accelerator technology in the future. Other challenges include the inability to take a Revit model to Xsteel for fabrication, and the lack of robustness of the current link between BIM and cost estimating. However, Jacobi expressed the optimism that it would only be a matter of time before these issues are resolved. He also reiterated the oft-quoted sentiment that ultimately BIM is not about the technology but about the future and a better way of working.

Implementation of Project Execution Software at Eppstein Uhen Architects

While BIM has undoubtedly been getting the lion's share of attention in the AEC industry lately—which is understandable given that it is a radically different technology that has the potential to dramatically change the way we design, build, and operate buildings—AEC technology does include other application areas as well that are critical to a firm's business. One of these was discussed in detail by Bret Tushaus, Vice President and Director of Information Technology at Eppstein Uhen Architects, one of Wisconsin's largest architectural firms that works in all major markets and celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The firm has standardized on Revit as its design application and on Deltek Vision for business tasks such as ERP, CRM, and Finance. The missing piece was an application that could effectively handle information management and project execution tasks, which were becoming increasingly challenging, given the vast amounts of information and tasks that pass over team members' screens and desks on a daily basis. This includes emails, faxes, phone calls, and electronic and paper documents, all of which need to be better managed and better communicated. Email in itself is a major challenge, as in the example of a Project Manager from the firm whose Email Inbox had over 4000 emails related to many different projects and other tasks. This email was not accessible to others and any email, received or sent, related to a specific project was not being documented with the project, unless the Project Manager specifically saved it out in the project folders. Even if this was diligently done, the sheer amount of information getting saved in project folders was turning them into a "digital landfill," making it difficult to find required information easily and quickly and resolve issues efficiently. It was causing the staff at Eppstein Uhen Architects to spend a lot of time on non-value added tasks.

The firm devoted a lot of time to searching for a solution that could address these challenges. This included evaluating document management applications such as Documentum, Outlook plug-ins such as MessageSave, project extranets such as Buzzsaw and SharePoint, and project management solutions such as Primavera. But none of these proved to be a good fit: they were either too big or too small, or focused on a different market, they had a significant learning curve, and they lacked focus on AEC professional services and project based operations. Above all, they required a significant change in the way people were accustomed to working, which the firm specifically did not want, given that BIM was already a radically new technology that the staff was adapting to. The firm was then introduced to Newforma Project Center, a relatively new project management application specifically developed for the AEC market, and it was greeted with an immediate "Eureka" reaction from the project managers. A pilot team of 18 people from 4 project teams was put together to test out the application, and it was greeted with a lot of excitement and immediate engagement. The project managers could not wait to get the rest of their teams on the application so that they could start deriving its benefits on all the projects they were working on. By virtue of the snowball effect and momentum created by the project managers, the application is now being rolled out firm-wide, with little of the resistance that usually accompanies the introduction of any new technology.

While Tushaus did not get into the details of how Newforma Project Center works, his presentation was supplemented with some brief demonstrations of the product by Bob Batcheler, Vice President of Industry Marketing and Product Management at Newforma. The application has been specifically designed to remove time- and money-draining inefficiencies from AEC project execution by organizing information, connecting team members, and streamlining processes. It does this through a server that sits next to a firm's central server and automatically indexes and categorizes all the information so that it can be easily accessed, managed, and searched. Its strongest aspect is that it doesn't require firms to alter their IT infrastructure, re-engineer their processes, or change the way they work. Instead, it makes it possible to gain greater value from software that is already in place for drafting, BIM, finance, office applications, email, etc. So, for example, it has plug-ins to Microsoft Outlook that allow both incoming and outgoing emails to be quickly saved with their respective projects with a single click. For other types of documents, there is no need to manually move them to specific project folders, or even to add tags to them. Once the indexing system has been set up on the server, it will automatically keep track of what document belongs to what project. The application also includes the ability to markup and review 3D models and 2D drawings, a drawing compare feature that allows revisions to drawings to be easily viewed (described in this AECbytes Tips and Tricks article), the ability to search for non-graphical object data in formats like DWG and DWF, and the capability to manage and track issues to resolution and keep track of submittals and file transfers. We will explore the application in more detail in a product review next month.

Effective IT Strategies and Policies Implemented at DeSimone

DeSimone Consulting Engineers is a 200 person structural engineering firm that was founded in 1969 and has grown to five locations on both the east and west coasts of the US. It is set to open its first international office in Hong Kong this year. At the AEC Technologies conference, Shani Karasanti and Vincent Ferrara of DeSimone described the IT strategies and policies that their firm has implemented to improve its bottom line. Contrary to many AEC firms where IT is perceived as a necessary evil, as a non-revenue generating overhead, and where the IT budget is begrudged as being a bottomless pit, DeSimone is a strong believer in the importance of IT in saving time, improving workflow, and using resources effectively. To start with, it has created an integrated and standardized equipment environment so that there are identical plotter, scanner, copier, and printer configurations in all offices, making it possible to leverage these resources across multiple offices and have a single source service and maintenance agreement. The firm has invested in dual monitors for close to 30% of its workforce, finding significant improvements in productivity through their use. It looks for every opportunity to consolidate vendors for all its various requirements such as telephone system, video conferencing, helpdesk, reprographics, computer equipment, Internet service provider, software providers, and so on, in order to reduce the number of separate vendors it has to work with. It has implemented a global license management system (using an application called Keyserver) that works on top of the license managers of individual applications, allowing it to leverage licenses across the company more effectively and reduce the number it needs to buy. So, for example, it is currently using only 63 licenses of AutoCAD between 170 users, leading to significant savings, not only in cost but also in management resources.

For its core tasks of engineering design and analysis, DeSimone has invested significant resources in customizing AutoCAD using full-time in-house application developers to make it more intelligent, so that its engineers aren't working on "dumb drawings." This customized environment is called DCE-Plus and it is even supported by a full-fledged user manual and video tutorials so that employees have adequate support for learning and using it. It includes a standardized interface for AutoCAD that cannot be changed so that the application has the same look and feel in all offices. It automatically enforces the drafting standards that have been set up for the firm, and is designed to meet the day-to-day workflow requirements. All project specific details are saved in a SQL database from where they can be easily searched and retrieved. DCE-Plus also includes a Typical Detail Manager module that provides access to a typical detail library, vendor detail catalogs, and office specific details, all of which are stored in a central location available to all offices. A parametric detail generator utility automatically drafts details from user specified parameters. Other tools and utilities include architectural drawing conversion tools, concrete and steel layout utilities, a scheduling module that automates the creation of schedules in CAD, batch plotting of files, proposal to project conversion utility, drawing to sketch utility, and batch drawing and manipulation tools. Information between CAD and engineering is integrated by automatic conversion of the drawings into the structural data needed for input to analysis tools such as SAFE, ETabs, RISA, and RAM. Also included are dynamic reporting, scheduling, and estimating capabilities that can generate on-the-fly quantity take-offs and bills of materials, allowing design options to be reviewed in real time and facilitating early stage decision making and value engineering. In short, DeSimone has created an internal BIM-like environment from its use of AutoCAD, which leads to savings of 50-60% over conventional CAD drafting practices. It is also using Revit and Digital Project on some of its projects in order to collaborate better with the architects who are using these BIM applications.

For project management, another critical component of AEC technology as highlighted in the presentation by Eppstein Uhen Architects described earlier, DeSimone has again addressed it by developing an in-house custom solution. A centralized database holds all project information, including the structure (name, location, and team), the files (CAD, engineering models, calculations, and correspondence), and the time (schedule, timesheet, and billing). Custom programs have been developed to create, maintain, search, and display this data. Policy and security are enforced by naming conventions, checks on project status, and file access based on project membership. Templates have been designed for various kinds of correspondence including memos, letters, RFIs, submittals, and so on. Automated saving procedures ensure that all the information relevant to a specific project is saved in that project's folders. Custom applications have also been developed to manage timesheet entries and expense reports, which can then be automatically collated for project billing.

DeSimone is one of those rare AEC firms that has invested a significant amount of time and resources in developing a range of custom applications for various aspects of its business rather than relying only on off-the-shelf solutions. By doing this, it has achieved various benefits including improved workflow, better integration and reuse of information, improved communication, reduced drafting time, better leveraging of company resources, shorter project schedules, and reduced costs. Last but not the least, it found that the company morale was significantly boosted by the streamlined processes and efficient workflow that its IT strategies had engendered.

Other Conference Highlights

Some of the other sessions presented at the AEC Technologies Strategies conference included a discussion of how to plan and execute a large-scale technology rollout by Kristine Fallon, who runs a technology consulting firm and is the 2007 Chair of the TAP Advisory Group; an update on how BIM and CIS/2-enabled interoperability has enabled more efficient design and construction processes in the structural steel industry by Thomas Faraone of the AISC (see the AECbytes article on the CIS/2 standard); and an overview of the IFC-based buildingSMART interoperability movement and the National BIM Standards by Deke Smith, who is involved in both efforts. [For more on these topics, see the AECbytes articles, "buildingSMART (get over it)" and "Right Thinking About BIM and The National BIM Standards Committee."]

We also had Patrick McLeamy, CEO of HOK, talk about how to align technology and strategy to address some of the challenges in the building industry. The crux of his argument is that buildings today are assembled rather than built, using mostly pre-manufactured components. So, contrary to the argument that buildings are one-off creations, 75% of the buildings being constructed today are actually very similar, making the building industry more like the manufacturing industry than we care to admit. This also means that we can learn lessons from the manufacturing industry on better design, higher quality, improved efficiency, better organization, and more open information exchange—all aspects that the manufacturing industry has been working on for decades and is considerably ahead on compared to the building industry. While we cannot use standardized designs for mass production like the manufacturing industry, we do need, according to McLeamy, good design processes using standards like the IFC-based interoperability being promoted by the buildingSMART Alliance mentioned earlier. While the argument about the importance of standards and interoperability has been made before and is certainly valid, it could have been much more compelling had it been supplemented with examples showing how exactly it was being used at HOK, if at all, to address the challenges McLeamy described. Without demonstrating actual case studies of successful implementations, the case for interoperability continues to remain a theoretical rather than a practical one, even if it is made so forcefully and engagingly by the CEO of the largest architectural firm in the world.

The concluding session of the conference on what clients and building owners want from technology brought together many of the same panelists who had presented their views on BIM at the "Expotitions" meeting held in San Francisco last year (see the AECbytes article, "Use of BIM by Facility Owners: An "Expotitions" Meeting"). Some new issues that were discussed included the ownership of the model. While John Wynne of George Lucas's Skywalker Properties Ltd. didn't necessarily want the BIM model but did want AEC firms they commission to use it for improving the process and the product, both Mike Alianza of Intel Corporation and Calvin Kam of the GSA wanted ownership of the model so that it could be used for facilities management after the building was complete. In fact, Intel actually has contracts now that call for the ownership of the model and is making BIM a requirement for firms to participate in its project. As far as collaboration tools are concerned, the search is still on at Intel for a good solution. Project delivery is also changing: Skywalker Properties chooses the contractor very early on in the design process, and Intel is moving towards a design-build model. This is not yet true of the GSA, however, because federal processes take much longer to change. Interoperability once again came in for some discussion, with the GSA, in particular, emphasizing open standards and requiring IFC compatibility in the BIM applications that will be used to work on GSA projects. Despite some initial resistance to this by vendors like Autodesk, all the leading BIM applications do have this IFC certification now and can be used in GSA projects. Some concern was expressed by the panelists in this session as well as conference attendees about the recent acquisition of NavisWorks by Autodesk, given the almost ubiquitous use of the application for conflict checking and clash detection between multiple models in varying formats. While no one from Autodesk was present at the conference to offer some insights on the possible future development of NavisWorks, I think Autodesk will retain NavisWorks' current capability of supporting multiple file formats but at the same time, work on integrating it more closely with its Revit platform.

In conclusion, the AEC Technologies Strategies conference was a useful forum to learn about new technologies and their implementations, not just about BIM but also about project management and other IT issues. It was also a diverse event with representation from both architecture and engineering firms, facilitating a broader perspective and outlook on technology issues across disciplines. The only thing that was missing was an equal representation from construction firms, which would have made it a true multi-disciplinary AEC event. Hopefully, future conferences will address this shortcoming and allow it to fill the gap left behind by the A/E/C Systems conferences that folded up some years ago.

About the Author

Lachmi Khemlani is founder and editor of AECbytes. She has a Ph.D. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, specializing in intelligent building modeling, and consults and writes on AEC technology. She can be reached at lachmi@aecbytes.com.