Interoperability within AECO information systems

Solving the productivity puzzle with interoperability

In 1998, Sir John Egan published his report ‘Rethinking Construction’, where he called on the industry to develop integrated project processes and supply chains, refocus on quality, and create a commitment to its people, their safety and their working environment.

Over the last 25 years, many other reports have highlighted productivity and efficiency problems within the AECO sector. The industry has been the slowest to embrace digitalisation and, consequently, has not seen the level of transformation witnessed in other sectors like manufacturing and financial sectors.

The world has changed dramatically since the Egan report was first published. A prime example is the technology landscape.

Technology has transformed exponentially in the last 25 years

In 1998, connecting to the internet required a dial-up modem operating at speeds of 56Kps. Today, a fibre connection gives you up to 900Mbs. That’s over 2000 times faster.

In the same year, the best-selling mobile phone was the Nokia 5110. It had no camera, stored 250 contacts on a sim and shipped with a game called Snake. Now, the latest iPhone is millions of times more powerful than the computer systems that landed apollo 11 on the moon.

Technology has seen a truly transformational change over the last 25 years and has been the catalyst for innovation we couldn’t begin to imagine in 1998.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning may seem like technologies of the future but they are here today. Everyone with a mobile phone can use it right now. Just go to your photo album and search for “dog” or “beach” or “snow”; ML or machine learning is the technology showing you the pictures.

How has AECO fared since 1998?

In 2008, 10 years after the release of his original report, Sir Robert Egan delivered a speech, giving the industry ‘4 out of 10’ for trying. Almost a decade later, McKinsey Global Institute published Reinventing Construction - A route to higher productivity. The report found that the construction industry still has an intractable productivity problem. While sectors such as retail and manufacturing have reinvented themselves, construction seems stuck in a time warp.

Global labour-productivity growth in construction has averaged only 1 per cent a year over the past two decades, compared with growth of 2.8 per cent for the world economy and 3.6 per cent in manufacturing.

MGI’s report highlighted several key aspects that collectively have the potential to deliver significant transformation in productivity. These included:

1. Reshape regulation

2. Rewire contractual frameworks

3. Rethink design and engineering

4. Improve procurement and supply chain management

5. Improve onsite execution

6. Infuse digital technologies, new materials and advanced automation

7. Reskill the workforce

Solving the productivity and efficiency challenges within the AECO requires a multifaceted approach. Still, there is a consistent view across the industry that digitalisation, advanced automation and technology are essential enablers of change.

Independence, Interdependence & Synergistic Information Management

There are many well-established businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs that are applying new paradigms in an attempt to solve the AECO productivity problem. Spend a day walking the floor of any construction technology event and you will see robotic automation, machine learning, and reality capture. You will find mobile and wearable technology, biometrics, big data, virtual and augmented reality, drones, and many software platforms that aim to connect and unify data and information systems.

In his book ‘7 Habits of highly effective people’, Stephen Covey talks about the power of synergy. It’s the magic that happens when an aligned collective endeavour in pursuit of a common cause is capable of creating value that is greater than the sum of its parts. I believe you can apply the same synergy concept to technology and information management, and we see this perspective in software platforms.

An Independent System understands its own world and is self-contained.

A ‘Project Cost System’ deals with costs-related transactions, invoices and purchase transitions. It can deliver project budget variations and is incredibly valuable to the teams managing project costs. But the ’Project Cost’ system has no concept of ‘Project Quality’.

The ‘Project Quality’ system provides the tools that allow you to manage inspections, tasks and process control events far more effectively than pen and paper. It ensures that the team responsible for project quality has the information they need to make informed decisions. But the ‘Project Quality’ system has no concept of ‘Project Schedule’.

An Interdependent System can communicate and transact with another system. The level of complexity and sophistication of this transaction can vary. Its simplest could be a point-topoint exchange of data like an import/export mechanism or via an interface like an API. For example, the project quality system may read a list of project locations that you defined in the digital model or BIM. This creates a connection between the two interdependent systems and enforces the data integrity needed for business analysis and intelligence.

Synergistic Systems focus on interconnectivity and interoperability characteristics. They are designed to bring independent systems into an interconnected ecosystem and deal with the complexities of how that happens.

These synergistic systems aim to create value greater than the sum of the parts and create new insights that would not be possible outside of the connected ecosystem. Synergistic systems are frequently known as Platforms.

The Platform in your Pocket – Data Flow, not Data Silo

The term software platform has become popular in recent years, but what exactly is a platform, and why should you use one?

Everyone has a platform in their pocket! Both Apple and Google manufacture mobile phone operating systems that function as platforms. If you’re using a phone that runs iOS or Android, you’re operating a platform. Surely, you wouldn’t want to go back to a Nokia 5110 Platforms have several fundamental characteristics:

1. A platform has core capabilities built-in. For example, your phone’s control panel where you connect to Wi-Fi networks or attach Bluetooth devices.

2. It allows third-party companies to build and publish applications on the platform. For example, you may decide to start using the default calendar application on your phone, but you are free to install and use an alternative calendar app. This plug-and-play philosophy is part of a platform’s DNA.

3. Everything works, just like magic. No worrying about signing into your application because the platform deals with that. No configuration, no setup, everything just works.

4. Platforms create eco-systems, communities and marketplaces and encourage mass adoption, innovation and network effects.

5. Platforms enable synergy, where the value of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Data Interoperability – The importance of industry standards within AECO

Apple and Google can create platforms with unprecedented application interconnectivity and ease of use because they have defined the standards for data and interoperability between the platform and its applications.

If you want to build a new calendar application, you follow the standards and data schema defined. If you don’t, it’s unlikely your app will gain a following and compete with the best app on the marketplace.

Many of my early days in construction technology were focused on developing mobile applications used for quality control, management and compliance within a live construction project environment.

If you’ve worked in a project environment, you’ll be familiar with the idea of a snag list or punch list. It’s a simple record, transaction and process. Tell ‘someone’ to go ‘somewhere’ and do ‘something’ the defect management system ensures that the corrective action is managed through a defined process or workflow. The relevant information can be surfaced, analysed and reported by the project.

Driving data integrity into the process is essential for meaningful enterprise business intelligence, although not necessarily critical to getting the job done at the tactical (project) level.

At the tactical level, the project manager may be delighted that there is a managed process that the project follows. It saves time and provides essential information about subcontractor performance.

But, if the enterprise needs to understand its global performance concerning defects by trade across its organisation, things get complicated when standards haven’t been defined and applied. Let’s say we have a standard process but not a standard naming convention. One project calls the decorator trade ‘Decorator’, another ‘Painter’, ‘Painter & Decorator’, ‘Internal Finishes’, and on it goes. Without human intervention and data updates, the business doesn’t get answers to broader strategic questions.

This is a simple but very relevant example of the importance of naming conventions and standards. It shows the impact poor data can have on the ability of platforms to deliver meaningful business intelligence to the broader enterprise and facilitate interoperability.

Industry Standards enable interoperability

Since the release of the Egan report almost 25 years ago, many organisations have made a colossal effort to define and publish industry standards that will drive interoperability. There’s also been much debate relating to ambitions and value.

In my opinion, embracing industry standards will provide the optimum data environment for consumers of AECO Platform products. I suggest that Platform vendors consider baking standards into their platform core assets. Adoption of Industry standards like IFC, Uniclass, ISO19650, COBIE, BCF, and many more are essential foundations for platform and application interoperability.

Archdesk

Archdesk is a modern cloud-based management software created for the construction market.

We support companies with advanced management solutions tailored to your business-specific needs. Thanks to our expertise in this market, state-of-the-art technology and ERP systems, we deliver an ‘out-of-the-box’ platform.

Archdesk is flexible enough to optimise your workflows, automate your processes, and streamline your communication for your projects and stakeholders while keeping your IT security compliant.

In addition, Archdesk connects your team to real-time information across any device, at any time, anywhere you have internet due to our system’s unique infrastructure with no interruptions. Moreover, our API and multiple deployment options allow high integrability with existing solutions, databases, and IT infrastructure.