Scenario VPD Blog

Big Data & Byte Sized Software

Scenario — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:31:36 +0000

Post by Paolo Hilario -

Recently, I have had the opportunity to talk to wide spectrum of people within the AEC/FM community. From projects using Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Lean Construction, and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) in its full glory to project teams utilizing Building Information Models (BIM) for the first time. The primary goal of these new project delivery methodologies of course is to increase productivity and reduce waste, and many of these projects have already seen the benefits from reduced change orders, RFI’s, cost, schedules, and more efficient O&M for facilities. However, it seems that many individuals on the project team do not perceive they are getting the personal productivity gains they expect from these new processes & technologies; depending on their role on a project they actually see an increase in the amount of work they need to perform in order to accommodate them. This may explain the reluctance of many people to adopt these new processes and the resistance you may encounter when championing these initiatives within your own organization.

There may be a large return on investment for your project and/or your organization, but individuals on your team are also doing their own ROI calculations as well. That cost to benefit ratio is based on their investment of time and the results they get in return for their effort. In many cases this new and plentiful data is perceived by many as less accessible than before; high costs, difficult deployments, steep learning curves, and scattered data in many different applications and systems keep these new processes and systems from proliferating as they should.

The goal is increased productivity, quality collaborative interactions, and the ability to quickly deliver data to people on the project team so they can make better decisions with pertinent and current information. I believe we would see greater gains in productivity and adoption with an abundance of low cost, easy to use, specialized applications tailored to the roles of individuals on our project teams. These simple applications could be networked, interoperable, and connected to a central multipurpose platform capable of handling the data and communication needs of a project during all phases of design, construction, and O&M. Though the data stores could be massive and the system itself complex, using a combination of applications people already use, light weight web clients, simple desktop applications, and mobile devices; the user experience could be simple and elegant. Simple, powerful, interconnected applications designed with people in mind… imagine that.

Is BIM the New Standard of Care?

Scenario — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:43:50 +0000

Is BIM the New Standard of Care?

Forensic BIM, BIM as the new standard of care for designers and BIM as a risk management tool took center stage as Salmon and Camps teamed up to settle a recent construction dispute. The two will share insights regarding use of BIM in a traditional legal dispute and their vision for use of BIM on integrated projects.

Camps will explain how Integrated Project Lifecycle Management (IPLM), delivers fully functional digital assets to owners. Project information in an IPLM environment is available to the entire team via a common technology infrastructure which binds the team, digitally represents the building and fosters a collaborative culture. This culminates in increased efficiency, lower costs and faster completion.

Salmon will discuss BIM as an emerging standard of care and the basic legal framework required to deploy IPLM, BIM and lean processes effectively. Salmon will focus on the nature of integrated agreements, negotiating deals rather than disputes, allocating and managing risk effectively and other legal mechanisms critical to collaborative success and intelligent use of BIM.

A 40-minute discussion period will allow meaningful interaction on specific legal hurdles and technical difficulties in the Middle East and elsewhere. Please contact James Salmon for more information.

Integrated Information Delivery for the AEC Industry

Paolo Hilario — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:45:22 +0000

“Integrated Project Delivery, is a collaborative alliance of people, systems, business structures and practices into a process that harnesses the talents and insights of all participants to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction”[1]

There is a great deal of commonality between bringing AEC/FM software companies together to provide inter-operable products and utilizing Integrated Project Delivery to deliver a construction project. Using this analogy, one could compare a building comprised of its component systems that are designed, fabricated and constructed by various stakeholders to information generated by the specialized applications of industry technology providers [see image below].

Architects, Engineers, and Contractors strive to collaborate on a Project in order to maximize the value to the Owner, so should technology providers strive to increase the value of the information our products generate by reducing waste and maximizing efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, construction, and maintenance. Integrated Project Delivery utilizes collaborative incentives to align the interests, objectives, and practices of its stakeholders in order to deliver a construction project with greater efficacy. Integrated Information Delivery within the software industry could provide the same incentives and encourage software vendors to shift from providing individual products to delivering a business service that better supports the needs of the project team throughout the entire building life cycle.[2]

Sources:

1. AIA Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide

2. IBM Integrated Product Delivery Framework

The Cloud : Hope or Hype?

Paolo Hilario — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:43:35 +0000

Based on the many presentations I have seen, various industry blogs, and conversations I have had with others in the AEC industry… there seem to be many mis-conceptions regarding cloud computing and how it applies to the AEC industry. There is an overwhelming din of marketing buzz surrounding cloud computing but little in the way of concrete examples of how it applies to our industry. In this article, we will try to approach cloud computing with an objective and realistic view of how this new technology may impact the AEC industry. Though cloud computing has the potential to solve some of the technical issues centered around interoperability and collaboration, it also may also introduce new risks to our existing business practices we may not be prepared for.

What is Cloud Computing?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology defines Cloud Computing as, “… a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction” (NIST)

To put it simply, you could view Cloud Service Providers (CSP) as you would a new type of utility company, the CSP’s maintain the infrastructure necessary to provide computing resources to companies and individuals. In the truest sense Cloud Computing is the infrastructure itself, interestingly enough it is the AEC industry that has built these data centers and laid in the massive network of fiber-optic cables that has made this paradigm shift in the IT industry possible. This provides consumers of Cloud Computing resources access to vast amounts of storage space, computing power, broad network access, scalability, and redundancy without having to build and manage the facilities and hardware required to maintain these services. The NIST also provides a brief description of the three service models and four deployment types which is explained in greater detail below.

Cloud Service Models:

Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) : Probably the most common of the three service models, which lead many to believe that Software as a Service (SaaS) is Cloud Computing. In reality it is only one way to utilize Cloud Computing and as it is one of the easiest to develop and deploy, it represents the majority of cloud based solutions at present. Many software companies with SaaS based offerings are marketing their software to the AEC industry as “Cloud”, further reinforcing this misconception. In this service model, the application and it’s data is hosted centrally in the the cloud infrastructure and accessed by users over the internet, commonly through web browsers or desktop applications. SalesForce, Huddle, Evernote, and DropBox are just a few examples of SaaS software.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) : Commonly mistaken for SaaS, Platform as a Service (PaaS) is actually more of a cloud based development environment that allows people to quickly develop, test, and deploy SaaS applications. Examples of this are Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine, and Amazon Beanstalk. This is more commonly utilized by software companies, developers, and businesses; allowing them to deploy applications to end users using without having to build out the hardware infrastructure necessary to host them.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) : Infrastructure as a Service is actually the most common of the three service types and is currently being used by companies across many industries. Sometimes referred to as co-location, this allows companies to utilize off-site computing resources provided by a 3rd party to maintain some or all of their server infrastructure. These resources are commonly provisioned from a pool of commodity hardware by way of virtualization, allowing consumers to provision and pay for the computing resources they use based on their current business needs. This gives consumers access to scalable Cloud Computing resources with little to no up-front costs while allowing them to manage their servers directly through VPN or Web Based Interfaces. Some IaaS providers include Amazon EC2, Rackspace, VMware, and GoGrid just to name a few.

Cloud Deployment Types:

Public Cloud : Self-service provisioning of cloud resources over the internet via web applications and web services.

Community Cloud : Multiple organizations sharing common cloud resources sometimes referred to as a mutli-tenant private cloud. An example of this is GovCloud, allowing government agencies to utilize cloud resources but with higher level of privacy, security standards, and/or policy compliance.

Private Cloud : Also referred to server virtualization or a single tenant cloud, typically used by larger companies with multiple locations to centralize their IT infrastructure and use a pooled hardware resources to serve the needs of their organization. This still requires the company to build and maintain their private data center but allows them all the advantages of cloud computing such as self-service, scalability, and elasticity. Microsoft’s Hyper-Vand VMware vCloud are some of the popular virtualization technologies being used by IT Professionals to deploy and maintain these private clouds.

Hybrid Cloud : Gaining popularity is the concept of Hybrid Clouds or “Composite” Cloud Services where IT professionals are utilizing an combination of public, community, and private cloud services to meet the needs of thier organizations.

A common mis-conception of cloud services is that they are inherently less secure than private networks or private clouds. The infrastructure of public clouds are immense, highly redundant, and the security hardware and software that is implemented are the best money can buy… managed by the brightest minds specialized in network security. Common IT practices for private networks within an average organization in the AEC industry pale by comparison, malicious intrusions into private networks are far easier to achieve than one’s hosted in the cloud.

Why Use Cloud Computing?

There are several advantages to using cloud computing within the AEC industry from both a business and technical vantage point. The AEC Industry’s business environment is primarily project based and most of our organizational business practices from accounting, operations, to human resources is better aligned with the service based cloud computing business model. Our projects also require us to enter into transient partnerships with other organizations for the duration of a project, getting the project team to effectively collaborate and share information becomes a new challenge every time a new project begins. Also, the phased based nature of our projects adds yet another dimension of complexity, as the level of involvement of the various stakeholders wax and wane over the course of the project. However, the majority of the software applications available to us in the AEC Industry are monolithic enterprise solutions which are expensive to deploy and maintain, require involved training, are organization specific, and still remain disconnected silos of information. In many cases, the software application and the hardware required to support them are tools used by a few people within your organization for specific projects, yet they are expenses that go into the General Ledger.

Cloud Computing would allow our industry to take advantage of the Cloud’s self-service application business model where project teams can use what they need to meet their project objectives. This would give project team members easier access to software applications that are being used on their specific projects and removes some of the barriers that exist between dynamic project based needs and a static organization based infrastructure. Members of the project team across multiple organizations would be able to use the same applications solving many of the problems surrounding interoperability, collaboration, and communication on an as need basis. Companies will be able to see this paradigm shift affect their bottom line positively as well, and in the context of the present economic state of the AEC industry… anything that can help us achieve better profit margins by reducing costs would be advantageous to our entire ecosystem.

For other pragmatists out there like myself, I do have to caution that this new technology CANNOT work without new legal frameworks that address the information technology aspects of our projects. As we have seen over the last decade as new technology and processes such as BIM, VDC, IPD, and LEAN have begun to gain momentum within our industry that many of us are still scratching our heads regarding their legal implications. Many industry groups such as the AIA and the AGC as well as members within our Legal and Insurance communities are still working hard on the problem, but regardless whether your projects are multi-party, CM at-Risk, and/or Design-Build this new technology will undoubtedly affect our entire industry.

How Can We Use Cloud Computing?

This is ultimately up to the AEC Industry as a whole through the phenomenon known as “dollar voting”. We have already seen this at work in the consumer software market with the Apple and Android revolution which is a wholly consumer driven marketplace. Of course the AEC software industry giants are already hard at work developing, purchasing, and marketing their own Cloud Based solutions. We can only guess at we will see emerge and survive in this burgeoning new marketplace, but there are areas that I believe will be hot-spots of activity in the next few years (in no particular order).

Hybrid Clouds : Currently, the downturn we have experienced in the AEC industry is forcing us to cut spending wherever possible. One of these areas is IT infrastructure and personnel, fewer IT staff are needed to maintain Hybrid IT strategies and many companies are beginning to offload their at least some of their server infrastructure to IaaS providers.

SaaS Applications : I suspect this will manifest itself in the form of web based services to facilitate basic project needs such as file storage, communication, and collaboration tools. Many in our industry are using readily available commercial applications such asSkype, DropBox, and Huddle are already starting to become common software tools. We are beginning to see SaaS applications that are targeting the AEC Industry and will gain greater momentum over the next few years.

Hybrid SaaS/Enterprise : The specialized, and currently entrenched enterprise software that many of us in the AEC industry use today will begin to offer cloud based versions of their software along side their traditional offerings. Many software companies are already doing so, for others it may take some time as some software (and their respective business models) are easier to adapt to a cloud based environment than others.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) : I suspect slower growth in this area as it is the most complex of the offerings, but possibly the real hope behind true interoperability. I would dare say that it is the most likely area of the AEC cloud market which could give rise to the currently elusive BIM Server. Possibly even offer a way for AEC software applications to no longer exist as isolated silos of information and functionality but as an ecosystem of applications that can be leveraged to achieve true Building Life-cycle Management from requirements generation all the way to decommissioning.

Conclusions

Yes cloud computing is here now, will be here to stay, and gaining greater momentum in other vertical industries as well as the commercial market. I know with great certainty that within the software industry, companies are gearing up for this shift in the way that applications are developed and deployed to their end users. We are hiring more programmers that have experience with cloud services, applications, and web services; software developers are retraining themselves in the programming languages that are common to the new cloud space such as C#, .NET, Java, and Ruby. The technology is very real… and there lies the hope.

So what does all this marketing buzz (the hype) around cloud computing and all the software jargon really mean for us in the AEC Industry? Not much really, as far as we are concerned it is business as usual as we are all still focused on doing what we do best… the design and construction of buildings. Within the next few years we will have better, faster, and cheaper tools at our disposal to design, construct, plan, analyse, communicate, store information, and collaborate more effectively. In the mean time, try a few of the existing cloud based offerings that you might find helpful on your projects and begin contemplating how cloud computing might be leveraged to benefit your organization or its clients.