Bringing Large-Scale PMC to the Next Level by Maximizing the Power of Autodesk Construction Cloud

ARNOLD LEDAN: Hello and welcome everybody to this Autodesk University class about bringing large-scale PMC to the next level by maximizing the power of Autodesk cloud construction. This class will be held today by Hafsa Sadaka and me.

SADAKA HAFSA: Let me introduce myself first. So I'm Sadaka Hafsa, BIM manager and civil engineer. I have been working at Egis Group for the nuclear department since 2019. I started working as a BIM manager on the HPC project, Hinckley point C project with the design team at first. Then I have joined the site support team working from UK as a BIM manager lead. And currently, I'm on some major project in the Middle East as a BIM manager always.

ARNOLD LEDAN: And me, I am Arnold Ledan. I am a BIM manager and civil engineer. So today, I'm working on the large project in infrastructure and in France and in the Middle East.

So we will start to present Egis Group, of course. Our class will be divided into two main parts. In the first part, we will look at how to harness ACC as a PMC for the rich data-driven insight. And during this part, we will define what is ACC. In each different module, which will allow, a better understanding of the second part of this class. And the second part will be about how to connect ACC to ACC connect. So we will have a chance to talk about our general workflow, and how we were able to extract the data from the different ACC module.

So let's start first by talking about Egis Group. Egis, who are we? Egis is an international engineering company, which is active in the consulting, construction, and mobility sector. Here, we have some numbers which demonstrate our strength as a group, which is based in France. Last year, we have a turnover of more than 1 billion euro. And also, we are based in France, more than 65% of our activity are international. We are positive as the number one engineering in France, the eighth in Europe, and we have more than 18,000 employees worldwide.

Our activity covers many different subjects, such sustainable city, transport, water, and energy, and go through different fields of activity, such as environment, mobility, complex structure, and digital engineering. This slide illustrates our global reach. As a people first company, we understand that the solution to the global challenge that we face today, such as the climate emergency, must also be global. With our office in many countries, we can work locally on this challenge.

So now, let's go in a little deeper into the subject and see how we can use the ACC as a PMC to obtain data-rich insights. And I will like the floor to Hafsa to present the rest of the class.

SADAKA HAFSA: Hello, everyone. So first of all, let's start by setting up the context for our class. Why did we choose as a PMC to implement the solution that we are going to talk about today?

To support the common data environment and digital construction on a major project, we were looking for a complete construction management platform with all data in one central location to streamline collaboration between the design and the construction teams and provide data-driven guidance to improve the quality of our delivered products. So that's why we decided to work with ACC and use its range of product-- Docs, Build, and Takeoff that we're going to see later. Also, given the huge amount of data that was shared throughout our project on ACC that needed to be analyzed and managed each time, we automated-- we try to automate the operation using the ACC products. But also, we try to integrate ACC connect into our workflow to save time.

So before getting to the core of our class, we will need to start by establishing some definitions. And we will start by defining the Autodesk Construction Cloud, ACC. So for anyone who doesn't have the chance to work with ACC before, here is a definition of where it is.

The Autodesk Construction Cloud, known as ACC, is a cloud platform that unifies solutions throughout the project lifecycle, providing a synergy between parties to ensure that the projects are delivered on time and on budget. For short, it's a fully unified platform that allows teams to connect data. And what I can add also for those who have already worked with BIM 360, ACC is based on the BIM 360 CDE, Common Data Environment. And it will enable the whole team to collaborate around an integrated data set as for the BIM 360. And of course, it's still in line with the ISO-19650 requirements.

As I mentioned at the beginning when talking about the context of our class, we use different ACC products. The first one is ACC Docs, which allows the user to view, organize, distribute, and share files throughout the project lifecycle, of course, but with a single document management platform. The ACC Docs interface looks like this, as you can see on the picture on the right.

The second product that we have used is ACC Build, which will enable us to combine solid project management capabilities with a powerful and simple field collaboration tools. The main functions of the software are mainly sharing the construction drawings needed for the construction and thus, tracking the work progress onsite. It allows also to organize comments and decisions and creating checklists and forms that can be used later also onsite.

The third and the last software that we have used is ACC Takeoff. This software will enable us to create competitive bids more quickly by performing more accurate 2D Takeoffs and also by generating automatic quantities from 3D models. The main function of the software is to generate quantities based on 2D drawings or/and 3D models. It may also help us to create, for some complex cases, some custom formulas to generate the Takeoff. And we can also use several predefined or customized classification systems for all the projects into this software.

So for your information, there are other ACC products. But for this class, we'll just use these three products, which fall within our scope of work. So the first one, ACC Docs, was used to track all models and documents delivered by the designer. The second one, ACC Build, was used to track construction drawings delivered by the designer. And the third one, which is ACC Takeoff, was used to track quantities in delivered models.

Again, in the same context as I mentioned at the beginning of this first part, we have integrated additionally to the ACC products, ACC Connect, into our workflow to save time but also to automate some data flows from ACC. So first, we will need also to define what is ACC Connect. Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect, called also ACC Connect, is an evolution of the PlanGrid Connect. And it will allow users to create flexible integrations without coding.

ACC Connect is powered by Workato. And it supports integration of some Autodesk platforms, such as ACC Assemble, BIM 360. And then it will allow the users to connect their platforms with other softwares and also to automate ongoing or planned data workflows in order to provide solution for some specific activities, such as sharing and tracking the progress of deliverables on the Autodesk Construction Cloud or the BIM 360, for example.

So now, let's move to some practical aspects. So that we can use ACC Connect, it needs to be linked correctly to ACC first. And then the first step is to activate ACC Connect application directly on ACC using an administrator account. And that's exactly what we're going to see into this video.

So to activate ACC Connect directly into ACC, we will need admin permissions first. And we'll need to connect through an admin account to go into Applications tab. Look for the ACC Connect application. And activate it directly into the application. It's so easy.

Now that we know how to activate ACC Connect application, we will start learning a little more about using this tool. And so to create instructions that automate workflows using ACC Connect, the user will need to manipulate two main things-- connections and recipes. And we need to define what is connections into ACC Connect, and what are recipes into ACC Connect. The connections will secure access to applications, such as ACC, SharePoint, SQL servers, et cetera. And each connector includes authentication methods and will provide access to these applications and other services.

The recipes are user-developed automated workflows that can cover multiple applications to accomplish a specific purpose, such as extracting data from ACC and storing it, for example, on a database server. So now, we'll look at two demonstration of how to create a connection, and how to introduce an easy recipe into ACC Connect.

To create a connection or even a recipe using ACC Connect, we'll need to start by opening the Workato platform and also by creating a working folder. And then to introduce a connection, we'll need to click after that on Create and choose the Connection option. Then we'll search for the connector we want to use. In our case, we'll select the ACC Connector.

Then we'll click on the Connect button to establish the connection. And finally, you can check the connection status based on the message shown in the screen. Now we have just seen how to create a connection. Let's see how to create a recipe.

So to create a recipe, we'll need first to navigate to the Assets and select our working folder. And then we will need to click on Create Select Recipe. We have to enter after that the name of the recipe. And then click on Start Building.

The next step is to set up the trigger. In our case, we'll choose the ACC Trigger New or Updated Objects in ACC. And after that, we will have to fill in the necessary information to connect to the folder the user wants to track, like the account name, which is the hub, the project name. We'll need to select which folder we want to track on ACC. And we'll need also to choose if we want to track sub-folders also or not. And finally, we'll need to establish a frequency of automated reset launch.

So let's say that we are now quite familiar with how to create a connection and also with the principle of creating a recipe. In this class, we will look in detail at the creation and the use of four recipes. The first one is about uploading all ACC data into a SQL database.

The second one is about tracking all documents added or updated in ACC Docs and loading them into a SQL database. The third one is about uploading all ACC Build data into a SQL database. And then the last one is about uploading the Takeoff inventories data into the SQL database.

So we have just finished with the first part of our class. And now, we'll move to the second part on how to achieve the four recipes that I have just mentioned. So to address our need, we have pre-established a workflow. The aim of this workflow was to exploit the data published by the designer in the various ACC applications-- Docs, Build, and Takeoff. Then we're going to use ACC Connect to extract the data automatically on a weekly basis. Throw the recipes and connections created on it, of course. This data will be then stored in a SQL server and displayed on a Power BI dashboard, which is also communicated to our client to monitor the design's progress.

So let's start with the first recipe about uploading ACC Docs data into the SQL database. Briefly, to summarize the workflow, we will start by extracting ACC Docs data using ACC Connect, saving them in a SQL server database so that they can be easily exploited and analyzed directly on Power BI. You will see that, in general, all the other recipes will follow the same workflow.

However, before starting the data extraction from ACC Docs, there are a few points to bear in mind that are very important. The first point is regarding the folder organization into ACC Docs. So it's very important to properly organize the folder hierarchy and to ensure that there are a few sub-folders into the ACC Docs. Why? Because the number of sub-folders has an impact on data extraction time and also on the performance of the ACC Connect recipe.

The second point is about the file naming. It's also very important to respect a naming convention, which will make later the data processing on Power BI much more easier. And the last point is we need to define a frequency for updating files on ACC Docs, which will make it easier to set up the trigger on the recipe. And also, it will enable us to achieve reliable automatic extraction.

This first recipe will consist of two main parts. The first part will enable us to extract all the data linked to the folders on ACC Docs. Main trigger that allows us to extract this data is the following GET FOLDER CONTENT. This trigger was created based on the ACC API that are available into the Autodesk Platform Services and more precisely, by using this following GET request. We will try to get a closer look into this Autodesk Platform Service, especially this GET request.

So this is the GET request that is used. And here into the APS platform, you will find all details needed to create any ACC trigger. And you will see that APS was used for all the other recipes.

The second part of the recipe will check whether the folders contains files and then extracts their respective data. So it will just extract the file data stored into each folder. The main trigger that allows us to extract this data is the following, GET FILES. And it was also created based on the ACC API and more precisely, using this GET request that you can find also in APS with all its detail.

So the following video will summarize how the recipe works. So for our demo, let's first check how many files we have on ACC. In our case, we have 44 files. And normally we should find the same number after that extraction.

Now, let's launch the ACC recipe to upload all data to the SQL database. To launch a recipe, we will need to click on Start Recipe. And when the recipe is finished, we will just stop it by clicking on Stop Recipe.

And now, let's switch to the SQL database to check that all the information have been correctly uploaded. We can now see that all the 44 files have been successfully uploaded. And we can later retrieve this information on the Power BI dashboard also.

So here we will find the same number of files with all the data that we have retrieved. We won't go into too much detail about the Power BI for lack of time, but just to give you an example of the dashboard we created. So this dashboard will enable us to have some indicators and to track deliverables so we can see the number of files that were delivered per date. You can see here the timeline.

We can have a specific information, like the number of IFCs that were delivered, number of NWD files delivered. And we can also filter per discipline. So each team can have the information needed separately.

So once all the Docs that have been uploaded, it's time to track updates and new files into ACC Docs. The second recipe then will consist of tracking all the new and updated items. As with the recipe number one, the data can be stored in a database SQL server. And it will be displayed also in a Power BI dashboard.

So this recipe is quite simple and consists of a first trigger available by default in Workato called New or Updated Document. This trigger is used to track any document added or updated in the selected ACC project. And then once the document has been detected, the second trigger will extract all the data linked to the added or updated document. And then the third trigger is used to store the data in the SQL database in the corresponding table. And the last one will just stop the recipe after that.

So the following video will also summarize how the recipe works. So let's start first by importing a new file on ACC. Then we'll open Workato and launch the recipe. And you will see that the recipe will automatically detect the new file and extract its data.

So you can see here that the file has been detected automatically. And once the recipe has been completed, we can check in the database whether the information has been uploaded successfully or not. And you can see also here that we can find this same file here with all the corresponding data already extracted. So we have just finished now with the ACC Docs. Let's move now to ACC Build.

The aim of this third recipe, let's say, is to extract from ACC Build all the data in order to track the drawing delivery. So as for the previous recipes, the data will be stored into a SQL database and also powered by Power BI after that. And to extract the information from ACC Build, we'll use a recipe based mainly on a customized trigger that we have created based on the ACC API, this one.

And this trigger is based on this GET request that we can check also on the APS platform right now. So this is the GET request that we have used. And here you can usually find a small description about the GET request used.

So the recipe also contains another trigger which you may have seen in previous recipes also, but we will take a closer look at it here. It's a SQL server trigger, this one, that inserts a row into a table in the SQL database. It's a trigger that is already existing by default on the Workato.

And as you can see here on the top right, this trigger will connect to the database using the connection previously created to access our SQL server. Additionally, of creating an ACC connector before starting this recipe, we have also created a SQL server connector. And once connected to our database, it will allow us to choose the table and the correspondence between the table columns and the ACC data to be inserted on.

Always, as with the other recipes, the final results can be visualized on a Power BI via dashboard. That is given some indicators on construction drawings that we can see directly from here. So we can have information about the number of construction drawings that were delivered. We can also filter them by discipline or by date of creation also or by building. It depends on the project also. And here, into the list we can have more information, such as the version of the drawing, et cetera.

Moving on now to the last recipe for extracting data from ACC Takeoff. The aim of this recipe is to extract all the data from the Takeoff inventory. And to achieve this, there are also a few points to bear in mind before starting the recipe that you can find also in the handout report in detail. So it's important before starting this recipe to create packages on ACC Takeoff with a maximum of 10,000 objects per package.

And we have also to follow a classification and to integrate a classification system into the models before starting the takeoff. And the last point, which is very important also is you need to avoid having duplicate families with different names. And after that, so we can start our recipe, in order to extract all the information properly we will need to follow a specific sequence.

We need to start by extracting all packaged data. Then we'll extract type data for each package and then finally the items data for each type. So we are going to build a sort of linked recipes, so this recipe four, will involve two other integrated recipes-- the first one to extract package information and the second one to extract type information. And the principal one, which is recipe four, will extract items information based on those two recipes.

So as I have just said, to extract information from all the objects in a model, we'll need to start by extracting the packages information. Packages are folders created by the user, as you can see in the top right-hand corner, which allow objects to be classified by any desired category. And to do so, we are going to create a recipe that will be called by the main recipe for later. We'll see this later. And it will use a main trigger to extract the package's information. This trigger was also created based on the ACC API and more precisely using the following GET request-- this one that you will find also in the APS platform.

And once we have extracted all the information that's related to the packages, we'll need to extract now the types information created into each package. To do this, we are going to create a second recipe, which will be also called by the main recipe later, and we'll see this. And which will allow us to extract all the type data created in each package. So this recipe had a main trigger, which is used to extract data from types. It's also a custom ACC trigger also based on the ACC API, more precisely by using this GET request.

So moving on now to the most important part, which is the creation of the main recipe for extracting the data linked to all the elements in the model. This recipe will be made up of two parts. The first will enable us to call up the two recipes we have just created-- the first one to extract information from packages and the second one to extract type information.

And once the information about the packages and types containing the model elements is available, we can now start extracting the data for the model objects. So the object and the model are listed in the inventory of the ACC Takeoff module by types and packages, as you can see in the image at the top right. And to do so-- to do the extraction, we're going to use a custom ACC trigger also that is based on ACC API and more precisely, this GET request.

So now, as with all the other recipes, the information can be used with Power BI more easily. And we can see different indicators, like those ones that I will share with you right now. Number of objects into each deliverable. We can filter, for example, per package. And we can also filter per type object. And here, we can have a total of volume per type and also per item. We can have it also per package. So it will deliver too many important information about quantities directly accessible from the Power BI.

So we are coming to the end of this class. That's all for me. I hope I haven't been too boring. And I'm going to give the floor to Arnold so that he can end this class with a conclusion.

ARNOLD LEDAN: Yes, thank you. Thank you, Hafsa. So for the conclusion, so we understand ACC Connect allows you to automate many process, and also ACC Connect now allow us to update in the dashboard in a minimum time to respond as a customer request. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you.