Connected Construction: Integrate Your Design with Construction

KEVIN FORSYTH: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the industry talk on Connected Construction, Integrate Your Design With Construction. This a safe harbor statement. I will let you read that at your leisure. Introductions.

My name is Kevin, and I work for Honeywell within the building technologies project delivery team. A little bit about myself, I started my adult life in the Royal Navy working on weapon platforms and weapon direction systems with a little bit of satellite comms thrown in for good measure. For the past 30 years, I've worked in the construction industry implementing converged networks and integrated control solutions for buildings.

So I am an engineer at heart, but crucially, if the engineers on site see me with a screwdriver, they will disarm me. Today, my presentation partner is Shashwat, who simply is my guru in all things Autodesk Construction Cloud.

SHASHWAT BHARDWAJ: Hello, everyone, and thank you, Kevin, for that kind introduction. It's an absolute pleasure to be here with you all today. As Kevin mentioned, I've had the privilege of working with him, and together, we have explored the incredible capabilities of Autodesk Construction Cloud.

My name is Shashwat Bharadwaj, principal implementation consultant working with Autodesk from past five years, assisting Autodesk customers in changing how the world is designed and made. I'm based out of Bangalore, India, and before joining Autodesk, I've worked in power plant design industry as a structural engineer. Over to you, Kevin.

KEVIN FORSYTH: Why did we choose this topic? Over the past few years, my focus has gravitated towards finding effective methods to manage the flow of information from the design team through the project delivery phase all the way to project handover. Far too often, I've witnessed instances where the incorrect data or inconsistencies in the model have resulted in errors and persistent issues on the construction side.

Our hope is, by the end of this session, Shashwat and I will have shared our efforts in bridging the information gaps between these teams, shedding light on our journey to address these challenges.

So today's agenda, I won't bore you with reading out every one, but the theme for today is all about connecting teams with information by embracing a unified data environment, essentially establishing a single source of truth via connected construction. So let's begin. Let me share my motivation for embracing a unified data environment.

It's all about streamlining data exchange amongst teams within the construction field and to minimize the errors. This, in turn, enables our project managers to allocate the time more efficiently, focusing on areas that truly demand their attention rather than dealing with multiple resource plans, uncoordinated coordination meetings, and the such like.

Now, this is where I work within Honeywell building technologies, and simply put, we bring buildings to life. You've probably seen this slide before. Today, we're [INAUDIBLE] unified data across the build element of the ACC capabilities, effectively the ones highlighted in green, and also, you can see here, the project stages.

We're looking at, today is the data flow from the design through to handover and how we can use Autodesk Construction Cloud to help share the installation and [INAUDIBLE] data with the client from day one, so everyone is using the single source of truth. Now, I'll pass over to Shashwat, where he will talk about how we implemented ACC in our project.

SHASHWAT BHARDWAJ: Thank you, Kevin. Let's dive into the world of connecting design to construction, or connected construction, the central theme of our class. This concept revolves around harnessing digital technologies and data driven processes to amplify collaboration, efficiency, and productivity. Honeywell achieved this by leveraging Autodesk Construction Cloud.

In this workflow, what you are seeing on your screen, we witness the convergence of diverse data sources. Design data originating from AutoCAD, Revit models, and 2D sheets seamlessly blends with construction data, including project assets, check sheets, and issue tracking, all centralized within ACC, which has become the singular source of truth for the project.

The Autodesk platform services forms the robust backbone for ACC, enabling us to extract critical data and glean invaluable project insights. In the upcoming slides, Kevin will provide a detailed explanation of how we accomplish this remarkable feat. Get ready to be inspired and enlightened as we delve deeper into the world of connecting design to construction. The stage is all yours, Kevin.

KEVIN FORSYTH: Why did you add that last sentence in? I'll try and enlighten you all. So where do we start? We start by ensuring that everyone is using the same model and naming convention, and that's the client's model.

We have had several projects in the past where people make their own copy and start inputting data in there, but then which model is correct? So you've got to use the client model to harness all of the data you need. So we tag individual assets, for example, a card reader on a door or fan coil unit. We need to connect them to the correct systems, so access control for the card reader, BMS system for the fan coil controller.

We're then able to connect individual assets in a way that we can actually see the systems they're actually connected to. We then utilize the bridge function to produce a virtual environment where Honeywell can use data from the installation and commissioning teams, link it to the asset.

But crucially, all the data for the assets and what they're connected to are held within the client hub. This, then, allows ACC to be the single source of truth for the project for all the systems which we put into the Construction Cloud.

So we've put all the data into the client's model. We've then transferred that data into our environment. We then can collect the asset information, but how does that work in the construction field? Let's now look at the elements within the Construction Cloud individually to see how we're pulling all the information from the construction teams into this platform.

Within the client model, all of the individual assets are linked to system panels. Then we can link the installation and commissioning paperwork to that panel, and you see the drawing on the screen there. Because we've linked the individual assets to a panel, we can highlight those in the model and then print off individual drawings just for those groups of assets. The project team can then assign tasks to teams or engineers that will complete that task.

So utilizing software that's on tablets, the teams can view drawings associated with the assets, update the paperwork within the platform to show completion, or if they can't complete the works, they can actually issue a delay notice themselves to the project team, and this is all in real time data. They can also attach photographs to the record, which is also assigned to that asset.

So as the teams progress through the project, the installation and the commissioning phase of the project, the engineers are collating the data within the platform. This is all real time. There's no filling out of paperwork and leaving them on someone's desk or within the panel on site. We get it real time as they complete the tasks, and this can be viewed on the dashboard by location, system, asset, status, whichever way you want to look at it, we can cut the data.

And lastly, what benefit does the client get from this? They get information from a single source dashboard, and they've got the ability to actually drill down across the systems as well. And if they want to, they can actually print off the individual records.

SHASHWAT BHARDWAJ: Thank you, Kevin. As all the design and construction data what Kevin talked about in the previous slide is in the digital format, we can harness its potential to capture the valuable project insights. This can be achieved through the use of a [INAUDIBLE] service known as Data Connector.

The Data Connector is built on top of Autodesk platform services and offers the flexibility of setting the data extraction frequency even daily if needed. We can generate comprehensive reports using Power BI and also access project insights within ACC. In today's world, the data is the ultimate treasure. The Data Connector serves as the key to unlock this goldmine.

To summarize, as we discussed earlier in the context of connected construction, Honeywell connected design to construction by leveraging ACC and created a unified environment. This unification of data not only empowers the real time project control, but also facilitates external third parties in accessing records and dashboards within the most up to date information available.

Honeywell is able to accomplish all of this by making the data at the heart of its operations and crafting seamless workflows that revolve around it. This is the very essence of what we call the true connected construction. In the next section, Kevin will talk about how data driven workflows help to enhance operational efficiency, reduce errors, and mitigate risk at Honeywell.

KEVIN FORSYTH: So there must be a benefit to using Autodesk Construction Cloud. We need to reduce the errors because, when you introduce errors in the data, you introduce errors in the construction side. By using Autodesk Construction Cloud, we actually reduce the errors between the teams, and we mitigate the risks.

By utilizing various components of Autodesk to create a common data environment, you're essentially bridging the gaps between areas that are typically managed by different teams. This is not only fostered collaboration, but also establishes a clear audit trail for tracking change. This approach leverages the data stored within the client model, promoting consistency and efficiency across the board.

Now, we're back to this slide. When we bring buildings to life, I've got individual teams running across all of these different systems. What can happen is every engineering process is slightly different, and that harbors individual assessments of what's needed in a project, and that induces errors and issues.

So using a common data environment, we can standardize the process and procedures, therefore reducing errors and promoting collaboration, by utilizing connected data early in the process and standardizing the processes. And this is done at design stage. We're not waiting for the install team to join the project, or the commissioning team to roll in and have a different thought process of how they're going to deliver the project.

We're setting the standard for how we're going to deliver this project in design, and if you can do that, you can see a tangible reduction in errors caused by teams interpreting paper based design documents, which are normally out of date by the time they get them.

We can use the model as the single source of truth. You can provide a benefit to the construction team by reducing the amount of hours and coordination meetings between each discipline. We can reduce the lost engineering time filling in paper based records, reducing the amount of printed sheets of paper, which normally get lost on site, and you need to reprint them, or they only get half filled in and left on your desk.

And sometimes, they're half filled in, and you find them three months later hidden behind the back of a panel. So by utilizing connected data, we're reducing the error that inherently get created when new teams join a project delivery team.

So when it comes to finishing a project, the handover phase often gets relegated to the bottom of the priority list, and it turns into a frantic scramble by all the engineering teams at the 11th hour to meet the contractual obligations, and we really need to shift that mindset.

So back in the day, we used to rely solely on manual inspection and filling out of paper records. Just to give you an idea, the project I'm currently working on requires a staggering 45,000 individual commissioning records, and it's quite standard for that size of project.

So the issue you've also got is that it's labor intensive, and you've got people filling out Excel spreadsheets, prone to data-- human error. And then all this information gets sent, via email normally, uncontrolled to the client, and somehow, everyone's meant to make sense of what we're doing. So what do we do? So what have we done to make this whole process more straightforward and user friendly?

We have linked the assets using a bar code. These codes are fixed to doors or panels, making it easy for engineers to access vital information using the tablets. They can either click a link or simply scan the barcode right at the location. This provides them with the drawings for location asset IDs, all of the inspection test plans, inspection test sheets, to enable the work to be completed.

Now, this real time data is collected and consolidated within our platform, creating a single source of truth for the entire project team. We can then present this information in a dashboard that's shareable with the client, ensuring transparency and clarity at every step of the way.

So instead of printing out reams of paper-- and it's actually 45,324 commissioning sheets for this project. Instead of printing them out and sharing them via email, which are uncontrolled, or via SharePoint, which is just as bad, or my favorite, printing them out and leaving them on someone's desk and just walking away, we use the unified data environment to provide a location where the project team and the client can access progressively all of the installation and commissioning and asset information in real time. This reduces the instances where there is missing information for pay claims and handover records.

So what is the benefits of a unified data environment? In the past, before implementing ACC, you would be in a situation where there's no real time installation data. Siloed information, all of those teams working individually, and trying to collect real time commission data across multiple engineers across the site is more or less impossible.

It then leads to some further challenges, and what happens is you end up with a situation on a construction site where there's multiple sources of the truth. Now, the owner will be wondering how everyone's getting on building his building, so he'll ring up the general contractor, and he'll go, how's everything going, all good?

General contractor will go, give me a minute, I'll ring you back. He then frantically rings anyone he can get a hold of, the site engineer, my engineers, my subcontractors. He might actually ring me, and everyone will give him a different answer depending on what his environment is doing at that moment in time.

And then he'll ring the owner back, and then he'll tell the owner exactly what the owner wants to hear. It's all good. No problems. We're on target. Everyone's happy. So how do we change that philosophy?

We've implemented standardization of construction data through Autodesk Construction Cloud. This standardized data incorporates project level information across various programs and processes, and as a result, we gain the ability to visualize and derive clear business intelligence, which we will talk about in the next slide, but I just want to go through this in a little bit more detail.

The project level data inputs are all of the team members within this project team, planners, quality control, engineers. They all input their information into this tool, and it comes at different times of the day, at different periods, but its real time data for when they complete those tasks.

The Autodesk Construction Cloud then analyzes it, and then we can actually present to ourselves, internally within Honeywell, to show people how well we're doing on the project, and also to the client. And this actually flips the outcomes. Since implementing ACC, our collaboration has significantly improved, allowing us to manage our assets more effectively. Efficient project management has also enabled us to enhance our cost control, ensuring healthier project finances.

Moreover, with improved quality control and reduced construction rework, we've not only enhanced safety on the project, but also minimized our environmental footprint. Now, over to Shashwat for explaining the next steps.

SHASHWAT BHARDWAJ: Thank you, Kevin. The journey of connected construction, this is how Honeywell is progressing and transforming the way they do project. Their initial step involved the successful implementation of ACC at the project level, establishing a solid foundation for connected construction.

The next phase is enterprise level implementation implementing Autodesk Construction Cloud across multiple projects by standardizing workflows and deploying them organization wide, ensuring seamless scalability. Looking ahead, the next step in the journey is platform, advanced integration that will further enhance the core offerings and workflows.

These include advanced data integrations and predictive capabilities to anticipate trends and outcomes. It's all about preparing their organization for innovation and ensuring they are equipped for maximum efficiency. Now, I will pass over to Kevin for his concluding remarks.

KEVIN FORSYTH: Thank you, Shashwat. Well, thanks for coming today, and hopefully, we've shown you all how Autodesk Construction Cloud can be used in the construction arena to control the data and the flow of information between teams for the benefit of the project. And to conclude our session, we have a brief video presentation that provides insight into my latest project. And thank you all for your interest and for being part of this session today.

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SHASHWAT BHARDWAJ: Thank you.