Digital Transformation from Traditional Design Deliverables and Coordination to Cloud-Based Design Collaboration

BRIJESH PARMAR: Welcome to AU2024. I'm Brijesh Parmar. I'll be presenting on digital transformation from traditional design processes to the cloud-based design collaboration. So it's, basically, in the design and build vertical, which is under Shapoorji Pallonji, and responsible for the APC contractual projects. And along with me, co-speaker Preeti Rao from Autodesk will be there.

So about me. I'm an architect by profession, having experience of 23 plus years in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Of 23 years, 16 years, I've been working with construction industries like [INAUDIBLE] international about 16 years. And then, with Shapoorji, close to three years. And after that, AECOM and [? COP, ?] I was working with them for around six years.

PREETHI RAO: My name is Preethi Rao. I'm a part of the Autodesk tech team, which is there, working as a senior technical solution executive, and Shapoorji is one of my customer, in this case. I've got almost 19 years of experience in the AEC industry. I'm a passionate BIM enthusiast. I've got expertise in leading technical, strategic, and consultative customer conversations through emerging and evolving industry AEC trends. You see a picture of Gateway Of India, that's where Shapoorji is located, and that's where I reside, and that's Mumbai.

BRIJESH PARMAR: So about Shapoorji Pallonji, with the rich legacy of more than 159 years now, we have been pioneering the construction industry and responsible for new technology and technique in the construction industry. So I'll take you through two minutes of video about Shapoorji.

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So in terms of agenda, I'll be covering a why change? Why the change management was a necessity in our construction sector. And then, I'll also take you through the case study, which is Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital Project. And then, the implementation process in that particular case study, the challenges, the current status, and what are the next steps which we will be following on this particular case. And then, in the end, return on investments.

So why the change management was required? Although our company has initiated digital transformation way back to 2009, in particular, our design and build verticals started 2014. But still, why the change management was necessary?

So with the journey-- with the digital journey, it's always happened that some of the people left behind and are still working on the traditional processes because of their own reasons. So there was a set of people who were sitting remotely or in our head office or in the regional office who were between the phases of denial and the testing.

So what we have taken a step that, OK, we will include those kind of people in this particular project. So we, intentionally, we include around 45% to 50% of those resources in this particular project, and we did it with the intentional methods.

So with the case study, this is not a very landmark project. What we have-- what you already have seen in the last videos, but this is a project where a lot of complexity was involved, a lot of complex services is involved. So we tried to cover those services, the MED services or the other medical services in this particular projects.

So in terms of scope, if you see it says client is government. And it's a design and construction EPC project, Engineering, Procurement, and Construction scope, including 899 beds, 12 operation theaters, ancillary buildings, internal and external areas, and all design, architecture, MEPF structure, all design BIM. And obviously, the approval related to local authorities or the statutory is also part of our scope of work.

So this particular building has a built up area of around 110,000 square meter, and site area is around 85,000 square meter area. So first and foremost step in this particular project, or all of the project, is to set the standards and the processes. So in terms of standards, what we follow is ISO 19650, the common data environments, all the work, whether it's a design or the constructions documentations or the communication happen on the common data environment.

And then, I'll also take you through the softwares or the BIM uses-- what the BIM uses we have approached in this particular projects. And then, the implementation part, the first is the design phase and the second one is the construction phase, what we have implemented in this particular project.

So in terms of standards, if you see this particular image, the right side image, where it is the very basic and very important image for the ISO 19650 and it shows whole process in the construction life cycle. So the first and foremost right side top image is basically work in progress, where each discipline, architecture, MEP, or the structure work in their own files. That's also called S0.

And then, when it is approved by the discipline lead, then it goes to the shared folder that is the left side, the yellow color folder, where step from the S1 to S5 happen. So S1 is, basically, related to the coordination, so when every discipline share their models, then the coordination happen.

And then, S2 is the implementation of those coordinations outcome, which is there in the model. And then, S3, again, is the review and comments. So this is also very critical on the CDE environment where all the review-- originator reviewer, discipline reviewer, or idea happened.

And then, it goes further for the construction sign off. So constructions team also look at the drawings or the model and then they sign off. And then, after authorizing from the client side, it goes for the construction part, that's the green color folder. And then, it's the operation and maintenance part where all the documentations in terms of specifications can be stored on the common data environments.

There are two different processes in this particular image is shown. The blue color is, basically, the management process, and the green color is the information process. So if you see, it start-- the CapEx start is from basically EIR. EIR, basically, is the information for from the employer side. So most of the information, the high level information, is that what is the objective of the project. In terms of digital whether it will be also taken forward for the digital environment or the sustainability. So all that being used is-- or the project objective is mentioned in the EIR documents.

Then it goes for the BEP-- pre-award BEP and the post-award BEP. So all the informations from the EIR document is mentioned in the BEP. And then, further, it goes for the contractor side where they prepare the MIDB as well as the post-award BEP plan.

And then, in the middle, there are two different phases, one is the PIM. PIM is the Project Information Modeling. AIM is the Asset Information Modeling. So PIM start from the brief till the construction and handover, including the design phases. So this is the construction life cycle, which is also called PIM. And PIM is, basically, the operation and maintenance where the documentation non-graphical data or the graphical model is stored.

So common data environment is the single source of truth, as we all know. It can store all kind of information related to the project. That's the PIM and the AIM. So Project Information Modeling, where we can also store the graphical non-graphical associated documents. In terms of drawings, DWG file Revit file, any IFC file, PDF file, Word files, schedule specification can also be stored on the common data environments.

So common data environment is about the connected teams. So this is a one single platform where all the team-- all the stakeholders, whether it's the design team, the consultants, vendors, or the site team or the client team, all can be connected on the CDE platform. And they can see only the one single revision, the last revision, file for them. So there won't be any other revision which will be seen by the other different stakeholders. Connected delivery, connected assets, asset management, also outcome and the insight. That's all can be connected to the CDE platform.

So in terms of objective and software tools when we started this project. So we have decided that what kind of softwares or the platform we'll be using for this particular projects, and the similar kind of training is arranged for all the people, whether it's the people who are just new to the system or the people who are expert in this system.

So in terms of modeling where mostly the design team participate, we are using Revit and the BIM Collaborate Pro. In space class coordinations, we are using, again, the BIM Collaborate Pro as well as the Naviswork. And the documentation with the quantity take off, that's very critical for the construction company to have the quantity take off and the cost for each and every elements or the materials, which is also-- we got it from the model itself, Autodesk Build and Collaborate Pro.

Construction simulations, which we have done for the construction is, again, on Navisworks file. And then, the Federated model. So this stage is yet to come as we are close to 50% of completion of that project. So this Federated as build model will be coming end of this year. So this all can be stored on the common data environment. And for that, we use Autodesk Construction Cloud.

BIM implementations. If you see in design and build, design and build, basically, as I said, is our vertical where we are responsible for the EPC contract project, where the design and the construction happens simultaneously. So the first layer always start from the employer side, the client side where they mention their own objective for the particular project.

And then, we prepare BEP based upon the EIR document. So EIR is very critical if we really want to see the expectation-- to find the expectation of the client and implement in our design. And then, the design sequence, the concept design, schematic design, design development, statutory approval, and ERC.

The second layer is the construction layer where we-- they always start with the RFIs when we submit any design to them, whether it's a schematic design development or GFC, we always start with the RFI. And again, on the same time, we prepare the construction sequence for them-- the construction sequence as well as we can also see the progress of the site. And then, they can feed the progress in the construction sequence and dashboards because we are using one CDE platform where all the design delivery as well as the construction status is stored. So it's very easy for us-- for the dashboard-- to prepare the dashboard on a monthly basis for the management. And then, the last stage is Federated as built model. That stage is still to come.

So BIM execution plan is-- after the standard and protocol when we set after that-- the first and foremost step, which is, again, the main document or the live documents for all the team members, whether it's design or construction is BEP plan where you can see all the roles and responsibilities for each and every member, whether it's any lead from the architecture or from the site design management team.

So their roles and responsibilities decided, and based upon that, access right is given on the CDE platform. So in this particular documents, we define the goal and objective of the project, establish standards and protocol that what we discussed earlier. So that standards, we also mentioned in this particular documents. And the workflow. Workflow is very critical in BEP because it set the process. It shows that which folder will have what kind of informations, and how does it flow.

For example, if we have a quality assurance and quality check process set for the team, starting from the originator to reviewer to checker and then verifier. So those processes is well-defined-- should be well-defined in the BEP document. And based upon that, the folder creations in the CED platforms is maintained and that all can happen automatically-- or automate can happen on those kind of workflows also. Review and define BEP. This is the live document. This can be changed with the time, it depends upon inputs or if there is any revision in the project.

So schematic design. As I said, the first and foremost is the design authoring where each discipline work individually on their model. So for example, architecture space planning should be free during the schematic design based upon the input from the MEP, space programming, finalization system, load specification, equipment placement or the structural sizing of the framing, whether it's a column size or the BIM size, is also defined at this stage.

Based upon that, they publish the model, then second stage is the coordination of the model and the clash detection. So these clashes will be-- is implemented in the model. And then further, it goes to the QAQC process, which is, again, the two processes, one is for the drawings to the deliverables and second one is for the model health checkup.

So those QAQC processes set and a designated team members is responsible for that. So we can assign those review processes with certain people and with the time limitations also. If it validate or approved, it goes to the next stage, else it will repeat again the processes. So next stage is detailed design, where this is the model schematic-- design model where we can see architecture and structures inputs, most of the building part, and the external areas.

Detailed design, the process remains same, but it is more detailed version of the model. For example, the MEP sizing for the pipe ducts. The increments is finalized its place on the model. And apart from that, the structure detailed framing plan is also prepared on the model.

So the model is almost ready for the executions at this particular stage. The steps are the same from the design authoring, coordination, clash detection, then it goes for the QAQC, and finally, to the validation process. So if you see here, you can see the colored pipelines from the MEP side inside the building. Right side, some of the images from the architecture facade detailing that is also done on the BIM platform.

Again, that's a coordination part. If you can see the top right image, it's all MEP services drainage system, all the plumbings, chilled water, all kind of MEP services are there. And the clash bottom left, we can see clash between different model. So architecture versus structure or MEP versus MEP also can be done on the ECC platform, or the common data environment. And we can also track those number of clashes on a weekly basis and find a solution for that.

Issue generation. So in this particular project, because our model was prepared before than the timeline, the three stage model, having all the information of architecture and the structure. So we start preparing the issue generations from the site itself also.

So we delegate these review process to the site team as well as the people sitting remotely also. So they raise the issues. If they see something, they raise the issues. And those issues can-- we can have the timeline set for that and will be-- it is resolved by the team members.

So in terms of QAQC DR process, that's a discipline review process. The first step from the originator is to submit the file for a reviewer. So he self-check the file, he or she self-check it, and then submit for the review. The second step is reviewer.

So in this particular project, we were working on CED platform. And in construction industry, a lot of people are sitting remotely in different part of the location of the construction site. So we try to utilize those people. People sitting in the East-- part of Eastern side of India, we utilize them for the review, depend upon their availability. So in this particular project, the review is done by the Calcutta team. And then, it is published to the Mumbai team, that's the head office team.

So second step is all the comments, observations by the reviewer. And the third step is to pick up the comments by the original originator. So this process can be set in a automate mode. And then, when it submit, it goes further to the next step. Next step is IDR, Inter-Discipline Review Process, where the different review happen by the other discipline. For example, architecture, when they submit for review, it will go to MEP or structure.

And similarly, they can comment simultaneously on that particular file. So second step is commenting on the 2D or the model. And the third step, what we have is the different colored-- we set the different color for different kind of comments. If it is a red, then this comment needs to be taken care. Pencil, that is doubtful comments. And green is comment, which is picked.

So the next stage of GFC is, basically, the input, what we receive from the vendor, for example, the size of the equipment or the facade detailing, which we receive from the facade vendor or any other details which we receive from the vendors is provided in the model. So apart from that, the model is prepared and ready for the construction team. And the process happened at the same, from the design authoring to the validation.

So RFI from the site. So this is one of the critical issue, which always site is lagging behind because when they see the drawing, when it is on a traditional process, it is always on a printed format or the 2D format. But in this particular project, we were working on the BIM platform, so they can see directly the model and raise the RFI on the BIM model.

So site RFI started from the SD stage, the Schematic Design stage only. So they can attach the image of that particular clash, and they can assign to the people also to different discipline or to the particular person with the time limitations.

So this always helps the team. The construction sequence we prepared during the last stage only. So all the site team are well aware that which month what kind of elements will be put on site or construct on the site. So they were well aware of that and they start raising their concern based upon that conceptual sequence that this can be done first or this block can be the second one. So this helps site team also to plan their activities very behind that. So if you see here, the right side is the images in 2024. So we have already completed all the flows in terms of civil MEP works is still ongoing.

In terms of challenges, there are, basically, three major challenges when we transform from a traditional processes to the digital processes, one is the culture and knowledge, and the second one is the financial constraint. And the third one is the fragmented industry, which is because of the large construction industry where we have a lot of diverse stakeholders.

So in terms of culture and knowledge, there are three different parts of it. One is the people and the process and the technology. So in terms of people, a leadership support is paramount and a top executive must be part of the chain management process for the whole cycle. So it's not that, OK, initially they are part of that, and later on they just-- it is continued by the team members.

So in this particular project, our head of design and build is always keen to see the progress on the BIM environment. And that's the reason why we are-- progress so fastly and we included those people also because of our trainings.

Resistance to change, this is something which is always there. When the people are working on a very well-established and proven method from a long time, like company like us, 159 years. It's very difficult to change those kind of processes or those kind of mindset of the people. We have taken this task very delicately. And slowly, we introduced the digital environment and train the people accordingly.

Silos and communications. Yes, this is always a concern for large companies where we can see a lot of silos and communication. But yes, the CED platform help us because everybody is on the same platform. And then, we have a lot of workshops because of that also. And the people involvement, because they can see the activities, they can see the model, they can see the details of the structure, so that help everyone to be on the same platform and that's the reason why we have somehow reached the proper communication with the site team also.

The processes, again, the traditional practice, inconsistent processes, and the lack of training, that is something which we try to resolve within the companies. But still, it's in progress. Technology part, there are a lot of softwares which our site people are using when they prepare the program or the progress. So there is always a issue of interoperability of different softwares. But this is being resolved slowly in BIM environment.

Complexity and learning curve, that is always there, and the maintenance and upgrade of the system. So for the site people site, site people can see all the model on the web browser itself. So they don't need a high grade computer systems. So the system work very well, but the designers who work on the files, they need to have upgraded versions.

So the main difference where we have between the design processes on a traditional platform and the BIM-based platform. In a traditional way, we always start with the architecture. Then, it goes to the structure of an architecture, freeze their design, then it goes to the structure. When structure freeze their design, it goes to the MEP and the further.

And that's the main difference when we work on the BIM processes, architecture, structure, and the MEP can work parallelly. When the architecture prepare their model, they can prepare the space planning based on the MEP and the MEP can start working on their modeling for their elements.

So these all work can happen parallelly, which is not there in the traditional processing. But still, some of us are on the BIM platform, but we are still following the traditional way, that architecture will finish the model, then structure will finish the model, and then goes further to it. But in a BIM environment, we have to be very careful. This all activities can happen parallelly and we can have more time for the construction also.

A financial constraint, BIM projects versus the non-BIM projects. So initially, there is a lot of resource requirement because most of the done-- most of the work is done, initial stages of the project, like architecture, structure, or MEP. And then, further, it's the input from the site or the client, or the vendors inputs only. But the contrary, on the non-BIM projects, it started slow. And then, later on, there are a lot of inputs or the resource requirements happen.

And when there is any change in that particular state, it impacts a lot on the cost. But in the BIM environment, it has less impact because most of the things is freezed in the initial stages of the projects.

Return on investment. So as they said that we have divided this BIM into two parts, one is the design and the second one is the construction team. So in design team, the QAQC process, which is set on the CED platform. And with utilization of our remote setting resources in East part or the North part, those saves around 12% to 15% of the man hours in the QAQC process.

This is very critical in the construction industry because any change or any mistake can cost a lot in the construction. RFI, as I said, that RFI, from the site, starts from the SD stage only. And now, at this stage, around 50% construction work is completed, 40% to 50% is completed. So we just had only 50 numbers of RFIs. But if we compare the similar kind of projects, there is more than 300 RFIs generated from the site team.

So we save around 60% on that also. And one RFI can have 8 to 12 hours spent on that. Training, so as I said, the 45% to 50% of resources which were new to this system, now they are well-trained and we are utilizing them for the different projects also.

And from the construction site, design clarity. That's always a challenge for reconstruction people. As we use the ACC platform, they can walk through the they-- walk through the projects. They can see the small details, for example, the expansion joint. How does it look on the vertical wall? So those kind of things, they have the look ahead plan for that. They have the more clarity, the client team have more clarity and informed decisions are made on this particular project.

Fewer changes because of the design clarity. There are fewer changes right now on track. With the design ahead of the schedule, construction activities follow the planned schedule and stay on track. So we are hoping that end of this year's civil work and MEP work will be completed. And then, the external work are-- our contract will finish next year. So the design is already completed and the construction is ongoing. So next year is probably-- will be completing this project in terms of construction also.

Next step, with the help of Autodesk team, we are taking some more steps on this particular project because now the resources are more available and they can do more and more and more R&D on this particular project. So AI, we tried to automate some of the things, for example, the number of parking. When we change one parking number, automatically, the other parking numbers change. So those kind of things we are doing in house only with the people who have the interest in the AI.

AR/VR. So AR, now, the MEP started on the site. So our model, they can compare it on the site with the execution versus the model design what we have. So this we are also implementing on the site. Digital twin, this is not started yet, but we are planning to start along with the Autodesk team to prepare the digital twin model, which can help client at the later stage for operation and maintenance.

Sustainability is always part of our targets. So the daylight calculations or the other sustainability requirement we are doing already on the particular model. So I'll just hand over to Preethi from Autodesk.

PREETHI RAO: So Shapoorji being one of our mid-market customers, we worked closely with them to understand their existing processes, provided them with recommendations, and that's how we built a outcome customer proposal for Shapoorji Space.

When we talk about the customer's relationship between what we deserved as an outcome and what is the value which we associated with it, so what we did is when we conversed with Shapoorji, we started with outcome-based discussion on how they articulated their business goals, which we then defined as their desired business outcomes, which are therein. So outcome is actually the goal which they are trying to achieve in this case.

Now, when we consider the very, very first value matrix option, which is there, and when we sat with Shapoorji team, we first established what are their three value metrics along with whatever they want to achieve as a future term goal.

The first thing talked about, how did Shapoorji want to improve collaboration and operational efficiency as well as bringing every stakeholder on a common data environment? Now, Shapoorji team recommended us that by actually enabling 60 employees to be 15% more efficient into their day to day project delivery.

Now, the team wanted to achieve this value that is over 25 million INR annually. Now, that is not only for direct employees which they wanted to achieve, they were expecting even a greater value when their external stakeholders and contractors are also brought into the common data environment.

Then we came to our second value metrics, which was about implementing the efficient QAQC process. And they wanted to reduce the hours which are spent on manual way of conducting the QAQC by taking a 15% of the overall drawing and modeling production processes in this case. And they wanted to reduce it further by 10% so that they can at least save 2,800 hours a year, which is approximately over 4 million INR value in this case.

So in totality, Shapoorji was expecting over 30 million INR in value when they achieve and fully adopt the digital project delivery solution, which is there. Now, once we establish these two key value metrics and we were about to conclude our meeting with Brijesh and team. And then he said, we inquired upon whether they have any further customer value metrics and goal, which is therein, basically.

So he mentioned to us that, Preethi, quantity-based metrics are very, very critical. Quantity takeoff process forms a very, very important goal as a part of our project process, which is there. And as a part of this process, they actually spent at least 300 hours manually taking and checking quantities from drawings as well as the models. And they were hoping to cut it down by half so that they could digitize and standardize the entire process, which is there.

So once they could identify the right solution, they also wanted their construction extended teams to adopt the same process. So here comes the example of another business outcome and value. Now, while we conclude, we wanted to mention that this outcome-based selling process is what we are trying to bring every customers on a single platform. So growth and expansion would definitely happen as a part of the E&C team's process, which is therein. And this is how we best partner with the customer by not only positioning the right products at the right solution accordingly.

Thanks for listening to us. And that brings us to the end our session, and I'll ask Brijesh to conclude it further.

BRIJESH PARMAR: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks, Autodesk team, for supporting us during this journey. This helps all of our employees, the 45% which now we can surely say that these are the people who are really driving this BIM journey along with us. Thank you. Thank you so much.