Building Operations: Exploring Facility Data Specifications to Address the 95% of Wasted Construction Data

MARK MERGENSCHROER: Well, hello, everyone. Welcome to AU 2024 virtual sessions. This is class BLD2934 Building Operations. And we're going to explore the 95% of wasted construction data. How can we fix that using maybe some facilities, data specs? I'm Mark Mergenschroer.

So Helina and Justin will be joining me live. And we look forward to this session. So we're going to talk about our Safe Harbor Statement. We're going to talk about some forward-looking things today. So if you do decide to purchase, do not decide on what we're-- or do not use what we're talking about here today.

So I am Mark Mergenschroer. I'm a technical solutions executive. One of my focuses is on building operations. Been in the industry working on 29 years now. I'm a technical solutions executive on the construction side. Have had the pleasure of being at Autodesk for a little over 5 and 1/2 years. Really enjoy what I do. I've taught-- this will be my 16th AU session to teach. So really looking forward to today.

And going over some of our objectives is the who, what, and how. And if you've heard me talk before, you know that I bring these up-- the three questions. And today, we want to really address the challenge of what's going on in our handover process. And the need for clear requirements, and the need to work with owners, and know exactly what data they need to connect-- And then we also need to simplify it. We need to start looking at outcomes.

We need to know how this data is going to be used and maintained from an owner's perspective. And that is going to be a huge key of everything today is the owner's journey. And so we're going to look at the handover challenge that we're seeing and experiencing today. We're going to look at some research that's been done in the industry over the last year. And we're truly going to talk about digital transformation. And then how operational data is going to come to the forefront as we start changing the way we think, as we start looking at how we handle data and how we move data.

And then also, we're going to do a very short summary of what's going on. And then, hopefully, you'll be able to come to my class and see what we're going to talk about exactly live, and do some live demos. So the data handover challenge. In talking and working with owners for years, they've always said, Mark, we don't get the data that we need.

It's not a continuous flow. We're not involved. And this is where we want to get to. We want to get to this continuous digital thread of data so that we can sustain the outcomes that our owners need and want so that they can focus on executing their business.

This is where we hope to get to by the end of this session. But in today's reality, our process is broken. And the three little skits here, the owners, I have no idea what's going on in my project. The general contractors, I can't trust any of this data. I'll just remodel it myself. Or the facility managers, the data has no structure. It's not useful to me. So I end up not using it. And you're thinking, no, that's not the case, Mark. That's not the case. But truly it is. And we have data to back that up.

According to the FMI research, 95% of our data goes unused by owners and operators. Because it's incomplete. It's missing data. Why is that? What are the root causes of what is going on with our data? Why can't we design, and build, and operate, and optimize without losing 95% of that data? And that's really insanity. And what's the definition of insanity? Doing things over and over again, expecting a different result. Or getting the same result.

It is insane what we're doing. It's insane the dollars that we're costing our firms, the dollars that were costing our owners. How can we fix that? What can we do? This is chaos. And when we get to handover, when we get to that data that the owner needs to operate, are we handing it off in a timely fashion?

In most cases, no. I was just at the [INAUDIBLE] Health Care Conference. I was at the Campus FM technology conference. And one of the key themes was we don't get our data until 6:00 to 12 months after we get in a building.

Then after we get in that building, we're searching for two to three hours a day just to find the data that we need to do our jobs, or that owner needs to do their jobs. That is complete chaos. We can fix this as an industry. We can fix this with people, places, platform, data to make it all come together so that we can digitize and we can connect. But better yet, let's optimize our processes so that we can involve how we do business with owners and operators.

So I talked about some research. We're really going to focus here on the International Facilities Management Association and Autodesk research that was done towards the end of 2023. And Mr. Stanberry here, the chairman of the board of directors for IFMA. And I normally don't do this, but I'm going to read this. "There needs to be more collaboration between the AEC and the FM." The AEC owns a project for 18 to 36 months, but operations deals with it for the next 75 to 100 years.

What's the impact? What's the effect of operation? As he's quoted, here it is, "technology is no longer a constraint, but the industry must adopt lifecycle management that spans its policies, standards, and procedures." So as we start looking at this data-- we opened it up for 90 days towards the end of towards the end of 2023. We got 212 responses, as you can see, from all different aspects of the industry. So what we got-- and this number matched, 95% of the data goes unused.

85% of owners, facility managers struggle with poor and fragmented data. 50% of maintenance inefficiency is due to poor workflow management of the data. And then this, in turn, is cause for 30% of energy is wasted because of asset operation. That number there on the end is costing our owners tremendous amounts of time and money. If we could fix some of that 95%, how much could we save the owner in the long run?

Some more results from the project lifecycle. What data is critical for successful facility management, they're worried about the current conditions. They're worried about the asset lifecycle. Financial and budget. Energy and utilities, space management, sustainability. What really struck me with this data here is they're all within 13% of each other. All of this information is very critical to them.

We've got to get better at that lifecycle so that they can start working on their budgets, so they can start working on data in better ways. And here is something that we talked about just a little bit ago is 60 to 80 lifecycle-- or 60% to 80% of the lifecycle of the cost of the building occurring operations. Now, let that sink in. 60% to 80% of the lifecycle occur in operations. What areas do we normally focus on with the data? How do we manage that data for architecture, engineering, construction, and operations?

Are we only looking at the 20% to 40% as part of our design and construction? Or are we truly looking at the 100%? And another big number, 80% does not consistently involve FM people in their construction processes. Those facility managers know and understand how that building needs to operate. We need their valued experience. And another big number that stuck out to me is 30% of the BIM data is not in a suitable format for operations.

It takes very few conversations to know and understand what an owner needs. We need to start bringing those FM people into these conversations so that we can reduce that 30% number. If we change that 30% number, that's going to help tremendously.

Because have you ever loaded a CMS with assets and data and preventive maintenance procedures? It takes a long time. And then the weak connections that are from BIM to their integrated workplace management suites, that is something that we can fix. And that we can work on a daily basis.

So we ask the question, what facility management processes do you believe can be enhanced by access to data generated during design and construction? 83%, asset maintenance management and building handover, the top two numbers there.

Think of the impact you could make on your project if we did better, if we handed over our assets in a more timely fashion, if they had their asset registry before they ever took ownership of that building. If we were setting up building, commissioning, if we were setting up visualizations, how could that owner better operate as they start into a new building, or as they start into a renovation.

In the graphic on the right, 70% are still using spreadsheets to manage their data. In this world of digital technology, we're still using spreadsheets as one of our ways to manage our workplace.

Granted, spreadsheets, valuable tool. But in today's technology, should we be more focused maybe down here on some of this BIM, or the real-time digital twins, or live CMS so that we can focus on some of the sustainability, focus on some of this data so that we can start really, truly optimizing the data. And here's another set of numbers.

What facility managers believe can be enhanced with design and construction data. 96% said they believe that it would help. Let's use those people as we bring the 96%-- as we bring that number up to 100%. 87% of facility management will use more data and analytics to shape their thinking.

AI, 70% think they're going to have be using AI in their daily tasks and data analysis. Which in turn is going to cause them to work with more collaboration into their IT departments. Because we as an industry know when the IT department gets involved, that's usually where we have a disconnect.

But if we can get facilities and operations on board, what change can that create in the industry? Because right now, our key data is lost and very siloed. As we move through the processes, it's broken-- we all know it. We've all looked at different ways to fix it, but it's still the problem.

And what we've got to do is start looking at connected data environments, or common data environments, in an outcome-based BIM approach. Instead of a construction-based or design-based BIM, an outcome BIM-based approach to operations.

Now think about that. Let that set in. How can we make a change in operations? How can we start connecting that data environment? How can we start connecting operations so that when they go to make a renovation, it's the right data, it's the right outcome? Think about that as we move forward. So normally, I'd take some questions here.

And I know one of the questions would be is, well, Mark, how do we start? How do we do that? Where do we begin? How do we get-- how do we talk to owners? How do we get owners involved?

We start talking to them about their facilities data. We bring them in early in the conversation. If they're responsible for, let's say 70% of the cost of that building, how much representation do they have throughout the entire design and construction part of the project? It's not 70% worth. But what if we brought them in earlier in that process-- and we brought more people in other than just facilities. What if we brought in space management? What if we brought in capital planning? What if we brought in utilities?

Think about how we could start a digital transformation in our industry. And as we start looking here, I go back to the drafting. I started on the drafting table. Yeah, I took my first CAD class in 1996.

We started with our BIM modeling. Then a few years ago, we really started moving things to the cloud. And now, we're into AI and machine learning. How many of you are using ChatGPT or some form of AI right now? So think about that. But what has caused all this? What has caused the digital transformation to occur?

20 years ago, personal-- well, more than 20 years ago now, personal computers really come into to play. Your mandates around started coming in from owners, coming in from construction companies saying, we want BIM. The recession hit. We needed more ways to do things. Now, COVID hit. We all started working from home. We started a different thought process. And now today, AI is changing how we think and work. Machine learning is how we're changing this.

And it is coming fast because part of AI is the data. AND the data is the backbone, but intelligence is the fuel for this transformation. It's here. It's now. Data may be the backbone, but the information and insights are key to optimizing this built environment. This lifecycle, this digital thread, this digital delivery, digital project delivery. And as we start tying everything in together, when we start the capital planning, or the basis of design, are we thinking about compliance? Are we thinking about energy consumption?

Are we thinking about how it's going to be maintained? Are we looking at those preventive maintenance procedures so that as we start moving forward, we can look at this entire picture? We can look at every aspect of what's going on in planning, design, and construction. In operating, maintaining it, looking at BIM management, quality, life safety, facility conditions assessments. All of this is critical for the entire life span of the building for that truly digital delivery of the transform data. So as we move through, digital project delivery is anchored in our digital transformation.

As we start looking at the common data environment, the connected data environments, how are we going to connect to all these owner solutions? How are we going to connect to these third-party solutions? How are we going to connect design and construction teams to the owners?

That technology with AI and machine learning is going to make the change for how we look at operations. It's going to be that backbone that we talked about, these data environments.

And I like to call them connected because we're connecting all different kinds of systems that this owner, that this operations team may use. And there's a large variety of them. But if we don't get the data right from design and construction, if we don't work on that 95% that's not used, then this all goes out the door. So how do we do that? Operational data.

Many of you've heard me talk about facility data specs. Many of you have heard me talk about operation data. Many of you've heard me talk about building commissioning. That is the true lifeblood of operational data, of operational digital transformation. This slide's kind of like the other one. But BIM can be the backbone of this data for digital transformation.

And as we start looking at how we do analysis, how we do documentation, it should improve our decision making, which gives us better outcomes. But how do we start?

We start by looking here first. We start by looking at how we're going to operate. How are we going to operate this for the next 50 to 75 to 100 years? And if we start planning on the outcome, what difference is that going to make? And then as we start building digital twins and connecting those in the digital twin environments to these other operational tools, even non-Autodesk tools, what is going to happen with that? That's going to allow the BIM-- or allow the digital twin-- the digital twin will become the output of the BIM process. And you think about that.

Have we really thought of it that way? Are we really looking at that digital twin as the output of the BIM process? Or just another step in the BIM process? Are we looking at that digital twin as a truly an operational tool for better outcomes for that owner, for that operator, for that facility manager? Better yet. How can we save that technician steps in time? How can we save them an hour a day?

I did some research for a health care system here recently. If we could save one hour a day for technicians, over 50 weeks, it's 250 hours. That's thousands hours of savings. At $100 an hour burn rate, that's $100,000. But what if in that thousand hours that we saved, we improve the efficiency of that building? Even by 1/2%, or 1%? Start thinking about that energy savings that we can have with a digital twin by having all the data connected and readily at the hands of the people who need it when they need it.

So digital transformation. Here's a little different graphic. I really like this graphic. It is the cabinet drafting. How many of you actually used to have an eraser and would erase holes through the paper-- through the vellum? Yeah, I'm guilty. And then starting with AutoCAD, all those lessons learned. Yeah, just that single product. And then as we started looking at BIM and parametric modeling, and we grew Revit. We grew the BIM aspect of our industry. We started seeing it transform.

Now, we've got these connected BIM environments. We're building on top of it. We know something new is coming. We see it. We feel it. But what is truly the future of BIM? We've kind of talked about it a little bit.

As the architectural engineering and construction digitally transforms, and we work through this technology evolution, I-- David Butts, if you're listening to this, your evolution is one of your words, and I truly get it.

As we evolve our processes, and as we move forward and we truly move on from our connected BIM to an outcome-based BIM with granular and AI data, how is that going to evolve our process? How is that going to work for not only the AEC team, but for the owner's team? And if our outcome is based on the operational needs, how can we change that? How can we help them with this change?

How can we provide them data that they can use? How can we erase that 95% of data that goes unused? We can do that if we start focusing on the outcomes. Because our current workflows provide better data flow, but it's still not the best. We do lots of rework. We go back and forth on the data. And we look at-- our outcomes are-- after we've built the building, or after we've got it in the ground and going up, we're looking at our time to deliver instead of our time to operate.

What if we reverse this thought process? What if we looked at outcome-based BIM and the criteria at the front of the project before we started planning? Look at the outcome. Take away some of the back and forth so that we can look at the time to deliver. We can look at operating. And what is the most valuable asset that anybody has? It's that human asset. What if we made that human experience better?

What if, by focusing on outcomes for those users, for the community this building is going to be in, and for the environment, it's going to help us achieve better data? It's going to help us with real world context. It's going to help us with the desired outcomes that we want. It's going to make all of our data streams come to life. To help us better achieve the outcomes that we want.

We are in a unique space right now where if we start looking at outcomes, and start applying a smart workflow to what we're doing as a digital thread, to where we're looking at specific data they need to operate their building. What if we asked that question? What specific data is important to you? And how, Mr. Owner, Mr. Facilities person, are you going to manage that data after we hand it off to you? How attainable is this data for you after we hand the building over to you?

And what data is relevant for your operations, for your process? And that data may be different for different aspects of that owner. And then something that we forget. Is that data trackable? Can we get to that data to update the data?

So as we build a digital thread of information, we need to be able to automate it. We need to be able to analyze it. And we need to be able to augment it in the data repository, in the common or connected data environment. That will give us smart workflows. And it's going to give us better outcomes for our owners.

And as we look at digital operations with a digital twin, how do we connect all of this data? How do we connect to CMS, the space planning tool, the ERPs, the building management systems? All of these IoT devices. I'm surprised one of my devices hasn't went off during this presentation. All of these smart meters. We all have these in our houses. We all have these in our buildings. Are we setting outcome-based BIM up to take advantage of this?

Because what is the output of BIM? A digital twin. So that we can visualize the data. So that we can look at dashboards and metrics. So that we can normalize the data. And then we can BIM the twin.

What if we could build facility templates that could connect our construction language to our owners language? Where our BIM Could tie to the twin in two different languages, and then start reporting on that. And keeping that data flow normalized.

That is where we need to be. That's where we want to go. Because as we've talked about, operations represents 80% of the lifecycle cost. Think about that. I know we've talked about this already. 80%. Are we focused on that 80%? Are we focused on the parameters that an owner needs to operate? Are we just looking at make, model, manufacturers, serial number, asset ID? Or do we need to know belt sizes? Do we need to filter sizes? Do we need to know square footages?

Do we need to know maintenance procedures? Is the building workable for our environment? Because we have to operate in that environment as we work the circle, as we work this lifecycle. Let's start working on the outcome. Let's look to connect the data across the life cycle for greater efficiency. Let's look at a strategy of detailed operations and facilities data specification. This is a little bit more than a BIM execution plan.

This is truly focused on data that the owner needs in their nomenclature, in how they want it delivered. How that outcome of the building is going to be. And by being able to use this operational data to help make better informed decisions from our outcome BIM-based approach. So what we want to work on? And I have owner and facilities manager highlighted up here. And you may think, why has he got it circling that facilities manager needs to worry about co-authoring, or design collaboration, or model coordination?

Because we need to connect all of these people on the screen. We need to connect all these processes on the screen. And we need to connect all the data on the screen. And have that outcome BIM-based approach. Now, what that get us? That should get us better data.

It should gets improved energy consumption. Because if we can save 1% of energy on a 500,000-square foot building and save data, then that number is around $300,000 of savings that we can give these owners that they can put back into our pockets by renovating this building, or buying more energy-- or more energy efficient equipment.

Or even bringing us on as a digital twin manager to help them operate in their outcome-based BIM, or their outcome-based digital twin. Think about how could you affect the company that you work for and start a whole service around outcome-based BIM or outcome-based digital twins?

And as we look at the digital twin journey, AI is going to play a huge role in this. Yes, we have to be careful how it's implemented. We have to look-- we're looking at technology. Owners are looking at technology.

Remember those numbers that we showed up there a while ago about the results of 70% going to be using AI in their daily task. We need to jump on board with this now, with our outcome BIM-based approach so that we can start enabling the owner's digital transformation journey.

A lot of our owners know it's there. I think what? That was what? 12% are going to be looking at digital twins by the end of 2024. Guess what. We're at the end of 2024, and that number is doing nothing but rise.

We're in a really unique place right now in the industry to drive the owner's digital transformation journey with outcome-based BIM. So some checkpoints here. Key questions. And you've heard these a lot from me. Who's going to use the data after handover? Is the construction team going to use the data after handover? Is the operations team? Is the capital planning team? Is that technician out in the field? Who's going to use all of this data that we've talked about?

What data do we need to collect? For use downstream. Not what data do we need to collect for construction. Not what data do we need to collect for design. What data do we need to collect for use downstream for that owner? Let's not think about the two to three years we're building the building. But let's think about all of those other-- the rest of the years where you may be using that building. You may need that building.

Like myself. I found myself in a operating room not too long ago that I helped design. One of the things I was taught very early in the industry is to design, build, and construct that building like your life, or the life of a family member is going to depend on that building. I learned that a long time ago. And that has helped shape my career. That's helped shape my last 29 years of being in this amazing industry that we all work in.

And then the third question. How will the data be validated and maintained over the long term of that building? Over the desired lifecycle. That digital thread. That digital delivery. That digital transformation. How is all of that going to work? So some things to think about here.

I want to leave you with this. Think about a baseball home plate. It's 17.5-inches wide, right? Oshani hit his 50 and 51st home run yesterday. 17.5-inch wide home plate. My son plays baseball later tonight in his special needs league. 17.5-inch home plate. Tee ball, 17.5-inch home plate.

We also can start at the same home plate, and then are all of us going to be in the 50/50 home run and base [INAUDIBLE] club? No. But we can advance and we can create. And we all can get to a different spot in our lives, in our BIM deliverable, on how you look at data.

My son, will he ever play college base-- high school or college baseball? No. But he's made progress. He's made a change. He is learned over the years how to play baseball, and how to get a better outcome.

We all started at the same spot. We all can learn and grow and make an impact. And how do we do that? We do that with some best practices. We become familiar with the standards that the owners need. And we start promoting that within our groups, within our construction companies, within our design firms, within our BIM technology companies. And that's going to enhance data quality and governance, and compliance. Increase collaboration with your firms.

I remember my days at TME. Sometimes collaboration was very difficult. We talked a lot. We did a lot of things. We learned how to communicate. But did we always collaborate? There's two different things there. And what that's going to do, it's going to make an impact of reduced silos and data loss. Which goes back to that 95% of lost data. Take on an early and ongoing role in the project.

A lot of you've probably heard me talk about my Arkansas Children's Hospital project. On that job, the BIM lead kicked off the entire planning meeting for the entire project. Because we got involved early. We worked with the facilities, we worked with the owner's team. And we were able to deliver 60 gig of data 92 days before that hospital ever opened. So it can be done. And it's going to enhance the value of AEC data in operations. That's what owners need. That's what owners are asking for. That's what our industry is asking for. And we can do that with outcome-based BIM.

So as we start looking at this, as we start looking at new ways to work, and new ways of working and transforming, and new ways of digital delivery, and new ways of digital transformation-- the who, how, what-- it's people, processes, and a platform so that we all can have a successful business transformation. And we all can erase that 95% of unused data in our industry. Thank you. I hope you've learned a lot today. And I look forward to talking to you in the future.