INDOT: Autodesk Construction Cloud on Major Project I-69 Finish Line

ANDREW PANGALLO: This is the INDOT Autodesk Construction Cloud on Major Project I-69 Finish Line case study. I am Andrew Pangallo, the INDOT e-construction and special projects engineer. Some of the topics we'll be discussing during this presentation would be briefly describing the vision and roadmap of what INDOT plans to do in the future on what software usage they use and the agency to perform their business. And then we'll step into the I-69 Finish Line overview, kind of give you some details on what that project entails and why it was a good fit for ACC.

Then we'll go into the actual usage of ACC when it contains the communication, the project workflows, and how that benefited the project. After that, we'll go into how ACC enabled impact mitigation or prevention. Then next would be the schedule scalability and the usage and progression of using schedules and how we use those out on projects in live time. And then finally, talk about progression where INDOT's going next because of the usage of ACC and the success it had on this case study.

To begin with, the usage of softwares on INDOT projects in the past, I think one of the things we identified as an issue, especially with our larger major projects, alternative delivery types design builds, we had a plethora of different programs that were used, depending on who was awarded the job by the contractor or the design builder. And so we had different variations. We had very little BIM 360, we had some innate, e-Builder, SharePoint, you name it, Primavera Scheduling, Microsoft Project Scheduling, and assets.

So we had many different projects vendors and softwares being used from project to project, so we didn't have that consistency that we would like to see. And that institutional knowledge drop off from each job is becoming an issue. And so we did notice that, and identify that as an issue and something we wanted to correct moving forward on our capital programs, when it came to these major projects that are high risk and styles.

Further along with, that we had even more programs that were used that on a smaller scale, when it comes to survey equipment between your Trimbles, your own OnStations, using GIS, photography programs, drone footage. There is just so many different softwares out there, that we either need to one, to consolidate those, or find a platform that would include-- be able to integrate with those platforms. And then also, e-ticketing was another one that was up and coming for us, that we wanted to be able to use on our projects, but also, it fit in with our project management software.

Another big thing to keep in mind with INDOT at the time, was that our executive leadership was taking a look at all of our software throughout the state of Indiana, and all the different divisions of INDOT, between capital programs, design construction, even assets, operations, and maintenance. We're taking a hard look at what type of software we were using, and trying-- and seeing what types we can improve on. Trying to modernize a lot of these different softwares. They're all kind of obsolete, kind of antiquated at this point. And required a lot of manual effort.

So with that in mind, what we were going to use on I-69 finish line, needed to keep in mind the goals of the agency, what we're trying to strive for not just today, but five years out, 10 year plan. And so we needed something on this I-69 finish line, a software that would work, but also one that would work with the agency. We didn't want to have a one-off use of the software for this large contract, and the major projects in general, just for it to be canned later, in a few years. We want it to be operational, and fit with our agency. So it was important to know where we were heading, that mattered what we decided now.

So how do we go about also selecting that software system? So a study we did with Purdue University, a research project, we currently reviewed and researched our current method of project delivery. We consider it a push method. It would start from design. They would deliver it, hand it off to construction as a PDF, and we then hand that off to asset management with the three red and marked as built plans.

So a lot of data fall off, but the idea was going forward is, maybe we should consider a pull based kind of methodology. What does asset management, operations, maintenance, what do they need? And based off what they need, let's back that up in construction. How can construction deliver what they need? And then finally, based off of what construction needed to fulfill the operations and maintenance requirements, how to design, get that to construction format. So changing the way we deliver our deliverables to the different phases of the project was a shift in mindset. And that was ultimately going to determine what software could best enable that?

Initial talks with looking at vendors, we had our initial talks with Autodesk, and what they had and a slide in presentation [INAUDIBLE] was beginning with the end in mind. We really thought that fit well with the type of methodology and process that we wanted to use. We thought that asset management was where we wanted to be, and that BIM type model management. And so to see the already strong relationship that Autodesk had with GIS, what we were already using for asset management, and then what they could provide with the model, and how they could populate that, we thought that they fulfilled that need and the process. And so in the meantime, they also provided the Autodesk Construction Cloud and BIM 360, that could help us manage the job today, but also be in line with our future plans.

Furthermore, we also talked about those other softwares, those other vendors, those smaller ones that we need. We don't need platform to do it all, but we need a platform that can integrate with those. So here's just an example of some of the ones we had, between an Earth Cam, which is a live camera on site on the project, and as well as just using Power BI. Just a very easy integration, and one that made it a lot easier to decide which software to use.

So now into the actual case study itself, which we have branded the I-69 Finish Line. So just a quick overview of that we're looking at, 26 plus miles of new interstate, starting in the city of Martinsville, and then finally tying into our I-465 loop around Indianapolis. A lot of this stretch was four lanes, two in each direction. But it eventually does widen out to six lanes. And then finally, as we get closer to interchange, to a full eight lanes of new interstate. And then also, there's a full reconstruction of I-465 worth nine miles on the interstate itself, where it connects between I-65 and I-70. And then through that whole stretch, we took 92 access points and converted those into 10 interchanges. So all of that, included with utilities and right of way purchasing, we're looking at about $2 million worth of new infrastructure and projects.

Now another, just another highlight of that is we're looking at the soils and geotech on this job. We're talking about over 7,000,000 cubic yards of fill and 3,000,000 cubic yards of cut for over 10,000,000 cubic yards of earthwork in total on this corridor. We're looking at 74 bridge replacements or rehab or brand new bridges, and then also 70,000 linear feet of new MSC wall and retaining walls. That also includes 3,000,000 square yards of pavement.

And probably one of the more difficult ones is all the new utility lines and relocations that I've talked about earlier, and part of that budget is we're talking miles of water lines, sewer lines, power lines, gas. So a lot of third party communication and coordination that was required in this effort.

And then probably at least last but not least, the resources on the corridor. Probably the most challenging of all of them when you're talking about new infrastructure like this, that's not as labor intensive. A lot of earthwork, a lot of road work. Just in the year 2021 alone, we had over 150,000 labor shifts on the corridor, including a daily high of 569 people that were out working on the job. And that didn't include our overhead and management staff. So you could get a glimpse of how could you possibly communicate and effectively manage a job of this size using conventional methods that we used in the past.

So that led to eventually the ACC pilot, we called it. Autodesk Construction Cloud pilot as that we're currently using on all of our major projects. But the first of those in the case study here is the I-69 finish line. As I said before, we knew that we needed something more than conventional methods. We needed a way to communicate with the hundreds of people that were involved in this corridor so we did not miss a step.

Here, just a screenshot of just one of the contracts on the I-69 finish line, just their dashboard settings. So just an easy, quick shot look at the project and today, as all the different submittals, RFIs, issues that are open, and what status they were. Traditionally, this was handled by the project representative or project engineer on the job. All those emails and correspondences flow through him or her through either project email, or other maybe, workflows that could have been used on ProjectWise, or SharePoint. But it was a very heavy lift of correspondence. So noticing we had that type of need, that we needed something more. Otherwise, the risk would dramatically go up through all this coordination.

And what was nice about this is because we had so many people and so many partners on this, what ACC we could do from a members and roles standpoint was very helpful from an admin, from a communication and project controls. You had that trust that when you set up a shared folder environment, that the proper permissions, or sharing, or communication could be managed by each member of the team, and made that sort of roles and responsibilities delineation throughout our team that much easier, because we could assign those via the project members and the admin of the page. And then from there, we could then trust that either you could communicate to a certain role or person.

Like I said, with the shared folders, we wanted to bring our contractors and our designers in there. So it was very easy to manage those permissions on a role based level. And then where it made sense, we might have locked some out of certain folders. And then finally, the naming convention is always so important on these jobs, that we have naming convention. But it's often so challenging from when we're talking about a group of 100 some people to name folders a certain way, to name files a certain way.

And so we had a guidebook that would tell people how to do that, but it was also-- it was very hard to keep track of that, to manage where here and on ACC, they have it built in that you can mimic exactly what your manual says, and it prompts those, using those files to put it in there.

Then I'll kind of go over the project workflows here. So I'll hit the main ones we use on this job, starting with issues, then RFIs, then submittals. You can accomplish a lot of the different things in a project, communications that were traditionally held via email with subject line, communication email chains with different people on it would go back and forth, easily lost within your inbox.

Issues was a major usage on this corridor. As you can see in the screenshot on this one contract alone, we were up to 270 issues. And that was at the time I was developing the slides. As of today, we're now over 300 issues. And some people might think, that's well that project's got issues. But we view it as just a way to stay accountable. That's why we're out there. Every single project is going to have its issues. But as long as you can properly track them, maintain them, and be accountable, they don't have to be a deterrent to the success of the project.

And just from this view here, it's very easy to say when the team expects due dates, what type of change it is. Typically, a lot of these issues were handled via letters. We often had letters going back and forth between the department and the contractors. And it'd be a lot of back and forth that way. A lot of time spent writing those letters. Here we can accomplish the same thing, but just with an issue where you have drop downs. You have project documents easily referenced within the program. That actually allows for these letters, or now replacements for letters, to be that much more intuitive and informational for anybody that might want to read it. Very easy to keep track of as well.

And as you can see, as we go into some of these issues, it's very powerful on we have those drop downs of different categories that data was issued, the timestamps, photos, any attachments related to it. And then we can have a dialogue with those, typically that was handled by email chains, which have their own policies. So to be able to be more organized with our issues and to stay on top of them really allowed this team to not be impacted at all by any issues, just a course of business for them.

And as we continue, as ACC continues to grow, now we even get even better with these issues that allows the whole team to be even more effective and efficient at handling issues. So now that you even have a map view, when you talk about these larger jobs. This is an example of contract-- that contract five, that was near 465 interchange. It's got at least 15 miles of roadway to manage at any given time.

So with 50 to 100 people out on site at any given day, trying to manage the job, it can be awfully difficult to keep track of all these things, and to log them. And it's no longer productive or effective to just drive the job to do these temporary maintenance job once a week. Instead, it's a team effort, right? You could add all these to the system here on issues, especially those maintenance items. We have begun to actually change the way we do business from an application standpoint. When we talk about punch lists or stormwater management practices, we have apps that check that. But seeing how well that ACC issues can handle those different workflows, we actually adopted it, and have replaced the current legacy softwares in lieu of using ACC issues.

RFIs have been a great way and easy way to get our designers included as a partner on these projects. It's been very clear to them what is being asked from our contractors, directly to designers. They can then they have a clear understanding of the attachments, the plan sheets, whatever contract documents that our contractors have an issue with. And it allows for our designers to succinctly then respond with any correspondence needed with here's the answer to question. There's checkboxes to tell you. This is the resolution to your RFI. And we can move forward from there.

And finally, the submittals, another with many different shop drawings, and different workflows, and submittals that our projects have that were traditionally handled with emails now are very clearly shown here. We have project templates, and recurring drawings, and we have a understanding of what those turnaround times are. And so it's not-- anybody can be-- we can it's very inclusive of the agency, too. So there's less of a need for stakeholders to get in here to understand the project. It's all at their fingertips there. They get a simple email hyperlink to take you right to the submittal that you're a reviewer on. So there's more clarity, and the expectations are much clearer for those reviewing, and what we're trying to do, and by when, and why it matters.

And you can then clearly see at the end when the submittal is done, here is what it was sent for review. Here's the official response. You can go in here from a year from now and clearly see what was done, why it was done, and how it was resolved. So there's definitely some benefits to that system, some trust you can rely on there.

And finally, the culmination of all those is the ability, because all your contract documents and project information is in all one platform here, you could then reference them. And the ability to reference them as something evolves, especially some of your bigger issues. It's very easy to do with a click of a button. Here's just an example of one of our what we had started as an issue, a changed condition.

You can see all the different files that referenced it to it, the plan sheet and earlier notice. And then it could be linked to an exact schedule activity. So we know, why is this an issue and how urgent is it because we have our schedule directly linked in there. This then evolved into an RFI because it was bigger than just an issue that you could solve within a day or two. And then finally, because of the RFI, it converted into submittal, which then had a new shop drawing that handled the issue itself.

Then we talked about trust and contract documents. At the end of the day, we need our end users to trust what is in there, what's in the platform. And so the clarity and the changes that the system provides, it actually cuts down a lot of the need for that manual communication via phone or email. The end user, the field inspector can trust that whatever is in this platform is the most up to date approved version of the plan going forward.

It's inevitable that these contracts are going to have plenty of construction changes and design changes. That's the nature of the business. But as long as we can communicate that effectively and on time, it's not an issue. It won't skip a beat, and the job will get built. So this is a clear demonstration of this as changes between version 1 and version 2 of a construction change. It clearly shows you what changed.

And another process we use on design builds would be we have field design changes. And what's nice there is once again with all that referencing, you can clearly see the markups and the red lines of what changed from version to version. But then also, we're able to add a hyperlink directly to the plan sheet itself if you needed additional information. It wasn't-- you didn't have to go a totally different folder. There conveniently on the sheet was a hyperlink that could then take you to why that design change was needed, and how.

And we talked about schedules. Before, schedules was culturally just, it was a contractor task and responsibility. It was their schedule. They maintained it. They updated it. And the department kind of had to take their word on it. Now with the inclusion of schedules to be able to read different sorts of schedule file formats from P6 to Microsoft Project to ask the schedules. It allowed us to view that schedule and become more aware, more of a partner, that it's not just a contractor schedule. It's a project schedule.

And we all need to be aware of what we need to do, and where we need to go, and what those goals are. And so to be able to easily digest that schedule and not have to have formal training in one of these rigorous schedule programs. You're using something that has very common symbols and buttons that navigate filter views so we can actually digest and understand the schedule when we have a better understanding of that on our project. That leads to a much greater trust and partnership.

And then when it comes to actually updating the schedules, it gets very easy when built into the program, into the app itself, you have a suggestion, you make suggestions, and provide when things are actually done. Take photos of that. Working with some schedule experts, one of the wish list items would been that the field people, field staff could take photos, and document when things are actually done.

Because they're typically sitting in the office and it's hard to keep in touch with what the schedule is saying, versus what just actually happened. And then having this integration with photos and the data that the field can add to the schedule, once again, it kind of brings the office management and the field staff together without always having to take the time to manually drive to the site or whatnot, face to face. Still encourage that, but this allows that communication to happen easier and more effectively.

Another instance of the schedule is how are we trending? The Version Comparison tool here is far easier to use than the actual softwares themselves. And so for anybody, whether they're on the job site or farther away in the office, just trying to understand how this schedule is trending and how well it does, what changes are being made, very easy to do with clicks of the button. So before, we had to rely on somebody catching these things, or pointing them out. Now, we can-- it's a group effort where we can understand what is going on and why it matters.

Next, I'll go into just, OK, now that we have all these project portfolios, what was the benefit? It's nice to have all that stuff, but why is that important? So just going to quickly go over some of the case studies and impacts we had in 2021 on I-69 finish line. You just look at a list of some of these. These are some of the major impacts. We're talking 30, 40 type day delays, which traditionally on these major projects, would most certainly push completion into the next year.

And so-- but this team had the mindset and the goal that that's not going to happen. But it's easy to say that, if you don't have that awareness, and that elevated communication that this program here, ACC, provides to realize that. So we look at utility impacts, extra geotech undercuts, looking at additional crossovers, utility impacts further north, right of way impacts. These are huge things all to happen in one year, but the commitment made to the public is this will still get finished.

You can see even here on the utilities, a very typical and prevalent issue that for third parties that we have on these jobs, that they are not able to meet the planned finish dates on the relocations. And whether for good or bad reasons, that's the nature of it. It's difficult to pull off these. And so you can see a quick snapshot of one of our tables that we print out of how is the float or the finish times when they were planned to be, versus the contract book. But then, how are they tied to the actual contract schedule?

So with this technology and this platform, it makes it a lot easier to understand in a shared environment where we said we were going to be, and where we need to be, and why. And so just because the contract book says they are going to be done on this date doesn't mean they have to be. And we can work together to say these are our priorities, even though they are late. But that doesn't mean the project still can't be finished. So that kind of transparency and trust that was developed with this platform really kind of had a new level of planning that went into that we haven't seen before. A lot of times if you saw this kind of outlook and schedule that our utilities are providing, you would-- once again, it would delay the project a significant amount of time.

So when you have a platform that elevates these with the accountability, the transparency, visibility of all of our issues, the type of strategies going forward is more proactive. Before, instead of we're just feel like we're always reactively mitigating certain impacts, here when we have that the recognition and awareness so much earlier in the process because of the platform enabling those impacts to be seen earlier, we now have more options to actually prevent or mitigate those type of impacts. Some of these traditionally listed here with acceleration, winter type work, MOT revisions, sometimes those get too late in the year that you can't do them, anyways. But a lot of those options are available to this team because of the way they were communicated and the way they were noticing changes using this platform.

So here's just an example of some of what we were seeing in the schedule. And because we were able to months in advance, have a plan to mitigate what our schedule was going, was showing us, if things continue the way they were based off those utility impacts and the other ones listed, this is what was going to happen with the yellow line there. But then the month later, the green line shows because we were able to proactively make decisions and plans knowing those impacts, that's what ended up happening. So quite a big transition, just in one month's time using the software, using the program in the process effectively.

So next is the progression. Where do we go next? One of the things we've been talking about lately is modernizing our standards to leverage this technology. A lot of our standards and specifications use-- are based off of what our current methods are. And so now that we have this technology, what could we do instead? So just a few examples to highlight that point, our traditional method of utility relocations would be listed as a unique special provisions in our contract books. And it would look like something like this.

So instead of just continuing that process because everything was 2D, it was on plan sheets, we decided, why not just list that in a schedule form? This same utility that I just showed you in prose form dilutes down to just this information right here in a graph. And then once you have that distilled information, you then give that to your contractor as a file, which then could be directly inserted into Autodesk Construction Cloud to view, and then inter-operate with your actual schedule.

And so as you can see in this example, here's all of our utilities filtered out to those views, and then very easily see what those successes are. In this case, there's actually an impact right there. But it's very easy to see what that impact was, and why it affected the-- did it affect the flow, what kind of information there. It's very, very much easier to see for anybody in the job, not just the local expert on that job and scheduling or utilities or whatnot. The whole team could see that, an could then progress towards a solution.

Talk about parcel acquisition, which is one of the other big players on this contract. We had over 700 parcels to acquire either partial or total takes. Typically, we had another unique special provision that listed the parcels from station to station. What's the date? So instead of that, why not give them a file like this?

This is a KMC file overlay, shaded areas with different statuses on it. We then took the sheet and uploaded it to the sheet section in Autodesk Construction Cloud. And then it's very easy to see the link between the plan sheets where the stations are. Or instead, you could look at this. And you could be out in the field, looking at this either with ACC, or you could use other programs like Google Earth. But the fact is, why continue a process when there's a better way to digest information that's clear to our contractors, who ultimately are there to execute the contract in a timely manner?

So how did all this work out? So just because it's easy to ask INDOT, was it successful? Did you like it? But when we talk about partnering, you ask our industry partners, our contractors, designers, we've always had these surveys on these bigger jobs with partnering, just to get a pulse on the health of the job. And from these initial surveys months into the job, I've never seen such highly rated jobs. And this right here, is a solution one. They got a 5 out of every single job. Every single person that did the survey gave it a unanimous five out of five. So never seen such high scores. So it's a testament that if you don't want to just ask me, ask the industry. They'll tell you that this was successful. And I think that adds a lot of weight to what this pilot was, and what it means going forward.

And there's some of the comments are made. This is from both contractors and designers. No one asked them that they had-- there's no benefit to saying this. They just chose on their own time to say what a good collaboration this was, one of the best projects, and all that. And I don't think it was a coincidence that this happened. I think it was a culmination of the people, and the process, and what the program itself with Autodesk brought to that team, and enabled them, that brought even the best out of these already these very qualified people.

And with that, we had even more growth. So just-- you can see the first two projects, I-69 finish line, contracts 4 and 5 are the start of it. But now, we have both our clear path contracts, or our bridge crossing, some I-70 added travel lanes project. So even into that, when I talk about the clear path project, when some of the same contractors that were on these past jobs, you had awarded that. First week, they were asking when is this project going to be in ACC. They wanted to begin the next collaboration, the next project on a strong note. So it just goes to show that it was just a collective, great response to using this program, and one that wants to be continued going forward.

Finally, because of this project, it's gotten so much steam that I talked about the earlier picture of updating modernizing software. We want to continue going forward. This is the next step. And ultimately realizing a BIM type approach. We want this to be the stepping stone. I think it's at least culturally in Indiana, it has really been a big first step in realizing that this is worth the investment. We want to move towards a BIM type solution, a 3D model type solution. And based off the success of what using better technology on this I-69 finish line produced, there's now a belief in investing the time to even further grow in the industry here. And with that, that's the ending of the presentation. Thank you for your time, and I'll take any questions.