ISO 19650 to Support Digital Engineering Processes

VLADANA BLATNIK DARRAS: Thank you all for coming to this class. And I hope you're motivated to listen a bit about the ISO and how SYSTRA uses it on our digital transformation journey.

So I'll give you a little bit of information about myself. My name is Vladana Blatnik Darras, and I'm the head of digital engineering services at SYSTRA Group. I'm specialized in deployment and digital transformation. Next year, we'll be celebrating 20 years of my work experience after finishing my Architecture and Engineering Master degree.

And as the majority of architects, I started with Revit very early in my career, but understanding of the real potential of BIM came after BIM management certification in BCA Academy where I really gained the structured training about the BIM management. And after that, I started to participate or to lead the management for structured trade in some very impressive buildings-- for example, the headquarters of the Paris Tribunal, or the musical hall also in Paris neighborhood, or, for example, Santiago de Chile airport.

And then I actually joined SYSTRA in 2016 and faced for the first time the challenges of the linear infrastructure projects where at that time, Revit really didn't help much, so I needed to adapt. And my first mission was to push the BIM deployment on the group level and to provide also operational support to BIMs and to projects. And since that day, I actually never left the deployment activities as I am passionate about making a difference, enlightening, helping our engineers to enhance the digital world with their everyday activities.

Since then, I've actually passed several certifications. I changed a lot of activities. I was running a BIM unit for BIM management, and then I got information management deployment also. And today, I'm participating with some of my colleagues in the creation of a strategy for digital engineering services and digital twin for SYSTRA group. That's about me.

And you will need to know a little bit about SYSTRA and its context, also. So SYSTRA is a worldwide engineering company that specializes in transportation and mobility. And the first subsidiary was created in the '90s, and since then, we haven't stopped growing, actually, all by purchasing the companies around the world or by expanding the existing offices.

As you can see, we have offices all around the world. And as we are growing very fast, it's very difficult to cope with the digital transformation and the BIM deployment. For example, merging the entities in our group that already have standards is a specific challenge, or, for example, those entities who are hiring very fast and don't have time to integrate new collaborators properly.

So that's why when we started the BIM transformation, we actually developed a global transformation program that had three phases since 2013. And we pushed, really, the development of our internal capacities and capabilities with the market requirements.

We also put in place a global transformation governance that was established to support local teams with clear objectives and KPIs. And with all this diversity, our bigger challenge, if I can frame it in one sentence, would be how to pursue global and sustainable BIM transformation while the organization is growing in a heterogeneous way in a constantly-evolving business environment.

So how this affects us, actually-- on the organization level, we have a lot of diversity. So why we were trying to deploy the BIM standard, CDE, information management, collaboration, methods, and procedures, and actually [? with ?] all these plans growing, all our entities had to respect their local markets with their specific requirements. So for example, in the UK you had, PAS 1192. For Sweden, our entity is working mostly for traffic [? markets ?] because of their own standards.

The Australia entity is working for New South Wales government and the Sydney Metro. Or, for example, in India, at the moment we speak, we have around 10 metro projects currently in production only in their own market. So on one side, we have local requirements, and on the other side, we have projects where several entities of sister are working for a specific client.

So we can find, for example, five or four foreign entities working together in delivery, which can be very efficient if you work 24 hours per day all around the globe, but sometimes it's very challenging to organize, implement, follow-up, and ensure the global quality of our deliverables and our products.

So there is where our challenge lies, actually-- how to achieve the homogeneous approach to deliveries and succeed to mix all these different cultures who have the different maturity levels, different languages, the terminology that is used that is not understood in the same way in all these countries, you can have a lack of local resources, you can have the tool ecosystem that is very different from one entity or the other. You can have operational constraints-- in some countries, we are really fast-tracking, and in others we have, we are time-based, entry-based so it's a very, very long process to deliver.

So how we can make all this functioning and find the funds and all the other aspects that we might face, how we can make all these nations work aligned on the projects? What is the common production standard that we need to put in place? What rules we should build and maintain? And of course, you will tell me it's logical. Of course, you need to build one rule and everyone respects it. But I do agree, it's logical, it's easy to say, but it's not really easy to do in reality.

Since 2014, one year after our transformation project started, we have produced multiple guidelines and templates. We have developed libraries. We have chosen a lot of production tools-- even developed our own in 2015. But then in 2017, PAS 1192 was released, and then the shift came. So we started to watch how we can adapt our standards to the PAS 1192, but not all the countries and not all the clients were driven by UK standards. Not all the countries had mandates like UK, so we could not impose them internally, either.

As an example, I remember sometimes while I was trying to convince some of my French colleagues to use UK standards, they were really frustrated as the information required from their clients was not at that level. The plans were not mature enough. So why are we doing our BIM approach on our project if it's not required? And even today, in some countries, it's still the case.

So for one of our entities or countries, confronting these local project requirements with the global international project requirements is a challenge. So internally, they have to cope with both, and their teams need to be able to produce on both levels.

On the project level, we also are challenging the diversity. So you can imagine we had different maturity of project members, we had BIM management versus project management. Sometimes, our project managers were really lacking of understanding. They were not having a clear vision of how, really, BIM can impact the project management and what is its real value.

There was still the case where the CDE was considered as a platform only for the BIM deliverables, only from 3D models, and not even taking into consideration the BIM as an environment of the CDE, but only thinking like, OK, we will put in place only one solution. So globally, we can end up with lack of consistency, multiple data storage, duplicated information, no track of information, security was not taken into account. There were numerous wasteful activities.

And in the end, no matter how much effort you put in your deployment, your training, no matter if you explain what the M BIM stands for-- that is the model or the process of modeling or the management of data-- that all is about the data. The first thing that people imagine when you pronounce the word BIM will be a 3D model. They cannot help it. They will always stick with a visual representation of the model.

So in this context where, sometimes, you feel stuck when you are in deployment activities with a feeling that the progress is slow and not so efficient, when ISO 19650 came to life, we saw a really big opportunity. And with this class, I wanted to share with you an insight of how we use ISO 19650 to align our internal objectives and efforts all together in our never-ending journey of global BIM or information management or digital engineering transformation.

I wanted also to share how ISO helped us face our challenge of the diversity, how ISO helped also to structure our own digital transformation, and how it became a backbone of our innovation and digital engineering strategy. And I hope it can inspire you and give you some ideas how to build or enhance your internal strategies.

So how many of you have read ISO 19650 and are familiar with the terminology? Can you please raise your hands? OK, thank you. When we talk about the ISO, what is the first thought that comes to your mind? Can someone actually share? OK, thank you. You are familiar that, for the moment, there are five of them, and there are some of them, too, in preparation.

When we think about the ISO, actually, we need to think about, of course, deployment and development activities, but they are actually based on continuous improvement. And when we think about the continuous improvement pillars, you know of this, they are about the people, processes, and tools. So let's see how ISO helped us on all of those three aspects.

When we think about the people-- ISO 19650 helped us really widen a little bit the door that we tried to open when we started our BIM transformation. And there are three major differences that happened when we started to adopt ISO as the base for our digital transformation.

The first one is that it was really easier for us to push ISO through on the organization level as the entities were more open to accept it because it was an international standard, not a local one. So accepting a worldwide standard for everyone for us was more easy to deploy and to build up our strategy and build out our internal standards.

The second one was when you explain the relation between ISO 19650 and the ISO 9001 for the quality management or 55000 for the asset management or the project management, to all your project managers and directors, they could get a better understanding of its importance and its impact on the project. And that point is very important because that's the population we had a lot of efforts to engage for. So having this scheme and having this in mind was very, very helpful.

And finally, with ISO, we start talking about data management or information management. So when you had it in-hand, it was really easier to succeed, to shift the people's mind from the 3D model to the data. Stop thinking about the 3D model and thinking more about the data or the databases. And we also succeeded to shift the paradigm of the 3D model as an asset to information as an asset. So when you start to talk about information as an asset, you get more and more collaborators understanding the importance of the BIM, actually, and information models.

And since the decisions are based on information, we need to ensure that information management is treated with the same value or respect as design management, as project management, as construction management, or quality management and that it's not only the business of the BIM people. So all these changes actually helped us improve the awareness and adoption on organizational and on project levels.

And then, again, concerning the people, what we have done-- we have a globally-deployed ISO training program with the help with Operam Academy. We have trained 440-- I think-- people for the information management practitioners. So these are the champions that we have with all kinds of professionals in our firms from the directors of the business units until the [? producers ?] and draftsmen.

But we also boosted a little bit our information managers as experts and we train them as information management professionals. So we have them certified, and that really helped us align all our experts about the terminology about the objectives, about the goals of information management and the BIM. That also helped us create a network of experts.

It also helped us raise the awareness in a more efficient way because it was an international standard, more and more people were interested to know about it, and more and more people were interested to integrate it in their own projects. So globally, we put the awareness of SYSTRA collaborators on another level.

The second part of the process is what do you know about the information management process, and what do you think about when you think about the information management process? How familiar are you with the ISO information management process? How many of you know its principles? OK, let us see a little bit.

First, what is the difference between BIM and information management process-- BIM process and information management process? So I will give you a little capture screen from some very famous standards-- the British Standard Institution. They say "Building Information Modeling is a collaborative process that seeks to add value throughout the lifecycle of an asset." So when we are talking about BIM, we are more talking about the collaborative way of producing-- about collaboration.

When we talk about information management process, ISO says that it's a "Business process across the build environment sector in support of the management and production of information during the lifecycle of built assets." So we are more talking about the business processes. And why is that? Maybe this phrase will help you. The information management "provides" the basis for the informed decision making and the platform upon which performance can be measured." And that is directly the project management over the business process, not only the collaboration process.

So you see, we are shifting from, OK, we will collaborate better to, OK, we need to manage our data better. We need to create, manage, and exploit the data we produce in a better way.

So if we now check a little bit the information management process, for those who know, it will be very familiar, but I would like to just mention a few details about these eight steps that the information management process is referring to. Actually, it's an information flow that concerns each contract or each appointment that you can work on. And the trick-- how to think about it is to put yourself in a role you will play within the specific appointment.

So for example, can you identify in which of the eight steps you are involved depending on your role? You might be involved to attend the response, or you might be involved as an independent checker to step seven where the information model acceptance is. You can also imagine what are the tasks you need to do for each step of the information management process. What is great with this concept is that it can be applied to any kind of mission, to any kind of contract in any place on the Earth. And then you can imagine for us, it was very, very important.

And when we talk about the roles, I don't know if you know, but ISO says that we have, actually, specific roles with each appointment. So globally, we need to understand who is doing what, what information-- some information-- needs to be successfully delivered, according to ISO, on some specific appointment.

If you are on the client side, you are the one who will be requiring that information needs to be successfully delivered according to ISO. But if you are on the contractor side, you will be the one who needs to deliver the information successfully according to the ISO appointment.

So client is actually an ultimate receiver of the information. He will be the one who will require and receive. It's an appointing party. And the contractor or the designer is the ultimate provider of information or appointed party. And to resume this, the appointing party, or the client, is there to define information requirements for a specific appointment. The appointed party is there to provide information according to the requirements for a specific appointment. Why is this important? Because I want to show you how we integrate this in our digital transformation.

So on a SYSTRA side, we can be on both sides. So it's not so easy when you want to build up your documentation, processes, tools, whatever. You have to think on both sides and you have to do it double because as a consultant, we can work for owners as a part of our PMC engagements or AMO contracts in France. We can be asked to produce BIM requirements depending on the country we are working or on the contractual obligation.

We are globally in charge to define technical information requirements, but when we are playing the role as a designer, we are delivering the information for the design of metros, trams, high-speed lines, for example, within the design and build contracts. So when you think about the ISO deployment activities, as I said, all these processes need to be built for one case and for the other case if you want to be able to reply to any kind of permissions you might have within the group worldwide. It's kind of difficult.

And I will give you, for example, just a short example for a project if you don't know the ISO so you might understand what I'm talking about. So let us take-- you are on the client side. So on the first step one, you have an idea, you need a project. OK, my town is very crowded. I need a new metro line. So I did my assessment, and I know I will go from point A to point E, and I know what I want from how long and what will be the assets, et cetera, et cetera. So you will build up the information requirements, and you will launch into step two, the invitation to tenders.

Generally, you will divide systems, you will put some civil works, appointments for B and C-- for example, D will be only the stations or whatever. You can divide it whatever you want to specific appointments. And then when you launch your tenders in step two, you will have in step three the tender responses from the contractors.

So all the reds will be the contractors that will reply. And then you will evaluate, and they will choose the, for example, orange one for A, green one for B, blue for C, and violet for D. And these are the appointments you have chosen, and you will want to sign-- and in step four, you will sign appointment protocol for BIM, all the stuff-- contractual-- you need to sign where you decided who will work when, for what, et cetera.

In the mobilization phase, what is important is that, of course, you will mobilize your resources, but not only that-- you will put in place the CDE, you will start to build up your MADP, and all the stuff you need to do when the project starts with the kickoff. Sixth step is the production of information is where your machine is up and running. You are also training people, supporting people, you are delivering, delivering, delivering. Of course, checking also the quality of information, but the major point is the production of information-- the creation.

And step seven, client will accept it or not given your comments. And finally, your appointment is finished, it will go to the step eight, where it's the closeout and where is the global archiving and population of your MMS system. And then the information with the [INAUDIBLE] information model is going to [INAUDIBLE], [? base, ?] et cetera, et cetera. So from this scheme, you can understand that the information management process is really not in the same line as the project management process and that it's wider than the project management process.

And just to remind you, for the project management, you are more focused on the delivery of assets and your phases are more the phases of delivery. So if we go back to the project management process, we'll focus on step six-- a little bit on mobilization, five and four, but it's focused on step six. So that's also a very good argument when you want to speak with your project directors and project managers.

What is also interesting is that this scheme-- the information management process-- you can use in different ways. What we actually did is that we mapped for each step the tools that we are using. We mapped for each step the tasks that are needed to be done in order to fill up the step needed, and then, of course, the information flow from each step to another and the processes you need to put in place to come from one step to another when you're on the client side or when you are on the delivery side.

What is also interesting is that you can map the documents you need to produce for each step. So this is inspired by Plannery, but what we did is we adapted it to our own needs, and I suggest you to adapt it to your needs or to a project's specific needs that might vary a little bit or a client's specific needs. So the information management process and the steps are very, very useful because it changes the shift of the information flow while you are doing your project and while you're managing your organization, also.

So when we are talking about the tools, what about the information management tools? Today, technology is evolving, as you know, much faster than the average person can follow. Every day, you have new tools, new applications, connectors, whatever. So globally, the gap between the technical teams and the production teams is getting bigger and bigger, and the only way to address this challenge is to stop running as the target you want to catch is moving-- and it's moving faster and faster-- and try to find a simple solution to your biggest problems and treat them as a priority.

So ask yourself-- globally, I think all of you already addressed all the production tools. So you know how you are producing, with what you're producing. But then, how are you managing information? How are you taking your information? What are your use cases? Where is the biggest amount of risk for activities you will have? So where the most of your company members can find benefits? So this is what we thought. This is what we've done-- exactly.

So in SYSTRA, when we talk about the tools, somehow, the development, we can say that it's our DNA. We are using Autodesk tools, some Bentley when we need it, and Trimble tools, also. But our internal developments are based only on Autodesk technology because our production tools are mostly based on Autodesk technology.

So you will see in this map-- timeline-- we started developing our CAD management or CAD quality check tools-- ISYSTRA Digital based on AutoCAD-- in the '90s. In 2015, in an internal innovation competition, BIM in One Click had won. It's based on a Civil 3D solution. And since then, we've developed a lot of different models for signaling, retaining walls, rolling stocks, tracks, geology, whatever. But it's really to adapt to our own needs where we are producing rail infrastructure projects.

In 2017, we discovered Autodesk Forge in Autodesk University. And since then, we are developing a lot of applications using Forge. The first one-- I will show you the example-- it's eLODy in 2018. eLODy, it's the web platform which analyzes, monitors, and secures the data for your BIM models. You can put any kind of formats, data structure requirements, and in a few seconds, you will have an exhaustive check of your information models.

It was launched in 2018, and at that time, it was really a helpful tool. As we did in the '90s with the ISYSTRA and quality check, now we did with the BIM data. We needed to have a quality check and to assure the step between the six and seven. We had the production tools, but how do we guarantee the quality of our production? We needed a tool like eLODy.

ELODy saves us an enormous amount of time, and I can give you an example only for the Grand Paris Project. For example, these are the two biggest projects in the Paris region. It's two metro line extensions. In 2121, we checked 3,900 models and we saved [AUDIO OUT]

The calculation is based on, for example, you will need 10 minutes of exhaustive check with LOD and with the report out. And if you do it manually, you will need 985 days and we counted 2 hours per model for an exhaustive check. So you can imagine developing a tool like this, it will save you a lot of effort, a lot of money, and a lot of wasteful activities.

The second tool that was enhancing our information management capacity that was inspired, also, by ISO or PAS 1192 was PABLO. Why? When you are thinking about delivering a project information model and asset information model, there is also always a gap as the information requirements are coming very late in the project. Generally, our clients are not mature and they are giving us the data when we are already involved in the delivery, so we needed to have a tool that could help us populate the data. And so it's what we did with PABLO.

It's Forge-based. It helps us populate an endless number of metadata to our objects, and it also helps us restructure our object strategy to, for example, group them in a specific asset as per a client's requirements. So this one is also very important at the end of steps six and seven of the project delivery where we need to deliver AAM.

Then we developed also a Forge-based-- web-based hazard management application that provides SYSTRA a robust and efficient way of managing and communicating hazards in the project context. Currently, it is deployed in the UK, but it's a typical digital engineering process where we use powerful technology to help specific trade engineers be more efficient and manage their work with the help of information models and BIM. So we digitalize their current processes.

And the biggest success, actually, we had with the latest one in the Carbon Tracker, that was deployed since 2021 last year. It's another digital engineering process where we digitalized a carbon emission calculation that is done mostly by environmental engineers. But what is the difference between this one and the kind of normal one that you can use on the market is that you can do it since the beginning of the project, not only in the end when all is done and you don't have any power to make changes.

This tool is really a decision-making tool. And if you will want to make-- if you want to have more information about it, you will be able to go to a Forge Village on the carbon space-- there can be a demonstration for you-- or you can come to our website and you can check out all these tools.

So where we are now-- there's still a lot of effort to be made to conclude our work in aligning all our deployments to ISO and finishing translating or producing all the documentation, digitalizing more and more processes, training more and more people. And this work, actually, will never be over. The transformation is-- a digital development is a constant process, and we need continuous effort to be able to manage faster and faster changes.

So we need to help our collaborators understand that being agile is the way to succeed, and we need to be there to help them achieve that. We took ISO 19650 as a saviour-- as a shuttle to a better tomorrow-- rather than a rock in your shoe. We need to evolve so the standards are there to help us. So we hope you can do it, also.

And actually, ISO is there to help in effective management of information by having the right information at the right time to enable efficient a decision-making process-- which is crucial to your project-- and also to collaboratively produce information with a single source of truth. It's more about the BIM, but it's also enabled with ISO.

And last but not least, ISO 19650 is there to help you achieve. Everyone aligned, actually-- experts and your organization members-- you have everyone in all different countries on the same level of understanding. You can enroll all stakeholders reaching for the same goal-- your clients, contractors, PMs, engineers.

You can build up a common IT strategy based on it. With the connected environment and a single source of truth, you can build your developer units based on it, based on their goals. You can also imagine how to ensure a permanent investment based on ISO 19650 and, of course, share, ramp-up, deploy, develop, create, manage, and deliver information for your projects.

So this will be the end of the presentation. I hope you had enough of ideas, and now is the time for your questions. And I will thank you all for your attention, and do not hesitate to come to me or check out the presentation on the Autodesk website. And I wish you a nice day in Autodesk University, and I'll see you soon.