EWork and EBusiness in Architecture Engineering and Construction

eWORK AND eBUSINESS IN
ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING
AND CONSTRUCTION
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 5th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON PRODUCT AND

PROCESS MODELLING IN THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
ECPPM 2004, 810 SEPTEMBER 2004, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
eWork and eBusiness in

Architecture, Engineering and
Construction
Edited by
Attila Dikba
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Raimar Scherer
University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
A.A.BALKEMA PUBLISHERS LEIDEN/LONDON/NEW

YORK/PHILADELPHIA/SINGAPORE
Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

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ISBN 04 1535 938 4 (Print Edition)
eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and ConstructionDikba & Scherer (eds.)
2004 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 04 1535 938 4
Table of Contents
Preface
xii
Organization
xv
Keynote papers
The future forces of change for the construction sectora global perspective
R.Flanagan
Vectors, visions and values
P.S.Brandon
Help wanted: project information officer
T.M.Froese
The next generation of eBusiness and eWorkwhat is needed for the systemic
innovation? An executive summary of the EU supporting research and
innovation.
B.Salmelin
2
16
29
38
Product modelling technology

Virtual building maintenance: enhancing building maintenance using 3D-GIS
and 3D laser scanner (VR) technology
V.Ahmed, Y.Arayici, A.Hamilton & G.Aouad
Supporting standard data model mappings
R.W.Amor
Virtual building environments (VBE)applying information modeling to
buildings
V.Bazjanac
A persistence interface for versioned object models
D.G.Beer, B.Firmenich, T.Richter & K.Beucke
Semantic parameterized interpretation: a new software architecture for
conceptual design systems
A.Eir
Harmonization of ISO 120062 and IFCa necessary step towards
interoperability
A.Ekholm
41
50
58
73
92
108
A novel modelling approach for the exchange of CAD information in civil

engineering
B.Firmenich
Integration of product models with document-based information
T.M.Froese
Aligning IFC with the emerging ISO10303 modular architecture. Can AEC
community take advantages from it?
R.Jardim-Gonalves, K.Farinha & A.Steiger-Garcao
Optimization of project processing in the steel construction domain
E.Holtzhauer & H.Saal
Location sensing for self-updating building models
O.Icoglu & A.Mahdavi
Modeling cast in place concrete construction alternatives with 4D CAD
R.P.M.Jongeling, T.Olofsson & M.Emborg
Pilot implementation of a requirements model
A.Kiviniemi & M.Fischer
A combined product-process model for building systems control
A.Mahdavi
FIDE: XML-based data model for the spanish AEC sector
J.M.Molina & M.Martinez
A framework for concurrent structure analysis in building industry
A.Niggl, R.Romberg, E.Rank, R.-P Mundani & H.-J.Bungartz
IFC supported distributed, dynamic & extensible construction products
information models
M.Nour & K.Beucke
Product definition in collaborative building design and manufacturing
environment
H.Oumeziane, J.C.Bocquet & P.Deshayes
Implementation of the ICT in the Slovenian AEC sector
T.Pazlar, M.Dolenc & J.Duhovnik
Adding sense to building modelling for code certification and advanced
simulation
I.A.Santos, F.Farinha, F.Hernndez-Rodrguez & G.Bravo-Aranda
Towards engineering on the grid
.Turk, M.Dolenc, J.Nabrzyski, P.Katranuschkov, E.Balaton, R.Balder &
M.Hannus
Managing long transactions in model server based collaboration
M.Weise, P.Katranuschkov & R.J.Scherer
A software generation process for user-centered dynamic building system models
G.Zimmermann & A.Metzger
Process modelling technology
123
136
144
155
167
178
191
206
222
233
249
261
270
284
296
311
326
Embedded commissioning for building design

.Akin, M.T.Turkaslan-Bulbul, I.Gursel, J.H.Garrett Jr, B.Akinci & H.Wang
The development of a technical office organization structure for enhancing
performance and productivity in fast track construction projects
T.A.H.Barakat, A.R.J.Dainty & D.J.Edwards
Innovative production planning system for bespoke precast concrete products
V.Benjaoran, N.Dawood & R.Marasini
Process and information flow in mass customisation of multi-story housing
T.Olofsson, L.Stehn & E.Cassel-Engqvist
RoadSim: an integrated simulation system for road construction management
S.Castro & N.Dawood
Connet Turkeygateway to construction in Europe
A.Dikba, S.Durusoy, H.Yaman, L.Tanaan & E.Ta
Modelling collaborative processes for Virtual Organisations in the building
industry
M.Keller, P.Katranuschkov & K.Menzel
Process modelling in building engineering
M.Knig, A.Klinger & V.Berkhahn
Space competition on construction sites: assignment and quantification utilising
4D space planning tools
Z.Mallasi & N.Dawood
Project planning: a novel approach through a universal e-engineering Huba
case study of seismic risk analysis
G.Augenbroe, Z.Ren, C.J.Anumba, T.M.Hassan & M.Mangini
A decision support model for material supply management for the construction
industry
J.Perdomo, W.Thabet & R.Badinelli
Modeling processes and processing product model information based on Petri
Nets
U.Rueppel, U.F.Meissner & S.Greb
A building material information system: BMISin the context of CONNET
Turkey project
E.Ta, L.Tanaan, H.Yaman & A.Dikba
343
358
371
384
395
408
417
432
447
463
480
495
507
Ontologies
Managing changes in the AEC industryhow can ontologies help?
Q.Y.Cai & F.F.Ng
An ontology-driven approach for monitoring collaborative design knowledge
Y-C.Lai & M.Carlsen
Setting up the open semantic infrastructure for the construction sector in
Europethe FUNSIEC project
C.Lima, B.Fis, C.Ferreira da Silva & S.Barresi
518
528
540
Practical use of the semantic web: lessons learned and opportunities found
R.V.Rees, W.V.Vegchel & F.Tolman
Supporting ontology management through self-describing concepts
T.E.El-Diraby
555
569
eWork and eBusiness

An assessment methodology for eBusiness and eCommerce in the AEC sector
A.Grilo, R.Mal & R.Jardim-Gonalves
The digital dormerapplying for building permits online
J.P.van Leeuwen, A.J.Jessurun & E.de Wit
An inquiry into building product information acquisition and processing
A.Mahdavi, G.Suter, S.Husler & S.Kernstock
Usefulness and ease-of-use assessment of a project management tool for the
construction industry
B.Otjacques, G.Barrre, F.Feltz & M.Naaranoja
Development and implementation of a functional architecture for an eengineering Hub in construction
Z.Ren, C.J.Anumba, T.M.Hassan & G.Augenbroe
Legal and contractual issuesare they considered in RTD achievments
M.A.Shelbourn, T.M.Hassan & C.D.Carter
Modeling of ERP system solutions for the construction industry
M.O.Tatari, B-Y.Ryoo & M.J.Skibniewski
Construction informatics themes in the framework 5 programme
.Turk
585
594
607
621
633
648
660
670
Collaborative working
Virtual pools of resources eliminate idle or missing equipment in AEC
companies
G.Antoniadis & K.Menzel
DIVERCITY: distributed virtual workspace for enhancing communication and
collaboration within the construction industry
Y.Arayici & G.Aouad
Cooperation and product modelling systems
S.Blokpoel, R.R.M.Jongeling & T.Olofsson
Linking early design decisions across multiple disciplines
R.Drogemuller, J.Crawford & S.Egan
State of the art of the implementation of Information Management Systems in the
construction industry in Spain
N.Forcada, M.Casals & X.Roca
Agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer infrastructure for cross-company teamwork
A.Gehre, P.Katranuschkov & R.J.Scherer
686
695
707
719
731
744
Virtual communities: design for collaboration and knowledge creation

I.L.Kondratova & I.Goldfarb
The design frameworka web environment for collaborative design in the
building industry
M.Huhn
Collaborative work practices in Turkey, five case studies
A.Sanal
Architecture for collaborative business process managementenabling dynamic
collaboration
S.Zang, O.Adam, A.Hofer, C.Hammer, M.Jerrentrup & S.Leinenbach
Comprehensive information exchange for the construction industry
J.Daz
761
771
780
793
807
Mobile computing
Mapping site processes for the introduction of mobile IT
S.L.Bowden, A.Dorr, A.Thorpe & C.J.Anumba
Mobile field data entry for concrete quality control information
I.L.Kondratova
Issues of context sensitivity in mobile computing: restrictions and challenges in
the construction sector
K.Menzel, K.Eisenbltter & M.Keller
A context based communication system for construction
D.Rebolj, A.Magdi & N..Babi
MOBIKOmobile cooperation in the construction industry based on wireless
technology
R.Steinmann
817
831
843
862
873
Knowledge management
Support for requirement traceability in design computing: an integrated approach
with building data modeling
I.zkaya & .Akin
Interlinking unstructured text information with model-based project data: an
approach to product model based information mining
S.-E.Schapke & R.J.Scherer
Live capture and reuse of project knowledge in construction: a proposed strategy
C.E.Udeaja, J.M.Kamara, P.M.Carrillo, C.J.Anumba, N.Bouchlaghem & H.Tan
Development of product family structure for high-rise residential buildings using
industry foundation classes
T.Wallmark & M.M.Tseng
885
900
913
923
Construction site and project management

Assistance to building construction coordination by images
S.Kubicki, G.Halin & J.-C.Bignon
Gesprecons: eSafety and risk prevention in the construction sector
J.M.Molina, M.Martinez & I.Garca
Intelligent Construction Sites (ICSs)
T.Mills, Y.Jung & W.Thabet
Organizational point of view for the use of information technology in
construction projects
P.Praper
Virtual reality at the building site: investigating how the VR model is
experienced and its practical applicability
S.Woksepp, O.Tullberg & T.Olofsson
Evaluating competitiveness in construction industry: an alternative frame
A.Y.Toprakli, A.Dikba & Y.Sey
941
952
964
974
980
994
Seismic risk and environmental management

Analyses of Izmit earthquake by means of remotely sensed data: a case study,
Yalova city
S.Kaya, F.Bektas, C.Goksel & E.Saroglu
Do phased Environmental Management Systems actually benefit SMEs?
L.L.Hopkinson & C.Snow
Software based knowledge integration for seismic risk management
R.Pellegrini & P.Salvaneschi
Real-time earthquake prediction algorithms
S.Radeva, R.J.Scherer & D.Radev
1004
1013
1021
1031
IT supported architectural design

Hybrid approach to solve space planning problems in building services
G.Bi & B.Medjdoub
A computational architectural design approach based on fractals at early design
phases
.Ediz & G.ada
APSIS architectural plan layout generator by exhaustive search
B.Kisacikoglu & G.ada
Architectural parametric design and mass customization
S Boer & K Oosterhuis
1042
1055
1063
1082
S.Boer & K.Oosterhuis

A model for hierarchical floorplan geometries based on shape functions
G.Zimmermann & G.Suter
1101
E-learning and education

Parametric representation of functional building elements with reference to
architectural education
M.Aygn & .etiner
Life long learning for improved product and process modeling support
p.Christiansson
E-learning with puzzle collages
C-H.Lin, T-W.Chang, L-C.Yang & S-C.Chen
1115
Author index
1144
1119
1133
Preface
The global community has stepped into the next revolutionary phase of the long-term
evolution of the information society and is now facing a new challenging phenomenon:
Ambient Intelligenceproviding and getting the right information to the right people in
the right configuration at the right time anywhere. Our business processes have started to
change. New working methods are available and asked for; new forms of organizations
have been proven to be efficient and effectivethe vision of the previous decade have
been conquering practice. Ambient intelligence is the final keystone for a breakthrough
and the industry-wide business revolution, in particular for our one-of-a-kind multishareholder and hence very complex projects.
Intelligent management of the right information has become the focus of research.
Computing power is now available on the Web and basic technologieslike P2P, Grid,
Agents and Web serviceshave been developed to ripeness by the informatics
community for application in AEC/FM. Apply it to your benefitthis is the offer of the
informatics communityand also the challenge.
Making intelligence happen requires more than solely utilizing the basic technologies
and computing power on the Web. It means algorithms, either numerical or reasoning
ones and it means enhanced semantic data structures, in which the information and
knowledge is integrated and can be retrieved on requestwhen and where and how
desired. Intelligence does not mean merely powerful numerical algorithms for solving
and simulating complex engineering systemsas understood in computational
mechanics. In this context intelligence means autonomous problem specification,
decision preparation for problem solving and to some extent even problem solving itself.
Such systems, not necessarily located on one computer and eventually distributed
throughout the Web, should be capable of recognizing, deciding, retrieving and providing
any piece of information, not only explicitly stored data, and at the same time support the
co-operation with the end-user to serve him/her intelligently and polite. Data structures
and hence product and process modelling are as important as the respective algorithms to
make this happen, in particular for recognising the context, which is the prerequisite for
any autonomous action. Data structures, i.e. data schemata must inherit meanings,
semantics must be more than an identifier. They have to encapsulate knowledge on the
objects. This knowledge must be re-usable in a flexible way and provide for reasoning to
interrelate it with knowledge on other objects and their status described by the object data
in order to build up the current context. Recognizing the effective state and crystallizing
the particular problems and various actors in an instantaneous process we are able to
finally provide the right and focused information. This makes ambient intelligence
happen.
Research on and building of ontologies besides product data models have increasingly
been the focus of research activities in AEC/FM. However, do ontologies really replace
product data models? Or if not, do they subsume them? It is neither of them. Ontologies
extend product models adding a new functionality, namely carrying knowledge, which is
simply another objective. The main objective of product models is the very generic
representation of real world objects as well as their respective general relationships to
form a generic object net from the singular units, the objects to model a very generic
skeleton for any kind of application. Other extensions to the generic product model are
already on the way. For instance, product models are favoured, being the anchor for
project documents and structuring the document information space. Data and text mining
methods are increasingly applied to identify the representative semantic items of the
documents and mapping them to the semantics of the product model in order to interpret
the meaning of the document, i.e. recognizing its information contents and further multiinterlinking it with the product model. Again, being accessible via a VR building
environment, ambient intelligence makes document information tangible. The user is no
longer required to search for the right document in order to get the right information, he
only has to identify the building object in his VR model and the information system
provides him with the right information at any place and any time. The power of the
automatic selectiveness depends upon the capacity and power of the underlying contextsensitive systemand again context-sensitivity is first of all determined by logic
reasoning on product and process models based ontologies. We can subsume generic
product models and ontologies as well as any other knowledge-related extensions of
product models to be intelligent product models.
In recent years, the quality of product models has reached a level that allows for the
design of reasoning systems to check architecture and engineering systems consistency as
well as conformity with building codes and guidelines. The few existing and very
successful examples have to be considered first attempts, looking at the great variety of
reasoning methods provided by basic informaticsthis new area has just been touched
on. However, the results gained are more than promising. The consistency checking
methods are an important pre-requisite for co-operative and concurrent working, namely
the consistency problems arising from long-term transactions in complex data bases, as it
is the case in our AEC/FM data bases. We have now the confidence that they can be
handled, but practically sufficient solutions still need valuable research and development
efforts to cope with the whole AEC/FM domain.
In this context, the numerical and reasoning algorithms are utilised in a new, separate
information process, namely the information configuration process, so that we can now
distinguish among processes on three different levels. Besides modelling the tangible
work processes such as the production, organizational as well as the planning and
controlling processes, we have to consider the intangible communication processes
supporting formal information management and information logistics as well as the
configuration processes to determine e.g. the users information needs, critical
notification events or the optimal configuration and presentation of the information. In
the future our research efforts will more and more shift from basic product and tangible
process modelling to enhanced intelligent product modelling and information process

modelling.
In recent years, new business concepts and modelling techniques have been developed
for the virtual enterprise that have demonstrated their proficiencies in several best
practice cases. Again ambient intelligence and additionally mobile computing are
expected to provide for a push to flexible adopt the formal business models in AEC/FM
practice. It will be of utmost importance to the industry to extend these organisational
models to efficient autonomous teamwork across enterprises anywhere and in any team.
Flexible systems and automatic configuration methods are required to install immediately
operable virtual teams within short lead times, that are supported by sound organization
structures, team-focused information spaces and corresponding information logistics.
Virtual enterprises will no longer be limited to strategic alliances providing
interoperability on a corporate and/or product level, but will also be able to significantly
reduce the management cost of true interenterprise collaboration on the team level.
Focusing on a few selected but outstanding topics of todays research on Product and
Process Modelling the papers of the ECPPM 2004 draw a very good overview on the
current state of the art in practice, emerging new business models as well as on the
cutting edge technologies available for architecture, engineering and construction. It thus
provides for solid fundament to explore the outlined possibilities of applying ambient
intelligence in our domain.
The Istanbul Technical University, Turkey has been selected to host the ECPPM in
2004. After holding the ECPPM 2002 in the former candidate state of Slovenia, the
EAPPM therewith again takes a clear stand for integrating researchers from all over
Europe and aligning the various activities in product and process modelling for a better
future. Today, Turkey is potential new EU member state of great importance and an agile
economy. Moreover, it is the bridge between Europe and Asia and it has been a melting
pot of cultures for more than 3000 years.
In Istanbul the ECPPM 2004 again introduces a new platform to share knowledge and
transform it into an active, fimctional asset ready to be shared, integrated and traded.
Latest research results and businesses applications in the areas of eWork and eBusiness,
product and process modelling, collaborative working, mobile computing, knowledge
management, ontology will enable research and industry organisation to develop new
lines of services and usher in a new breed of research areas. The committees of ECPPM
2004 have selected the best papers and organized attractive sessions for their
presentation. The number of abstracts submitted was again unusually high and their
quality was remarkable.
Numerous people have made conference and the proceedings possible. We thank the
authors, the scientific committee members and the ITU Project Management Centre for
their contribution, support and encouragement in compiling this book. Sincere gratitude
to each and all of them.
Attila Dikba and Raimar Scherer
Istanbul and Dresden, June 2004
ECPPM 2004 Organization
CONFERENCE CHAIR
Attila Dikba, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
STEERING COMMITTEE
Raimar Scherer, University of Technology Dresden, Germany
Ziga Turk, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Glsn Salamer, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Nzhet Dalfes, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Yildiz Sey, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
EDITORIAL BOARD
Amor, R., University of Auckland, New Zealand
Andersen, T., FMRI Consultant, Denmark
Augenbroe, G., Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Bjoerk, B-C, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland
Bhms, M., TNO, Netherlands
Cervenka, J., Cervenka Consulting, Czech Republic
Christiansson, R, Aalborg University, Denmark
ada, G., Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Da, H., Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Drogemuller, R., CSIRO, Australia
Ekholm, A., Lund University, Sweden
Fischer, M., Stanford University, USA
Froese, T., University of British Columbia, Canada
Fruchter, R., Stanford University, USA
Giritli, H., Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Goncalves, R., Universidade Nova Lisboa, Portugal
Haas, W., Haas+Partner Ingenieurges. mbH, Germany
Kalay, Y., Berkeley University, USA
Kanolu, A., Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Katranuschkov, R, TU Dresden, Germany
Lemonnier, A., ADEI, Spain
Menzel, K., TU Dresden, Germany
Mitchell, J., Graphisoft, Hungary
Moore, L., University of Wales, EG-SEA-AI, UK

Rezgui,Y., University of Salford, UK
Salamer, A., Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Skibniewski, M., University of Purdue, USA
Smith, L, Federal Inst. of Tech., IABSE WC6, Switzerland
Steinmann, R., Nemetschek, Germany
Thomas, K., Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland
Tzanev, D., University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Baslo, M., Istanbul Technical University, Project Management Center
Ergun, Z.N., Istanbul Technical University, Project Management Center
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Amor, R., University of Auckland, New Zealand
Andersen, T., FMRI Consultant, Denmark
Anumba, C., Loughborough Uni., UK
Augenbroe, G., Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Bjoerk, B-C., Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland
Bhms, M., TNO, Netherlands
Borkowski, A., Polish Acad. of Sciences, Poland
Cervenka, J., Cervenka Consulting, Czech Republic
Christiansson, P, Aalborg University, Denmark
Coyne, R., University of Edinburg, UK
Drogemuller, R., CSIRO, Australia
Ekholm, A., Lund University, Sweden
Fischer, M., Stanford University, USA
Froese, T., University of British Columbia, Canada
Fruchter, R., Stanford University, USA
Garas, F., Consultant, UK
Garrett, Jr., J., Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Goncalves, R., Universidade Nova Lisboa, Portugal
Gudnason, G., Icelandic Building Research, Iceland
Haas, W., Haas+Partner Ingenieurges. mbH, Germany
Hannus, M., VTT Technical Res. Centre of Finland
Howard, R., Technical University of Denmark
Juli, R., Obermayer Planen+Beraten, Germany
Kalay, Y., Berkeley University, USA
Katranuschkov, P, TU Dresden, Germany
Llambrich, A., ADEI, Spain
Lemonnier, A., ADEI, Spain
Liebich, T., AEC3, IAI, Germany
Mangini, M., Geodeco S.p.A., Italy
Martinez, M., AIDICO Constr. Tech. Inst., Spain
Mitchell, I, Graphisoft, Hungary
Moore, L., University of Wales, EG-SEA-AI, UK
Nolan, J., European Commission, Belgium
Rezgui,Y., University of Salford, UK
Skibniewski, M., University of Purdue, USA

Smith, L, Federal Inst. of Tech., IABSE WC6, Switzerland
Sozen, Z., Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Steinmann, R., Nemetschek, Germany
Storer, G., Consultant, UK
Tzanev, D., University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Vanier, D., National Research Council, Canady
Winzenholler, J., Autodesk, Germany
Wix, J., AEC3, IAI, UK
Zarli, A., CSTB, France
LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Akkoyun, I., ITU, Project Management Center
Artan, D., ITU, Project Management Center
Aslay, Z., ITU, Project Management Center
Baslo, M, ITU, Project Management Center
ada, G., ITU, Faculty of Architecture
elik, ., ITU, Project Management Center
Da, H., ITU, Informatics Institute
Erdem, A., ITU, Faculty of Architecture
Ergun, Z. N., ITU, Project Management Center
Gke, Umut, ITU Project Management Center, TU Dresden
Gksel, ., ITU, Faculty of Civil Engineering
Ilter, T., ITU, Project Management Center
Oraz, G., ITU, Faculty of Architecture
ney, E., ITU, Faculty of Architecture
Sanal, A., ITU, Faculty of Architecture
Tali, R., ITU, Faculty of Civil Engineering
Yaman, H., ITU, Faculty of Architecture
Keynote papers
The future forces of change for the

construction sectora global perspective
Roger Flanagan
The University of Reading, UK
ABSTRACT: All organisations, whether they are engineering and design
consultants, contractors, or manufacturers and suppliers in the
construction sector, need a strategy to survive, grow and succeed in a
rapidly changing world. This paper identifies nine drivers that are
impacting construction organisations. These drivers emanate from
political, environmental, technological, social and economic changes
impacting the global economy. In facing change, there is a need to balance
the internal juxtaposition of change and continuity. The error made by
some organisations is that they see all the new technology and materials
and feel it must be used as soon as possible. Stopping to develop a
strategy is important; it provides the framework to implement a plan for
the future whilst maintaining the goals and the direction of the
organisation.
1 INTRODUCTION
The challenge for all organisations is facing, managing and implementing change, whilst
at the same time ensuring profitability and maintaining customer satisfaction.
Construction organisations need to recognise today, the oppoijunities of tomorrow.
Realism must prevail; construction is predominantly a local business using mainly local
labour and complying with local requirements. The developed countries will have
different needs to developing, and newly industrialised countries. For example, Indias
need is to have an efficient industry that can provide work for the people, whereas in the
USA, with its higher cost base, the need is to build efficiently by exploiting technology,
more mechanisation, and off site pre-fabrication wherever possible.
Our lives have been transformed by electronics and information technology but, most
of all, by the processes of change itself. Knowledge has become pivotal and globalisation
has changed the face of competition.
Local issues will always be important, but construction sectors around the world are
not immune from the global issues that impact upon the economy, demand for their
services, and quality of life. Drivers can be defined as those forces that cannot be
changed and are an inevitable result of development in the broadest sense. The drivers of
change involve social, technological, economic, environmental and political trends. Many
countries have undertaken futures studies and Foresight studies with the aim of
identifying the drivers that will influence construction in the next 20 years. Studies from
10 developed countries (Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland,
The future forces of change for the construction sector
Singapore, Sweden, UK and USA) were analysed, from which nine key drivers were
identified for the purposes of this paper; it is possible to identify many more drivers. Each
country is influenced by local needs and challenges, with different emphasis between the
developed and developing world. However, organisations need to consider the drivers of
change and ask: How will the drivers affect our business in the future, are they a threat
or an opportunity, how should we react to the challenge?
2 THE DRIVERS
1 Urbanisation, growth of cities, and transportation
2 Ageing population
3 Rapid technological and organisational change
4 Environmental and climate change
5 Shift from public to private
6 The knowledge economy and information overload
7 Technologies for tomorrow
8 People, safety and health
9 Vulnerability, security, corruption and crime
2.1 Urbanisation
The move from rural to urban communities, and the change from agricultural to industrial
societies in all parts of the world is putting pressure on infrastructure and changing
patterns of settlement. Between 1990 and 2025 the number of people living in urban
areas is projected to double to more than 5 billion (UN, 1996).
In 1800, only 2% of the worlds population was urbanised; this rose to over 30% in
1950, and 47% in 2000; a population that was growing three times faster than the
population as a whole. Figure 1 shows that the percentage of urbanisation is predicted to
be over 60% by 2030.
Growing urbanisation creates congestion, puts pressure on utilities, and results in
many social issues. In many cities built since the Industrial Revolution there is a decaying
infrastructure that is not meeting increased demand. By 1900 only 12 cities had 1 million
or more inhabitants, by 1950, this had grown to 83 cities. In 2004, there are over 410
cities with over 1 million people (UN). The current stock of infrastructure cannot cope,
and modification, modernisation and refurbishment will be required to the existing
infrastructure, with particular emphasis on the environmental impact. This dilemma is
typical of many countries around the world.
eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction
Figure 1. The growth of urbanisation

(The Population Institute, 2004).
People are more mobile, using roads, rail and air more frequently. In the UK, the average
person travelled 5 miles per day in 1950, and 28 miles in 2001. Projections suggest this
could reach 60 miles a day by 2025 (Cabinet Office, 2001). New airport development is
fraught with social and environmental problems as airport development increases
urbanisation, putting pressure on available land. Increased airport capacity will involve
new regional airports with technology to cope with noise levels.
2.1.1 Growth of cities

Congestion is an increasing problem in urban areas, impacting the economy and the
environment. European research showed that congestion costs between 12% of GDP
(Cabinet Office, 2001). New methods of car parking will be required on streets and in car
parks. Automatic (electro-mechanical) parking without manual assistance is being used in
congested city centres, based on an underground silo system making maximum use of
limited space (Trevipark, 2004).
2.1.2 Transportation
Modernisation and retrofit is required for existing transport infrastructure. Engineers will
retrofit roads with new technologies rather than reconstruct them; interactive vehicle-road
systems will be widespread.
Underground road construction will be inevitable as cities become more crowded.
According to one report, it is anticipated that 10% of the trunk road network in the UK
will be tunnelled by 2050. However, the report highlights the cost of tunnel
maintenanceabout 10 times that of an equivalent surface road. Restricting tunnels to
cars and lighter vehicles can improve operation and reduce construction cost by around
40%. (RAC Foundation, 2002). This trend is also evident, for example in Sweden, the
Gota Tunnel, and the Big Dig in Boston. Tunnelling must be seen in the future as a
viable option if all social and environmental costs are included.
Light rail systems and people movers will be used increasingly in urban areas. Rail
infrastructure is in need of renewal and improvement to take account of high speeds,
greater density of use, improved safety measures and modernisation of control systems.
Maglev (magnetically levitated) trains, that allow speeds of up to 350 km per hour, have
experienced a long period of research, but development and application is now
proceeding. For example, China is considering 250 km of rail extensions north and south
of Shanghai using a maglev system.
Greater demand management is needed including price tolling and inter-modality,
maintenance planning and durability. Advanced transport telematics (ATT), will become
prevalent, specifically concerned with improving safety and efficiency in all forms of
transport and reducing damage to the environment. ATT allows efficient management
and improvements in many areas of road transportation, such as demand management
and automatic debiting, driver information and guidance, pedestrian and vehicle safety;
monitoring of vehicle emissions; trip planning; integrated urban traffic control; public
transport; and freight transport.
2.2 Ageing population
The developed world has an ageing population whilst populations are getting younger in
the developing world. According to the United Nations, the number of persons aged 60
years or older was estimated to be nearly 600 million in 2000 and is projected to grow to
almost 2 billion by 2050, at which time the population of older persons will be larger than
the population of children (014 years) for the first time in human history (UN, 2004).
The majority of the worlds older persons reside in Asia (53%) while Europe has the next
largest share (25%). Figures 2 and 3 show the percentage of population over 60 in
different countries across the world.
Figure 2. Percentage of population

over 602002 (UN, 2004).
Figure 3. Percentage of population

over 602050 (UN, 2004).
One of every 10 persons is now aged 60 years or older; by 2050, the United Nations
projects that 1 person of every 5 and, by 2150, 1 of every 3 will be aged 60 years or
older. The percentage is much higher in the more developed than in the less developed
regions, but the pace of ageing in developing countries is more rapid, and their transition
from a young to an old age structure will be more compressed in time.
Few facilities are built to cope with an ageing population, so infrastructure will need to
be built for an inclusive population and to meet a growing need for more healthcare
facilities. An increasing number of people with severe disabilities are living longer and
wanting to live independently. Design companies and construction organisations will
need to think and work differently to meet this demand.
2.3 Rapid technological and organisational change
The new kind of economy will create many more business opportunities, the rate of
change will make it more difficult for an organisation to profit from an investment before
a new competitor or development erodes the temporary competitive advantage. We are
more used to the idea of firms seeking an environment in which they can put down roots
and flourish, than to the idea of firms being created for an intentionally brief life to
exploit an idea before being washed away by a new wave of innovation (Chatham House
Forum, 1998).
Technology enables almost anything to be done; deciding what to do becomes the
critical skill. In the broadest sense of technology, our capacity to perform tasks, and our
ability to perceive and interact with complicated, remote, huge or tiny, abstract or
concrete things will be unprecedented. Personal computers will not be the main source of
information. Instead of buying a computer, most people will buy devices with computers
in them (embedded systems): those devices will talk to each other (interoperability). The
big breakthrough will come when all communication technologies become integrated.
Then you will have an all-in-one device that communicates.
Agile, knowledge-deploying firms may be able to build sustainable positions in the
new environment, but they will do so in an innovative way. The electronics industry talks
of copetitionco-operation merged with frenzied competition. In design consultancy
businesses, the high cost of developing the integration of CAD and visualisation will
mean that development and application costs will be shared between competitors.
2.4 Environmental and climate change
There is an increasing environmental awareness by governments, industry, clients and the
general public. Global environmental problems are high on political agendas with
increasing environmental legislation at a national, supranational and international level.
Ozone depletion, pollution, depletion of resources, and global warming are all common
topics of concern.
Climate change will affect physical and biological systems in many parts of the world.
The earths climate is predicted to change because human activities are altering the
chemical composition of the atmosphere through the build-up of greenhouse gases
primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The heat-trapping property of these
gases is undisputed. Although uncertainty exists about exactly how earths climate
responds to these gases, global temperatures are rising.
A change in a regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies.
Flooding of settlements near low-lying coastal areas and rivers will be prevalent causing
severe damage to buildings and infrastructure and putting greater pressure on the repair
and maintenance sector of the industry. Energy demand is expected to increase for space
cooling and decrease of space heating, according to location. Energy supply may be
disrupted in the same way as other infrastructure.
2.5 Shift from public to private
There is an increasing trend towards private funding of public infrastructure.
Infrastructure projects such as power, telecommunications water and sewerage, and
transport facilities have a number of characteristics: they lack portability, are rarely
convertible to other uses, and investments in them are difficult to reverse. Infrastructure
projects require very large capital investments, and have long development and payback
periods.
There has been a change in the forms of financing over the last few decades with a
shift from public to private sector financing. For example, the UK government
implemented a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and there has been a major privatisation of
utilities companies. The number of BOT, BOOT, BOO, and public/private partnerships
has increased. The public good nature of infrastructure projects makes them sensitive to
public opinion and political pressure. The mechanisms to attract private finance into
infrastructure provision are becoming more complex and more acceptable with the multilateral development agencies and institutional investors embracing the BOT concept.
The message for construction is that there is no shortage of projects around the world,
there is a shortage of bankable projects. This new form of procurement will grow in size,
importance, and complexity. Ways will have to be found for large companies and SMEs
to meet the challenges of the shift from public to private.
2.6 The knowledge economy and information overload
The know-how of people is one of the critical determinants of competitiveness, both at a
company and national level. Rapid technological changes mean that the traditional skill
bases are no longer enough and the future will be characterised by skill shortages and
skill gaps. High obsolescence of knowledge will have to be tackled in the context of an
increasingly ageing workforce. There will be at least 1 billion university graduates in
2020 compared with a few million in 1920. There will be several billion more
sophisticated customers by 2020, who will be better informed and more demanding than
ever before. (Chatham House Forum, 1998)
Learning matters, for individuals, companies, industry and the economy as a whole.
The tradition has been to measure success by economic growth and by the level of
capital. In todays knowledge economy, knowledge capital is more important.
Knowledge capital is the source of economic value added by the organization, over and
above the return on its financial assets (Strassman, 1998). Investment in education and
training helps form the human capitalthe knowledge, skills, competencies, and
attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social, and
economic well-being (OECD, 2001)that is a vital element in assuring economic
growth and individual advancement and reducing inequality.
Technology gives us more and more access to information, so life gets more and more
chaotic. Information chaos prevails and we need to help people find the information that
they want, when they want it.
2.7 Technologies for tomorrow
Technology is a word that frightens some, excites others and prompts a feeling of
inevitability in the rest. There have been major advances in materials and technologies in
general. Extensive research has been undertaken into the use of composite materials,
providing lightweight, strong materials that do not rely on the earths non-renewable
resources. For example, soya and castor seed oils that are cheaper, bio-degradable and an
economic multiplier of using local products (ACRES, 2002). Many of the new/smart
materials are finding their way into the construction sector, having been first developed
for other industries such as automotive, aeronautic and defence.
These new materials, combined with the incorporation of intelligence, herald exciting
scientific advances. Smart or intelligent materials or structures are those that recognise
their environment and any changes and can adapt to meet those changes. System
integration, mass and energy reduction are just some of the benefits of using smart
materials. The technology of intelligent or smart materials uses the knowledge of a
number of different technologies such as materials science, biotechnology, biomimetics,
nanotechnology, molecular electronics, neural networks and artificial intelligence.
Four new technologies are considered in this paper:
1 Biomimetics
2 Smart materials and structures
3 Nanotechnology
4 Embedded intelligencethe application of information and communication
technologies.
2.7.1 Biomimetics
Biomimetics has been defined as the abstraction of good design from nature. This
relatively new science advocates a radical approach of copying naturebiomimicry.
Biomimetics needs the collaboration of the scientist and the engineer. The biologist
understands the organisms and systems within nature whilst the engineer looks at the
design, the strength and durability characteristics. Nature has already produced smart
materials, ones that interact with their environment, responding to changes in a number of
ways. For example, plants have the ability to respond to changes in temperature, sunlight
etc. in order to make maximum use of their environment. The feathers of a penguin are
perfectly designed to be light but able to keep the bird warm in sub-zero temperatures.
Imagine a cladding that could do the samelight and strong with efficient insulation that
adapts to the environment.
Biomimetic engineering could provide clothing that is light, responsive and strong and
could be used in harsh site conditions. Mimicking nature could produce new designs in
civil engineering that are lighter, stronger and with greater adaptability to a changing
environment. New adhesives, based on those produced in nature (the blue mussel), could
revolutionise the building process. Buildings could be glued together, giving stronger,
10
faster and cleaner construction techniques. The possibilities for the use of biomimetics
appear to be endless, but the research needed to achieve effective, efficient and viable
materials will not happen overnight.
2.7.2 Smart materials and structures
Extensive research has been undertaken into the use of composite materials, providing
lightweight, strong materials that do not rely on the earths non-renewable resources.
These new materials, combined with the incorporation of intelligence, herald exciting
scientific advances.
Smart or intelligent materials or structures are those that recognise their environment
and any changes and can adapt to meet those changes. System integration, mass and
energy reduction are just some of the benefits of using smart materials.
The technology of intelligent or smart materials uses the knowledge of a number of
different technologies such as materials science, biotechnology, biomimetics,
nanotechnology, molecular electronics, neural networks and artificial intelligence. These
technologies are inter-related. Just as stone implements triggered the Stone Age, alloys of
copper and tin triggered the Bronze Age and iron smelting triggered the Iron Age, the
new generation of materials will have a revolutionary effect.
Smart materials can be further defined as (Jane and Sirkis, 1994):
Materials functioning as both sensing and actuating.
Materials that have multiple responses to one stimulus in a co-ordinated fashion.
Passively smart materials self-repairing or standby characteristics to withstand sudden
changes.
Actively smart materials utilising feedback.
Smart materials and systems reproducing biological functions in load-bearing structural
systems.
Sensor materials should have the ability to feedback stimuli such as thermal, electrical
and magnetic signals, to the motor system in response to changes in the thermomechanical characteristics of smart structures (Jane and Sirkis, 1994). Actuators should
also react to the same stimuli, but their reaction should be to change shape, stiffhess,
position, natural frequency, damping and/or other mechanical characteristics.
2.7.3 Nanotechnology
Nano as a prefix to any measure is a one billionth. For example, a nanosecond is one
billionth of a second; a nanometre is one billionth of a metre etc. The essence of
nanotechnology is the ability to create large structures from the bottom up, that is by
starting with materials at a molecular level an building them up. The structures created
nanostructures are the smallest human-made objects whose building blocks are
understood from first principles in terms of their biological, chemical and physical
properties.
Diamonds are lightweight, very strong and have a number of materials properties that
would make an ideal choice of materials for many items, from aeroplanes to cars.
However, although its versatility and strength are ideal its cost/availability is not.
11
Nanotechnology may provide the answer to this by taking manufacturing down to atomic
scale. Manufactured products are made from atoms if the atoms in coal are rearranged,
the result is diamonds; atoms of sand are rearranged then get computer chips are born.
Rearranging the atoms in dirt, water and air produces grass (Merkle, 1997). A
shatterproof diamond could be purpose grown to provide an ideal component in the
electronics, manufacturing, and construction sectors.
2.7.4 Embedded intelligence
A number of industrial applications are beginning to emerge that exploit the newly
emerging Internet capabilities of embedded systems. Embedded systems differ markedly
from desktop systems, being fitted with just enough functionality to handle a specific
application, enabling them to be produced at low-cost. Such systems have a more limited
processing speed, CPU power, display capability and persistent storage capability. The
challenge for developers is to produce embedded systems that are able to provide
network fiinctionality within these constraints.
The future is where all electronic devices are ubiquitous and networked with every
object, whether it is physical or electronic, electronically tagged with information
pertinent to that object. The use of physical tags will allow remote, contactless
interrogation of their contents; thus, enabling all physical objects to act as nodes in a
networked physical world. This technology will benefit supply chain management and
inventory control, product tracking and location identification, and human-computer and
human-object interfaces. In the construction sector auto-ID technologies will have a huge
impact on the supply chain, the design and construction process, and facilities
management (Marsh et al., 1997).
2.8 People, safety and health
2.8.1 People in a two-speed world
We have a two-speed world with a widening gap between the haves and the havenots. Large areas of the world have missed out on the information revolution,
threatening to widen the gap between rich and poorsee Figure 4. We need to bridge the
digital divide. According to a World Bank report a global explosion of knowledge is
underway which may lift hundreds of millions of the worlds poor out of poverty, or it
may create a widening knowledge gap, in which poor countries lag further and further
behind.
The richest 20% of the worlds people consume 86% of all goods and services while
the poorest 20% consume just 1.3%. The richest 20% consume 45% of all meat and
fish, 58% of all energy used and 84% of all paper, has 74% of all telephone lines and
owns 87% of all vehicles.
The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross
domestic product of the 48 least developed countries.
2/3rds of Indias 90 million lowest-income house-holds live below the poverty line.
12
The estimated additional cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic
education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women,
adequate food for all, and clean water and safe sewers for all is roughly US$40 billion
a yearor less than 4% of the combined wealth of the 225 richest people in the world.
The message for construction organisations is that more focus will be required on
regional markets. For example, China has the knowledge and capacity to build innovative
and complex structures, but it lacks the finance and the managerial efficiency. Hence,
finance and managerial systems help to bridge the gap. The developing world needs
appropriate technology, rather than leading edge advanced technology. Local power
generation, waste water treatment, and fresh water supply will need to be designed for
local provision. Affordability is key, both of the capital plant and the communitys ability
to pay for the service.
Figure 4. The widening gap between

the richest and the rest.
Human capital is an increasingly important asset; the tacit knowledge of a business rests
within its workers. Therefore, the health and work environment of construction workers
needs to become more important. The overall cost of accidents and near misses on a
typical building site can amount to some 8.5% of the contract price; applied to the UKs
84bn annual output, this is a significant cost (Minister of State for Work, Department for
Work and Pensions 13 September 2003). An HSE report calculated that one third of all
work fatalities happen in construction and construction workers are six times more likely
to be killed at work than employees in other sectors (HSE, 2003).
New construction processes will lead to greater mechanical assistance for construction
workers and the elimination of dirty, dangerous and debilitating activities through the
provision of advanced mechanisation. They will benefit safety (due to better ways of
working) and job satisfaction (due to changes in the nature of the work accompanied by
new rules for site management procedures).
Short-term contracts, self-employment and job mobility will increase, creating
demands for personal pensions and rental stock. Teleworking will increase, but human
interaction will remain fundamentally important.
13
New employment patterns with the old idea of the employer and employee are
becoming obsolete. No one can feel secure in the sense of lifetime employment. Only
those who learn new skills will achieve long-term employability. Service providers are
growing in importance with outsourcing to specialist providers.
2.8.2 Safety
A focus on safety from a design and construction perspective by companies is
encouraged by insurance companies and legislation, and is important to employers,
employees, and public attitudes. Ultimately, safety by design will be viewed as part of the
normal design process. Accident and illness prevention plans need to be built into
schemes at the design stage in response to design-led safety information required by
clients. Scheme safety requirements will also include information feedback reporting to
originating scheme designers and to a master industry reference database.
Training, advances and greater use of personal protective equipment and clothing, and
using technology will combine to make the construction process safer. Better safety
policies and regulations will control risks associated with construction sites and
environmental decisions.
Virtual reality will simulate site working environments for safety training and to help
minimise vehicle movements and risks in general. Modular design, offsite prefabrication,
lntelligent site vehicles and use of robotics will reduce the number of traditional
tradesmen required, leading to fewer people on-site and a reduction in accidents.
Automation will also reduce the need for scaffolding and the number of people working
at height. More off-site work could tackle the problems of quality, safety and speed of
construction.
2.8.3 Health
Over 1 billion people in the world are without safe drinking water. Almost 3 billion
people (roughly half the worlds population) are without adequate sanitation in
developing countries. Technology has the solutions to provide safe drinking water, but
cost is the issue.
2.9 Vulnerability, security corruption and crime
Different designs are being studied that minimise the impact of bomb-related threats.
Structures are being designed such that a column collapse would only result in the
collapse of a single floor or area without causing the collapse of the floors below it.
Reinforcement of the columns in existing buildings by the use of fibre glass or carbon
fibre materials is being researched and also how to minimise the impact of shattered
glass. Experts are investigating the effects of the introduction of an aerosol agent into the
heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system through the development and
installation of devices that are designed to kill microorganisms or filter harmful
chemicals.
14
2.9.1 Corruption
Levels of investment, both, foreign and domestic depend on the quality of the business
environment of a country. The business environment among others is a function of the
rule of law, in particular the stability of rules and regulations governing business
transactions, political stability and transparency. Corruption increases the uncertainty of
doing business because it erodes the rule of law and is associated with high levels of
bureaucratic red tape. Some describe corruption as a tax that adds to the cost of doing
business. Various business surveys have concerned themselves with the prevalence of
corruption in everyday business operations. An empirical analysis of transition
economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia showed that investment levels in countries
with high levels of corruption were 6% lower on average than in countries with medium
levels of corruption (21% and 27% respectively) (The World Bank, 2000).
2.9.2 Crime
Crime is a growing industry with crime and terrorism becoming increasingly important
for the built environment. The events of September 11th have highlighted the importance
of life safety. Prior to that, building protection related to terrorism primarily focused on
the threat of bombs detonated inside vehicles. There is now a more extensive range of
threats, particularly those of a biological and chemical nature.
3 THE MESSAGE
The best way to predict the fiiture is to create itignore the future at your peril!
We have enormous potential for the future. This includes technology, improvements in
communication, availability of capital, and increases in the quantity and availability of
information and knowledge. These require a capacity to invent and seize opportunities,
and innovative thinking. Innovation is the means by which firms can exploit change as an
opportunity for a different business or service and gain a competitive advantage.
The drivers above relate to a snapshot in time; they will change over time and in
importance and impact. The impact on the developing world will be different to the
developed world. For example, in the developing world the results of desertification,
deforestation, hunger and depravation will all ultimately impact the developed world. For
design and construction organisations they represent both a threat and an opportunity.
REFERENCES
ACRES (2002) Affordable composites from renewable sources, University of Delaware, Center for
Composite Materials, USA
Cabinet Office (2001) Transport: trends and challenges. Performance and innovation Unit, Cabinet
Office, Her Majestys Government 13 November 2001
Chatham House (1998) Open Horizons Report from the Chatham House Forum. Royal Institute of
International Affairs. London. ISBN 1-86203-094-4
15
Jain, A.K. and Sirkis, J.S. (1994) Continuum damage mechanics in piezoelectric ceramics, in
Adaptive structures and composite materials: analysis and application, Garcia, E., Cudney, H.
and Dasgupta, A. (Eds). Presented at ASME 1994 International Mechanical Engineering
Congress and Exposition, Chicago, November 611, pp. 4758
Marsh, L., Flanagan R. and Finch, E. (1997) Enabling technologies: a primer on bar coding for
construction. The Chartered Institute of Building, ISBN 1 85380 081 3
Merkle, RC. (1997) Its a small, small, small, small world, MIT Technology review Feb/March
issue
OECD (2001) The Well-Being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital. Paris:
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD
RAC Foundation (2002) Motoring towards 2050an independent inquiry RAC Foundation for
Motoring, London
Strassmann, P.A. (1998). The value of knowledge capital. American Programmer, 11(3), pp. 310
The Population Institute (2004) Website: www.population-institute.org
Treviparkhttp://www.trevipark.co.uk
UN (1999) World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision, Population Reference Bureau, UN
UN (2004) World population trends on web site:
http://www.undp.org/popin/wdtrends/a99/a99cht.htm
UN Population Division (1996) World urbanisation prospects, New York, 1996
Urban Task Force (2000) Our Towns and Cities: the future. Urban White Paper, Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister, London, UK, 183pp

P.S.Brandon
Research Institute for the Built & Human Environment, University of
Salford, Salford, UK
ABSTRACT: This paper explores the circumstances which are coming
together to produce revolutionary change to the way in which construction
processes are being exercised. It argues that we are close to the tipping
point where a small change can have a dramatic effect. It then goes on to
explore the nature of change in this context and the issues related to
research and development which will aid this process. It argues that for
change to occur then there must be technological development which can
be measured and can give a sense of direction, then there needs to be a
vision to provide the will to make things happen and lastly the change
must be in line with the values which a particular society holds dear.
Vectors, visions and values lie at the heart of the changes which the
research community must address but perhaps the greatest of these are
values.
1 INTRODUCTION
One of the pre-occupations of this age is the desire to see into the future. This is
understandable because the speed of change is so great that if you do not prepare then
you begin to lose out in some way. This is particularly true of organisations and the
concept of the learning organisation (Senge, 1990) to prepare for change is now an
established metaphor for this preparatory process. We need to learn in advance in order
that when change occurs we have the tools and culture to adapt to its requirements.
This has been taken a stage further with foresight studies where the scientific and
technological base of whole countries has been marshalled to examine future possibilities
and to prepare a research agenda to match. Over thirty countries have undertaken such
exercises over the past thirty years and many have found it enormously helpful. In many
cases it has been the process that seems to have been the great benefit. To get several
hundred experts to engage in such a process begins to change the culture of the country
towards a desire for self improvement.
Within such foresight exercises there has often been sector groups looking at the needs
and possibilities for major industries and of course construction being one of the major
manufacturing industries of the world has received due attention. Flanagan and Jewell
(2003) summarise the results of such exercises (See Table 1). Some aspects need to be
interpreted because, for example, Information Technology may be assumed by some
countries to be embedded in all the various aspects and therefore it does not necessarily
require to be shown as a separate item. However it is, of course, a major issue. Likewise
17
the improvements in process, whether design, manufacture, assembly or occupation can

be found within many of the assumptions made about where improvements will occur.
This kind of exploration sometimes using scenario planning (Ratcliffe, 2004) is
healthy for any discipline and reveals the maturity of the industry in terms of its
realisation of, and the willingness to, change. It can be argued that once a corporate view
takes hold, caused by sufficient people seeking and adopting the new view, that change
can be rapid and revolutionary. It may be that construction is reaching such a point when
it comes to the adoption of Information Technology and process improvement.
2 THE TIPPING POINT
Malcolm Gladwell (2001) in his international best seller entitled The Tipping Point
identifies a phenomenon whereby an activity or a technology suddenly emulates the kind
of behaviour that we see when we talk of an epidemic in medical terms. It is a significant
point in time when there is a dramatic moment when everything can change at once. The
situation moves from incremental to revolutionary change in what appears to the observer
a very short space of time. Gladwell attempts to identify three characteristics required for
this phenomenon. Firstly, contagiousness where the concept or idea suddenly becomes
the
Table 1. Comparison of Foresight issues from

various countries (Flanagan and Jewel).
Australia Canada Finland France Germany Ireland Singapore Sweden UK USA
Globalisation
Yes
Innovation/
R&D
Exports/
Competitive
ness
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Repair &
maintenance
existing
stock
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Integration
processes &
people
Procurement
Yes
Yes
Construction
and
production
processes
IT
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
18
and project
delivery
Service
provider
People/
workplace/
culture
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
New
technologies
Yes
Environment/ Yes
whole life/
sustainability
Yes
Urban/city
development
Yes
Governance
codes &
standards
Yes
End-user
demands
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes Yes
Yes Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
accepted wisdom and produces a new paradigm which the vast majority follow.
Secondly, a period where little causes can have big effects and thirdly, where change
happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment. He applies this to many instances
where social behaviour becomes revolutionary but the same can also be said of
technology.
It was the introduction of the personal computer which suddenly made the power of
that computational machine available to the masses which in turn led to changes in
communications and the way people undertook many of their normal activities whether it
be leisure, or communication with friends or purchasing travel tickets or discovering
knowledge. The world changed in the space of less than one working lifetime to
something quite new. Partly it was contagious as the word was passed on as to what this
technology could do for the everyday life of people and once imparted it was difficult to
stop. Partly it was the fact that a relatively small but significant piece of software, the
internet, enabled people to access knowledge and interact with it through the machine at
their office or their home. Partly it was the dramatic possibilities which were seen
suddenly by so many that help create a critical mass of activity which brought the
investment, intellectual capital and imagination to produce the information infrastructure
we have today. Of course there were many factors which aided and abetted the change
but viewed from a distance these major drivers created an epidemic in human behaviour
which still continues today.
19
3 THE TIPPING POINT FORIT IN CONSTRUCTION

So what happened to the Construction Industry and the application of Information
Technology? Here is an industry which appears ripe for reaping the rewards of improved
communication. It requires vast stores of inter-disciplinary knowledge, it can be aided
enormously by visual imaging of a finished product and the simulation of performance
when at the present time the cost of physical prototyping is just too prohibitive. The
recent short term forecasts for when the industry might get its act together e.g. when its
supply chain will come on-line have all proved much too optimistic. There have been
significant mini epidemics, for example when contractors of all sizes suddenly found the
benefit of the mobile phone to communicate in a geographically distant and often dirty
and noisy environment. The industry was one of the first to take this technology on board
in a big way. But what about the big changes where collaborative working in design,
manufacture and operation are seen and exercised through a virtual model for the benefit
of all stakeholders in the process: where remote sensing and control allows machines to
manage and direct activity in what are often dirty and hazardous environments: where
ordering and purchasing all resources can be done electronically: where it is possible to
try before you buy and know what you are going to get and why. The industry is
sometimes described as the worlds largest but here you see this great industry locked
into its craft technology which in principle has not changed for millennia. The
management of large projects has become more complex, certainly so has some of the
structures which are now designed (Gehry, 2002) and in many cases they could not be
built except for the support of computer technology. However the wide scale adoption of
the machine to harness its power in a way that can be seen in, say, the aircraft industry, is
just not in place despite the excellent aspirations and investment made by enlightened
clients such as British Airports Authority. Where there is movement it comes from
collaboration between individuals such as the way in which the Frank Gehry Partnership
has worked with Dassault Systemes to adapt software originally designed for aircraft
design to meet the aspirations of one of the worlds great architects. It is interesting to see
that it was another industry that provided what was needed to achieve a new free form
structure which has excited the world.
These breakthroughs are relatively minor outbreaks of a benign driver which pave the
way for what might be. The epidemic is still to come. There are signs that mass breakout
is possible soon and this conference identifies the work of some of the thought leaders
in the field. It addresses what is happening, what might happen, what should happen and
what should definitely not happen! Although the term thought leader seems to have
Orwellian overtones it does capture one important aspect. It identifies the power of
thought and the imagination to provide visions of the possible. This aids the first
ingredient of the tipping point, that of contagion. So what of the other two ingredients?
If we can identify little causes which can have big effects then we may be well on the
way to radical change. A view of the industrial/social world we live in would provide us
with the following trends which coming together might provide the spark for ingredient
number two. As with all epidemics it is impossible to predict but somewhere in the soup
20
of ideas and developments lurks a minor change which will revolutionise the way the
construction industry works.
Convergence: The last decade has seen a massive change in digital technologies which
has seen all forms of media whether it be visual imagery, radio, television, audio,
personal computers or telephone communications all come together in one digital
representation. Mobile phones today now have the capacity to bring most of these
aspects together. It does not end there. Society across the world is changing and
despite resistance in some quarters there is much more sharing of knowledge leading
to a common or converging viewpoint which may in the long run lead to globalisation
of values. The seduction by western values is seen by many to be one of the downsides
of such open access which is controlled by a few. Will the construction industry come
together in a way we have never seen before?
Connectivity: Alongside the convergence through technologies has been the vast
increase in communication and the access we have in the developed world to all forms
of information. We can now be connected anytime any place anywhere and with the
development of ambient computing this is going to extend still further. With
connectivity comes contact, access and the inability to hold on to and protect specialist
information for more than a short period. The hold of the professions and their
fortresses of knowledge protected by their examination systems and barriers to entry
begins to disappear and boundaries between knowledge disappear. Connectivity
allows us to change quickly and for the virus of change to move through the
population unfettered, unleashing a contagion of ideas which can tip us into a new and
unknown situation.
Culture: As the technologies converge and connectivity allows the spread of the
contagious idea then it needs a receptive culture within which it is easy to breed. The
present generation of university leavers are the first cohort of graduates who have been
through the complete school system where information technology was an integral
part of the curriculum from the very first year of entry into education. To them it is the
norm whereas to previous generations it had to be learnt and absorbed and systems
had to be re-learnt to embrace change. The information technological change is now
endemic in society as a whole and it is even stranger to be outside it than to be in it.
Creativity: Do computers release creativity or constrain it? In past generations the need
to standardise and formalise to use the machine was prevalent. Now this is changing as
the nature of the machine becomes more flexible and adaptive. There is still a long
way to go and the culture has changed so that there is mutual give and take between
machine and user to which both are becoming more accustomed. The games industry
is a leading example where the users speak the language and seldom seem to have to
read any rule book before they can participate at a high level. This natural take up
needs to extend to industries like construction.
Content improvement: As the content of what is provided through the technology
improves so it is more likely that more people will want to use it. When that content of
knowledge or access becomes indispensable for normal living then the technology also
becomes indispensable. In the developed nations we are getting close to this situation
as our financial, employment, consumerism etc is being built around electronic
processing. For the construction industry we have some way to go but the industry is a
21
laggard in the race towards electronic business and falls sharply behind transport,
banking and other sectors.
Collaborative working: When the stakeholders need to work together for maximum
efficiency and they are geographically separated then the drive for integrated
communication and sharing becomes paramount. In addition the real benefits often
arise when the stakeholders work together and it is just not possible for one
organisation to act alone. The benefits of airline booking of tickets would not be as
successful if each company developed its own system which could not speak to the
others. Where the benefit is of this nature it may be necessary for Government or a
major player in the software industry to take the lead. In addition there must be
willingness for all parties to work together in pre-competitive research to establish the
platform.
Content: With the growing developments in the hard technologies comes an increased
impetus to provide the content for users to find the technology even more usefiil. The
entertainment industry has been one of the first to realise the potential for extra
services and education is following close behind, often using the same technology. It
has been argued that the distribution networks required for the content may create a
monopoly of knowledge, not unlike the half a dozen or so global film distributors who
control the films made available to us for general viewing. This could be dangerous as
we then leave the access to knowledge and the values that the knowledge conveys in
the hands of a few.
Cost reduction: As quickly as a new refinement to the technology takes hold then an
improved version is produced. This highly competitive market creates a leap frogging
effect which sometimes leaves the purchaser bewildered and unable to invest without
substantial risk. However the overall impact is for more computing power to become
available to each individual which in turn enables him or her to do more for the same
cost and in some cases to be more flexible in their use of the technology, thus
removing some of the barriers to use.
Common Standards: This may be a temporary factor in the tipping point agenda. The
technology is moving so fast that the hurdles we see now to inter-operability are likely
to disappear and the issue will become unimportant. However for the time being the
move towards standards for inter-operability such as the Industry Foundation Classes
(IFCs) is opening the opportunity to exchange information and to integrate processes
together. This in turn allows the collaborative working around a single model which
has long been the holy grail of the IT model builders.
We may well find within the above list that key activity which will tip the balance and
bring the construction industry to the fore in e-business. It is likely to be a combination of
many of the above but one new development could well take us into a new digital
craftsmanship to replace the old. If this is about to happen and many think the time is ripe
then we need to consider future possibilities and what it might be like to live in this new
world. What will be the advantages and the pitfalls? To do this we need to consider the
manner in which we approach the subject. This can be considered under three headings
namely, vectors, visions and values. All three share a degree of inter-dependence but all
three have significant lessons to teach us.
22
4 VECTORS
A vector is defined in one dictionary as a quantity completely specifled by magnitude
and direction. It is the realm of quantitative research and the fruitful field of the PhD
student. By measuring and refining and postulating and experimenting we see how we
might change the status quo and determine what factors contribute to our understanding
of an item or aspect. Even in qualitative research we often seek the quantification of our
findings through surveys and other mechanisms although in most cases we would hesitate
to say we have completely specifled the magnitude. It is also the field of systems which
specify how things behave, often in an integrated way. It has been the mechanisms by
which scientific method has enabled us to advance. By nature it tends to be reductionist,
reducing the problem to something which we can handle and understand although often
we lose the impact on other aspects of the world we live in. It is often the field of the
short term, dealing with the problems as we see it today.
If we take the information technology developments we can see how harnessing the
technology coupled with an understanding of science to aid in imagination, manufacture
and use has produced significant developments. If we link this with the idea of direction
then we move into what will form the next research agenda.
The European Fifth Framework project called ROADCON (Strategic RTD
Roadmap for ICT in Construction, 2001) attempted to identify where we are now in
terms of IT and the roadmap of where we should be goingthe direction. This is a
summary of what was listed:
Applications
Current: These are dedicated to specific engineering functions andproject/building
life cycle stages.
Future: Total life cycle appraisal supported by user-friendly functional applications
and persistent data ensuring holistic decision making.
Products and Components
Current: Have little added value to the building operation.
Future: A mixture of high and low value components acting intelligently.
Knowledge re-use
Current: Relies on industry wide sharing of experiences and fiindamental
understanding of complex systems interacting at all levels.
Future: Experience and previous solutions are available in personal and
departmental archives but new solutions are regularly re-invented in every project.
Information access
Current Company and project data available via LANs and web based technologies.
Future: Ambient access provided, anytime, anywhere, by industry wide
communications infrastructure, distributed and embedded systems, ambient
intelligence and mobile computing.
Project Information and Communication technologies
23
Current: Based on ICTs which augment the creation and sharing of humaninterpretable information.
Future: Based on model based ICT enabling context awareness, automation,
simulation and visualisation based on computer interpretable data.
Nature of technology
Current: Invasive technology where the user has to adapt to proven and emerging
technologies.
Future: Technology is human-centred based around design and build paradigms
promoted by ICTs that enhance the social condition of individuals in the society.
Data Exchange
Current: Available at file level between different applications and companies based
mainly on proprietary formats at low semantic level.
Future: Flexible inter-operability between heterogeneous ICT systems which allows
seamless interaction between all stakeholders.
Processes
Current: Business processes are driven by lowest cost but there is a growing
awareness of customer perceived value which is not supported by prevailing
business models.
Future: Performance driven process assuring compliance with clients requirements
and emphasis on customer perceived value.
Collaborative teams
Current: Teamwork between distributed experts in participating companies is
supported by web-enabled document management systems in project web sites.
Future: Virtual teams combine distributed competences via global collaboration
environments that support cultural, linguistic, social and legal transparency.
Systems Flexibility
Current ICTs require customisation to meet the varying needs of users and has to be
tailor-made for new situations requiring manual maintenance, configuration and
support.
Future: Adaptive systems are created which learn from their own use and user
behaviour, and are able to adapt to new situations without manual maintenance,
configuration and support.
The above list suggests where development might take place to overcome some of the
difficulties we face today and provide a working environment which is more finely
attuned to the needs of human beings. It is technology centred and is looking for technical
solutions. To obtain these solutions then quantitative measures are needed for the science
to produce the tools and the technology to make use of scientific discovery. Much will be
based on an understanding of the natural sciences and the engineering necessary to make
the science useful. In this broad sense the work is in the realm of the vector, quantities
24
completely specified in magnitude and direction. Without measurement and direction

through an understanding of what is possible these advances could not take place. But is
this all? What else needs to be considered? Here we come to the realm of the vision.
5 VISION
It is possible to have an over abundance of technical solutions but without change
occurring. In the early days of information technology the term solutions in search of a
problem was often used. By this was meant that the technology was advancing so fast
that it was outstripping the ability of society to assimilate it in a meaningfiil way. Often
its use was lost on the community it was meant to benefit, or worse, the creator had
designed something which genuinely had no use for the foreseeable future. In the former
case it is critical that society has some vision of what it wants to achieve in order for it to
take advantage of the new tools. To do this it needs a vision.
One dictionary definition of vision is lntelligent Foresight. In this sense, then, the
intelligence gathered from the vectors can be used to give an insight into the future. The
difference between foresight and forecasting is that forecasting attempts to predict the
future (whether it is events, technological advances or expected dates for occurrence)
whereas foresight tries
Table 2. Visions and themes for the Australian

Construction Industry 2020 (Hampson & Brandon).
Potential impacts
Design & Communication
Process & manufacture
5. Information &
communication
technologies
6. Virtual
prototyping
process
7. Off-site
manufacture
8. Improved
manufacturing
1. Environmentally
sustainable
construction
Strong
Medium
Strong
Strong
2. Meeting client
needs
Strong
Strong
Weak
Strong
3. Improved
business
environment
Strong
Medium
Weak
Medium
4. Improvement of
labour force
Strong
Medium
Strong
Strong
9. Research and
innovation
Strong
Strong
Strong
Strong
to provide guidelines for policy makers about the directions they should follow. In one
case (forecasting) the industry asks how do I respond to these events? knowing they are
25
powerless to do anything about them and in the other (foresight) the industry asks what
do I need to achieve these goals? It is the difference between saying the future is
inevitable and we just have to predict what will happen and on the other hand saying we
can influence the future, we are not just helpless bystanders.
The most recent foresight study is the Construction 2020 Vision arranged through the
CRC Construction based at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia,
involving all the major organisations and professions in the industry. Several hundred
people attended workshops and completed questionnaires in which they identified their
vision for an improved Australian Construction industry. The final summary report of
these deliberations (Hampson & Brandon, 2004) reveals the integrated nature of the
aspirations of the industry. Table 2 shows the broad outline of the nine visions or themes
distilled from all the responses made. On one axis it can be seen that it is the
environment in which construction takes place which is the key issues. (Environment
here means the complex of social and cultural conditions affecting the nature of an
individual or community). These include the needs of the workforce, a sustainable
environment, responding to clients needs, an improved business environment and
research and development. On the other axis are the technologies which might well aid
the improvement in the environments identified and these include process issues and
those related to ICTs. The strength of relationship does of course vary between the two.
What is interesting here is that it is not the technologies which dominate. In fact in the
analysis of responses it was the improved business environment and environmentally
sustainable construction which headed the list. The technologies, although considered
important, were seen as a means by which the other issues could be achieved. In other
words, it was the people issues which were really considered to be important, whether it
was now (as in the case of the business environment) or in the future (as in the case of
sustainable development).
This suggests that visions of the future as expressed in peoples aspirations are more
about quality of life rather than mere technological advance. This may well be something
we should note as we invest our time and energy into issues of self improvement. In fact
the drive is towards values rather than solutions to current technological problems. This is
also more evident as people are asked to look into the longer term future rather than the
short and medium term. What we see is a shift to values the more we leave the baggage
of the present behind.
6 VALUES
At the heart of values are the belief systems to which we hold. These in turn are arise
from or are created by the culture in which we live. In democratic societies, at least, these
are partially enshrined in the legislation and regulation which the people have determined
to represent those values. Whilst in past times these matters were largely stable and often
confined by national or other boundaries, this is not so true today. The internet and other
technologies do not recognise such boundaries and can pose a threat to those who hold
strong beliefs. We are moving into a period when values are becoming a key issue in
development and world politics as globalisation begins to be the mantra of the many.
26
When we consider the research agenda for countries the question of values is often
forgotten in our desire to improve the systems and technologies with which we work.
When the Australian community calls for a better business environment, what is it calling
for? Does it mean more profits for all and if so does this mean that someone else will
suffer? Does it mean a fairer distribution of risk, in which case who wins and who loses,
assuming the present system is unsatisfactory. Does it mean that those with technology
win and those without lose? It is a very complex issue but one that is fiindamental to the
well-being of the people we seek to serve. Our research cannot be undertaken, and a new
tool produced, without considering whether people want it, whether it has negative as
well as positive contributions to make or whether it supports or undermines the values of
the society in which it is to be used.
These matters are critical in the information sciences. Knowledge is not neutral, it
empowers some and can disempower others. At the same time the technologies used to
convey knowledge use models, which by definition, are not fiilly representative of the
object or system they try to represent. They represent the item but they do not convey it
in its entirety. We are moving to the creation of a virtual world where we aim to create
reality within a machine. As we move in this direction we begin to touch on some very
key and sensitive issues. How do we really know that this new world truly reflects our
own? Even if it doesare we interpreting it in the right way? In the real world it only
affects a small number of individuals and changes can be made and the model adapted.
Computer models on the other hand are designed to be used time and time again by many
people who do not necessarily communicate with each other. Mistakes become fossilized
and values become frozen to the point where an oppressive tool may have been created.
The author, as a programmer, many years ago was concerned by some of the knowledge
he was placing in some computer programmes. In several programming languages the
expression IFTHEN was common. IF a certain set of circumstances existed THEN a
certain action was taken. At the time we were writing into the programme well
recognised techniques and best practice but what if our knowledge increased or society
did not want to implement that action when that set of circumstances occurred? In a
simple program it could be changed but not before many had used it or still continued to
use it. In a complex program the piece of knowledge became embedded so deep that it
was often impossible to find it and extract it and change it. It became part of the system
and it was almost impossible to detect the manner in which it influenced the full model or
program.
This became even more acute when Knowledge Based Systems came into being. We
captured the knowledge of experts and we made that available to those who were less
expert. The knowledge of the expert and to some extent his or her value system was now
built into the model. We tried to devise ways round this by designating some knowledge
as stable (but who says so) and some as unstable and therefore made more explicit and
easy to change. This can work in relatively small systems dealing with focussed
applications but the trend is towards integrated systems and greater intelligence for the
machine. In other words we will be leaving more of the decision making to the machine.
What algorithms will the machine use and how many of these will represent values?
When we begin to have conversation with the machine how do we know what
mechanisms it is using to guide us towards a particular solution?
27
This is but one example of where technology is taking us into the value systems arena,
although some would argue that we have been there for some time. These are not trivial
matters. As we allow machines to intrude on our privacy and on our decision-making are
we going to be constantly challenging its reasoning powers as we do in debate and
conversation? How will we get all of us to buy in to what it is doing when the users are
not a coherent homogenous group who can exercise some kind of democratic power? We
are already talking about jacking in computers direct into the brain. This raises even
greater questions about at which point the brain leaves being human and becomes a
machine and who provides its value system, man or machine?
This must seem like science fiction to some but it is coming upon us fast. In our
research we must ask the question about what we are creating and how this really ties in
with the aspirations of our fellow human kind to have a reasonable quality of life. There
should come a point when every piece of research but particularly research in terms of
knowledge and processes should require a set of questions to be asked about how it
impacts upon the society which it seeks to serve.
7 CONCLUDING REMARKS
This paper has attempted to raise some fundamental questions about the research we do,
particularly in the field of information and communication technologies, but also in the
way we do it. It has recognised the great debt we owe to scientific method and the
reductionist approach which has provided advances from which we have all benefited.
This is the realm of the vector where measurement reigns supreme. It has also recognised
the importance of looking to the future to provide further direction to our efforts. Here
studies are finding increasingly that it is quality of life issues which now dominate, rather
than technology. Technology is seen as enabler but needs to be kept in its place. The need
to know the general direction we are heading in is a key to investment and efficient
utilisation of resources. The faster the speed of change then the greater the need to
envision where we are going. With an increase in speed, so must the headlights become
stronger! As we move toward quality of life then we begin to embrace the values of
people and their aspirations. The vision for the future must address these issues. Finally
these values need to be subject to constant debate and exploration and the technology
must be sufficiently transparent and flexible to adopt the conclusions of the debate or else
we will create a monster of horrific proportions.
Whether these approaches result in the tipping point is unknown. It is likely that it is
the combination of scientific method scenario planning and a response to values which
will provide the changes that will see Construction move in a way which has been seen
by many industries. These issues around construction are now reaching a crescendo of
movement which seems to suggest that this point is near and we need to consider what
part each of us should play.
In conclusion vectors underpin our understanding of the future and provide material
for our visions; visions allow us to provide scenarios in which we can mould events and
seek to match the aspirations of society; values underpin all that we do and unless these
are part of the foregoing processes then we may be undermining the very progress we are
trying to achieve. Values should dominate if the tipping point is to provide us with a
28
technological base which will be human centred and serve humankind and our industry
well.
REFERENCES
Flanagan, R. & Jewell, C. 2003. A Review of Recent Work on Construction Futures. London.:
CRISP Commission 02/06, Construction Research and Strategy Panel
Gehry, J. 2002. Gehry Talks. Architecture+Process. USA: Universe Press
Gladwell, M. 2001. The Tipping Point. UK: Abacus
Hampson, K. & Brandon, P. 2004. Construction 2020-A Vision for Australias Property and
Construction Industry. Australia: CRC for Construction Innovation, QUT, Brisbane
Ratcliffe, J. 2004. Imagineering the Futurethe prospective process through scenario thinking for
strategic planning and management; a tool for exploring IT futures in Designing Managing and
Supporting Construction Projects Through Innovation and IT solutions (Editors Brandon, P.
Heng Li, Shaffii, N. & Shen, Q.) Malaysia: CIDB
ROADCON: Strategic RTD Roadmap for ICT in Construction. 2001. European Fifth Framework
Project. (IST-2001-37278)
Senge, P. 1990. The Fifth Disciplinethe Art andPractice of the Learning Organisation. London:
Random House
eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and ConstructionDlkba & Scherer (eds.)
2004 Taylor& Francis Group, London, ISBN 04 1535 938 4

T.M.Froese
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.Canada
ABSTRACT: Innovations in information technologies promise significant
improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of designing and
managing construction projects. Yet the new demands that these
information technologies create for expertise and management tasks may
be more than typical project personnel can accommodate. This paper
explores the potential for introducing a new role into the project team
that of a project information officer. The paper is organized in the form of
a hypothetical job description for such a position. It first described the
duties of the project information officer relating to the implementation of
an information management plan, the specific project systems to be used,
and new approaches to overall project management. The paper then
discusses the organizational role, skills and qualifications, and the
compensation and evaluation issues for the position.
1 INTRODUCTION
Current trends in information technology (IT) are yielding a wide range of new
computer-based tools to support the architecture, engineering, construction and
facilities management (AEC/FM) industrieseverything from project collaboration
Web sites to virtual building environments. These tools promise great increases in the
effectiveness and efficiency of designing and managing construction projects. However,
no one claims that these improvements will come without cost in terms of new skills and
work tasks that will be required of many of the project participants. These new
requirements are often required of senior project designers and managers. Yet the reality
of the AEC/FM industry is that these people will rarely be in the position to take on these
new requirements. They can typically be characterized as busy, highly effective people,
and in the spirit of putting first things first (Covey 1990), taking the time to learn and
implement new IT will rarely be at the top of their priority list, regardless of the expected
benefits. Moreover, trends towards the integration of information resources create new
requirements for project-wide information coordination, which must be administered by
someone. To address these practical barriers to IT innovation, we suggest that a new role
is required for AEC/FM projectsthat of a Project Information Officer. This paper
explores the anticipated roles and requirements of the Project Information Officer in the
form of a hypothetical job description for such a person.
30
2 HELP WANTED: PROJECT INFORMATION OFFICER

A position is available for a Project Information Offlcer (PIO) for a large AEC/FM
project. The PIO will be responsible for the overall information management on the
project, information technology strategy and implementation, information integration and
coordination for the project, and related training activities for project participants.
3 DUTIES OF THE PROJECT INFORMATION OFFICER
The duties required of the PIO are organized into three main categories: implementing an
information management plan, project systems and areas of expertise, and assisting in the
implementation of a unified approach to project management. Each of these is discussed
in the following sections.
3.1 Implementing an information management plan for the project
The PIO will be responsible for implementing an overall information management plan
for the project. The information management plan will address three primary elements:
project tasks, information transactions, and overall integration issues. For each of these
elements, the plan will analyze information requirements, design information
management solutions, and produce specific information management deliverables. Each
of these tasks is described more fully below. The level of detail required for the
breakdown of project tasks and transactions described below will be as needed to achieve
an effective overall project information management system. In general, this will be at a
level where distinct work packages interact with each other, not the level at which work
is carried out within the work packages themselves (for example, it will address the type
and form of design information that must be sent to the general contractor, but not the
way that individual designers must carry out their design tasks).
3.1.1 Elements of an information management framework
The information management plan is based upon an overall information management
framework that adopts an underlying process model for AEC/FM projects. This model
views projects in terms of the following elements (illustrated in Figure 1):
A collection of tasks carried out by project participants (all tasks required to design and
construct the facility, including tasks relating to archiving project information,
providing information to facility users/operators, etc.).
A collection of transactions that communicate information between tasks.
A collection of integration issuesissues relating to the interactions between the tasks
and transactions as a whole rather than as a set of individual elements. This also
includes issues relating to information integration across organizational boundaries,
31
integration of legacy and existing technology with plans for new and ftiture
technology, and so on.
The model considers these elements across all project participants. The
information management tasks described below are carried out for each of these
project elements.
3.1.2 Analysis of information management elements
As the first step in developing the information management plan, the PIO will analyze
each element (tasks, transactions, and integration issues) to assess the overall information
requirements, as follows:
Define each task, transaction, or integration issue, including identifying participants,
project phase, etc. This should correspond largely to an overall project plan, and thus it
may not need to be done as a distinct activity.
Assess the signiflcant information requirements for each element: Determine, in general
terms, the type of information required for carrying out the tasks, the information
communicated in the transactions, or the requirements for integration issues. With
traditional information technologies, information requirements generally correspond to
specific paper or electronic documents. With newer information technologies,
however, information requirements can involve access to specific data sources (such
as shared databases) that do not correspond to traditional documents.
Assess tool requirements: Determine key software applications used in carrying out
tasks, communication technologies used for transactions, or standards used to support
integration.
Figure 1. Elements of an information

management framework that considers
projects in terms of tasks, transactions,
and overall integration issues. From an
information perspective, tasks are
32
associated with computer applications

and transactions are associated with
documents.
Assess the information outputs: Determine the significant information produced by each
task. This typically corresponds to information required as inputs to other tasks.
3.1.3 Design of information management elements
Given the analysis of the project information requirements (as established in the previous
section) the PIO will design the information management strategies and solutions for the
project and formalize the requirements that the overall plan will place on each of the
project elements, as follows:
Formalize information input and output requirements: the requirements analyzed
previously will be formalize as the information required as inputs for each task, and
the information that each task must commit to producing.
Requirements for tools, technologies, standards, etc.: establish the basic requirements,
constraints, and recommendations for the software tools used to support individual
tasks, communication technologies used for transactions, and data standards adopted
to support integration, etc.
Staffing requirements: define roles and responsibilities relating to information
management.
Work practices and procedures: establish requirements and constraints on how various
work tasks are carried out in order to assure information management requirements
can be met.
In deciding from among alternative solutions for the above strategies, an overall costbenefit analysis approach will be followed. This may not be a straightforward process,
however, since the costs involved in improving information management elements may
be incurred by parties that are different from those that receive the resulting benefits.
3.1.4 Deliverables of the project information officer
The PIO will be responsible for the following specific outputs:
Information management plan documents: The requirements for information
management strategies and solutions as described in the previous section will be
formalized into a documented information management plan for the project. This will
include the minimum requirements that individual tasks and participants must meet,
and additional optional recommendations.
Implementation of the information management plan: The PIO will be responsible for
all aspects of implementing the information management plan. This includes
coordination among all key project participants (for example, holding regular
information management coordination meetings), carrying out administrative duties
for the plan, monitoring conformance and results, and so on.
33
Training: The PIO will organize the training necessary for project participants to carry
out the information management plan. This will be especially necessary in the case of
new information technology.
Provide project information technology resources: The PIO will be responsible for
acquiring and supporting any information technology resources (computing hardware
and software) that are best provided for the project as a whole, as opposed to
individual participants (for example, this may include a project collaboration web site,
but not specific CAD software).
Provide information management and technology support for project participants: The
PIO will act as a resource available to all key project participants on issues relating to
information management and technology.
3.2 Project systems and areas of expertise
It is anticipated that the specific types of information systems used during project will be
as described in the following list. The PIO is required to have a basic expertise in all of
these areas, and to include each of these with in the information management plan.
Project document management and collaboration web site: a web site will be
established for the project that will act as the central document management and
collaboration vehicle for the project. This will include user accounts for all project
participants, access control for project information, online forms and workflows,
messaging, contact list, etc. A commercial service will be used to create and host the
site.
Classification systems, project break downs structures and codes, and folder structures:
much of the project information will be organized according to various forms of
classification systems. These range from the use of industry-standard numbering
schemes for specification documents, to the use of a project work breakdowns
structure, to the creation of a hierarchical folder structure for documents placed on the
project web site. The PIO must have familiarity with relevant industry classification
systems such as OCCS (OCCS Development Committee 2004), and will be
responsible for establishing the project classification systems.
Model-based interoperability: many of the systems described below work with modelbased project data, and have the potential to exchange this data with other types of
systems. The project will adopt a model-based interoperability approach for data
exchange for the lifecycle of the project. The PIO must be familiar with the relevant
data exchange standards, in particular the IFCs (International Alliance for
Interoperability 2004), and must establish specific requirements and policies for
project data interoperability. The PIO must also establish a central repository for the
project modelbased data (a model server).
Requirements management system: a requirements management tool will be
used to capture significant project requirements through all phases of the project
and to assure that these requirements are satisfied during the design in execution
of the work.
Model-based architectural design: The architectural design for the building will
be carried out using model based design tools (e.g., object-based CAD). Although
this improves the effectiveness of the architectural design process, the primary
34
motivation here is the use of the resulting building information model as input to
many of the downstream activities and systems.
Visualization: using the building information model, which includes full 3-D
geometry, there will be extensive use of visualization to capture requirements and
identify issues with the users, designers, and builders. This may include high-end
virtual reality environments (e.g., immersive 3-D visualization), on-site
visualization facilities, etc.
Model-based engineering analysis and design: the building information model
will be used as preliminary input for a number of specialized engineering analysis
and design tools for structural, building systems, sustainability, etc.
Project costs and value engineering: the building information model will be
used as input to cost estimating and value engineering systems. These will be
used at numerous points through the lifecycle of the project (with varying degrees
of accuracy).
Construction planning and control. the project will make use of systems for
effective schedule planning and control, short interval planning and production
engineering, operation simulation, esource planning, etc. Again, the systems will
make use of the building information model and will link into other project
information for purposes such as 4-D simulation.
E-procurement: project participants will make use of on-line electronic systems
to support all aspects of procurement, including E-bidding/tendering, project
plans are rooms, etc.
E-transactions: on-line systems will be available for most common project
transactions, such as requests for information, progress payments claims, etc.
These will be available through the project web site.
E-legal strategy: project policies and agreements will be in place to address
legal issues relating to the electronic project transactions.
Handoff of project information to facilities management and project archives:
systems and procedures will be in place to ensure that complete and efficient
package of project information is handed off from design and construction to
ongoing facilities operation and management, as well as maintained as archives of
the project
3.3 Assist in the implementation of a unifled approach to project
management
It has been argued that there is a fundamental mismatch between emerging IT solutions
for AEC/FM and current project management practices (Froese and Staub-French 2003).
The IT solutions rely on a high degree of integration and collaboration, whereas current
practice makes heavy use of decomposition and modularization to minimize
interdependencies between project tasks and participants. IT developers must strive to
accommodate current practice, yet project management practice may also need to adapt
in order to take full advantage of the capabilities offered by emerging IT solutions.
The proposed project will adopt these modifications and use a unified approach to
project management. In this unified approach, the work is still carried out by defining
distinct work packages and assigning these to individual project participant groups.
35
However, there is much more emphasis on a continuously evolving project deliverable,

where this deliverable is initially the building information model, which expands with
new information over time until, during the construction phase, the building information
model is used to drive the production of the physical building itself. The focus of the
individual work tasks, then, is to draw necessary information from the building
information model and add new content back into the building information model or new
components into the physical building. Information technology plays a critical
component of this new unified approach to project management, since it relies on the
ability for project participants to collaborate on the building information model. More
specifically, the approach uses the following standard views as the primary conceptual
structures that are shared and are common to all prqject participants (these are illustrated
in Figure 2):
The project lifecycle view: a time-based view that organizes project information
into well-defined project phases.
The workflow view: a process-based view that organizes project information into
work packages and tasks.
The product/deliverable view: views project information in terms of the specific
information or physical components of the overall project.
Figure 2. Schematic illustration of

three primary views of project
information and their interrelationships in a unified approach to
project management.
The PIO will work with project managers to help design and implement a unified
approach to project management that can fully leverage the opportunities offered
by the project IT.
4 ORGANIZATIONAL ROLE
36
The PIO may be an employee of the project owner, lead designer, or lead contractor
organizations, or may work as an independent consultant/contractor. Regardless of
employer, the PIO will be considered to be a resource to the project as a whole, not to an
individual project participant organization. The PIO will be a senior management-level
position within the project organization (i.e., not a junior technology support position).
The PIO will report to the owners project representative and will work with an
information management committee consisting of project managers and information
specialists from key project participants. Depending upon the size of the project, the PIO
will have an independent staff. In addition to the information management committee,
liaison positions will be assigned within each project participant organization.
5 SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
Candidates for the position of PIO will be required to have a thorough understanding of
the AEC/FM industry, information management and organizational issues, data
interoperability issues, and best practices for software tools and procedures for all of the
major project systems described previously. Candidates with be expected to possess a
masters degree relating to construction IT and experience with information management
on at least one similar project.
6 COMPENSATION AND EVALUATION
Advanced construction IT offers great promise for improving the project effectiveness
and efficiency while reducing risk. Not all of these benefits directly reduce costs, yet the
overall assumption is that the costs of the PIO position will be fiilly realized through
project cost savings. This will not be a direct measure, but will be assessed on an overall
qualitative basis through an information management review processes that examines the
following questions of the information management and technology for the project:
To what degree was waste (any non-value-adding activity) reduced?
What new functionality was available?
How efficient and problem-free was the informa tion management and
technology relative to projects with similar levels of IT in the past?
What was the level of service and management effectiveness offered by the
PIO?
What is the potential for future improvements gained by the information
management practices on this project (i.e., recognizing the long learning curve
that may be associated with new IT)?
37
7 CONCLUSIONS
The description of a PIO role and an overall project information management context
described in this paper is preliminary, incomplete, and overly idealistic. Many of the
tasks and technologies described here are currently in place on construction projects.
However, the position of a project information officer and information management
procedures of the nature described here could go a long way towards easing some of the
significant practical barriers that stand between emerging IT solutions and real
improvements to construction projects. Next steps would include collecting best practices
for information management on construction projects, further development and
refinement of an information management process, and greater inclusion of overall
information management practices as part of IT research and development projects.
REFERENCES
Covey, S. (1990) The 7 habits of Highly Effective People, Fireside: New York.
Froese, T. and Staub-French, S. (2003). A Unified Approach to Project Management, 4th Joint
Symposium on Information Technology in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Nashville, USA, Nov.
2003.
International Alliance for Interoperability (2004), IAI International Home Page, URL:
http://www.iai-international.org/iai_international/ (accessed June 3, 2004).
OCCS Development Committee, (2004). OCCS Net, The Omniclass Construction Classification
System, web page at: http://www.occsnet.org/ [accessed June 24, 2004].
The next generation of eBusiness and

eWorkwhat is needed for the systemic
innovation?
An executive summary of the EU supporting
research and innovation
B.Salmelin
Head of Unit DG Information Society, New Working Environments
ABSTRACT: The presentation is building on three main pillars: Firstly
the policy context of the EU is described, in the context of industrial
competition and the new innovation processes. Secondly the presentation
is looking in detail to the drivers the knowledge, networked economy is
bringing to the sustainable economical growth and thirdly describing the
IST research programme, and also the new thinking of the EU regarding
new research policy instruments favouring the full deployment of the
European research capacity.
The EU has set it policy goals towards 2010 in the well-known Lisbon Agenda. It is an
important document form several perspectives: It sets the ambition of Europe towards
sustainable growth, competitiveness and high-quality jobs. The timeline was set to
incorporate the enlargement process which is halfway done now, increasing the social
cohesion policy implications.
However the real issue is how to receive the Lisbon goals. In the speech it is shown
that the need for breaking from the past paradigms is evident, and this view is backed up
by some recent studies on the productivity growth due to new paradigms. The growth
reported by using modern ICT technologies in an innovative, systemic way is reported to
be several tens of percent, in average.
This brings challenges to organisational behaviour and their fiiture developments.
Virtual organisations have been talked about for tens of years, but are there really those,
in the meaning of organisations being at the same time capturing the advantage of being
small, thus flexible and at the same time large, thus effective? Not so many. Perhaps the
construction sector itself is leading the way towards the new organisation formats.
We can not either forget the role of entirely new forms of organising the work, like in
and by professional communities rather than fixed organisations. The networking and
connectivity together with advanced collaboration tools lead to entirely new possibilities
to build virtual (e.g. design) tams across traditional boundaries, and even continents. The
24 hours continuous work paradigm is very close, and promising. What is required
though on policy and legislation levels? Do we need to reconsider the IPR issues when
approaching these new paradigms not to inhibit innovation?
The next generation of eBusiness and eWork
39
Some key projects running in the field of new working paradigms are described to
illustrate the possibilities the technology is providing already today, not to talk about
tomorrow.
The third part of the speech continues precise information of the experiences the EU
has from past projects in the field, the achievements and also the experiences of the first
and second call of the IST programme where themes like networked business and mobile
work were present.
The third call which is closing these days is elaborated in the perspective of the longterm goals of the EU in constructing new undertakings and instruments to capture better
the whole innovation process, which has moved from sequential to strongly parallel,
more dynamic and multidisciplinary than ever before.
Here a new approach to the building of the research and innovation agenda is
described. The unit New Working Environments of DG Information Society has started a
set of research communities, interacting in a multidisciplinary way. The communities
consist of industrial and research actors, policy makers and those who are needed to
cover the whole innovation process. This set of communities, called ami@work (Ambient
Intelligence at work) are now in the start-up phase, but already encompassing more than
600 people being actively involved. The site can be found under www.amiatwork.com,
which is inviting you all to participate in those communities closest to you.
As example of supporting the innovation process on national base is also described, to
illustrate the needed interactions for full efficiency. Industrial and research community
participation is encouraged to make the interactions and thus the whole innovation
process more effective.
The fourth IST call, which is to be published at the yearly IST 2004 conference, this
year in the Hague, The Netherlands is discussed as the whole IST research work
programme 20052006, which is investing in IST research some 1,8 Billion EURO in the
forthcoming two years. New themes are approaching, and the background thinking
leading to this is described.
Last but not least the path towards the 7th EU research Framework programme is
described. The proposal from the Commission is to double the research investment to
match with the goals of 3% of research of the GDP following the Lisbon agenda goals.
New instruments like technology platforms are debated, as well as the balance
between the long-term (individual) research versus the current collaborative research
schemes. The state of the play and the rationale of the choices will be discussed. Also the
next steps opening participation possibilities for the industry and research sectors are
described to encourage the common way to meet the sustainable growth goals.
Product modelling technology
Virtual building maintenance: enhancing

building maintenance using 3D-GIS and 3D
laser scanner (VR) technology
V.Ahmed, Y.Arayici, A.Hamilton & G.Aouad
School of Construction and Property Management, University of Salford,
Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT: The renovation and refurbishment market is rapidly
expanding within the construction industry, bringing the role of the
Facilities Management (FM) department to the forefront. Operating and
maintaining a facility however, takes the biggest proportion of the
lifecycle cost of a building, which can be costly and time consuming. The
wide spread and use of advanced technologies within the construction
industry can be used to drive the productivity gains by promoting a freeflow of information between departments, divisions, offices, and sites;
and between themselves, their contractors and partners.
The paper describes a scope in the INTELCITIES project undertaken by
75 partners including 18 cities (Manchester, Rome, Barcelona, etc),
20ICT companies (Nokia, IBM, CISCO, Microsoft, etc) and 38 research
institutes (University of Salford from UK, CSTB from France, UPC from
Spain, etc) across Europe to pool advanced knowledge and experience of
electronic government, planning systems, and citizen participation across
Europe. The scope includes capturing digital data of existing buildings
using 3D laser scanning equipment and showing how this data can be
used as an information base for enhancing the refurbishment process and
maintenance.
Furthermore, the paper discusses the state of the art for operating and
maintaining facilities, describing the prevailing methods of building
maintenance, highlighting their limitations with proposed alternatives,
such as 3D Geographic Information Systems 3D GIS to enable the
spatial analysis and static visualisation of critical of query outputs and 3D
laser scanning technology for obtaining the digital information of existing
buildings for construction maintenance.
1 INTRODUCTION
The new-construction market has been shrinking, while the renovation and refurbishment
market is rapidly expanding in the construction industry (Mahdjoubi and Ahmed, 2004).
Operating and maintaining a facility takes the biggest proportion of the lifecycle cost of a
building. The growing emphasison lifecycle considerations through new forms of project
42
relationships, together with the increasing refurbishment, retrofit and renovation of

existing buildings (instead of new build) is bringing the role of the Facilities Management
(FM) department to the forefront.
Furthermore, previous research had shown that there would be no substantial change
in aggregate demand for housing over the next decade (Simmonds and Clark, 1999).
Therefore, organisations need to be able to quantify costs and communicate management
information about their facility and infrastructure (Wix, 2003). To do this, they are
turning to new information technologies to drive productivity gains. The most successfiil
companies promote a free-flow of information between stakeholders.
Typically, construction facilities require maintenance and occasional repairs on a
regular basis, due to deterioration and aging. This is to keep them functional and in a
satisfactory appearance. In fact, many organisations own a large variety of buildings and
other types of constructed facilities, which need regular maintenance, occasional
renovation and rehabilitation, and sometimes reconstruction of new facilities. Often,
these organisations face a crucial dilemma, regarding the urgency and prioritisation of
works and associated costs (Rosenfeld and Shohet, 1996). However, not many companies
have utilised information technology to increase the efficiency of the refurbishment
process for building maintenance.
The above issues are addressed in the INTELCITIES project, which has a focus on the
prevailing methods of building maintenance, highlighting their benefits and limitations.
The paper also describes a proposed approach for the use 3D Geographic Information
Systems GIS and 3D laser scanning system, to enable the analysis and static
visualisation of critical query outputs for building maintenance.
2 THE INTELCITIES PROJECT
The INTELCITIES (Intelligent Cities) Project is a research and development project that
aims at helping achieve the EU policy goal of the knowledge society. INTELCITIES
project brings together the combined experience and expertise of key players from across
Europe, focusing on e-Government, e-Planning and e-Inclusion, e-Land Use Information
Management, e-Regeneration, Integration and Interoperability, Virtual Urban Planning,
etc, (http://www.intelcitiesproject.com/).
The overall aim is to advance the possibilities of e-Governance of cities to a new level
through the development of a prototype of the IOSCP (Integrated Open System City
Platform), as a clear and easily accessible illustration of a shared civic place in virtual
space continuously available to allwhether officials, decision-makers and other
professionals, such as planners, developers, politicians, designers, engineers, transport
and utility service providers, as well as individual citizens, community groups/networks
and businesses, through a wide range of interfaces.
This paper focuses on the e-Regeneration work package of the project. The objectives
of the package are to:
1. Produce a city vision for the post industrial city in the knowledge society and set of
targets for systems to enhance regeneration.
2. Produce a system to support improved decision making about strategic planning of
cities.
Virtual building maintenance
43
3. Produce a system to support development planning processes and that engage citizens
in planning regeneration.
4. Show how these systems could be integrated with other city systems.
5. Report on how a holistic approach to all elements of building, refurbishment and urban
planning and design can lead to successful, sustainable cities.
The objective 5 specifically is addressed in the paper. The task, which is defined to
achieve the objective 5, is the building data capture using the laser scanner technology
and investigate this technology to enhance the refiirbishment process and maintenance.
Figure 1 illustrates the vision, which is beyond the INTELCITIES project, for the use of
3D laser scanner for maintenance and refurbishment process. In the INTELCITIES
project, the laser scanner technology is aimed at showing how it can be used for building
refurbishment and maintenance.
In figure 1, the first step centres on the creating VR models subject to the requirements
of use and usage of the VR models such as building redesign and renovation, building
survey and evaluation, reverse engineering, fabrication and construction inspection,
health and safety, and urban planning and analysis.
In the second step, integration is the main concern. Therefore, integration of the laser
scanning system will be endeavoured with the GPS systems for linking the OS
(Ordanance Survey) data or for linking the local authority data, with the GIS system for
accomplishing the full integration of VR and GIS and with the Workbench for
interactively analysing the VR models produced through laser scanning system.
Figure 1. Show how laser scanner

technology can be used for
maintenance and refurbishment
process in the INTELCITIES project.
In the third step, it is aimed at building data integration that is related to developing a
conceptual model of nD modelling (Lee et al, 2003) system and associating it with the
other data structures including relational databases and object-oriented databases to
illustrate how data can be integrated to support intelligent city and construction systems.
44
The rest of the paper considers DSS (Decision Support System) and delves into the
integration of the 3D laser scanning technology with GIS system for building
maintenance. In the next section, the existing methods of building maintenance and their
limitations are explained in order to justify the integration of the 3D-GIS and the 3D laser
scanner systems.
3 PREVAILING METHODS OF BUILDING MAINTENANCE AND
THEIR LIMITATIONS
Planning and control of building maintenance works are commonly performed using
traditional media, such as paper-based plans and sketches. Other techniques have also
emerged as decision support systems (DSS) and integrated environments.
In recent years, major efforts were devoted to the development of decision support
systems (DSS) to address building maintenance issues. Several of these systems have
been developed to assist managers and decision-makers in planning building maintenance
activities. Each DSS has its own functionality and designed for its unique purpose. These
tools range from renovation design to initiation of renovation projects.
Rosenfeld and Shohet (1996) have developed a unique DSS, which is capable of
suggesting various building/facility-upgrading alternatives. This system was
demonstrated on a 25-year-old dining facility in a military base that had suffered serious
structural damage due to foundation problems. This system has proved valuable for the
maintenance work. It provided managers with alternatives depending on the input
criteria, including full descriptions of building evaluation and end-results. However, it
only provides information on the general condition of the facility, including costs and
subsequently life span of facility depending on how much money is available or what
alternative is chosen.
Underwood and Alshawi (2000) developed an integrated construction environment for
the UK construction industrythe Simultaneous Prototyping for an Integrated
Construction Environment (SPACE). MAINTenance ForeCASTing in an Integrated
Construction Environment (MAINCAST) (Underwood and Alshawi, 2000) is an
amplification of SPACE, which forecasts building element maintenance of a project as
part of a fully integrated environment MAINCAST and was developed to assist the
facility manager/owner (Client) in facility/project management by automatically
generating detailed maintenance valuations, outlining the required maintenance during
every operational year of the projects life, etc.
However, these media suffer from several limitations. Firstly, it is difficult to identify
the refiirbishment and renovation tasks. Secondly, it is also difficult to monitor the
various tasks, because of the complexity of the operation tasks. The Rosenfeld and
Shohet system DSS for instance is not capable of enabling managers and decision-makers
to view the facility and see the damaged elements or locate them. Overall, the main
limitation of these DSS systems is related to their output. They usually provide the results
in a text format or tables and, in some cases, bar charts. This form of output is often not
appropriate for decision-makers to visualise the results of their queries, especially when
lay-clients are involved in the communication process. These tools have yet to adopt
spatial analysis techniques such as GIS technology in their operation. A GIS enables the
45
spatial analysis and static visualisation of critical of query outputs (Enache, 1994) was
critical of the failure of current DSS systerns to make use of advances in GIS technology.
In addition, it does not allow them to visualise the final changes, before starting the
maintenance work. Clearly, there is a need to improve the management of information
and tasks about building maintenance.
4 3D-GIS AND LASER SCANNING TECHNOLOGY AS VR
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITIES
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are collections of computing techniques and
databases that support the gathering, analysis and display of large volumes of spatially
referenced data (USEPA, 2002).
On the other hand, the innovation consists of a laser scanner controlled by a laptop
computer. The scanner is targeted to the physical objects to be scanned and the laser
beam is directed over the object in a closely spaced grid of points. By measuring the time
of laser flight, which is the time of travel of the laser from the scanner to the physical
objects and back to the scanner, the scanner determines the position in three-dimensional
space of each scanned point on the object. The result is a cloud of points thousands of
points in three-dimensional space that are a dimensionally accurate representation of the
existing object (Schofield, 2001). This information can then be converted in a 3D CAD
model that can be manipulated using CAD software, and to which the design of new
equipment can be added.
3D Laser Scanner is currently used for a variety of sectors range from industrial
applications for process automation in automotive industry, steel industry, robotics, etc,
to mining, archaeology, survey, urban planning and railway, tunnel and bridge
construction (Arayici et al, 2003).
In recent years, however, the emerging GIS systems have presented organisations and
management sectors with significant advances in making informed decisions. Ehler,
Cowen, and Mackey (1995) argued that linking GIS with DSS systems has enabled the
user to make well-informed decisions, based on the problem at hand. Also, Modis (2001)
reported that tools, which are based on GIS technology, have ofFered managers and
decision-makers substantial benefits, including usability, accuracy, and efficiency.
Consequently, organisations around the world are reaping considerable benefits by
capitalising on spatial technology solutions. GIS applications in (DSS) provide an
enhanced means of resolving complex geo-analytical problems.
Furthermore, systems based on 3D GIS technology are starting to supersede the early
GIS systems (Jordan, 2000), (Song et al, 2002, 2003). Although still in its infancy, this
emerging technology could clearly support the planning process of building maintenance
projects. 3D modelling capability of GIS could also enable managers to foresee changes
and modifications in an improved manner. However, despite the evident advantages of
3D technology to this type of planning and construction work, its fiill benefits could not
be realised without an improved visualisation of the output. Indeed, the results of 3D GIS
systems are usually displayed as a static cardboard model, which does not allow users to
explore and rapidly visualise the results of their queries.
46
Combining 3D GIS with advances in the Laser Scanner VR technology could provide
decisionmakers more robust tools to visualise in real-time the 3D GIS environment.
Verbree et al. (1999) argued that VR technology offers new and exciting opportunities to
visualise 3D GIS data that, in turn, improve DSS usability and enable users to walk
through 3D environments. It allows them to see building elements and appreciated
proposed changes in a real time environment. Sidjanin (1998) demonstrated that linking
GIS and VR oifered great capabilities for decision-making, as it could produce real-time
and realistic visualisation of spatial data. In addition, VR interface could improve
understanding of GIS spatial analyses and handling of queries on the data, as well as
navigating through the dynamic map model and for using GIS functions.
Similarly, the ability to rapidly sketch and visualise design ideas has been stressed as
an important task in urban design (Smith, 1998). Hence the VENUE Project was
conceived as a means of experimenting with links between GIS and 3D visualisation
tools (ibid). The project demonstrated that a set of urban features can be visualised as
building block outlines in 2D ArchView (based on Ordnance Survey base data).
Removing building sub-divisions and line vertex generalisation enabled the production of
3D VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) model by assigning a height attribute in
ArchView. This approach is on a macro scale in relation to buildings but can be extended
to a more detailed micro scale application suitable for building maintenance (Camara and
Raper, 1999).
In line with the foregoing, it can be established that there are several approaches that
have successfiilly linked 3D-GIS with the Laser Scanner VR technology as a means of
enhancing decision support. These successful developments further exposes the
possibility of employing this combination to enhance current building maintenance DSS.
The following section describes a proposed methodology, which is partly inspired by the
work of (Mahdjoubi and Ahmed, 2004).
5 METHODOLOGY
The aim of this section is to propose a framework which includes a series of analytical
tools that will enable various stakeholders in the building maintenance sector to make
informed decisions relating to building maintenance works. This framework, which is
depicted in Figure 2, includes:
1) The development and population of a geo-spatial project database with the digital data
of existing building captured with the laser scanning equipment.
2) The analysis of complex building information maintenance options within a
knowledge repository environment, digital building data captured by the laser scanner
is retrieved with 3D GIS system for the analysis.
3) The visualisation of the project information through a range of different interconnected
graphic windows. The laser scanner VR model can be visualised in different platforms
including workbench.
The geo-spatial project database will describe the geometries of both the building frame
and its components. Simple open geometric descriptions will be used, but each entry will
47
also be associated with data on inventory information such as name, supplier, date
installed/replaced, number of previous replacements, etc.
The procedure for the development will be based on establishing a robust objectoriented database management system (OOMS). The system will enable the capture of all
geo-spatial information of the building frame and components using laser scanner.
Inventory information relating to each frame and component will also be captured within
the relational
Figure 2. The Virtual Building

Maintenance System Framework.
structure of the database. Such information will be accessible in real-time with some of
the attributes (e.g. component supplier information) hyperlinked to the World Wide Web.
Sequel to the development of the OODM, information captured will be linked to a
knowledge repository developed purely for rule base and/or case-based interpretation of
possible building maintenance schedules. This component of the VBM system will
facilitate the generation of alternatives based on user-specified queries.
GIS software will be used to generate and analyse thematic developments relating to
the building properties and associated maintenance management strategies. ArcGIS 3D
analyst, for example, enables users to effectively visualise and analyse surface data.
Using the 3D spatial analysis capabilities of the tool, a range of possible scenarios of a
building can be evaluated. Surfaces can be viewed from multiple viewpoints, queried,
interrogated for visibility and viewed for the creation of a realistic perspective image.
Furthermore, the evaluation can also be extended to display static images of building
components that require immediate or 'near-future' maintenance based on the realtime
information captured within the OODM and the knowledge repository. However, a final
selection of the most appropriate software will be based on the most suitable
representation (i.e. raster or vector) of the captured data.
The VR environment will be developed using the laser scanner technology which also
provides data models in different formats including the Virtual Reality Modelling
Language (VRML). This approach is complimentary to previous work done on the
information infrastructure developed through the OSCON, VIRCON and HyCon projects
and the ongoing research for nD modelling project (Lee et al, 2003). Therefore, the
results of the spatial analysis obtained within the 3D GIS environment can be evaluated
48
in real-time with the options of viewing building maintenance alternatives developed

from querying the knowledge repository.
6 BENEFICIARIES
The research is of potential benefits and practical applications to the construction industry
and professions. It will provide a better support for evaluation and visualisation of
building maintenance works so that informed policies can be effectively targeted. It will
benefit construction companies, facility and estate managers, and all those concerned
with building maintenance issues.
The ultimate beneficiaries of this work will be professionals and stakeholders of the
construction industry involved with the:
building maintenance,
improved predictability of building maintenance requirements,
reduced maintenance planning and execution time,
increased safety,
Increased productivity.
7 SUMMARY
This paper provides an overview of the e-Regeneration package of the INTELCITIES
project, which aims at helping achieve the EU policy goal of the knowledge society.
INTELCITIES project aims to bring together the combined experience and expertise of
key players from across Europe, focusing on a number of built and human environment
issues including e-Government, e-Planning and e-Inclusion, e-Land Use Information
Management, e-Regeneration, Integration and Inter-operability, Virtual Urban Planning,
etc, (http://www.intelcitiesproject.com/).
This project recognises the need for integrating visualisation techniques and systems
for building maintenance and refurbishment. In particular, the vision for the use of laser
scanner equipment for building refurbishment and maintenance is addressed (see figure
1) and a framework for integrating such 3D GIS and Laser scanner systems is developed
to assist the flow of information. Lastly, the beneficiaries of such integration are
summarised.
For the time being, the integration of 3D GIS and Laser scanner technology is being
conceptually modelled. Once this is completed, it will be implemented.
REFERENCES
Arayici, Y., Hamilton, A., Hunter, G. (2003) Reverse Engineering in Construction, the
conference of World of Geomatics 2003: Measuring, Mapping, and Managing, Telford, UK
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Jordan, L. (2000) Web Accessible 3D Viewing Next Step for GIS Virtualising the 3D Real World
multi-view interface for 3D GIS. Computer & Graphics, 23, pp. 497506.
Lee, A., Marshall-Ponting, A.J., Aouad, G., Wu, S., Koh, W.W.I., Fu, C., Cooper, R., Betts, M.,
Kagioglou, M. Fisher, M. (2003) Developing a vision of nD-enabled construction, Construct IT,
University of Salford, UK
Mahdjoubi, L., Ahmed, V. (2004) Virtual Building Maintenance: Enhancing Building
Maintenance using 3D GIS and Virtual Reality (VR) Technology, Conference of Designing,
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London: IEEE Computer
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11th April 2003, City University, London.
Underwood, J. Alshawi, M. (2000) Forecasting Building Element Maintenance within an Integrated
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Wix, J. (2003) Domain/Facilities Management within the International Alliance of Interoperability,
UK

R.W.Amor
Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New
Zealand
ABSTRACT: Very little work has been done on specifying a standard
mapping between the overlapping semantic specifications in the
standardized data models used in architecture, engineering and
construction (A/E/C, e.g., IAI-IFC and ISO-STEP standards). However,
several companies have developed bespoke mappings from these
standards into their design tools, and back out again. With this approach it
is difficult to understand how complete their mappings are, and what
assumptions are made in the development Of the mappings. Yet for
semantic mappings, as distinct from mappings over geometric
representations, this has a profound implication for the correctness of the
resultant data. In this paper the development of a suite of mapping support
tools is discussed to illustrate the level of support required to ensure
semantically correct mappings across data models.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problem statement
The specification of a semantically correct mapping between any two standard data
models used in the A/E/C industries is an enormous task. Data models have in the order
of 500 entities and many thousands of relationships and attributes (e.g., IFC 2.x, IAI
2004). The mere task of sitting down and describing which entities are related to each
other is daunting, let alone managing to encompass the full semantic coverage of the
contents of each of these entities. Yet without some definition of a mapping to be
implemented it is basically impossible to guarantee the correctness of any implemented
translator for a standard data model.
It is clear that human experts are needed to perform this task, knowledgeable in both
schemas being mapped between. Yet even for such experts the management problem of
describing a mapping over such large schema forces a requirement for some
computerized support. This support comes in the form of notations and environments to
specify what is equivalent between two schema in a form that can then be used to
generate the code to actually perform the mapping.
In the last decade there was an active research community developing approaches to
mapping languages in engineering domains (Khedro et al 1996; Verhoef et al 1995;
Eastman 1999: Chapter 11). Several of those efforts have been pursued in the
development of the ISO mapping standard EXPRESS-X (Hardwick and Denno 2000),
and in the development of mapping tables (ISO 1993).
These mapping approaches are now being utilised on a wide range of standard data
models available from ISO 10303 STEP, ISO 13584 Parts libraries and catalogs, CIS/2
51
(Crowley and Watson, 2000) and lAIs IFCs (IAI 2002). However, every mapping
between two of these standard data models will be duplicating the work of previous
attempts. If it were possible to specify a mapping in an easily comprehensible manner,
and there were tools that industry experts could use to agree on the correctness of the
defined mapping, then a consensus on major mappings between schema could be
developed and published in much the same way that standard schema are published
today. This paper examines what tools would be required to reach this position.
2 A FRAMEWORK OF TOOLS
To manage the task of developing a mapping between two data models there is a
requirement for a range of support functions for the specifier. These include:
A graphical mapping notation to enable the specifier to visually comprehend the
mapping being described between subsets of the data models.
A mapping specification environment to enable navigation through, and partitioning of,
the space of mappings specified. Such a tool can also determine what has, or has not,
been mapped between.
Automated mapping support to enable a significant proportion of the mappings required
between two schemas to be automatically determined.
Figure 1. VML-G: a graphical

mapping formalism.
A mapping interpreter to allow evolving mappings to be tested on partial sets of data.
A verifier to check the correctness of the developing mapping specification. Such a
verifier would offer support from basic syntactic checking across the data models
through to a more comprehensive semantic analysis of the proposed mapping.
The development of such a support environment is described in the following sections.
With this environment in place it is then possible to move on to providing standard
mappings between the major standard schemas which exist in our domain.
52
3 MAPPING NOTATIONS
In order to describe the equivalences which exist between data structures in two different
schema it is necessary to have a notation for the specification. A range of notations have
been developed and utilised ranging from straight specification within a standard
programming language (such as C or Java), through ISO mapping tables (ISO 1993), and
the evolving ISO mapping language EXPRESS-X (Hardwick and Denno 2000).
In many respects these approaches are analogous to the use of the EXPRESS language
to specify the conceptual data structures for a schema for a particular domain. These
approaches provide for a complete and detailed specification of how the mapping
between portions of the schemas will have to be realised.
However, they do not provide a way to gain an overview of the mappings which have
been developed between two schema or the completeness of any particular mapping.
Where schema have several hundred classes in them this is of major concern to the
specifier. In the same way that EXPRESS-G is used as a high-level notation for
describing the basic structures within a schema, and to view various subsets of a schema,
a graphical mapping formalism will allow a high-level overview of the mapping between
schemas to be presented.
A range of graphical formalisms have been developed at the University of Auckland to
represent mappings to different classes of users. Figure 1 shows a programmer level
formalism for specifying mappings between UML styled class diagrams in two schema.
The VML-G language (Amor 1997) shown in Figure 1 uses a wiring approach to
denote a mapping between attributes, or classes, in a schema and an icon representing
that particular mapping. The mapping icon provides three areas in order to separate
general mappings between attributes and classes from the specification of invariants,
which direct when the mapping is applicable, and initialisers, which describe starting
values for particular attributes of a newly created object. As can be seen in Figure 1 the
specification of the actual mapping is hidden from view and presented as a classification
to either a straight equivalence (=), an equation (eqn), a functional equivalence (func), or
a procedurally described equivalence (proc).
By examining such a graphical mapping specification it is very easy to verify that all
attributes are being handled in the mapping, and by examining the invariants across
several mappings it is possible to verify that all possible conditions are being modelled. It
also allows a high-level specification of the equivalences between portions of a schema
without concentrating on the detail of how to achieve the mapping.
The author contends that any textual mapping notation needs to be supported by a
graphical formalism which allows for a high-level overview of the mappings which are
being specified.
4 MAPPING SPECIFICATION ENVIRONMENT
If a simple textual notation is used to describe a mapping then it can be developed in any
textual editor. However, if a graphical formalism is going to be utilised to specify a
mapping then it needs to be supported
53
Figure 2. A business level mapping

specification environment.
by a more comprehensive specification environment. Such a specification environment
must allow for both graphical and textual notations to be viewed and the consistency
between these views to be maintained under edits to either view.
In Figure 1 the specification environment for VML-G allows for classes from the
related schema to be viewed within a window, for a mapping icon to be placed in the
window, and for wiring from attributes and classes to be drawn to the mapping icon. In
this environment each window represents a particular mapping, and by navigating the
various windows a specifier can examine the full set of mappings developed. The
specifier can also switch to a textual view to see the full mapping specification and any
edits made to the textual view are propagated back into the graphical view. From a
programmer level support perspective this is very useful, but it does not tie to real data to
help checking.
In Figure 2 a business level specification environment is shown (Li et al 2002). Within
this environment the schemas being mapped between are visualized as business forms
and a wiring approach is used to specify the mappings between various fields in the
forms. In this environment the specifier can view not just the data schema in a format
close to its business use, but also exemplar data within each of the fields. Tied to this is
54
the ability to run each of the partial mappings specified and hence to view the result of
the application of the specified mappings in the other business form.
5 AUTOMATED MAPPING CREATION
While the tools highlighted in Figures 1 and 2 clearly provide for greater comprehension
and checking of the mappings which are being described it is also clear that detailing the
mappings between schema which comprise several hundred classes is going to take a
long time.
In order to ease this workload it is useful to consider approaches which will allow for
the automated specification of the mapping (or a portion of the mapping) between two
schema. This is an area of ongoing research with many approaches being considered (see
Rahm and Bernstein 2001 for a survey of approaches).
This sort of tool is also useful to handle mapping between versions of particular
product models. For example, the IAI have produced six versions of the IFC in the last
seven years and the CIS/2 LPM is expected to be updated every year. The mapping
between consecutive versions of a particular schema tend to be fairly minor which make
for an easier problem when considering automated mapping creation. This problem is
also closely related to that of schema evolution in object-oriented databases (Banerjee et
al 1987, Lerner and Habermann 1990, Eastman 1992, Deux 1990, Zicari 1992, and
Atkinson et al 2000).
A previous student developed a hybrid mapper utilizing structure and name
comparison to automate the creation of mappings for IFC versions (Amor and Ge 2002).
This demonstrated that approximately 80% of
Figure 3. Voting in an automated

mapping tool.
55
an IFC schema could be automatically mapped to the next version.

An examination of points where this hybrid mapper failed illustrated that diiferent
approaches to identifying mappings performed well in different settings. To explore how
this might be utilized in automated mapping creation there has been a project (Bossung
2003) to develop an infrastructure to allow multiple matchers to vote on their proffered
mapping for particular parts of an inter-schema mapping. Figure 3 shows a screen
snapshot of this tool where three matching tools (a Levenshtein matcher, a partial name
matcher, and a type matcher) bid for their mapping for a partial structure match. With this
tool the user can examine the highest ranked mappings for any portion of the schema and
select between the mappings being offered. Further work on this tool is looking at rematching mappings based on selections (changes) made by the user of the tool.
6 MAPPING INTERPRETER AND CODE GENERATOR
In order that the specified mappings can be enacted it is necessary to generate code for
each mapping. Within a tool which supports visualization of mapped exemplar data this
has to take the form of an interpreter for individual snippets of the mapping. Every
mapping tool must be able to generate the full mapping specification in some target
language.
With a high-level mapping specification language, as demonstrated in Figures 1 and 2,
the mapping code generator allows for the creation of code in a number of target
languages from bespoke languages such as VML (Amor 1997) and EXPRESS-X
(Hardwick and Denno 2000) through to generic mapping languages such as XSLT and
even straight into programming languages such as C and Java.
7 MAPPING VERIFIER
As detailed in the introduction, developing a high-level mapping provides the specifier
with a way to ensure that the semantics of the data in two schemas is going to match.
However, due to the size of the schemas being developed this is still a difficult process.
The provision of a graphical formalism helps in checking, as do support environments
which map exemplar data based on the developing mapping. But, to ensure a correct
mapping has been developed requires a comprehensive testing regime based around nontrivial exemplars.
While the IAI and ISO do have a certification process and testing suites the approach
is certainly not as rigorous as would be expected in a field such as software testing.
The author suggests that the testing of a round trip mapping should be considered as
the main form of verification for mapping specifications. While implemented translators
for geometric models (e.g., DXF, IGES, etc) are known, and assumed, to have errors this
is not such an issue as human interpretation is used to determine the semantics of a
translated geometric model. However, for an object-based model such errors are far more
serious. A round trip mapping which does not preserve individual objects and their
original parameters has changed the specification of the building to almost any tool
which uses this data.
56
8 CONCLUSIONS
The development of mappings between two schema is a large and very important process
when developing translators for the various standard schemas being used in the
construction industries. To ensure correct specifications requires not just an expert in the
various schema being manipulated, but also a range of support tools to help the specifier
through the process. A range of these support tools have been developed and described
briefly in this paper.
However, to take the industry to the next stage where they can have confidence in the
translators and mappings which exist requires that further rigor is injected into the
mapping testing process. It is also recommended that a range of certified mappings be
developed between the main standard schemas being developed for the industry as well
as between the various versions of the schema which have been produced.
REFERENCES
Amor, R.W. & Ge, C.W. 2002. Mapping IFC Versions, Proceedings of the EC-PPM Conference on
eWork and eBusiness in AEC, Portoroz, Slovenia, 911 September, 373377.
Amor, R. 1997. A Generalised Framework for the Design and Construction of Integrated Design
Systems, PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New
Zealand, 350 pp.
Atkinson, M.P., Dmitriev, M., Hamilton, C. & Printezis, T. 2000. Scalable and Recoverable
Implementation of Object Evolution for the PJama1 Platform. Persistent Object Systems, 9th
International Workshop, POS-9, Lillehammer, Norway, 68 September,292314.
Banerjee, J., Kim, W., Kim, H. & Korth, H. 1987. Semantics and Implementation of Schema
Evolution in Object-Oriented Databases, Proceedings of the 1987 ACM SIGMOD international
conference on Management of data. San Francisco, USA, 311322.
Bossung, S. 2003. Semi-automatic discovery of mapping rules to match XML Schemas,
Department of Computer Science, The University of Auckland, NewZealand, 71 pp.
Crowley, A. & Watson, A. 2000. CIMsteel Integration Standards, Release Two, 5 Volumes, Steel
Construction Institute and Leeds University, UK.
Deux, O. 1990. The story of O2. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE),
2(1), March, 91108.
Eastman, C.M. 1999. Building Product Models, CRC Press, Orlando, FL, USA.
Eastman, C.M. 1992. A data model analysis of modularity and extensibility in building databases,
Building and Environment, 27(2), 135148.
Hardwick, M. & Denno, P. 2000. The EXPRESS-X Language Reference Manual, ISO
TC184/SC4/WGH N117, 20000628.
IAI. 2002. International Alliance for Interoperability, web site last accessed 18/6/2004,
http://www.iai-international.org/.
ISO 1993. Guidelines for the documentation of mapping tables, ISO TC184/SC4/WG4 M105,
19930910.
Khedro, T., Eastman, C., Junge, R. & Liebich, T. 1996. Translation Methods for Integrated
Building Engineering, ASCE Conference on Computing, Anaheim, CA, June.
Lerner, B.S. & Habermann, A.N. 1990. Beyond schema evolution to database reorganization,
Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA), Ottawa,
Canada, October, 6776.
57
Li, Y., Grundy, J.C., Amor, R. & Hosking, J.G. 2002. A data mapping specification environment
using a concrete business form-based metaphor, In Proceedings of the 2002 International
Conference on Human-Centric Computing, IEEECS Press, 158167.
Rahm E. & Bernstein, P.A. 2001. A survey of approaches to automatic schema matching, The
International Journal on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB), 10(4), 334350.
Verhoef, M., Liebich, T. & Amor, R. 1995. A Multi-Paradigm Mapping Method Survey, CIB
W78TGIO Workshop on Modeling of Buildings through their Life-cycle, Stanford University,
California, USA, 2123 August, 233247.
Zicari, R. 1992. A Framework for schema updates in an object-oriented database systems. Morgan
Kaufmann Series In Data Management Systems, 146182.
Virtual building environments (VBE)

applying information modeling to buildings
V.Bazjanac
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California,
Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT: A Virtual Building Environment (VBE) is a place where
building industry project staffs can get help in creating Building
Information Models (BIM) and in the use of virtual buildings. It consists
of a group of industry software that is operated by industry experts who
are also experts in the use of that software. The purpose of a VBE is to
facilitate expert use of appropriate software applications in conjunction
with each other to efficiently support multidisciplinary work. This paper
defines BIM and virtual buildings, and describes VBE objectives, set-up
and characteristics of operation. It informs about the VBE Initiative and
the benefits from a couple of early VBE projects.
1 INTRODUCTION
Most manufacturers thoroughly test their products before delivering them to the market.
In some industries the testing is done on physical prototypes, in other it is done virtually;
in many industries it is done both ways. Manufacturers know exactly how their products
are going to perform or hold up before these products are built and sold. For example, car
manufacturers extensively test prototypes (both virtually and on the track) and know how
the new models will perform before they start manufacturing them, even if they do not
disclose all information in public. NASA thoroughly tested all new space vehicles in the
Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs in simulation and launched them only after
all problems were proven in simulation to have been solved; when unforeseen problems
developed later (such as during the Apollo 13 mission), NASA was able to analyze and
resolve problems in simulation.
In most developed countries the buildings construction industry, sometimes called the
Architecture-Engineering-Construction-Operations (AECO) or Architecture-EngineeringConstruction-Facilities Management (AEC/FM) industry, is the second largest industry.
Yet, virtually no testing of the primary product of the industrythe buildingis done
before irrevocable and often very costly decisions are made. True, pre-manufactured
components are often tested at least in some ways before delivery; mock-ups of critical
parts of a building are built and tested at times; various types of the buildings
performance are occasionally simulated; and extensive visual simulations (including
walk-throughs and fly-bys) are becoming the norm. But no testing of the whole
building in all of its aspects of performance is performed before the building is delivered.
Commissioning constitutes only a partial substitute for testing and is of little help if the
Virtual building environments
59
building in question needs substantial redesign and/or reconstruction to perform as

originally expected.
The product conception-construction-delivery process in most other industries follows
the designtest/verify-manufacture-deliver-warranty script In contrast, the AECO
industry seams to employ the convince-build-pray modus operandi. The designers
convince the client by demonstrating a few selected performance aspects (usually cost
and image) he/she can understandbut the designers cannot guaranteethat the building
will work to the clients expectations; the builders build the building, and then everyone
awaits to see how the building will work once it is occupied and in use. They hope for the
best, but fear the worst. At best, everybody is eventually relieved (even if some feelings
have been hurt in the process); at worst, almost everybody involved faces legal
consequences.
Given that the standard of practice for how buildings are procured and delivered has
not substantially changed in more than a hundred years, no other modus operandi can
really be expected. Most (building design) decisions are made without testing their effect
first. Whatever testing takes place in the design and construction phases is limited to only
a few aspects of performance (i.e. it is intended to aid only specific types of decisions); it
is infrequent and usually lacks follow up. It is slow and often delays the building
procurement and delivery process it is expected to expedite. It is often very costly and is
seldom required, or even accounted for, in contracts.
Obviously, tests and comprehensive verification of performance are very difficult to
attain when each product is essentially a very costly one of a kind, and when it takes a
long and laborious multidisciplinary effort to design and build it. It does not help that the
product is also very complex and complicated, and that smaller scale partial replicas can
reproduce only a few of the performance aspects of the product, and even those mostly
only as approximations. In similar situations, decision makers in other industries use
software that can simulate the products performance that is of interestthey build
virtual products they can experiment with and test with computers. It is clear that the
AECO industry will be able to test its product (i.e. buildings) in a comprehensive manner
only virtuallyit will have to first build virtual buildings, test them (and make the
necessary design and planning modifications) and physically construct them only after
that.
The industry has been using industry specific software more than just occasionally for
about 20 years, ever since the first versions of AutoCAD appeared on the market and in
schools of architecture and engineering. Today, industry use of software extends well
beyond CAD with downstream applications that model performance relevant to or
resulting from different parts of a buildings life cycle. However, unless they belong to an
integrated suite of software tools, these applications have little to do with each other
they are unaware of each other, often describe essentially same data in different ways,
and do not exchange or share data. This is resulting in an unnecessary generation of
duplicate data, and is causing a lot of unnecessary errors and omission, cost and delays
(Bazjanac 2001).
The creation of virtual buildings and their productive use in experimentation and
testing will require additional software and, more importantly, organized coordination
among all software that may be used. Some leaders of the AECO industry have realized
this and have formed a slew of new organizations and consortia in the last decade
60
designed to bring new technology and software interoperability to the industry.

These include the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI 1995), the Building
Lifecycle Interoperable Software consortium (BLIS 2000), the Continental Automated
Buildings Association (CABA 2002), FIATECH to bring technology to capital projects
(2002), the Construction Users RoundTable (CURT 2003), the Open Standards
Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE 2003), to name just a few in North America.
Perhaps one of the most important of these to date is the IAI, because it developed the
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), the first open object oriented comprehensive data
model of building that provides rules and protocols for definitions that span the entire life
cycle of a building. IFC are also the only such model that is an international standard
(ISO/PAS 16739). All major CAD vendors have developed their internal intelligent
data models of buildings; these are designed to support the work of and data exchange
within a particular vendors suite of tools and are thus limited in scope, are dissimilar and
proprietary. Nonetheless, together with non-proprietary developments, these are all
beginning to move the users of industry specific software from defining buildings as sets
of lines and text that must be interpreted by the observer to defining buildings as
information models. Definition of buildings as information models will be the foundation
in creating virtual buildings with software that can seamlessly access data from the
information model, manipulate/use them, generate new data, and return them to the
information model.
2 DEFINITIONS: BUILDING INFORMATION MODELS AND
VIRTUAL BUILDINGS
2.1 Building information models
Building information modeling (BIM), used as a verb, is the act of creating a Building
Information Model (BIMa noun). While it was apparently a term originally used by
Autodesk staff internally, Jerry Laiserin was the first to widely publicize it in the industry
(Laiserin 2002).
Used as a noun, a BIM is an instance of a populated data model of buildings that
contains multidisciplinary data specific to a particular building which they describe
unambiguously. It is a static representation of that building (i.e. it uniquely defines that
building in a section of time)it contains raw data that that define the building from
the point of view of more than one discipline. Data contained in a BIM are also rich:
they define all the information pertinent to the particular building component. A threedimensional surface model of building geometry alone that is used only in visualization
is usually not a BIM. A BIM includes all relationships and inheritances for each of the
building components it describes; in that sense it is intelligent. A data set that defines
only a single view of a building (i.e. that describes a specific single type of
performance), such as a data set that, for example, includes all data a structural engineer
may need for structural calculations (but nothing more) is, by itself, not a BIM.
61
2.2 Virtual buildings

A virtual building is a BIM deployed in software. It simulates the behavior or
performance of a building or building component(s) entirely within a computer system,
without any physical construction of the building or any of its components. A virtual
building constitutes the use of data that are contained in a BIM to reproduce the behavior
or performance of a building or building component(s) with accuracy appropriate to the
reason for reproduction. The BIM is deployable by a suite of software that can reproduce
behavior or performance in a comprehensive way and, as appropriate, over time. A virtual
building is a dynamic building representation, even if a particular single view of the
building is static.
Any software that can access and use data contained in a BIM to simulate some form
of behavior or performance of the building can be part of a virtual building software
suite. Different software within the same suite can depict behavior or performance at
different levels of detail, as long as each is appropriate for the view it represents.
The software is operated by qualified professionals who are experts in both the use of
a particular software application that is part of that suite and in the industry discipline that
application belongs to. Virtual building operators need this dual expertise to properly
resolve or interpret issues that arise from limitations of software, lack of reliable data
and/or professional conventions.
3 DATA DEPOSITORY AND ACCESS ISSUES
It takes an enormous amount of data to define everything even in small and simple
buildings. The amount of data to describe a building increases manifold with increase in
building size and complexity. The temptation to reduce the amount of data by discarding
data in which one has no interest is countered by the realization that each datum is
potentially of interest to someone else.
As explained above, a BIM contains data that define building status in section of time.
To reduce the physical size of a BIM, instead of replicating data available externally
(such as manufacturers product data for some of the building components), it only
includes pointers to external data bases where such data are available. In the case when a
building definition depends on results generated by a software application, instead of
capturing the entire (usually large) submission from that software, the BIM contains only
data that enable the regeneration of the submission (i.e. the BIM captures only the data
needed to reproduce the input for that software).
Virtual buildings generate enormous amounts of data on their own. These are
measured and/or simulated time based data that are critical to the definition of building
behavior and performance. When used in a virtual building, a BIM also includes pointers
to data bases that keep such data externally.
The shear amount of data that define a building can pose problems in data exchange.
Standard file exchange is impractical when the file includes a complete BIM. Model
servers which facilitate partial model exchange (i.e. exchange of only some of the data)
can solve that problem: The (very large) BIM file is resident in a model server, and
62
clients query for and extract only data needed by a particular application. The extracted
data, given proper authorization, can come from any part of the BIM: a specific
individual datum or data sets that represent a particular view (or a set of views) of the
building. Depending on the location of the model server, the data can be accessed directly
or via web services.
File exchange usually requires implementation of the same version of the building
data model by both the generating and receiving software. Data model versioning is
typically irrelevant to model servers.
4 VIRTUAL BUILDING ENVIRONMENTS
Despite recent eiforts by the leading CAD vendors and the new industry organizations to
promote building information modeling as the way to define buildings, an overwhelming
majority of building procurement projects is still done the same old way by defining
and representing buildings in dumb 2-D and text documents and with little, if any, use
of contemporary IT technology. This is true even though technology exists now that can
make professional work in most of the industry disciplines much more efficient and
effective than it is today. The industry in general is resisting efforts to change toward
information modeling and creation and use of virtual buildings. The causes for this
resistance are found in several pragmatic reasons: steep learning curves, lack of time and
adequate funding, and shortcomings of software.
Most software applications that are specific to the AECO industry share a common
characteristic: Their proper use requires intricate knowledge of the application and
expertise in the corresponding industry discipline. Obtaining such level of knowledge and
expertise for all industry software that is used for a given project is very difficult and
often prohibitively expensive. End users that have the task to create a real life project
BIM and use interoperable and non-interoperable software with it can face very steep
learning curves and software that is sometimes at best in beta status and cannot easily do
what the user expects it to do. They are under pressure to meet tight regular deadlines,
and seldom have any meaningful additional resources to do their work on a given project
in a way different than before. After briefly trying information modeling, their typical
response is: This does not work (for me/for this project/for my office/at all). They then
revert to the old ways of working and using dumb software.
Often overlooked is the impact of the old way of procuring buildings on
multidisciplinary teams that are assembled to work on a given project. As currently
practiced, their work is unnecessarily difficult: Communication is far from efficient, data
exchange is costly and ridden with errors and omissions, data sharing is not practiced and
is often practically impossible, and their work is behind schedule almost by definition.
In addition, their group experience and knowledge is seldom reused in another project
and is usually lost after the project is over. The work of multidisciplinary teams could
become much more efficient and effective with the use of BIM and virtual buildings.
BIM development and the use of virtual buildings today usually require help. This
help is now beginning to be available in the form of Virtual Building Environments that
are designed to assist end users of industry software and serve as a break through
63
mechanism to get building information modeling and virtual buildings deployed in the
industry.
4.1 What is a virtual building environment?
A Virtual Building Environment (VBE) is a place where a group of industry software is
operated by industry experts who are also experts in the use of that software. The primary
purpose of a VBE is to facilitate expert use of appropriate software applications in
conjunction with each other. A VBE employs software applications that, as a group,
define a building, its parts, its behavior and its performance. It involves simultaneous or
near-simultaneous simulation and display of data generated by multiple sources. A VBE
facilitates the manipulation of data that are used in the planning, design, construction and
operation of a building. It makes it possible to conduct experiments on the building or its
parts, without first erecting them. In summary, a VBE is a physical place (i.e. a location)
that facilitates expert creation of and use of virtual buildings.
Ideally, a VBE follows a buildings entire life cycle, and the selection of software
changes correspondingly from that related to design, to that related to construction, to
that related to commissioning, to that related to operation and maintenance, and
eventually to that related to demolition. The selection of software and participating
experts supports broad definitions of design, construction and operations. For example,
the construction and maintenance processes can be planned and modeled along with the
building itself to evaluate constructability and maintainability early in a project.
Similar to a selected group of software, a VBE involves a group of experts. Group
members have the experience, expert knowledge and skills in both software applications
and industry disciplines the software is related to. They understand the relevance, the
meaning and the quality of data used in a particular industry project, as well as the
implications of decisions made in the use of software. They can solve problems and
define tasks appropriate to specific applications, and can create work-arounds within a
particular application if the application cannot deal with the problem or data as defined.
When a VBE is employed in a specific industry project, the group of experts contains
those that have expertise, knowledge and skills relevant to the particular project. From
the VBE perspective this group of experts is temporarily extended (for the duration of the
project) by staff or others from organization(s) that are working on the particular project
or are involved with it. From the project perspective these experts join the project team
temporarily to assist the team so it can more effectively use software needed for the
project, create the BIM and test its designs, solutions and/or plans in a virtual building.
4.2 VBE objectives
Other industries, such as automotive and aero-space, have reaped significant benefits
from the use of IT. Virtual building environments should help experience and
demonstrate explicit benefits from the use of contemporary IT in the building
procurement process: the use of groups of software to solve multidisciplinary problems,
the use of comprehensive project data depositories that contain all project data (including
historical), the automation and semi-automation of repetitive tasks, prompt access to
expert knowledge, instantaneous distribution of complete data sets to all who need them,
64
seamless and instantaneous multi directional exchange or sharing of interdisciplinary

project information, virtual collaboration, concurrent engineering, and much more.
They can provide support to many different types of industry projects that can benefit
from the use of virtual buildings. These, among many other, include architectural,
engineering and interior design projects to test design alternatives, refine decision,
control building cost, and explain and communicate results; new construction and
reconstruction projects to foresee and prevent problems in construction and its
sequencing, detect insufficient or missing information, and test and explain cost effective
substitutions and/or deviations from design documents and specifications; energy
conservation projects to test alternatives in heating, cooling and illuminating a building,
as well as alternative building energy management strategies; in building security and
safety training to explore what-if scenarios, prepare first responder teams to provide
most effective response in different emergency and disaster situations, and to test
different response plans; in capital facilities projects to minimize risk to owners and
operators by providing much more complete and reliable information about a given
buildings design and construction and its operation throughout its life cycle.
A VBE can be described as a resource center or a center of excellence that can
serve as:
(a) an industry specific software deployment center for industry projects
(b) a center of education, and
(c) a knowledge and technology development center
4.2.1 Software deployment center for projects
As a software deployment center a VBE provides immediate expert help in the use of
established and new industry software. VBE experts can help industry project staffs
select the right software for the project, hold (their) hands (i.e. demonstrate how to use
the software to accomplish specific tasks) as they start using the software, and advise
them in the selection of proper choices they may make in the use of software.
Some of the industry software on the market today is still in initial stages of maturity.
Such software cannot successfully perform all of the tasks end users expect it to perform,
or it cannot perform its tasks if a building is unusual (i.e. not trivial), complex,
complicated or large. VBE experts can find ways around some of these problems (i.e.
develop work-arounds) and report specific software shortcomings and its causes
directly to software developers, so software can be improved. In that way a VBE can
become an important factor in making industry software more mature and robust.
Some of the interfaces of otherwise robust industry software to a data model (such as
IFC) or other software may not work properly under all circumstances. VBE experts can
detect and identify causes of such software interface problems and work with interface
authors to correct them.
Many organizations are hesitant to acquire costly new software their staffs do not
know how to use, even if it is recommended to them for a specific project. A VBE
provides an opportunity to use such software for the project without purchasing it,
experience firsthand the benefits from using it, and learn how to use it before purchasing
it. Thus a VBE can help spread and expedite the use of productive software in the
industry.
65
4.2.2 Center of education

A VBE provides opportunities to accumulate relevant knowledge and provides
opportunities to share knowledge and learn. Few industry professionals have currently
the knowledge and experience needed to operate groups of software at the level that is
required when dealing with complex and complicated issues and problems. All too often
project personnel are unable, hesitant or not in position to start learning on their own. A
VBE provides opportunities to members of commercial design and engineering office
staffs, construction managers, building operators and officials, code checking and
enforcement officials, and others to create a BIM and operate a virtual building under
expert supervision, as they are productively working on their project. This provides them
with the initial experience of successfully doing that, which in turn may lead to the
formation of an in-house partial VBE in their organizations.
Industry-wide use of BIM-generating and virtual buildings software requires the
support of professional consultants that are at ease with this technology. A VBE provides
a framework to teach a new generation of such consultants by including them in the work
on VBE projects (i.e. industry projects temporarily conducted at a VBE). It provides
opportunities to consultants to join project teams and learn new skills (by participating,
without compensation, in the work on such projects) which they will then be able to
competently offer to the industry.
Professional industry workforce will have to develop additional skills that will enable
it to effectively utilize the new technology in daily work. With very few exceptions, these
skills are not taught systematically in todays professional schools, and many of their
graduates do not know or understand this technology and are ill at ease with it. The lack
of faculty members at institutions of higher learning who are knowledgeable in this area
of industry technology is one of the main reasons for that. A VBE provides opportunities
to faculty on leave of absence to work directly on such projects, learn and assemble
information needed for the development of new courses and curricula.
4.2.3 Knowledge and technology development center
A VBE also serves as a center of knowledge that is needed to identify and solve problems
that arise from the use of the new technology. These include problems encountered in
information modeling of complex buildings, in massive or selective data exchange, in
finding work arounds, and in support of newly emerging industry tasks, to name a few.
A VBE provides a frame-work for research and development that will help software
developers deliver more useful software.
If not properly staged and controlled, intense exchange of project data can be actually
counter productive. Issues of staging and control of industry data exchange are not yet
well understood. A VBE provides opportunities to determine the proper sequencing
between project information developed in different industry disciplines and that needed
by software applications not in those disciplines. Without proper sequencing of data
exchange, the use of some software may yield meaningless results.
The limits of data exchange, data sharing and inter-operability among industry
software are not clear at present. A VBE provides opportunities to explore and learn what
these limits might be, and to explore and define ways of circumventing such limitations.
66
As a technology development center a VBE provides talent to engage in limited

software development when such development is needed and is not provided by the
industry. When a group of critical industry software (i.e. mission critical software that
is the primary software used in professional work of an industry discipline) would be well
served by new middle-ware, the talent at a VBE may develop and disseminate such
middle-ware. If a mission critical application lacks the interface to make it
interoperable and its vendor cannot afford to develop it, a VBE may provide a framework
to develop the interface. When manufacturers cannot agree on a common format for their
products, a VBE may provide a framework to develop common product data bases for
access by industry software.
As need arises to make additional mission critical software interoperable, existing
data models of buildings (such as IFC) will have to be extended to expand their
fimctionality. A VBE may provide the necessary framework and expertise to develop and
implement new data model extension schemata.
5 VBE INITIATIVE
To promote the idea and stimulate the formation of virtual building environments, the
Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering (CIFE) at Stanford University, Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and VTT (Technical Research Center of Finland)
kicked off the VBE Initiative at the end of June 2002. The Initiative is an attempt to plan
and create initial virtual building environments that will eventually spread worldwide
expert interdisciplinary deployment of multiple industry specific software.
Since most governments, with noted exceptions of those in Finland and Singapore,
have shown little real interest and support to change how the AECO industry operates,
the change will have to come from within the industry. The AECO industry will have to
experience and learn the benefits from developing and using BIM and virtual buildings
step by step, one project and project delivery staff at the time. It will have to learn how to
improve the way it operates today. The VBE Initiative is a pragmatic strategy to start that
process.
The main goal of the Initiative is to propagate and operate virtual building
environments, create a global network of Virtual building environments, and to promote
opportunities these offer to AECO firms and organizationsopportunities to bring their
real life projects to a VBE, to have VBE experts help their staffs do their project tasks
more effectively, and to learn new things in the process, all at minimal (affordable) cost.
Those who take advantage of these opportunities will have a chance to experience how to
reduce professional and overall project delivery costs while increasing the value of their
work and product, deliver the building sooner, or operate the building at a much lower
cost with measurably fewer problems.
To be able to properly support experts that are needed for the operation of a VBE,
institutions that host a VBE need modest longer term funding not related to or coming
from industry projects. Thus, another goal of the VBE Initiative is to stimulate seed
funding for virtual building environments.
The Initiative has several additional goals that may affect and change how the industry
will operate in the future. These range from showing how to change and/or enhance
67
current industry processes to enabling industry soflware interoperability, and from

providing help to real life industry projects to educating professionals. Some goals,
such as assisting real life industry projects, are short term; others, such as helping
educate new generations of professionals, are longer term.
Because experts and talent needed to operate a VBE are still scarce, initial virtual
building environments are by necessity hosted at academic institutions and research
laboratories. If the VBE network is successful, the skill and expertise will gradually shift
to the industry; the support virtual building environments can provide now will become
less unique and the need for it will gradually diminish. With time, as the AECO industry
in general becomes more skillful and trusting in the use of the new software and
technology and effectively changes its work processes, the need to hold hands and
assist project staffs, and to serve as centers of education may completely dissipate.
6 VBE PROJECTS
The success of the Initiative so far has varied from country to country. The government in
Finland established a VBE at the Tampere University of Technology, and the major
Finnish property owner, Senaatti, has started several VBE pilot projects there. The
Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has started a
number of pilot projects in Australia.
Seed funding for virtual building environments has been developing very slowly in
USA. The work of experts at quasi-VBE facilities is instead mostly fiinded from requests
for specific expert service not otherwise available to the industry. In these cases the
multidisciplinary work is typically limited to only a small number of disciplines and
software (i.e. a small number of views of BIM), such as architecture, visualization,
mechanical engineering and building energy performance simulation and assessment, or
quantity take-off, construction process scheduling and visualization. Opportunities to
provide effective VBE support will greatly increase in USA once a vendor supplies
interoperable cost estimating software the results from which the industry can trust.
68
Figure 1. Aurora II design alternatives

A (top) and B, compared for
construction and life cycle costs. (By
courtesy of Jiri Hietanen of the
Tampere University of Technology.)
Still mostly in initial phases of development, existing virtual building environments
seem to share a global characteristic: limited number of resident experts. By necessity, all
virtual building environments in existence so far started small, offering VBE experts
only in a few of industry disciplines. When needed, other VBE experts are hired as
external consultants (if available); this increases the cost to the project and sometimes
delays its progress.
In June 2004, two years after the kick-off of the Initiative, its original authors
organized a VBE workshop at Stanford University. The workshop showed that several
pilot VBE projects are now in progress in different parts of the world. On two projects
69
that started earlier than others the first phase of work has been completed (both dealt with
the schematic phase of architectural design).
Aurora II VBE project at the Tampere University of Technology compared two design
alternatives (Fig. 1) at the project development stage when conventional methods of
analysis, based on schedules of spaces and some qualitative information from the
building program, yield construction cost estimates expected to be within 20% and life
cycle cost estimates within 25% of later actual costs. By creating virtual buildings for
the two alternatives and discussing them simultaneously with the project client in an iRoom (a three-screen interactive workspace originally developed at Stanford University),
VBE experts decreased the inaccuracy of the early construction cost estimate to within
3% and the life cycle cost estimate to within 5% (Laitinen & Hietanen 2004).
Figure 2. Glare test for a typical office

in the e-Lab building using photometrically accurate lighting simulation.
The VBE project for the e-Lab at the LBNL (Bazjanac 2002) used virtual building
experiments to demonstrate various types of energy performance of typical office and
laboratory spaces, as well as the building envelope. Using a suite of 10 different directly
and indirectly interoperable simulation and visualization tools it showed in advance to the
future occupants of these spaces and the client (US Department of Energy) how these
spaces will fiinction (Fig. 2).
7 NEW JOB DESCRIPTIONS
When CAD software started being embraced in the AECO industry some 20 years ago, it
changed the nature of professional staffs in architecture and engineering. Offices replaced
70
large numbers of pencil and paper draftspersons with fewer (albeit somewhat higher
paid) CAD operators, who produced more drawings faster. This increased the volume of
work and output per payroll unit and soon made offices who switched to CAD more
competitive in the market. Information modeling and virtual buildings will inevitably
change the office landscape once again.
The most important new job position will be the Virtual Building Coordinator. This
position will require substantial knowledge in modeling and software use relevant to the
different industry disciplines that are part of that offices business. Qualified candidates
will be often hard to find and pricey; this role may have to be filled by special
consultants.
The CAD draftsperson will be replaced by a BIM modeler. This position will require
skills in the use of computers and BIM authoring software.
The current VBE experts will evolve into high power consultants: cost estimators,
energy performance analysts, construction managers, etc. They will have the ability to
determine the right course of action to resolve a specific project issue, modify and/or
interpret information in external data bases, create work-arounds for software in their
specialties, effectively communicate and explain information, and more.
Another new job position will be that of a BIM keeper. Holder of this job will be
responsible for the maintenance, safeguarding and administration of a BIM through the
life time of the BIM. This position will require at least modest skills in information
modeling and substantial knowledge of collaborative engineering.
8 PRESSING VBE ISSUES
Some of the technical issues that surfaced in initial BIM authoring and the use BIM
accessing software, such as data incompatibility, data model and software limitations, and
problems in file based exchange, were reported earlier (Bazjanac 2002).
It is now becoming increasingly clear that there are other major obstacles that are
slowing down the process of moving toward industry wide use of information modeling
and virtual buildings. These include poor quality of some of the BIM authoring and
accessing software (that is buggy, immature and/or not robust), difficulties in reaching
industry wide agreements in the definition of BIM views and/or in implementation of
standard data model definitions in software, the small number of interoperable industry
specific software, issues in data sequencing when populating a BIM, problems in
managing different resolution of the same data as needed by different software, and
more.
The complete lack of aids for end users is glaring: there are no manuals, templates,
case studies published in sufficient detail, nor anything else to guide a newcomer in the
initial use of this technology. Missing also is a better understanding of measurable
benefits from the use of information modeling and virtual buildings, and of ways to
measure them. Recent work at CIFE (Fischer & Ju 2004) is beginning to address these
issues.
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9 CONCLUSIONS
The AECO industry is finally beginning to use IT, BIM and virtual buildings more
effectively. Virtual building environments are a strategy to spread the use of this
technology throughout the industry. A VBE provides opportunities to organizations in the
industry to get help: a structure (an organized way to do it), software, facilities and
experts who can guide the work related to building information modeling and virtual
buildings required by real life industry projects.
It is now up to industry organizations to bring their projects to VBE centers and take
advantage of these opportunities. The VBE Initiative represents the beginning of a global
VBE network that will hopefully help the entire industry take advantage of the new
technology. That will lead to different sets of industry processes, thorough testing before
building, and (eventually) much better designed, built and working buildings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank Ari Ahonen from Tekes (the Finnish National Technology
Agency), Prof. Martin Fischer from Stanford University, Jiri Hietanen from the Tampere
University of Technology, Arto Kiviniemi and Tapio Koivu from VTT and Stephen E.
Selkowitz from LBNL for their ideas and direct and indirect contributions in the
formulation of virtual building environments.
This work was partly supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, Office of Building Technology, Building Technologies Program of
the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.
REFERENCES
Bazjanac, V. 2001. Acquisition of building geometry in the simulation of energy performance. In
R.Lamberts et al. (eds), Building Simulation 2001, Proc. intern. conf., Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 1:
305311.ISBN 85-901939-2-6.
Bazjanac, V. 2002. Early lessons from deployment of IFC compatible software. In .Turk&
R.Scherer (eds), eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Proc.
fourth Euro. conf. product process modelling, Portoro, SLO: 916. Balkema. ISBN 90-5809507-X.
BLIS. 2000. Building Lifecycle Interoperable Software. http ://www.blis-proj ect.org
CABA. 2002. Continental Automated Buildings Association. http://www.caba.org/
CURT. 2003. Construction Users Round Table. http://www.curt.org/
FIATECH. 2002. http://www.fiatech.org/
Fischer, M. & G.Ju. 2004. Case studies of the implementation and valuation of Virtual Building
Modeling (VBM). CIFE SEED project (in progress), Stanford University.
http://www.stanford.edu/~fischer/ VBECIFE0604
IAI. 1995. International Alliance for Interoperability. http://www.iai-international.org/
Laiserin. 2002. Comparing pommes and naranjas. The LaiserinLetter(tm). Issue 15.
http://www.laiserin.com/
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Laitinen, J. & J.Hietanen. 2004. Aurora II project. VBE workshop. Stanford University.
http://www.stanford.edu/~fischer/ VBECIFE0604
OSCRE. 2003. Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate. http://www.oscre.org/
A persistence interface for versioned object

models
Daniel G.Beer1, Berthold Firmenich2, Torsten Richter1 & Karl Beucke1
1
Informatik im Bauwesen, Bauhaus-Universitt Weimar, Germany
2
CAD in der Bauinformatik, Bauhaus-Universitt Weimar, Germany
ABSTRACT: Object models of current planning applications are very
complex, huge and individually structured. Complexity increases, if they
are versioned for distributed processing. Such models have to be made
persistent. This paper proposes a persistence concept for such purposes.
The concept is independent from a specific persistence schema and
database. For a pilot implementation alternatives are discussed briefly and
a specific persistence schema for a chosen database are described.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Distributed processing of common planning material
The distributed synchronous and asynchronous processing of a common planning
material is in the focus of current research (DFG 2004). New publications in the field of
CAD show concepts for the distribution of the planning material abstracted as objects and
object versions (Firmenich 2002): Work starts by loading a valid structured subset of
object versions from a common project in the planners private workspace (Beer &
Firmenich 2003). Object versions of the workspace can be modified or deleted and new
object versions can be created independently from the project and the network with the
help of an integrated planning application (Beer et al. 2004). At the end of the work (long
transaction: from hours up to days) object versions are stored in the common project.
Operations to ensure consistency are described in (Firmenich 2002). A corresponding
system architecture for the distributed processing is shown in Figure 1. It is based upon a
projectworkspace approach.
1.2 Objective and content
The unversioned model of the planning application has to be stored into (loaded from)
the persistent model of the common project.
The second section describes the general stmcture of object oriented planning
application model. This is the base for the persistence mechanism. Requirements on the
persistence mechanism are deduced.
74
Figure 1. System architecture for the

distributed processing.
The persistent model of the project will be described in the third section. Versioning and
the selection of subsets that influences the persistence schema have to be considered.
Possible persistence schemas and data stores will be discussed and compared with each
other. A suitable persistence schema and data store is chosen for a pilot implementation.
The description of the persistence layer and a pilot implementation in the fourth
section concludes this contribution.
2 MODEL OF THE PLANNING APPLICATION
2.1 Object types and structuring
The model of a planning application is very complex. There are many objects
representing a lot of elements of a complex building. These objects are instances of a
wide range of classes as we can see for example in the IFC model (IFC 2004). This huge
variety of classes also results from different planning applications for specific planning
tasks involved in the common project. Thus, the objects are structured diversely. It is not
certain that all applications use a common labelling and it can not even be assumed that
there is one.
Figure 2. Types of object attributes.
A persistence interface for versioned
75
2.2 Versioning
Most planning applications do not support versioning. The workspace manages an
unversioned model to use such applications. The transformation between unversioned
model of the workspace and versioned model of the project is described in (Beer et al.
2004).
2.3 Attributes
As shown in Figure 2, objects (a) can have attributes of different types:
Atomic values (f1) can not be decomposed anymore. Examples are strings or numbers as
well as objects that can be represented by strings, for example dates.
Objects (f2). There is a 1:1 relation to another object (b).
(Un)ordered sets of objects (f3). There is a 1:n relation to other objects belonging to a
set (s).
(Un)ordered relations of objects (f4). There is a 1:n relation to object tuples belonging
to a relation (r). To reduce complexity, only binary relations are considered in this
contribution. Relations of higher order can be treated analogously.
2.4 Inheritance
Objects can inherit attributes from a super class. This has to be considered if objects
extending a super class have to be made persistent.
3 PERSISTENT MODEL OF THE PROJECT
3.1 Versioning
Each object of the planning application model is stored as an object version in the
common project (Beer et al. 2004). The mathematical foundations of this model are
described in (Firmenich 2002). An example is given in Figure 3.
76
Figure 3. Versioned model of the

project (example).
Object versions (a4, b2) are elements of set M. The version history is stored as ordered
pairs of object versions ((a2, a4)) in the relation V. Dependencies between object versions
are stored as ordered pairs of object versions in relation B.
These three sets can be interpreted as a graph. The version history is shown by dashed
arrows, the dependencies are shown by continuous arrows.
3.2 Subsets
A uniform access to differently structured objects is needed for the selection of subsets
from the project model. Therefore the native attributes should be used as the least
common base of all objects. As shown below (see Subsection 4.2) an object wrapper can
unify attributes with a common semantics.
A set algebra respectively a language is a flexible and easy way to describe subsets
(Beer et al. 2003). The feature logic (Zeller 1997) is a set algebra that uses attributes or so
called features. Thus, feature logic is well qualified to be used for object access via
attributes. Table 1 shows important operations that are partially based upon objects
attributes.
3.3 Persistence schema
A persistence schema tailored to feature logic is given in (Firmenich 2002). The schema
is shown in entity relationship notation in Figure 4. With the help of this schema, the
operations shown in Table 1 can be implemented straightforward.
Objects are stored as elements of a domain (domain). They are identified via a
generated name. Atomic features are elements of the domain, as well. Values of atomic
features are stored in Atom. Features are stored in Feature. The connection between
object, feature and value is a relation of Relslot.
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The schema requires a decomposition of objects into objects identifier (name),

objecfs attributes and attributes values. Solutions for mapping objects to
Table 1. Feature logic operations.

Operation
Symbol
Description
Extraction
f(S)
Value of the feature f of the object set S
Selection
f: S
Objects, whose feature f has the value S
Existence
f: T
Objects that have a feature/
Divergence
Objects that have no feature f
Agreement
fg
Features f and g have same values
Disagreement
fg
Features f and g have different values
Complement
~S
Complement of S
Union
Either R or S
Intersection
RS
R and S
Implication
RS
If R then S
Equivalence
RS
Only if R then S
Term equiv.
R=S
Equality of R and S
Figure 4. Feature logic persistence

schema.
78
tables (Keller 1997) are known. They are discussed briefly and compared with the feature
logic schema in the following. This is done for all supported attribute types (see
Subsection 2.3).
Generally, queries against the data store are generated from feature logic terms with
the help of a interpreter (Richter et al. 2003). The feature logic persistence schema is
tuned for that purpose. Thus, the user has to speak feature logic, instead of formulating
query expressions against the data store.
Mappings for the different types of attributes, object versions and inherited attributes
are discussed briefly and compared to the feature logic persistence schema in the
following paragraphs. Advantages and disadvantages of the feature logic persistence
schema are discussed in the last paragraph of this subsection.
3.3.1 Mapping of atomic attributes
The feature logic schema is used for mapping atomic attributes (f) to tables: They are
stored with their values (x, shown by a rectangular shape) as strings in different tables
(Fig. 5). The feature type stores the type of the object.
Figure 5. Mapping of atomic attributes.
Figure 6. Mapping of object attributes.
79
3.3.2 Mapping of object attributes

Example (Fig. 6): Object a has an object attribute h of type B with value b.
There are different concepts for mapping object attributes respectively 1:n relations or
so called references to tables:
Single table aggregation (Fig. 6a) (Keller 1997)
Mapping: The attributes of the referenced object are stored in the same table as
the attributes of the referencing object to avoid references.
Advantages: Objects can be retrieved with a single table access.
Disadvantages: Attribute values of multiple referenced objects are stored
multiple. If the reference is deeper than one hierarchy step every change of
referenced types causes an adaptation of all referencing types. A dot notation or a
similar naming convention for the attributes of the referenced objects has to be
used (for example h.g). Furthermore, it is hard to formulate queries using
reference types.
Foreign key aggregation (Fig. 6b) (Keller 1997)
Mapping: A separate table for referenced types is used. Object identifiers (b) link
from the referencing to the referenced object.
Figure 7. Mapping of set attributes.

Advantages: This schema is more flexible and better to maintain as variant
a. Referenced objects can easily be queried.
Disadvantages: A join operation or at least two database accesses are
needed. It is difficult to achieve referencing from referenced objects.
Feature logic schema (Fig. 6c) (Firmenich 2002)
80
Mapping: The mapping is similar to variant b. The difference is that all objects
are stored in one table. Tables Atom, Domain and Feature are omitted in the
example.
3.3.3 Mapping of set attributes
A set includes a number of other objects (elements). An example is shown in Figure 7.
There are different concepts for mapping set attributes to tables:
Foreign key association (Fig. 7a) (Keller 1997)
Mapping: The identifier of the set is inserted into the set element table (attribute
own).
Advantages: The mapping schema does not collide with normal forms. Hence, it
allows reasonable maintenance cost. The space consumption is nearly optimal.
Disadvantages: Reading a set costs a join operation or two read operations.
Feature logic schema (Fig. 7b) (Firmenich 2002)
Mapping: Set elements are represented by tupels (elmc, Fig. 7c) that are included
in the set (s). They have a reference to the set element itself (c). The specific
features elm (element) and in (included) are used. Sorted sets (sequences) are
possible with the help of the specific feature i (index). Tables Atom, Domain
and Feature are omitted in the example.
3.3.4 Mapping of relation attributes
A binary relation includes a number of pairs of other objects. An example is shown in
Figure 8. The feature logic schema is used for mapping binary relations to tables:
Feature logic schema (Fig. 8a) (Firmenich 2002)
Mapping: Elements of the relations are represented by tupels (elmru, Fig. 8b) that
are included
Figure 8. Mapping of relation

attributes.
81
Figure 9. Mapping of object versions.

in the relation. They have a reference to the elements (r and u). The specific
features in (included), src (source) and dst (destination) are used. Sorted
relations are possible with the help of the specific feature i (index). Tables
Atom, Domain and Feature are omitted in the example.
3.3.5 Mapping object versions
Object versions are part of the persistent model. An example shows Figure 9. The feature
logic schema is used for mapping the version history to tables:
Feature logic schema (Fig. 9) (Firmenich 2002)
Mapping: A revision (b2) of an object version (b1) is stored as the value of the
specific feature rev (revision). Tables Atom, Domain and Feature are omitted in
the example.
3.3.6 Mapping of inheritance
Objects can inherit attributes from a super class (Fig. 10). There are different concepts for
mapping object inheritance to tables:
One table for one inheritance tree (Fig. 10a) (Keller 1997)
Mapping: The union of all attributes of all objects in are used as columns of a
single table. Null values represent unused fields in each record.
Advantages: Reading/writing of base class descendants needs only one database
operation. Schema evolution is straightforward and easy as long as the inheritance
hierarchy does not become too deep.
82
Figure 10. Mappingof inheritance.

Formulating queries for all objects of the inheritance is fairly easy.
Disadvantages: The waste of space depends on the inheritance depth. The deeper
the hierarchy and the bigger the difference between the union of all attributes and
the attributes of an average object, the bigger the waste of space.
One table for every class (Fig. 10b) (Keller 1997)
Mapping: The attributes of each class are mapped to a separate table. An object
identifier links derived classes with their parent.
Advantages: The pattern provides a very flexible mapping. The space
consumption is nearly optimal. Schema evolution is straightforward.
Disadvantages: The mapping is performance expensive in terms of database
operations. The costs rise with the depth of the inheritance hierarchy. Queries are
hard to formulate as the mapping generally requires accessing more than one
table.
One table for one inheritance path (Fig. 10c) (Keller 1997)
Mapping: The attributes of each class as well as the attributes inherited from
parent classes are mapped to separate tables.
Advantages: The mapping needs one database operation to read or write an
object. The space consumption is optimal.
83
Disadvantages: A polymorphic scan of all objects given by their super class

includes some tables. Inserting a new subclass means updating all polymorphic
search queries but the structure of the tables remains untouched. Adding or
deleting attributes of a super class results in changes to the tables of all derived
classes. Queries are hard to formulate as the mapping generally requires accessing
more than one table.
Feature logic schema (Fig. 10d) (Firmenich 2002)
Mapping: The attributes of each class as well as the attributes inherited from
parent classes are mapped to the same table. Tables Atom, Domain and Feature
are omitted in the example.
3.3.7 Feature logic schema
The feature logic schema was chosen for the pilot implementation.
Advantages:
There is only one schema for all classes. It is independent from the typing. Thus, the
schema is very flexible and easy to maintain.
There is no redundancy. The schema fulfils the requirements of the normal forms.
Objects can be used in different sets or relations with the help of tupel elements. They
are stored only once.
Queries can be formulated very easy with the help of an extended feature logic (Beer et
al. 2003). The query is transformed with the help of a database independent compiler
(Richter et al. 2003).
References can be traversed via recursive queries (Price 2002). They are encapsulated
by operations of an extended feature logic (Beer et al. 2003).
Disadvantages:
Objects can be retrieved only via multiple table access.
Set and relation elements have to be loaded in a step after the set respectively the
relation itself. This results in multiple queries. They may be optimised and executed as
batches by the data store.
3.4 Data store
Different types of data stores for a pilot implementa tion have been investigated.
Files/file system: The file input/output mechanism is relatively slow compared to RAM
access. Furthermore, there are no adequate methods for queries on files. That is why
file formats like XML are not qualified.
Relational database management systems (RDBMS) have been proven for commercial
use and are technologically well established. They are well qualified for the use of
mass data. RDBMS offer a very flexible and easy data access via a standardised query
language (SQL). RDBMS can store relations in tables. Thus, the object oriented
application model has to be mapped to the persistent relational model. The relational
model corresponds with the feature logic persistence schema.
84
XML databases offer new concepts. They are very generic so that such databases are
slower than relational database management systems. XML databases do not offer a
better access to objects stored than RDBMS.
Object oriented database management systems (ODBMS). Currently available systems
do not support the flexible selection of subsets with the help of a powerful query
language.
Java Data Objects (JDO) is a persistence standard for Java objects. It defines interfaces
that allow for data store independent persistency. Different types of data stores can be
used depending on the commercial implementation that is used. However, the
selection of subsets is limited.
Specific databases for engineering applications are in the focus of current research
(Biltchouk & Pahl 2003). The objective is the straightly access to engineering objects.
Such data stores may be used in the fiiture.
A RDBMS has been used for the pilot implementation.
4 PERSISTENCE LAYER
4.1 Properties
Flexibility: Existing objects without persistency convention as well as new objects
designed for this purpose are supported (see Subsection 4.2).
Independency: The persistency layer is independent from the data store used by a pilot
implementation. The proposed system architecture (Fig. 11) shows interfaces and
adapter classes that implement general fiinctionality.
Performance: Memory access is much faster than file system access. Furthermore, the
storage of objects can be done in parallel with the running application so that the
loading of objects has to be optimised.
Maintenance: The schema used is a very simple schema for all classes. That is why
redundancy is no problem for maintenance.
4.2 Attribute access
Objects to be made persistent have to publish all necessary attributes to be stored.
Attributes have to be read for storing into project model and to be written for loading
objects from the project model. There are different concepts for implementation:
Reflection: The programming language Java (Horstmann & Cornell 2002) offers a
mechanism called reflection that delivers all public attributes. Private attributes can
not be accessed. Objects can not be made persistent completely. Public attributes may
not be sufficient to recreate the object.
85
Figure 11. Persistence concept.

Interface: Objects to be stored have to implement an interface that defines methods for
attribute access. This can be done in the source code (manually) or the compiled code.
This is called source/ byte code enhancing. The mapping information has to be
provided in a separate file (Jordan & Russel 2003). However, existing classes possibly
must not be changed so that they can not implement an interface.
Conventions: Naming conventions, like JavaBeans for reusable software
components, offer a standardised attribute and method access. However, most existing
classes do not fulfil such conventions.
Wrapper: Classes that wrap existing classes and that fulfil a given interface are well
qualified. The mapping between public attributes, attributes behind methods and
persistent attributes is very flexible. Only those attributes needed to recreate an object
have to be stored. They can differ from the objects attributes and they can be named
in a standardised way to have a common view on common attribute names. Specific
attribute names outside a standard are possible, too. It is assumed that the persistence
wrapper class returns the attributes of the wrapped class as well as the inherited
attributes of its super class(es), too.
For the access to the objects attributes the wrapper concept in combination with the
interface concept is used. Thus, it supports existing objects as well as new designed
objects. Wrapper classes for all application defined classes implement a specific
persistence interface PersistenceCapable (Listing 1, simplified: no exceptions, most
important methods).
The PersistenceCapable interface defines methods for the exchange of attributes and
their values via strings. Thus, the type conversion is not a generic task of the database but
can be done in the wrapper object individually. This increases maintenance because of
the independency of the data types offered by the database used. Furthermore, the
wrapper concept allows for a common structure of different structured objects.
86
Standardised attribute names are possible by changing their original names (e.g. IFC
conform names) as well as specific context dependent named attributes.
interface PersistenceCapable {
// Atomic properties
Proplterator getAtomicProperties() ;
void setAtomicProperty(
String name, String value
);
// Aggregations
Proplterator getAggregationProperties() ;
void setAggregationProperty(
String name, String objID
);
}
interface Proplterator {
// Iteration
boolean iterate();
// Property information
String getName();
Class getType();
Object getValueO ;
boolean isChangeable ();
}
Listing
interface.
1.
PersistenceCapable
and
Proplterator
4.3 System architecture

The persistence concept (Fig. 11) has three layers: The Atomizer, the PersistenceSchema
and the DatabaseManager. They are managed by the PersistenceManager. The simplified
interface is shown in Listing 2.
The concept is independent from the persistence schema and the database used. A
specific PersistenceManager class manages all persistence classes and instantiates
specific classes for a specific schema anddatabaseused. Persistence-Capable classes can
be registered to wrap existing objects (method registerPCClass). The PersistenceManager
can store (a set of) objects and version relations (e.g. method storeObject) as well as load
an subset of the persistent model described by a query (method load). The return values
are persistent identifiers created by the project (case store) respectively pairs of persistent
identifiers and associated objects (case load). Storing (a set of) objects the
PersistenceManager calls the Atomizers decompose methods (e.g. method
decomposeObject) to add the object information to the persistent schema managed by the
Atomizer.
The Atomizer (Listing 3) has the task of a serialiser. It decomposes the object graph
into object types and attributes with atomic values. The object graph is traversed by
87
object references (Fig. 2). Sets and binary relations are supported. They have to be
distinguished because there are different container classes (Set, Map) defined by Java. A
specific persistence schema is managed (method setPersistenceSchema). The created
persistent identifier of already decomposed objects is used for all other references of this
object. The Atomizer can store a schema (method store) and load a subset of the
persistent model described by a query (method load). The return values are void (store)
respectively pairs of persistent identifiers and associated objects (load). The class
information is stored as the value of a specific feature type to instantiate the object. The
Atomizer interface is implemented by the Atomizerlmpl class.
interface PersistenceManager {
// Registration
void registerPCClass(
Class pcCls, Class objCls
) ;
// Persistence functionality
String storeObject(Object o);
String storeSet (Set s);
void storeObjectVersionRelation(
String PIDl, String PID2
);
Map load(String query);
}
Listing 2. PersistenceManager interface.

interface Atomizer {
// Persistence schema
void setPersistenceSchema(
PersistenceSchema ps
);
// Decomposition and storage
String decomposeObject(Object o) ;
String decomposeSet(Set s);
void store ();
// Loading and recomposition
Map load(String query);
}
Listing 3. Atomizer interface.

The PersistenceSchema (Listing 4) is called by the Atomizer (e.g. method
addObjectSchema) to store a specific type of attribute (Fig. 2) and create specific schema
information (Figs 510). The schema can be stored (method storeSchema). Loading
subsets from the persistent model described by a query a new schema is created (method
createSchema). Objects represented by the schema can be received via method
getObjects. Attributes and attribute values for a specific object identified by the persistent
identifier (objID) are returned by method getProperties. The PersistenceSchema is
88
implemented by PersistenceSchemaAdapter class. For the used feature logic schema (Fig.
4) a specific class PersistenceSchemaFL was implemented. This allows for changing the
schema used.
interface PersistenceSchema {
// Create schema from object tree
String addObjectSchema(Class type);
void addAtomicPropertySchema(
String objID, String name, String val
);
void addNonAtomicPropertySchema(
String objID, String name, String vID
);
String addSetSchema(Class type);
void addSetElementSchema(
String setlD, String elmlD
);
void addObjectVersionRelationSchema(
String PIDl, String PID2
);
// Store/ load schema to/ from database
void storeSchema();
void createSchema(String query);
// Schema information
Set getObjects();
Map getProperties(String objID);
}
Listing 4. PersistenceSchema interface.

interface DatabaseManager {
// Initialisation
void init(String driver, String url,
String user, String pwd
);
// Reading from database
ResultSet load(String sql) ;
ResultSet loadBatch(
String sql, StringU batch
);
// Writing to database
void store(String sql);
void storeBatch(
String sql, String[][] arguments
);
}
Listing 5. DatabaseManager interface.
89
The DatabaseManager (Listing 5) defines methods for accessing a database. The

Database-ManagerAdapter implements relational database access. Specific classes (e.g.
DatabaseManager-Oracle) support specific database access.
4.4 Pilot implementation
The interfaces described above have been implemented. An ORACLE database and the
feature logic schema are used.
Figure 12. Example: Object a to be

made persistent.
class PCA implements PersistenceCapable {
// Attribute of type A
private A a;
// Object instantiation
createObject () {a=new A (...);}
// Atomic attribute access
Proplterator getAtomicProperties() {
return new Propertylterator () {
int i=0;
boolean iterate() {return i++<l;}
String getName() {return f;}
Class getType() {
return getValue() .getClass ();
}
Object getValueO {
return a.getf ();
}
};
// Object attribute access
Proplterator getAggregationProperties(){
return new Propertylterator () {
int i=0;
boolean iterate() {return i++<l;}
String getName() {return g;}
Class getType() {
return getValue().getClass();
}
90
Object getValueO {
return a.getg();
}
};
Listing 6. Persistence wrapper for class A.

4.5 Persistence wmpperan example
It is assumed, that we have the situation described in Figure 12a: An object a of type A
with atomic attribute f (value v), object attribute g (reference to object b) and set
attribute h (reference to set s with objects c, d and e as elements) has to be stored.
A wrapper class in particular for class A has to be provided (Figure 12b). The wrapper
has to implement the PersistenceCapable interface and manage objects of type A to ask
for attributes and create new instances as shown in extracts in Listing 6.
Furthermore, the wrapper has to be registered at the project via the registerPCClass
method of the project. A wrapper class can be multiply registered with several classes to
manage these classes in common.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the project interCAD by the
German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaftDFG) within the
scope of the priority program Network-based Co-operative Planning Processes in
Structural Engineering (SPP 1103). We also want to thank the members of the working
group Distributed product models for the productive co-operation.
91
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in Bauprojekten. In Digital Proceedings des Internationalen Kolloquiums uber Anwendungen
der Informatik und Mathematik in Architektur und Bauwesen (IKM). Weimar: BauhausUniversitt Weimar. www.uni-weimar.de/ikm (17 May 2004).
Beer, D.G.; Firmenich, B. & Beucke, K. 2003. Motivation fur eine Sprache zur Handhabung
strukturierter Objekversionsmengen. In Kaapke, K. & Wulf, A. (eds), 75. Forum Bauinformatik:
128135. Aachen: Shaker.
Beer, D.G.; Firmenich, B.; Richter, T. & Beucke, K. 2004. A Concept for CAD Systems with
Persistent Versioned Data Models. In Digital Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference
(ICCCBE-X). Weimar: Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar.
Biltchouk, I. & Pahl, P.J. 2003. Entwicklung einer Datenbasis fur Anwendungen im Bauwesen. In
Digital Proceedings des Internationalen Kolloquiums iiber Anwendungen der Informatik und
Mathematik in Architektur und Bauwesen (IKM). Weimar: Bauhaus-Universitt.
DFG 2004. DFG priority program 1103: Network-based co-operative planning processes in
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May 2004).
Firmenich, B. 2002. CAD im Bauplanungsprozess: Verteilte Bearbeitung einer strukturierten
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http://www.iai-international.org/iai_international/Technical_Documents/iai_documents.html (17
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Keller, W. 1997. Mapping Objects to Tables. In Proceedings of Second European Conference on
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Semantic parameterized interpretation: a new

software architecture for conceptual design
systems
A.Eir
Informatics and Mathematical Modelling, Technical University of
Denmark
ABSTRACT: Class-based CAD systems make the majority of systems for
building design. However, such systems lack of dynamics in two respects:
Objects cannot be specialized incrementally, and introducing new classes
or properties requires code restructuring and recompilation. The two sorts
of dynamics are, however, attractive as they are necessary to support
incremental design.
The present paper suggests a new software architecture which offers the
two kinds of dynamics. It does so by understanding the design system as
an interpreter of conceptual models. In these models, free terms can be
introduced when these are needed for expressing the current design. The
meanings of the terms are defined in a semantics which becomes a
parameter to the interpretation mechanism.
The result of an interpretation is a certain perspective a view on the
model. Such a view can be a representation of visualisation, equations for
stress analysis, or other information derived from the model.
1 INTRODUCTION
The introduction of object-orientation has had a tremendous impact on the foundation and
software architectures for computer aided design systems (CAD systems). Such systems
are today mostly object-oriented and founded on built-in class hierarchies for the kinds of
objects that can be added to a design. Examples are classes of walls, ceilings, beams,
doors, and furniture. A design in this respect is a configuration of objects, and
designing is a process of composition in which objects of classes are sequentially added
to the design configuration.
Class-based languages make the majority of objectoriented languages. In class-based
languages, information is represented in objects by means of properties. Objects are
instances of classes and contain methods for representing and manipulating object data.
Classesbeing type specifications for objects group objects by definitions (Abadi and
Cardelli 1996).
An objectin object-orientationis a named record of properties. Some of these
represent intrinsic and extrinsic properties like material and position in space,
Semantic parameterized interpretation
93
respectively. Other properties denote functions (methods) for technical calculations,

administrative procedures, and visualisation.
In building design, the objects often represent potential artefacts. That is, man-made
physical things which may come into presence in future. Most mechanical and
architectural designing concerns artefacts. However, designing an artefact is not just a
process of selecting a predefined object class or determining values for a set of
predefined properties. That would obstruct the creative process of designing, as the it
limits the space of possible artefacts to design.
In (Ekholm 1995; Ekholm and Fridqvist 1998; Fridqvist 2000; van Leeuwen 1999; Eir
and Ekholm 2002), foundations for conceptual design systems have been explored.
Lately, such foundations together with the incremental process of designing, have
been modelled using mathematical abstractions in order formally to capture the basic
structuresthe intrinsicsof the design process (Eir 2004a; Eir 2004b; Eir 2004c). Such
intrinsic domain models are believed to serve as solid foundations for requirements and
design of software systems (Bjrner 1997).
It is argued that properties of objects are fundamental ontological entities in artefact
descriptions, and that the design process can be seen as an incremental process which
emphasizes the notion of multiple inheritance of properties. This understanding appears
to be a suitable abstraction of design as a problem solving process. Furthermore,
understanding design as an incremental process of set-inclusion of properties, appears to
be a model capturing the essence of designing at early as well as at late stages.
The approach is called property-orientation in contrast to object-orientation. An
essential difference between property-orientation and the class-centered approach of
object-orientation is that property-orientation maintains the property of subsumption
(Eir2004c).
In incremental designing, a solution to a technical problem is approached by
incrementally ascribing properties to design objects. The process goes from the rough
sketches of e.g. dimensions to more and more detailed descriptions. In this understanding,
designing is incrementally ascribing a collection of properties to each object. This
collection gives the object in question certain dispositions such that it offers certain
ftmctionality in itself or in a complex.
However, trying to introduce incremental designing in an object-orientation
environment, yields a problem. Classes are types in the language in which the design
program is written and changing a class by adding a property, requires code restructuring
and recompilation.
Thereby, object-oriented design systems lack of dynamics in two respects. The first is
that the systems do not support incremental design; i.e. a process in which objects are
being specialised incrementally by their kinds. In object-orientation, each object is born
with a number of properties; those specified by its class. The second respect is that
introducing new sorts of properties means restructuring the class hierarchy which again
may require code restructuring and recompilation of the design program code. As a
result, over time the class system may become complicated and even inconsistent (Eir
2004c).
In this paper, we suggest a new software architecture which supports incremental
design. The idea is to separate the conceptual models of artefacts from the perspectives
that can be put on such models.
94
In object-oriented CAD systems, certain methods represent different kinds of semantic

information. One method could be a paint method which encodes a wall object and
directs the graphical framework on how to display such objects. Another method could be
one for calculating stress for wall objects of the class. A third method could be one which
lists the bill of material for making a wall of this kind.
The three methods are all relying on a conceptual model for wall objects. In the first
case for describing shape, in the second for making engineering calculations, and in the
third for making quantitative summations. The core information is the conceptual data,
and each method puts on its own perspective by interpreting these conceptual data.
The software architecture which is presented in this paper, aims at making this
distinction explicit. It is founded on the idea that conceptual models are interpreted in
various ways; each defining a specific perspective on the object in question. The principle
thus moves class specifications to a dynamic level, thereby facilitating that properties can
be introduced freely when these are needed in order to express the current design in mind.
However, in order to succeed, the meanings of the terms that are taken to denote these
properties, need to be specified. This is done in a semantic specification which becomes a
parameter to the interpretation mechanism. The architecture is specified formally using
the RAISE Specification Language (RAISE Language Group 1992).
2 ONTOLOGICAL PRIMER
Our approach commits to a certain ontological picture of objects and properties. The aim
is to separate entities which are intimately connected with design objects, from the ones
which are not. The material of an object is intimately connected to an object as the
existence of the property of being made of a certain material does not depend on the
existence of other objects. Contrary, the load bearing ability of a beam is something
which is only potential. It comes into play, only if other objects are present.
This perspective draws on Shoemakers ontology which is an epistemological quest
for justifying how we can know that an object has certain properties and what it means
that it has these properties (Shoemaker 1997). In short our application of the ontological
picture is this. The meaning of an object is its intrinsic (and if necessary, extrinsic)
properties, and the meaning of having these properties (and thus the causal meaning of
the object) is the collection of so-called causal dispositions. We can think of these
dispositions as the fiinctionality offered by the object. From a collection of intrinsic
properties, we derive that the object in question has certain dispositions. If a beam has
certain dimensions and is made of a certain material, the beam possesses a specific
strength and flexibility. However, these are only potential until the object is placed in a
causal environment where laws apply. The notion of finctionality is this combination of
intrinsic properties which are positioned in the causal environment through extrinsic
properties like position in space.
The specification of intrinsic properties states the ontological knowledge intimately
connected to the object. Its functionality, behaviour, and possible application is an
interpretation of these properties. Such an interpretation may define how the object looks
like from various angles, or it may be the physical laws interpretation of the properties.
95
Often, what is grasped when reading a design or requirements specification, is a

collection of images constituting the meaning of what is read. Making various different
interpretations of the same conceptual model corresponds to giving a collection of such
images. This collection can be seen as our computerized way of representing the
meaning of an artefact as an alternative to having it as a causally measurable thing.
3 MODELSANDVIEWS
Artefacts like buildings can often be represented as conceptual models which list the
properties of the artefact in mind.
Consider the I-profile on Figure 1, which shall serve as our intuition in the following:
The properties of the I-profile can be represented by the following conceptual model:
[width 400, height 600, length 8400, thA 90, thB 140, material
steel, sort IPE]
Assuming a certain way of understanding the names in the model, we can make the
drawing on Figure 1. A conceptual model is meant for interpretation and many different
perspectives can be put on this model. Such perspectives include representation of
visualisation, calculations for stress analysis, etc.
We shall now apply a language-oriented understanding of software systems. In this
understanding design models are written in a formal language. This language needs to be
extensible as we require that new properties can be introduced when these are necessary
for expressing the current design idea. Properties are simply names (attributes) mapping
to value names. Thus [material steel] and [length 3400] would correspond to
attribute-value pairs for properties of a certain beam object; or of a beam class in general.
However, even though such names may make sense in our normal understanding of
artefacts, they do not in computing systems until we formally specify the meaning of
them (Eir 2004c). In class-based systems, the meanings of collections of properties are
embedded within certain class methods. E.g. apaintmQthod specifies how intrinsic
properties like those of dimension, material and form, are to be expressed visually. The
method defines a sort of interpretation of the data for doing so. However, adding the
desired dynamics concerning properties, calls for separating such semantic information
from the design program.
Figure 1. Steel profile.
96
We can get a representation for visualising the I-profile by using the conceptual model as
a substitution of free terms in an AutoLISP expression like:
(command
(list
(list
(command
(list
(list
(command
(list
(command
thA)))
(list
(list
(command
(list
(list
(command
(list
(command
(list
(list
(command
(list
(list
(command
(list
(list
(command
(list
(command
thA)))
(list
(list
(command
(list
(list
line
(/ width 2) (/ height 2))
(/ width 2) (/ height 2)))
line
(/ width 2) (+(/ height 2) thA)))
line
(/ width 2) (+(/ height 2) thA))
(list line (-(/ width 2) thB) (+(/ height 2)
(-(/ width 2) thB) (+(/ height 2) thA))
(-(/ width 2) thB) (-(/ height 2)thA)))
line
(-(/ width 2) thB) (-(/ height 2)thA))
(/ width 2) (-(/ height 2) thA)))
(list line (/ width 2) (-(/ height 2) thA))
line
line
(/ width 2) (-(/ height 2) thA)))
line
(/ width 2) (-(/ height 2) thA))
(+(/ width 2) thB) (-(/ height 2) thA)))
line
(+(/ width 2) thB) (-(/ height 2) thA))
(list line (+(/ width 2) thB) (+(/ height 2)
(+(/ width 2) thB) (+(/ height 2) thA))
(/ width 2) (+(/ height 2) thA)))
line
(/ width 2) (+(/ height 2) thA))
Applying the substitution and evaluating algebraic expressions gives what we shall call a
view on the model. The language in which it is written, we call a target language (t:j).
Entering the view in AutoCAD makes this tool display a visualisation of it, as shown on
Figure 2.
Using the substitution, we can also get a MATLAB expression of the shear stress
distribution as a function of the thickness of the flanges:
step=height/100;
S-[];
x1-height/2 : step : -height/2+thA;
51=thB/2*((height/2)~2-xl.~2);
xm=-height/2+thA : step : height/2-thA;
97
Sm=thB/2*((height/2+thA)~2-xm.~2)+
(width*thA/2)*(height+thA);
x2=height/2-thA : step : height/2;
52=thB/2*((height/2r2-x2.~2);
X=[xl xm x2];
S=[Sl Sm S2];
T=0:10 : thA;
S'*T
Figure 2. Visualisation of I-Profile.
98
Figure 3. Visualisation of stress in

MATLAB.
Applying the procedure mesh on the result in MATLAB, makes this tool display a stress
visualisation as shown on Figure 3.
The expressions having free terms to be bound, we call templates. A specification
which determines the conditions for applying a certain template, is called a semantics.
Thereby, a semantics defines the meanings of sets of properties in terms of target
language expressions.
In general, different semantic specifications may apply to the same model, and
different models may use the same semantics. This principle is depicted on Figure 4,
where mi denote conceptual models, Sj denote semantic specifications, and vij denote the
resulting views. The process of producing a target expression from a model using a
semantics, we consider a process of abstract interpretation (or just interpretation). In
fact, an artefact model can be interpreted in as many ways as there are kinds of
information to be derived from it.
99
Figure 4. Models and views.
4 PARAMETERIZED INTERPRETATION
The class of design systems we outline in this paper relies on a principle we call semantic
parameterized interpretation. The design systems belonging to this class follow a
common structure of components and connectors between componentsthey have the
same software architecture (Bjrner 2003). This architecture is centered around an
interpretation mechanism which utilizes a semantics in order to encode the meaning of
objects from a design model, as target language expressions.
The principle is based on the assumption that design models are expressed in a formal
language. The meaning of a modeli.e. a perspective of what it may expressarises as a
function of the meanings of the objects in the model. The meaning of an object is the set
of properties ascribed to the object.
The formal design model is expressed in terms which need interpretation. In order to
do so, the meaning of the terms are specified in a semantic specif ication which binds sets
of free terms to target expressions. Interpretation is now made in two stages. The first
stage gives a target expression for each object in the model. However, such a target
100
expression may be unsaturated in the sense that it may contain free terms and
unevaluated expressions. The second stage aims at: (i) substituting such free terms with
property values to which the termsas attributesare bound, (ii) evaluating expressions,
and (iii) combining the resulting views into one. The second stage involves term rewriting and evaluation of expression. It requires what we shall call a calculus semantics
CS which basically is a canonical set of rewriting rules.
5 ARTEFACT MODELS
A conceptual model which represents an artefact in a design process, we call an artefact
model. An artefact model (:) is a mapping from object identifiers (x:X) to mappings
from property designators (attributes) (a:A) to sets of values (vs:VS). The mapping from
attributes to value sets is called a property pattern (:). Formally, we write:
An example is:
The empty set of properties corresponds to absurdum; i.e. the impossible or conflicting
value of a property. It may appear as a result of combining two conflicting design
solutions.
6 SEMANTICS
A semantics defines the meanings of sets of properties. A semantics specification states
expressions in target languages for a collection of property patterns. These are the
patterns which are used to determine which target expressions represent the meaning of
which kinds of objects.
A semanticsin this respectis represented by an environment (e:ENV) which maps
property patterns (a:2) to unsaturated target expressions
101
6.1 Target saturation

The target expressions stated in a semantic environment are unsaturated in the sense that
they may contain placeholders; i.e. free terms, and unevaluated arithmetic expressions.
These free terms need to be bound to the values of properties; a process we shall call
target saturation.
The process is performed using a so-called calculus semantics (C5:CS). A calculus
semantics is a function type which builds a term-rewriter and evaluator from a rule
specification
The
resulting
fiinction
takes
an
unsaturated
target
and makes it saturated by using an artefact model for term

expression
substitution. Evaluation is performed according to the rule specification. The signature of
the calculus semantics is:
As an example of a rule specification, consider the saturation of pre-fix addition of two

properties with attributes a1 and a2 of an object (x:X):
We use the syntactical braces

to emphasize that the expression on the left-hand side is
considered syntax, whereas the expression on the right-hand side is semantics.
We now have presented the necessary main components for semantic parameterized
interpretation. The following sections aim at defining a number of necessary preconditions for performing interpretation of artefact models.
6.2 Completeness
We specify a criterion for the applicability of a semantics in interpretation of an artefact
model. We say that the semantics is complete concerning that model.
A semantics represented by (e:ENV) is complete concerning a model represented by
(:) if and only if for all objects (x:X) of the model, the semantics contains a property
pattern (:) which subsumes the property pattern of x. Formally, we write:
A property pattern (1:) subsumes another property pattern (2:) if and only if 2
contains at least the attributes of 1 and the value sets of 2 are subsets of the value sets of
1 for such common attributes. We say that 1 subsumes 2; written 1<: 2. E.g. the
property pattern 2=
{200,220,240}] subsumes the pattern 2=[width
100, height
102
220]. Thus, 2 is more specialized than 1. The subsumption operation <: is defined
on pairs of property patterns and pairs of properties, respectively:
6.3 Well-constrainedness
Artefact models (:) are meant for representing designs during a process of incremental
specialisation. In such a process, it is convenient to specify several allowed values for
properties. E.g. we may state that a window should be either 80 cm and 120 cm wide.
However, when interpreting models, it is convenient that all attributes of object are
only ascribed singleton value sets. For simplicity, we consider this rather strict criterion
to be necessary in order for interpretations to be defined.
We define the notion of wellconstrained design models, as introduced in (Galle
1989), by the following predicate:
6.4 Non-ambiguity
The notion of subsumption defines a partial order of property patterns. In such an
ordering, ambiguity may occur if two distinct property patterns have common properties.
In such cases, it may not be possible to determine which entry in the semantics to use.
Therefore, it is required that such problems of ambiguity are resolved by introducing
lattice meet as the combination of both entries. The most specialized property pattern
being the one we strive at findingis represented by lattice meet. We define the
following predicate for stating that a semantic environment is non-ambiguous:
103
Lattice meet on pairs of property patterns is defined as:
Thus, the ordering of property patterns for a semantics must (at least) span a semilattice.
7 INTERPRETATION OF ARTEFACT MODELS
We have now presented the necessary mechanisms for performing semantic
parameterized interpretation of artefact models. The result is a view expressed in a target
language
This view is the result of interpreting each object in a model according to
the semantics. This is done by selecting a property pattern in the domain of the semantic
environment. This pattern has to comply with the properties ascribed the object. The
result is an unsaturated target expression for that object. The target expression is made
saturated by means of the calculus semantics. The target expressions, representing the
meaning of objects in the artefact model, are finally combined.
Figure 5 depicts the principle of semantic parameterized interpretation.
104
The views of the objects are combined in a compositional way by folding using a binary
operation on view pairs:
The function select picks the most specialized property pattern of those that comply with
the pattern of the current object:
Figure 5. Semantic parameterized

interpretation.
105
8 POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS

Besides offering the two kinds of dynamics concerning properties, the principle of
semantic parameterized interpretation makes system integration and data exchange more
flexible. It does so by cutting down to a minimum of ontological entities: properties and
objects denoting sets of properties. These sorts of entities are common in all sorts of
interpretations in civil engineering applications. Each application makes its own
interpretations of the conceptual data model. Thereby we gain flexibility as application
specific information is gained as the results of interpreting conceptual models within each
application. E.g., a design system may focus on interpretations for visualisation whereas a
planning tools may focus on economy and work procedures.
However, the architecture which has been specified in this paper is highly abstract. It
builds apon a compositional principle which says that the meaning of a whole is a
function of the meaning of its constituents. There are, however, situations in which we
wish to interpret a conceptual model according to a scheme which does not fit this
principle. E.g., the principle excludes views which require that the meanings of objects
are calculated from the meanings of other objects (in a non-cyclic way). Furthermore, the
principle excludes views which require optimisation in order to be produced. However, in
many cases, it is possible to write expressions in some fimctional languages such that the
views can still be defined in a compositional way.
In the paper, we have not made any distinction between intrinsic properties and
extrinsic properties. In (Eir 2004c), we have argued that ontologically it is a desirable to
do so, but technologically it may be inconvenient. As an example, introducing binar
relations between objects (instead of having these as unary extrinsic position properties)
may often require that free parameters need to be resolved through an optimisation
process during interpretation. Introducing mechanisms for such resolvings makes the
software architecture complicated as it involves the introduction of free parameters for
unbound properties, and combinatorial algorithms for their resolving. In general, such
issues are not important when considering the abstraction level at which we have
presented the software architecture. However, they may be of interest when exploring the
limits of the architecture as well as in further prototype development.
9 CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have specified a new software architecture for conceptual design
systems. The idea for the architecture has arised from the observation that todays design
systems lack of dynamics with respect to incremental specialisation of design objects and
with respect to dynamic evolution of class systems for such objects.
The architecture presented aims at introducing these dynamics by means of what is
called semantic parameterised interpretation. In systems based on this principle, design
models (artefact models) are written in a formal language. These design models refer to
names of properties and values of these. The meanings of these names are not statically
106
defined as in object-oriented class systems. The meanings of the names are given by a
semantics which becomes a parameter to an interpreter mechanism.
Artefact models are now interpreted according to a semantics and a calculus for
evaluating expressions. The result is a view of the model which is a written specification
in some target language
It is essential to our principle that the same artefact model
can be subject to many different interpretationsa principle which is highly important in
todays distributed and many-sorted realm of construction. Thus, we have shown how
views for graphical presentation in AutoCAD and stress calculations in MATLAB, can
be defined as interpretations of the conceptual design data.
The interpretation of models is based on the properties of the objects, such that objects
with the same properties have the same meaning, if using the same semantics. However,
this induces problems if objects are described by the same set of properties even though
they are intended to be conceptually distinct. It is then convenient to introduce special
properties which aim at making such distinctions; e.g., a property with attribute sort. The
property does, however, not denote class name, as it is optional and can be eliminated if
the current distinction is not of interest.
A design tool with the presented architecture is generic in the sense that the
semanticsas a parameterdetermines the sorts of entities that can be designed. Thus, a
semantics specialises the architecture into a certain application.
It may be argued that the problem we have tried to solve is much easier solved by
means of database schemes. In such schemes, objects can be introduced as rows and
properties of objects can be introduced as columns. There are, however, two main reasons
why a database approach is not satisfactory. First, dynamically changing the attributes of
a database schemaknown as schema evolutionis hard when it comes to maintaining
such schemas consistent. Second, the result of database operations and queries are either
database schemas, tuples, or the field values of relations. It is essential to our approach
that we are able to define the meaning of artefact models as expressions in many different
incomparable target languages.
We believe that the introduction of semantic parameterized interpretation can serve as
inspiration for future research in this area, and that we have emphasized important issues
and solutions relevant in the interdisciplinary field of design and computing.
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Eir, A. (2004a). Construction Informaticsissues in engineering, computer science and ontology.
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Eir, A. (2004b). Construction Informaticsissues in engineering, computer science and ontology.
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University of Technology, The Netherlands.
Harmonization of ISO 120062 and IFC a

necessary step towards interoperability
A.Ekholm
Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden
ABSTRACT: There are two major candidates for Core Ontologies for the
construction and facilities management sector, the ISO 120062
Framework for classification of information, and the Industry Foundation
Classes, IFC. ISO 120062 has been developed to harmonize different
national and regional classification systems. The IFC are intended to
enable effective information sharing within the AEC/FM industry. The
standards have similar objectives but show fundamental differences in
semantics and structure. This work compares the standards and points at
similarities and differences, firstly in order to understand their structure,
and secondly to initiate a discussion about the need and the possibility to
co-ordinate them. The starting point of IFC was to reject classification,
and therefore a harmonization with ISO 120062 would require a major
shift of approach. Development of a common meta model, a generic
domain model, and a coordinated domain framework are considered
necessary tasks.
1 ONTOLOGIES FOR CONSTRUCTION AND FACILITIES

MANAGEMENT
The demand for standardised concepts and terminology rapidly increases in the
construction and facilities management sector. Internationalisation of the industry and an
increasing use of information systems are decisive factors in this development. A
generally agreed ontology is a prerequisite for effective information exchange and
interoperability in any field of knowledge (Lima 2004). The development of the semantic
web with agent based information retrieval is a current example, where interoperability is
enabled through ontology development and standardisation (Berners-Lee et al. 2001).
An ontology consists of concepts that describe objects of interest in a domain. The
ontology for the construction and facilities management sector comprises concepts for
describing construction entities, their design, production, use and management, as well as
man using and experiencing the built environment. Internationally agreed ontologies in
the sector are scarce, the post-war world wide spread of the SfB building classification
system was an exception.
Classification systems are cornerstones in ontology development, they concern both
concepts and terminology and have a decisive influence in establishing a common
language for actors in a sector. Lately the interest in ontology for the construction and
facilities management sector has grown, at first connected with the interest in product
Harmonization of ISO 12006-2
109
modelling and now with the emergence of xml-based information exchange (Tolman
2000).
The construction and facilities management sector is traditionally national and
regional in character. Today, there are two major candidates for core ontologies common
to the sector, ISO 120062:2001, Building construction-Organization of information
about construction works-Part 2: Framework for classification of information (ISO 2002),
and Industry Foundation Classes, IFC, developed by the International Alliance for
Interoperability, IAI (IAI 2000).
ISO120062 defines a framework of generic classes of interest in construction and
facilities management. It is intended to be used as a starting point for development of
detailed classification tables. Tables that adhere to the principles laid out in the standard
are assumed to be similar and possible to translate between. ISO120062, with its roots in
the SfB-system, has recently been applied in the development of building classification
systems like the British UNICLASS (RIBA 1997), The Swedish BSAB 96 (The Swedish
Building Centre 1999) and the North American OCCS (OCCS 2003).
The scope of ISO120062 is the complete lifecycle of construction works but it is not
specifically considering the needs of ICT-based interoperability. IFC addresses
interoperability requirements and has a similar scope concerning both construction and
facilities management. IFC consists of a framework of classes and models and is intended
to be used as a resource for development of schemas in model oriented information
systems. Although its aim is not to develop a generic building classification, its
framework of classes is similar to those of ISO 120062.
An ontology for the construction and facilities management sector must be common to
the worlds of classification and product modelling. Already in the introduction of product
modelling research the idea of harmonization with building classification was suggested
by Bjork in the Unified Approach Model (Bjork 1992). This model was later integrated
into the IRMA model (Luiten et al. 1993). Both are compatible with the basic structure of
ISO 120062.
Both ISO 120062 and IFC have as purpose to establish a foundation for development
of effective information systems for the construction and facilities management sector.
However, there are marked differences in semantics and structure of the systems. The
aim of this research is to compare the structure of the standards, to point at similarities
and differences, in order firstly to understand why these standards are so different, and
secondly to initiate a discussion about the need and the possibility to co-ordinate them.
The following sections analyse and compare the structure of ISO 120062 and IFC,
discusses information requirements in critical processes, compares with other standards,
and reflects on a strategy for harmonizing the FST and IFC.
2 THE STRUCTURE OF ISO 120062
The ISO 120062 standard has been developed as a step in harmonizing different
national and regional building classification systems. It is intended to be used as a
framework for developing building classification systems by organisations on a national
or regional basis. An underlying assumption is that the ISO-standard in the long run will
enable the development of common tables in an international level.
110
ISO 120062 defines a framework and a set of recommended table titles supported
by definitions, but not the detailed content of these tables (ISO 2002:6). It is based on
many years of practical experience, and is also shown to be compatible with scientific
ontology and systems theory (Ekholm 1996).
ISO 120062 identifies the main classes that are of interest to the construction sectors
building classification for purposes of CAD, specification, product information and cost
information systems (ISO 2002:4). The scope of the standard is the complete life cycle of
construction works within building and civil engineering. It lists recommended tables
according to particular views or principles of specialisation and gives
Figure 1. The high level process model

in ISO 120062.
examples of entries that may occur in these tables (ibid:6).
The ISO standard has not been expressed in a formal data definition language. The
standard illustrates objects and relations in an informal schema which for reasons of
space is not shown here. The relations between objects are depicted with arrows
representing subclass relations and other associations between classes and properties. The
schema together with the definitions in the standard are sufficient as a background for
representing the standard in a more formal way in EXPRESS-G diagrams, which make a
comparison with IFC easier. In the following text the ISO Framework Standard, will be
named FST for short, and the classes of the standard will be given short names to fit
within the schema boxes.
2.1 The FST Construction Object
The most generic entity in the FST is the Construction Object, defined as an object of
interest to the construction industry. The FST identifies four main classes of Construction
Object: Construction Resource, Construction Process, Construction Result, and
Property/Characteristic. These are related in a generic process model stating that
Construction Resources are used in Construction Processes that will result in
Construction Results, and all these objects have Properties/Characteristics. Every class in
the standard is a subclass of one these four. Relations are not treated explicitly in the
standard but may be treated as mutual properties of the related objects. The EXPRESS-G
schema in Figure 1 illustrates these most generic classes.
111
The FST does not suggest any classification for properties but gives examples from
the CIB Master List, e.g. composition, surface and sensory, thermal etc. Generally,
building classification systems do not handle geometrical properties, since they are
supposed to be used together with drawings or models that contain this information.
2.2 FST Construction Process
Among the processes defined by FST, Construction entity life-cycle stage is an overall
process related to
Figure 2. Processes in ISO 120062.
Figure 3. Resources in ISO 120062.

the construction entity, e.g. design or production. See Figure 2. Project stage is defined
as a period of time in the duration of a construction project identified by the overall
character of the construction processes within it. According to this definition, Project
stage is a part-process of Construction entity life-cycle stage, e.g. building
programming or detailed design. Management Process is a planning or administrative
process. A Work Process leads to a Work Result which is a result classified
according to process or kind of work.
112
2.3 FST Construction Resource

Resources in the FST are shown in Figure 3. A Construction Product is a resource
intended for permanent incorporation in a construction entity. Members of Construction
Aid are resources like tools and machinery, not intended for incorporation in a
permanent manner in a construction entity. The properties of a Construction Product
are basic to the properties of the built parts of the construction entity.
2.4 FST Construction Result
The FST identifies four main classes of result: Construction Complex, e.g. airport and
motorway, which consist of one or more Construction Entity, e.g. building and bridge,
and Construction Entity Part, e.g. wall and road surface. A Space, e.g. a room or
roadway, is contained within or otherwise associated with a building or other
construction entity (ibid:9). See Figure 4. The Result classes identified in
Figure 4. Construction Result

according to ISO 120062.
the FST seem limited in the sense that they describe material results. However a possible
interpretation is that also information like design results, e.g. ideas and abstract models,
representing concrete results are possible members of these classes.
The generic result classes Construction Complex, Construction Entity and
Construction Entity Part are related by a part-of relationship in a compositional
hierarchy. The result classes are abstract and only intended to be instantiated after a
first division into subclasses based on different views on the physical reality they
113
represent. According to the FST, a Construction Complex is classified by function-oruser activity. A Construction Entity is classified either by form or by function-and-user
activity. Construction Entity Part is classified by function as Element, by type of
work as Work Result and as Designed Element by subdividing Element by Work
Result. Space can be classified by enclosure, e.g. outdoors or indoors, by user functionoractivity or by a combination of these. Space in the FST has no relation with
Construction Entity Part. A relation like enclose or composed of would seem
relevant according to (Ekholm and Fridqvist 2000). The subclasses based on separate
views are included in Figure 4.
From the example of Designed Element it is easy to imagine the need for other
combined classes e.g. Designed Construction Entity and Designed Space. The
Swedish BSAB 96 has a classification table for construction entities that could best be
described as Designed Construction Entity. It is a combination of Construction Entity
by Form, e.g. tunnels, bridges and buildings, and Construction Entity by Function
(The Swedish Building Centre 1999). The difference in view is motivated by the purpose
of the classification, if it is of importance to identify Construction Entities by the main
construction method, e.g. girder bridge, arch bridge, or truss bridge, or by function-oruser activity as railroad bridge, motor vehicle bridge or pedestrian bridge. A similar
subdivision is possible for Space, e.g. indoors or outdoors specify form, e.g. kind of
enclosure, and living room or kitchen specify fimction-or-user activity.
3 IFC AND THEIR RELATION TO ISO 120062
3.1 The objective of IFC
The IFC constitute a framework for sharing information between different disciplines
within the AEC/FM industry throughout the project lifecycle (IAI 2000:2). The main
purpose of the IFC is to enable effective information exchange between information
systems, so called interoperability. This concerns both semantic definitions and object
exchange formats. The semantic definitions of the IFC concern, just as ISO 120062,
objects of interest in construction and facilities management. However, IFC does not
adhere to the ISOstandard and has different definitions and general structure. The
documentation of IFC does not present a theoretical background for its structure or
choice of model classes.
IFC has gone through several practical tests that confirm its applicability and it is
integrated in an increasing amount of applications. However, with the exception of an
earlier study by the present author (Ekholm 1999), IFC has never been subject of a
detailed critical analysis concerning its relation to building classification.
3.2 Conceptual layers
The organization principle for the IFC framework provides for a modular structure of
models (ibid:5). The models are structured into conceptual layers of different scope.
There are four conceptual layers where sets of model schemata are defined (ibid:5):
114
1. Resource classes.
2. Kernel and Core Extension classes.
3. The Interoperability classes.
4. The Domain classes.
The Resource layer contains classes that are applicable to most of the classes in other
layers, e.g. geometry, date and time, material and cost. Resources could be understood as
representing generic properties of domain objects.
The Core layer consists of the Kernel and the Core Extensions. The Kernel provides
all the basic concepts required for IFC models. In an early version of the standard the
Kernel is explained as a kind of Meta Model that provides the platform for all model
extensions (IAI 1997:6). In a later version the Kernel is explained as a template model
that defines the
Figure5. The IFC template model.
Figure 6. IfcObject.
form in which all other schema within the model are developed The Kernel is the
foundation of the Core Model (IAI 2000:8). The Kernel is independent of the AEC/FM
domain.
115
3.3 The IFC Kernel

IFC uses EXPRESS as data definition language. The basic data units in EXPRESS are
entities, relationships and attributes (Schenck and Wilson 1992:26). The IFC apply these
units as a starting point to define the Kernel objects consisting of IfcRoot with the
subclasses IfcObject, IfcRelationship, and IfcPropertyDefinition (IAI 2000:12). See
Figure 5.
IfcRoot is the most generic entity, it has name, ID, description and history. IfcObject
represents concrete and conceptual objects in the domain. Among examples are wall,
space, grid, work task, cost item, labour resource, actor, and person. IfcRelationship
represents relations between members of IfcObject, and relations to support modelling for
database implementation. IfcPropertyDefinition represents different attributes of domain
objects.
The fact that relationships are treated separate from properties seem odd since
relations are mutual properties, e.g. position and before are properties based on
relations between two or more things.
The immediate subclasses of the template model constitute a second level in the
Kernel. Subclasses of IfcObject are shown in Figure 6.
In contrast with the FST, the IFC classes are not related in an explicit definition or
model and one may wonder whether the selection is complete or if the classes are
mutually exclusive, as they would be in a classification system.
To compare, for example the IfcResource is not equivalent to the FST Resource. An
IfcResource is defined as information needed to represent the costs, schedule, and other
impacts from the use of a thing in a process It is not intended to use IfcResource to
model the general properties of the things themselves. This is radically different from
the standpoint of the FST where a Resource like FST Construction Product is defined as
a commodity that may be incorporated into a construction entity in a permanent
manner. The IfcResource is an attribute, representing properties of resources, while the
FST Resource is a class concept referring to concrete resources. The FST Resource class
may be used independently of other classes while the IfcResource requires an instance of
IfcProduct to be applied.
An IfcProduct is defined as a physical item incorporated into an AEC/FM project
either directly as supplied or through construction/assembly of other products. IFC does
not distinguish between the FST classes FST Construction Product and FST Element.
Within the second level of the Kernel, the IfcRelationship class is specialised into five
categories, IfcRelAssigns, IfcRelConnects, IfcRelDecomposes, IfcRelAssociates, and
IfcRelDefines. These relate IfcObject to different other IfcObject, e.g. IfcRelAssigns may
be used for an arbitrary relation between objects, IfcRelConnects may represent a
physical coupling, IfcRelDecomposes represents the part-of relation and IfcRelDefines is
used for relating Property Sets or Type objects with an object instance. Each relationship
is further specialised according to the specific object that it relates, e.g.
IfcRelAssignsToResource.
The same reflections as for the IfcObject subclasses are relevant to make for the
IfcRelationship classes: are the different kinds of relationship theoretically well-founded,
is the selection exhaustive?
116
3.4 The Core Extensions

The classes described above constitute the IFC Kernel. The next level is the Core
Extensions layer, which consists of specialisations of the Kernel classes IfcControl,
IfcProcess and IfcProduct. The subclasses of IfcProduct are IfcElement,
IfcSpatialStructureElement, IfcAnnotation, IfcGrid and IfcPort. Figure 7 shows the
subclasses of IfcElement and IfcSpatialStructureElement.
Subclasses of IfcElement are defined as components of an AEC product. The names
indicate that they are identified by function and thus similar to the different FST
Elements. However, this is not the intention as shown below in section 5.1.
IfcSpatialStructureElement classes are only spatially defined. In the technical
documentation of IFC 22,
Figure 7. IfcElement and

IfcSpatialStructureElement
a spatial enclosure hierarchy shows IfcSite, IfcBuilding, IfcBuilding seen as section of a
building, and IfcBuildingStorey related through IfcRelAggregates, a subclass of
IfcRelDecomposes (IAI 2003:102).
In FST, Construction Complexes, Construction Entities and Construction Entity Parts
are related in a compositional hierarchy, as illustrated in Figure 4. A spatial hierarchy of
enclosure similar to IFC:s could be developed in parallel to the compositional hierarchy.
The FST does not mention the concept of construction site explicitly, but in principle it
117
could be seen as a construction complex consisting of related construction entities like

roads, buildings, pavements etc. The other kinds of space would be derived from a spatial
view on construction entities and construction entity parts.
The FST does not specify how relations between different kinds of spaces are handled.
For example, the relation between a room and a building storey is not covered by the
FST. IFC needs to support this kind of specification but could be improved by applying a
more generic view of the concept of space and how it is related to buildings and parts of
buildings. Examples of relevant analyses of the concept of space are presented in
(Ekholm and Fridqvist 2000) together with a proposed definition of space relevant for
both classification and product modelling. Here, the concept of space is included in a
theoretical framework that also considers other aspect views on the building, e.g.
functional systems and their parts.
Although IfcGroup is not an IfcProduct, it has two subclasses in IFC Product
Extension, IfcSystem and IfcZone. IfcGroup could be understood as a generic class
describing an arbitrary aggregate of members of IfcObject. Functionally related parts of a
collection may be represented together as IfcSystem. Similarly if the collection consists
of adjacent spaces the collection may be represented as IfcZone.
The seemingly ad hoc based position of these classes in the Core Extension may be
explained as a consequence of the lack of theoretical foundation for the development of
the IFC framework. The generic concept of system should be defined already in the most
generic, ontological level, of the framework e.g. stating that any object may be a system
composed of parts.
3.5 The Interoperability Layer
The next lower level is called the Interoperability Layer. It contains classes common to
different actors and disciplines in the construction and facilities management sectors.
Here one may find, for example, IfcWall, IfcBeam, and IfcElectricalAppliance. The
classes of the interoperability layer are intended to be generic in scope. One example is
the class IfcWindow which is a leaf node in IFC, i.e. it is not subclassed in the
standard. Further detailing is achieved through assigning Property Sets, e.g. that assign
different numbers of glazing panes, opening types, framing arrangements etc.
The classes in this level are similar to those in classification tables of national and
regional classification systems. However, the classes are not intended to be equivalent to
those in classification as will be shown in section 5.1.
4 VIEWS IN CONSTRUCTION AND FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
4.1 Views on Construction Entities
The separation of classes from spatial, functional, and compositional views and the
possibilities to combine these is characteristic to several processes in construction and
facilities management. The difference in view is motivated by the purpose of using the
information, for example, whether it is of importance to identify a construction entity by
main construction method or by function-or-user activity.
118
The example given above in relation to the FST described a bridge as a girder bridge,
arch bridge, or truss bridge, and as a railroad bridge, motor vehicle bridge or pedestrian
bridge, respectively. The fimctional-or-user activity view on the Construction Entity may
be of specific interest in the brief stage or in the facilities management stage. Similarly,
the compositional view may be of interest during systems design, detailed design,
production and maintenance, where knowledge of composition and constituent materials
are necessary.
There is no equivalent in IFC to the FST classes Construction Entity by Form and
Construction Entity by ftmction-or-user activity. The only IFC class in this level is the
IfcBuilding, a subclass of IfcSpatialStructureElement, a semantically spatial concept.
4.2 Views in design
The FST reflects the idea of design as a process where functional requirements are met
with technical solutions and concrete work results. There is a need for separate classes for
these views, since they concern different stages and actors in the construction process.
The FST classes for construction entitiy parts are Element, Designed Element and
Work Result.
During design, building classification supports the successive determination of
properties of the designed object. At first the designed object is identified through a
spatial view, location and geometry are determined. Next, the object is functionally
determined and can be classified as Element. When the technical solution of a part has
been determined it may be classified as
Designed Element and Work Result. In principle the sequence is the same in drawing
based design and 3D-model based CAD, the designer starts by defining design objects,
i.e. building parts, by geometry, and successively determines fimction and technical
solution. However, the main 3D-modelling CAD-applications integrate the first two steps
and require a designer to instantiate a design object from an Element class with
predefined geometry parameters, e.g. a wall as a vertical plate. In this case the
instantiated object is already determined by fimction according to the definition of the
Element class.
4.3 Views in specification and cost calculation
In order to develop a specification or cost calculation using the FST each Element is
specified by Work Results including used resources, e.g. labour and material. Table 1
illustrates a specification using the Swedish classification system BSAB 96 from a
prototype test of information transfer from product model
Table 1. The structure of a specification based on

BSAB 96.
E-code
Element(E)
WR-code
Work Result (WR)
Unit
27.G
Roof carcass
HSD.113
Beam framework
length (m)
HSD.2
Glue-laminated wood beam
length (m)
119
GSN.17
Rooftruss
amount (no)
ZSE
Angular fittings
amount (no)
to cost calculation using IFC and BSAB 96 (Nilsson & Eriksson 2002).
IFC cannot handle cost calculation in this way since it does not identify classes based
on different views. Instead, cost calculation is enabled by associating instances of
IfcProduct, e.g. IfcBuildingElement, with IfcConstructionResource and related
IfcCostltem (IAI2003). It would seem more relevant to use predefined classes like FST
Work Result to handle this.
Applications for design, specification, and cost calculation might require that objects
emerging from different views are concatenated during the processes. This requires
support for multiple inheritance. An obstacle for IFC could be that it only allows single
inheritance (IAI 2000:39).
4.4 Views in other standards
The recognition of the relevance of distinguishing classes from different views is not
unique to the FST, rather, it is common in other standards. For example, STEP AP 221
EPISTLE, used for Product Data Management separates between a functional
physical object which represents a fimctional view on an object in the domain, while the
materialized physical object includes both a functional and a compositional view
(EPISTLE 2004).
Another industry standard, IEC 61346 Industrial systems, installations and equipment
and industrial products, developed for classification of technical objects, for similar
reasons as the FST, distinguishes between objects identified from three different views,
the functional: fiinction, the compositional: product and the spatial: location (IEC
2000).
5 CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY
5.1 Classification and product modelling
As a starting point for the development of IFC, the relevance of building classification for
product modelling was questioned since it only allows a user to categorize elements
according to primary functional role or as part of a system (IAI 1997:215). The
developers of IFC intended to avoid this by defining model elements, functional roles,
and systems separately so that an element can assume multiple roles and/or be a member
of multiple systems.
The development of IFC has been guided by these principles. As a consequence the
IFC Core Extension and Interoperability classes are not intended to be equivalent to
classification classes, but should be seen as some kind of placeholders for information
about the modelled instance. The properties of the instance are determined through
associations with GeometryResources, PropertySets and other classes in IFC.
120
Accordingly, in order for an IFC instance to be classified as an FST Element it would

need to be assigned a Property Set equivalent to that of the Element definition.
In prototype tests of IFC this has not been tried out, but instead the IFC class names
have guided the interpretation of the IFC classes as functional elements. Where such IFC
classes have been missing the IfcProxy class has been applied to represent among others
Work Result classes (Tarandi 2003).
The problem with the IFC approach is the idea that model elements may be
identified independent of e.g. a spatial, functional, or compositional view. Philosophers
and scientists generally agree that it is not possible to have knowledge about the world
as it isbut only as we see it. Popper says that If we wish to study a thing, we are
bound to select certain aspects of it (Popper 2002:71). We see the world through our
concepts, and these are by definition classes (Bunge 1979:169). In principle we cannot
refer to anything without at the same time see it as something. Even to say that thing
is to classify it as having existence. When we call something a wall we immediately
include the thing into the fiinctionally defined class of enclosing/dividing things. It is
impossible to focus on an object without at the same time assigning it to a class. Similarly
an instance is by definition member of the class it is instantiated from.
If IFC had applied its principles it would enable a model element to be instantiated in
a generic level independent of functional, compositional, or spatial definition. But this is
not supported, e.g. all classes from IfcRoot down to IfcBuildingElement are abstract and
cannot be instantiated (IAI 2003:114).
In practice IFC has not succeeded in establishing the intended separation between
model elements and classification. The IFC classes have, to a large extent, similar names
as those used in classification systems. An example is the IfcWall, which also in IFC is
defined by its functional role as enclosing. Instances of this are not independent of
functional role. This would not have been problematic if IFC had acknowledged the fact
and adhered to FST or any other classification framework.
In fact building classification supports precisely the process which IFC strives for. As
explained above, classification classes must be seen as part of the information that is
determined in the process alongside with the geometry information expressed by drawing
objects. This fact is an important argument for revising the IFC class structure in
adherence to the FST.
5.2 Integrating FST and IFC, is there a possible strategy?
Recently, based on the experiences of the Workshop on eConstruction, the need for a
strategy for development of a unified building construction model has been stressed (Wix
2004:32). The analysis presented here suggests that the harmonization of building
classification represented by ISO 120062, and product modelling, represented by the
IFC, should be an essential part of the work.
What would be the reason for harmonising FST and IFC? Classification systems
adherent to the FST are used in daily practise in several countries for both manual and
computer based information structuring. IFC specifically addresses questions of
interoperability and represents a considerable investment of time and money. If IFC and
the FST were harmonized it would facilitate and speed up the integration of everyday
practise with object based information management.
121
Would it be possible to integrate these standards? The FST and IFC both lack an
explicit theoretical foundation, and establishing a common ground would effectively
support an integration process. Compared with FST, the IFC:s framework is more ad hoc
which makes it harder to understand, apply and develop. A framework for information
systems in the construction and facilities management sector should be both theoretically
well founded and practically applicable. The former will increase versatility and life span
of the standard.
The FST and IFC support slightly different processes, but, as shown, there is a
significant overlap between the frameworks. The FST is developed to support
specification, cost calculation, CAD-layering, PDM-systems, brief development, etc. for
the construction and facilities management processes. IFC has a similar scope, but the
needs of CAD-systems and the definition of CAD objects were initially in focus.
How could the harmonisation be accomplished? A starting point would be to abandon
the IFC strategy of defining model elements, functional roles, and systems separately
and acknowledge the need for a framework based on views and classification. Then, it
would be necessary to define a meta model based on generic principles for modelling
domain objects starting, not from the EXPRESS language, but ifrom very generic
ontological theories, e.g. a general theory of systems and properties. This would include
the definition of objects from different views. An attempt in this direction may be found
in (Ekholm and Fridqvist 2000). A next consideration would be to build a generic domain
model similar to that of FST or the IRMA that defines the main classes, including
objectified relationships, needed to build the model schemas. The overall aim would be to
develop a framework for object oriented information exchange for construction and
facilities management that would be both scientifically well founded, and applicable and
acceptable for the processes that are to be supported.
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A novel modelling approach for the exchange

of CAD information in civil engineering
Berthold Firmenich
CAD in der Bauinformatik, Bauhaus-Universitdt Weimar, Germany
ABSTRACT: Existing CAD systems are predominantly incompatible.
Standardization attempts describe the structure of the data to be
exchanged. The information exchange is realized by data transformation.
Due to incompatible data schemes this process normally (1) results in the
loss of data that (2) accumulates during each information exchange. In the
traditional approach information is exchanged in an evaluated form. This
paper presents a novel solution approach that describes the information to
be exchanged in an unevaluated form: Instead of exchanging objects and
attributes, the applied operations are exchanged. This approach is denoted
as operative modelling. The generation and the description of the applied
operations are presented. The advantages of the novel approach over the
traditional approach are clarified by means of typical scenarios and
examples from civil engineering.
1
MOTIVATION
Existing CAD systems are predominantly incompatible. Standardization attempts
describe the structure of the data to be exchanged. However, existing CAD systems are
normally not based upon standardized data structures: The completion of their specific
tasks very often requires the usage of optimized data structures. Thus, the information
exchange is characterized by two data transformations: One transformation from the
native format of the source system to the standard exchange format and one
transformation from the standard exchange format to the native format of the destination
system. Due to incompatible data schemes this process normally (1) results in the loss of
data that (2) accumulates during each information exchange.
2 OBJECTIVE
Available CAD systems store their models in an evaluated form as objects and attributes.
In this paper the new research project opCAD is introduced: The objective of this project
is the standardization of CAD in civil engineering by a language for unevaluated CAD
models. Such an unevaluated model is not described by objects and attributes, but by the
operations that have created the model. The unevaluated model is called an operative
model.
124
In available CAD systems the user stores the result of the construction process at
certain points in time. In the new approach the sequence of operations executed in the
construction is described by a language to be developed in the research project. This
operative model is continuously and implicitly stored by the system. The recorded
activity of the construction process can be played back later.
The main objective of the research project is the systematic and complete description
of a practical language for the operative modelling of CAD in civil engineering.
3 TRADITIONAL DATA EXCHANGE
3.1 State-of-the-art
Existing standardization attempts focus upon the description of the results of the planning
process.
The international organizations OMG (Object Management Group) and ODMG
(Object Database Management Group) define interfaces for the usage of objects in a
distributed environment and in object oriented databases (Serain 1999, Eastman 1999).
The SQL language has been standardized by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI). SQL is a language for relational data models. The description of objects
and operations by the SQL language would be very cumbersome.
The ODMG has provided with OQL (Object Query Language) a standardized
language for the selection and manipulation of object models. OQL-instructions can be
optionally embedded in programs or can be used by experienced users as an ad-hoc query
language. OQL allows the selection of objects and their manipulation by calling methods.
Attribute values can be modified. The application of OQL by a user would require a deep
understanding of object oriented methods. In addition to that the formulation of operative
models by the OQL language would be a tedious task.
Another solution approach consists of the formulation of scripts for CAD. The Tc1/Tk
(Tool Command Language/Tool Kit) language is commonly used as scripting language.
Although the language allows the formulation of CAD macros no standardization took
place until now. However, Tc1/Tk could be an environment for the implementation of the
operative language (Ousterhout 1995).
Currently some CAD producers offer solutions on the basis of GDL (Geometric
Description Language) (GDL 2004): GDL allows, for instance, the import of catalogue
elements into CAD systems via the Internet. However, the scripting language contained
in GDL is not as open and extensible as Tc1/ Tk: An implementation of the operational
language on this basis would be almost impossible.
STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product Model Data) is the informal description
of ISO 10303 (International Organization for Standardization)a whole family of
international standards for the exchange, data management in databases and
implementation (Haas, Ilieva, Kessoudis 2002). The German automobile industry tries to
improve the quality of the data exchange by using the two dimensional subset STEP-CDS
(Haas 1999).
The IAI (Industry Alliance for Interoperability) attempts to provide a universal
interoperable data basis for all phases in the lifetime of a building. The according data
125
model is the IFC (Industry Foundation Classes). This interoperability means that all
planners involved would use this data basis. Currently the data exchange of a subset of
the originally planned amount has been realised (Steinmann, Liebich 2002).
State-of-the-art concerning STEP and IFC in civil engineering is the communication
of the planners by the exchange of evaluated data. By contrast, our research project
focuses upon unevaluated operative CAD models.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is an open standard of the W3C (World Wide
Web Consortium) for the format of documents. Is it suitable for the textual description of
evaluated object models. However, the usage of XML as a language for the operative
modelling would be rather tedious.
3.2 Recent fields of research in Germany
Net-distributed processes are currently in the focus of research in Germany: These
objectives are currently being explored in the Priority Programme 1103 Netdistributed
planning processes in Structural Engineering of the German Research Foundation
(Firmenich 2004). As many as 14 research projects are participating in the research
programme. There are no overlappings between the opCAD project and the Priority
Programme.
3.3 Traditional workflow scenario
Available CAD systems have data structures that are optimised for their own tasks. A
data exchange requires a transformation according to a common data scheme agreed
upon. Very often, the data cannot be completely transformed in practice due to the
incompatibility of the agreed data scheme. Even worse, the loss of information
accumulates with each data exchange. This problem is explained below using the
workflow of a typical co-operative scenario in the planning process:
PlannerA: Local work (Fig. 1a)
During project work planner A has reached an intermediate state MOA of the building
instance. As agreed this version of the planning material shall be technically
complemented by planner B.
PlannerA: Generation ofthe exchange data (Fig. 1a)
The CAD systems of planner A und B are incompatible with one another. For the data
exchange planner A has to generate the exchange data Z0 from the native data MOA
according to the agreed data scheme. Not all information can be stored: This information
is described by the difference set
MOA\Zo.
(1)
Planner B: Import of the exchange data (Fig. 1b)
Planner B receives the exchange data Z0 and transforms it according to his own native
data scheme to the data model MQB. Set Z0\M0B contains the non transformable
information. The accumulated loss of information is described by set
126
(2)
Figure 1a. Traditional workflow of the

data exchange: Planner A.
Planner B: Local work (Fig. 1b)
Planner B complements the building version MQB by some technical issues and stores the
product instance as MIB in the own native format. This data has to be transferred to
planner A.
Planner B: Generation ofthe exchange data (Fig. 1b)
Planner B generates the exchange data Z1 from the native data M1B. During this process
the information set M1B\Z1 gets lost. The accumulative loss of information is now
(3)
PlannerA: Import ofexchange data (Fig. 1c)
Planner A transforms the exchange data Z7 into the own native data M1A. The information
set Z;\M1A gets lost during this step. At the end of the workflow the set of the
accumulated information loss is:
(4)
The problem of exchanging evaluated data
The scenario illustrates the general problem of a cooperation based on the exchange of
evaluated data i.e. the accumulated loss of data during the numerous required data
transformations.
Some of the projects involved into the current Priority Programme 1103 explore the
applicability of versioned building instances in the planning process. Available results
show that such systems will play an important role in future distributed applications. The
exchange of versioned building instances is considered a currently relevant field of
science because available specifications do not support this topic.
127
Figure 1b. Traditional workflow of the

data exchange: Planner B.
Figure 1c. Traditional workflow of the

data exchange: Planner A.
4 NOVELMODELLINGAPPROACH
The proposed approach for the data exchange allows a version modelling. In version
modelling, two completely different approaches are known. In a version-oriented model
each single version is explicitly stored. In a change-oriented model the changes are stored
instead of the versions: Versions have to be generated implicitly by applying the stored
changes. In (Zeller 1997) it is shown that the version-oriented and the change-oriented
approaches are equivalent in result. This is important for the proposed solution since it
allows the exchange of versioned data.
4.1 Improvement of data exchange
The result of the CAD processing is a new version of the building instance. The
traditional data exchange is based upon the version-oriented approach (Figure 2) that can
be described mathematically as a graph
G:= (M;V)
(5)
The elements of the node set M represent versions, the elements of the edge set
Mrepresent the relationships between two versions. Differences between
two subsequent versions can only be obtained by a comparison between the two versions.
128
This method leads to unsatisfying results because the semantics of the change between
the two versions cannot be reconstructed.
This thread is explained by an example from solid modelling. The consistent
adjustment of a duct inside a building requires a recess r inside the wall w. Technically,
this requirement has to be realized by a difference set operation wV. In a BRep model the
semantics of the operation recess planning could not be reconstructed subsequently. In a
CSG model, however, the operation and its semantics can be reconstructed because this
information is part of the data structure.
The solution approach presented is based upon the change-oriented approach (Figure
3):
As in the version-oriented approach the node set M contains the versions. However,
these versions need not be necessarily stored in an evaluated form. It should be noted that
for performance reasons the
Figure 2. Version-oriented approach.
Figure 3. Change-oriented approach.

versions could additionally be explicitly stored. Each edge
Fhas
assigned the change 5,y between the source version mt and the destination version mj.
The original version m0 represents a special case: It is established by a change x0
The changes ij can be explicitly exchanged
applied to the empty virtual version
between the users and can then be applied to versions.
129
The method described is state-of-the-art in Software-Configuration-Management

(SCM): Changes that transfer a source version into a destination version are named a
patch in SCM. This is described for instance in (Fogel, Bar 2002).
The solution approach described is also based upon the change-oriented approach.
However, there are serious differences between CAD and SCM. In SCM, changes are
described by character strings to be inserted, overwritten or deleted at a certain position.
Due to the complexity of the planning process, the required methods for CAD models
cannot be specified easily. This task is in the focus of the opCAD research project.
In the design and bidding phase specific proposals are developed frequently and have
an important impact on the building contract. Figure 3 shows that two variants m1 and m3
have been derived from version m0. A second version m2 has been derived from variant
m1. As is generally known the merging is a serious problem since the merged version has
more than one input edge. For instance, version m4 has been merged from the two source
versions m2 and w3 by the application of the two changes 24 and 34.
State-of-the-art methods barely offer functionality to handle variants: The merging
process cannot be reconstructed based on the destination version. In the proposed
solution approach this is handled completely different. Instead of the destination version
the operations to be applied upon the source versions are recorded.
4.2 Novel workflow scenario
The proposed solution approach can both be used in an unversioned and in a versioned
planning environment. Again, the scenario from chapter 3.3 is used to describe the
change-oriented approach and its
Figure 4a. Novel workflow of the data

exchange: Planner A.
Figure 4b. Novel workflow of the data

exchange: Planner B.
130
advantages over the version-oriented approach:

PlannerA: Local work (Fig. 4a)
During project work planner A has reached an intermediate state MQA of the building
instance. According to agreements this version of the planning material shall be
technically complemented by planner B. The change x0 has been continuously and
automatically recorded during interactive work:
Data exchange between planner A and B (Fig. 4b)
Not the evaluated version MQA, but the changes x0 applied during interactive work of
planner A are exchanged. By the help of the changes x0 planner B generates the native
building instance MQB in his software system. Eventually, some of the changes described
in x0 can not be realized in M05: The following set describes this information:
VB
=
MOA
\MO
B (6)
Planner B: Local work (Fig. 4b)
Planner B complements the building instance M05 by his own technical components and
stores it as version M1B. During work, the change 01 between MOB and M1B is
continuously and automatically recorded by the CAD system.
Data exchange between planner B and A (Fig. 4c)
Planner A still owns the version MQA. Therefore it is sufficient to exchange the change
01 and to apply it on this version. From this operation the new version M1A evolves. If the
change 01 cannot be represented completely in the native model of planner A then the set
of not transferable information can be expressed as:
(7)
It should be noted that the loss of information during the workflow process does not
accumulate: The loss
Figure 4c. Novel workflow of the data

exchange: Planner A.
131
Figure 4d. Novel workflow of the data

exchange: Planner C.
of information VB described in equation (6) is not contained in set VA described in
equation (7).
Data exchange between planner A and C (Fig. 4d)
Since planner C does not own the evaluated version MQA, the changes of sequence (x0,
01) are applied subsequently to the empty version x: This leads to the version M1C. The
set of untransferable information is
(8)
The loss of information does not accumulate since information that cannot be stored in
the native system of planner B (set VB according to equation (6)) may be absolutely
storable in the system of planner C.
Advantages of the solution approach
A change ij between two versions Mi and Mj can be formulated by the language to be
specified in this research project. The change ij must not be transformed for the data
exchangeit remains unchanged forever. The receiver of the change ij has an interpreter
that issues the required actions to transform version Mt to version Mj. During this
procedure a loss of information occurs if the result of a specific change cannot be
represented by the destination model. However, the loss of information does not
accumulate since the exchanged changes ij are conserved in their original form.
4.3 Change generation
Available CAD systems support the recording of the applied operations: Normally, these
journals are described by proprietary macro languages. Due to the absence of
standardized languages, these journals could not be used for the data exchange.
Inside a graphical user interface the journaling is a complicated task. An example for
this estimation is the application of a digitized point inside a graphical window by the
help of a pointing device. If this input is stored in device coordinates then the replay of
this procedure in a window with another coordinate system leads to completely different
132
results. It should be noted that these problems do not occur if the evaluated model is
stored.
4.4 Other applications
Operative modelling could also be applied for other problem domains. For instance,
query and manipulation of the CAD data model could be handled by the help of the
language for the operative modelling.
In database technology the standardized SQL language serves to query and to process
the relational data model. The users of the database system formulate their ad-hoc queries
by the help of the SQL language (Date 2000). It is also possible to embed SQL programs
inside application programs. Today, SQL is a complete programming language for
relational database systems.
Analogous, the language for the operative modelling could be used to solve problems
in the CAD domain. A simple language would be highly desirable since existing modern
programming environments can only be handled by specialists. The simplicity of the
language to be specified is a major objective.
Another important application is the archiving of operative CAD models by the help
of the standardized language. According to experience the syntax and semantics of an
unevaluated model does not change as frequently as in an evaluated model. Beyond that,
the archived data can be interpreted by the users and not only by interpreters.
5 EXAMPLE
The advantages of the proposed solution approach are shown in an example from 3D
solid modelling. The available solid modeller ACIS (Corney & Lim 2001) describes
solids with a BRep data structure.
The BRep data structure describes the topology and the geometry of the solid
boundary. The BRep data structure allows to distinguish between points inside the solid,
points outside the solid and points on the boundary of the solid. The ACIS modeller
allows to save and restore solids as a textual representation in so called SAT files
(Standard ACIS Text).
The ACIS modeller has an interface for rapid prototyping: The Scheme language
allows to write programs to be executed by an interpreter. While the scheme language
allows the formulation of a program for an unevaluated description of a solid, the SAT
file represents an evaluated description of the solid.
133
Figure 5. Example from Structural

Engineering.
Figure 6. Building description with the

Scheme language.
A specific example from Structural Engineering is shown in Figure 5:
The example consists of a building b with a wall w1, a door d and another wall named
w2. The resulting solid of the building can be represented by the following set operation:
(9)
Equation 8 can be formulated by the Scheme language. Figure 6 shows that the
operations can be formulated in a program consisting of just four lines of code. In
contrast, the evaluated description of the buildings solid is shown in Figure 7. It should
be noted that the file consists of 288 lines of codemost of them were omitted due to
shortening reasons.
134
6 CONCLUSIONS
At present, the exchange of information in civil engineering is predominantly based upon
the versionoriented approach. Due to incompatible data structures, this transformation
process is characterized by (1) a certain loss of information that (2) accumulates during
each transformation process.
In this paper another solution approach is proposed. The basic idea is that instead of an
exchange of the building instance the changes that lead to this
Figure 7. Evaluated building

description in a SAT file.
135
building instance should be exchanged. A prerequisite for the change-oriented approach

is a method for the formal description of the changes.
It is proposed that the changes should be described in the form of the executed
operations: This concept is denoted as operative modelling. A programming language for
the formal description of operative models is developed in the opCAD research project.
In order to be used by the engineers this language should ideally be rather simple.
It was pointed out that the novel approach has advantages over the traditional
approach. In particular, the loss of data during the document workflow does not
accumulate and the procedure can be perfectly used in a versioned environment. The
proposed language for operative modelling could be used by engineers and programmers
for the formulation of solutions to their specific technical problems. The language is
considered to have advantages in the area of long term compulsory archiving.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of this project by the German Research Foundation
(DFG).
REFERENCES
Corney, J.& Lim, T. 2001. 3D modeling with ACIS. Stirling: Saxe-Coburg
Date, C.J. 2000. An introduction to database systems. Reading: Addison-Wesley
Eastman, C.M. 1999. Building product models: computer environments supporting design and
construction. Boca Raton: CRC Press
Firmenich, B. 2004. Product Models in Network Based Co-operation in Structural Engineering. In:
Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Civil and Building Enginering (ICCCBE-X). Weimar:
Bauhaus-Universitat, Universitatsverlag
Fogel, K. & Bar, M. 2002. Open Source-Projekte mit CVS. Bonn: mitp
GDL2004. GDLAlliance. http://www.gdlalliance.com/. (l-Jun-2004)
Haas, W. 1999. Datenaustausch und DatenintegrationSTEP und IAI als Beitrage zur
Standardisierung. Frankfurt: ACS
Haas, W., Ilieva, D. & Kessoudis, K. 2002. Erfahrungen beim Einsatz Web-basierter
Planmanagementsysteme im Planungsalltag. In: Bauen mit ComputernKooperation in ITNetzwerken. Diisseldorf: VDI Verlag
Ousterhout, J.K. 1995. Tcl und Tk: Entwicklung grafischer Benutzerschnittstellen fur das X
Window System. Bonn: Addison-Wesley
Serain, D. 1999. Middleware. London: Springer-Verlag
Steinmann, R. & Liebich, T. 2002. IAIIndustrie Allianz fur Interoperabilitat: Stand der
weltweiten Aktivitaten. In: Bauen mit Computern: Kooperation in IT-Netzwerken.
Dusseldorf:VDIVerlag
Zeller, A. 1997. Configuration Management with Version Sets. Dissertation am Fachbereich
Mathematik und Informatik der Technischen Universitat Braunschweig
Integration of product models with documentbased information

T.M.Froese
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Canada
ABSTRACT: Recent trends in information technologies for architecture,
engineering, construction, and facilities management rely of model-based
applications and interoperability. Yet even in the most optimistic
scenarios for these building information model approaches, much project
information will remain as traditional unstructured documents. There have
also been many information technology advances to support documentbased information, but only limited work to inter-relate these two
significant bodies of project information. This paper introduces the issue
of integrating model-based and document-based information, and in
particular, the need to synchronize human and computer communication
channels in project transactions. The paper then outlines a series of
technical approach: cross-referencing, text processing and data mining,
hybrid document types, and a presentation layer for building information
models.
1 INTRODUCTION
Much of the recent research and development into information technologies for the
construction industry has focused on model-based systems. These systems use structured
data models of facilities and their associated construction projects to support a range of
application tools and the integration of information across the project lifecycle. However,
in even the most optimistic scenario for model-based approaches, the vast majority of
current project information exists in the form of unstructured documents. At present,
there is very little linkage between information technologies for working with
unstructured document-based technologies and model-based technologies. This paper
discusses issues relating to the integration of these two branches of information
technology.
After introducing model-based and document-based technologies, the paper will show
how a consideration of human-computer communication channels leads to the
requirement for synchronized model-based and document-based technologies. Next, the
basic techniques for establishing linkages between the two technologies are described.
These include references from an object-oriented project model to external documents, or
references to model objects from document meta-data. Text processing approaches will
be discussed as another relevant approach to integrating the two technologies. The paper
will also discuss specific types of documents that can span between unstructured
document-based and model-based approaches, such as 2D CAD and project
specifications. The paper will then discuss issues relating to the generation of static and
dynamic documents from project data models in the form of a presentation layer
Integration of product models with document based information
137
component of model-based technologies. This presentation layer can help ensure that the
receiver of a project data model receives the specific interpretation of information via an
exchange of a data model that the originator intended to send. This could have a
significant impact on enabling the use of model-based approaches for carrying out
specific information transactions.
This paper lays out a series of approaches to the integration of model-based and
document-based information. Our work is in the early stages of forming a research
prqject, so this paper outlines the technical issues, but does not neport detailed literature
search or research results.
2 MODEL-BASED TECHNOLOGIES
Many of the leading edge information technologies emerging to support the construction
industry rely on model-based techniques. In general, we consider model-based
technologies to be any IT that organizes information into elements associated with
semantic meaning that reasonably corresponds to the semantics of the actual construction
projecti.e., the data objects model the real-world objects. The primary example of this
is the move from purely geometric CAD-where the system works with geometric
primitives (lines, etc.) and it is left to users to interpret these primitives as real-world
elements (walls, etc.)to object-based CAD systems where both the system and the user
work with elements that represent walls, slabs, doors, windows, etc.
Any software tool that uses model-based techniques, then, can be described as a
model-based application. Thus, object-based CAD, estimating, scheduling, and structural
or HVAC analysis software can be model-based, since they organize their information
around elements that correspond to real-world elements (e.g., building components, costs,
tasks, beams, and heat sources, respectively). On the other hand, word processor
documents, photographs, spreadsheets, and traditional CAD are generally not modelbased since they organize their information around elements that do not correspond to
real-world elements (e.g., words, raster images, cells, and lines, respectively).
Moreover, there is a trend towards comprehensive and integrated model-based
approaches, where a variety of model-based tools can exchange data and collectively
develop detailed, multi-purpose data models of construction projects. The key issue here
is that, since the software captures some of the semantic meaning of each element of
information, the potential exists to inter-relate all of this information. This integration can
greatly leverage the value of the individual applications and data sets. Ultimately, this
could lead to an approach where most project information and communication is centred
on a virtual project model that is developed and managed in parallel with the
development and management of the actual physical project. This approach, referred to
by various terms such as building information models and virtual design and
construction, requires both modelbased applications and model-based interoperability.
Model-based interoperability, in which project data models serve as a common language
for exchanging data between applications, is typified by the Industry Foundation Classes
(IFC) data standard (International Alliance for Interoperability, 2004; Kam et al., 2003).
138
3 DOCUMENT-BASED TECHNOLOGIES
In spite of the interest in model-based technologies, even the most optimistic scenarios
must concede that a large proportion of project information will remain in the traditional
form of unstructured documents for many years to come. Here too, there have been
significant advances in supporting information technology. The vast majority of project
documents are now produced electronically using various computer applications, while
the consumption (viewing), transmission and storage of documents are a combination of
electronic and paper-based. Electronic document management systems provide a
comprehensive range of features to manage project documents, including conversion
between paper and electronic documents (printing, scanning, and character recognition),
sharing and distribution, storage, versioning, indexing and searching, tracking, etc.
From an IT perspective, these documents contain unstructured data, yet much of the IT
used to support document management makes use of document metadata, or structured
data about documents. Document meta-data can range from simple information such as
document type and creation date (which exists for virtually any electronic document), to
extensive industry-specific information that link documents to related people and roles,
type of work, contractual relationships, project phase, etc. Again, interoperability
becomes important and standards have been developed. Examples include the Dublin
Core as a general document meta-data standard (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, 2004)
and various construction-industry-specific meta-data standards (International
Electrotechnical Commission, 1999). While meta-data provides opportunities for
organizing and managing documents, it can be difficult to capture and maintain
meaningful meta-data, particularly if it requires additional data entry from end users.
Other information technology trends that are not directly related to document
management per se, but that are closely related, include project web portals (which act as
a central collaboration site for project teams and often include extensive document
management features), and workflow management systems (which can be used to define
typical work processes, manage the assignment and progress of tasks, and automate much
of the information handling requirements).
4 COORDINATING HUMAN AND COMPUTER COMMUNICATION
CHANNELS
Figure 1 illustrates key elements and information interfaces in an IT environment. Within
the construction industry, most design and management tasks are fairly well-supported by
computer tools. However, these are not isolated activitiesrather they are highly
collaborative, involving large numbers of project participants operating in a highly
fragmented and dynamic environment. Correspondingly, IT solutions involve not only
stand-alone computer applications, but must be viewed as elements in an overall
technical and social system.
Within this system, information flows between individual users and their computer
based tools (data entry from the user to the computer, and data interpretation from the
computer to the user). Information also flows between users (as direction
communicationi.e.
139
Figure 1. Elements and information

interfaces for an individual participant
and the overall system of a
construction project.
face-to-face or telephone conversationsor via exchanged documents), and between
different computer applications (as shared computer data).
At present, information sharing typically involves a project participant entering project
data into a computer application to produce useful project information, creating a paper
or electronic document containing the information, and distributing the document to
others (via mail, fax, courier, or e-mail), after which other participants interpret the
document and re-enter relevant information into their own computer applications. Thus,
there is little systems-integration and interoperability, and the data exchange that does
occur is inefficient, time-consuming, error-prone, and a barrier to greater computer
functionality.
The inefficiency of this approach to exchanging information between computer
systems (from computer application to human-interpreted documents and back into a
second computer application) is improved by using direct computer-to-computer data
sharing. However, it is not sufficient to rely on computer-based data sharing alone, since
this creates the opposite effect. A user working with one application may interpret some
project information as having certain significance for the project (e.g., the design doesnt
meet certain user requirements, the costs are over budget, or the work method is
infeasible). If the same project information is successfully communicated to different
computer application used by another project participant, there is no assurance that the
second user will interpret the same information in the same way. That is, they may have
the same data available to them, but they may not recognize the design, cost, or work
method problems.
As a further example, a project architect and a general contractor could collaborate to
develop a detailed and complete IFC-based building information model for a building
project. The architect might then send the product model to the structural engineer to
inform them of some design changes, or the general contractor might send it to a
subcontractor to bid on a work package. In both cases, the product model might be
140
extremely beneficial, e.g., effectively feeding data into structural analysis or estimating
software. However, the building model can be a large data set that is beyond the scope of
any single application to effectively convey to the user. With the building model alone,
the structural engineer might not clearly understand what parts of the building had
changed, why, and what additional requirements existed; the subcontractor might not
clearly understand what scope of work was included in the work package. For the overall
communication to be effective, both the computerto-computer data sets and the humanto-human interpretation of the data must be exchanged.
This illustrates the fact that efficient project communication must take place along all
of the communication channels: human-to-human, human-to-computer, and computer-tocomputer. Furthermore, these different communication channels should be coordinated
in effect, a project communication from one user to another could say here is a data set
and here is a document that describes how I expect you to interpret this data.
Previous research into model-based interoperability has not addressed this
coordination of human-based and computer-based communication channels. Our view is
that a successful solution to project information management requires this type of
coordination, and that this is achieved by inter-relating the model-based and documentbased information technologies. The remainder of this paper introduces a variety of basic
technical approaches for establishing this inter-relationship.
5 CROSS-REFERENCING
Perhaps the most basic approach to integrating model-based and document-based
technologies is the use of cross references from one to the other. In most cases,
documents can be identified by some type of unique identifier. Project model standards
such as the IFCs include mechanisms to associate a reference to an external document
(via the document identifier) with any project object. If, for example, the document is
stored in an electronic document management system on a project collaboration web site,
this reference information could allow the user of a CAD system to select a component of
the building in the CAD system and directly access any associated document (such as the
manufacturers specifications for a window). A similar mechanism can be used in the
reverse order, where documents refer to individual objects in a project model by their
unique ID. This reference could be embedded in the unstructured document itself (similar
to including a hyperlink URL in a word processor document), or it could be part of the
structured metadata associated with a document (e.g., request-for-information notices
stored in a project collaboration web site could be indexed according to the building
components in question).
This approach of representing cross-references is technically straight-forward, yet it
provides a sufficient representation for various types of computer applications to create
quite effective integration of model-based and document-based information. Some of the
challenges include capturing the crossreference relationships in the first place, and
managing a large collection of cross-referenced project information. Another challenge is
that this approach creates a relationship between a specific model object and a specific
document, from which systems may need to infer more specific or more general
relationships. For example, a relationship may be established between a change-order
141
notice and a specific room in a building; yet the document should be retrieved if a user is
looking for all change documents associated a specific wall within the room, or
associated with the entire floor of the building.
6 TEXT PROCESSING AND DATA MINING
One opportunity to link model-based and document-based information is to use text
processing techniques on documents (or other types of data mining techniques on other
types of data) to extract significant words and a limited amount of semantic information
from the documents. This semantic information can then be associated with the
documents as anything from a set of simple keywords to a structured data model of the
document content, which could then be mapped to other model-based data sets. Text
processing and data mining of construction documents have been examined by a number
of researchers (Schapke et al. 2002; Caldas and Soibelman, 2002).
7 HYBRID DOCUMENT TYPES
Certain systems represent information in a manner that spans between model-based and
unstructured-document-based (i.e., hybrid approaches). An example would be a
specification-authoring system that allows the user to organize the specification
documents for a project into a highly structured hierarchy of sections. Each section is
made up of a passage of unstructured text interspersed with certain words, phrases, names
of products, etc., that are structured data fields linked to an underlying data model and
database. In an integrated scenario, these data fields could be mapped to elements in an
overall project data model. We describe this as a hybrid type of document since the
information is only complete and usable when the unstructured text and the structured
data fields are considered together.
8 PRESENTATION LAYER
Section 4 described the need to communicate both the computer-to-computer data sets
and the human-to-human interpretation of the data as part of an effective transaction. For
model-based information, this might be done by deriving document-based versions of the
model data and incorporating these documents within the model itself. We describe this
approach as a presentation layer within the model.
The documents could be produced by any application that can produce a useftil view
or presentation of the information contained in the data model, possibly by reading parts
of the data model and requiring additional effort from a user to manipulate, interpret, and
supplement the model data.
A simple example would be a text document that lists the key changes made between
two versions of a data model. Another example would be a CAD program that reads the
data model and uses the model geometry to produce a 2D cross-section of a segment of a
building, which a designer then embellishes to produce an annotated design detail
142
drawing. A final example would be a bill of quantities report in which certain quantities
are linked directly into an enumeration of objects within the data model.
Presentation layer documents can be either static (capturing a specific view of the data
set at a specific point in time), or dynamic (presenting a specific view of the data that is
automatically updated when the data model changes). In a static approach, for example,
the 2D design drawings described above might be written to an acrobat (PDF) file
embedded within the data model. In a dynamic approach, an XSLT template document
could be created that would produce an HTML version of the bill of quantities report
(mentioned above) at any time by applying the template to an XML version of the data
model.
With any of these approaches, the presentation-layer documents give snap shots
(specific views) of the model data intended to convey specific information for specific
purposes in human-to-human communications that accompany model-based transactions.
9 AN OVERALL SCENARIO
The following describes a possible scenario that would incorporate many of the issues
and techniques discussed in this paper:
On a given building construction project, many of the key participants have agreed to
use IFC-compatible model-based design and management tools.
A project web portal is adopted that incorporates strong document management features
as well as a model-server that can host a shared IFC building information model and
interface directly with participants IFC-enabled software applications.
One company acts as the information manager on behalf of the overall project, with one
individual acts as a project information officer.
Throughout the project, participants make regular use of the portal, contributing project
information into the portal and accessing information from the portal.
Many of the information transactions are ad hoc in terms of who is using the
information, what information is used, and for what purpose. However, many other
transactions follow formalized transaction templates or specifications (e.g., requests
for information, progress payment claims, etc.).
The formalized transaction templates specify the content and form of information to be
included in the transaction. These can include complete or partial building models as
well as various types of documents.
Objects within the building information model and documents within the document
management system cross-reference each other, and tools on the project web portal
allow users to navigate between these different types of information.
The data required to create these cross references is acquired from user input, is
inferred from the context in which the information is entered into the system, and is
captured from within certain documents from some text processing capabilities built
into the portal site.
At any time, the entire building information model (or a specific subset), can be
exported from the portal site. This model can include the documents embedded in (and
cross-linked to) the model.
143
10 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has argued that model-based information technologies and document-based
information technologies should be integrated and used to support transactions that
combine human-to-human and computer-to-computer communications. The technical
approaches outlined to achieve this integration include cross-referencing, text processing
and data mining, hybrid document types, and a presentation layer within data models.
Solutions based on these approaches need not be complex, but some attention to this
issue and recognition within an overall information management approach could
significantly improve the effectiveness of project information and communication
approaches.
REFERENCES
Caldas, C. and Soibelman, L. (2002), Automated Classification Methods: Supporting The
Implementation Of Pull Techniques For Information Flow Management, Proceedings IGLC10, Gramado, Brazil, http://www.cpgec.ufigs.br/norie/iglc10/papers/99-Caldas&Soibelman.pdf
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (home page).
http://dublincore.org/(accessedJune3,2004).
International Electrotechnical Commission (1999), Project IEC 62045 Ed. 1: Management data
(meta data) associated with documents URL: http://tc3.iec.ch/txt/169.htm(accessedJune3,2004).
International Alliance for Interoperability (2004), IAI International Home Page, http://www.iaiinternational.org/iai_international/ (accessed June 3, 2004).
Kam, C., Fischer, M., Hanninen, R., Karjalainen, A. and Laitinen, J. (2003), The product model
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Vol. 8, pg. 137166.
Schapke, S.-E., Menzel, K., and Scherer, R. (2003), Towards Organisational Memory Systems In
The Construction Industry, eSM@RT and CISEMIC Conference, http://cib.bau.tudresden.de/~sven/Publications/20020903_PubFinal_eSmart2002_SES.pdf
Aligning IFC with the emerging ISO10303

modular architecture. Can AEC community
take advantages from it?
Ricardo Jardim-Gongalves, Fatima Farinha*, Adolfo Steiger-Garcao
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Cincias e Tecnologia
UNINOVA, Portugal
*Universidade do AlgarveIST, Portugal
ABSTRACT: International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) is a world
wide consortium aiming to define the requirements for software
interoperability in the AEC/FM industry. The deliverables of IAI are the
specifications of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), an object oriented
software library for application development. IFC model is described in
EXPRESS, and based in the general architecture oflSO 10303STEP to
describe its reference model. However, during the last few years, STEP
has been reorganised adopting now a modular architecture, already with
encouraging results. Should IFC be aligned with the emerging ISO10303
modular architecture, getting AEC community advantages from it? This
paper discusses a modular architecture for IFC, aligned with the work
developed for ISO10303, examining the benefits that such proposal can
bring to AEC. The paper catches results from the research developed
within CEN/ISSS and IMS projects close to ISO TCl 84/SC4, when
developing one of the first modular STEP Application Protocols, and
extends them to investigate the potentialities of this new architecture on
IFC.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, business success depends on the seamless integration of enterprises internal
processes and relies on collaborations with outsiders. In the advent of electronic data
exchange, heterogeneous data models and processes need to be integrated in order to
provide interoperability between systems. This situation has been identified hard to
achieve, mainly because each application adopts its own distinct data structure and
semantics (Chen, 2000).
The principal recognized difficulties preventing interoperability between applications
are in its genesis problems related with: (i) data model compatibility and mapping; (ii)
different languages and methodologies for model representation; (iii) correctness in the
semantics of the data exchanged; (iv) readiness for model reusability and (v) accurate
conformance and interoperability checking between applications (Jardim-Goncalves,
2001).
Aligning IFC with the emerging
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The adoption of a common standard model, e.g., IFC or STEP Application Protocols,
could help face this problem. However, these models should not be completely static in
order to enable reusability and dynamic adaptation along time.
This flexibility requires the definition and agreement of common semantics, to
represent uniformly the meaning of the data to be instantiated and exchanged between
applications.
Building and Construction (B&C) industry involves a long process direct at the
satisfaction of clients and customers needs through the provision of quality products that
fulfil their purpose at a reasonable cost. It comprises complex activities that involve the
combined efforts of several specialists from different disciplines.
Contrary to what is seen in other manufacturing industries, the B&Cs artefact is
almost always a oneoff product. This main difference between the creation of a single
item and mass production has led the adoption, by B&C community, of a conservative
technological attitude and progress has not been as fast as in other industries (JardimGoncalves, 2003).
The life cycle of an artefact is long and normally it involves a large number of
participants with different experience and knowledge, often located in different
geographic areas. In B&C the life cycle of a product is basically a sequential process
comprising various stages in which the following stage does not begin before the
previous one is concluded.
Nevertheless, B&C projects allow concurrency between the different stages. For
example, escavation can begin before the design and planning stage is fully completed,
allowing a reduction of the overall project time, while phased occupation can begin
before external paintings completion, providing an earlier return on investment.
If one considers, for instance, the design and planning stage, we find the processes
used are essentially sequential. However, concurrent procedures can be adopted easily in
large numbers of situations, even for small projects.
The major obstacles identified to block such an approach are caused by two main
facts:
1. Engineering data is not interoperable;
2. Interaction between different participants is neither represented nor correlated.
The need of a unified and interoperable model that integrates all the information and
knowledge related to the different stages and that allows participants to access all the
information is a requirement.
In this scenario, the end user, can directly access to the systems data or do it through
the project manager, controlled by the systems managing applications and rules.
However, for instance for practitioners in these industrial environments, time and
material planning is still very often done in a manual process at the construction site in a
standalone basis, mostly assisted by data received by phone calls or by fax machines
(paper support).
Regarding the utilization of state-of-the-art ICT in the B&C industry, adherence is still
very poor (Filos, 2000) (prodAEC, 2004). Most established ways are concentrated on the
individual use of CAD tools, scheduling/planning applications, and automation of certain
pre-fabrication processes.
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Each application usually runs isolated, without any capability to exchange

automatically data, driving companies to reach proprietary dependent solutions, without a
complete integration of applications, and product, process and business data.
Also, little work has been undertaken in the development of overall control
architectures for building sites, whereas the development of such control architectures for
other industrial sectors has advanced significantly during the last number of years.
The implementation of computer integrated environments including design, planning,
production, business and control to an outdoor building site can then be seen as a top
stage of ICT integration into the construction industry.
Reengineering is the fundamental key to rethinking and redesign of business processes
to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance,
such as cost, quality, service and speed (Blockley & Godfrey, 2000).
The existence of effective seamless ways to exchange information (schedules,
resources, materials, cost, cash flow) between the different parties involved in building
and construction projects is a critical success factor. It can avoid projects time and costs
overrun and assure better quality.
Awareness of these facts twelve companies interested in being able to work together
without being concerned about the applications each one were using founded the
International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI). The key deliverable is the IFC Object
Model (IAI/IFC, 2001) that provides a formal specification of requirements that can be
used by software developers in creating compliant applications.
IFC model, described in EXPRESS (ISO1030311, 1994) is based on previously work
done by the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 184, Sub
Committee 4 (ISO TC 184/SC4, namely, ISO103031STEP (STandard for the
Exchange of Product model data).
Both organizations are working in liaison on developing neutral definitions of
information that can be shared electronically, where STEP is concerned with all industry
sectors including B&C whilst IAI is vertically focused on B&C industry sector.
2 METHODOLOGYFORDEVELOPMENT OF AN APPLICATION
PROTOCOL (AP)
STEP publishes a proposal for a methodology for development, implementation and
validation of an open architecture for exchange and share of product data, together with a
set of public data models identified as Application Protocols (APs), i.e., data models
valid to be used in the scope of one vertical application, ready to be adopted by the
industry and covering the most important activities of the manufacturing process and
product life cycle.
The development of an Application Protocol (AP) can be described following a
methodology in V. Figures 1 and 2 depicts such a methodology in two different views,
respectively: 1) time vs. industry/ standardization bodies, and 2) level of implementation
vs. application context.
The Application Activity Model (AAM) is in the first phase of the development of one
AP. The purpose is to identify the relevant activities that are carried out in the scope of an
AP, together with the applicable information flow between them.
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An AAM consists of a structured graphical representation of the main activities

defined in the scope of an AP, providing a global vision of the activities to be performed
in the system, together with the information flow, actors, processes, inputs and outputs.
Figure 1. V approach for AP

development: time vs.
industry/standardization bodies.
Figure 2. V approach for AP

development: level of implementation
vs. application context.
IDEFO/SADT is an accepted methodology to develop AAMs that is to be developed with
strong connection with the end-users, e.g., industrial experts.
Based on the AAM, the modeling experts workingtogether with the end-users develop
and validate the Application Reference Model (ARM). The ARM is the data model that
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describes the structure required to represent the information in the scope of the AP,
stating the information requirements and constraints in the application context.
This model is expressed using a normalized modeling language (e.g., ISO10303H
EXPRESS), and should be structured using entities, attributes, assertions and
relationships described for easy understanding by the industrial experts. Figure 3 depicts
the architecture for the development of one AP at reference level.
The Application Integrated Model (AIM) represents the implementable AP, when it
interprets the ARM using normative resources. The AIM acts as a formal data model
which defines the structure and content for the neutral data exchange (Figure 4).
Interpretation is a major task to be done by standardization experts who map the
industrial concepts at ARM level with the available standard entities, released as standard
Integrated Resources (IRs). IRs are sets of entity schemas that were identified as a
common concept for many industrial APs.
Figure 3. Architecture for AP

development at reference level.
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Figure 4. Architecture for

interpretation of one AP.
These resources were developed by standardization experts, and made available ready for
reuse, representing generalized models suitable to be adopted across many APs as the
basement of a platform for interoperability, extended to satisfy the information
requirements and constraints of an application reference model, within an Application
Protocol.
For the development of the AIM, when the IR concept is identified at one APs ARM
level, the respective IR should be adopted and integrated in the implementable model
through a mapping process.
The mapper will be the one to match and extend the semantics from the model at
ARM level and to the AIM, reusing the IRs. When a group of IRs that is suitable for
reuse by many Aps is identified, it can be interpreted and integrated in an application
oriented super-IR, identified as an Application Interpreted Construct (AIC).
An AP can be organized in many views, representing sub-scopes of usability
depending on the extent and objectives of its usage, i.e., the APs Conformance Classes
(CC). Each CC is defined selecting a set of the ARMs entities that cover a specific subscope of the AR For example, a CC from an AP for geometrical representation can be the
one that just supports 2D geometrical representation.
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Figure 5. Global architecture of one

integrated AP.
The organization of an AP in CCs is important for certification of the software
implementing the AR This implies that one application to be compliant with an AP is not
forced to fully implement it. It can only implement one or more of its CCs, and only
conform to them.
Figure 5 depicts the complete integrated architecture established for development of
one AP, showing the major roles and relationships between its components.
This architecture is divided into two major blocks. The lower level, representing the
implementation specification of the model, includes the AIM, built using selected
standard IRs and AICs. This level is independent of the industrial scope.
The upper level represents the conceptual specification of the AP. This level uses the
AAM defining the APs application context, scope and functional requirements as the
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entry point for the development of the ARM, which specifies in a formal modeling
language the application domain and information requirements for electronic data
exchange.
The ARM is built with several schemas of entities, usually known as Application
Objects (AOs) that can be clustered by functionality matters, defining Units of
Functionality (UoFs). This level is dependent on the industrial scope of the AP.
The CCs are defined to organize the AP in sets of conformance requirements for
implementation. To certify an application as compliant with a complete AP, or to a set of
CCs of an AP, standard Abstract Test Suites (ATS) need to be defined for verification
and validation tests. These ATSs should be also part of the standard AP.
The two described blocks of this architecture are linked through a mapping procedure
that describes the reference path for complete semantics matching between the industrial
model representation and the neutral independent one.
3 MOTIVATIONS FOR ADOPTION OF MODULARAPS
An Application Protocol represents a referential standard model within a specific
application scope. However, the typically large dimension of an AP leads to complex
models, which become standards of difficult reusability. They need to be organized in
well defined and simple scope limited modules.
To respond to this need, modularization is an increasingly important research activity
related to the development of standards. It is expected to be a major contribution for
supporting solutions for interoperability.
Application modules were recently introduced to the STEP architecture and are
considered the key components for the new generation of APs, intending to make them
more interoperable, cheaper, quicker to develop, and easier to understand and to manage.
In this new architecture, each module is seen as an atomic self-contained AP with a
respective reference and interpreted model (ISO10303, 2004).
The inclusion of the application reference model in a module is a major clue in this
modularization approach, because it extends the application interpreted construct (AIC)
concept of the classical STEP architecture towards a representation easier to understand
by the user, keeping the implementation advantages for the implementer
(ISO10303,2001) (ISO10303, 2002).
Thus, the need to create flexible models to support very large combinations of systems
can be sustained by a set of selected application modules, as the basis to develop a
complete new AP.
When compared with most of the existent Application Protocols, typically complex
and in compacted big models, the granularity of this novel standard architecture makes
the systems representations more flexible, interoperable and independent, to better
support new model representations and respective implementations.
This is a major advantage that provides specialized and autonomous structures
prepared to be reused to support the emerging industrial and business modeling
requirements.
Figure 6 depicts the architecture of a modular AP.
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Figure 6. Architecture of a modular

AP.
4 IFC MODEL ARCHITECTURE
The IFC model architecture has been developed using a set of principles governing its
organization and structure (IFC, 1999b). These principles are focused on basic
requirements for interoperability between applications operating in the B&C industrial
sector and respective integration of data, and provide a structure for an integrated model
together with a suitable framework for exchange and sharing of information between
different disciplines within the AEC/FM industry.
This architecture provides a structure identified as the model schemata, and it has
four conceptual layers, which use a strict referencing principle. Within each conceptual
layer a set of model schemata are defined.
The first conceptual layer is the resource layer. It provides resource classes used by
classes in the higher levels. The second conceptual layer, i.e., the core layer, provides a
core project model. This core contains the kernel and several core extensions.
The interoperability level is the third conceptual layer. It provides a set of modules
defining common concepts and objects across multiple application types and AEC
industry domains. Finally, the fourth and highest layer is the domain layer. It provides a
set of modules tailored for specific AEC industry domain or application type.
There are three possible ways to share data using IFCs. These are:
1. By creating a physical file of information that may be shared across a network, by
email or on a physical medium such a floppy disk. The EXPRESS language
specification view of the IFC Object Model determines the structure of the file and the
syntax of the file is determined by ISO10303 part 21, or more recently in XML;
2. By placing information in a database which has an interface defined according to the
ISO10303 part 22 (Standard Data Access Interface) for putting in and getting out data.
The EXPRESS language specification view of the IFC Object Model determines the
structure of the information sent to or received from the database. Presently, a number
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of software applications work using shared databases (also known as project model
servers);
3. By using software interfaces that can expose the information content of defined groups
of attributes within an object Software interfaces allow for direct communication
between applications without the need for an intermediate file or database.
5 DISCUSSION
Both STEP and IFC architectures are based on EXPRESS. However, IFC is simpler,
though it does not consider the Interpreted Model, having their implementations at the
reference level. The existence of an unique reference model, makes the IFC model easier
to implement, and to reuse its models components.
Modularization is a major achievement in the STEPs architecture, because it will
allow having modules representing atomic aspects of the product life cycle that already
includes the respective interpretation. This situation facilitates the reuse of such existent
components/modules, enabling an immediate implementation at AIM level.
Modules development also obligates to have such components independent of each
other, acting as an autonomous atom. Therefore, this Atomic Modules, can circulate along
the applications adopted for its product life cycle, with independence, and using bounded
information description, i.e., without the necessity to bring attached the complete global
model (e.g., AP).
IFC is already developed in a well structured architecture, in many layers, each one
composed by a set of schemas, called modules. However, these schemata have strong
dependencies among the others, not having yet the required atomaticity. This makes
difficult potential extensions of the IFCs, as part of future releases of IFC or even by
external parties interested in such extensions, i.e., joining of external modules.
The reuse of the existent modules for the creation of new schemas at Application
Domains layer will be easier to develop using the proposed approach, i.e., complete
modularization will enable dynamic development of new modules, based on the IFC
modules, i.e., extension or reuse, specially based on the models in the Kernel and
Resources layers.
This dynamism will help to face the heterogeneity problem of an application willing to
use the IFC modules, when IFC cannot offer yet an integrated built-in complete solution
as intrinsic part of its standard.
Indeed, it will not be possible to cover all requirements foreseen by all applications
operating in the B&C area, including their many applicational views. In such way, and in
a case by case basis, each application can adopt IFC modules, and when necessary to
create new IFC-based modules, through extension from reuse of the existent IFCs.
AEC community can take important advantages from this strategy, allowing sustained
growing and increasing of the existing IFCs, having it as an open standard platform,
where external contributions will be absorbed, though developed and validated according
the IFCs architecture and quality assurance rules. With time, and with such distributed
effort, IFCs would be more and more complete, and adopted by the users and application
developers.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank all the national and international organizations that
supported the international projects that resulted in the development of framework
presented in this paper, the European Commission, CEN/ISSS, Ministry of Industry of
Portugal, IPQPortuguese Standardisation Body, ISO TC184/SC4. Also, the authors
express recognition for the project partners and our colleagues that work and contribute
in the international research and development projects developing the modular ISO10303
(STEP) AP236. To Ricardo Olavo, for his assistance at UNINOVA in the modularization
activities.
REFERENCES
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Labs Palo Alto, http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2000/HPL-2000107.pdf.
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ECPPM conference, Lisbon, pp. 310, September 2000, Rotterdam: Balkema.
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http://www.iai.org.uk/.
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Foundation Classes. March 1999, IAI.
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Management, Vol. 1, N 2, April-June 2003.
Optimization of project processing in the steel

construction domain
E.Holtzhauer & H.Saal
Lehrstuhl fr Stahl- und Leichtmetallbau, Karlsruhe, Germany
ABSTRACT: Today, the main part of the work in the A/E/C domain is
supported by computer applications, reaching from pure building
applications to general company administration software. Because of the
diversity of occurring tasks within the company as well as within the
construction project, many problems in regard to data and information
management have to be solved, which still are the purpose of current
research activities. This paper deals with the requirements of the German
steel construction industry and proposes an approach to optimize the
project processes in the sector, combining existing partial solutions.
1 INTRODUCTION
The A/E/C domain is characterized by the required cooperation between partners from
very diverse fields of activity, knowledge and terminology. This phenomenon is also
reflected by the applied software tools which were developed for one specific application
area. The design and construction process of a building is project-oriented, and thus
associates those partners in heterogeneous workgroups within the companies as well as
within the whole project. The different views on the project induce problems with regard
to information integrity and distribution. The latter are emphasized by parallel planning
steps on one and the same object, which are often necessary due to time pressure. Finally,
losses due to inefficiencies in project processing in the building industry are estimated up
to 40% of the total costs. Hence, the optimization of the project communication and the
rationalization of the project processes reveal a big potential to ensure the
competitiveness of enterprises within the sector. This cognition is mirrored in the past
and current developments of IT-technologies for the A/E/C domain. On the basis of the
requirements of the German steel construction companies, the specifications of an
integrated project processing system are elaborated. Because of the numerous existing
software standards, the number of new applications should be kept minimal. Therefore,
the actual state of the art in design and construction practice and developments of current
research activities are analyzed. From there on, a methodology for an optimized project
processingespecially for steel construction domainis proposed. The model is then
evaluated with regard to its applicability in time and for other A/E/C-domains.
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2 REQUIREMENTS
2.1 Project and company views
The organization of a company is human-centered, i.e. its structure is subdivided in
function of the competences and tasks of a department. Therefore one person or at least
one division work simultaneously on several construction projects. All systems to support
project processing should take this organizational structure in account (Katranuschkov et
al. 2002). The tasks of the diverse departments are generally supported by incompatible
and fragmented software applications, which rely on different concepts and database
structures. The German steel construction industry (DStV 2004) considers the creation of
integrated solutions which interconnect both all company actors and all project partners
as well as their respective software one of the most important challenges. The latter
should on one hand be able to represent the entire operational and organizational course
of business in the company and handle all project-oriented processes centrally. On the
other hand, the mentioned applications should be able to integrate themselves in the
project context. This would allow consistent information flows within the company for
the diverse departments, e.g. marketing, project-management, technical design, etc. and
over the project for the diverse involved partners, e.g. architect, civil engineer, steel
construction.
2.2 Data and information management
Because of different terminologies and software tools, the main difficulty of integrated
solutions consists in managing data and information. From the companys view, the
shared data has to be kept consistent and thus updated in all databases for each event.
Further, only the data relevant for at least two departments should be exchanged or held
centrally. Because of the different levels of confidentiality of the information, a
differentiated rights management system must be available. Any developed solution
should rely on existing standard software applications to keep expenses and
implementation efforts as low as possible. On the other hand, it should be kept very
flexible because of the various software systems and business structures of the diverse
companies. Actually most of the companies are not set to store all relevant project data in
external project spaces, e.g. for reasons of confidentiality or security. To avoid double
storage of information, the data management systems should partially open themselves to
the project space, to provide and get relevant information to or from the involved
partners. Therefore the sharing of information within the project should be similar to the
company internal model, but on another layer. Figure 1 shows this concept with the
example of a company with 2 departments working on 1 project. Because of parallel
planning steps, keeping the data unique, consistent and up-to-date is more complex. As a
matter of fact, real-time updating is not possible with regard to the possible interferences
between the project partners while planning.
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Figure 1. Data sharing model within

company and within project
2.3 Document vs. data exchange
The pure document exchange delivers only semantic contents to the concerned actor. He
has to analyze the information and perform the necessary tasks emanating from this
information. In most cases he will have to acquire this information in his own software.
This causes time losses and increases possible sources of error with regard to data
consistency over the whole project. Therefore data exchange is to favor over pure
document exchange. The user of the software should become the checker of the model,
while it is directly taken over by the software from the exchange file.
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2.4 Process automation

Although most of the building projects are unique, there are some common processes.
From the project view this could be the notification of changes to the concerned partners,
from the company view a specific task, e.g. transfer of CAD-data to NC-production. An
integrated project processing system should allow the definition of workflows and handle
them at least partially. For example if the architect changes a geometrical information of
the building, this information should be communicated automatically to the concerned
project partners. The degree of automation obviously depends on the information
formatin case of compatible data the latter change could be directly and automatically
imported by the concerned program, which would require the authorization from the
planner to save it.
3 SOFTWARETOOLS
3.1 Internet based project management systems
Internet based project management (IBPM) systems provide a virtual project space for
the involved partners. These internet platforms have 3 main functionalities. First they
work as a central project server, where all documents are stored, and thus are available
for further tasks, e.g. facility management. The whole project communication is
performed over those platforms. Assumed that the project partners check it, this ensures a
better information flow. Finally IBPM-systems allow the definition of workflows and
thus a better control of the project process. The main problem remains that most of the
companies will not source out all their documents and thus may hold them twice. Further
the virtual project spaces do not allow the systematic exchange of data, but only of
documents.
3.2 Peer-to-peer applications
Opposite to virtual project spaces, peer-to-peer applications only interconnect the local
computers of the partners over the internet, without any central data storage. The user of
a peer-to-peer network can release documents or files in this network and make them
accessible to other users while they remain on his own server. The major advantage is
that no additional memory space is required on the internet-server, but each file may be
stored in the system of each partner. Peer-to-peer networks are commonly used for
private applications, but did not assert themselves yet for project processing in steel
construction domain. The different principles of peer-to-peer networking and virtual
workspaces on the internet is shown in Figure 2 by the example of partner A, who adds
a new document to the project.
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Figure 2. Exchange principles of

virtual project spaces and P2Pnetworks.
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3.3 Product models

Product models intend to provide compatibility between a series of computer applications
and thus allow the direct data exchange mentioned in 2.3. They consist of a neutral
standard which defines all needed objects and is implemented in the applications. With
regard to German steel construction domain, the Produktschnittstelle Stahlbau (DStV
2002) is to be mentioned. It is one of the few interfaces which is largely used in design
practice and covers steel construction specific tasks from the raw design to the detailing
over the structural analysis. In view to a global approach to the A/E/C domain, the
Industry Foundation Classes (IAI 2002) is the most promising product model. Its purpose
is to cover all domains of expertise, but the model is yet not ready to be applied on largescale in steel construction domain. Figure 3 shows the concept of product modeling by
the example of the steel construction domain.
3.4 Object-oriented modeling
The object-oriented modeling is the basis for very adaptive simulation due to its layered
structure as shown in Figure 4. The objects are instances of
Figure 3. Product model as a link

between the diverse proj ect partners of
the steel construction domain.
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Figure 4. The layered structure in

object-oriented programming.
classes of the model. The meta-model defines those classes. In order to evaluate a
knowledge model, its structure has to be analyzed (Firmenich 2004).
This programming concept is also used for the development of product models, for
which the classes of layer 1 are defined and implemented, and the diverse programs
generate the instanced objects in exchange files. The re-use of an existing meta-model
allows the compatible extension of an existing knowledge model.
4 INTEGRATED PROJECT PROCESSING
4.1 General approach
The basic idea of the approach for an integrated project processing system is to define
basic entities of a company or a project and link them. From there on processes can be
modeled easily, e.g. if the entity file is changed, then inform all linked entities project
partner. To keep the approach human-centered, a tool to model the companys structure
has to be defined first. Then the latter is connected with a project platform where all
exchanges between the involved actors occur. The company internal entities must also be
linked with the project platform entities. Because of the diversity of the fields of activity
of the involved partners, the handled model of the platform has to remain simple and
cannot represent all entities of all partners.
4.2 Adaptive company model
To define any process and control it with any software, first of all the basic entities of a
company or a project have to be defined. Later they will be linked together. This allows
to assign any information in any format to an actor or a process etc. The project
processing tool has to offer resources to define those entities, to link them. Further it
should have a simple messaging tool, to allow at least very simple workflows, e.g.
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noticing new versions. The proposed main classes to represent a company with its
business structure are listed below:
1 Structure: defines the companies subdivisions, e.g. departments and employees
2 Project: defines projects and their subclasses
3 Partner: defines the partner types of the company, e.g. customers or suppliers
4 Product: defines the diverse products or services of the company
5 Tool: names the hard- and software tools of the company
6 Document: defines document types.
Hence, each entity in the company is handled and can be addressed by the project
processing system. Some
Figure 5. Example of a simplified

company model, instances and
workflow.
of the above listed classes and their subclasses already exist in the IFC2x2 Model (IAI
2002). Because of the potential of this product model, its scheme will be used as a basis
for our system. If required classes are not available, they will be formulated in
accordance to the IFC meta-model. Further the software should also allow the
development of strictly company internal classes by the user, i.e. meta-model rules
should also be implemented in the system. In this way the system allows exact images of
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the companys structure. The pre-defined classes must be those which are required within
the project environment.
Once a company model is defined, the entities can be linked to each other. The
management of those links has to be performed with this developed project processing
tool. If those links are available, workflows can be easily defined in the system. Figure 5
shows the above introduced principles. Once the companies entities are defined in a
neutral model, they can be instanced and linked. Those instances and links can be
addressed by workflows.
Assumed that the concerned application software has accessible database structures,
also more complex workflows can be defined, like automatic updating.
4.3 The project platform
To open the company to the project environment, its internal organization and process
model has to be connected with a project platform. The latter should be used for project
communication and document or file exchange. Because of the volume of accruing data
and their diversity, the idea of one unique file containing and treating all information is
not realistic. A better approach is to provide a simplified building model on the project
platform, which represents basic subdivisions of a building (Petersen & Diaz 2004).
Within the scope of this investigation, the building is split into basic elements of steel
construction domain. Those construction entities are then linked with concerned project
partners. With the company internal linking concept presented in 4.2, the latter step is
sufficient. The entity in the project space is automatically linked with all concerned
entities within the company. The information attached to the simplified model is unique
and stored on the internet platform. The real documents are accessible by links to local
servers. This also allows a better access control for the documents owner. To guarantee
data consistency, versions of detailed documents have to correspond to the version of the
related coarse element on the platform. If more detailed data are connected to one coarse
element, the more checks of consistency are necessary. On one hand this leads to an
optimization problem of the simplified models accuracy. On the other hand this situation
is a very strong argument for the use of product model based exchange files, where
checks can be performed automatically in a relatively simple way due to the common file
format, and the information can be directly taken over by the software. In a first step, the
common standard for data exchange can be the Produktschnittstelle Stahlbau, because it
is already used in the practice. But, because of its larger scope, the advantages of the IFC
are evident in this case. Figure 6 shows the concept of the proposed project processing
system with its internet platform and the peer-to-peer networks. In the example, the civil
engineer performs a change on frame A. The notification processes run over the common
internet platform. The internal links lead to the detailed data. Two alternatives are
presented with regard to the updating of information in the detailed files. In one case, the
concerned planner in the steel construction company gets to the changed file of the
structural engineer over the peer-to-peer access and performs the modifications
afterwards on his file. In the second case both file formats are compatible and a direct
exchange can be performed.
Figure 6. Proposed information flows

of the project processing system.
164
165
5 EVALUATION
The above presented approach of a project process management system shall ensure data
integrity within A/E/C companies and within their projects. The system shall dispose a
simple messaging system. Assumed that the partners are considered by the company
model, an easy and systematic notification of changes is possible. If the used standard
software applications have open database structures, the update of data can be automated,
since their information contents are also instanced by the mentioned model. Thus, the
approach offers an immediate possibility to enhance data consistence by better
communication between the concerned actors, and in a further step, automation of
updating is possible. The adaptation of the method is up to the system administrator. With
the use of a simplified model on the shared project platform, interdependencies between
diverse project partners can be defined or detected easier. Further the data volume on the
web-server is limited. The peer-to-peer approach for real file sharing allows a better
access control within the company, which enhances the security and confidentiality.
The concept of the presented system is based on the improvement of existing project
communication systems. It does not depend on any product model standard, but only on
the abilities of the already existing and applied software applications of the companies.
Thus it offers a progressive approach of process optimization. Because of the use of
existing standards, it can be developed and applied in practice relatively rapid. The first
step is to provide a company modeling tool and a virtual project space. Then the process
model can be extended steadily.
The applicability to other domains is ensured by the general and adaptive approach of
the project pro cessing system. But as the process automation potential is dependent on
the scope of product models, its efficiency is also dependent on the latter.
6 CONCLUSION
This investigation shows, that an answer to the requirements of the industry can be found
by combination and small extension of existing technologies. In a first step, data
consistency and communication within companies and within building projects can be
improved. In a further step, several repeating processes can be automated, and thus the
efficiency of the sector improved.
The Lehrstuhl fr Stahl- und Leichtmetallbau is developing a prototype system in
cooperation with industry partners, which will be tested on real building projects.
REFERENCES
Deutscher Stahlbauverband (DStV) 2002. Standard-beschreibung Produktschnittstelle Stahlbau
Teil 1, Teil 2, Teil 3 and Standard description for product interface steel construction.
http://www.stahlbauverband.de/asp/biblioaussdet.asp?auss=7.
166
Deutscher Stahlbauverband (DStV), Arbeitsausschuss Informationstechnologie, Ad-hoc

Arbeitsgruppe Ablauforganisation 2004. Grundstzliche Anforderungen an ein integriertes
Management- und Informationsystem fr kleine und mittlere (Stahl-) Baufirmen. Not published.
Firmenich, B. 2004. Product Models in Network Based Cooperation in Structural Engineering.
Karl Beucke et al. (eds), Proceedings of the Xth International Conference on Computing in Civil
and Building Engineering, Weimar, 0204 June 2004.
International Alliance for Interoperability (2002). IFC 2x2 Final Documentation. http://www.iaiev.de/spezifikation/Ifc2x2/index.htm.
Katranuschkov, P., Sherer, R.J & Turk, Z. 2002. Multi-project, multi-user, multi-integration: the
IST for CE integration approach. In Ziga Turk & Raimar Scherer (eds), ECPPM 2002, eWork
and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction; Proc. intern.. conf., Portoroz, 9
11 September 2002.
Petersen, M. & Diaz, J. 2004. Integrated Planning of Buildings based on Computer Models in
Project Communication Systems. Karl Beucke et al. (eds), Proceedings of the Xth International
Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Weimar, 0204 June 2004.
Location sensing for self-updating building

models
O.Icoglu & A.Mahdavi
Department of Building Physics and Building Ecology, Vienna University
of Technology, Vienna, Austria
ABSTRACT: Emerging technologies in building automation have the
potential to increase the quality and cost effectiveness of services in the
building industry. However, insufficient range of collected data and
models of the physical and behavioral aspects of the facilities limit the
capabilities of building automation systems. We describe a project for
improving building services by collecting comprehensive data from
variable sources and generating high-resolution models of buildings. In
this context, location sensing is critical not only for data collection, but
also for constructing models of buildings as dynamic environments. We
first examine a range of existing location sensing technologies from the
building automation perspective. We then outline the implementation of a
specific location sensing system together with respective test results.
1 INTRODUCTION
Building automation is expected to improve building performance by reducing the
operation and maintenance costs of buildings (e.g. for heating, cooling, and lighting),
improving environmental performance, augmenting human comfort, and providing higher
safety levels. However, data collection and monitoring activities in current building
automation systems are rather limited: the focus is mostly on service systems such as
elevators and office equipment. There is a lack of systematic and scalable approaches to
comprehensive facility state monitoring throughout buildings life cycle. To achieve a
higher level of building automation technology, collected data must cover not only the
state of systems such as elevators, but also the state of room enclosure surfaces, furniture,
doors, operable windows, and other static or dynamically changing building entities.
Toward this end, we focus on generating comprehensive and self-updating models of the
physical and behavioral aspects of facilities over their life cycle (Mahdavi 2001a, 2001b,
2003, Mahdavi & Suter 2002). Thereby, we are developing and implementing a prototype
sensor-supported self-updating building model for simulation-based building operation
support (Mahdavi 200Ib).
To deliver a proof of concept for the feasibility of the system, we focus on lighting
controls in a test space. The control scenario is as follows: at regular time intervals, an
Executive Control Unit (ECU) considers possible changes in the states of control devices
(e.g. the dimming positions of the electrical light fixtures, the position of window
shades). The ECU then requests a lighting simulation program to predict the implications
168
of device states for the lighting performance of the space (i.e. light availability and
distribution) in the immediate future time interval. Based on the comparison of the
predicted performance levels with desired (user-based) objective functions, the ECU
initiates the transition to the most desirable control state. For this scenario to work, the
underlying model generation system must consider a wide range of space and system
characteristics, including the spatial and material properties of a space as well as the state
of the luminaries and furniture. Specifically, the lighting simulator requires an accurate
and up-to-date model of both internal space and external conditions (i.e. the sky
luminance pattern) to run the necessary simulations. This implies the need for a location
sensing system to provide real-time identification and location data for the construction
of a space model. This information is subsequently used by the ECU to construct a 3D
object model in the system database. The resulting model can be used for lighting
simulations. Similar models can be constructed to inform other applications for building
operation and facility management support.
The challenge in constructing a model is that the building infrastructure is not a static
entity and may change in multiple ways during its life cycle. In office buildings, an
indicator for these dynamics is churn, that is, the number of office moves during a given
year. Depending on the flexibility of a buildings systems, churn can involve significant
infrastructure changes. According to one study on churn, freestanding furniture changes
daily to monthly, or modular partitions once a year (Ryburg 1996). The ability to track
such changes automatically is necessary for the viability of simulation-based building
control. In our prototype, this task is performed by a location sensing system.
2 LOCATION SENSING TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
Prior to the implementation of a location sensing system, the available technologies are
examined from the building automation perspective (Brunner et al. 2004). A suitable
system must be capable to identify individual objects and return their locations.
Furthermore, it should require minimum maintenance, and be scalable to adapt itself to
changes in a facility. In addition to these basic requirements, accuracy, unobtrusiveness
(minimal installation and maintenance necessary), cost, scalability, and identification
capability are also considered among the primary evaluation criteria.
Most currently available location systems use tags, small items affixed to the actual
objects to be tracked. Location information is obtained by signal exchange between these
tags and a sensor infrastructure (sensors, readers). Even more so than in other ubicomp
applications, building model applications call for rather small, long-lived tags that require
no batteries or any other maintenance. Moreover, systems based on devices that obtain or
calculate position information internally (called localized location computation) are not
meaningful in building model applications, unless the location information is fed back to
the overall system.
Among the available technologies, the ones that exploit electromagnetic and radio
frequency, ultra-sound, and optical/vision-based methods are specially noteworthy.
Electromagnetic and radio frequency include technologies based on the measurement of
electromagnetic or radio frequency signals field strengths, distortion, time-of-flight or
frequency. Ultrasound-based systems typically consist of battery-powered tags and a set
Location sensing for self-updating
169
of transponder stations communicating with them; position information is obtained by

measuring time-of-flight of acoustic signals. Vision-based technologies utilize visual
attributes of the objects or the tags attached to them and use computer vision methods to
extract the identification and location data.
Based on this technical review (Brunner et al. 2004), it is concluded that there is no
perfect location system for self-updating building models today Vision based methods
appear as the most appropriate solutions that can form a basic infrastructure to our
requirements because of being software-supported and open for modifications and
improvements. The latest developments in distributed programming, software agents and
high power processors also make the vision-based solutions more promising. Based on
this technical review, we have adopted such a system, as described in the following
sections.
3 LOCATION SENSING SYSTEM FOR SELF-UPDATING BUILDING
MODELS
3.1 System framework
Our system is designed as a vision-based location sensing that uses a combination of
visual markers (tags) and video cameras. Among the reviewed vision-based methods, the
algorithm proposed in TRIP (Lopez 2002, Lopez et al. 2002) offers a suitable solution for
location sensing in building environments. The TRIP algorithm uses optimized image
processing and computer vision methods, and benefits from low-cost, black-and-white
tags. It obtains in real-time the identification and location (both position and orientation
data) of an object to which the visual tag is attached.
Our assessment criteria (see section 2) emphasize that the location system should also
provide fine-grained spatial information at a high update rate while being unobtrusive and
scalable in terms of sensing the locations of many objects in a wide area. To meet these
requirements, our Location Sensing System (LSS) is designed in a distributed structure,
with the software components tied together by the Internet. Communication and data
sharing is ruled by the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) protocol that
enables these software components to communicate over a network (DCOM 2004). The
distributed structure of the LSS enables scalability and incremental growth, in addition to
enhanced performance derived from parallel operation.
Figure 1 shows the framework of the LSS. It comprises four main software
components: Application Server, Database Server, User Interface Server, and Target
Recognition and Image Processing (TRIP) Clients. The Application Server is the central
unit that controls the distributed components of the system, and performs resource
sharing and load balancing among the clients. Resources are the available computing and
sensor devices in the system. The Network cameras (NetCam) are used as sensors that
own dedicated IP addresses, and act like network devices.
TRIP Clients are the consumers of sensor and computing resources that run these
client programs. A TRIP Client acquires images from the network cameras and applies
image processing to extract the identification and location of the tagged objects. TRIP
Client programs are implemented on different computers (computing resources) that may
170
be distributed across a facility, and their number can be increased as needed. The results
obtained from multiple clients are combined in the Application Server, which is also
responsible for controlling the status of the cameras and TRIP Clients. It informs the
operator (a facility manager, for example) of inactive sources and dynamically assigns
active cameras to active TRIP Clients by taking their workload feedback into
consideration. This arrangement minimizes operator overhead.
Figure 1. Structure of the LSS.

All data regarding TRIP Clients, cameras, object information and system parameters
are stored in the XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) format. The Database Server
provides remote access to XML data for other components of the LSS. The User
Interface Server is responsible for the communication between an operator and the
system. It is a web based CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program that can be
accessed from any computer on the network. It presents combined location sensing
results (object identifications and locations) to the operator and enables the adjustment of
system parameters from web browsers.
3.2 Processing steps in the LSS
The primary goal of the LSS is to collect visual data from the sensors, and extract object
identification and location information in a wide area. Figure 2 demonstrates the process
flow that takes place in the system to convert images to location data. Raw camera data is
acquired and subsequently transferred to the Image Processing unit through the Camera
171
Interface. Object IDs and locations are extracted by the Image Processing unit and are
conveyed subsequently to the Coordinate Translation. Coordinate Translation transforms
the location data with respect to camera coordinates to the location data with respect to
room coordinates. Multiple Image Processing and Coordinate Translation units run
parallel in the LSS, as they are implemented within distributed TRIP Clients. The ID and
location data extracted from various camera devices are combined in the Object Fusion
phase utilizing current and previous object information. Final results are transformed into
data packets for convenient data communication, and transferred to the main system,
ECU, for model construction. These data are also transferred to the Object History
database for the further processing of the Object Fusion.
Figure 2. Process flow in the LSS.
172
3.2.1 Camera Interface

Network cameras are used as sensor devices for capturing images of the environment,
where eachNetwork camera owns a dedicated IP address, and acts like a network device.
Network cameras are inexpensive, off-the shelf products. They have web servers
embedded inside that convey images to the consumers in wide areas through HTTP.
Camera Interface is executed in the TRIP Clients for each network camera assigned by
the Application Server. This unit acts like a hardware interface and isolates the software
parts of the system from the hardware units. Thus, the effect of any change of the
hardware to the overall system is minimized. Camera Interface performs the
communication and image acquisition with establishing a connection to the network
camera as a web client, where the required communication parameters are retrieved from
the Camera Database (Fig. 2).
Figure 3. Sample visual tag with TRIP

code: 10 2011 221210001 (evenparity=10, radius length=58 mm,
ID=18795) (Lopez et al. 2002).
3.2.2 Image Processing
Image Processing, executed within the TRIP Client component, acquires images from the
Camera Interface and applies image processing algorithms for location sensing (Fig. 2).
The system works with circular black-and-white TRIP coded tags that can be generated
with an ordinary laser printer (Fig. 3). Patterns on the circular partitions of the tag
determine the position of synchronization sector (starting point, 1 partition), even-parity
bits (2 partitions), actual length of the radius of the tag in millimeters (4 partitions) and
ID code (9 partitions).
The Image Processing unit enhances the original TRIP system (Lopez 2002, Lopez et
al. 2002) by integrating two additional algorithms that make it suitable for the building
environments. The original system was implemented on images captured by digital
cameras that provide uncompressed, high quality data. However, in the real world,
working on raw images is not applicable in distributed environments such as buildings.
173
Network cameras, like other digital video devices, are designed to convey images as fast
as possible for user convenience and therefore apply compression on the original images
prior to transmission. To overcome the compression artifacts, enhancement algorithms
are integrated as described in the following.
3.2.2.1 Original Image Processing method
The original method comprises target recognition and pose extraction algorithms that
turn the input images of tags into location and identification data. The target
recognition algorithm determines the identification and geometric properties of the
projections of TRIP tags. Since the projection of a circle in an image generates an ellipse,
TRIP tags circular patterns are observed as elliptical, and parameters of these ellipses are
extracted from the image. The outermost ellipse of a detected tag is marked as reference
ellipse and its parameters are used for the pixel sampling procedure of TRIP code
deciphering. The intensity values of the pixels at point locations around the reference
ellipse determine the entire TRIP code. The TRIP code is finally validated with the
evenparity check bits (Lopez 2002).
Target recognition returns the ID number, radius of the tag, the position of
synchronization sector and the parameters of the reference ellipse for each identified
TRIP tag. The pose extraction algorithm takes these values as input in order to
determine the 3D position and orientation of TRIP tags with respect to the camera. The
algorithm implements a transformation that back-projects the elliptical border of a tag
lying on the camera image plane into its actual circular form lying on the centre of the
target plane. The reverse projection makes the camera image plane become parallel to the
target plane and retrieves the 2D orientation of the TRIP tag by giving out the angles
around the cameras axes X and Y, and respectively. The position of the
synchronization sector is used to extract the final component of the orientation, angle
around Z-axis, . The distance between the camera and the target plane, d, is computed
using the radius length of the tag. Thus, in addition to orientation, position vector [Px, Py,
d]T is also generated where Px and Py are computed from the central point of the
reference ellipse.
3.2.2.2 Enhanced Image Processing method
In our application, network cameras apply wavelet transformation with a 10:1
compression ratio. This process generates smoothed input images for the TRIP Clients
and causes the tag images to lose sharpness. To compensate this, TRIP Clients apply an
adaptive sharpening algorithm (Battiato et al. 2003) on the input image prior to target
recognition (Fig. 4). This method restores first the original image by an un-sharp masking
process, which is naturally affected by noise and compression-based ringing artifacts.
The algorithm then minimizes these artifacts by combining the adaptively restored image
with the original.
In addition to camera artifacts, an increase in the distance of tags to camera reduces
the pixel resolution of the tag images and makes the TRIP codes harder to decipher, even
though the tags are detected and reference ellipses are extracted properly. To solve the
problem, edge-adaptive zooming (Battiato et al. 2000) is applied locally to spurious
174
TRIP tags from which the TRIP code could not be deciphered or validated. Edgeadaptive zooming, as opposed to its counter-parts such as bilinear and cubic
interpolation, enhances the discontinuities and sharp luminance variations in the tag
images. This procedure is repeated until the target recognition succeeds or the zoomed
image region loses its Details (Fig. 4). The latter case indicates a false alarm or an
unidentified tag.
3.2.3 Coordinate Translation and Object Fusion
Coordinate Translation is executed within TRIP Clients after Image Processing (Fig. 2).
The outcomes of Image Processing are a position vector and orientation angles
Figure 4. Enhanced image processing

algorithms.
with respect to camera coordinates from which the processed image is acquired.
Coordinate Translation converts these to the location data with respect to room
coordinates.
The location of each camera with respect to the room coordinate system is stored in
the Camera Database. This location data involves the coordinate-rotation vector [R, R,
R]T, that overlaps the axes of the coordinate systems, thus, when combined with the
original rotations (, , ), gives out the orientation values with respect to the room. The
location data also involves the coordinate-translation vector [Tx, Ty, Tz]T, that aligns the
origin of the camera coordinate system to the origin of the room coordinate system, and
175
eventually gives out the position vector with respect to the room when combined with the
original position vector, [Px, Py, d]T.
Object Fusion, implemented in the Application Server, combines the object
identification and location data acquired from parallel-running TRIP Clients (Fig. 2). The
same object may be detected with multiple cameras, each of which is assigned to
different TRIP Clients. This may generate repeated records in the system. Object Fusion
combines these reiterated data based on identification codes and room coordinate
locations. Furthermore, TRIP Clients attach time stamps on each extracted objects
location data. In cases of inconsistency, Object Fusion uses previous object data to
perceive the correct identification or location information, and generates the final, unique
object information.
4 A DEMONSTRATIVE TEST
To evaluate the performance of the LSS, a demonstrative test was performed to observe
the identification and location accuracy. The test configuration was
Table 1. Percentage of identified tags as a function

of distance and angle for the original and
enhanced methods.
Angle
Distance
Original
Enhanced
2m
100
93
78
100
97
90
30
3m
82
78
53
97
90
84
60
4m
42
36
18
81
78
56
designed to address system limitations. One limitation is the distance of the tags from
the camera. An increase in distance reduces the resolution of the tags that makes pixel
sampling unable to locate the circular regions within the tag image. A second limitation is
the incidence angle between the normals of the target plane and the image plane. As the
incidence angle increases, the elliptical properties of the tag image projections become
more difficult to acquire.
In our test, 1616 cm tags were located at 3 different distance values (2, 3, 4 m) and,
for each distance, 3 different incidence angles were evaluated (0, 30, 60). Thirty
sequential readings for each location were recorded using the TRJP Client program and a
network camera with 1/3 CCD sensor and 720486 resolution. As camera artifacts affect
input images in changing magnitudes and spatial values, multiple samples were taken for
each designated location.
The test was performed with the original and enhanced Image Processing methods
as described above. Identification percentages are given from the sequential reading
results in Table 1.
In addition to identification, location results were also observed. For the enhanced
method, the position and orientation data are within a maximum error range of 10cm
176
and 10 degrees for 3 m distance. The error rates show an increase to 20 cm and 35
degrees for objects located within 3 to 4 m distance.
A single TRIP Client program running on a 2 GHz processor possesses an average
update speed of 5 image frames per second. The update speed of the overall system is
dependent on the number of cameras and TRIP Clients employed and it is configurable
based on the facility requirements and budget. Increasing the number of cameras also
increases the amount of space being covered by the LSS. However, this eventually
increases the image production rate and reduces the overall update speed. The resulting
drawback can be compensated with adding new TRIP Clients. Multiple TRIP Clients
executed in the system share the workload and may increase the update speed per camera
up to its maximum frame transfer rate.
5 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
We have presented a location sensing system to support self-updating building models for
building automation applications. The implemented system has some drawbacks inherited
from the general disadvantages of the visual methods as it requires line-of-sight between
the camera and tags, and its performance is dependent on the cameras image quality.
However, the results obtained from our location sensing system suggest that vision based
location sensing, when enhanced with software methods and integrated with appropriate
hardware, is a promising technology suitable for spatial domains such as facilities and
buildings.
The implemented sensing system is still open for improvements. We expect that in the
future the tag size can be reduced and the effective distance of the system can be
augmented. Integrating pan/tilt units that can feed their position data back to the system
will also increase the effectiveness of the cameras. In addition, currently, coordinate
translation data has to be updated for any displacement of the cameras. Utilizing
reference tags will facilitate the automatic calculation of coordinate translation data,
allowing the relocation of cameras without manual system reconfiguration.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research presented in this paper is supported by a grant from FWF (Austrian Science
Foundation), project number P15998-N07. The research team includes, in addition to the
authors, G.Suter, K.Brunner, B.Spasojevic, L.Lambeva, and M.Mohamadi.
REFERENCES
Battiato, S., Castorina, A., Guarnera, M. & Vivirito, P. 2003. An adaptive global enhancement
pipeline for low cost imaging sensors. IEEE International conference on consumer electronics,
Los Angeles, June 2003. 398399.
Battiato, S., Gallo, G. & Stanco, F. 2000. A new edgeadaptive algorithm for zooming of digital
images. IASTED Signal Processing and Communications, Marbella, September 2000. 144149.
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Brunner, K., Icoglu, O., Mahdavi, A. & Suter, G. 2004. Location-sensing technologies for selfupdating building models. (to be published).
DCOM. 2004. Microsoft COM technologiesInformation and resources for the Component Object
Model-based technologies. http://\vww.microsoft.com/com/
Lopez de Ipina, D. 2002. Visual sensing and middleware support for sentient computing. PhD
dissertation, University of Cambridge, 2002.
Lopez de Ipina, D., Mendonca, P.S. & Hopper, A. 2002. Visual sensing and middleware support for
sentient computing. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. 6(3): 206219.
Mahdavi, A. 2001a. Aspects of self-aware buildings. International Journal of Design Sciences and
Technology. Paris. 9(1):3552.
Mahdavi, A. 2001b. Simulation-based control of building systems operation. Building and
Environment. 36(6): 789796.
Mahdavi, A. 2003. Computational building models: Theme and four variations (Keynote).
Augenbroe, G./Hensen, J. (eds). Proceedings of the Eight International IBPSA Conference,
Eindhoven, 2003. 1:318.
Mahdavi, A. & Suter, G. 2002. Sensorgesttzte Modelle fr verbesserte Gebaeudeservices. FWF
proposal, 2002.
Ryburg, J. 1996. New churn rates: people, walls, and furniture in restructuring companies. Facility
Performance Group, Inc. 1996.
Modeling cast in place concrete construction

alternatives with 4D CAD
R.P.M.Jongeling, T.Olofsson & M.Emborg*
eByggCentre for Information Technology in Construction, Lule
University of Technology, Lule, Sweden *Betongindustri AB
Heidelberg Cement Group, Stockholm, Sweden
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results from a 4D modeling study in
which 4D CAD was used to compare two different construction methods
for a cast in place concrete structure. Evaluating construction alternatives
in a virtual environment is considered to be an effective and cost efficient
way to introduce and evaluate innovative construction processes and
products. Results from the study show the potential of using multiple
virtual prototypes, but also show limitations regarding required modeling
effort and evaluation of results. Improvements are suggested that facilitate
and partly automate the 4D modeling process. Evaluation of the outcome
of 4D models can be improved by extending the graphical outcome of the
modeling process with a variety of analyses. Research and development is
needed to quantify results from 4D models, in order to allow comparison
of construction alternatives on a range of different criteria.
1 INTRODUCTION
The planning process in the construction industry is focused on organizations and work
breakdown instead of construction operations, flows and supply chain management
(Ballard 2001). Decision-making is often based on practice, general information and
assumptions, resulting in sub-optimal solutions that often have a negative impact on the
total project costs. Product and process innovations are not easily adapted in this practice.
A widely used method for process modeling is the Critical Path Method (CPM). The
method concentrates mainly on the temporal aspect of construction planning and is seen
as one-dimensional (Heesom 2004). Construction projects have unique spatial
configurations and the spatial nature of projects is very important for planning decisions
(Akbas 2004). CPM schedules do not provide any information pertaining to the spatial
context of project components and requires users to look at 2D drawings to conceptually
associate components with the related activities (Koo 2000, 2003). This approach limits
evaluation and comparison of alternative solutions.
4D modeling is a new process method in which 3D CAD models are visualized in a 4dimensional environment. Construction plans can be represented graphically by adding
the time dimension to the 3D model to allow project planners to simulate and analyze
what-if scenarios before commencing work exe cution on site (Mallasi 2002). Koo (2000)
identifies 4D modeling as a tool to convey planning information (visualization tool),
179
enhance collaboration among project participants (integration tool), and to support users
to conduct additional analyses (analysis tool).
Although geometrical data and temporal data are present in commercial 4D CAD
software, the utilization of these models has so far mainly concentrated on the
visualization of construction processes, rather than on integration and analyses of
construction operations. However, recent research efforts in 4D modeling show an
increasing interest in providing an integrated 4D environment to support a variety of
analysis of for example work spaces, work flows and use of resources (Akbas 2004,
Akinci 2002, Heesom 2003, Li 2003, Mallasi 2002).
In this paper we describe the relevance of 4D modeling as an instrument to introduce
construction innovations and to evaluate construction alternatives. We report the
implementation and findings from a 4D modeling project conducted by a Swedish ready
mixed concrete supplier, in which 4D was used as a tool for visualization and integration.
The use of an Internet-based collaborative engineering environment to support interactive
decision-making processes is introduced, which was used to create 4D models. The main
findings and results from the study provide a base for fiiture research aimed at defining
methods for 4D comparative analyses of construction alternatives.
2 MARKETING CAST IN PLACE CONCRETE
4D modeling formed the basis for a marketing project conducted by a Swedish ready
mixed concrete supplier. Motivation to conduct this project followed from routine
problems in the suppliers business process. The suppliers marketing department
experienced difficulties in introducing new products and production processes to its
clients: project developers and contractors.
As an example the introduction of permanent form work systems can be given. Paperbased brochure material and 2D engineering drawings are commonly used to
communicate product characteristics. The process of applying these products on site is
communicated via spread sheets and CPM schedules. These media and tools are
considered to be insufficient to create a common understanding in project teams about
advantages and disadvantages of new products and production technologies.
An alternative approach for introducing new innovations is performing a full scale
study in a pilot project. However, such projects are often expensive and resource
intensive. Furthermore, there is a risk that the efficiency and effectiveness of innovations
are not clearly shown, caused by a lack of experience, and other parameters such as
weather conditions that are beyond control of the project organization (Jongeling 2004).
In an effort to adequately support the introduction and evaluation of construction
innovations a pilot study was initiated in which 4D simulations were made to evaluate
two construction alternatives of a residential construction project.
The first alternative, the 0-Reference scenario, represented todays common practice for
cast in place concrete construction. The objective of this scenario was to represent
typical sequenced and concurrent activities on a construction site that are related to
casting of concrete walls and slabs.
The second alternative provided an industrialized approach to cast in place concrete
construction. A number of innovative production technologies formed the basis for
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this alternative. The objective was to visualize the potential for permanent form work
systems in combination with the use of prefabricated carpets of reinforcement and self
compacting concrete. Such a combination of innovative production technologies had
not been applied in actual projects and the possibility to evaluate these methods in a
virtual environment was considered to be very useful.
The simulations, by realistically visualizing typical construction activities, provided a
foundation and a base for evaluating the differences between traditional and permanent
form work systems. The period of construction was used as a primary comparator.
Typical construction activities were defined as operations needed for the installation of
form work, reinforcement and concrete. Original 2D architectural drawings from a
typical residential construction project were used to create a two-storey 3D CAD model.
The 4D experiments were conducted after the actual construction of the project was
finished and have no direct relation to the construction process by the contractor.
Modeled scenarios were based on estimates of product and process data acquired from
experienced practitioners at the supplier and other actors in the Swedish construction
industry. Many hypotheses and limitations were made in planning and representing these
processes in a 4D CAD environment. For example, the planning of resource use was not
directly addressed in this study.
3 MODELING ENVIRONMENT
A main interest in the study was to investigate the possible and practical use of the
software tools and 4D simulations in practice. For this reason software tools were
selected that were to some degree already familiar to both the supplier and other project
participants. The 3D models were created by using AutoCAD Architectural Desktop
(ADT) as client software to an Internet-based database management system, developed
by Enterprixe Ltd (Enterprixe 2002). The system stores all project data in a central
database, to which project members have concurrent access over the Internet. Depending
on access rights, users can view or edit information by loading data from the server to
local software clients. The server keeps track of the modeling work and modifications by
connected users, who can check out and check in parts of the project.
The contact between the concrete supplier and its clients is often highly interactive and
intense during certain stages of a construction project. The interoperability environment
provided by the modeling system was therefore considered useful to support these
processes and to ensure consistency of data. The possibility to create a user defined
object hierarchy for 3D CAD objects was another reason to apply the modeling system.
This functionality facilitates the creation of multiple parallel CAD object hierarchies that
can represent different construction alternatives.
4 MODEL COMPONENTS
The following section describes the method and findings of the modeling work of the
main 4D model components for both construction alternatives.
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Figure 1. Main object hierarchy in

AutoCAD Architectural Desktop, used
as client software to the Enterprixe
model server.
The project database contained four CAD object groups per construction alternative:
Building Model;
Casting Sequences;
Form Work; and
Reinforcement.
In addition, the project database contained imported CPM schedule information for both
construction alternatives.
4.1 Building and production model
The building model served as a base for the project and included the geometry of
building components. This model was based on architectural 2D drawings and was the
same for both alternatives. A production CAD model, based on the building model, was
created consisting of form work elements, reinforcement bars and casting sequences for
the concreting work, Figure 1. The objects in the 3D CAD production model were linked
to activities and work packages whereas the building model objects only were created to
represent the geometry of the building. For this reason many objects from the building
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model had to be split and regrouped in order to suit the object hierarchy of the production
model.
4.2 Schedule
CPM schedules were created on two levels of detail in MS Project. The first level, the
master level, contained the main work processes of the project. The level of detail in the
master schedule was appropriate in conveying the overall daily work flow in the project,
but was too abstract to represent construction operations on site. For example, activities
such as installing and dismantling form work were not included in this schedule. The
master schedule was subsequently detailed into a second level of detail in order to
represent work flows more accurately. This level of detail included time frames of 10
minutes and led to CPM schedules with large number of activities for the various work
flows. For example, the activity cast concrete walls phase one from the master schedule
was broken down into sub-activities; install traditional form work side A, install
reinforcement bars, install traditional form work side B and cast concrete. These subactivities were further detailed to standard sections of form work and sections of
reinforcement and walls. A similar approach was applied to the detailing construction
operations for the slabs.
The final CPM sChedule for both construction alternatives contained over 1500
activities. The CPM schedule was imported to the project database and manually linked
to the respective objects and objectgroups. Color settings for the visualization of
activities were made after the linking of activities to the 3D CAD models was completed.
The order of installment of all 3D CAD components was determined in the CPM
environment without a direct relation or visual check in the 3D model. Interdependencies
between different work flows, i.e. form work, reinforcement and concreting, could only
be checked after the CPM schedule was linked to the 3D CAD models. By browsing the
time planning of the two models errors could be detected, such as work space conflicts
and erroneous work flow directions. These observations led to updates in both the 3D
CAD model and the CPM schedule that in many cases had to be restructured and relinked in order to work properly. Schedule changes were difficult to manage due to the
large number of activities and the large number of dependencies between different
activities. The process of linking and updating the CPM schedule and the 3D CAD model
was labor intensive.
4.3 Casting sequences
To define casting sequences for concreting work the building model was split in a
number of work packages. Each of these work packages represented the concrete casting
work for one day and included sections of walls and slabs. The sequences were planned
in a traditional 2D paper-based way as this was deemed more flexible than planning the
sequences in a 4D environment. Sequences for the casting process of walls were planned
by using colored lines drawn into 2D drawings; each line representing casting work for
one day. The length and distribution of lines were manually determined in five iterations
in which a set of decision criteria was used. Main criteria were: required form work,
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volume of concrete, work flow direction and possible work space conflicts. These criteria
were considered implicitly and were not quantified in the decision-making process.
In many cases the 3D building model components had to be split in a number of subcomponents, i.e. production objects, to represent the appropriate size of the individual
concreting activities. This was a complex process as the planning for casting work kept
changing during the modeling work.
4.4 Form work
Form work was different for both alteraatives. The 0-Reference alternative was based on
the use of traditional temporary form work. Traditional form work elements in the model
purely had a visual purpose and were abstract representations of the actual form work
elements. Form elements were grouped in the 3D CAD model by sections of standard
length of elements. Modeling and grouping form work into work packages was a labor
intensive process. Casting sequences determined the size and distribution of work
packages in the 4D model. As noted in the previous section, the planning for casting
work kept changing and subsequently the work packages containing 3D CAD form work
elements had to be changed to keep the model consistent.
A permanent form work system was used for the industrialized alternative. This form
work consists of cement-bonded particle boards, which remain in the building after
construction. As opposed to the 0-Reference alternative, where casting sequences
determined form work activities; the permanent form work objects determined the
planning for the industrialized construction alternative. 2D drawings were sent to a
supplier of permanent form work systems, who manually planned wall and slab form
elements in the drawings. Geometric data was manually extracted from drawings and
used in spread sheets to calculate required resources and element costs. Hand-written
element ID-numbers on 2D drawings were the key in linking 2D drawings and spread
sheets together. All the form work elements for walls and slabs were modeled and
organized in the 3D CAD model according to element ID-numbers given in the 2D
drawings.
For every form work element an activity was created in the CPM schedule that was
linked to the corresponding 3D CAD element in the database. For the two storey building
used in the project this implied 180 form work element activities for slabs and 170
activities for wall elements. The order of work for installation of form work elements did
not follow the ID-numbers and was made in the CPM schedule by changing order of
activities. Changing order of activities for form work often had an impact on
approximately 70 shoring activities, 60 reinforcement activities and 80 concreting
activities.
This constrained the rapid evaluation of different work flow directions. It took
approximately 15 iterations before an installment order was found that visually satisfied
the planning criteria for work spaces and work space conflicts.
4.5 Reinforcement
Dimensions, locations, and number of reinforcement bars were determined by visual
analyses of the 3D CAD model. The reinforcement bars served a visual purpose and were
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not modeled for reasons of structural analyses. Reinforcement bars for slabs were
distributed over equal distances and modeled in one direction in order to minimize 3D
modeling work. The purpose of these bars was to show the reinforcement activity work
zones rather than the actual reinforcement components.
Planning the installation of reinforcement bars was done with the assumption of a
constant production rate, i.e. every reinforcement bar would take the same amount of
time. Specific geometrical situations were not taken into account. The relation between
the geometry of reinforcement bars and productivity for installment could only be made
visually. Considering specific production rates by analyzing the 3D and 4D CAD model
in detail was beyond the scope of the project, but could have contributed to the accuracy
of the simulations.
5 COMPARISON IN 4D
Both construction alternatives were simulated in parallel in a 4D CAD environment,
Figure 2. The two construction simulations showed to some extent similar work flows.
Activities for form work, reinforcement, and concrete were carried out concurrently,
enabling and constraining the execution of other activities.
Figure 2. Parallel simulation of

construction alternatives in 4D CAD.
(Left) 0-Reference alternative. (Right)
Industrialized alternative.
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The main differences between both alternatives were the dependencies between the
different work flows and the production rate. This observation could be made visually,
but was not supported by measured data from the 4D model.
Parallel visualization was considered very effective to visually explain the differences
between the two construction alternatives. The simulations were used in seminars in
which a variety of professionals in construction was invited. It was generally agreed that
the 4D models helped to understand the different construction processes, but it was noted
that the models were limited in scope and non-interactive. Evaluation of alternative work
flow strategies or changes in productivity could not easily be managed in the 4D model.
The 3D CAD objects in the production model that had been created and grouped to
represent specific activities, i.e. form work, reinforcement and concreting, constrained the
rapid evaluation of alternatives. Changes in schedule implied often major changes in the
production model, involving considerable remodeling work.
The 4D models provided the actors from different disciplines an integrated visual
impression of the construction alternatives, but there was a general need to support this
visual analysis with data. We distinguish two types of actors here: specialists and
managers.
Specialists from different disciplines were mainly interested in making specific data
analysis of the 4D models. In addition to the visual comparison in 4D, these actors were
interested in making data analyses by using a range of criteria. Examples of these criteria
are: changes in crew composition, distances between parallel work flows, amount of
equipment, crews, available work spaces, etc. Data needed to make this analysis could
not easily be extracted from the available 4D models. This was partly due to absence of
specific input data and partly due to the fact that output data, i.e. the 4D model, was
limited to mainly graphical information.
Managers considered 4D models on a different level and considered Key Performance
Indicators of both alternatives. These indicators would summarize findings from the
various analyses by specialists in graphs that would provide them with a general
impression of the performance of different alternatives. Some of the indicators that were
suggested were rather specific, such as costs, resource use and project phase duration;
others were more abstract such as the efficiency of work space use. Data to support these
analyses could partly be obtained from the CPM schedule, but most of the needed data
was not readily available.
In summary, 4D models were considered very useful to visually compare construction
alternatives, but limited in the sense that it was difficult to interact with the models. Next
to the graphical output of 4D models, there was a need to quantiiy the results from the
analyses to allow comparison of construction alternatives on different criteria.
6 DISCUSSION
In this section we summarize the main findings from the conducted 4D modeling
experiments. We also suggest a number of directions for future research and
development.
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6.1 Building model and production model

The pilot study started by using an architectural model as a base model. This model was
too abstract to be used for representation of specific construction operations. In order to
create a production model from the architectural model:
Changes were made in the 3D CAD object hierarchy. 3D CAD objects were regrouped
to represented work packages and activities;
Certain objects had to be split and regrouped. This especially applied to large CAD
objects, such as slabs; and
3D CAD objects were added that were not present in the architectural model. As an
example traditional form work can be given. The objects solely served a visual
purpose and were abstract representations of actual form work elements.
The detailed production model required considerable modeling effort and was due to its
complexity and interdependencies rather difficult to manage. The complexity of the CPM
schedule that contained a large number of dependencies between activities further
constrained the management of the production model. Akbas (2004) notes that when
models accurately represent construction operations, the model complexity increases
significantly and consequently the effort required to create and maintain these process
models.
We consider two potential directions to address the issues related to creation and
maintenance of production models: a geometry-based process model (GPM) and
generation of CAD objects by feature-based 4D models.
6.1.1 Geometry-based process model
Akbas (2004) suggests a process model based on geometric techniques. The use of
geometry in this approach is not limited to visualization, but is integrally used to model
and simulate processes. This approach seeks to simplify process modeling work.
4D input models are decomposed into sub-systems. The 4D input models are based on
macro level CPM schedules. Every sub-system contains crew parameters, geometric
work locations and interactions. The
Figure 3. Geometry-based process

model. A triangular mesh is used to
plan and visualize work flows and
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work locations related to specific parts

of 3D CAD objects. Differences in
color in combination with arrows are
used to indicate work flow directions.
approach then reduces this process model into queuing networks and uses discrete event
simulation to simulate construction operations. Each of these steps uses geometric
techniques, such as triangle meshes and geometry sorting.
Applying GPM to the comparison of construction alternatives in this study could have
reduced the modeling work related to splitting 3D CAD objects into production objects of
appropriate size. Based on 3D input models, GPM generates triangle meshes that can
represent parts of CAD objects, where each triangle represents a work location of a crew
in time.
GPM could also have reduced the level of detail of both the CPM schedules and 3D
models, and have facilitated the planning of work flow directions. As opposed to the
approach of the 4D experiments where work flows were planned in the CPM
environment, GPM uses the triangle mesh to define work flow directions, Figure 3.
Planning work flow directions in the actual production model is considered more
effectively than planning work flow directions with a CPM schedule.
As a future extension of the conducted 4D study, a number of 4D simulations is
planned with a developed GPM prototype, called GSim (Akbas 2004). The modeling
process and the results from the GSim simulation can then be compared with the results
from the conducted 4D study.
6.1.2 Feature-based 4D model
Many production model objects are typically not included in 3D input models. A large
number of objects in the production model of the 4D study were related to temporary
structures and were mainly added for visual purposes. This required a considerable
modeling effort in which the context of the 4D production model was not explicitly taken
into account.
Adding CAD objects to represent for example temporary structures, such as traditional
form work elements, could be partly automated by using feature-based 4D models.
Feature modeling is an approach whereby modeling entities termed features are utilized
to provide improvements for common geometric modeling techniques (Kim 2004,
unpubl.). In order to apply feature modeling techniques to temporary structure generation
and planning, relevant features need to be identified and formalized. Research efforts to
date have mainly focused on developing feature ontology for scheduling and cost
estimation (StaubFrench 2003), but have not taken into account the generation and
planning of temporary structures. Research work and developed prototype software by
Kim (2004, unpubl.) show the potential to generate and plan temporary structures rapidly
and efficiently.
The application of this feature-based approach to generate and plan temporary
structures in the conducted 4D study could have reduced the modeling work significantly
and could have contributed to the quality of the temporary structure plan.
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In addition to experiments with GPM, a future study to evaluate the temporary

structure plan of the conducted 4D study with a feature-based approach proposed by Kim
(2004, unpubl.) is planned.
6.2 Input and output data
One of the objectives of the 4D study was to explore the possibility to evaluate
construction innovations in a realistic virtual environment. The modeling process and
results from the 4D analysis show that virtual prototyping of certain construction
processes is possible, but that specific construction operations are difficult to represent.
The objective of the industrialized construction alternative was to show the potential of
permanent form work in combination with the use of prefabricated reinforcement carpets
and self compacting concrete.
Specifying activities for all permanent form work elements led to highly detailed and
complicated CPM schedules that became difficult to maintain. The specification of
activities by using CPM schedules on this micro level, i.e. object level, even resulted in
questions of how realistic this process model was. The CPM schedule contained finishto-start relationships and assumed sequential finality, i.e., predecessors had to be 100%
complete before their successors could start (Tommelein 1999). This assumption proved
to be too deterministic for simulation on object level. A more abstract process model was
considered to be more realistic.
It was found that there was no clear way to realistically simulate the benefits of
prefabrication of reinforcement and self compacting concrete. Benefits of these
production technologies, such as decrease in on-site activities, reduction of resource use
and improved work environment could not be represented in the used 4D CAD models.
These specific production technologies required support by graphs and other non-CAD
data that could not directly be obtained from the 4D models.
In combination with the study on creating a production model from a building model,
by using GPM and feature-based modeling, also the relation between different levels of
detail of input data for 4D models and possible output data will be examined. Especially
the quantification of 4D model results needs to be addressed. These results could provide
a better support to make specific comparisons between construction alternatives.
6.3 Application in practice
Evaluation of multiple design and construction alternatives by using virtual models in a
collaborative environment is considered useful to improve the performance of
construction projects (Ballard 2002, Zabelle 1999). Results from this study show to some
extent the power of using multiple virtual prototypes, but show at the same time
limitations regarding required modeling effort and evaluation of results. These limitations
result mainly from shortcomings in the applied 4D modeling environment, but result also
from organizational shortcomings.
One point of departure for the 4D study was the possible practical use of the software
tools and 4D simulations in actual projects. The used client-server CAD environment was
considered very promising and valuable by the project participants, but was considered
too unstable and too slow for presentation of 4D model results on seminars. Standard
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construction sequences were therefore recorded in AVI-format. 4D modeling

functionality, specifically implemented for the 4D study in the client-server environment,
was limited to basic functionality and did not provide users with an interactive
environment. It was also not possible to rapidly extract data from the 4D models to make
data analysis. Furthermore, the adapted approach for creation and maintenance of the 4D
models was considered too labor and too resource intensive.
Evaluating multiple construction alternatives by using virtual models in a
collaborative environment is a fundamentally different way of how most traditional
construction projects are pursued. Understanding of the technology and commitment of
project teams to apply the technology in practice are examples of organizational
prerequisites to derive benefits from virtual prototyping in 4D. Organizational issues have
not been addressed in this study, but are considered critical for application in practice.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The 4D modeling process and results show the potential, but show also limitations of
virtual prototyping in 4D. Evaluating construction alternatives in a virtual environment
can be an effective and cost efficient way to introduce and evaluate innovative
construction processes and products, but has to be supported by a variety of comparative
analyses. For this reason, the mainly graphical outcome of todays 4D models has to be
extended with methods that quantify the out-come of 4D models.
The modeling process and required modeling effort currently limit the rapid evaluation
of construction alternatives. Detailed 3D CAD models combined with detailed CPM
schedules, lead to complex 4D models that are difficult to manage and maintain. A
number of technologies is suggested that could facilitate and partly automate the
generation of 4D models. Feature-based modeling is suggested to support the semiautomatic generation and planning of certain 3D CAD objects, such as representations of
temporary structures. Geometry-based process modeling can reduce the required input
level of detail of 3D CAD models and CPM schedules, and can facilitate the planning of
work flows.
Evaluation of construction alternatives in a collaborative environment is considered
promising to support todays interactive decision-making processes. However,
application in practice implies a number of technical and organizational challenges.
Collaborative modeling systems have to support multiple detailed CAD models and have
to provide a stable environment to manage and maintain these models. Adapting the
technology in organizations and construction projects requires organizational changes
and commitment. Research on organizational issues is needed to facilitate further
application of virtual prototyping in collaborative environments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support from SBUFDevelopment Fund of the Swedish Construction
Industry, Betongindustri and the European Unions structural funds is acknowledged.
190
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Arto Kiviniemi* & Martin Fischer
CIFE, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA
*VTT Building and Transport, Helsinki, Finland
ABSTRACT: This paper reports on research at CIFE at Stanford
University aiming to formalize a conceptual model to enable an active
connection between the requirements for a building project and its
building product model based design solution. The research is part of
CIFEs Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) framework. The main
content of the model will be on the clients (owners and end-users)
requirements, but the model will cover also some external requirements
set by the community and regulations. This paper compares two case
studies and presents the pilot implementation of a requirements database
based on the preliminary requirements model of room related client
requirements. Our observation is that even a simple active link between
the client requirements and design tools can increase the usage of
requirements documentation throughout the design process and facilitate
necessary updates of the client requirements.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overall goal
The focus of our research is to create a conceptual model which enables active
connections between requirements for a building project and the building product model
based design solution. Our intuition is that the link could improve the requirements
management process and also the quality of the end result; the building.
1.2 Problem description
A building program specifying a projects goals and requirements for all the spaces is the
typical client requirements documentation in building projects, though there are also
several other methods to capture client requirements. Regardless of the capturing method,
the requirements, depending on the project type, consist of more or less detailed
information about the required room properties; net area, activities, connections to other
spaces, security, appropriate or desired materials, conditions like daylight, temperature,
sound level, etc. Many requirements also cascade; e.g., create additional requirements
to building elements bounding the space and systems serving the space. Moreover, an
important part of the design process is that some requirements can be in conflict; the
project team must often prioritize and make trade-offs between different requirements,
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which creates the need to update the requirements, and thus, manage and document the
changes to the requirements and the design solution.
In practice several factors make it virtually impossible that all the participants know
and remember all the relevant requirements and especially their relationships to each
other and to the design solutions.
The main reasons for this argument are:
Amount and complexity of project information.
Duration of projects.
Designers need to work simultaneously on many projects.
Changing stakeholders in different project phases.
Shifting design focus, e.g., moving from overall problem solving to detailed technical
solutions.
After conceptual design the requirements documentation is usually not used actively in
the current process, and often the evolving requirements are not even communicated to
the whole project team (Kagioglou et al 1998). Thus, the changes are compared to, and
decisions made based on, the previous design solutions. The current design tools do not
support recording of client requirements or designers intent in the documents. Thus, the
people deciding on the changes do not always even know the original intent, and the
solution can drift away from the original goal without actual decisions to change the
goal or understanding the contradiction between the proposed design and project goals.
(Kiviniemi and Fischer 2004a, Kiviniemi and Fischer 2004c).
Figure 1. Model hierarchy.
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1.3 Research scope

Product models represent design solutions in a rich way (Froese 2002, BLIS 2004); the
intent of our requirements model is to relate the clients business processes to the design
solution represented in the form of product models (Figure 1). The requirements structure
is based on the traditional building programs. The direct requirements are limited to
architectural design. The aggregation of indirect requirements to the bounding elements,
e.g., walls, windows and doors, from these direct requirements is within the scope of our
research.
Detailed requirements for other design areas, like MEP and structural engineering, are
not in the scope of the research, but the connection from architectural design to these
design areas will be addressed. However, only the need for such a connection from the
architectural design will be analyzed and shown, but the detailed content of these
requirements is not in the scope of the research.
2 DRAFT CONCEPT
2.1 Draft model structure
To address these limitations, we developed a concept that divides projects information
model into four linked sub-models presented in Figure 1. The reasons for this separation
are:
(1) Typically the design team produces several alternative design proposals, which all are
expected to meet the defined requirements. Thus, having one requirements model
linked to the alternative design models is a logical structure instead of multiplying the
same requirements to different design alternatives, which would easily lead to
requirements management problems. Similarly there can be several alternative
production models and finally a separate maintenance model. All these sub-models
should be connected to a virtual integrated product model, so that it is possible to
access the content of the different models and compare the alternatives at any stage of
the process. Our work focuses on the requirements model and its connection to the
design model(s).
(2) One requirements instance can relate to a number of separate instances with
identical requirements in the product model.
(3) The existing product model standard, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) has been
developed to describe mainly design solutions. Its current structure does not support
requirements management well, neither does the internal structure of existing design
software. In practice this means that most of the requirements data cannot be
exchanged using current IFC files nor stored in the design software, but must be kept
in a separate database.
(4) The flexibility of the requirements structure is greater if the two models are separated
and connected with a thin link. In this case, for example the only property needed
for the link of space requirements is the ID in the space objects, which is supported by
almost any design software. For indirect requirements the functional demand is to
194
recognize the connection between bounding elements and spaces, which is supported
by some commercially available product model based software.
(5) Another reason for the separation is to make the distinction between requirements and
properties clear; for example sound insulation is a requirement in the requirements
database and a property in the product model.
A further important observation is that the requirements instances in the requirements
database have no physical locations, i.e., the requirements for bounding elements can
relate to one space only. In the product model the bounding elements are always either
between two spaces or part of the building envelope. This means that the requirements
for the bounding elements must be aggregated from the requirements of the related
spaces; they cannot be defined directly to the elements in the same manner as the space
requirements relate to the spaces.
3 CASE STUDIES
3.1 Test cases
To test the existing problems and possible solutions we used rapid prototyping. We
analyzed two real building programs, implemented two test databases based on the
results, and entered the project information. In the test cases the research concentrated on
room related client requirements only, external requirements were not in the scope at this
stage. The detailed results of the test cases are published in ICCCBE-X proceedings
(Kiviniemi and Fischer 2004a) and also in a CIFE Working Paper (Kiviniemi and Fischer
2004c). This paper covers only the main conclusions from these case studies.
The two projects were the ICL Headquarters project in Helsinki built in 19941996
and the on-going Lucas Center Expansion at Stanford University. The ICL Headquarters
is a large office building consisting mainly of standard office rooms, but including also
some special rooms and requirements. The Lucas Center Expansion is a small special
laboratory consisting mainly of unique rooms with very little repetition.
3.2 ICL Headquarters program
The ICL Headquarters building program was one document. The required areas were
constantly compared to actual design solutions and the requirements file was constantly
updated during the design process. The requirements documentation with respect to
required room areas was coherent. The only identified problem was related to the
structure used in the document; all classification codes and requirements were entered
manually in each cell, which created the possibility for incoherent content and made
updates more laborious. Use of references to one source data, e.g., simple inheritance
structure, would prevent this problem.
195
3.3 Lucas center expansion

Available LCE project documentation consists of a set of design sketches, drawings and
MS Excel spreadsheets of different project stages, the architects requirements database
(Claris Filemaker), meeting minutes, and technical specifications. The project was at the
time of the study (November 2003) in the early construction stages.
LCEs Project Manager and Project Architect provided some insight on the project.
The basic conclusion based on these interviews is that Stanfords projects are generally
well-managed and have clearly defined processes for different stages. However, as is
typical in the AEC industry, the requirements capturing process is somewhat fuzzy, based
strongly on meetings, where end-users and the project team are interacting trying to find
solutions to specific problems. The decisions are recorded in the meeting minutes, and
the room areas of each design stage are documented in MS Excel spreadsheets. The
reasoning behind the changes and proposed solution becomes tacit knowledge and is
stored only in the minds of the participants. The main problem categories in the
requirements documentation for the LCE project were:
Lacking or different identifications of the rooms.
Contradictions in the different documents.
Incoherent descriptions of the same requirements.
Wrong or missing information.
Instead of actual spatial requirements the documents recorded the areas of the rooms in
the design solution.
Documents specifying detailed technical requirements had no relation to the room
related requirements documentation.
3.4 Conclusions of the test results
The requirements documentation and process in the LCE project are a typical example of
practices on current construction projects. Different parts of the requirements are stored
in several documents, and there is no comprehensive document containing all needed
information. In addition, the names and IDs for the rooms are often ambiguous, and
similar requirements are formulated in different ways. This makes it difficult to connect
requirements to the correct room even manually, and the use of ICT to manage the
relations between the requirements and solutions is almost impossible.
Though many of the mistakes in the LCE project were small, and probably caused
little, if any, real problems to the people, who have been actively involved in the project,
they are a clear indication of the general requirements management problem in the
current process. To anyone, who joins the project later, it is very difficult and time
consuming, sometimes impossible, to find out which requirements are correct and still
relevant. Furthermore, someone who wonders about the changes, like the growth in the
size of the project, will have great difficulty finding an answer in the project documents.
Though only the required area information of the ICL Headquarters project was linked
with the design solution, it provided some benefits. ICLs Project Manager states: Still
today, over 9 years later, ICL Headquarters is the only project, where I got practically
real time information comparing actual areas to the building program on a detailed
196
level, and was able to follow constantly that the project design stayed within the
allocated limits. In addition, despite the simple approach taken in the ICL project to
only link the requirements and the design information for comparing required and real
areas, the coherent requirements information suggests that a link between requirements
and design tools and the constant use of requirements information in the process could
improve requirements management.
4 DATABASE STRUCTURE AND UI
To explore the possible solutions to manage the room related requirements, we used rapid
prototyping and implemented some different database structures to find a usable solution,
which would:
Provide solutions to the problems identified in the LCE project.
Support inheritance of the room type requirements (ARqE) to rooms (IRqE) (Figure 2).
Enable in the next phase of the research a link between the requirements database and
the product model (Figure 2).
4.1 Requirements database tests
The user interface and database structure of the first pilot implementation were based
mainly on the room program documents of LCE project. The implementation was made
in MS Access 2002 database. The main criteria for the database structure were to provide
a solution to the identified problems:
Unique IDs for the rooms; i.e., IRqE and all the rooms in the product model referencing
it must share the same ID
unambiguous identification.
Use of requirements types (ARqE) and inheritance
efficient and easy maintenance
and updating of repetitive requirements.
Use of user-definable enumeration (list of values) instead of free text
coherent
content.
No default values, which might inadvertently set wrong requirements.
Functionality to compare area requirements with areas in design documents.
Functionality to link external documents to the requirements database, e.g., to include
also complex descriptive requirements, not only short text and numerical
requirements.
197
Figure 2. Draft concept to link detailed

room related requirements to a product
model.
As introduced in Figure 2 the key idea is the use of two main tables: RoomTypes
(ARqE) and Rooms (IRqE). RoomType is an abstract requirement entity and
ZRoom is an instantiable requirements entity in the requirements database. Both have
the same fields and references (Shared Requirements, ShR) with the following
exceptions:
Room can reference a RoomType to inherit its requirements, but the opposite
relation is not possible.
Room can have a relation to department and other room(s), but RoomType cannot
have these relations (instance-specific properties, ISP).
The Rooms table contains a NumberOfInstances and RoomName fields, which
are not in the RoomTypes table (ISP).
Only RoomType has RoomTypeDescription and RoomTypeDoc fields, (type-specific
properties, TSP).
The requirements used in the implementation are only one example of possible
requirements, and do not cover all possible building types or use cases. However, they
can be categorized in two main groups:
198
Single-value requirements (SVR), which can have only one value or reference for each
room, like, for example, noise level, maximum number of occupants, maximum
temperature, etc.
Figure 3. Elements of the pilot

implementation and the relationship to
existing software and processes.
Multi-value requirements (MVR), which can have a number of different values or
references in each room, like, for example, activities, equipment, windows, etc.
The separation of SVR and MVR defines the basic structure of the requirements database
and is an important issue because of two reasons:
(1) If all requirements would be defined and implemented as SVR types, the database
structure would not allow use of an unlimited number of requirements for each room,
which is necessary for some requirement types as described above.
(2) If all requirements would be defined and implemented as MVR types, the possibility
to give multiple values for all properties could cause contradicting requirements, like
several different maximum areas. In addition, the database structure would be more
complicated, which could create performance problems, and the user-interface to the
data would be more difficult to understand and slower to use, if all values were in subtables.
The RoomTypes were not used in the LCE project database, because the rooms
are not based on any repetitive types; all rooms are defined as separate instances.
In contrast, the ICL project is based on strong use of room types and this caused
one change in the database structure. RequiredNetArea and MaxOccupants,
199
which were located in both the RoomTypes and Rooms tables in the LCE
test, would have caused extensive duplication of similar type definitions with
different area and occupant values. Thus, the database structure was changed so
that these requirements were removed from the RoomTypes table and changed
to instance-specific requirements in the Rooms table (Figure 4).
Otherwise the same database structure, which was used in the LCE project test, also
worked for the ICL Headquarters project and enabled recording of the requirements in a
usable format; 782 physical room instances are stored in 186 requirements instances
based on 51 RoomTypes. The maximum number of type references is 16, the average 3.8
and the median 2. The population of the database took about 3 hours, which can be seen
as a reasonable effort.
Figure 4 shows the 1_to_1 and 1_to_many relations in the final pilot database.
Room-Type and RoomID are the key links between different tables.
This draft structure forces the user to define unique IDs for each requirements instance
(Rooms), and all the free text requirements, like departments, adjacent rooms,
equipment, activities, etc. are based on user-definable lists (enumerations), which
prevents slightly different requirements descriptions or references to non-existing rooms;
all problems we identified in the LCE project data.
Figure 4. Pilot database structure.
200
Figure 5. Demo version of

requirements management userinterface; Room type definitions.
Based on the experiments with these two different room programs, the current
structure appears to be a sufficient basis for further work at this stage of our research.
Based on the structure, we developed a preliminary conceptual requirements model,
which is published in the GCADS workshop proceedings (Kiviniemi and Fischer 2004b).
4.2 Connection to a product model
The actual connection of the requirements database to the product model based design
software was not implemented, orily a mock-up of a connection from the design
application to the Access database was developed. By selecting objects in the design
software, e.g., rooms and bounding elements, the user can see all the related requirements
in the requirements database (Figure 5 and Figure 6).
RoomID is the connecting element between the requirements database and the
product model. The room instances in the product model are connected directly, but the
bounding elements related to the rooms are identified in the product model and the
connection to the requirements database is based on the RoomID of identified rooms.
The user interface mock-up shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 illustrates how to access
the requirements database from the design software by adding a requirements view to its
user interface. Depending on the use scenario, the modifications of the requirements from
the design interface can be either allowed or denied; in some projects the client might
201
delegate the requirements management to the designers, in some projects it might be the
task for the PM or the clients own representative. The selected database approach
enables independent access control for the requirements database.
5 FUTURE WORK
The research is still continuing. At the next stage we will analyze several other building
programs to find a
Figure 6. Demo version of

requirements management userinterface; wall requirements.
relevant structure for the requirements model. Some requirements are common to
practically all buildings, like, for example, required area, activities in the space,
connections to other spaces, etc. Some requirements are specific only to some building
types, like, for example, exact limits for minimum and maximum temperatures and
moisture; they are common for laboratories, museums, demanding technical facilities,
etc., but not defined for most buildings (Table 1). We argue that all these different types
of requirements can not be standardized. Thus the goal of our research is to identify a
reasonable set of common requirements within the defined scope and create a flexible
framework, conceptual model, which enables also project specific requirements.
We expect that our research will also create the basis for future research topics, like,
for example:
202
Different building types and process phases: The scope of our research covers a few
building types only. Our intuition is that the same conceptual model could be applied to
most buildings, but because of the different requirements the database and UI
implementation might be different In addition, our research covers only design, a short
period of the process, the use of the requirements model in other parts of the process,
like, construction, FM, etc., is not covered in detail, though the same principles are
possibly applicable.
Technical systems and other design areas: The designers role in defining detailed
technical requirements for technical systems is more dominant than in the architectural
design, and LBNLs research in this area provides another view on building requirements
management (LBNL 2003). However, there is no link between the technical requirements
for systems and the building product model. Our research identifies some connections to
technical systems, but the formal link between these two requirements views will need
further research, as do requirements link and management in other design areas, like
structural engineering.
Requirements history: One interesting related research area is the requirements
history; how the requirements evolve during the process. Our research proposes a
conceptual model for requirements, which will provide a conceptual basis to store all the
requirements changes during the process in the database. How to implement such a
historic perspective of requirements management in detail and which functionalities the
UI would need, could be interesting areas for further development.
Table 1. Requirements analysis results from the

LCE and ICL project building programs.
Property
Requirement Room Room One Many Data

Type
type
Bounding Systems LCE, LCE, ICL Average

elements
PM
PA (%)
(%)
(%) (%)
Identification and overall definition

RoomID
UID,
string
Room
Name
Room
Type
Room
Descrip
tion
Document
62
92 100
88
String
100
100 100
100
UID,
string
46
100
73
String
Hyper
link
Enum
92 100% 100
98
Integer
100 100% 100
100
Individual properties and requirements
Depart
ment
Number Of
203
Rooms
Required
Area
Real
Max
Occupants
Integer
100% 100
100
100
50
Basic properties
MaxNoise
Level
Integer
Sound
lnsulation
Enum
SecurityClass
Enum
38
19
Connections, activities, furniture, equipment, doors and windows

Connections
Refto
UID
Assigned
Activities
Enum
list
Furniture
Enum
list
Equipment
Enum
list
Doors
oo
Enum
list
Windows
Enum
list
Floor
oo
Walls
oo
Ceiling
46
x
28
37
85
42
62
731
38
100
50
Enum
92
46
Enum
100
50
Enum
100
50
Ceiling height o
Real
92
46
Hyper
link
Natural
Light
Yes/
No
77
38
NoWindows
Yes/
No
Dimmable
Yes/
No
21
Finishes
Document
Lighting
x
x
204
Darkenable
Yes/
No
Warning
Light
Yes/
No
Ambient
Light Level
Real
Hyper x
link
Min
Temperature
Real
46
Max
Temperature
Real
46
MinAir
Change Rate
Real
92
46
MaxAir
ChangeRate
Real
Min
Humidity
Real
Max
Humidity
Real
AirRecycle
Yes/
No
62
31
Hyper x
link
Document
Environmental conditions
Document
23
2
Verification: Some requirements are fuzzy, verbal or otherwise only human

interpretable descriptions, but some have an exact content. The possibility to use the
exact requirements for automated verification, i.e., how well the design meets the
requirements, is a potential usage of the requirements model. Verification of the fuzzy
requirements must include designers interaction, but the designers or project managers
confirmation that the requirements are met, could be part of the database and serve as a
formal project history.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The goal of our research is to develop and test a method to create an active link between
requirements and product model based design tools. At this stage the research has
documented at least some aspects of the requirements management problem, and tested
one possible model for a requirements database structure. The final, anticipated scientific
contributions of the research are:
Documentation of the requirements management problem in the design process.
24
205
Documentation and analysis of the different requirements types.

Specification of a conceptual requirements model based on the analysis.
Specification for a link between client requirements and product model objects.
Specification for the aggregation of indirect requirements from the direct client
requirements to the building elements.
Extended BLIS view Room Program -> Architectural Design for the IFC product
model implementation.
The expected main contribution on a practical level is the development of a conceptual
model, which enables software supporting requirements management during the design
process and interaction between the design solutions and requirements.
REFERENCES
Froese, T. 2002. Current Status and Future Trends of Model Based Interoperability, eSM@rt 2002
Conference Proceedings Part A, University of Salford, pp. 199208
Kagioglou, M., Cooper, R., Aouad, G., Hinks, J., Sexton, M. & Sheath, D. 1998. A Generic Guide
to the Design and Construction Process Protocol; University of Salford
Kiviniemi, A. & Fischer, M. 2004a. Requirements Management Interface to Building Product
Models, Proceedings ICCCBE-X, page 252
Kiviniemi, A. & Fischer, M. 2004b. Room related requirements model concept in building product
model environmentPREMISS project, GCAD04 symposium, Carnegie Mellon University
Kiviniemi, A. & Fischer, M. 2004c. Requirements management interface to building product
models, Stanford University, CIFE Working Paper
LBNL 2003. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Design Intent Tool,
http://ateam.lbl.gov/DesignIntent/home.html
A combined product-process model for

building systems control
A.Mahdavi
Department of Building Physics and Building Ecology, Vienna University
of Technology, Vienna, Austria
ABSTRACT: In order to suffice the requirements of building systems
control applications, the underlying representation must combine building
product information with building controls information. Currently, there is
a lack of systematic building representations that would integrate aspects
of product and process. This paper explores ways of coupling of a controloriented process model with a building product model. An approach is
described for the automated rule-based generation of a representation for
building systems control applications.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problems in building systems control
Currently, building systems controllers (for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, etc.)
operate in terms of individual system components at several levels. While this allows, in
principle, for a distributed implementation of control logic, it also leads to the
configurations of environmental systems as isolated sub-systems. Thus, devices affecting
the same control zone are seldom integrated. Likewise, in most buildings, the level of
vertical integration of local and central systems is insufficient. These problems are
aggravated due to the contingencies associated with the boundary conditions of system
operation, e.g. dynamic changes in the outdoor conditions as well as building occupants
activities and control actions. There is generally a lack of representations for integrating
sub-systems with each other and with building product models. Most commercially
available environmental control systems for buildings do not offer explicit
representational frameworks either to systematically capture multiple control processes
and their interactions or to map those processes onto target building product model
entities (i.e. control impact zones).
1.2 Product and process
Numerous representational schemes (product models) have been proposed to describe
building elements components, systems, and structures in a standardized fashion
(Augenbroe 1995, IAI2004). Thereby, one of the main motivations has been to facilitate
hi-fidelity information exchange between agents involved in the building delivery process
(architects, engineers, construction people, manufacturers, facility managers, users). The
A combined product-process model for building
207
representational stance of most building product models is decompositional and static

(see Figure 1 as an example of aschematically illustratedbuilding product model). In
contrast, building control requires representational systems capable of capturing
procedural sequences of events, decisions, and actions. Toward this end, the underlying
representation must combine detailed building product information with building controls
process information. Currently, there is a divide between modes and styles of control
system representation in the building control industry and representational habits in
architecture and building science. Specifically, there is a lack of systematic building
representations that would unify building product, behavior, and control process
information. This paper explores ways of coupling a control-oriented process model with
a building product model.
1.3 Paper overview
Section 2 provides a high-level instance of a combined process-product model. Section 3
demonstrates how the control process model can be created using a logical and coherent
method, so that it could be used for a diverse set of building control applications. A set of
rules are presented that allow for the automated generation of the control system model.
Section 4 demonstrates the application of the representational framework and its rulebased generation using the concrete example of a test space. Section 5 includes the
conclusions of the paper.
Figure 1. SOM (shared object model),

an example of a building product
model developed in the course of the
SEMPER project (Mahdavi 1999,
Mahdavi et al. 1999a).
208
2 INTEGRATION
2.1 Control as process
As opposed to abundant literature in building product modeling, there is a lack of an
explicit ontology for the representation of building control processes. Table 1 includes a
glossary of fundamental terms (together with definitions and examples) that are relevant
to building systems control representation. A basic control process involves a controller,
a control device, and a controlled entity (see Figure 2). An example of such a process is
when the occupant (the controller) of a room opens a window (control device) to change
the temperature (control parameter) in a room (controlled entity).
2.2 A high-level combined product-process scheme
It is useful at this point to explore ways of coupling the basic process model depicted in
Figure 2 with an instance of the previously mentioned building product models (Figure
1). Figure 3 illustrates a high-level expression of such a combined building product and
control model. While certain instances of the product model such as building, section,
space and enclosure constitute the set of controlled entities in the process view, other
instances such as aperture or technical systems and devices fulfill the role of control
devices.
2.3 Zones, sensors, and devices
Both the basic control process model depicted in Figure 2 and its embellished version
with elements of a product model (Figure 3) are rather schematic. They must be extended
and augmented to capture the details of realistic control processes. To achieve a more
detailed and operationally effective representational integration of building product and
process aspects, this scheme must be realized within the context a two-fold hierarchy, one
pertaining to the building product classes and the other pertaining to controller classes.
Key to the communication between the two hierarchies is the Janus-faced notion of the
controlled entity (or control zone). From the product model view point, a control
zone corresponds either directly to a product model entity (such as space) or to an
abstract entity derived by partition or aggregation of product model entities (e.g. a
workstation within a room, a collection of windows in a facade). From the control model
point of view, a zone is the abstract object of control (controlled entity) whose controlrelevant attribute (control parameter) is monitored via corresponding sensors.
As Figure 4 illustrates, zones can be viewed as fluid and reconfigurable entities whose
spatial extension may be mapped back to (properly partitioned or aggregated)
components of a building product model. Devices and sensors can be mapped back to a
product model in terms of physical objects (e.g. in terms of technical elements as per
Figure 1).
209
Table 1. Terms, definitions, and instances in

building control (Mahdavi 2001a).
Term
Definition
Instance
Controller
Decision-making agent: influences the controlled

entity via a control device
People, software, thermostat
Control
objective
Goal of the control action
Maintaining a set-point
temperature
Control
device
Is used to influence the controlled entity
Window, luminaire, HVAC

system
Actuator
Interface between controller and control device
Valve, dimmer, people
Control
device state
Control-relevant attribute of control device
Closed, open
Controlled
entity
Object of control (assumed target or impact zone

of a control device)
Room, floor, building
Control
parameter
Indicator of control-relevant state of controlled

entity
Room temperature,
illuminance on working plane
Sensor
Reports the state of: control parameters,

environmental and occupancy conditions, control
devices
Thermometer, illuminance
sensor, electricity counter
Control action Change in the control device state
Opening windows, turning on

lights
Control state
space
Possible positions of a valve, a

dimmer, or a window
The logical space of possible positions of a (or a

number of) control device(s)
Figure 2. A general control scheme.

Whilst the building product modeling community is quite experienced in dealing with
complex hierarchies of product model components, explicit hierarchical schemes for the
representation of control processes are far less developed. Strictly speaking, the
210
controller entity as shown in the basic schemes of figure 2 and 3 applies only to a
device controller (DC), i.e. the dedicated controller of a specific device. These schemes
stipulate that a DC receives control entitys state information directly from a sensor, and,
utilizing a decision-making functionality (e.g. a rule or an algorithm that encapsulates the
relationship between the device state and its sensory implication), sets the state of the
device. Real world building control problems are, however, much more complex, as they
involve the operation of multiple devices for each environmental system domain and
multiple environmental system domains (e.g., lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation).
An appropriate representation of control processes must thus capture the relationships
between primary
Figure 3. A high-level building product

and control process scheme.
211
device controllers and various layers of higher-level controllers (or meta-controllers).

Moreover, it must be created based on a logical and coherent method, allowing ideally for
the automated generation of the control process model. The next section of the paper
describes such a method.
Figure 4. Zones as the coupling links

between building product and control
process hierarchies.
3 GENERATION
3.1 Device and meta-con trollers
As such, the complexity of building systems control could be substantially reduced, if
distinct processes could be assigned to distinct control loops. However, controllers for
various systems and components are often interdependent. A controller may need the
information from another controller in order to devise and execute control decisions. For
example, the building lighting system may need information on the buildings thermal
status (e.g. heating versus cooling mode) in order to identify the most desirable
combination of natural and electrical lighting options. Moreover, two different controllers
may affect the same control parameter of the same impact zone. For example, the
operation of the window and the operation of the heating system can both affect the
temperature in a room. In such cases, controllers of individual systems cannot identify the
preferable course of action independently. Instead, they must rely on a higher-level
controller instance (i.e., a meta-controller), which can process information from both
systems toward a properly integrated control response.
We conclude that the multitude of controllers in a complex building controls scheme
must be coupled appropriately to facilitate an efficient building operation regime. Thus,
control system features are required to integrate and coordinate the operation of multiple
devices and their controllers. Toward this end, control functionalities must be distributed
212
among multiple higher-level controllers or meta-controllers (MCs) in a structured and

distributed fashion. The nodes in the network of device controllers (DCs) and
metacontrollers (MCs) constitute points of information processing and decision making.
In general, first-order MCs are required: (i) to coordinate the operation of identical,
separately-controllable devices and (ii) to enable cooperation between different devices in
the same environmental service domain. A simple example of the first case is shown in
Figure 5, where an MC is needed to coordinate the operation of two electric lights to
achieve interior illuminance goals in a single control zone. Figure 6 shows an example
for the second case: moveable blinds and electric lights are coordinated here to integrate
daylighting with electric lighting.
Figure 5. Meta-controller for

individually controllable identical
devices.
213
Figure 6. Meta-controller for different

devices addressing the same control
parameter.
214
Figure 7. Schematic floor plan of the

test spaces.
In actual building control scenarios, one encounters many different combinations of the
above instances. Thus, the manner in which the control system functionality is distributed
among the controllers must be explicitly configured. The control process model must be
created using a logical, coherent, and reproducible method, so that it can be used for a
diverse set of building control applications. Ideally, the procedure for the generation of
such a control process model should be formalized and automated, given its complexity,
and given the required flexibility to dynamically accommodate changes over time in the
configuration of the controlled entities, control devices, and their respective controllers.
3.2 Generative rules
A set of constitutive rules has been developed and tested that allows for the automated
generation of the control system model (Mahdavi 200 la, Mahdavi 2003, Mertz &
Mahdavi 2003). Such a model can provide a template (or framework) of distributed nodes
which can contain various methods and algorithms for control decision making.
Specifically, four model generation rules are applied successively to the control problem,
resulting in a unique configuration of nodes that constitute the representational
framework for a given control context. The first three rules are generative in nature,
whereas rule 4 is meant to ensure the integrity of the generated model. The rules can be
stated as follows:
(i) Multiple devices of the same type that are differentially controllable and that affect the
same sensor necessitate a meta-controller.
(ii) More than one device of different types that affect the same sensor necessitates a
meta-controller.
(iii) More than one first-order meta-controller affecting the same device controller
necessitates a second-order (higher-level) meta-controller.
215
(iv) If in the process a new node has been generated whose functionality duplicates that
of an existing node, then it must be removed. Any resulting isolated nodes must be
reconnected.
4 ILLUSTRATION
4.1 Control system representation
The following example illustrates the application of the rules introduced in the previous
section (Mertz & Mahdavi 2003).
The scenario includes two adjacent rooms, each with four luminaires and one local
heating valve, which share a set of exterior moveable louvers for daylight and insolation
control (see Figure 7). Hot water is provided by the central system, which modulates the
pump and valve state to achieve the desired water supply temperature. In each space,
illuminance and temperature are to be maintained within the set-point range. This
configuration of spaces and devices stems from an actual building, namely the Intelligent
Work-place (IW) at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA (Mahdavi et al.
1999b).
An effective way to define control zones (controlled entities) is to describe the
association between the sensors and devices. From the control system point of view,
controlled entities are represented by sensors, and the influence of devices on the
controlled entities is monitored via sensory information. In the present example, an
interior illuminance sensor (E) and a temperature sensor (t) are located in each space. The
sensors for Space-1 are called E1 and t1, and those for Space-2 are called E2 and t2. In
Space-1, both the louvers and electric lights can be used to meet the illumination
requirements. As shown in Figure 8, Sensor E1 is influenced by the louver state,
controlled by DC-Lo1, as well as by the state of four electric lights, each controlled by a
DC-EL. Similarly, both the local valve state and the louver state influence the
temperature in Space-1 (t1). Analogous assumptions apply to Space-2.
Once the associations of the devices and sensors have been determined and the control
zones (controlled entities) have been defined, the generation rules can be applied to the
control problem, resulting in the representation of Figure 9. A summary of the application
of Rules 1, 2, and 3 is shown in Table 2.
As to the application of rule 1, four nodes, namely DC-EL1, EL2, EL3, and EL4 are of
the same device type and all impact sensor E1. Thus, an MC is needed to coordinate their
action (MC-EL_1). Similarly, regarding the application of rule 2, both DC-Lo1 and DCVa1 impact the temperature of Space-1. Thus, MC-Lo_Va_1 is needed to coordinate their
action.
216
Table 2. Application of Rules 1, 2, and 3 toward the

generation of a control model for a test space (see
text and Figures 7 to 9).
Multiple controllers
Affected sensor
Affected device
Metacontroller
E1
N/A
MC-EL_1
E2
N/A
MC-EL_2
Lo1, Va1
t1
N/A
MC-Lo Va_l
Lo1, Va2
t2
N/A
MC-Lo_Va_2
EL_1, Lo1
E1
N/A
MC-EL_Lo_1
EL_2, Lo1
E2
N/A
MC-EL_Lo_2
N/A
Lo1
MC-II
Application of Rule 1
EL1, EL2,
EL3, EL4
EL5, EL6,
EL7, EL8
EL_Lo_1,
EL_Lo_2,
EL Lo Va_1
Lo_Va_1,
Lo_Va_2
Figure 8. Association between sensors

and devices in the test spaces (cp. text
and figure 7).
217
Figure 9. An automatically generated

control model for the test spaces (cp.
text and figures 7, 8).
As to rule 3, four MC nodes control the DC-Lo1 node. Thus, their actions must be
coordinated by an MC of second order, namely MC-II EL_Lo_Va_1. In this example,
Rules 1, 2, and 3 were applied to the control problem to construct the representation.
Using this methodology, a unique scheme of distributed, hierarchical control nodes
can be constructed. In certain cases, however, the control problem contains characteristics
that cause the model not to converge toward a single top-level controller. In these cases,
Rule 4 can be applied to ensure convergence.
Rule 4 is used to ensure that model functionality is not duplicated. Thereby, the means
of detecting a duplicated node lies in the node name. Since this may create hierarchically
isolated nodes, rule 4 also requires that such nodes be reconnected. The following
example illustrates the application of this rule.
Figure 9 shows a model that was constructed using rules 2 and 3. The application of
these rules is summarized in Table 3.
Rule 1 does not apply in this case because there are three distinct device types
involved. As to the application of rule 2, DC-EL1 and DC-BL1 both impact the state of
E1 and thus MC-BL_EL_1 is needed to negotiate between them. Three MC nodes are
created in this manner. When Rule 3 is applied, three second-order MCs are created. It is
apparent that the model will not converge. Moreover, the three nodes have the same
name: MC-BL_EL_Lo. This is an indication of duplicated functionality (of coordinating
devices BL, EL, and Lo). Thus, applying rule 4, nodes MC-BL_EL_Lo_2 and MCBL_EL_Lo_3 are removed
218
Figure 10. Application of Rule 4 (see

also Table 3).
and node MC-BL_Lo_1, which is left without a parent node, is connected to the MCBL_EL_Lo_1.
The above illustrations were meant to provide a basic understanding of the proposed
approach toward the rule-based generation of control-oriented building process models.
This model generation approach can be automated and enables, thus, the control system
to effectively respond to changes in spatial organization, control zone configuration, and
control components. Moreover, the systematic and explicit definition of sensors, zones,
devices, controllers, and their relationships, together with the aforementioned generative
rules provide a control systems design environment that has been shown to be
advantageous in terms of scalability and robustness. Various model generation attempts
pertaining to realistic building and system considerations (with multiple systems and
multiple spatial levels) have consistently led to reliable and robust control system
schemes.
219
4.2 A note on model-based control methods

The integrated representation introduced in this paper is syntactic in nature. It does not
provide specific solutions to address issues of control semantics. Rather, it provides a
flexible framework (a template as it were) for implementing different kinds of control
semantics. Given its systematic hierarchical structure, the representation is specially
suited for the implementation of distributed and modular control logic routines. Such
routines include also the class of so-called model-based control methods. Model-based
control methods aim at the behavioral description of the reaction of controlled entities to
various positions of pertinent control devices given a set of contextual conditions (i.e.
climate, occupancy).
Table 3. Application of Rules 2 and 3 toward the

generation of the control representation of Figure 9.
Multiple Controllers
Affected Sensor
Affected Device
MetaController
EL1, BL1
E1
N/A
MC-BL_EL_1
EL1, Lo1
E2
N/A
MC-EL_Lo_1
BL1, Lo1
E3
N/A
MC-BL_Lo_1
E1
DC-EL1
MC-BL_EL_Lo_1
E2
DC-Lo1
MC-BL_EL_Lo_2
E3
DC-BL1
MC-BL_EL_Lo_3
BL_EL_1,
EL_Lo_1
EL_Lo_1,
BL_Lo_1
BL_EL_1,
BL Lo 1
Both rules and simulations can be applied to capture (and predict) system behavior. In
rule-based control, a simple statement describes the control function used to make
decisions. As an example, a rule used within a DC node can define the relationship
between the state of a device and its corresponding impact on the state of the sensor
monitoring the controlled entity. Rules can be developed through a variety of techniques.
For example, rules can rely on the knowledge and experience of the facility managers, the
measured data in the space to be controlled, or logical reasoning.
Simulation-based control (Mahdavi 2001b) can be used for building control within the
proposed representational framework through the following procedure: (i) Multiple
potential control device states are considered in the pertinent DC node; (ii) The resulting
device state space is analyzed via real-time simulation runs; (iii) Simulation results are
evaluated and ranked according to applicable objective functions; (iv) Devicecontroller
implements the most desirable device state.
220
Rule-based and simulation-based control algorithms and methods can animate the
control system representation resulting in a versatile systems control environment. Such
an environment has the potential to simultaneously address: (i) The effects of control
actions on multiple zonal performance indicators (control parameter), (ii) The influences
of devices in multiple domains (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.), (iii) Conflicts amongst
devices used to control multiple zones, (iv) Cooperation between local and central
systems, (v) Multiple control objective functions.
5 CONCLUSION
This paper presented an approach to establish an adequate framework for the combined
representation of building product and process aspects. In this representation, target
entities of control actions (controlled entities or zones) act as the coupling links between
parallel hierarchies of building product classes and building controller classes.
The building control hierarchy can be generated automatically via a set of four rules.
Starting point for this generation process is the definition the controlled entities. This is
achieved in that explicit associations between devices and sensors are established. The
generated control representation includes various layers of multiple nodes that embody
primary device-controllers and higher lever controllers (meta-controllers). Multiple
expressions of distributed control semantics can be accommodated in such nodes.
Promising algorithmic candidates for such distributed control logic implementations
include model-based (rule-based and simulation-based) control routines.
To improve the applicability of the proposed approach, work is under way to address
issues of building model maintenance. Specifically, technology candidates for scalable
and pervasive monitoring of model entities are being examined so as to bestow upon
thetypically complexbuilding models the capability to update and reconfigure
themselves autonomously.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work presented in this paper is support in part by the Austrian Science Foundation
(FWF), Grant number: P15998-N07.
REFERENCES
Augenbroe, G. 1995. COMBINE 2, Final Report [online]. Commission of the European
Communities, Brussels, Belgium. Available from:
http://dcom.arch.gatech.edu/bt/Combine/my_www/document.htm
IAI 2004. International Alliance for Interoperability [online]. Website. Available from:
http://www.iai-international.org/iai_inter-national/
Mahdavi, A. 2003. Modell-basierte Steuerungsstrategien fr selbstbewusste Gebude.
Gesundheits-Ingenieur. Oldenbourg Industrieverlag Mnchen. Heft 5. ISSN 09326200. pp.
234244.
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Mahdavi, A. 2001a. Aspects of self-aware buildings. International Journal of Design Sciences and
Technology. Europia: Paris, France. Volume 9, Number 1. ISSN 16307267. pp. 3552.
Mahdavi, A. 2001b. Simulation-based control of building systems operation. Building and
Environment. Volume 36, Issue 6, ISSN:03601323. pp. 789796.
Mahdavi, A. 1999. A comprehensive computational environment for performance based reasoning
in building design and evaluation. Automation in Construction 8 (1999) pp. 42735.
Mahdavi, A., Ilal, M.E., Mathew, P., Ries, R., Suter, G. & Brahme, R. 1999a. The architecture of
S2. Proceedings of Building Simulation 99. Sixth International IBPSA Conference. Kyoto,
Japan. Vol. III. ISBN 4-931416-03-9. pp.12191226.
Mahdavi, A., Cho, D., Ries, R., Chang, S., Pal, V., Ilal, E., Lee, S. & Boonyakiat, J. 1999b. A
building performance signature for the intelligent workplace: some preliminary results.
Proceedings of the CIB Working Commission W098 International Conference: Intelligent and
Responsive Buildings. Brugge. ISBN 90-76019-09-6. pp.233240.
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Proceedings of the Eight International IBPSA Conference. Eindhoven, Netherlands. Vol. 2.
ISBN 90-386-1566-3. pp. 871878.
FIDE: XML-based data model for the spanish

AEC sector
J.M.Molina & M.Martinez
AIDICO, Valencia, Spain
ABSTRACT: The construction sector is very peculiar, it has some
features that make it special and different from other industrial sectors.
Firstly it is a highly fragmented sector, where 96% of the sector is made
up of SMEs with less than 20 workers, and with a very small market
quote. Secondly it is a sector of one-of-a-kind projects. And finally, each
project brings together several actors from different areas. These features
throw up the need for a common language to facilitate the data exchange
amongst the different stakeholders. Some interesting initiatives are being
carried out at the international level in this line. In this paper we present
the FIDE initiative, where the Spanish Administration has promoted the
work to develop a PDM for the Spanish construction sector.
1 INTRODUCTION
The exchange and integration of the information among the different stakeholders who
participate in the processes of projecting and constructing public and private buildings
and infrastructures (architects, engineers, constructors, manufacturers, laboratories )
are critical points that the construction industry must approach for being able to benefit
from the enormous potential of productivity increase that the application of the
Information & Communications Technology do provide. To date it exists no reference
framework in Spain for the integration of the information in the construction process,
neither for the compatibility of the existing software applications in the market, nor it has
been considered a model or standard system of common data exchange within the sector
in the Business-2-Administration arena.
The usage of a common data model will allow a drastic reduction in the use of
resources by all the involved agents. This specially applies for the Public Administrations
in their task of the management and control of the information, documents and files
generated during the construction process. The Administration must play therefore a
fundamental role in the promotion and use of new technologies in the construction sector,
being one of the main beneficiaries of its use, since it may enormously optimise the
administrative processes which consume important resources as a result of an inefficient
management of exchanging information.
The FIDE model focuses on the scope of the Spanish National Technical Building
Code. The Technical Building Code (TBC) is the normative framework that establishes
the safety and habitability requirements of buildings set out in the building Act (LOE)
[1].
Fide: Xml-based data model
223
To promote innovation and technological development, the TBC has adopted the most
modern international approach to building norms: Performance-Based Codes or
objectives.
The use of these new regulations based on performance calls for the configuration of a
more flexible environment, easily updated in accordance with the development of
techniques and the demands of society, and based on the experience of traditional norms.
Its development is coordinated at national level through a supra-regional stable
Working Group that establishes the bases for its development and that coordinates and
controls the extensions of the model, establishing approval mechanisms and integration
of partial developments made by third parties within the general structure of FIDE,
guaranteeing therefore the scalability of the model and the interoperability between
different scopes of the Technical Code.
FIDE model is public and open. In addition, its foundations have been established
taking into account the possible relations with the most internationally spreaded standards
and data models, like the IFC from the IAI [2]. This will facilitate the interrelation
between FIDE and these international standards, thus fostering its compatibility and
usability. This way FIDE will take profit of the existing tools and developments existing
in the market developed for the IFC data model. For this reason FIDE will be widely
spread not only at national level, but also at international level, showing it as example of
good practices in the sector.
The work done so far in FIDE has generated not only technical results, but what is
more important, a proposal of a Law project for the setting up of the legal framework and
procedures for the implementation of the initiative and the assurance of its general impact
in the sector. The FIDE project has developed medium and long term plans to ensure the
continuity of the initiative and to create the foundations for the sustainable development
of the model, as well as to increase the awareness in the sector of the use of data models
standards.
The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes the objectives of the
development of the model. Section 3 shows the methodology used in the development,
including management and organization issues as well as technical issues. Section 4 gives
the flavour of the work done in the technical part with the model development. Finally,
Section 5 summarizes the conclusions and lessons learnt from the work as well as the
near fiiture steps.
2 OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the FIDE initiative is the development of a common product data
model for the Spanish Construction sector. A major concern, although is to keep the
compatibility with the existing initiatives at international level. The objective of FIDE
can be splitted into two main issues: firstly the development of the model itself, and
secondly the establishment of the necessary procedures for its maintenance and quality
assurance.
The main trigger for such a development is the need for a common framework for the
different stakeholders in the sector to exchange information. One of the most benefited
actors, and in fact the main promoter, is the Administration. The Administration is in the
224
very centre of the data exchange. They have to receive plenty of documentation related to
the construction process: building licence queries, quality control documents, health and
safety assurance reports, etc. Each document has to be processed according to a repetitive
established procedure. At the moment this is done manually. The use of a known standard
digital format will allow them to process this documentation in an automatic manner.
Furthermore, the Administration has the power to make it compulsory for the rest of the
stakeholders to use this data model for the delivery of the required documents.
On the other hand, there are also some important benefits for the industry side. In case
they use this common data model the information reusability increases, thus improving
the efficiency of the construction process. Also different actors collaborating within the
framework of a given construction project can take profit of the file sharing, thus
reducing the repetition of data introduction in different applications and improving,
again, the efficiency of the process. This becomes directly into economic benefits for the
sector stakeholders
Finally, the existence of a broadly accepted and spreaded product data model will be
the key to the development of software applications for the sector. These applications will
take profit of this common language to facilitate the re-usability of information, the
automatic processing of data, etc. So one of the intentions of the consortium is to set up
the basis for the implementation of such applications by third parties as soon as the
industry demands them.
To sum up, the objectives of the FIDE initiative can be enumerated as follows:
To foster the construction sector development by improving the efficiency of the
current ways of working.
To improve the current communication channel between the sector stakeholders and the
Administration.
To provide the sector, specially the Administration, with a base for the later
development of tools based upon it.
To offer international interoperability by following the main international standards.
To facilitate the interoperability between the sector stakeholders: promoters, designers,
constructors, material provider, software vendors, etc., including the Public
Administrations, independently of the computer applications used for planning,
designing, estimating, and covering administrative management, authorizations
procedures, and other purposes.
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This section describes the methodology that has been followed for the development of the
FIDE model. The section has been structured in three parts: firstly the management
structure that was created is described. Then the model maintenance and extension
procedures that were established are described. In both cases the main functions and aims
for each component of the structures are defined. Finally the technical issues are
discussed, explaining and justifying the main technological decisions taken in the model
implementation and the tools used.
225
3.2 Management structure

In order to keep control of the model evolution and quality assurance, a management
structure has been defined.
Figure 1. General FIDE structure.

Figure 1 shows how the overall FIDE structure integrates within the Spanish
Administration hierarchy. In fact it is only a proposal, but according to it, FIDE would be
a subcommittee within the Technical Commission for the Quality in Construction.
The inner structure of the FIDE management bodies is composed of three layers. At
the upper layer is the Steering Committee which is in charge of the strategic direction.
Under this group is the Technical Committee which deals with all the technical issues
related to the model development. Finally, at the bottom level, there are the working
groups which are made up ad-hoc for the development of concrete projects.
The Steering Committee is in charge of setting the main strategic lines of the FIDE
initiative. Amognst their responsibilities are: approving the inclusion of new extension
projects under the FIDE denomination. For these decisions, they will have the support of
a group of technical experts: the Technical Committee members. Finally they have the
responsibility to take the decisions about activities funding. Furthermore, the Steering
Committee holds the representation of the FIDE activities within the framework of the
Spanish Administration.
The Technical Committee is responsible for the quality management of the FIDE data
model. Its members must take care of the different implementations and coordinate the
different work groups which are developing areas of the model. To this end, they must
watch and assess the different implementations and extensions of the model, and provide
226
the developers with their advice and support. This Committee defines the technical
framework for the adequate development of activities under the FIDE initiative. Thus
providing a controlled environment for the developers, which is the first step towards the
quality assurance of the model. These activities include the specification of issues such as
the development methodology and tools, as well as infrastructure and common
information resources.
Figure 2. Work groups structure.

The Technical Committee is also the responsible for the representation and defence of
the FIDE initiative before other organizations or technical work groups. This includes
official standardization organizations (AENOR, CEN, ISO) and national or international
consortiums (IAI, OASIS, )
Work Groups can be made up ad-hoc for solving specific objectives within the model.
They should make an agreement with the Technical Committee to decide the suitability
of their objectives and their work plan within the FIDE model long-term objectives. The
work groups structure is shown in Figure 2.
As soon as the Technical Committee has approved an extension proposal, the work
group will be allowed to use common information resources from within FIDE
(templates, technology, etc), and provide their results to be integrated into the general
model.
227
3.3 Maintenance and extension procedures

A major concern in the development of the FIDE data model is the quality assurance. The
need for a model like this one is obvious in the sector and as it has been justified above
its use will increase the efficiency in the construction processes as well as the quality of
the obtained results. However, in spite of this positive breeding ground, there exists the
high risk of developing an useless model. This may happen if the quality issue is not
given the adequate consideration. For this reason, the model quality assurance will be one
of the major issues in the development and the assessment of contributions.
In this line, one very important issue for the model quality assurance is its usability,
this is obtained by assuring the following features: it must be understandable for the
developers in charge of its implementation. This applies mainly to software application
developers but also to work groups dedicated to make an extension of the FIDE model in
some specific area. To this end, some basic norms will have to be followed, on the one
hand related to naming and structure of the model and on the other hand a complete and
well-done documentation of the model is essential. By following these guidelines, the
result will be to obtain a more intelligible and reusable model as well as a higher level of
implementation.
Concerning the extensions of the FIDE model, the developers must follow a defined
methodology. This methodology describes the process for the extension proposals
fulfilment and presentation. Thus, a set of steps has been defined in order to facilitate the
task for the proposer groups and the Technical Committee. To sum up, a proposal should
include the following elements:
Description of the utility of the extension.
Integration of the extension within the general FIDE model and other standard
reference models.
Project development plan.
This way, the potential developers can communicate their idea in a homogeneous way,
and the Technical Committee has some objective parameters to assess the different
proposals and evaluate their feasibility.
The methodology also includes the description of the steps to be followed in the
development of new models, or sub-models. The process must be done in four steps:
Identification of the sub-model field. The developer group must identify the field of
study where they are going to work, that sets the framework where the concepts to be
modelled are fitted.
Process model definition. A process model must be defined, preferably using IDEFO
representation, which includes the processes under study in the modelling exercise.
The process model must include the exchanged documents as well as the participating
agents. On the other hand there also exists the possibility for the developers to identify
the processes on a reference standard process model instead of developing a new one.
Integration within the global model. A study must be performed in order to identify
which parts of the global model are going to be affected by the submodel to be
developed.
Model development. Finally, after the Technical Committee approval, the work group
will proceed to the actual model development. To that end, they will develop the parts
228
not included in the global FIDE model. Subsequently, they will proceed to the
integration of the sub-model within the global FIDE model.
This development process will be performed following the technical indications and
advice from the FIDE Technical Committee.
3.4 Technical issues
As it has already been mentioned, one of the main objectives of the FIDE project, and
thus of the consequent FIDE data model, is the compatibility with similar international
initiatives. More concretely, the actual reference for the development of the model has
been the IFC model.
The IFC standard (Industry Foundation Classes) is a standard promoted from the
construction industry by means of the IAI (International Alliance for Interoperability).
IAI is an association of organizations involving engineers, architects, constructors,
national administrations, etc. It arised in 1995 aiming at fostering a product data model
for the data exchange amongst different applications within the construction sector.
After some years, ISO has approved its last release, IFC2X, as an ISO Publicly
Available Specification (ISO/PAS 16739), thus making IFC into an ISO standard.
One of the main decisions for the consortium was the choice of the method to
represent the model. In this line there are several possibilities, namely UML diagrams,
Express schemas, XML schemas. A deep study was performed evaluating pros and cons
of each of them. Eventually the decision was to use XML schemas [3,4]. This decision
has been strongly meditated as it has some advantages and some disadvantages. Anyway,
after this detailed analysis, there was a clear decision to use this meta-language for the
model representation. The reasons for this decision are stated below:
XML meta-language is the de facto standard for the data exchange in the network. On
the other hand, one of the main objectives in the development of the FIDE model is to
facilitate the B2A (business to Administration) to improve the relation between the
Administration and the industry. Providing the tools for procedures such as electronic
delivery of documentation, eTendering, etc. This way, by using XML in the
development of the model, we are moving forward to the facilitation of these B2A
procedures.
There exists a very high level of use of XML at the International level, this will
facilitate the spread of the model.
At the moment there are a lot of available software tools to work with XML. On the
one hand there are plenty of tools for the manipulation (edition, visualization, creation) of
XML files. On the other hand there also are a lot of development tools such as
programming libraries. The proliferation of such tools does make easier the adoption in
the industry of the XML structures.
The most extended international standards in this sector, ISO STEP and IAIIFC, evolve
or already support XML [5].
The existence of programming libraries and SDK (Software Development Kits)
facilitates the task to developers. This is a key issue, because it promotes the faster
development of applications, and as a consequence a bigger expansion of the model.
229
The consortium suggests a set of tools in order to facilitate the developers task. Namely,
these tools and methods are IDEFO for the process models, UML for the conceptual data
models, and XML for the physical data model.
4 FIDE MODEL
4.1 Model framework
As it has been introduced, the main aim of the current project was not the development of
a complete model. More precisely, the intention was to establish the mechanisms for a
self-maintenance and development of the model. These mechanisms have been described
in the previous section. In this section a sample of the developed model will be shown,
just to give the flavour of the model under development.
This sample sub-model has been developed in the area of quality management in the
construction sector. This is a very important issue in the sector and has gained a lot of
attention in the latest years. The main aim is to achieve better quality in the final product
by means of controlling the whole life-cycle of the construction process.
In the case of the Spanish situation the quality control procedures are mainly driven by
the Administration. Some of the mechanisms they use have been deeply studied within
the FIDE framework, namely a control book, quality profile, building book and material
test.
Most of the information to make up the model has been extracted from the analysis of
this documentation. Furthermore the overlapping amongst them has been accurately
analysed.
4.2 Reference model: IFC
The FIDE consortium has decided to take the IFC model from IAI as the reference
model. Specifically the latest XML version for the release IFC2x 2nd Edition: ifcXML2.
FIDE data model does not include the whole ifcXML2 model. It only plans to pick the
needed entities from IFC and then to complete the entities according to the specific
needs. In some cases these entities must be extended to fulfil the needs. One of the main
concerns is to keep the compatibility with the standard initiative in order to get an open
and usable data model.
230
Figure 3. FIDE general structure.
4.3 FIDE model sample

The approach selected for the FIDE model architecture is a layered modular solution.
This structure is defined in the following lines:
Each entity represents a concept from the real world. These elements are represented
through XML schemas, composed by an identification, a set of attributes and some
relations with other elements.
The related elements are put together to make up conceptual groups. These groups are
called clusters.
The whole structure is a layered structure:
Each layer contains the entities that several entities from an upper layer do use. This
way the model avoids duplicity of re-used elements in the model.
The lower level is called kernel. It contains the most basic and re-used elements.
In the sample of model here shown, the modelling target has been a descriptor for the
building, focused on the administrative identifiers, and the general structure. The features
that describe the model and the work done are stated below .
The modelled element has been a descriptor for the building. It is a common element in
the documentation related to quality management in construction. It appears in the
design, construction and facility management phases.
The building descriptor contains the set of data that describe a building from the
administrative and formal point of view.
In order to make use of the defined methodology, the element was studied from
different points of view and several sub-models were obtained.
231
Figure 4. Building descriptor schema.

Finally these sub-models were integrated to obtain just one common model for the
building descriptor
Figure 4 shows a sample of the XML schema that has been developed within FIDE. In
concrete it shows part of model for the building descriptor.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK
Following are shown the most important conclusions:
It has been checked that the model tends to organise itself following the layered
approach presented above. This happens in a natural way as new elements are
analysed and included within the model. New elements share data sets with existing
elements, these data have to be included in the lower layers for reuse.
The development of diiferent parts of the model separately for its latter integration has
shown to be a right way of working. This has demonstrated the viability of the defined
strategy for the long term.
IFC model is very flexible and complete. However this makes it very complex and
ambiguous to some extent. To reduce the ambiguity is one of the main concerns in the
FIDE model. Thus avoiding problems between different software vendors
implementation of the same model.
232
We have confirmed that the main modelling problems to be solved had already been
faced in the IFC model. This validates the modelling strategy defined within the FIDE
model.
Despite the big scope of the IFC model, the absence of some important elements and
attributes for the Spanish construction sector has been detected. These elements are
essential for the utility of the model in the Spanish national level. That confirms the
need for extension of some of its features.
The XML available tools have facilitated the creation and understanding of the model
as well as the documentation generation. This is so thanks to its clarity in
representation, and the big amount of different tools
The nearest further work consists of the continuity in the development of the model,
firstly to complete the quality management area and then fulfilling new areas of interest
in the construction sector. The Administration has shown its determination and deep
interest in the FIDE project by assuring the development for several years on, so the
model will keep evolving along the coming years. Apart from this, and as important as it
or even more, the very next target will be the promotion and dissemination of the results
obtained so far. Furthermore, the emphasis will be set in the development of software
applications in the Spanish sector.
REFERENCES
[1] http://www.codigotecnico.org/
[2] http://www.iai-international.org/
[3] XML Schema Part 1: Structures Second Edition, W3C Proposed Edited Recommendation,
March 2004.
[4] XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, W3C Recommendation, May 2001.
[5] Options for the IAI regarding XML, Thomas Liebich.
A framework for concurrent structure analysis

in building industry
A.Niggl, R.Romberg & E.Rank
Lehrstuhlfr Bauinformatik, Technische Universitt Mnchen, Germany
R.-P.Mundani & H.-J.Bungartz
IPVS, Abteilung Simulation groer Systeme, Universitt Stuttgart,
Germany
ABSTRACT: In this paper, a software-framework will be presented,
which helps to support the concurrent work of multiple planners in the
construction industry. Basis of this work is a strictly volume-oriented
building model. This model is stored in a central database, which supports
the cooperative work by using object-based check-in, check-out and
locking mechanism. Furthermore a decomposition algorithm will be
presented, which automatically derives a hexahedral mesh for a finite
element computation from this central building model.
1 INTRODUCTION
The efficient and accurate exchange of data is an important basis for a successful
cooperative work in the field of computer-supported planning and design in building
industry. This fact not only holds for the exchange inside a homogenous group of
planners, it is also important for the data-transfer between planning processes within
different working-domains.
In this paper, a software-framework will be presented, where a central volumeoriented geometric model is considered as a basis to support the cooperative work and the
integration of different planning-processes. The central data set is thereby given by an
explicit geometric B-Rep (Boundary-Representation) model associated with semantic
product data attributes, which is originally derived from an IFC product model.
Using a classical client-server structure, the building model is provided centrally and
can be accessed by different planners. The concurrent access to the database is organized
similar to classical software-management-systems, where single entities can be checked
out, locally modified and checked in by the user. To ensure geometric consistency of
the common data model, an octree-based algorithm is applied, which was developed in
this project.
The geometric building model is the starting point for various subsequent tasks in the
planning process. For the structural analysis, we present an automatic generation of a
volume-oriented finite element mesh, consisting of solid hexahedral elements. In addition
to the finite element analysis, an indoor air flow simulation was also connected to the
234
framework in an other project (v. Treeck et al. 2004). Figure 1 shows a schematic view of
the framework.
The outline of this paper is as follows: In the next section, the software-structure and
techniques used inthis work will be presented. Then in Section 3 the automatic derivation
of the hexahedral finite element mesh from the architectural model will be described in
detail. Finally, in Section 4 the cooperative work of two planners will be demonstrated in
an example
Figure 1. Schematic view of the

framework: an IFC-model is converted
into a geometric B-Rep model, which
is saved in a central database; different
clients can access in parallel the central
data; a finite element model can be
derived and analyzed automatically.
A framework for concurrent structure
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2 A VOLUME ORIENTED GEOMETRIC MODEL

2.1 From IFC to an explicit geometric model
In this project, a commonly shared geometric model is used as a basis for various tasks in
the planning and simulation process. The geometric data of a building model given by the
IFC-standard (IAI 2003) is usually not directly adequate for a numerical simulation, as it
only describes the topology and the mutual connections of different structural
components. For example, the geometry of a wall is described by a 2D profile together
with an extrusion direction or a window is given by its relative position to an anchor
point. But for the automatic derivation of subsequent simulation models, for example the
generation of a finite element mesh, we need an explicit description of the geometry.
Thus, we use the geometric modeller ACIS (Spatial 2004) to create a geometric model
from the IFC-product model, where each construction unit is described by a single B-Rep
object. The IFC data is accessed by using the Eurostep IFC-Toolbox (Eurostep 2000),
which is an object oriented C++ implementation of the IFC scheme representation and
which provides interface functionalities to access and manage instances of the product
model. The semantic data contained in the IFC object model is added as attributes to the
B-Rep entities und is saved parallel to the geometric data in an additional database.
2.2 Organization of the concurrent access
The technical basis of our cooperative workspace is a classical client-server architecture.
In order to ensure consistency of the central data model, the concurrent access by the
clients is being controlled by an intermediary management layer. Similar to well known
software-management systems, like CVS (concurrent version system), the server
provides methods for downloading, managing and uploading data. The smallest
organizational entity in the exchange is thereby one single B-Rep object. Using an
octreebased algorithm, the management layer ensures geometric consistency of the
internal data model.
In order to share information among the concurrently working planners, notification
services were developed in this project. The user can activate a locally working software
module, which connects to the server and informs him about modifications in the central
data model caused by other planners. In a configuration menu, the user can choose among
different notification levels. He has also the possibility to reduce the number of objects,
he wants to be informed about, to a subset of the complete model.
During runtime and depending on the type of useraccess, a single object on the server
can remain in one of three different states: clean, shared and locked. An object is clean, if
no client has accessed this object for modification. It is in state shared, if at least one user
has accessed the object in read- and/or write-mode and it is in state locked, if just one
client has claimed exclusive write permissions for an object.
The operational procedure in the user-side workspace will be demonstrated in an
example in the last section in detail. Thereby, one thing is always the same: In order to
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upload (check-in) modified or new objects to the central database, the user has to
checkout the selected objects first.
Based on the internal states mentioned before, for each object, the user can choose
among three possible modes of access:
Read-only: in this mode, a modification by the user is not allowed. However, the user
will be registered on the server and has the ability to activate the notification service
for the selected object.
Read-write: the user gets read and write access for the data, which allows him to check
in modified objects to the server. Modification by others is also possible.
Exclusive-write (lock): the user gets exclusive write access to the object. Modification
by others is not allowed.
Only in case of read-write mode, a concurrent access of objects is possible. In this case,
each upload by a user will overwrite the current version in the central database. To avoid
confusion, the notification service may help, so that the user can stay informed about the
actual state and can react accordingly. This makes sense especially in cases, where one
user (e.g. a designer) changes the geometry of an object while an other user (e.g. a
structural engineer) only wants to modify some attributes like loads or material. In such
cases, an exclusive lock by one user would only hamper the work of the other. In cases
where one wants to prohibit concurrent access by others completely, e.g. when
substantial modifications must be applied, exclusive-write access should be used instead.
After modifications in the local workspace are finished, the user will check in his
object to the central database. Each upload of a modified or new building object will
thereby initiate a consistency check on the server, according to the method which will be
explained in the next sub-section. In the case of geometric collisions or insufficient
access rights, the upload will be rejected and the user will be informed about the problem.
2.3 Consistency check
Before any consistency check can be performed, volume-oriented models have to be
derived from the respective surface-oriented ones. In (Mundani et al. 2003) we presented
an algorithm for the generation of octrees by intersecting half-spaces, allowing us a fast
and efficient derivation both in real time and on-the-fly.
Applying the Boolean operator intersection on two octrees, collisions of type
overlap and gap can easily be detected. Whenever two voxelsvolume elementsof
two arbitrary octrees claim for the same space an overlap occurred and the algorithm can
stop at this point. Depending on the maximum depth of recursion dmax overlaps up to
h=1/2 dmax on the finest resolution level can be found. In this case, the check-in of
modified parts is rejected by the server.
When no overlap could be detected, the two parts or the two volume-oriented models,
respectively, are either lying perfectly together side by side or are disjoint. In the latter
case, a gap among these two parts exists; only gaps of certain sizes are from further
interest. Therefore, the algorithm has to determine the maximum depth deff reached during
the intersection calculation, not to confuse with the maximum depth of recursion dmax. By
specifying dgap, the maximum gap size, only in case of dgapdeff< dmax a gap has been
237
detected. The corresponding part is allowed to be checked in but further user feedback is
necessary, because most gaps unintentionally occur due to design or round-off errors.
3 STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
3.1 A volume oriented flnite element approach
In contrast to the classical way in finite element analysis using dimensionally reduced
models (e.g. 2D-plates, shells or beams), in this project the structural analysis is
performed in a fully volume-oriented approach. The complete structure is discretized
consistently with solid hexahedral elements and the computation is carried out by using
higher order elements of the so-called p-version of the finite element method (Szab et al.
1991, Szab et al. 2003, Dster et al. 2003). This approach has some important
advantages:
The automatic derivation of a finite element model from the original (product-) model is
simpler, if this transition can be done consistently in the same volume-oriented way.
The possibility of such an automatic model derivation releases the engineer from a
manual reconstruction of various numerical systems.
Using solid finite elements, possible three-dimensional stress conditions can be
resolved.
There is no need for coupling different dimensionally reduced mechanical models.
3.2 Automatic derivation of the flnite element mesh
An important basis of our consistent volume-oriented approach is the automatic
derivation of the finite element model (Romberg et al. 2004). The basic idea of the
underlying algorithm is to decompose the given geometric building model into a set of
simpler geometric objects and decompose each of these objects again into hexahedral
elements. To ensure compatibility (i.e. no hanging nodes) of the final mesh, the whole
procedure is carried out in a set of steps, which are mainly used to find a common
discretization at the interface of different entities. It should be mentioned that this
approach does not aim at meshing general spatial volume-structures but is capable of
decomposing a typical building model, which usually consists of objects like plates,
beams, columns and slabs.
3.2.1 Connection model decomposition
As a first step in the process of creating a hexahedral mesh, the given geometric building
model is decomposed into a so-called connection model using boolean operations.
Figures 2-4 illustrate the basic idea.
Starting from the set of building models Mb, these elements are partitioned into a set
of coupling objects Mk and a set of difference objects Md. The set of coupling objects Mk
are then again recursively decomposed into coupling objects of different levels (Mkl
Mki).
238
Each coupling and difference object is itself a closed B-Rep body being described by
nodes, edges and faces. After decomposition, the intersection between difference objects
or coupling objects of the same level is given in points and edges only, whereas adjacent
difference and coupling objects intersect in faces, edges and nodes.
After applying this decomposition algorithm, the resulting elements have some
important characteristics with respect to the following steps in finite element
Figure 2. Initial configuration Mb with

three objects.
Figure 3. Creation of connection

objects (Mkl, Mk2) using boolean
operations.
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Figure 4. Decomposed connection

model Mc.
mesh generation: Each coupling object Mk possesses hexahedral structure, thus, it can be
easily partitioned into smaller elements, whereas each difference object Md is plate
shaped and can be assumed to be obtained from sweeping a two-dimensional polygonal
domain.
3.2.2 Generation of hexahedral finite elements
The connection model shown in the previous section is the starting point for the
automatic generation of hexahedral elements in the next step. Thereby we use either
elementary three-dimensional meshing macros mainly applied to the coupling elements
or, in case of the plate-like difference objects, hexahedral elements are obtained by
creating a 2D quadrilateral mesh on the polynomial mid-face and sweeping this mesh to
the third direction. Most crucial in meshing is yet the question of generation of
compatible elements. For this, we apply a two-step approach. In a first run, a reasonably
refined mesh for each (separate) difference object is defined. According to the different
discretization on the boundaries of adjacent elements a compatible discretization must be
determined. When this common discretization is found on the boundary,
Figure 5. Original 3D volume model

given by the CAD system.
Figure 6. Decomposed connection

model.
240
241
a new mesh is created on the difference objects in a second run, which is then compatible
with its neighbours, i.e. the resulting mesh has no hanging nodes.
3.3 A complex example
In this section, the process from the original geometric building model to the finite
element results is demonstrated in an example of a realistic office building. The building
is constructed by reinforced concrete and consists of two massive inlying building cores,
six floor plates and supporting columns. It has dimensions of about 4030 meters in the
ground view. Figure 5 shows the geometric model.
In Figure 6, the decomposed connection model can be seen, which was derived from
the original model according to Section 3.2.1. One can see easily the connection elements
on the top floor plate, created at the intersection of the inlying building cores and the
plate.
Figure 7. Finite element mesh.
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Figure 8. Finite element results; plot of

vertical displacements.
Figure 7 shows the finite element mesh, derived from the connection model according
to subsection 3.2.2. It consists of 8313 hexahedral elements. In Figures 8 and 9 the finite
element results can be seen. First, in Figure 8, the displacement plot is depicted. Figure 9
shows mean stresses (v. Mises stress) in a zoomed detail. For the computation, vertical
loads on the floorslabs and horizontal wind-loads were considered. The results were
computed using the p-version of the finite element method with a polynomial degree of 3.
This resulted in a computation with 269, 043 degrees of freedom, which took about 2 h of
time on a Pentium IV with 1.7 GHz.
243
Figure 9. Zoomed detail of stress plot

(v. Mises stresses).
Figure 10. Complete model in

workspace A.
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4 CONCURRENT WORK EXAMPLE

In this section, the concurrent work in a group of multiple planners will be demonstrated
in an example. The office building shown in the previous section is now modeled and
stored in the central database, which was described in detail in Section 2.2 and 2.3. In this
context the database is also referred to as server.
Let us assume, that planner A (e.g. an architect) decides to carry out some
modifications in the model. In a first step, he may request for an update in order to get the
newest model version from the server (Fig. 10). Then, he checks out some objects with
exclusive-write access in order to apply some modifications, e.g. move a column to
another place (Figs. 11, 12).
In the meantime, planner B (e.g. a structural engineer) has also checked out some other
objects and changes load attributes (Fig. 13).
Figure 11. Check-out of selected items

by planner A.
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Figure 12. Change of column by

planner A.
Figure 13. Change of load attributes by

planner B.
246
Planner A has finished his work now. So, he selects the modified objects and tries to
check them in to the server (Fig. 14). Unless any other user has locked one of the objects
exclusively or the consistency check detects an intersection, the check-in is successful
and the objects will be stored in the database and overwrite their current version there.
Figure 14. Check-in of modified

column by planner A.
Figure 15. Local database agent

informs planner B about the modified
objects.
247
This occurrence of objects checked in is now reported automatically to planner B,

because he has activated his local notification agent with the order to listen for geometric
modifications (Fig. 15).
Technically, every check-in is thereby posted to a message queue on the server, where
each message contains information about the type of modification (geometrically, only
attributes, type of attribute), the user, etc. This message queue can be read out by the
remote, client-side notification agent, which prefilters the messages according to the
users settings and sends a signal to the user.
Back to planner B, the structural engineer, after updating his local workspace, he
initiates a new finite element computation on basis of the modified model.
Figure 16. Resulting finite element

mesh of the modified model.
Again, the derivation of the finite element mesh and the computation is performed
completely automatic and needs no further manual interaction by the user. Figure 16
shows the finite element of the modified model, where a complete line of columns was
changed.
5 CONCLUSION
We have presented an approach, which may help to support the co-operation between
different planners in building construction. The concurrent work is organized, using a
248
central database with its accessmanagement layer in combination with a consistency

check and notification services.
The automatic generation of a finite element mesh, based on a strictly volume oriented
model, releases the engineer from manually transferring design models to the numerical
simulation model. This helps to speed up the design process, especially in cases, when
modifications and different design variants must be investigated.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Priority
program 1103, Vernetzt kooperative Planungsprozesse im Konstruktiven Ingenieurbau)
to which the authors are grateful.
REFERENCES
Dster, A., Brker, H. & Rank, E. 2001. The p-version of the finite element method for threedimensional thin-walled structures. International Journal for Numerical Methods in
Engineering:52, 673703.
IAI, International Alliance for Interoperability 2003. IFC Release 2.x. Internet: http://www.iaiinternational.org/.
Eurostep 2000. The IFC STEP Toolbox. Eurostep Group. Stockholm, Sweden. Internet:
http://www.eurostep.com./
Mundani, R.-P., Bungartz, H.-J., Rank, E., Romberg, R. & Niggl, A. 2003. Efficient Algorithms for
Octree-Based Geometric Modelling. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Civil
and Structural Engineering Computing, Topping, B. (ed.). Civil-Comp Press.
Romberg, R., Niggl, A., v.Treeck, C. & Rank, E. 2004. Structural Analysis based on the Product
Model Standard IFC. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computing in Civil
and Building Engineering (ICCCBE). Weimar, Germany.
Spatial Corp. 2004. ACIS 3D Geometry-Modeller. Westminster. Colorado, USA. Internet:
http://www.spatial.com./
Szab, B.A. & Babuka, I. 1991. Finite element analysis. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., New York,
USA.
Szab, B.A., Dster, A. & Rank, E. 2003. The p-version of the finite element method. Accepted for
publication in Stein, E., de Borst, R. & Hughes, T.J.R. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Computational
Mechanics, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. NewYork,USA.
v.Treeck, C. & Rank, E. 2004. Analysis of Building Structure and Topology Based on Graph
Theory. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building
Engineering (ICCCBE). Weimar, Germany.
IFC supported distributed, dynamic &

extensible construction products information
models
M.Nour & K.Beucke
Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany
ABSTRACT: This paper reports ongoing research work on a new
approach of using electronic product libraries based on the concept of
Object Information Packs. This approach is based on top of the IFC model
and the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) concept. The paper presents a
complete specification of the OIP concept and a perspective of some of its
implementation scenarios. The main objective is establishing a link
between Objects in the IFC model from one side and their technical and
commercial attributes at the manufacturer and supplier from the other
side. This should enable multidisciplinary cross-industrial lifecycle
information to be captured by any IFC compatible application. The paper
discusses several scenarios for the implementation of the OIP concept
together with a simple IFC example.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Building information models
The construction industry is working very hard to bridge the gap between its islands of
automation. The efforts have taken many forms e.g. neutral file formats, APIs
(Application Programming Interfaces) and BIMs (Building Information Models). The
latter is expected to provide a means for sharing and exchanging of information. The first
intention towards a Building Information Model started in the mid-1970s by independent
efforts to develop a number of integrated systems, based on a single model that supports
various applications e.g. OXSYS CAD and CEDAR and HARNESS hospital design
systems in England (Eastman 1999). Although it is now more than thirty years later, the
BIM approach is still not a common practice in the AEC industry.
One major problem facing BIMs is the absence of the responsibility for modeling the
construction product and material in a multidisciplinary cross industrial level of
abstraction. It is obvious that architects working on a project that contains thousands of
elements would not have the resources to create a model for each element. They would be
most probably paid for the production of printed drawings and documents rather than
models. It is not only the architect; we can imagine the problem for all the involved
disciplines. The problem is even worse when we consider that these models could be
prqject specific and cannot be used in a product library for similar projects at other
organizations. Most probably this approach would go beyond any return on investment
employed.
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1.2 Product catalogues

The majority of manufacturers, product information brokers and portal websites are
offering online electronic paper versions of the old catalogues using convenient
presentation formats such as PDF and HTML (Augenbroe 1998). Some Internet portal
websites have developed their services to offer online product models. Although this is
considered a big step towards the process of automation of a building information
models, it still has its shortcomings and problems that need to be resolved.
One of the problems is that this approach does not seem to have obvious influence on
the traditional paper based catalogue selection process (off-the-shelf products).
Moreover, there is little evidence of efforts related to studying how designers search for
products, evaluate them and make their selection decision (Shailesh et al 2003). On the
other side of the value chain, it is not clear how can the required multidisciplinary cross
industrial information from the manufacturer and supplier can be captured online,
together with tools that assist queries and decision making processes rather than decision
taking.
A major problem with BIMs is that they become of little use, when the information
provided by the model is insufficient or obsolete e.g. (price or availability of a product)
or when a certain application requires a piece of information that can not be supplied by
the model. More often than not arises the need in the AEC industry for more information
or updates of information about a product. For example, it is argued by researchers like
(Laitinen 1998) that a cost estimate for a prqject is repeated seven times in average.
Furthermore, Value Engineering activities and cost optimization necessitates carrying
out different changes and substitutions of products and materials to the design to reach a
satisfying decision. In addition, the need for multidisciplinary life cycle information
makes it inevitable to need more up to date information about a certain product e.g. the
FM (Facilities Management) discipline is more often than not in need for maintenance
information about a certain product, when the rest of the AEC disciplines have already
left the project.
1.3 The proposed solution
In the coming section, the paper explains a new approach that is envisaged to help
automating the development of a building information model. The author suggests that
the information model should be produced as a part of the construction product itself.
This information model grows with the development of the product e.g. the manufacturer
would be responsible for the technical properties and later the supplier or wholesaler
would be responsible for the dynamic commercial aspects, when it is on sale in the
market. The aggregation of this type of multidisciplinary and cross industrial information
is represented and made available online through the OIP (Object Information Packs).
IFC supported distributed, dynamic & extensible
251
2 OIP SPECIFICATIONS
2.1 Definition
OIP Stands for Object Information Packs. An OIP is a multidisciplinary cross industrial
continually updated pack of information about a construction product or a service, upon
which there is a need to retrieve predefined information at anypoint in the value chain.
This information pack acts as a base unit of information supply to BIMs (Building
Information Models) throughout the buildings overall lifecycle.
2.2 Format
It is produced in a software independent neutral format like ISO 10303 p-21 STEP or
XML, i.e. it enables the transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards from one
party (computer) to another by electronic means with minimum human intervention, i.e.
machine-to-machine language.
2.3 Producer
The OIP has to represent both technical and commercial information of the construction
product. This information is usually produced jointly between the manufacturer from one
side and the supplier, retailer, importer or wholesaler from the other side. This means that
the OIP is finally determined at the point of aggregation of both types of information.
This aggregation or double composition ensures the uniqueness of the OIP as an
identifier of the construction product and enables its dynamic properties, i.e. commercial
properties can be continually updated and the technical properties can be extended. The
final OIP identifier is finally issued by the organization that owns the brand name of the
product regardless where, and by whom it has been manufactured.
2.4 Genesis
The OIP is designed to be built on top of EAN (Einheitliche Artikel Nummer), which is a
type of a GTIN system (Global Trade Item Number). It inherits its well-established
norms for global trading and adds further restrictions and capabilities to suit the
characteristics of the construction industry. The OIP can be mapped (converted) to EAN,
whenever needed.
2.4.1 OIP versus EAN
OIP is a construction oriented global lifecycle identifier that links cross industrial
multidisciplinary information. It is mainly designed to suit the characteristics of the
various procurement systems of the construction industry. On the other hand EAN is
considered to be a product item reference and a check digit. The EAN is a pointer to a
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database (at the EAN local organisation). However, this database does not include
information more than the producers name and contact details.
Both OIP and EAN have a check digit for the validity of the identifier. The OIP goes
beyond this by adding an extra validity check, that checks if the product fits into the
design or not, e.g. if an OIP of a 1.2 m door is linked to an opening of 0.9 m width in the
Building Information Model, this conflict should be detected and the OIP rejected.
OIP provides dynamic lifecycle information. This means that information can be
continually updated. Updates and versioning are two faces of the same coin. Therefore,
OIP allows for versioning. This enables dynamic properties of the product like price and
availability to be continually updated.
At the meantime, there are different priorities and objectives standing behind the EAN
and OIP. Some properties are of greater relevance to commercial trade uses than to
construction uses and vice versa, e.g. tracking and tracing of logistical units and
returnable assets is of a great value for trading. This could still be used in construction for
determining things like the percentage of completion of works and delivery of products to
construction sites and so forth. Although it seems of no use to stick a barcode on a beam
on a construction site, where it will most probably be lost, it still can be useful to read
(scan) the barcode from printed product catalogues and link the OIPs to the BIM in the
design phase. Moreover, the use of new technologies like: programmable mobile phones
with scanners and cameras in future may enhance the effect of an OIP Barcode for on-site
use.
2.5 Degree of granularity
One of the problems facing OIPs is the degree of nesting of elements. In other words, to
what extend would the OIP reference other OIPs of the constituent components. In some
cases like in electromechanical equipment, we can not determine at which level should
the OIP referencing stop. Is it to the screw level, or to the material of the screw. To put
an end to this problem, OIP is designed to reference other construction products and
materials only as a maximum detailing level e.g. a concrete brick may reference cement,
sand and gravel as leaf elements. Other sophisticated construction elements like
electromechanical equipment and so forth are not further referencing their components.
However, there is another ISO Standard (ISO 13584 Plib), which is a STEP-EXPRESS
based standard that is designed specially for this purpose and it is technically feasible to
be referenced from OIPs whenever needed.
2.6 Limitations
OIPs are not aimed by any means to solve the taxonomy problems of the construction
products properties. Thus, the product properties are limited to the attributes and
published property sets of the IFC 2x model (ISO PAS 16793 (lAIntern 2003)). This
enables the exchange of multidisciplinary cross industrial technical properties between
parties beyond national borders without any mis-understanding due to differences in
languages, classification systems or organisational cultures. However, the commercial
properties will remain subject to international trading conventions and standards.
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2.7 An OIP organization

An important task contributing to the success of OIPs is the responsibility of the
management of the OIPs themselves. Things such as numbering and keeping
Figure 21. The structure of the OIP.

records of technical properties of products have to be managed by an international nonaligned organization. Therefore, the main mission statement of the OIP organisation is
the allocation of the OIP technical section and keeping records of technical information
about products in an online database, where it can be accessed at any time by any user.
Furthermore, it may optionally in certain cases give a reference to the brand name holder,
where the dynamic commercial properties of the product reside.
2.8 The design of the OIP
Figure (21) shows that the OIP consists of two main parts; the technical part and the
commercial part. Both of them compose the OIP and formulate it as a global unique
identifier for a construction product, service or material. A product under different brand
names can have one or more OIPs with the same common technical part, but with various
commercial parts. This enables the OIP to represent commercial properties supplied by
the brand name holder in addition to the technical properties provided by the
manufacturer. The technical part is relatively static as the technical properties do not
change but can be extended. On the contrary the commercial aspects like price,
availability and discounts can change dynamically.
2.9 The formulation of the OIP
Figure (22) shows how an OIP is formulated and how it can reference the OIPs of its
constituents. It also shows the combination between the technical and commercial parts
of the OIP Furthermore, it shows the entire relation between the end-user, supplier,
manufacturer and the OIP organisation. It is an example of a simple brick that consists of
cement, sand and gravel. The brick itself has technical properties provided by its
manufacturer. The OIP of the brick further references the technical parts of the OIPs of
its constituents. As a general rule, the OIP is only complete, when its both components
(the technical and commercial parts) are present. The manufacturers or the suppliers have
254
to register the technical properties according to the IFC model and its published property
sets at the OIP Standard Organisations. At the time of conducting this research work, the
EAN keeps in its database only some basic information about the brand name holder, like
contact details. However, it does not offer any commercial properties that belong to any
product. Such properties like availability, price and discounts are best managed by the
commercial organisation itself. Therefore, the OIP organisation can exceptionally include
a link to the brand name holder or commercial organisation to overcome this shortage of
the EAN system.
2.10 The OIP identifier
As it is earlier mentioned, the OIP is built on top of EAN. Hence, the commercial aspects
are encoded in the EAN. However, the EAN item number will be extended to include a
versioning system that enables the dynamic management of commercial information.
The technical part of the OIP is a reference to a pack of information residing at the
OIP organization. This pack of information contains information about the product
according to the attributes and published property sets of the IFC model. It may also
contain
Figure 2-2. The formulation of the

OIP.
255
Figure 2-3. EAN and OIP structures.

optional references to other OIP(s) of leaf elements that form the main product by their
aggregation, e.g. cement for the brick or reinforced concrete.
3 OIP IMPLEMENTATION
This part of the paper describes the implementation of the OIP concept in real life
scenarios, together with a simple example using a limited number of product attributes to
enable the reader to follow the logic behind the OIP idea. Before the example is
presented, the abstract concept of the OIP is clarified.
3.1 The basic concept
The whole idea can be simplified as a mapping and merging from two source models (S1
and S2) to a target model (T1). In Figure (3-1) S1 represents the OIP organization, where
all multidisciplinary technical information resides. S2 represents the supplier or brand
name holder of the product; where all the commercial properties reside. T1 represents the
client or the user, where it is envisaged to be a group of AEC applications built on top of
the IFC model.
There are many different scenarios where the OIP concept could be implemented.
However, this paper focuses on two main scenarios. First is the traditional way of using
paper based catalogues or CD-ROMs. The OIP reference (identifier) can be instantiated
by the CAD package or by adhoc software. Lifecycle information can then be retrieve
using the OIP identifier and the required data can be mapped and merged to the IFC
model at the clients side (through a distributed network application).
The second scenario is a more complex one. It depends on the capture of the required
object parameters from the CAD/IFC model. These parameters are
256
Figure 3-1. The OIP implementation.

used to carry out a parametric search (attribute based) versus a descriptive search in the
first scenario. This can be achieved by using SQL, bcXML(Tolaman et al), or EXPRESSX. The result of this search is a list of products that satisfy the search parameters. This list
can be sorted according to the value of any selection attribute, e.g. price, sound
absorption coefficient, fire resistance and so forth.
A step forward in this approach would be the selection and appraisal process i.e.
decision making versus taking. This can be done by conducting a virtual experiment
under simulated real conditions, where the product will be performing (i.e. providing full
context conditions). The experiment is repeated several times on the short listed products.
Each time a product from the candidate products is substituted, tested and ranked
according to the performance in the virtual experiment.
By using this approach the user can determine a set of weighted performance
indicators that represent the full context in which the product would be used. This
coincides to a great extend with the principals of TQM (Total Quality Management);
which is quality of performance rather than specifications (Nelson 1996). Any need for
extra or up to date information should be reached through the OIP unique identifier.
3.1.1 Example
By looking at a simple example for a door (IfcDoor), a door is selected according to the
first scenario from an electronic catalogue from a portal web site (Figure 3-2). It is
transferred through a drag and drop environment to the CAD application, where the OIP
is instantiated to the doors Tag in the IFC attributes (Figure 3-3). The door in the IFC
257
model consists of two main parts: the Lining and the panel (Figure 3-4). All the attributes
of the door and its property sets can
Figure 3-2. Selection of a door from a

portal.
be reached through the OIP. The IFC published property sets of the door include things
like the operation direction, overall size, operation properties (swing), material, panel and
lining detailed properties, door common properties like: Infiltration, Thermal
Transmittance, Fire, Security and Acoustic Ratings and so forth. These properties might
be needed in later design or facility management stages by different AEC disciplines.
Access to this information should be enabled through the OIP. If at any time the need
for more information by any discipline arises, the product OIP can be accessed and the
property is selected and merged to the IFC model at the client side. If the product needs
to be changed for any reason, the same parameters could be used to conduct a new
parametric search. This can also be done as a result of a commercial property change e.g.
price or availability updates. If the product needs to be substituted with another product
then a new OIP unique identifier substitutes the old one and so forth.
Figure 3-3. The instantiation of the

OIP in CAD.
Figure 3-4. IfcDoor panel and lining.
258
259
4 CONCLUSION
This paper has introduced a new concept for the automation of the process of establishing
a Building Information Model. This concept is called OIP. It depends on the IFC platform
specification (ISO/PAS 16739) and EAN for the transfer, merging and mapping of
technical and commercial data of the construction product. This mechanism enables the
continuous up to date distributed communication between product models and their
attributes, which reside by the manufacturer or supplier. This approach is envisaged to
satisfy the need of information by the AEC disciplines during the products overall life
cycle.
Such strong standardization concepts do have their impacts on creativity of the design
process. Researchers like (Howard 2001) argue that such standardization concepts limit
the freedom of design as the alphabet limits literary expressions. On the other hand, every
design is a redesign, and by applying this concept, we could foresee the window of
opportunities that such a new concept can open.
However, it may also have dramatic impacts on procurement of construction products
and the process of automation of generation of documents i.e. it may enhance all the
benefits of the Building Information Model and simulation applications.
Finally, it should be mentioned that this research work did not try to tackle the
taxonomy, languages, cross-organizational and cultural differences of the construction
product attributes and properties. It adhered to the attributes and published property sets
that are defined and published by the IAI in the IFC2x documentation. At the mean time,
queries can also be conducted using SQL, EXPRESS-X, bcXML and so forth.
REFERENCES
Augenbroe, Godfried. 1998. Building Product Information Technology, White Paper. Atlanta:
Georgia Institute of Technology. Available from http://www.arch.gatech.edu/crc/ProductInfo/
EAN 2004. The Global Language of Business, EAN International. Available from http://www.eanint.org/
Eastman, C.M. 1999. Building Product Models: Computer Environments Supporting Design and
Construction, CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida 33431, USA.
ISBN 0-8493-0295-5.
Howard, R. 2001. Classification of Building Information-European & IT systems. In Construction
Information Technology, International conference: IT in Construction in Africa, pp. 91 to 9
14. CSIR, Building and Construction Technology.
IAIntern 2003 IAI-Industrie Allianz fr Interoperabilitt, Nr. 1/03, Januar 2003. pp. 7.
ISO 10303-11 EXPRESS 1994. Industrial automation systems and integrationProduct data
representation and exchangepart 11: Description methods: The EXPRESS language reference
manual.
ISO 10303-21 STEP 2002. Industrial automation systems and integrationProduct data
representation and exchangepart 21: Implementation methods: Clear text encoding for
exchange structure.
Laitinen, J. 1998. Model Based Construction Process Management. PhD Thesis, Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Nelson, Charles 1996. TQM and ISO 9000 for Architects and Designers, McGraw-Hill.
260
Shailesh, J. and Augenbroe, G. 2003. A methodology for supporting product selection from ecatalogues Journal of Information Technology in Construction, Vol. 8 (2003), pp. 383.
Tolaman, F.Rees, R. & Bhms, M. 2002. Building and Construction Mark-up language (bcXML):
The C2B/ B2C Scenario. Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
Workman, Brad. 2003. BIM (Building Information Model): Does the Building Industry Really
Need to Start Over? A response from Bentley to Autodesks BIM proposal for the future.,
Bentley.
Product definition in collaborative building

design and manufacturing environment
H.Oumeziane & J.C.Bocquet
Ecole Centmle Paris, Chtenay-Malabry, France
P.Deshayes
Ecole Centrale Lille, Lille, France
ABSTRACT: The aim of this work is to bring closer the actors of building
design and manufacturing process around a standard and commune
building product definition. In the actual context a real problem of the
building product definition exists: each actor has a specific point of view
not necessary the same with the other actors. As a solution to this problem
the paper proposes a conceptual model of the building as product using a
systemic approach, and UML as formal modelling language. It constitutes
the continuity of another works presented in the ITC@EDU workshop
entitled systemic approach for building design modelling.
1 INTRODUCTION
The paper is about a conceptual model of building product in collaborative design and
manufacturing environment, based on a systemic approach and formalised using UML
language. It evolves on three principal parts; the first part describes the building design
and manufacturing context within actors interoperability. The second one focuses on the
conceptual modelling as tool of interoperability, and the last one consists on the proposals
of a formal conceptual model.
2 CONTEXT OF BUILDING DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING
ACTIVITY
In spite of the several actors concerned with the building design and manufacturing, the
building sector remains one the rare fields excluding tools and methods dedicated to
collaborative work. Nevertheless, it is strongly depending on the legal framework specif
ic to each country.
2.1 Legal context
In the current European context of building design and manufacturing, buildings are
subject to a particular cutting of the life cycle regulated by the law. This legal framework
constitutes a privileged instrument of management of the activities related to the building
262
sector (Ameziane 2001). The MOP law (Maitrise dOeuvre Publique) which is specific to
France, codifies the missions of each actor intervening in the building design and
manufacturing process (DA 2000) (similar laws exist in each country).
In this cutting, the project of construction is born from an intention which expresses a
need. This need is formalised by a program which expresses the requirements of the
customer. Based on this program, a draft including conceptual solutions is then developed
by actors of design.
Starting from this stage, a Preparatory Project Summary is created and integrated into
an administrative file for a building authorization. The development of the PPS will work
out the Preparatory Project Detailed which includes the technical solutions evaluated by
the partners of design (office of: structure studies, electric studies, etc.). This work leads
to the realization of the Tender Documents to the Companies composed of the Plans of
Execution of the Project and the Technical Specifications detailed.
The reception of the project is the last stage in the life cycle cutting; it comes to mark
the completion of the project. The building enters then in the phase of exploitation for
which it was intended (Sahnouni 1999).
2.2 Towards a collaborative design
The legal framework presented above constitutes a kind of method which influences the
production of the building. In nowadays other methods of design initially conceived for
the industrial sector come to influence the building sector. They are not always adapted to
it (Design for manufacturing, systemic production, etc.) and only few of them can
integrate it, in particularly: the concurrent engineering (Bignon et al. 1998).
The tendency today is for this new method; which gives a margin of flexibility for the
companies of building. These last are directed for their designs towards the co-operation
and the exchange of information, around a co-operative process of building production.
This co-operation is organized on the basis of information systems. It allows joining
different knowhow on the same problem, in order to produce a solution. This solution
would be only the compromise among the various points of view (of the architect, the
engineers, the contractor, and of course of the customer). This method seems to be
adapted to the building sector requirements.
Concurrent engineering is the normal evolution to which the building sector should
evolve. The continuation of this paper will take for objective to satisfy this need and will
deal only with tools related to this method.
2.3 The conceptual modelling as a background of interoperability
A great number of works about conceptual models in France were initiated (BOX, GSD,
MOB, JUICE, TECTON, etc.), but also in the international area (ATLAS, COMBINES,
MISSED, etc.), with a principal objective concerned on the description and the
development of data building product models and building production process models
(Ameziane 1998).
These works were variously based on research laboratories from the academic world,
with the assistance of institutional and industrial partners implied in the manufacture of
hardware and the edition of software.
263
The most important international action for answering the problem of interoperability
with a conceptual model in nowadays is the project of the International Alliance for
Interoperability IAI. It consists on the IFC model (Industrial Foundation Classes). The
IFC model is different from all the precedent models in measurement that it proposes an
extremely detailed structure of the building product (Billon 1999). This level of detail is
justified by the fact that the IFC are a whole of resources, thought as a support to the
building software publishers.
The IFC propose the modelling of the building life cycle, structured according to four
levels:
level 1: four general phases are identified: feasibility, design, construction, and
exploitation of the building.
level 2: each preceding phase breaks up into a whole of secondary phases, organized
according to a chronological order (the phase of design for example breaks up into:
programming, diagrammatic design, detailed design, documents of execution, tender
documents.).
level 3: each one of these secondary phases is declined in a series of chained processes,
which correspond to the various actions of the designers during the project. They
establish continuity in the cycle of design.
level 4: finally each process breaks up into a whole of activities. Each one of it is
associated to a diagram, in which are described the tasks to carry out, also indicated in
the model by methods of design.
It is to note that these works have relatively close ambitions. It is question of facilitating
the communication of information relating to the building product among the actors using
a conceptual model. The principal idea in this tool is to model the building product as a
whole of objects evolving in a process of production. It is important to know that this
vision is very restrictive of the reality.
3 A SYSTEMIC APPROACH FOR BUILDING DESIGN MODELLING
Going beyond the actual cutting in the building design and manufacturing process (by a
conceptual model) means first of all the reconstitution of an informational continuity in
the building life cycle. We propose to intervene on this cycle according to a systemic
approach regarding the world of the building as being not a multitude of distinct elements
(as in the actual models), but as a single system integrating a set of components in
interaction (Le Moigne 1977).
The building system is the set of human, material, and immaterial components
intervening in the activities related to the life cycle. The system limits are the terminals
characterizing the life cycle beginning and end. The system inputs are data characterizing
these components and the outputs are the system levels of production (Oumeziane 2004).
Our paper untitled A systemic approach for building design modelling presented for
the ITC@EDU workshop introduces in four pages a conceptual model of the building
system proposed instead of the actual traditional life cycle. Based on these results, the
present paper proposes a building product definition in the building system.
264
3.1 From the building system to the building product

The installation of a systemic framework of building design and manufacturing includes
the definition of the building system, but also the definition of the building product
produced in this system. Is it a set of different objects? Is it a set of spaces? Is it a service
offered in a defined space? These questions show well that there is a basic problem in the
building production related to the product definition.
The actual conceptual models introduced in this paper, consider in the major part of
the cases, the building as an assembly of objects (problem of limitation of objects), and a
whole of rules defining the relations between these objects.
3.2 Relativity of the product building definition
In practice, it is very current to relate several and different definitions to only one
building product. It is possible to distinguish two categories of views able to define the
building product. A category of actorsproduct view and another one of stages-product
view.
In the first category, the product is related to an actor view. In general the point of
view of the economist participant to a project constitutes a compromise among the actors.
The building for the economist is seen as a set of objects and batches of objects. The
other actors have their own point of view. The architect for example sees the building
according to his personal convictions and according to his artistic tendencies. He
considers the building as a whole of full and vacuums, a whole of spaces served and
spaces given a service. An engineer of structure has a view considering the building as a
mechanical model, and so one (AFITEP 2000).
In the second category, the product is related to a stage of the life cycle. It is an
infrastructure, a superstructure, an envelope, and so on until it becomes a finished
construction assigned to a service.
In the continuity of the approach undertaken (system approach), all the points of view
of actors contributing to the production, must be taken into account and all the stages of
the life cycle. The definition given to the building product is in this case variable
evolving in a set of actors and stages.
From this fact a first conclusion can be done: the definition of the building product is
relative respectively, to the actors point of view and to the stages of the building life
cycle. It cannot be restricted to only one actor point of view or only one stage of
production. The product building becomes then definable on a set of views and different
stages; it is variable.
3.3 The building product variable in the building system
The building product is the variable component on the set of the stages of the state of
design (the state of design is the state of the building system including all the stages of:
feasibility, programme, APP, APD, etc.). In this state of the building system, the output
consists on a wallet of documents (plans, etc.) representing a first form of the building
product definition (Oumeziane 2004).
265
Figure 1. The semantic of the building

product definition.
The design in this state of the system is organised according to a representation of
three referential: methodological, conceptual and normative (Oumeziane 2004). Defining
the building on this base means give a semantic definition taking in account the actors
point of view represented in the referential (Fig. 1).
We go then from an ineffective and traditional representation of modelling built
around building objects and their processes of realization to an effective and more
adapted representation built around referential.
The structure of referential frames which was set up must permit to define the building
product compared to a semantics built around several actors point of view (Martin 2001).
It permits to identify the product by particular characteristics established in the course of
production in the first state of the system (state of design). However, the semantic
definition obtained should be completed by a syntactic one. It is important to remember
that it is a question of a systemic approach where it exist two types of equality between
the components, a syntactic equality, and a semantic one (Giambiasi 2001).
In a semantic equality it is possible to define two different elements in their form but
similar in their function as equivalents. As example a chair used to break a window, and a
hammer, are thus equivalent in this case, they are used for the same function.
Our first definition of the building product in the preceding figure must integrate fully
this aspect of semantic equality. A syntactic equality considers equivalent only similar
elements. The equality hammerchair becomes false from a syntactic point of view.
In order to define a syntactic framework for the semantic definition proposed above,
we will be interested in the formal systems. A formal system is a system with only
syntactic equality and rigorous reasoning (Johnson 1970). (In the semantic definition of
our product, the reasoning is not rigorous, because the actors reason by analogy,
comparison, induction, etc. In the rigorous reasoning there is only one rule to reason:
deductibility).
266
Figure 2. Syntactic structure of the

building product definition.
Following this approach the building product can be compared to a number n
pertaining to a mathematical set. For example an unspecified construction, can be
assimilate to a global set of products (general product of consumption), to a typological
set (product from the same family), to a die set (product of the same constructive die) and
to a components set from a purely formal point of view.
267
Compared to the mathematic construction of sets, a number n in a formal definition

can be seen as pertaining to a general set R including all the real numbers, to sets K, J,
and to set N including the natural numbers. Four sets of definition are obtained then,
overlapping from the smallest to the largest, constituting a syntactic framework in which
is defined the variable component the building product (Fig. 2).
Accordingly, the building product cannot have any possible semantic in this purely
formal construction. The idea to present the building as element of socialization, element
founder of a culture, etc., is thus not taken into account in this definition.
An undivided component of the building (beam, column, window, furniture, etc.) will
be able to be defined on the fourth set, an element of structure on all the sets except the
components set, a particular kind of building on the two first sets only, and a whole of
buildings on the first set only.
3.4 A conceptual model of the building product
By associating the syntactic framework to the semantic one, it becomes possible to
characterize perfectly the production of the building system, a building product.
According to the conceptual model obtained, the building system will be able to
produce, with the same means and referential tools, a whole of buildings in the global
level, specific buildings in the typological level, structures of building in the die level,
and even components of building in the last level, with the same objectivity and the same
architectural vision that will be define in our referential framework. Each level will
indeed utilize a methodological, conceptual and normative referential as shown in Figure
3 next page.
A house will be defined in this model as: a whole of products developed in different
trades (electric components, air-conditioning, floor covering, etc.) taking an architectural
semantic conceived according to a referential framework (methodological, conceptual
and normative). It will be defined also on a set larger compared to a constructive die:
wood, metal, etc but always with a specific semantic to this level defined by the
referential framework. In the third level the house is defined as a building distinguished
by its function, extremely different from another type of building. Finally it is defined in
a set which contains all the precedents and allows making a distinction compared to the
physique and social environment of the house.
It is possible to define also in this diagram a simple component of a building, initially
as a unified product, then as pertaining to a constructive die, then to a type of building,
and finally as product influencing the external environment of the building product.
The informal model obtain allows to produce a building or just a component of
building according to a semantic built around referential framework and a syntax
structured by sets of appurtenance. The next paragraph is about a formal representation of
this model adapted to data processing implementation.
3.5 Formal model of building product and UML capacities
UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a means of expressing object models by
disregarding their implementation; that means that the model provided by UML is valid
for any programming language. UML is a language relying on a meta-model, a model of
268
higher levels which defines the elements of UML (usable concepts) and their semantics
(their significance and modes of use) (Fowler 2002).
As first results the Figure 4 is a synthesis of the paper presented in the ITC@EDU
workshop and this paper. It consists on a model representing the building product classes
and the building system composed of the actors classes, the tasks classes assigned to the
actors and the tools classes used for that. It includes also the representation of the
building system states, its output and the referential used in the state of design
(Oumeziane 2004).
Figure 3. A building product

definition.
Figure 4. A formal model of the

building product.
269
4 CONCLUSION
Setting up a framework of interoperability in the building sector should passes initially by
a conceptual level of modelling. The various current models which are used as a basis for
the collaborative design deal with only a part of the reality of the building product. These
models reduce the building product to an assembly of physical objects. The paper
proposed through a product definition more general and more complete taking base on a
systemic approach and formalized in a multi-referential language UML.
This work constitutes the beginning of a model more complex of the system
building including the roles of actors, the design methods, etc. We project to present in
our ftiture publications the detailed of the referential framework proposed (conceptual,
normative and methodological) in our building product definition.
REFERENCES
AFITEP, 2000. Le management de projet, principes et pratique. Paris: AFNOR.
Ameziane, 1998. Structuration et reprsentation dinformation dans un contexte coopratif de
production du btiment. PHD thesis, Ecole dArchitecture de Luminy.
Ameziane, 2001. Building Production Management systems in a cooperative work, IEPM 2001,
Quebec City, Canada.
Bignon et al., 1998. Evolution de la mitrise duvre, pratique coopratives et informatique
rpartie. Confrence Mieux Produire ensemble. Plan construction et architecture. Nancy.
Billon, 1999. Comprendre les concepts des IFC. Dcrire son projet en vue des changes. Paris:
cahier du CSTB.
dA, 2000. La loi MOP mode demploi. Darchitecture. Paris: SEA editions.
Fowler, 2002. UML. Paris: Campus Press Poche.
Giambiasi, 2001. Dynamique des systmes. Course of Master in MCAO. Marseille:
PolytechMarseille.
Johnson, 1970. Thorie, conception et gestion des systmes. Paris: Dunod.
Le Moigne, 1977. Thorie du systme gnral. Paris: PUF.
Martin, 2001. Process design modelling through methodological integration. PHD thesis. Paris:
Ecole Centrale Paris.
Oumeziane, 2004. An adapted software environment for building design and manufacturing.
IDMME2004. Bath City.
Oumeziane, 2004. Systemic approach for building design. ITC@EDU conference. Istanbul.
Implementation of the ICT in the Slovenian

AEC sector
T.Pazlar, M.Dolenc & J.Duhovnik
University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: The AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction)
sector is proverbially marked as traditional, not progressive oriented
towards the new technology implementation. In order to determine the
punctuality of the stated prejudice and evaluate the sector ICT
(Information and Communication Technologies) implementation, a
unified European state-of-the-art analysis has been made. One of the
prodAEC, a two year pan European program, deliverables has been used
for gathering the relative information. This paper presents the
comprehensive ICT implementation analysis of the Slovenian AEC sector
with structuring the results in different sub areas.
1 INTRODUCTION
People involved in the construction informatics share a common objective irrespective to
the terms used for their work description. Supporting of all participants in the
construction industry in their individual tasks, and even more, in their synergistic
collaboration should strive towards the optimal design, construction, operation,
maintenance and removal in less time and with less cost. The knowledge contributed is
presented in the forms of product and process models, tools and representations serving
all participants (teams, individuals) in the construction process. All general estimations
regarding to the debated issues emphasizes the huge difference between
academia/research sphere and practice, quite matching the mentioned general public
prejudice.
Before making any accuracy estimation or prediction, the state-of-the-art analysis is
required. Several investigations referring to the ICT implementation in the AEC sector
were carried out (IT Barometer, SIENE Network and others), but most of them were time
and geographically limited. Consequently, a conception to overcome the described
restraints with a new international joint research has occurred.
2 PRODAEC PROGRAM
2.1 Program objectives
The Fifth European Framework Program sets out priorities to the technical development
and implementation of the user-friendly information technologies. These priorities have
Implementation of the ICT in the slovenian
271
been associated in the IST program (Information Society Technologies) on the basis of a
set of common criteria reflecting the major concerns of increasing industrial
competitiveness and the quality of life for European citizens in a global information
society. ProdAEC, a two-year pan European IST program, main objective is to set up and
sustain a thematic network for product and project data exchange, e-work, e-business in
architecture, engineering and construction.
Program main motivations and goals are:
to become the primary source of information for standards on data exchange, e-work
and e-business in the AEC/FM (Architecture Engineering
Table 1. ProdAEC founding members.
Member
Country
e-mail
AIDICO*
Spain
http://www.adico.es/
UNINOVA
Portugal
http://www.uninova.pt/
VTT
Finland
http://www.vtt.fi/
CSTB
France
http://www.cstb.fr/
Hass+Partner
Germany
http://www.de-hass-partner.de/
Taylor Woodrow
UK
http://www.taywood.co.uk/
STABAU
Netherlands
http://www.stabau.nl/
TUD
Germany
http://www.tu-dresden.de/
UCBL
France
http://www.univ-lyonl.fr/
ULFGG
Slovenia
http://www.ikpir.fgg.uni-lj.si/
Cervenka
Czech
http://www.cervenka.cz/
BIC
Italy
http://www.bicnet.it/
ANTARA
Spain
http://www.antara.net/
AEC3
UK
http://www.aec3.com/
* Project coordinator.
Construction/Facilities Management) sector for Europe;

to increase SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) competitiveness through the adoption
and implementation of standards, thus positioning SMEs at the same level of
opportunity as large companies;
to encourage progressive harmonization of overlapping standards;
to support and bring together national, local and industrial initiatives promoting the
development and use of standards in the AEC/FM sector;
to provide an extensive process-based overview of project modeling standards;
to stimulate technology and know-how transfer from knowledge centers to the industry;
to improve both working methods and peoples qualifications by using standard
practices.
272
2.2 Program product and services

Comprehensive prodAEC network potential users range includes industrial associations,
software vendors, research community, standardization bodies, public administration and
AEC industry in general.
Project deliverables are gathered into four products and services:
1. Web AEC IT Project database
National and European database of IT related project on the AEC/FM sector
incorporating sensible search and filter engine query. Details and scope,
scheduling, financing data, description, objectives, results, areas and partnership
info are available for each project.
2. Standard-to-Process Matrix
Service incorporates a reference framework for whole construction process with
the identification of actors and their associated role. ProdAEC extended the
process matrix to incorporate the concepts of modeling, data exchange and ebusiness standards.
3. Informative on AEC e-business
An online service providing e-business information in terms of e-marketplaces,
software tools and public e-services and presenting the general figures about
debated topics.
4. Benchmarking Service
The need for online benchmarking service, designed for the ICT exploitation and
awareness level in the European AEC sector has been clearly marked in previous
projects industrial requirements initiatives.
3 PRODAEC BENCHMARKING SERVICE

3.1 Benchmarking concepts
Benchmarking in general presents a process of identifying, learning and adapting
outstanding practices and processes from any organization anywhere in the world in order
to help an organization improve its overall performance. The discussed service aims are
more specific:
it concerns people active or linked to the European AEC sector (industry and
government agencies, sector associations, research and consulting organization and
software vendors);
compare the relative position in the ICT use & awareness to the companies of the same
profile/ segment;
probe the views of different respondent groups;
relieve defining an appropriate investment in the knowledge acquisition & technology
evolving;
identify lacks in the ICT awareness level and implementation at industrial level;
keep the track of the future requirements and sector evolution.
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The Benchmarking service is available online, absolutely free of charge. All categories of
enterprises in the AEC sector are covered with the unified questionnaire and everyone
involved in the sector is welcome to participate in the enquiry. Its dynamic makes the
service unique. After filling in the basic identity questionnaire, users receive the
username and password via email. An immediate automatic feedback is generated in the
personalized reports form after filling in the questionnaire. Ensuring the report
coherency, only companies with the similar profile are used in the report generation. The
dynamic system allows participants to revisit and check the results anytime and
anywhere. Each participant has to fill in the questionnaire periodically ensuring the
automatic database update. Therefore, the company evolution can also be monitored. The
benefits of the benchmarking service are mutual. Answering the questionnaire is
rewarded with the personalized reports where the competitor's data are offered without
any special effort of collecting them.
The industry participants can use the reports to define appropriate investment in the
knowledge acquisition and technology evolution within the company. The government
agencies, sector association, research and consulting organization can obtain even more
benefits:
identify lacks in the ICT awareness level and implementation in industry;
updated knowledge about the actual awareness level and status of the ICT in AEC
sector;
identify the training needs;
to collect data for designing future innovation public policies;
get valuable data influencing software product development strategies per country
(and/or) per sector.
The service requires no special maintenance since the operation is completely automated.
Maintenance with additional costs would appear only when modifying or preparing new
questionnaire.
If the users find benchmarking service useful, they will check the results regularly and
therefore provide the requisite answers for the database. Although the prodAEC is a twoyear program, the zero operation costs could keep the network and tools developed
continue in the future.
3.2 The questionnaire
The inquiry based methodology covering the ICT, drafting, modeling and e-commerce is
used in benchmarking. Semantically, the questionnaire is divided into four parts:
A: Company information (company profile, size and turnover, participant individual
datainvolvement, etc).
B: Use of the computerization, modeling, e-commerce, EDMS (electronic data
management system).
C: Classification, exchange standards, reference libraries.
D: Training, organizational and human issues.
The questionnaire is available in English, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Czech, Slovenian,
Spanish, Italian and German language. Enquiry generally takes 20 minutes to complete.
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3.3 The benchmarking service promotion

In order to assure appropriate startup enquiry database, the intensive project/service
demonstration has been required. University of Ljubljana, for example, put a lot of effort
in the benchmarking service presentation. Various grips were used:
scientific paper about prodAEC project has been published in the Slovenian Civil
Engineering Journal;
personal email invitations has been sent to all members of the Civil Engineering
Chamber and to all employed in the academia and research institutions;
prodAEC presentation at the Slovenian Civil Engineering Cluster workshop.
The intensive benchmarking promotion helped us to establish the most comprehensive,
but not quite satisfying database as presented in Chapter 5.
4 AEC SECTOR GENERAL STATISTIC
More than 26 million workers are involved in the European AEC sector: 28.1% of the
industrial employment is dispersed in 2.4 million enterprises. Over 97% of them are SME
(small or medium enterprises) with less than 20 employees and 93% with less than 10
workers involved. Short term (generally just single project) collaboration increases the
AEC sector crumbling. Consequently, even the biggest European construction enterprises
cannot take over the market leadership role since their share does not exceed 5%.
Figure 1. Person in paid employment

in the European Union (construction
sector only).
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Figure 2. Person in paid employment

in Slovenia (construction sector only).
The Slovenian AEC sector does not defers much from the European. The enterprises
percentage is a bit lower (25.8%), but the sector still remains the biggest industrial
employer with more than 140.000 people involved. The sector is even more crumbled
than the European: 95% of SME employs less than 10 people and 98.4% of them with
less than 25 employees. The average enterprise has only 3.4 workers employed (including
the owners).
Further, Table 2 and Table 3 present some relevant statistical data referring to the
Slovenian AEC sector.
The person in paid employment increased in 19932000 for only 22%, but the value of
construction put in place increased enormously (4.2 factor). The
Table 2. Review of the Slovenian construction industry development.
Year
Enterprises*
Employees
Value** (mio euros)
1993
1532
31722
452
2000
2608
40841
1680
* Number of enterprises and other organizations.

** Value of construction put in place.
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Table 3. Nominal indices of the value of construction put in place, March 2004.
Time
III 2004
III 2004
III 2004
Period
II 2004
III 2003
III 2000
Value
111.6
109.9
109.4
National Motorway Construction Program that started in the beginning of the nineties had
an important influence on incensement. The indices of the value of construction put in
place shows the promising prognosis.
5 ENQUIRY RESULTS
5.1 General information
The inquiry results are based on the responses (43) having been collected in the
benchmarking service until April 2004. Although University of Ljubljana put a lot of
efforts in the Benchmarking service promotion, the response was under all expectations.
Since we do not know the exact number of people familiar with the inquiry, it is
impossible to estimate the percentage of responses. Generally, the response in
comparable surveys when informing the potential participants with e-mail message is
very low1015% in IT Barometer (Samuelson, 2002). Evidently, it is hard to persuade
the target e-mail recipients about the mutual benefits of such service. All observations
and conclusions as the result of the prodAEC Benchmarking service presented in this
paper are therefore based on a limited population.
The equal participant role is presumed in the results analysis. No answer weighting is
necessary. More participants foreseen from the big companies will compensate the large
number of those employed in the small enterprises.
5.2 Part A: Company and user profile
First part of the questionnaire contains the essential questions for creating the image
about the participants and furthermore for the inquiry results filtering.
As expected, most of the answers (54%) came from the design offices. Presumably
they were the best informed about the Benchmarking service. The low ICT
implementation in the AEC sector is usually referring to the constructionthe participant
percentage (10%) probably confirms this estimation. The share marked as other
presents the answers from the research/academia institutions. No feedback (not a single
answer) from the Public administration was considerable disappointment.
After taking into the consideration the crumbliness of the AEC sector we can expect
the high percentage (almost 50%) of enquiry participants employed in the small
enterprises (<=10 employed). The 25% share of the medium-big companies (51250
people employed) justified our assumption about the unnecessary answer weighting.
Since there are only two construction companies in Slovenia with more than 500 people
employed, their participation share (3%) is also anticipated.
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The answers about the annual turnover can be linked to the answers about the
enterprise size. More than 50% of them have the turnover less than 0.5 mio euros. If we
set the limit to the 5 mio euros, more than 90% of survey participants are captured in the
analysis.
Figure 4 presents the enquiry participants role in the enterprise. Since the participants
from the smaller enterprises are commonly involved in more than one area of interest,
they have picked up more than one answer and automatically weighted the area
importance. Generally, the collected response presents mostly the architects and
engineers involved in the design, construction and project development and partly
operation.
The first paragraph assumption about the inquiry participant role in the AEC sector is
confirmed with the answers about undertaking work location. More than 80% of
participants usually undertake their work in the main or area office instead of on-site.
5.3 Part B: Technological infrastructure
The first step in the computerization, modeling, e-commerce, EDMS usage evaluation is
the technological infrastructure implementation.
Internet and e-mail are the most accepted modern ICT in the AEC sector. Every
participant has access to the both technologies, but only two thirds use them. Similar
results are valid for the CAD system usage too.
It is difficult to understand why 32% of people who owns the digital photography
equipment do not use it. We are certain that this technology usage will increase rapidly in
next year or two.
Telephone and video conferences with the result of 15% and 12% are not so
disseminate. The usage percentage is much lower than the ownership in both cases and
indicates that users dont find those two types of technologies very useful. Presumably,
the main cause can be found in the technical difficulties usually present in the conference
usage (like low band width, etc).
Figure 3. Company profile.
278
Figure 4. Areas of involvement.

Further we investigated the area and level of computerization Three answers were offered
referring to the usage: low <20%, partly 20% <60% and high >60. The bookkeeping
and invoicing presents the areas with the highest estimated use of computerization. More
than 45% indicated their usage as high. The bills of quantities, costs, budgeting and
project management closely follows with 30%. The computerization level in building
elements, civil engineering elements, building services (HVAC), and construction
reaches up to 25%. Consequently, the enquiry participants can be divided into two
groups: users with the high level (one quarter) and users with the low level of usage
(three quarters), regarding to the answers about their computerization usage. Other
areasbuilding elements, environmental impact, estimating, facilities management,
health & safety, project development are very low ranked (below 10% high usage). The
partly usage of computerization (20%60%) in all areas except planning, scheduling,
product catalogues & details and project management is also below 10%. A simple
conclusion can be obtained: If the users have technology, they use it.
The most common software tools used in all areas are the office software. Special
software tools are used mostly in the bookkeeping, invoicing, planning & scheduling,
project management, costs, budgeting and bills of quantities. 2D and 3D CAD application
are common only in the building elements & services, civil engineering elements and in
construction. Low data exchange ratio can be concluded. 2D CAD systems are still a
preferred choice for almost two thirds of actual users.
One of enquiry intentions is also an estimation of the ICT developments in the near
future. The most concerning fact obtained from the Figure 5 is the lack of specific plans
referring to the further e-business application usage. The market pressure should be
established in order to ensure the new technologies implementation. The current state-ofthe-art showed no such pressure (35%). Only the customers (30%) are forcing
participants to adopt e-business solutions. Surprisingly, almost no pressure comes from
the public authorities.
The opposite proposal, to move from traditional to the e-business methods, can put in
danger 10% of established partnerships.
One third of the participants found out less costs, time and errors (most important
benefit), process simplicity and fewer errors as the main benefits of the e-technologies
regarding to the account/finance area.
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Figure 5. Technological infrastructure.
Figure 6. Plans for the ICT

investments.
Figure 7. Level of awareness.

E-technologies in procurement, commerce and enterprise resource planning do not
currently present such benefits. This estimation can be put under question mark since the
applications use percentage is low and therefore cannot reflect the real benefits. The
participants also do not estimate the e-technologies as an important factor in assuring the
new customers and in loyalty increase.
The level of awareness in the modern technologies in the AEC sector is insufficient.
None of the answers
280
Figure 8. Awareness and usage of

drafting and data modeling standards.
Figure 9. Awareness and usage of

digital data capture, logistics and
automation technologies.
Figure 10. Training methods.

(EDI and private networks, XML, electronic commerce, mobile devices and remove
connections to software tools, electronic marketplaces, specific standards for AEC,
electronic services of private companies for AEC, electronic signature and digital
certificates) reaches more than 50%. Extremely low is the awareness percentage in the
AEC standards. The use of the described technologies is also poor (below 10%). The only
exceptions are digital certificates and electronic signature with the 20% usage. Those two
technologies will assure the necessary security for other applications (electronic
commerce, etc.). Solving the security
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Figure 11. ICT effect on enterprise

operations and job roles.
problem will increase not just the level of awareness, but also the level of usage in
discussing areas.
The cost of the software solutions presents the mai obstacle (22%) for adopting ebusiness in the enterprises. The second group of barriers includes the dependence of
proprietary solutions, expensive external know how, lack of available know how inside
the company and poor adequacy of solutions to the industry needs are all ranked with
10% each. The lack of trust in the available technology and the workers/partners
resistance (max. 5% each) does not present important obstacle.
The overwhelming share of participants (more than 80%) does not have any plans
regarding to the EDMS (Electronic Data Management Systems). Where used, systems are
usually accessed via LAN or ADSL.
5.4 Part C: Standards
Most of the classification systems stated in the questionnaire are completely unknown to
the Slovenian AEC sector. No one uses them and no one plans to use them. The
participants are acquainted only with the existence of Building 90, Landscape Filling
Index, CAWS, European Waste Catalogue andNational Green Specification. The
awareness in each case does not exceed 5%.
The reference libraries implementation analysis presents similar results. Only few of
the stated libraries (AEC/ Bricsnet, Architects Standard Catalogue, BertelsmannSpringer,
COIB, Emap, Fraunhofer Informationszentrum Raum und Bau) are known to the enquiry
participants, but no one uses them.
The awareness and usage of the drafting and data modeling standards (Figure 8)
reflects the state-of-the-art on the CAD systems dissemination. AutoDesk software is
most widely used and the figures presenting the .dwg and .dxf format were expected. The
GDL and IGES standards are also known. Surprisingly low awareness about IFC and
Cimsteel standards is probably connected with predominant 2D modeling.
A general lack of awareness can be perceived in the electronic trading technologies
including the digital data capture, logistics and automation technologies. Only the
electronic data interchange (EDI), hand held digital data capture and XML are used.
Barcodes, transducers and already stated technologies present theareaof interest.
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5.5 Part D: Social, educational and organizational aspects

Regardless to various possibilities of educational methods offered by modern ICT (video,
internet), the traditional compulsory and formal courses are still the most common way of
education for all employees.
The knowledge transfer inside companies can also be comprehended from the answer,
since the enterprises stress the compulsory education for the managers, professionals and
technicians.
According to the participants estimation, the advanced ICT will have the significant
effect on the job and skills, contractual relationship and on the way companies works.
Surprisingly big percentage of participants is convinced that ICT cannot reduce the
number of employees. The percentage in nearby future will probably lowered with data
exchange standards implementation.
Although the estimations, gathered in Figure 11, do not lean on the statistical data,
they still present the valuable projection of the AEC sector in future.
6 COMPARISON WITH THE EUROPEAN AEC SECTOR
Unfortunately the other ProdAEC partners have not started with the Benchmarking
service presentation in their countries until the mid May 2004. No data from the debated
service was available and therefore no comparison could be made.
7 INVITATION
The statistic provided by prodAEC Benchmarking service can be marked as credible only
if the adequate number of people involved in the AEC sector will fill in the questionnaire.
If you find yourself as potential Benchmarking service user, please visit the ProdAEC
web page (http://www.prodaec.com/) and participate in the enquiry.
8 CONCLUSION
The prodAEC Benchmarking service presents a pioneers attempt to set a unified method
in measuring the ICT implementation in the whole European AEC sector. Although the
enquiry concept and realization can be marked as exemplary, more intensive promotion
should be made. Its concept to automatically collect answers just on the mutual benefits
basis is presumably too contemporary for the prosperous enquiry accomplishment.
Minor changes should be applied to the questionnaire according to the participant
comments about too long and too complex questions.
The enquiry revealed a lack of awareness on advanced ICT in the Slovenian AEC
sector. The current AEC sector state-of-the-art analysis showed needs on immediate
improvements, but we cannot mark the described situation as an obstacle to the creativity
in the concerning sector.
The answers indicate the market pressure as an efficient inducement for implementing
the new technologies in practice. One of the most concerning analysis results is the lack
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of specific plans for the enterprise future ICT investments. New technologies should
focus on improving productivity (less time, costs fewer errors and process simplicity) and
be implemented through the user friendly information and training.
Furthermore, the academic and research institutions must stay in contact with current
achievements in ICT and also with the practice requirements in order to ensure the sector
development.
REFERNCES
Fenves, S.J. 1996. Information technologies in construction: A personal Journey. In Ziga Turk
(ed.), Construction on the information highway. CIB proceedings publication 198, Bled, 1012
June 1996. Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana. Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering.
Rivald, H. 2000. A survey on the impact of information technology in Canadian architecture,
engineering and construction industry. Electronic Journal of Information Technologies in
Construction 5: 3765.
Samuelson, O. 2002. IT barometer 2000The use of IT in the Nordic construction industry.
Electronic Journal of Information Technologies in Construction 7: 126.
URL: http://www.prodaec.com/ [1.6.2004].
Adding sense to building modelling for code

certification and advanced simulation
I.A.Santos & F.Farinha
Algarve University, Portugal
F.Hernandez-Rodriguez & G.Bravo-Aranda
Seville University, Spain
ABSTRACT: IFC-based models seam very promising for automated code
checking because they are expected to include the heuristics needed by
several applications during the building lifecycle, thus including the
capability to support the definition and checking of a large set of
requirements together with those contained in building codes. However,
the theoretical and practical aspects of the IFC-based modelling, as well as
the kind of the desired code checking assistance, still result in the
necessity of dramatic support from cognition-based techniques in order to
evaluate the presence of sense in each building description, specially
when the certification of a building plan is the goal. This paper discusses
these issues following the formerly developed concept of a Normative
Product Model. Three main topics are discussed: (1) trends and
limitations of IFC in respect to building simulation; (2) a contribution for
the essential notion of building sense, including the identification of its
admissible sources; and (3) the relevance of building sense to achieve for
the self-completeness of a particular IFC-based building description
starting from an initial low level user input.
1 INTRODUCTION
As computers increasingly stimulate automation and greater efforts are being dedicated to
develop building models with enhanced representation capabilities, the question of an
automated code certification is certainly a challenge. To achieve this goal, the building
model must include much more data than it traditionally does, and it shall no longer be
dependent on human interpretation. In fact, the building model must include knowledge
and become a true building simulation with complete, accurate and integrated references
to all aspects that may be relevant for the code checking. Since this is certainly beyond
the usual approach of sensitive visual modelling, it may be referred as advanced
simulation.
Besides, for the technology that can make this possible, each clause from a code that
can be automatically checked becomes essentially a design requirement, for which the
building model provides the necessary information resources and operating instructions.
So, the same building simulation technology can be used for the checking of other sets of
Adding sense to building modelling for code certification
285
design requirements, whether they originate from a particular building program or relate
to some specific analysis.s
This paper follows the concept of the Normative Product Model (Santos et al. 2002,
Santos 2003) described in Figure 1, accepting that the IFC standard (IAI 2003) is a basic
component of such an advanced building simulation, but it focus on the necessity of
developing formal definitions of building sense as an ultimate component, not only to
allow for the automated checking of design requirements but also to enhance the
completeness and accuracy of a building model, and still to support the design process.
Besides, this paper states the exclusive role of building codes as the main source for
building sense, among others.
The contribution of IFC for advanced simulation is first discussed, followed by the
characterization of distinct levels and contexts related to the automated checking of
building design requirements. Then the question of building sense is introduced, its
relevance for code certification and model completeness is described and its fundaments
are discussed. Finally, some conclusions are emphasized.
2 CONCEPTUAL LIMITS OF IFC
In the attempts to enhance building modelling, the main goal is not exactly about
simulation but simply to
Figure 1. Fundaments of the

Normative Product Model concept.
286
allow that everyone on the world can share a single and common view of a building, at
least to a certain extent and quality that may be considered convincing by the industry
judgment. This view is expected to: (1) become a standard; (2) cover the entire building
lifecycle; (3) be independent from particular requirements; and (4) bring no limitations to
the design solutions, soon at the early phases of the design process.
However, to enhance building modelling starting from todays practice, sooner or later
it means facing the real world, where things that are put together usually interrelate and
even interact. So, an enhanced building model technology must also support a great
number of interrelations and dependencies between building elements, which may
outcome as a difficult trend, not only for software implementation, because of database
management problems, but also for the users that become responsible for the introduction
and assessment of building model data, much more than presently (Bazjanac 2002).
The evolution of the IAI design for the IFC standard seams to be more and more
successful about the referred expectations, but it denotes some conceptual limits in
relation to building simulation, which are more concerned to the quality of the modelling
than with extension capabilities (probably as a result of lessons taken from the difficulties
of previous attempts on standardization or implementation issues).
The most important of IFC conceptual limits under this particular perspective is its
conception as a building descriptive language, but also the flexibility of interrelation
declarations and the possibility of partial implementations in software applications
become relevant.
2.1 Conceived as a language
The IFC standard is strictly conceived as a language to describe a building during its
lifecycle: a building metamodel as referred by Santos (2003), meaning that it defines the
abstractions considered necessary to develop specific building models.
It includes a lexicon of generic designations, which starts from the most abstract level
like object or relation, goes through medium abstract level like building element or
space, and ends with the less abstract ones like window, opening area or wall.
It also includes a grammar that identifies the allowed interrelations between the
concepts of those designations. For example, it determines that a window has opening
area as an attribute and it can be associated to a wall meaning that the wall has
openings (by the fills/voids interrelation definition).
However, IFC does not include any definitions of sense outside the very own
metamodel context. It does not control, for example, if: the opening area of a
window is related, by a certain formula, to the space area of an associated interior
space (assuming that space area and interior space are, respectively, an attribute and
a type of space).
So, its possible to use IFC modelling resources to make an internally consistent
representation of a nonsense building, almost the same way as one can use the English
language with complete syntax correction, while not making sense, as in: a dog without
legs runs backwards.
Of course, since IFC is particularly dedicated to the building industry, the possibilities
of incorporating some sense soon at the grammar level are bigger than with a common
use language, mainly by means of the semantics embodied in attribute and specific
287
interrelation definitions. But, especially in respect to an enhanced building simulation

perspective, modelling just at a language level appears as an initial restriction to
knowledge representation, for which something must be done.
2.2 Interrelation capabilities
IFC defines interrelations between building elements (others than attributes) as model
objects that intermediate between other objects, and this is one of its most important
features, because not only it solves the implementation problem of many-to-many
relations, as it becomes the basis for the structuring and pre-definition of the semantics of
interrelations in a meaningful way for building modelling.
However, the use of interrelation capabilities within IFC is fully optional, so one may
use the standard simply for a listing of individual building elements (whether physical or
conceptual), without making explicit acknowledgement of the multiple relations between
those elements.
For example, its possible to have walls surrounding a space, without declaring them
as providing the boundary for the space (nor the space as bounded by the walls).
Also a window can be placed into a wall without explicitly declaring it as voiding the
wall.
Certainly these issues can be largely solved by a good IFC implementation, where
intelligent software tools can greatly improve its usage. But, even then, it may be difficult
to keep a model data accurately updated concerning the interrelations, when successive
changes are made. Ultimately, the result can be the tendency to a graphical representation
only of building elements with a quite low simulation power.
2.3 Partial implementations
The IFC certification process, as determined by IAI, allows for partial implementations
under the notion of model views (which are similar to conformance classes within STEP).
It is expected that these model views do not reduce the interoperability, since they
originate from applications within a same specific domain that share a common set of
information requirements, far from the extensiveness of the entire model. However, these
model views can also be used to hidden the limitations of present software applications
and even generalize a low level usage of the model, which clearly turns to be negative
regarding softwares interoperability and enhanced simulation.
Once again, the seriousness of the problem depends on the quality of an
implementation, at least by keeping untouched the part of a building model data that is
not compatible with a specific application. But this will not avoid that either new data
produced by a certain user ignores potentially important interrelations with hidden data,
or that the results from some relation-based analysis can be inconsistent.
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3 BUILDING MODELLING AND AUTOMATED REQUIREMENTS

CHECKING
Much of the requirements of building design come from applicable building and technical
codes. They represent the standardization of sets of requirements that are defined prior to
the existence of a specific building. Actually, the possibility of defining codes relies on
the fact that buildings tend to certain constancy on their spatial aspects, or the
construction technologies or the included technical systems. Based on the constancy of
buildings, some classification notions arise and the codes that are applicable to certain
categories become generic requirements for the respective set of buildings, while
particular requirements result from the building program, local conditions and some
other sources.
With the support of several modelling techniques, both sets of requirements can be
checked prior to construction, at least if they fit into the representation capabilities of the
building models. The regularity of checking procedures suggests that they can
progressively turn from human-driven to automatic.
The notion of automation here means the possibility of a process that demands some
control actions to become executed by a computer, by means of previously formalized
information and on-line collected data. For a requirements checking automation system,
this means putting codes and other sources of building requirements into some sort of a
computer operable representation, probably after a conversion from original paper-based
documents or eventually as a former specification.
Considering the kind and extent of such computer operable representation, three
distinct levels of automation can be identified in the case of codes: code referencing,
code checking assistance and code checking certification. They are discussed next,
together with the question of particular requirements.
3.1 Code referencing
Code referencing occurs when the selection of a single or complex building element from
a building model, made by an user, automatically leads to the referencing, with possible
presentation in text or graphics, of all related clauses from a set of treated codes, so that
the user can easily get just the information he/she needs at that particular time. It is a
human-driven approach, because only the user knows the meaning of the information
contained in the building model as well as the meaning of code documents.
To achieve for a code reference system, instead of any enhanced building simulation,
it is basically needed a simple list of cross-references between the lexical content of the
building code and the lexical content of the building model, which is perfectly achievable
even for geometry-based modelling through commonly used tags. However, this kind of
lexical definitions still presents a few significant problems, related to multiple
classification, treedepth evaluation, etc., which are similar to those of classification
systems used by the construction industry for materials and services acquisition (like
CI/Sfb or Master Format).
289
Once these cross-references are defined, an interactive system, possibly hypertextbased, can be developed and distributed as a program directly integrated with design
tools, or as an Internet-based service.
3.2 Code checking assistance
Code checking assistance occurs when the selection of a building element from a
building model automatically leads to the checking of the relevant properties of its own,
or other associated elements, according to the requirements of a set of applicable clauses
taken from the treated codes, with the objective of detecting unconformity, and possibly
to present alternatives.
To achieve for a code checking assistance its necessary to go much further on the
computer operable representation of the code than for code referencing. The building
model needs to be meaningful, so that the checking system has enough knowledge about
the building model, the building code and the logic correspondence between both, and
takes consistent action.
However, since the building model is essentially descriptive, but the code content is
intended to be normative/declarative, while also descriptive (any code embodies a certain
view of a building), the referred correspondence is expected to cover only the information
requirements that concert to the description of a building, i.e., it relies upon a possible
common building language, leaving the normative content to be represented by some
distinct rule-based modelling.
The Normative Product Model concept states that, for each clause of a treated code,
the information requirements are considered at a base layer as a data structure that
includes both lexical definitions and interrelations, while the normative content is
represented by upper layer logical rules. Then, the data structure becomes the source for
the correspondence with the metamodel that supports the building model, either by a
mapping or by integration.
Typical problems of this kind of code checking systems are: (1) ad-hoc solutions for
the building model, when a true standardized modelling does not exist or does not
provide the appropriate semantics; (2) poor correspondence between the building model
and the content of the code, usually as a result of poor semantic capacity of the building
model (most frequent with geometry-based modelling); (3) non homogeneous treatment
of the code content, when some of its information requirements cannot be satisfied by the
building model.
Yet, this is the level of automation of the majority of the developed systems till now.
For example, the SEED project (SEED 1997), which is one of the most serious attempts
based on geometry-based building modelling, suffers from the referred mapping
limitations, while the undergoing CORENET project (Liebich et al. 2002) looks much
more ambitious with the exploration of the new possibilities of IFC on building
modelling. Also some software applications for specific technical domains include a few
capabilities of code checking assistance when the code information requirements are
close to their own database specifications, but it is rather limited and not suited as a
general approach.
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3.3 Code checking certification

Code certification is a kind of code checking that is performed at crucial moments of a
building lifecycle, possibly within a formal process of certification carried by some
authority or control agent. When it occurs during the design process, it is particularly
relevant as part of a strategy to prevent risk on building construction.
Code certification is the maximum extension of code checking and it presents a severe
demand in relation to the accuracy and completeness of a building model, because the
entire content of the model is completely checked against all the applicable clauses of a
certain code.
Even when it is assured basically by human intervention, it is expected that the
building model becomes a clear representation of the intended building, meaning one
that shows all the relevant aspects of the building after a proper interpretation.
Depending on the internal structure of a code, still it is possible to consider only a set
of clauses, but only if the set is clearly identified and generally recognized as a
detachable part.
For a building model to be automatically checked for certification, it is expected to be
totally meaningful and definitive in relation to the code. Final decisions about all relevant
design solutions must have been made, must be clearly described in the model and must
be kept unchanged for the future (if the certification is not to be repeated).
In order to reach this level its critical to assure that the building model satisfies every
information requirement of a treated code. As this can easily conflict with standardization
trends, the building metamodel that supports the modelling must include flexible
mechanisms for the representation of information requirements that cannot be directly
supported by preset definitions. For example: specific space type identifications or
specific property sets concerning a single element, required by a certain code (as it is just
the case of object type and external property definitions within IFC).
The referred Normative Product Model concept states the convenience, for code
checking certification, that is to join several distinct codes that may work together within
a specific time and territory, for a specific building category, beginning by those that may
contribute with more general and structuring knowledge. Both layers of a Normative
Product Model (metamodel integration and rule-based declarations) must be documented
by some sort of an official specification controlled by the same authorities that are
responsible for building codes, in order to have unique definitions within the same
modelling support technology.
Since an excellent correspondence is required, a special attention must be given to the
relations between the data structure determined by the code and the global data structure
of the building metamodel that is to be used. Model-based integration is better than
simple linear mapping because of the complexity of the interdependencies among
individual information elements.
Code checking certification is, by now, still a dream, but it points out a main goal for
future developments, though it demands global solutions and it will have impact on the
own way that building codes and other requirements will be specified, as well as in the
administrative processes of building design approval by official authorities.
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Building modelling for code checking certification greatly concerns building

simulation.
3.4 Particular requirements checking
By definition, particular building requirements cannot be generally defined, so its
difficult to assure a good modelling support for them. However, the probability of an
enhanced building simulation technology to provide better support is certainly bigger
than with a merely graphical modelling.
Among the many sources of particular building requirements, there are: (1) the
building design program; (2) the building design constraints; (3) technical analysis not
directly related to building codes; (4) the building management; and (5) the building
maintenance. Also when some change on building configuration occurs, particular
requirements can be identified for an appropriate evaluation of the impact of thatchange.
4 ADDING SENSE FOR MODEL REALISM
Nowadays, when an authority receives a building plan and begins the process of checking
its requirements for certification, the very first notion that is really checked is whether it
looks like a building or not. In spite that, most probably, any code explicitly says that the
specifications of a building plan shall in fact become a building, or at least includes an
operable definition of what a building is supposed to be, the truth is that thinking of code
certification in the case of a non-sense building, just sounds malicious.
Now the authority probably looks first for some signals that may show the evidence of
a building at a glance, and after he/she uses further analysis to confirm or deny the
evidence.
There are several conceivable circumstances where a building specification plan soon
cannot be accepted as corresponding to a building, as when:
It is clearly incomplete;
It is not a single building (as expected);
It doesnt refer to a foundation and site;
It is out of scale to human proportions;
There is no entrance;
Floors have too much angle;
There are undefined holes in outer walls;
There is no roof;
There are no fixed elements;
Axes are changed;
Everything looks mixed up;
There are non-identifiable elements;
Etc.
Furthermore, it is possible to think of certain severe unconformities with defined
requirements as resulting in a non-sense building too. For example: (1) the absence of the
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water distribution system; (2) the existence of individual spaces without entrance; or (3)
the existence of too many apartments that do not conform to space requirements.
For a human interpretation based checking, this kind of considerations may sound
exotic, but for a computer-based automated checking it is a matter of major importance if
the building model is expected to be realistic, even because the entire checking procedure
becomes much less solemn and errors are easier to arise. So, there is an absolute need of
some formal definition of how a building must be, not only by a positive approach,
saying what a building is expected to be, but also by negative statements that can prevent
unexpected occurrences.
The previous considerations lead to the notion of the global sense of a building, from
which results a verdict about a building model can in fact refer to a realistic building, or
not. This global sense notion can take into consideration some building classification,
resulting in selective references, like: its a building of type X, except for this and that;
or its a nonsense building in regard to type X.
The question of sense is always associated to code checking because, by definition,
each clause of a code determines how something must be, or what makes sense about the
building in relation to the code it belongs. However, global sense is somehow different
because it first concerns the realism of a building simulation, which is an important
quality of a building model, especially when an automatic code checking certification
takes place.
5 ADDING SENSE FOR MODEL COMPLETENESS
An automated code checking certification must be based on a reliable and complete
building model, or otherwise its results can easily be false. This means that every
building element shall be properly described and classified, and all its relevant relations
with other elements shall be explicitly declared.
Firstly, this depends on the capacity of IFC, as a building metamodel, to satisfy all the
information requirements of the treated codes without exception, at least by the proper
use of its extension mechanisms.
Lets consider an example from a Portuguese building code: in a house, the kitchen
can never have a direct communication with a bedroom. In order to check this clause, the
checking system can perhaps start by the detection of a kitchen, then looks for all the
walls that surround it and for each one of them tries to find an opening (possibly a door or
a window). If successful, then identifies the space to which the wall connects and sees if
it is a bedroom type. But the result can be false if the space identifiers do not exist or are
not compatible with the code requirements (not allowing the distinction between kitchen
and bedroom types), or if the relation between a space and the surrounding walls is not
explicit.
So the demand of completeness really means to explore the simulation power of IFC
modelling to the maximum, avoiding the negative tendencies that result from optional
interrelations between identified elements of a building, as well as partial
implementations in software tools. Besides, as a consequence of an intensive and
extensive exploration of IFC resources, the operating environment must be capable of
processing a dense network of data, specially for queries, both at high level (conceptual
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data) and low level (for example, when doors and windows are only geometrically related
to walls). In fact, some problems can arise in relation to this increased amount of data and
its quality:
The possibility of mistaken interrelations to be declared;
The possibility of users to forget relevant interrelations;
The corresponding machine processing cost;
The lack of specialized assistance;
Etc.
For the first two of these problems its possible to develop software tools to go deeper
into the analysis of a building model and help to prevent such errors by detecting
important signals of possible occurrence. The kind of building cognition needed by these
tools is also related to the notion of global sense, but here the emphasis goes for a
probabilistic approach (not mandatory).
So, besides the capacity of IFC, the reliability and completeness of a building model
can be greatly improved by using sets of generic mles based on building sense, which can
be customized by users as model types. Following examples illustrate this kind of rules:
Always an interior space type is expected to have an entrance;
Always a bedroom space type is expected to have a window opening to the external
space;
Every space that is totally surrounded by walls is probably an interior space;
Every interior space area where a dishwasher exists is probably a kitchen;
Every interior space to which more than two doors are related is probably a circulating
space type;
If a combustion equipment exists in an interior space, it needs the corresponding
connection to an air exhaustion system;
Etc.
The implementation of this kind of building cognition must consider the existence of
multiple start points and directions to explore in the network of data of the building
model, where the goal is to find the proper hierarchical structure and sequence of
operations, in order to obtain the most quicker and effective results.
Once formalized in accordance to the IFC capabilities, software tools that use this kind
of building cognition can be integrated with user interfaces to IFC models, and become
an important contribution to facilitate its use.
6 SOURCES OF BUILDING SENSE
The main reason why a standard building metamodel like IFC cannot include rules of
building sense, as those that have been described above, is that otherwise it would
become generally restrictive to the design process in an unacceptable way for a building
language level. The kind of knowledge associated to building sense is best intended as a
filter for building model data, which is to be used in special moments of the design
process (and eventually later on during the entire lifecycle) and which will be inevitably
dependent upon particular building concepts.
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Besides, where is the legitimacy to determine what makes and what does not make
sense in regard to a building?
Building codes are the prior admissible sources to determine building sense, though
they are just intended for that, not only by their content but also by the quality of being a
recognized and general imposition over the building design. Besides, by the same reason
that one shall not expect to find inconsistencies between the distinct codes that apply to
the same building, the seek for building sense gains much more effectiveness if a larger
and properly structured set of applicable codes is considered, because of the improved
global consistency. Usually, architectural building codes provide more general definitions
based upon space functionality, while more specific codes shall depend on these general
definitions for their detailed views. Thats why the Normative Product Model concept
also states that more general codes shall be considered first as a fundament for the formal
definition of sense in a building. And it points to distinctive manifestations of the concept
for each set of building codes sharing the same conditions of applicability (time period,
territory, building categories, etc.).
Nevertheless, even the most general and structuring building codes can become
insufficient in regard to the kind of global sense that has been described. So, a second
source must be considered, which is precisely the one known as common sense, and
this shall be used only to complement building codes concerning the realism, reliability
and completeness of a building model.
Building codes and common sense can be considered the only admissible sources for
the definition of building sense, at least within a normative perspective towards an
enhanced building simulation. However, all other sources containing building
requirements can also be considered for special objectives. Beyond the previously
mentioned sources of particular building requirements, the so-called codes of good
practice deserve reference, though they often represent the anticipation of important
requirements that can only be properly checked much later during the design process.
If a building sense relies on building codes and other particular sources, then there are
multiple building sense definitions, some of them corresponding to a particular set of
codes that embodies a specific Normative Product Model, while others simply become
tools to support the design process.
7 CONCLUSIONS
It has been shown that building sense is greatly important to enhance a building model
towards an enhanced building simulation, through realism, reliability and completeness.
This last achievement becomes especially relevant to stimulate the simulation capacity of
IFC-based modelling.
However, because building sense is not suited to become standardized, the Normative
Product Model concept points to a kind of building modelling that includes two layers
that can be referred as: building language and building sense. The first layer consists of
an integrated metamodel that results from the integration of the structural information
requirements of a building code into a standard metamodel like IFC, and its main content
consists of object definitions. The second layer becomes a structured set of rules that
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represent the normative content of building codes, for which it uses the building language
defined by the first layer, together with a standard formal language like EXPRESS.
It has been suggested that this approach is also useful for any other situation of
automate building requirements checking, once an integrated building metamodel can
satisfy the particular informatSion requirements of the respective source.
The incorporation of building sense and other requirements checking systems into
design tools, using IFC as a standard base component, can greatly improve the design
process, allowing for better simulation models at a lower cost and in shorter time.
REFERENCES
Bazjanac, V 2002, Early Lessons From Deployment of IFC Compatible Software, in Z Turk and RJ
Scherer (eds.), E-Work and E-Business in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Proc. of
4th European Conference on Product and Process Modelling, Portoroz, Balkema, Rotterdam,
pp.916
IAI: 2003, [http://www.iai-international.org/iai_international].
Liebich, T., Wix, J., Forester, J. and Qi, Z: 2002, Speeding-up the building plan approvalthe
Singapore e-plan checking project offers automatic plan checking based on IFC, in Z Turk and
RJ Scherer (eds.), E-Work and E-Business in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Proc.
of 4th European Conference on Product and Process Modelling, Portoroz, Balkema, Rotterdam,
pp.467471.
Santos, IA., Hernandez-Rodriguez, F. and Bravo-Aranda, G: 2002, A Normative Product Model for
Integrated Conformance Checking of Design Standards in the Building Industry, in Z Turk and
RJ Scherer (eds.), E-Work and E-Business in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Proc.
of 4th European Conference on Product and Process Modelling, Portoroz, Balkema, Rotterdam,
pp.473480.
Santos, IA: 2003, Modelizacion de Edificios de Viviendas para la Verificacion Automatica de
Requisitos Formales Asociados a las Normas Generales de ConstruccionUn Desarrollo
Basado en los Estandares IFC y UML, PhD thesis, Dpto. de Ingenieria del Diseno, ESI, The
University of Seville.
SEED: 1997, SEEDA Software Environment to Support Early Phases in Building Design, The
Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and The University of Adelaide, Australia,
[http://seed.edrc.cmu.edu/IJDC/toc.html].

.Turk, M.Dolenc, J.Nabrzyski, P.Katranuschkov, E.Balaton, R.Balder &
M.Hannus
All: The inteliGrid Consortium, c/o University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: Grids are generally known as infrastructure for high
performance computing. However, the original idea behind grid
computing was to support collaborative problem solving in virtual
organizations (VO). A challenge for collaboration infrastructures is to
support dynamic VOs that collaborate on the design, production and
maintenance of products that are described in complex structured product
model databases. Such VOs are typical for industries with long supply
chains like automotive, shipbuilding and aerospace. Perhaps the most
complex dynamically changing VOs and are in architecture, engineering
and construction (AEC). Semantic interoperability of software and
information systems belonging to members of the VO is essential for
efficient collaboration within the VO. We believe that the current state of
the artthe Web Services paradigm, is too fragile and tangled for
efficient collaboration in AEC. Grids provide the robustness but need to
be made aware of the business concepts that the VO is addressing. The
grid itself needs to commit to the products and processs ontology
thereby evolving into an ontology committed semantic grid. To do so
there is a need for the generic business-object-aware extensions to grid
middleware, implemented in a way that would allow grids to commit to an
arbitrary ontology. These extensions are propagated to toolkits that allow
hardware and software to be integrated into the grid. This is expected to
be done in a European Project called inteliGrid. This paper presents its
baseline, hypothesis and expected results. The projects impact is
expected to be wide; it will create knowledge, infrastructure and toolkits
that will allow for a broad transition of the industry towards semantic,
model based, ontology committed collaboration using the grid, rather than
the Web, as the infrastructure, thus enabling the grid to become a
mainstream collaboration paradigm.
1 INTRODUCTION
The integration of the AEC industry and the interoperability of the hundreds of software
applications supporting the design and construction of the built environment have been
providing one of the most challenging environments for the application of information
and communication technologies. The islands of automation (Hannus & Silen, 1987)
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problem has been identified by the AEC community in the late 1980s and several national
and EU project have been tackling the problem since.
It is interesting to read Fosters definition of the grid (Foster, 2002) in the context of
collaboration requirements of the construction industry Foster defines grid computing as
coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in dynamic, multi-institutional
virtual organizationsnot primarily file exchange but rather direct access to computers,
software, data, and other resources, as is required by a range of collaborative problemsolvingin industry. This sharing ishighly controlled, with resource providers and
consumers defining clearly and carefully just what is shared, who is allowed to share,
and the conditions under which sharing occurs. This statement captures the essential
requirements of collaboration in the AEC.
An EU project was proposed to verify this hypothesis. It is expected to start in
September 2004 and will run until February 2007 with a total funding of 3.13 million
EUR. The partners in this project include University of Ljubljana (Slovenia, coordinator),
TU DresdenTUD (Germany), Polish Center for Super-computing ApplicationsPSNC
(Poland), VTT (Finland), EPM Technology ASEPM (Norway), Conject (Germany),
Sofistik (Greece), OBERMEYER Planen+Beraten GmbHOPB (Germany) and ESoCE
NET (Italy). The home page of the project is at http://www.inteligrid.com./
2 STATE OF THE ART
This section presents the state of the art in grid computing and AEC interoperability. We
believe that there is a clear convergence between the two.
2.1 Grids and semantic grids
Grid is a type of parallel and distributed system that enables the sharing, selection, and
aggregation of geographically distributed autonomous resources dynamically at
runtime depending on their availability, capability, performance, cost, and users qualityof-service requirements.
Grid computing is an innovative approach that leverages existing IT infrastructure to
optimize computing resources and manage data and computing workloads. According to
Gartner (Price WaterHouse Coopers, 2002), a grid is a collection of resources owned by
multiple organizations that is coordinated to allow them to solve a common problem.
Gartner further defines three commonly recognized forms of grid:
Computing gridmultiple computers to solve one application problem
Data gridmultiple storage systems to host one very large data set
Collaboration gridmultiple collaboration systems for collaborating on a common
issue.
Grid computing has its origins in solving computationally intensive problems. Recent
developments and trends of grid computing go beyond the solving of data (petabytes) or
computationally (teraflops) problems for scientists and engineers towards making grids a
suitable business infrastructure for virtual organizations. Grids are increasingly viewed as
services (Foster et al., 2002) aware of the business semantics. Semantic grids should
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provide to the grids what the semantic Web is providing to the Webcommunication
based on high level, meaningful entities.
There are numerous related research projects in the EU, the US and beyond: The Grid
Enabled Optimization and Design Search for Engineering (GEODISE)
(http://www.geodise.org/) project was one of the first to explore the possibilities of the
semantic grid, however, the semantics was being attached to files as metadata. True
semantic-rich that would study the meaning of the information inside the files is not
addressed. The myGrid (http://www.mygrid.org.uk/) project defined its architecture using
the OGSA architecture but does not seem to be based on a common ontology which is
what inteliGrid is aiming for. The Commodity Grid Kit (COG) (http://wwwunix.globus.org/cog/) project has similar goals to inteliGrid, but is addressing a different
business sector and seems to be primarily concerned with the heterogonous data formats
and not heterogonous information schema addressed in inteliGrid. Based on the review of
the state of the art, semantic information as we understand it in engineering has to date
not been addressed in a grid environment. This is a key contribution of this project. Also
relevant to the inteliGrid project are the Collaborative Advanced Knowledge
Technologies in the Grid (CoAKTinG) (www.aktors.org/coakting) and Grid-Enabled
Desktop Environments (GRENADE) (http://mrccs.man.ac.uk/research/grenade) projects
that address the interactive collaboration using grids. This is not targeted in inteliGrid but
their open source results could be re-used in the inteliGrid demonstrations. The only grid
project related to the AEC sector that we are aware of is the National Science Foundation
(NSF) funded Information Infrastructure for Earthquake Research (SCEC/IT)
(http://www.isi.edu/ikcap/scec-it/). The rather broad and practical goal is to provide
information technology infrastrucrure for earthquake research, including knowledge
representation and reasoning, Grid technologies, digital libraries, and interactive
knowledge acquisition.
World leading software companies such as Oracle, IBM, Microsoft and several
software SMEs are also developing grid middleware and grid extensions to their existing
software. The following are some software vendors, which could potentially make use the
results (semantic extensions) of the inteliGrid project:
Oracle delivers database products and application servers. Their Oracle 10 g version is
an enterprise grid version, using server consolidation and cluster computing
techniques.
Avaki Corporation is a supplier of commercial grid software solutions that provide
wide area access to data, compute, and application resources in a single, uniform
operating environment.
Metapa supports business intelligence applications on open source, commodity
technology, including the use of Lintel platforms and Metapas database clustering
technology.
GridSystems develops and markets the InnerGrid multiplatform product that allows the
application of the Grid technology to the current corporate environment. It speeds the
key processes of a business converting underused resources in a virtual
supercomputer.
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2.2 AEC interoperability

inteliGrid addresses the interoperability needs of automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding,
furniture and AEC industries. Perhaps the most demanding environment is the AEC
industry. Characteristic for the AEC industry are the uniqueness of the products, the
processes and the dynamic and quite improvised VO involved in the process. The items
to be integrated are seldom predefined and the integrated solution is unlikely to be
repeated. One stable element in this framework is the conceptual model of a building
product. While buildings are different from each other, the language (and the data
structures) required to describe them are believed to be stable. Both the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Alliance for Interoperability
(IAI) have made a considerable investment into the building classification and building
product model standards that defined the data structures required to describe any building
product. Several European projects have demonstrated that by using these standards data
created in one application may be used in another. The Consortium has been actively
involved (coordinating, partnering) in several of these projects and has also learned from
the problems that they faced. The IAI and ISO efforts, however, are not limited to the
AEC industry but are targeting the whole spectrum of industries that are designing and
building three dimensional material products.
In spite of the extensive research in building information models, however, the
industry still communicates using line drawings, files and perhaps project webs. We
believe that one reason for that is that the generic IT infrastructures today are well suited
for semantically poor data formats and file or document level information exchange.
Semantic Web and web services technologies, built around XML have been demonstrated
in research projects, such as eCONSTRUCT (http://www.econstruct.org/) and ISTforCE
(http://www.istforce.com/), but their scalability in large complex industrial environments
has not been tested.
Building product model is defined, and IFC version 2.X is supported by key 3D
modelling suites like ArchiCAD, Architectural Desktop and Microstation. They can
produce a building information model (BIM) that will be used by hundreds of other
applications that support the design, planning and maintenance of building products.
These applications will need to read and write the building information model. Today,
they do so in a variety of ways. The prevailing way is by reading and writing files in a
format and schema conforming to the standard. Where to write data to and where to read
it from needs to be managed by the human user each time a program is started
(File...Open) or closed (File...Save as). These files may be uploaded/ downloaded to/from
project webs. Again, humans are to a large extent responsible for locating the right
information at the right time.
Building information model databases are being developed that will replace files as
container of BIM data. Several such databases are under development or even already
entering the market, for example WebStep by Eurostep, EXPRESS Data Manager by
EPM Technology, and IFC Model Server by SECOM, BSPro Server from Granlund etc.
For software to work with these databases, specialised interfaces (APIs) or dedicated
clients binding the program to a location of a particular database are needed. Again, in a
multi project environment, with multiple programs being used ondemand, this may be so
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hard that it may effectively discourage the use of building information models. These
problems are partially tackled by the generic services developed at TU Dresden (Weise et
al, 2004). The suggested approach mitigates hard demands associated with product data
sharing thereby allowing incremental improvement of the application of BIM in practice.
Product model standards and ontologies have in parallel been developed in other
industries as well. While they share common schema for the geometric information,
product structure and configuration management, they specialise when it comes to
information about distinct product components. The STEP standard ensures that
interoperability between domain models (known as Application ProtocolsAP) is
possible through the integrated information resource layer, but in order to further reduce
the cost of developing future APs ISO TC184 SC4 has introduced the Application
Modules (AM) layer, which defines self contained Units of Functionality (UoF) that can
be reused between the different models (http://step-mod.sourceforge.net/).
A major initiative that has resulted in the publication of a new application protocol is
PLCS (ISO10303239). It contains many of the modules found in PDM schema (itself a
subset of AP203, AP212, AP214 and AP232), with additions to support service and
maintenance concepts. The PLCS data model was designed in order to provide a data
model that is capable of supporting product data throughout the product lifecycle. It
supports automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, AEC and other industries.
3 THE inteliGrid PROJECT
This section proceeds from visions, placing them in context, stating high levels goals and
refining them into measurable, scheduled objectives.
3.1 Vision
The vision of the project is to provide the industries with challenging integration and
interoperability needs a flexible, secure, robust, ambient accessible, interoperable, payper-demand access to (1) information, (2) communication and (3) processing
infrastructure. The idea to support virtual organizations has been central in grid protocols
development computting (Foster et al., 2001), however, most practical results to date
were related to a fast distributed computation and storage. The hypothesis of this project
is that grid technology has the potential to provide such infrastructure.
3.2 Contextintegration and interoperability in complex industries
The integration of the AEC industry and the interoperability of the hundreds of software
applications supporting the design and construction of the built environment have been
providing one of the most challenging environments for the application of information
and communication technologies. The islands of automation problem has been
identified by the AEC community in the late 1980s and several national and EU project
have been tackling the problem since. Grids are expected to be the solution to the islands
of computation problem. Figure 1 shows what has been known since later 1980s as the
islands of automation problem.
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Figure 1. Islands of automation

(Hannus & Silen 1987). The sea and
the various transports across to be
replaced or incorporated by a grid.
The islands in the figure are various areas which were automated at a certain time. It
should be imagined that the islands are rising slowly from the water. So, for example, in
the 1960s, only a few selected tasks were automated. By the 1990s large areas of
engineering design, architectural design and management were automated, however, the
gap between those (as well as within various peaks on the same island) still had to be
bridged by various integration and interoperability technologies, such as the Drawing
Interchange file format (DXF) ferry (symbolizing the exchange of drawings) or a more
modern Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) gate. It is the vision of this project to replace
the several different technologies used to travel between the islands, by freezing the
sea, by replacing the sea with the grid.
Grids could ensure the interoperability and collaboration platform providing that they
include the key ingredient required for a complex engineering virtual organizationthe
support for the shared semantics (Sowa 1984, Guarino et al., 1997). It is in this area
where we believe innovation and extension of the current grid architectures is required.
To the end user as well as engineering software developer this will bring two major
improvements. The grid infrastructure eliminates the need of knowing exact locations of
information and services. They are on the grid not at some Uniform Re-source
Identifiers (URI) or Internet Protocol (IP) address. The shared semantics powered by
ontology reduces the need to know the exact structure and access paths of the data in
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product model databases. The result is a semantic or cognitive grid. It is genericit gets
its business semantics from an ontology that can be an arbitrary one.
While the AEC industry is providing the testing environment for the project, all
technologies developed will be generic and applicable in any kind of virtual organization
environment and are not limited in any way to AEC. Business sectors that include long
and complex supplier chains share the same interoperability problems as the AEC. They
will be represented in inteliGridproviding requirements and evaluating the endas
well as interim results through the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) and ESoCE NET.
Moreover, many of the software applications to be integrated to the inteliGrid platform
are of general applicability to computational intensive problems coming from other
sectors as biomechanics, aerospace, shipbuilding and automotive industries.
3.3 Project goals
The long term practical goal of the project is to provide complex industries such as
construction, automotive and aerospace stable, co-allocated, reliable, unified, adaptive,
remote, ambient accessible, interoperable, pay-per-demand access to: (1) information, (2)
communication and (3) processing infrastructure and thereby provide the integration and
interoperability infrastructure.
This goal cannot be achieved by the project alone. But it can prepare the enablersthe
true project targetsfor the paradigm shift from internet and web services to the grid.
The enablers are researchers, standardization bodies and the key software developers.
They need a reference grid, which will be in a position to provide the strategic steering of
their future developments. Current state of the art addressing these needs is based on the
(semantic) Web services approach. This approach is viable in businesses with stable and
long term virtual organization relations where the investment into finding a service with
the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI), learning its interface with
the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and finally creating the links with
SOAP pays with the long time using of the services. In contexts where the involvement
of a partner in a VO is temporal, short term, but needs to be set up quickly, a grid based
approach seems more appropriate. The Figure 2 compares the two approaches.
The key scientific question addressed by this project is how grid technology can be
used to address the interoperability of software and services working with complex and
semantically rich information.
303
Figure 2. Collaboration in a tangled

Web services environment with
multiple private ontologiescurrent
state of the art (above), compared to
the VO based on a semantic grid
platform committed to one ontology
(below).
In addition, the software and services need distributed processing power to crunch this
information. This needs to be done in an environment characterised by some standard
data structures that are undergoing a dynamic evolution.
The key technological goal is to make the grid infrastructure available to the mostly
small to medium enterprise (SME) companies that are providing the engineering
software. The core competencies of these companies are topics like structural mechanics
or 3D solid modelling and not latest trends in middleware technology. The results of the
technical work will demonstrate how typical server side applications (or components of
applications) can be made grid computing compatible and how the mostly client side
304
Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications can interface with the grid. This will attract
new SMEs to enhance their applications with gridcomputing capabilities, since the
project will provide the necessary libraries, toolkits and guidelines.
The results are shown schematically in section 5.
3.4 Innovation
inteliGrid goes beyond simply grid-enabling present day applications, on present day
grids. It creates an underlying fabric in the form of abstracted toolkits and tools that can
be used to grid enable old applications, and more importantly to build innovative new
generations of grid applications that use semantics and ontologies. It also focuses on
applied research in the area of application scenarios in many areas, such as engineering,
construction, aerospace, fluid dynamics etc., that take unique and unprecedented
advantage of emerging semantic grid technologies.
Figure 3. Globus grid reference

architecture. The white elements are
part of the existing architecture. The
grey ones are generic extensions to be
developed and validated by the
inteliGrid project.
Main innovation activities are focused on extending the grid architecture with
semantics and ontologies beyond current work on metadata and heterogeneous data
formats. This is then verified by making vertical applications use these services.
Activities include state-of-the-art studies, requirements analysis, design and prototyping
of the software.
As discussed earlier recent developments in the grid community extended the
architecture towards the services paradigm that is a prerequisite for semantic grid. Figure
3 shows this architecture. We believe that if the grid is supposed to become an integrative
element for VO, the notion of the business concepts of this VO should be an integral part
of the grid. We plan to achieve this by adding an ontology layer into the grid that would
allow for any grid service to know what business relevant some data or process has. The
layer would be made available to other functionality through an ontology server.
Particularly important is this service to the database services of the grid, however, several
305
ftmctions of the grid such as Monitoring and Discovery ServiceMDS

(http://www.globus.org/mds) and Globus Resource Allocation ManagerGRAM
(http://www.unix.globus.org/developer/resource-management.html) could work more
intelligently, if they are aware of the business context.
Interoperability in AEC today, at best relies on the management of IFC files. Attempts
to use true IFC databases are mostly academic. An exception is IFC data managed by
EPM for the Singapore Building Authority. This is a multi-user environment for
validating building plans against national building regulations (EPM Technology AS
2001).
EPM is also managing a Product Life Cycle Support (PLCS) implementation for the
Norwegian navy, which will handle all lifecycle data related to the frigates in their fleet.
The implementation uses the concept of DEX (Data Exchange Set) developed in PLCS to
allow applications to access subsets of the PLCS data model. In effect these are similar to
STEP conformance classes and allow different applications to access the data they are
interested in. Merging and partial extraction of the data to/from the PLCS data model, as
well as access control is managed by EPM. The PLCS implementation
(http://www.posccaesar.org/) also makes use of reference data that complies to ISO
15926 in order to further constrain the data population and to reduce the problem of data
redundancy.
File-based environments are fragile and depend on a single server that provides such
crucial fimctions as information and process management for a complex project.
inteliGrid proposes to use the grid as a robust, scalable, safe infrastructure for the
industry. It would allow seamless integration of software committing to any product data
standards and focus the developers into the ftmctionality and not data exchange or
interfacing with this or that information server. The grid is the place for the semantically
rich data.
Currently there are a few companies providing ASP services and project webs to
engineering communities that allow collaboration and information sharing. The grid will
extend this concept towards true resource sharing and on-demand resource renting. This
will allow for new business models to be developed as well as the rethinking of the
information technology infrastructures in the industry. Grids could provide the necessary
robustness as well as security (Welch et al, 2003) (through the X.509 mechanism) that
would make outsourcing the IT infrastructure a more realistic option than today when
they have to rely on a multitude of chaotically interwoven services.
This project is introducing two major generic improvements visible to the end user as
well as the application developer:
The grid infrastructure eliminates the need of knowing exact locations of semantically
rich data and complex problem solving services. They are on the grid.
The ontology reduces the need to know the exact structure and access paths of the data
in product model databases. They can be accesses by using an engineering ontology as
opposed object names and record keys.
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4 TOWARDS A STANDARD ENGINEERING GRID

4.1 Grid standards
Grid (Services) Computing is based on an open set of standards and protocols (i.e.,
OGSA) that enable communication across heterogeneous, geographically dispersed IT
environments. The current trend is to produce a broader set of standards that cover all
aspects of Grid technologies (computational, data storage, networking and web services).
This effort is articulated through the Global Grid Forum (GGF).
The focus of the standardization contribution of this project to the global grid
movement will be the proposal of semantic extensions to the OGSA specification.
Currently OGSAs ontology is technicalit speaks of services, protocols, processes,
computers etc. We propose to build the semantic deep into the core of the grid standards
so that any grid related service or protocol can have a meaningful business role. Our
current idea is to allow for an arbitrary ontology, specified in one of the well established
ontology languages, become part of the very fabric of the grid.
More specific plan of the inteliGrid partners is to participate actively in two of the
working/research groups of the GGF:
Grid Scheduling Ontology Working Group (proposed), and
Semantic Grid Research Group (SEM-GRD) (http://www.semanticgrid.org/GGF/).
The roles of these groups are to produce ontology of Grid accompanied by a set of
documents describing the ontology and the tools/libraries used to create the ontology and
to make use of the ontology later. The ontology created will provide the machine
processable meaning of scheduling terms and conditions that is needed to negotiate
service level agreements between usually heterogeneous systems operated at different
independent sites. The working group will define usage and hierarchy of terms from the
Grid Scheduling Dictionary thus helping to understand these terms and enable tool
builders to incorporate the ontology into their tools. The ontology will overcome the
shortcomings of a dictionary allowing classification of schedulers, reasoning about
schedulers or mapping semantics of different scheduling systems for example. Using the
ontology generated by the working group when designing and implementing the next
generation of GRAM and their corresponding Grid services may further lead to ontologydriven systems.
The goal of the SEM-GRD is to realise the added value of Semantic Web technologies
for Grid users and developers. It provides a forum to track Semantic Web community
activities and advise the Grid community on the application of Semantic Web
technologies in Grid applications and infrastructure, to identify case studies and share
good practice.
The partners will propose topic oriented chapters of the GGF. GGF is now organised
either by geographic location or grid related technical topic, but not according to the
potential branch of industry having specific requirements to the grid. The proposed
aec.gridforum.org would focus on AEC virtual organizations, semantics and ontologies
for grids.
307
4.2 Interoperability standards and ontologies

AEC interoperability standards, most notably the IAIIFC aka ISO PAS 16739 IFC,
aecXML
(http://www.iai-na.org/aecxml/mission.php)
,
bcXML
(http://www.econstruct.org/), ISO 10303 STEP and the related STEP/SDAI (ISO 1994)
protocols are at an early stage of transition from research environments towards industrial
use. An adequate infrastructure, on which software that would support these standards
would run comfortably and smoothly, does not exist. We intend to provide it in the
inteliGrid project. It will, in this way, make a significant contribution to the introduction
of the most important family of standards that the AEC industry has developed over the
last 20 years.
At a recent workshop at Cormte Europeen de Normalisation (CEN) five areas of
specifications (CWAsCEN Workshop Agreements) that may lead to CEN
standardisation, were identified (resulting, in part, from the ICCI project involving three
inteliGrid partners):
1 European eConstruction Framework. This framework will model on a high abstraction
level the world of eConstruction with all relevant dimensions.
2 European eConstruction Architecture. A common, logical architecture fulfilling the EeF
incorporating vital components like: schemas, taxonomies, APIs and software.
3 European eConstruction Meta-Schema (EeM).
4 European eConstruction Ontology (EeO).
5 European eConstruction Software Toolset (EeS).
inteliGrids reference grid architecture directly addresses the needs of #1 and #2.
Through the development of construction ontology in WP3 it is directly addressing the
needs of #4:
inteliGrid also has an ambition to evolve the dated, client-server, STEP physical file
based ISO 1030322 SDAI into a modern, grid enabled information access interface to
product model data.
Partners of inteliGrid will continue to be involved with IAI-IFC development. TUD,
VTT, OPB and EPM are actively involved in the IFC development process.
inteliGrid will contribute to the harmonisation of competing ontologies currently
available in the construction sector, particularly in ironing out the differences between
the implicit ontologys of IAIIFC and those developed under the ISO 120062 and the
ISO 120063 framework standards. It is there three standards that could provide the
baselines for a common ontology for AEC.
inteliGrid will contribute to the development of an explicit ontology of the AEC
components of the IAI-IFC.
5 DRAFTARCHITECTURE
In Figure 4, the users are using the applications. These applications need information and
ftmctionality from the outside of the users workstation, from the grid.
The applications therefore have a workstation component and the grid based
component. The communication media between the workstation and the grid is the
308
Internet and the workstation applications, their grid based counterparts, as well as the grid
only services are connected to the grid with a series of interfaces. At the very bottom
there are numerous computers on which these grid side services run. Workstations
would typically not know on which machine the service is running. Computationally
intensive services would run on several in parallel, big databases would be spread across
several machines. Simple services would have redundant backups in case of computer or
network failures. Any prototyping should therefore develop these components that
together form a semantic collaboration grid:
grid enabled workstation applications (the first three from the left) that connect to a grid
through a
specialised semantic grid adapter for each application. This adapter talks to the
workstation-side semantic grid client common to all applications on a workstation.
Over the internet, this client connects to
server side semantic grid server. It would run on machines providing grid enabled
services
semantic grid adapter will be used by services that are to made grid enabled
specialised core servers, such as the product database and an ontology server. This
software may not have a workstation component other than some administration
interface.
Figure 4. Draft architecture of

inteliGrid. The grid, enhanced with
generic product data and ontology
services provides the collaboration and
interoperability platform for problem
solving.
309
6 DISCUSSION
In spite of successful pilots, the AEC industry lacks a robust collaboration infrastructure.
Grids are the latest hyped technology that promises the solution to this decades old
problem allowing both the researchers as well as the industry to capitalize on the
development in standards of the past decades. A grid is a natural transition path for the
project webs and application service providers. In this paper we have not been
mentioning a very clear potential that the grid has for the providers of complex numerical
and modelling software that is truly hungry for processing power and gigaflop computers;
the usefulness of those in solving complex engineering problems is obvious.
Research in the field of grids in AEC is just starting. An EU project has been
proposed, AEC partners have been involved in the preparation of a Grid integrated
project. There is at least one national grid related project (in Slovenia
http://www.gridforum.si/) seriously is focusing on the AEC aspects of the grid. However,
grid research in AEC is still rather new. The vision shared by the authors of this paper is
that the AEC community should work towards a single AEC grid in which various
services and software could be plugged in and not repeat the mistakes of the various
integration projects that developed their own collaboration infrastructures from scratch.
This paper is therefore proposing the establishing of aec.gridforum, to coordinate and
harmonize grid efforts in AEC as well as to show the general grid community, that to
support, with grid technology, virtual organizations of a particular domain, domain
specific solutions, particularly those related to domain ontologies, should be built into the
fabric of the grid.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is based on the inteliGrid Project Proposal and its subsequent Description
of the work. Through their contribution to the definition of the project, these colleagues
also contributed to this pa per (in alphabetical order): T.CerovTiek, U.Forgber, A.Gehre,
U.Forgberger, J.Hyvarinen, J.Mitchell, B. Protopsaltis, R.Santoro, R.Scherer,
V.Stankovski, K.Tonn. As co-authors, only those are listed that made a significant
contribution to the delta between this paper and its baseline documents.
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Building Model Data. In Proceedings of the Xth International Conference on Computing in
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Welch, V., Siebenlist, F., Foster, I., Bresnahan, J., Czajkowski, K., Gawor, J., Kesselman, C.,
Meder, S., Pearlman, L. & Tuecke, S., 2003. Security for Grid Services. In Proceedings of the
12th International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing (HPDC-12), IEEE
Press, June 2003.
Managing long transactions in model server

based collaboration
M.Weise, P.Katranuschkov & R.J.Scherer
Institute of Construction Informatics, TU Dresden, Germany
ABSTRACT: We propose a novel approach for project collaboration
based on product data technology, the C/S paradigm and the concept of
long transactions. It provides an open server-based solution that can tackle
problems caused by the heterogeneity of ICT environments in AEC and
does not presume neither require tightly integrated application systems.
The essence of the suggested approach is in the coherent use of a set of
generic services supporting the sequence of well-identified data
modification processes. These services comprise partial model extraction,
model mapping, model matching (including model comparison and model
reintegration) and model merging. In this paper we focus specifically on
problems related to the reintegration of changed model subsets. We show
on theoretical level why generic model comparison cannot fully guarantee
error-free results for the reintegration of changed model data and discuss
the use of model subsets and their impact on project data sharing. At the
end we describe envisaged possibilities to apply the developed concepts to
the IFC project model and give a critical discussion for its application in
AEC practice.
1 INTRODUCTION
Today it is widely accepted that efficient project collaboration can be best accomplished
using product data technology as basis (Eastman 1999). However, there are still a number
of problems to be solved. The existing heterogeneity of tools and systems in construction
IT, and especially the variety of data models used in the different stages of the design
process, strongly limit the successful application of PDT in practice. Undertaken
standardisation efforts, whilst principally successful, cannot fully overcome this problem.
It seems that additional model mappings will always be required (Turk 2001).
Integrated environments that have been demonstrated by a number of research projects
in the last decade are yet of little acceptance because they typically require wellharmonised applications, only capable to process agreed model data to a fine granularity
level. Scaling up such environments to the full set of practical use cases in computerintegrated construction is unlikely to be achieved due to the extreme increase of
complexity with regard to modelling representations, model mappings and consistency
(Amor & Faraj 2001). Obviously, solutions should be sought by other ways.
312
We propose a novel approach to the realisation of a promising collaboration scenario

that may be practically achieved on short term: check-out/check-in of partial model data
provided by a central product data repository maintained by a model server.
In AEC/FM, and in fact in most other engineering domains as well, check-out/checkin of model data is a typical long transaction, comprising a set of well identified data
modification processes. Ideally, such long transactions should happen concurrently, on
(disjoint) subsets of the shared model data. Consequently, check-in of concurrently
changed model subsets leads to model matching and model merging problems that have
to be adequately tackled. An important aspect here is the capability to adequately deal
with model subsets (aka partial model) which has been addressed in several research
efforts (Lockley & Augenbroe 2000, Adachi 2002). However, in all known approaches
the final check-in is either poorly supported (the reintegration of the data into the shared
model is left almost entirely to the application tools which typically results in a tedious,
interactive process), or its complexity is ignored (assuming an ideally harmonised
environment where no data loss happens due to mappings between semantically and
structurally different representations).
In practice data mapping and all subsequent user modifications most often happen
within a black-box application (CAD, analysis/simulation tool) producing unknown
changes with regard to the overall management system. As there are a lot of different
black-box applications users might need to use, an objective of utmost importance is the
development of generalised data management methods that (1) are applicable to different
product models, and (2) can be flexibly assembled and tailored to support specific
process sequences and preferences derived from the general check-out/ check-in
procedure outlined above.
In this paper we describe how the problems related to the use of such black-box
applications can be successfully tackled. Suggested is an approach combining partial
model check-out based on GMSD, the Generalised Model Subset Definition Schema
developed by the authors and described in (Weise et al. 2003), and a generic method for
comparing changed model data only on the basis of the underlying model schema (Weise
et al. 2004).
We show how the information defined by the GMSD schema can be used for
comparing changed data and how the identified separate processes can be inter-linked to
improve the result. Special attention is given to the reintegration of the changed partial
model data which is, beside model merging and consistency control, one of the most
challenging tasks towards the achievement of model-based collaboration. The developed
services have been based on the broadly accepted EXPRESS modelling language (ISO
1030311 1994). Therefore they can be verified and used with the IFC project model and
all legacy applications supporting IFC-based data exchange.
2 SUGGESTED APPROACH
Whilst the need for open, scalable and standardised ICT environments for AEC
collaboration is generally recognised, such environments are not easy to achieve in the
highly fragmented landscape of the construction industry. In order to apply product data
technology in practical work we have to acknowledge that:
Managing long transactions in model
313
1. The achievement of data integration requires sophisticated model mappings that in turn
may produce additional data conflicts or even data loss.
2. Engineering work requires long transactions and these transactions must happen
concurrently Hence, the goal should be to provide pragmatic methods which may not
guarantee full consistency at any time but which should support the users to regain
consistent model states.
3. Standards enabling collaborative work have not yet fully penetrated design and
construction practice. File-based data exchange of (partially) standardised model data
is the current, quite insufficient common denominator with regard to data sharing.
Therefore, in the development of collaboration approaches problems of imperfect
data exchange scenarios need to be tackled as well.
4. The road towards comprehensive life cycle data sharing will include a number of
incremental steps seeking to find the optimal balance between fully automated
consistent solutions for limited subsets of the design data and adequate interactive
functions to fill in the gaps.
Consequently, an approach allowing to alleviate hard demands associated with the
problems of data sharing is required.
Our approach is based on the conviction that full integration and consistency of the
evolving design data are not needed continuously but only at specific coordination points,
reasonably selected by the design team. We do not try to create a closed ideal world but
provide an open solution which allows to reduce data loss, improve data sharing quality
and reach a practically adequate degree of consistency. The developed concept does not
promise a perfect environment providing faultless data integrity. Instead, the strategy is to
mitigate the requirements to the involved engineering applications, reduce data loss
caused by data mapping and other data conflicts, and at the same time take into account
practical deficiencies in current data models and their software implementations.
The envisaged principal application scenario is based on the concept of long
transactions allowing off-line modifications and, in order to support parallel work,
involving versioning and merging of concurrently changed data. This is achieved with the
help of four key generic services as follows:
extraction of model subsets that are of interest for a specific design task,
mapping of the model data to support different modelling representations,
matching of two successive model versions to help recognise properly the latest
modified data, and
merging of concurrently made data changes.
We assume a common modelling paradigm and a commonly agreed (standardised) data
model to represent the data to be shared. Taking into account current practices and trends,
the developed services are based on the broadly acknowledged EXPRESS modelling
language and can therefore be used with a lot of existing data models, such as an IFC
project model of any version and a like.
Whilst there are many different use cases where these services can be applied, they
can all be derived from the principal scenario shown on Fig. 1 below. It starts at time
point ti with the consistent shared model version Mi based on the product data model M
(defining the data that have to be shared), and proceeds until the next coordination point
ti+c is reached.
314
The data processing sequence for a single designer is comprised of the following six
steps:
1. Model subset definition and subsequent extraction of the needed model data from Mi to
a model subset Msi, which can be expressed as Msi=createSubset (Mi, subsetDef (Mi)).
2. Mapping of the model subset Msi to the domain model Si representing an instantiation
of the domain data model S, i.e. Si=map (Msi, mappingDef (M, S)).
Figure 1. Schematic presentation of the

principal application scenario for
model server based collaboration.
3. Modification of Si to Si+1 by the user via some legacy application which can be
expressed abstractly as Si+1=userModify (Si, useApplication (A, Si).
4. Backward mapping of Si+1 to Msi+1, i.e. Msi+1=map (Si+1, mappingDef (S, M)).
5. Model matching of Msi+1 and Msi+1 including object identification, comparison and
evaluation resulting in the found differences Msi+1,i, i.e. Msi+1,i=match (Msi, Msi+1).
6. Reintegration of Msi+1 in Mi resulting in Mi+1, i.e. Mi+1=reintegrate (Mi, Msi+1,i).
The final consistent model Mi+1 can then be merged with the divergent design data of the
other designers (modified in parallel using the same procedure) at the coordination time
point ti+c to obtain a new stable model state Mi+c. This can be expressed abstractly by
Mi+c=merge (Mi+1, Mi+2,, Mi+k), with k=the number of concurrently changed checked
out models.
If a standardised data model that can be processed by the involved engineering
applications is used, as e.g. IFC, then the model mapping shown in Fig. 1 will not be
necessary. Similarly, if all common data from Mi can be processed by the used
application(s), subset creation can be skipped.
The reintegration of changed data, specifically focused in this paper, is always
necessary in all application scenarios dealing with model subsets. It depends directly on
the result of the previous steps, especially on the quality of model comparison performed
by the matching operation. Additionally, the used model subset is needed to be able to
identify deleted model data. In order to evaluate the process of reintegration we will
shortly characterise the model subset extraction and the model matching methods.
315
3 MODEL SUBSET EXTRACTION

The use of model subsets in the data modification processes has several advantages.
Beside reducing the quantity of exchanged data, the most notable reason is to specify the
model subset which can be properly managed by the requesting application. In the case of
Figure 2. Applying model subset

extraction to remove unchanged data
before matching.
the IFC model which covers several design domains, an application for architectural
design can hardly be expected to manage all information related to HVAC design, albeit
contained in the IFC model. This problem is well known to the Implementation Support
Group (ISG) of the IAI and is semantically tackled by model subset agreements, the so
called view definitions. However, we still miss a sufficient server manageable model
subset definition. To be used in the envisaged scenario, a model subset should be (1)
easily definable with as few as possible statements, (2) completely described within a
single service request and (3) usable for reintegration of changed data by allowing
elimination of mismanaged or unmodified data sets. To serve these requirements on
adequate scale we have developed a Generalised Model Subset Deflnition schema
(GMSD) which can be used as schematically shown in Fig. 2. The first createSubset()
operation generates the model subset Msi which is then modified by some design
application to Msi+1. However, in the case of using a STEP physical file mandatory
attributes have to be written to Msi even if not defined by the model subset request. This
results in superfluous and often mismanaged information. Removing such attributes can
be achieved by applying the same createSubset() operation to Msi+1 too. The model
subset can then be further advantageously reduced by removing unmodified data. For that
purpose, a new subset extraction has to be specified and applied to both Msi and Msi+1*
316
so that the resulting model subsets

and
are processible by the following
model matching service. More details on GMSD are provided in (Weise et al. 2003).
4 MODEL MATCHING
Model matching can be divided into the comparison of (externally) modified design data
and, if a model subset is used, its reintegration into the complete set of design data. The
principle of a highly reusable generic comparison of object oriented models is based on
the premise that there are corresponding data object instances of the same model schema
which can be compared on attribute level. However, for real practice, different from a
pure academic approach, we have to consider that (1) not all objects can be uniquely
identified by a kind of a key value, (2) a structural difference in the data does not always
imply a change in their semantic meaning, (3) eventual data loss caused by model
mapping may emerge on object and attribute level and (4) errors from the used
application may result in replacement of valid data (such as wrongly set IDs,
replacements by default values etc.).
As indicated in the previous section, the problems (3) and (4) can be tackled by the
model subset definition. Problem (2) can be tackled by using a normalising model
mapping which can help reduce the variations of the data structures representing one and
the same semantic meaning. Hence, our proposed model comparison method has to deal
basically with the problem of object identification. Unfortunately, this problem is
theoretically not unambiguously solvable under the abovementioned real world
conditions. Therefore we suggest an algorithm that provides a simple scalable way for
finding corresponding data objects. Its essence is in the iterative generation of object
pairs by evaluation of equivalent references of already validated object pairs. The result
of the suggested algorithm is affected by the underlying data structure (particularly the
percentage of available object identifiers), the amount and kind of data changes and the
occurring variations of the data structure representing the same semantic meaning. Thus,
it cannot fully guarantee that all corresponding objects will be found or properly
established for any arbitrary practical situation. The results may also include multiple
corresponding objects in some of the cases where a single match would be the proper
solution. Finally, since the algorithm is based on pure examination of the data structure
(without involvement of any engineering semantics), the model comparison will always
find all data changes caused by allowed variations in the representation of the same
semantics (e.g. different geometry description of the same physical position in IFC).
However, in spite of these deficiencies, the suggested algorithm provides a 95% correct
solution in most practical situations, showing a very satisfactory performance, adequate
for online processing. It overcomes the complexity involved in the treatment of the most
general matching case and, if supplemented with a suitable interactive procedure to fill
in the gaps and adjust the results, can provide an error-free model comparison that fulfils
the set requirements and verifies the rationale of the approach.
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5 REINTEGRATION OF CHANGED MODEL SUBSETS

If model subsets are used, as shown in the discussed principal application scenario, the
reintegration of changed data becomes necessary. As discussed in section 3 above a
model subset is created by removing data objects, cutting or reducing references, filtering
attributes etc. Reintegration means to invert the process of model subset extraction, i.e. to
add removed data objects, restore cut or reduced references and re-create the attributes
that have been filtered out. In our approach it is heavily based on the model subset
definition achieved via GMSD and on the results of the model comparison.
5.1 The reintegration process
The principal alignment of the reintegration process in the overall approach is illustrated
on Fig. 3. At first, by applying a GMSD-based createSubset( ) operation to a given model
version some objects and attributes will be removed. For object O1 this results in a new
version OS1 in which the simple reference a is removed and the aggregated reference b
is downsized by one element. This object is then modified externally by some application
to OS2 which differs from OS1 in the aggregated reference b, downsized by another
element, and the simple references c and d. The reintegration (which is the second part
of the shown match( ) operation) adds all objects and attributes from O1 that have been
removed according to the model subset definition. In this particular case, this will
recreate the cut/downsized references a and b. Additionally, all references from
unselected to selected data objects must be recreated too, as shown for the black object
in Fig. 3, using an arrow to denote its reference to O1.
Whilst this procedure is pretty clear and is more or less the same in all different
scenarios, there are various detailed problems that need to be dealt with. They are shortly
outlined in the following subsections.
5.2 Model comparison problems
Most critical for the formal reintegration of changed data are wrongly established object
pairs leading to an
Figure 3. Reintegration of model

subsets.
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incorrect recreation of attributes. If OS2 is not based on O1 the cut and downsized
references of OS1 will be assigned to a wrong successor and hence violate the originally
intended meaning. It can be argued that shared significant, high-level data objects, such
as instances of IfcBuildingElement from the IFC model, can be uniquely identified and
that less important data objects, such as IfcPoint, are mostly used with the complete set of
attributes. However, on theoretical level we cannot assume such implicit knowledge of
the semantics of the model. Therefore, the reintegration of changed model subsets has to
be supervised by the user to compensate missing object identifiers. For the formal step of
reintegration this can be done by evaluating established object pairs and found data
changes, which can be limited to data objects where cut references or removed attributes
shall be re-established or added. Generally, this step represents additional user
interactions which are caused by insufficiencies of the used data exchange scenario and
the data handling in the participating applications. The amount of this additional work
depends on several criteria such as the percentage of uniquely identifiable data objects,
the quality of the data produced by the used application, and the selected model subsets
for design modifications, i.e. the number of objects which have to be reintegrated.
5.3 Structural problems
The described reintegration scenario is limited to object pairs in 1:1 relationships which
cannot be guaranteed by the suggested comparison algorithm. If needed, it can be
enforced by applying an appropriate post-processing of assumed object pairs, applying
additional criteria to reduce the cardinality. However, for tracking the design history it is
important to allow n:m relationships or change of object types as well. Such cases can be
tackled by applying some additional user interactions, mostly needed to resolve eventual
ambiguities.
1:m version relationships
This case occurs if an old object is associated to several new objects. The reintegration
itself can be performed as shown in Fig. 3 by duplicating all removed attributes for all
new (corresponding) objects. Consequently, in the discussed example the attributes a
and b wills be re-established for both objects OS2 and OS2, as shown on Fig. 4 above.
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Figure 4. Problems in the case of 1:m

relationship.
For simple attributes like INTEGER, FLOAT or STRING this will work without
structural problems if not further constrained by some uniqueness rule (which is normally
required for attributes representing designated object identifiers). References are
principally treated in the same way, but they are often constrained by inverse
relationships, leading to a violation of the allowed cardinality. This is the case, too, if a
reference to the changed object has to be recreated, because for m new objects there are m
options to set the reference. This problem is shown on Fig. 4 for the dark object which
can either point to OS2 or OS2 but not to both. In such cases an additional decision by the
user is necessary to resolve the structural conflict. Alternatively, to reduce such user
interactions, some further strategies for automatic suggestions can be envisaged, for
instance based on least object changes.
If a duplication of references can be done without structural conflicts, it leads to
shared data objects, i.e. an object will be referenced by more than one object, and
consequently will destroy the tree structure of an existing reference tree. However,
reference trees are beneficial in the treatment of model subsets. Including a reference tree
in a model subset leads to a smaller number of cut references. Moreover, data changes are
locally limited and usually do not implicitly affect other parts of the model.
Thus, whilst the sharing of object references is a powerful modelling concept, it
should be used predominantly for uniquely identifiable objects. Otherwise, the data will
be much more sensitive to design changes.
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n:1 version relationships

This case occurs if several old objects are associated to one new object. Here the
reintegration as shown in Fig. 3 cannot be performed, since n options can be found for
each attribute which has to be recreated. This case requires additional user interactions to
decide about possible optionseither to reduce the n:1 relationship to 1:1, or the
recreation of single attributes. In the example given on Fig. 5 the user has to decide about
the attributes a and b, i.e. whether they shall be recreated from OS1, from KS1 or from
a mixture of both.
Less problematic are references to the objects. Formally, all removed references to OS1
and KS1 can be moved to MS2, the single new object representing the successor (new
object version) for both. This can be done without structural conflicts, if not restricted by
constraints of inverse relationships which consequently will be defined for MS2.
Change of the object type in a version relationship
This case occurs when corresponding objects are of different types. The reintegration as
shown in Fig. 3 can be performed for all commonly used attributes on the basis of the
first common object definition in the inheritance hierarchy of both object types. This is
shown on Fig. 6, where both objects use the attributes a, b and c. However, the
attribute d of OS1 cannot be represented using the object type of OS2. Consequently, the
data stored by d will be lost. Additionally, a problem may occur when trying to recreate
references originally pointing to O1, because such references may be restricted to types of
OS1 and would therefore not be allowed for the more abstract type of OS2. In such cases
the reference cannot be recreated. Moreover, this may lead to further problems e.g. when
the reference is mandatory and therefore may not be removed. Again, this requires
additional user interactions to decide about possible optionseither to change the object
type, or to adjust the troubling reference.
Using a more abstract object type for domainspecific design changes is explicitly
supported by the GMSD schema but it looks slightly different than shown on Fig. 6. In
principle, an object can be changed to a type defined higher in its inheritance hierarchy in
order to manage more abstract and less complex data objects, if this is sufficient for its
further use. Consequently, to avoid data loss for the richer object definition a
transformation to the original type will be necessary to reintegrate design changes of this
object.
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Figure 5. Problems in the case of n:1

relationship.
Figure 6. Problems in the case of

changing the object type.
However, in that case the casting of object types occurs between O1 and OS1, and not
between OS1 and OS2 as shown in Fig. 6. Thus it can be restored without problems when
creating O2.
As it can be imagined, a mixture of these structural problems is also possible. Their
superposition definitely requires further user interactions but this can be additionally
utilised for a refined strategy of automatic suggestions for conflict resolution.
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5.4 Semantic problems

Even in the restricted reintegration scenario shown on Fig. 3 full consistency of the data
cannot be guaranteed solely by generic services because, in addition to the outlined
structural problems, we have to deal with semantic conflicts requiring domain knowledge
for their detection and resolution.
Basically, a semantic conflict occurs when changes made to a model subset require a
change of the remaining part of the model data in order to achieve a consistent model
state. Semantic conflicts are a typical (unwanted) result by the work with model subsets
which has to be tackled by the involved designers and normally requires further reviews,
additional design decisions, recalculations and so on. From the viewpoint of our approach
most critical and time consuming are rearrangements of the object structure without
changing the semantic meaning, such as changed units and coordinate systems. If such
changes implicitly affect the remaining part of the model data, an adjustment of a large
number of data objects may be necessary without requiring additional design decisions of
any designer. For example, if a globally used length measure is changed from meter to
millimetre, a change of all attributes using a length measure is necessary. Here, only a
multiplier has to be applied, but such automatic updates are not always so simple and
clear. In general, additional constraint definitions will be needed to help detect such
semantic conflicts. However, in current practical data model specifications such
definitions are mostly limited to simple rules (like restrictions of cardinality or
uniqueness of values). Therefore data consistency must finally be evaluated by the
involved designers during the matching and especially the merging processes, which is
not further discussed in this paper.
6 VALIDATION
The theoretical approach outlined in the previous sections is being validated for several
available product data models. Most comprehensive checking has been done for the IFC
model due to its broadest acceptance, its overarching multi-domain scope (making model
subsets an important issue), and the large number of IFC-compliant applications.
As already mentioned, the result of applying the suggested services heavily depends
on the underlying model definitions. They are shortly addressed below, before discussing
drawn observations.
6.1 Evaluation of the IFC model from the viewpoint of model matching
Concentrating on aspects of using model subsets and its later reintegration into the
original source model, the following concepts of the IFC model definition have to be
mentioned:
The layer concept and the respectively applied ladder principle for references
separates commonly used data from domain specific data. It makes it easy to define
domain specific model subsets and finally leads to a smaller number of cut references
when working with such subsets.
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Basic modelling concepts, such as defining the object geometry, location, material
properties and so on are reused by inheritance throughout the whole model definition.
Therefore, all participating applications will have a common understanding of these
concepts and the suggested use of more abstract objects can be applied.
The IFC model globally defines the used measures and the coordinate system for object
placement. The concept of relative placement makes the IFC model more sensitive to
changes of model subsets w.r.t. model consistency.
In many cases there exists a large variety for describing the same semantic meaning.
This makes the model vulnerable to semantic conflicts.
Not all IFC objects can be uniquely identified (via an object ID). Observations of
currently available IFC data sets have shown that the percentage of identifiable objects
on instance level is typically below 5%.
Starting from identifiable objects a reference tree can be created where many of the
unidentifiable objects can be unambiguously allocated. However, there are several
examples of shared objects without identifier where this procedure cannot be applied.
This is not at all an ideal situation for the generic model comparison algorithm.
The IFC model provides the possibility to attach individual, i.e. not standardised data
by using property set objects. Consequently, sophisticated model subset definitions
will be needed to restrict requested data to the manageable property set objects.
A comprehensive description of the IFC model can be found in Wix and Liebich (2001).
6.2 Practical use of the IFC model
To work with practical and real size model data we make use of available IFC
applications. Thus, we are limited to file based data exchange according to ISO 10303
21, which provides no adequate support for partial model exchange. However, we can use
a procedure which generates an IFC file containing the requested model subset and all
additionally required data (i.e. mandatory attributes) to formally fulfil the ISO 1030321
specification.
Consequently, the changed data has to be processed by the same GMSD request
removing such added attributes in order to work with the correct model subset that was
originally intended to use. This will be necessary for instance for the GloballD attribute
of IfcRelationship objects, which are mandatory but not managed by most known
applications, i.e. they are newly generated for each IFC export. Since relationship objects
can be seen as primary objects too, e.g. for the structural analysis domain, and because
of the fact that they will typically contain a lot of cut references when using model
subsets, the tracking of the data will be destroyed if identifiers of these objects are not
managed correctly. If newly created GloballD attributes can be ignored, corresponding
IfcRelationship objects can be found by the generic model comparison algorithm and thus
can be applied for the model subset approach.
To cope with such problems we have applied model subset definitions expressing the
capability of the used architectural design application, namely Graphisofts ArchiCAD.
Additionally, we have removed different object types, such as windows or doors to deal
with cut references.
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6.3 Evaluation of the developed concept

Successful data reintegration depends on the results of the model comparison, and
especially on the correct identification of corresponding objects. As discussed in Weise et
al. (2004), the test results for deliberately made changes were mostly very good, even
when dealing with a loss of identifiers leading to only 0,1% of uniquely identifiable
objects. However, for real changes in large models in the addressed long transactions the
comparison algorithm may not compensate so well the heavy loss of object identifiers
which can significantly downgrade the result.
The performed tests showed that objects that could not be properly recognised as
changed were mostly classified as new thereby leading, cascadingly, to the same
decision for objects referentially dependent on them. However, for the IFC data structure
propagation of this effect seems to remain on a limited scale because unidentifiable
objects are mostly used within a reference tree, i.e. they are not independently shared.
Moreover, for practical use of the IFC model cutting of references will be mainly
necessary for objects which can be identified with high reliability. In contrast, objects
that are not identifiable with certainty will mostly be used with all attributes which
requires no recreation of removed data.
Thus, the probability of data loss or wrongly reintegrated data appears to be generally
tolerable. Most critical seem to be semantic conflicts caused by changes of measures and
shared coordinate systems. Even so, we can conclude that IFC provides a good basis for
true database transactions but respective user friendly services are yet to be developed.
Such developments can be supported by the suggested novel approach presented in this
paper.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The support of the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the involvement of FZK
(Karlsruhe) in the testing of the developed services are herewith gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Amor, R. & Faraj, I. 2001: Misconceptions about Integrated Project Databases. ITcon Vol. 6,
available from: http://itcon.Org/2001/5/
Adachi, Y. 2002. Overview of Partial Model Query Language. VTT Building and Transport /
SECOM Co. Ltd., Intelligent Systems Lab., VTT Report VTT-TEC-ADA-12, available from:
http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/ifcsvr/tec/VTT-TEC-ADA-12.pdf
Construction. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
ISO 10303-11 IS 1994. /Cor.1:1999/Industrial Automation Systems and IntegrationProduct Data
Representation and ExchangePart 11: Description Methods: The EXPRESS Language
Reference Manual, International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO TC 184/SC4, Geneva.
Lockley, S. & Augenbroe, G. 2000. Data Integration with Partial Exchange, Proc. of International
Conference on Construction Information Technology, INCITE 2000, Hong Kong, pp 277291.
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Turk, Z. 2001. Phenomenological Foundations of Conceptual Product Modelling in AEC.

International Journal of AI in Engineering, Vol. 15, pages 8392.
Weise, M., Katranuschkov, P. & Scherer, R.J. 2003. Generalised Model Subset Definition Schema,
In: Proc. of the CIB-W78 Conference 2003Information Technology for Construction,
Auckland, NZ.
Weise, M., Katranuschkov, P. & Scherer, R.J. 2004. Generic Services for the Support of Evolving
Building Model Data, In: Proc. of the ICCCBE-X Conference, Weimar, Germany.
Wix, J. & Liebich, T. 2001. Industry Foundation Classes IFC 2x, International Alliance for
Interopembility, http://www.iai-ev.de/spezifikation/IFC2x/index.htm.
A software generation process for usercentered dynamic building system models

G.Zimmermann & A.Metzger
University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
ABSTRACT: The architects view of buildings is drastically changing
because of technical progress, especially in control and facility
management. Also, the usage of many buildings is often altered during
their life time. Therefore, buildings have to be designed and maintained as
systems including the users and uses over time. We have developed a
formal building model that integrates the domains of building structures,
service systems, control systems, functional units, and user activities. To
intuitively model the dynamic behavior of user activities, we introduce a
graphical modeling notation that we call Message/Transition Charts and
show how these diagrams can semi-automatically be transformed into
executable code. We believe that these contributions to the modeling of
building systems and to transforming the models into simulators prove
that architects, building users, and facility managers can efficiently be
supported during the full life-cycle of buildings.
1 INTRODUCTION
In architectural design four major stages are distinguished: the programming, proposal,
main proposal, and the detailed design stage. During the lifetime of buildings, facility
management stages and redesign or remodeling stages alternate. We foresee that in all
stages there will be an increasing demand for models, simulations, and tools that
incorporate user requirements and activities much more explicitly than it is the current
practice.
One of the reasons is that buildings are becoming technically much more sophisticated
because of the embedding of digital control and communication systems as well as other
technical advances. Such systems make the requirements analysis, design, use, and
maintenance of buildings much more complicated for all stakeholders and add a new
dimension of complexity.
Another reason is a growing awareness that the building users should be in the center
of attention during all stages and that a building should adapt to changing requirements of
users instead of the other way around.
In most building development, construction, and maintenance processes it is claimed
that everything is done for the best of the user. It is assumed that the average user
requirements are known and buildings that are built for these average users will fiilfill the
requirements of the majority of users.
A software generation process for user-centered
327
However, post-occupancy evaluations show that this assumption is not true. There is
no average user and all individuals have different requirements. Satisfaction case studies
showespecially in the case of automated service systems with no user intervention
that in many cases the majority of the users is not satisfied and would like to get more
individual control. Since satisfaction with the working environment is strongly correlated
to productivity, much can be gained by improving satisfaction. Also, users often do not
react to situations as assumed. This means that we are dealing with ranges of user
requirements and non-deterministic behavior of individuals.
Post-occupancy evaluations of users in buildings come too late in the process.
Therefore, we propose the use of simulators to be able to experiment with groups of
individual users, which also can have extreme requirements and exhibit non-deterministic
reactions. We are aware that the dynamic behavior of persons is not well known and
models of it are also based on average assumptions. Our hope is that by comparing
simulations with observations of real users, the models can be refined over time.
Advances in software and hardware technology and in computer science as well as
software engineering provide us with the means to establish models, simulators and tools
to support all stakeholders in coping with the problems that were mentioned above. One
such approach for systematically coping with the complexity that is introduced by
regarding sophisticated building technology and individual user activities is introduced in
this paper.
Still, it has to be clarified which questions computer simulation can answer that could
not be answered by experienced architects or by stochastic models or calculations. At this
time we can only make assumptions on the necessity of simulation. Applications of such
simulators can show that these can provide solutions to the posed problems.
One field we see as very difficult to tackle without simulation is the dynamic
interaction of users with building control systems and the test and optimization of
appropriate user interaction strategies. Simulations with user activities in a building
system that is equipped with a control system could answer the question how little should
be automated, how much user influence should be provided, how such systems should
react to unexpected user behavior and how different control strategies influence the total
building performance. The outcome might be that no control, computer aided control or
the fully automated control should be preferred to provide optimal user satisfaction (and
thus productivity) with little or no loss in energy efficiency.
Other questions are related to the use of resources shared by many individuals of
groups of users. Such resources are access and circulation areas and common facilities
and equipment. Instead of using stochastic models, dynamic simulations with many
individuals and situations could also provide answers about the average satisfaction or the
satisfaction in extreme or unexpected situations.
At this point, it should be stated clearly that we regard user activities as dynamic
activities that happen over time. This means that the models and the simulators have to
reflect this dynamics of user behavior in relation to time.
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2 RELATED WORK
There have been discussions about the necessity of more formally taking user activities
into account during the design and maintenance of buildings, and some progress has been
made to achieve this goal. For example, Eastmann & Siabiris (1995) and Eck-holm &
Fridquist (2000) have extended object structure models for building spaces by including
organizations, user activities, and activity spaces. The purpose of these models is the
formalization, communication, and storage of data, not so much the simulation. Eckholm
(2001) introduced semi-dynamic user behavior by showing situations of user activities in
a CAD-program.
Dijkstra & Timmermans (2002) extended this notion into the dynamic domain by
introducing models of space-time behavior of persons. They used agent technology to
implement such models. Experiments have been conducted in the domain of pedestrians.
The results are of great value in urban planning and also for the design and evaluation of
transportation in general and of circulation areas in buildings. There is ongoing research
to extend this work to other user activities in business processes.
We have developed structural models of buildings as complete systems (Zimmermann
2003) that include users, user activities and activity spaces. These models provide the
foundation for the automatic creation of simulators and is explained in Sect. 3. This paper
demonstrates how this model can be extended to also include the dynamics of user
activities.
We have shown that physical effects that are observed in buildings (like heat or air
flow) can be simulated by mapping simple physical objects into autonomous
computational objects that compute the required physical results at run-time
(Zimmermann 2002). We can use this technology to treat all physical simulation
problems by integrating suitable computational objects into the building system model.
The communication links between these objects can directly be derived from the static
building structure in case of the domains regarded so far. Where the topology of the
physical objects directly reflects the communication relationships in such a case (e.g.,
connected walls will exchange heat), this is not true when regarding users and their
activities. The reason for that is that the topological relations change while users move
(e.g., when going from an office to a meeting room) or change their memberships with
certain groups (e.g., when changing the role from private person to employee).
Additionally, the flow of messages and the behavior of the objects strongly depends on
their state. For example, an occupied meeting room will force a user seeking for an area
to hold a presentation in to search for a vacant room.
Therefore, we need to augment the building models with that additional information.
Unfortunately, all notations that are commonly available to the software engineer do not
seem to be suitable for these purposes.
A vast number of modeling notations, the so called scenario notations (Amyot et al.
2003), focus solely on the external communication between objects. Examples for such
scenario notations are Message Sequence Charts (MSCs, cf. Braek et al. (1993)), UML
Sequence Diagrams (Rumbaugh et al. 1999), or Use Case Maps (Buhr 1998). The
behavior described in these scenarios usually only represents a single run of the
329
modeled system, thus forcing the modeler to create lots of diagrams to achieve an overall
understanding of the system. The concepts for hierarchical decomposition or repetition of
partial scenarios as suggested in some of the notations (e.g., Hierarchical MSCs) only
provides little help in our context.
As an other extreme, there are modeling techniques that only allow for the description
of the internal, stateoriented view of objects. SDUs state flow diagrams (Braek et al.
1993) or UMLs State Charts (Rumbaugh et al. 1999) are examples for such notations
that are commonly accepted in industry and academia.
Only UML Activity Diagrams (Rumbaugh et al. 1999) and variants thereof seem to
support the mixed specification of (external) messages and (internal) states. However, the
visual appearance and understandability by non-experts is far from ideal when the
number of states to be regarded is increasing.
It is the deficits of the above notations that made us conceive a new modeling
notation, which we call Message/Transition Charts or MTCs for short (cf. Sect. 4). This
paper will illustrate the notations elegance for the purpose of modeling user activities
and dynamic behavior between distributed objects.
3 THE BUILDING SYSTEM MODEL
Our approach bases on sound software engineering techniques that are applied to solve
the problem of modeling building systems including user activities and to implement
appropriate dynamic simulation environments in reasonable time. The most important
techniques that are applied are structuring (or separation of concerns), iterative
refinement, reuse, and model as well as code generation.
Structuring is exploited throughout several dimensions. As a main structuring concept
we have partitioned the building system model according to the domains: building
structure, service systems, control systems, functional units, and user activities. All
elements that are described by the sub-models of these five domains are further classified
as being of type space or of type matter. As an example, in the building structure domain,
the volume of a wall is considered as being of type space, where the materials that make
up the wall (like bricks) are regarded as matter.
Figure 1 shows the top level view of our building system model. All elements in this
model are derived from the generic SystemObjectType. The Matter and SpaceTypes are
found as specializations of this generic element (the more general element is depicted by
the hollow arrowhead), as are the elements of the respective domains (e.g.,
BldSpaceT=BuildingSpaceType).
All SystemObjectTypes are related by Requirements. Requirements are typically of
such a form that an element in one domain requires a service that is fulfilled by one ore
more elements in other domains. A basic structuring principle is that these requirements
should only relate elements of the SpaceType if possible. In this way the spaces in the
five domains together with the requirements, form the backbone of the overall building
system model.
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Figure 1. Building system model

(system level).
Additional relations are depicted by the realizedBy arcs in Fig. 1, which bind together the
matter and space elements of the respective domain. In many cases, the matter is of
secondary importance and can be neglected in the early stages of modeling.
Besides the connection of space elements through requirements, spaces can also be
related to each other by topologic or geometric relationships. This is expressed by the
spatial relation between the SpaceType in Fig. 1. If we begin to refine the models of the
individual domains, the introduction of aggregation or composition relations (one
element is made up of other elements) or other relations between space or between matter
elements can become important.
When refining the top level building system model to create the individual domain
models, we use an approach of iteratively (step-by-step) refining these models following
certain levels of detail. Figure 2 shows these five levels. The system level corresponds to
331
the model in Fig. 1. From this level, the elements of the domain level are described first
and then these elements are refined to form the application domain level. The different
application domain models extend the level of detail of the domain models for different
application domains.
The elements of all models presented so far represent a classification of types of reallife objects (e.g., the office building domain model contains an OfficeType element,
which is a type of a SmallOffice of an exemplary real-life object Office-32419).
Therefore, these elements form a library of so called metaobject-types that can be reused
when creating new models. When these meta-object-types are instantiated they form the
models at the project level, which consequently contains object-types (like the
SmallOffice). Rather than linking the project and the application domain level with the
generalization arrow, we use a simple line to depict this instantiation relationship. When
the project level models are transformed into simulators (see Sect. 5) and executed, the
runtime-objects (that are instances of the object-types) reflect the real-life objects at the
run-time level of the model hierarchy.
Figure 2. Model hierarchy.
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Figure 3 shows the user activity domain model as a more detailed example of a model
at the domain level. The generalization relations to elements of the building system
model are depicted by angle brackets. The types of roles that can be taken on by
individuals (IndivRolT) are composed of different individual types of activities
(IndivActT), which themselves can consist of more fine-grained activities. Accordingly,
group role types are defined.
Refinements of this model (at the application domain level) are meaningful in
different domains like office buildings, factories, or homes. For the offlce building
domain model (see Fig. 2) we would derive elements such as ManagerType,
SecretaryType, and VisitorType from the element IndividualType. In home applications,
other refinements would apply. The reason for this seemingly complex structure of levels
and domains is as follows: We do not aim at creating a monolithic simulation
environment for building systems that integrates all possible alternatives of such systems
as well as their usages and that can only be personalized by setting a large number of
parameters. We rather aim at a systematic and efficient method for constructing
customized simulation environments for each application of such simulators. The above
structuring and reuse concepts provide the framework for such an approach to be
successful.
Figure 3. User activity domain model.
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4 MESSAGE/TRANSITION CHARTS
After having modeled the structure within the five domains with sufficient detail, we
have to define the behavior of the respective objects. As it has been noted, we concentrate
on user activities in this paper, which especially includes the specification of roles and
activities that make up these roles (see Fig. 3).
It is obvious that different users and roles are active concurrently. Therefore, a well
fitting computational model for describing this behavior is a set of communicating,
concurrent objects. A first step in specifying models of such concurrent objects is a rather
abstract and well-structured description, which depicts the communication between
objects and their change of states (state transitions) as triggered by the reception of
messages. From these high-level models, more detailed models can then be created that
represent the input to the simulator generation process as described in Sect. 5.
As it has been motivated in Sect. 2, we will use our notation of Message/Tmnsition
Charts (MTCs) as a suitable diagramming technique for such an abstract description.
MTCs consist of a few basic building blocks that can be structured in a hierarchical
fashion. At the lowest level, states of objects are identified (like the states occupied and
vacant that we have introduced in Sect. 2). These are depicted by small rounded
rectangles. Messages (painted as thick arrows) can trigger a change of states, i.e. a state
transition (depicted by thin arrows), which can imply the creation of new messages that
are sent to other objects.
Figure 4. Example of a
Message/Transition Chart.
Object boundaries are drawn as large rounded rectangles. As we are modeling user
activities with objects, such boundaries can show the boundaries of activities as well.
Figure 4 presents an example with two such activities, each having two states and two
transitions.
This figure also shows the more advanced modeling constructs that are available in the
MTC notation. Small circles depict connection points that allow the usage of parts of the
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diagrams in a hierarchical fashion (the usefiilness of this feature will become obvious in
Sect. 6) or the connection of message flows (as shown within act2). When the transition
from state S1 to S2 is taken, a new message m3 is created. The text included in
parentheses following the message name specifies optional parameters of this message. In
the above figure the message m3 has the parameter a. Depending on the value of a, one
of the two transitions in act2 is triggered. In the case that a is one, the message m4 is
created.
An MTC thus presents a set of possible chains of messages in one single and easily
comprehensible diagram, which neatly reflects the behavior we want to model on an
abstract level. The editing of MTC diagrams as well as the hierarchical management of
parts of such diagrams is supported by a tool that we automatically created from a formal
tool specification using the Meta-CASE environment DOME (Engstrom et al. 2000).
5 SOFTWARE GENERATION PROCESS
As it has been motivated above, our goal is the systematic an thus efficient construction
of customized simulation environments. One potent way of gaining efficiency is the
automation of repetitive or complicated tasks that can be described by simple strategies
(or algorithms). One such task is the transformation of parts of the building system model
into executable code. Like a programming language compiler automatically creates an
executable application from its source code, we will show that the same powerfiil
technique can be employed for generating building simulators from our building system
models.
Figure 5. Simulator creation process.
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The overall process for attaining simulators is depicted in Fig. 5.

The start of the creation process is the structural model of the building system, which
is augmented by the behavioral description through MTCs. An example for such models
will be shown in Sect. 6.
From the augmented building system model, tabular documents are created by the
simulator developers. These documents, which are part of our software development
method PROBAnD (Metzger et al. 2002), contain the formal specification of the
structure, the behavior (specified by state transitions) as well as the messages that are
exchanged. Many tasks during the mapping of the MTC models to these PROBAnD
documents are straightforward and could be automated easily. However, as we first
wanted to gain experience in applying the MTC notation we have so far refrained from
implementing such automation tools.
As Fig. 5 shows, the PROBAnD models are then used to automatically generate
models in the specification and design language SDL (Braek et al. 1993). We have shown
the feasibility and the technicalities of this approach in (Metzger et al. 2003) and refer the
interested reader to this publication.
Usually, the generated SDL models are complete and can directly be used for
generating executable simulators (Zimmermann 2001, 2002). If not, extensions or
modifications can be performed by the developers. We have used the commercial code
generator Telelogic Tau for automatically generating simulators from such SDL models
(Mahdavi et al. 2002).
SDL has been the language of our choice because it allows for the specification of
independent objects (called processes) and the description of the object behavior by
(extended) state transition diagrams, thus presenting a seamless progress from the stateoriented descriptions in the MTCs. Further, interactions between processes are modeled
as message exchanges.
6 UNIVERSITY BUILDING EXAMPLE
The above generation process has been successfully applied to the building and control
domain, where we can rely on thorough experience for behavior specification without the
need of using MTC models as an intermediate step. As we have pointed out numerous
times, such a behavior specification is more complex for the user activity domain. Here,
we will demonstrateby using a small and simple examplehow MTCs can be used for
that.
Let us assume that we want to model the user activities within our university complex
(called UKL) as an instantiation of the application domain model for specifying office
buildings. Our UKL secretaries, which are of the type SecretaryT, take the role of a
UKLSecretary upon entering her office and starts with the activity desk work that might
consider the special context of working at our university. During the work hours the
person in this role might interrupt the desk work to make copies, meet with the manager,
etc. In all cases the person has to move from one place to another.
Already this very simplified example creates many requirements that have to be
fulfilled by objects of other domains. For example the role of a secretary occupies an
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qffice place, desk work requires a desk place, move uses circulation space, and so on.
These places require building spaces and services. Typical services are sufficient light
levels, which can be provided by natural or artificial sources under automatic or manual
control. Some of the requirements are more static in their nature; e.g., building space
requirements. But the fulfilment by actual spaces can change when a desk is moved,
causing a chain reaction in the resulting requirements. Other requirements like circulation
space requirements are of a dynamic nature in relation to an individual. Also, such spaces
can be shared, but limited resources.
This example shows the occurrence of many requirement chains that are interrelated
and can form complex graphs. To be able to model the fulfillment of all requirements and
simulate a possible solution, we have to model the structural relations of all involved
objects and the behavior of the resulting system.
Figure 6. Excerpt of the UKL user

activity project model.
The structure is modeled at the project level by object-types that are instantiations of the
meta-objecttypes from the application domain level; e.g., the UKLSecretary is of the type
SecretaryT (see Sect. 3). As a modeling notation we use UML Class Diagrams
(Rumbaugh et al. 1998). These diagrams have already been used for the introduction of
the building system models.
Figure 6 shows a small portion of the structural parts of the UKL user activity project
model as a further example. In contrast to the example of Fig. 3, this figure uses the colon
: to depict the fact that the element to the left of the colon has been created by
337
instantiating the element to the right of the colon; e.g., the object-type UKLSecretary is
an instance of the SecretaryType of the application domain model.
Each UKLSecretaryRole aggregates one instance of the individual activities of
UKLDeskWork, UKLMakeCopy, UKLMove and UKLMeet, which have to be active in
mutual exclusion. The most abstract view of this behavior of the UKL secretary role can
be specified with the MTC as it is shown in Fig. 7.
In this diagram we have reduced the number of arcs by using bidirectional arrows for
the messages if applicable (the > and < symbols show the direction of the labels).
Also, for brevity, parameters have been omitted.
At the top of the diagram, the hierarchical activity UKLSecretaryRoleCtrl represents
an object that controls the overall behavior of the UKLSecretaryRole (the folded corner is
a visual cue that a refinement of this activity exists). All other nodes within
UKLSecretaryRole represent instances of activity types, whose behavior is defined
elsewhere. It should be noted that the instance mov1 only exists once and is shown in
three shared copies to simplify the layout.
Outside of UKLSecretaryRole the person UKLSecretary, is shown, which takes on the
role of secretary upon arriving at work. A first activity within this role is the secretarys
move to her desk to begin the desk work. This desk work can be interrupted (triggered by
the actionCtrl message) and either a meeting or a copy job can be performed. In each
case, the secretary has to move to the respective places.
Figure 7. Message/Transition Chart for

UKL secretary role.
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This diagram also shows the interface to objects within the ftinctional unit domain
(connection points on the right hand side of Fig. 7). As an example, the desk work
activity needs to get a desk or the copy activity needs to enter the copy place.
Because of its abstract nature, the MTC in Fig. 7 allows for different alternatives of
the dynamic behavior and the control of the different activities. The simulation
environment could very strictly control all activities by sending simulatorCtrl messages
with exact timing and ftmctionality requests. Typically, parameters of messages from
outside of the simulated domains would be provided by files. Therefore, the results of
such experiments would present a repeatable outcome. In contrast to that, simulation
control could be very loose by giving the objects autonomous control, similar to the
concept of independent agents. A non-repeatable behavior would result, which could be
analyzed with statistical methods. Finally, an indeterministic behavior could be achieved
by using random generators that influence the objects behavior. In such a case, the
simulation environment could be used to control the stochastic parameters. We believe
that this large range of behavioral alternatives can be employed to easily realize a variety
of different experiments.
There are different options for the further use of this abstract MTC: First of all it can
be employed to define all external and internal message interfaces of UKLSecretaryRole
for the subsequent stages of the software generation process. Second, it can be extended
by modeling the other domains at the same level of detail (connecting the MTC with
MTCs of the other domains). Third, it can be refined by completing all message relations
and by precisely modeling UKLSecretaryRoleCtrl in detail. Figure 8 shows one such
possible refinement.
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Figure 8. Refinement of
UKLSecretaryRoleControl.
Before the role has been taken on by the secretary, it is in the state undeflned. As soon
as the response message (from the desk work activity in Fig. 7) arrives, the state of the
role changes. If the secretary has just taken on the role, she starts working. If she has just
been away for a meeting or a copy job, she resumes her work. Upon the first transition
from undefined to working, the occupOffPlace message is sent to the respective object in
the functional unit domain such that the occupancy of the person is noted (the message
parameter is true).
Whenever the simulation control environment triggers a new action, the request for
this action is propagated to the desk work activity. If the simulatorCtrl message requests
quitting the role (because the working time might have ended), the state of the role
340
changes to undefined and the functional unit is notified that the office place is no longer
occupied by the secretary.
The hierarchical decomposition that we have illustrated above can be used at as many
levels as seem to be suitable, and therefore allows us to handle very complex systems. At
the bottom of this composition hierarchy, simple objects (or activities) reside that are
solely specified by states and state transitions with the appropriate actions (the
UKLSecretaryRoleCtrl has been an example for that).
The secretary MTC can easily be reused for creating models for other roles like a
manager role. Such a role could make use of the same or other elements as needed. To
support such kinds of reuse, we maintain an MTC library, which is extended with every
new project. Besides these abstract behavior descriptions, the library also contains the
refinements of these descriptions in the form of PROBAnD models to speed up the
simulator generation process.
7 CONCLUSION AND PERSPECTIVES
This paper has shown the feasibility of efficiently creating customized building
simulators for various application domains. The examples that were presented as a
motivation for creating such simulators might seem obvious. Nevertheless, we hope that
once architects realize the potential of such a custom-specific tool generation, they will
come up with more interesting concepts for performing experiments and evaluations of
buildings before these are erected.
We believe that this area of building simulation is a very promising field for both
building and software architects to work together productively. Our vision is that
architects will be able to create the abstract behavioral and structural models (i.e., the
project level models) from which the software architects (software engineers) can take
over and refine these models into running simulators. We hope that the small examples of
our Message/Transition Chart notation has supported the visual appeal and ease of
understanding of modeling at this level and will provide a basis for further discussion in
the field of modeling user activities and processes.
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Process modelling technology

.Akin, M.T. Turkaslan-Bulbul & I.Gursel School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
J.H.Garrett Jr, B.Akinci & H.Wang Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,
USA
ABSTRACT: Building commissioning has a broad scope that extends to
all phases of building delivery. We view commissioning as a building
delivery embedded process that persistently verifies and validates design
intent throughout the building lifecycle process. In the building lifecycle
approach, buildings are considered to have cradle-to-grave life spans.
They are modeled through a variety of different developmental phases. In
this research project, we intend to build the necessary theory and tools to
support the embedded commissioning process as a co-function of building
lifecycle.
1 INTRODUCTION
Building commissioning is an important new area of practice and research in the industry.
It has emerged, during the last 25 years, as the central phase of building delivery that is
responsible for verifying design intent. Currently, it is rapidly becoming the performance
verification tool in HVAC design and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) certification in the USA.
Building commissioning is a multi-phase process that ensures the interacting systems
in a building are properly installed and operating. In the early phases of facility design,
commissioning is concerned with whether the program and the design are delivering the
owners desired functionality. During the construction process, commissioning is
concerned with ensuring that the performance of the selected building equipment agrees
with the design specifications and delivers the intended fimctionality. The process of
building commissioning tends to generate large amounts of data, much of which needs to
be shared across other facility delivery phases.
We view commissioning as a building delivery embedded process that persistently
verifies and validates design intent throughout the building lifecycle. The Embedded
Commissioning Model (ECM), which is described in this paper, combines the processes
of commissioning and building life-cycle in order to provide a framework for managing
the information exchange between them. Here, the role of commissioning is to
complement each of the lifecycle phases and their interactions through timely building
system evaluation.
The primary objective of our study is to investigate the computability of Embedded
Commissioning (EC) for HVAC systems. Our approach focuses on exploring the
344
representational needs of the EC process and the management of EC data. Here, we

concentrate on how the EC process works? What kind of information is produced; and
what type of attributes can be defined? The output of this study is used to develop a proof
of concept prototype software that supports the decision making process in EC.
2 RESEARCH BACKGROUND
2.1 History
The term commissioning has originated from the naval practices. Commissioning
ceremony is a sign that the ship is accepted as an operating unit of the navy. By breaking
the commissioning pennant the ship is put into the responsibility of the commanding
officer who together with the ships crew has the task of making and keeping her ready
for any service required during peace or war. Prior to commissioning, the newlylaunched
vessel must pass some tests before she is considered complete and ready to be authorized
as a commissioned ship. The new ship goes through several sea trials during which
deficiencies that need correction are uncovered. The crew and the ship must function in
total harmony for maximum effectiveness and efficiency (Reilly 1975).
The association between ships and buildings is not new but commissioning was
introduced into the building industry only during 1977. Public Works Canada is the first
organization who started to use commissioning in project delivery. Then in 1981 Disney
Inc. issued a comprehensive commissioning program in the design, construction and
start-up of its Epcot theme park.
In the United States of America, formal work on the commissioning process began in
1984 when the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and AirConditioning
Engineers (ASHRAE) formed Commissioning Guideline Committee. The task of the
committee was to define a process which guarantees that fully fimctioning buildings were
turned over to the building owners. The motivation for the ASHRAE Commissioning
Committee was the growing number of complaints about unmanageable HVAC systems,
increasing operation expenses, decreasing comfort levels, and uneducated operations and
maintenance staff who did not understand how to maintain or operate new buildings.
After its foundation, the ASHRAE commissioning committee published two guidelines.
The original guideline was announced in 1989 and an updated version has been published
in 1996 (Guideline 19961).
After the announcement of ASHRAE Commissioning Guidelines, commissioning
practice started to draw attention from various areas. University of Wisconsin, Madison
offered commissioning courses and University of Michigan established a facilities
evaluation and commissioning group. In 1993 first National Conference on Building
Commissioning (NCBC) was held and National Environmental Balancing Bureau
(NEBB) developed a commissioning providers certification program. After 1993 a range
of governmental and private organizations started commissioning practices and issued
regulations or guidelines. In 1998 US Green Building Council added commissioning to
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria. Finally, in 1999 the
Building Commissioning Association (BCA) was established.
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2.2 Deflnition
ASHRAE defines commissioning as the process of ensuring that systems are designed,
installed, functionally tested and capable of being operated and maintained to perform in
conformity with the design intent (Guideline 11996). Commissioning is a systematic
approach. It starts with the programming phase and ends when the building is turned over
to the owner. Most commissioning companies also provide a one or two year guarantee
phase after the building is occupied. During the commissioning period the aim is to
ensure and verify, with documentation, that all building systems perform in the way that
they were intended and the operating and maintenance staff is trained according to the
owners operational needs.
Commissioning is occasionally confused with the testing, adjusting and balancing
(TAB) process or the punch list inspection process. The latter is a physical examination
done before a building is turned over to its owner. It is a one day process at the end of
which a list of missing elements are identified such as door stops are missing or vinyl
base needed in the emergency exit stairway. TAB is a more complex process than punch
list inspections. It measures air and water flows in buildings HVAC systems. Punch list
inspections and TAB process mainly focus on items that are important to get regulatory
occupancy permits and opening the building.
Commissioning covers a much broader scope of work than these inspections. It
necessitates functional testing to determine how well building systems perform together
and verifies the results of TAB reports. Applying fimctional tests to individual equipment
and whole building systems also help determine whether the tested item meets
operational goals or if it needs modification to increase its efficiency and effectiveness.
This standard definition of commissioning refers to a process which starts at the
buildings design phase and ends when the building is turned over to the owner. However
existing practice of building construction does not require building owners to hire a
commissioning professional at the beginning of the project. The commissioning
processes can be adapted to any phase during the lifecycle of a building.
3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
The conventional building delivery process begins with the recognition of the need for
physical intervention and concludes by the eventual decommissioning of a building
having gone through a set of predefined stages (Davis et al. 1974). We use the term
building lifecycle as a reference to an expanded and improved version of such
conventional delivery models.
In the building lifecycle approach, buildings are considered to have cradle-to-grave
life spans. They are modeled through a variety of different developmental phases, rather
than a set, lockstep procedure. These phases include: requirement specification, design
specification, facility construction, facility (de)commissioning, facility (re-)occupancy,
facility management, and materials recycling. They can take place, iteratively, in smaller
or larger process cycles, at anytime during a building projects lifetime.
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Figure 1. Embedded Commissioning

Model: integrating the Commissioning
Process with the Building Lifecycle
Process.
The role of Embedded Commissioning (EC) in this cycle is to accompany each of these
phases and their interactions with timely building system evaluation. Figure 1 shows the
function of Embedded Commissioning Model (ECM), which mediates between
commissioning and building life-cycle for managing the information exchange between
them.
For instance, facility construction normally would begin once design specification is
complete. Commissioning, at this point, would serve as the evaluation aspect of the
construction process, periodically verifying the accuracy of what is being constructed
against available specifications, whether these are of a design or requirement type. In
response to this evaluation, the construction process would either continue as planned or
be modified. This kind of feedback cycle is imaginable for all eight phases of the
lifecycle model shown in Figure 1. Furthermore, by considering commissioning as a
parallel and interconnected activity we intend to realize its potential impact for the entire
ECM for all phases of the building lifecycle.
In order to consider the implications of this approach we will analyze the role of EC in
the design specification phase, just one of the eight shown in Figure 1, as a descriptive
example.
3.1 Descriptive example: design specification phase of embedded
commissioning model
There are three major factors that inform the potential impact of commissioning on
design specification: decision complexity, system integration and information seams of
the lifecycle model.
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3.1.1 Decision complexity

In the design specification phase, particularly in the earlier stages, one of the most
difficult challenges is to manage complexity. This complexity arises from the inherent
interdependence between different design decisions (Akin 1978).
For instance, determining the number of floors in a hospital building, the distribution
of the hospital functions on each floor, the organization of circulation into various
configurations, can constitute important design decisions. Deciding to create a tall
hospital building will impose important constraints on the circulation diagram on each
floor. Depending on whether correlated programmatic functions can be located on the
same floor, an appropriate circulation conceptsay, a linear, concentric, or satellite
typemay be used. This in turn can determine the overall building configuration. In a
real design situation there would be many more factors to consider, such as, cost, zoning
limitations on building height, mechanical systems and their zoning requirements, and
visual appearance.
Potentially, all of these factors may influence how such a buildings spatial
configuration decisions are made. Many of the consequences of such decisions would
become apparent only when downstream decisions are made. Consequently, in order to
manage the complexity factor, many iterations would be required to synchronize
upstream decisions with down stream ones.
3.1.2 System integration
Another aspect of the interaction of design and commissioning in the ECM is the
unpredictable results of synergy that potentially exists between separately designed
building subsystems. Structural systems can interfere with mechanical distribution.
Lighting systems may cause extra cooling loads for the HVAC system. Circulation
configurations may reveal unexpected privacy needs of occupants. Sometimes the only
way to discover, let alone, resolve such conflicts, is to conduct elaborate simulations of
proposed designs. It may even be plausible to accomplish this during the construction
commissioning phase, that is, if the design allows for evolutionary construction stages
planned to respond to the findings of persistent commissioning activities, as would be the
case in ECM.
This suggests a design process which relies on persistent refinement and evolution of
the design through evaluation and commissioning. While it would be impossible to do
this with all aspects of a design problem, there are some subsystem performance values
that are so difficult to predict during the early design process that it would even be
desirable to postpone detailed decisions until after either design simulation or
construction commissioning takes place. For example, some of these performance
categories include: HVAC systems, acoustic systems, operable-window use patterns,
vertical circulation use patterns, and emergency egress behavior.
3.1.3 Information seams in building delivery
In the traditional building delivery process, some of these hot points of design refinement
are managed through conventions of the design-delivery practice.
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For instance, architects and their consulting engineers occasionally specify building
designs only partially. They, intentionally, rely on the general contractors and their subs
to provide the fabrication details for individual structural components or mechanical
equipment. These are called shop drawings.
Furniture manufacturers and cabinet makers, often wait to obtain as-built drawings
and dimensions before they design and fabricate furaishings. Similarly acoustic engineers
rely on measurements and readings taken at the site. They also use mockups before
finalizing their designs. It is not uncommon that paints and other finishes, even major
cladding elements like brick and stone, are evaluated through samples installed at the site
before final approvals are given.
Even when such sampling and measurements are made, it is not unusual to end up
with insufficient data about existing conditions. Soil samples, for example, may not tell
the entire story about what can be uncovered at the site once excavation takes place. At
the time of demolition, existing structures on a site usually reveal more than just a few
surprises.
The potential impact of some of these problems fit nicely into the professional knowhow of specific building trades or the practices that apply to the individual stages of the
delivery process. But others fall squarely at the boundaries of these stages or professional
domains. This is precisely the reason why explicit protocols for information exchange
between trades do exist. For example, it would be counter productive for the designers to
prepare shop drawings for the steel work. Only the steel contractors would know with
certainty how to meet the design requirements in the most economical and practical
manner. One of the formal procedures for bridging such a seam is, in fact, the shop
drawing preparation and approval process.
In practice, these procedures are imperfect. Many failures in buildings, some of which
have achieved national notoriety, have been linked to information loss that has occurred
at the shop drawing preparation and approval stage of building deliveryJohn Hancock
Tower, Boston MA; Citicorp Tower, NY, NY; Kansas City Hyatt Regency, Kansas MO
(Akin 2001).
3.2 Implications for the embedded commissioning approach
The Embedded Commissioning Model (ECM), integrating commissioning within
building lifecycle phases, is intended to address the need for continuous evaluation
during not only the design specification phase (as addressed above) but also for all of the
other phases of building lifecycle. This model is proposed as a framework to address
problems of information management, such as the ones described in the previous
sectiondecision complexity, system integration and information seams.
The primary mechanism in this model is to execute each phase with the expectation
that persistent evaluation will provide guidance for downstream decisions, based on
ongoing commissioning measurements and simulations. We expect that this will
significantly improve performance during all of the stages of the building lifecycle. For
example in design specification phase two important improvements can be affected: (1)
scoping design intentions more accurately based on greater downstream information
obtained through the embedded commissioning process; and (2) phasing the entire scope
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of design intentions into smaller installments, in order to match them against the stages of
ECM.
What we have outlined here for the design specification phase, we expect, holds for
the other phases of building lifecycle, as well. The scope of our overall research program
then is to identify process flow of embedded commissioning in building lifecycle phases
and develop a data model that represents the information in it. These are going to be a
base to build a computer assisted decision tool to enable all of the information exchange
links between building lifecycle phases and the embedded commissioning activities.
In this paper, due to space limitations, we consider a much smaller portion of this
agenda. In particular, we will describe a process model developed for commissioning
HVAC systems during the facility programming, design, construction, acceptance and
post-acceptance phases. We will then explain ECM data model that is developed to
represent the information in our EC process model. At the end we will discuss a proof of
concept application limited to the HVAC systems during the facility construction phase.
4 APPROACH
Our approach to investigate the computability of Embedded Commissioning is built on
the formal representation of its process and data models.
4.1 EC process model
In almost every commissioning related source there is a description of how building
commissioning should be done. Our aim for developing an EC flow chart was identifying
a standardized process that we can use in our research. We used ASHRAEs
commissioning description in its Guideline 11996 as our starting point. We have
conducted a detailed study of the commissioning process described in that guideline. This
revealed a well-structured methodology and yet promises to lead to a guide for people
involved in building delivery, so as to achieve efficient, effective, and high quality
HVAC systems. The ASHRAE guideline provides a model that shows commissioning
activities step by step. However this model does not present the details of the flow of EC
processes and their connections to different building delivery stages.
In order to develop a comprehensive model we conducted a detailed observation of an
HVAC commissioning process of a new university dormitory at Carnegie Mellon
University, in Pittsburgh, PA. We interviewed the commissioning team in order to
primarily learn about a specific case of commissioning in detail so as to gain insights
about the mechanics of the process. Our aim in this observation was to explore the larger
context of EC and how it works in the normal. We analyzed the dormitory case so as to
illuminate commissioning as a normative process. We are particularly interested in
understanding the precise protocols and documents used in their inspections, tests and
measurements, and the role of these documents in different phases of commissioning.
In our analysis of the ASHRAE guideline and dormitory commissioning, we described
the EC process as an inclusive process flow illustrating every task, document and
decision culled from all phases of commissioning (Akin et al. 2003). The flow chart is
organized in the form of a design-bid-construct process which has five main phases:
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program phase, design phase, construction phase, acceptance phase and postacceptance
phase. All HVAC commissioning procedures are explained in relation to these building
stages. Figure 2 is an example from our flowchart that shows the programming and
design phases.
In our study, this detailed process model was important for three reasons. First, it
showed us how people interact with each other during the commissioning process.
Second, we could track how and what kind of documents are produced in this process and
how they evolve throughout the flowchart Third, it helped us to recognize the type of data
used in EC, which needs to be identified and modeled.
4.2 EC data model
After completing the EC process model we started to model EC data. Data modeling for
Embedded Commissioning has three steps. The first step is about identifying building
commissioning data. In this phase, we looked at commissioning related information
produced by different sources such as commissioning companies and organizations that
publish commissioning guidelines or regulations. We compared these different groups of
data through comparative analysis tables (CAT) and prepared a normalized data set. In
the second step we defined the structure of the data model that represents our normalized
data set consistent with the needs of the EC process we defined in our EC process model.
The third step of modeling EC data involves testing the developed model with existing
building product models. We tested IFCs in order to determine their degree of support of
the commissioning process and the possibility of data exchange in this context.
4.2.1 Identifying commissioning data
While modeling the embedded commissioning process we have identified a group of
commissioning data. In order to develop a normalized and consistent data set, we
compared the data we have with other commissioning data produced by other sources. In
our initial comparisons, we saw that commissioning data shows variations according to
the source type. For accurate comparisons we identified four groups of commissioning
sources: (i) data sheets of practicing commissioning agents; (ii) commissioning
guidelines coming from organizations such as the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), National Institute of
Standards andTesting (NIST); (iii) equipment specifications of HVAC manufacturers
such as Trane and Carrier; and (iv) the products of other research groups.
Data coming from different sources are compiled into Comparative Analysis Tables
(CAT). The comparison analysis tables are laid out according to various pieces of HVAC
equipment, and each corresponding attribute is listed across the table to identify possible
matches or similarities in that specific components unique properties. By identifying
prevalent attributes relevant to certain equipment, we were able to compile generalized
properties of those components with the intention of using them to define the parameters
of the models in our research.
In CAT a column contains data coming from a specific source and same attributes are
placed in same rows. For example in Table 1 Fan Capacity, Air-flow (cfm) and Fan
CFM (total/return/outside/discharge); coming from Source 1, Source 2, and Source 3
351
respectively; refer to the same attribute of HVAC equipment, fan. So they are all placed
in the same row. However Fan noise class property from Source 1 does not have any
match from Source 2 or Source 3. Respective cells left empty in those rows.
We selected three types of HVAC equipment according to the complexity of their
attribute types. These types of equipment are the air filter, fan and Air Handling Unit
(AHU). An air filter is a simple, single piece of equipment. It does not have too many
variations and has a constant set of attributes for all air filter types. In comparison to the
air filter, the fan is a more complex piece of equipment. According to its functionality,
there may be hundreds of different varieties and fan attributes which change with respect
to these variations. An AHU is the most complex piece of equipment that we have
modeled, since it consist of other pieces of equipment, such as coils, air filters, control
sensors, supply and exhaust fans. Different combinations of these pieces of equipment
can potentially create thousands of distinct AHU assemblies. Usually, the exact attributes
of an AHU depends on the equipment types from which it is made. We developed CATs
for all three equipment types. The table produced for air filter was simple and it showed
us that this comparison method is suitable for our work. The challenge in preparing a
CAT of fans was to group fan types into reasonable categories that can be represented in
our data model. For AHU it was not possible to put all information into one table. Instead
we identified components of a medium AHU and compiled CATS for all of them. We
identified nine components: air filters, fans, coils, sensors, humidifiers, ducts, dampers,
pumps, VAV boxes, economizers.
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Figure 2. Programming and Design

phases from EC Process Model.
Table 1. Structure of Comparative Analysis Tables
(CAT).
353
The challenge in describing commissioning data, in this fashion is to limit the number
of sources to seminal ones. Every new source may bring a new attribute that has not been
captured in the previous sources. This may be due to the type of source, type of
commissioning practice or the type of building that has been commissioned. Our aim in
identifying the commissioning data is to collect a reasonable number of attributes that
refer to a comprehensive commissioning process. When we reach this point, new data
additions will remain marginal. For air filters and fans we collected an adequate amount
data.
4.2.2 Structure of data model
We have developed our EC data model simultaneously with EC data identification. This
was advantageous for us since it allowed refining the data model as EC data were
updated.
EC data modeling starts with understanding how the EC process works. For this, we
relied on the model that we created previously. Our building commissioning data model
is based on the assumption that there are three events in the building commissioning
process that
354
Figure 3. EC Data Model Structure.

define EC data. These events are specification, system context inspection and functional
inspection. Speciflcation is done in the design phase and it describes the performance
criteria. System context inspection and functional inspection are post-construction events
and actual commissioning takes place through these inspections. System context
inspection is a qualitative evaluation of the equipment and its content (e.g. is the AHU
properly supported) whereas functional inspection takes actual measurements and
compares them with the values defined in the speciflcation event.
The data in these events are organized in a hierarchical order from more general to
specific. Figure 3 explains structure of our model according to this three event
organization. The root of the model is Event class from which Performance Description
and Inspection classes inherit their properties. Performance Description class represents
the speciflcation event and Inspection class represents the system context inspection and
functional inspection events. They are specified as Functionallnspection and
SystemContextInspection classes in the third level. Specific information for every piece
of equipment is added as branches to this structure. Figure 4 shows a part from EC model
that is developed in UML, accordingly. Our aim in developing this data model has been
to represent EC data in the real world. From our process model we know that real world
commissioning exists under volatile information conditions. However our current data
model represents only a stable group of data and any condition of unpredictability is a
challenge for our model. Currently, we are working on refining our model for these
volatile conditions. In the future, we will update our EC data model in a way to represent
both predefined and yet-to-be-defined data.
4.2.3 Testing how well IFC releases support EC model
The adequacy of IFC data exchange standards are tested with the developed EC data
model in order to determine the degree to which the IFCs support the
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Figure 4. Partial EC Data Model.

commissioning process and explore the possibilities for data exchange. Due to space
limitations we will only report the results of our testing. Further information can be found
in other publications (Garrett et al. 2004).
IFC releases provide a capability to exchange any customized data by using the
IfcPropertySet as a general container. However, IfcPropertySet only works within a
single system because it does not have a public schema, which is the very protocol
external applications expect during the data exchange.
Among all current EC entities, relationships and attributes in the EC model, about 30
percent of those data items can be fully matched to the entities in the most recent release
of the IFC data exchange standard, R22. For example, in IFC R22, Equipment entity,
which stands for HVAC equipment, is represented by IfcElement and Event entity, which
stands for commissioning activity, is expressed by IfcTask. IfcRelAssignToProcess entity
is used to represent three kinds of relationships between Equipment and Event entities:
functional_inspection, specification, and system_context_inspection. For the high level
classes, e.g. Equipment, Event and their direct subclasses, more than 60% of attributes
can be represented by standard IFC classes and IFC R22 even supports more than 90%
attributes. That value even gets higher when we consider partially matched items. For the
classes that are bound to special object or activity, e.g. CentrifugalFanContext and
VaneAxialFanPerformance, the quantity of matched items is smaller. Even IFC R22,
which has improved its HVAC domain greatly, can only fully match less than 20% BC
attributes, in detail.
5 PROOF OF CONCEPT PROTOTYPE
The state of the art in current software support for building commissioning has two
trends. In the first trend, commissioning is seen as an extension to information
monitoring or building performance diagnostics tools (Piette et al. 2001, Castro et al.
2003). These tools get information from previously embedded sensors. Through an expert
system, this information is evaluated and results are represented as excel sheets or data
graphs. If there is any deficiency in the system, it can be identified from these
356
representations. These tools can only be useful in post-construction equipment tunings or

post-occupancy system maintenance.
The second trend of tools focuses more on testing specific equipment such as
measuring the exhaust volume of a fan (Rossi et al. 2003). These tools evaluate the
performance of specific type of equipment according to their function. They can only be
used during the testing phase.
We believe our proof of concept prototype will be different from both of these and
support the embedded commissioning process during all of the building lifecycle phases.
Neither of these described tools supports the specification or inspection phases of
commissioning, two of the three main events of commissioning defined in our EC data
model. In our EC process model and EC data model we observed that data evolves with
the building lifecycle. During requirement specification, every piece of equipment has
abstract definitions; whereas in construction and occupancy phases these definitions
become detailed.
At this time, we are in the process of mapping the EC data to specific tasks in the EC
process model. We are designing the system architecture for our prototype and its
fimctionalities through a group of use cases. In future work, we will implement this as a
software application and test it on real time data sets.
6 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND FUTURE WORK
We have described building commissioning as an important new area of practice and
research in the industry. We noted that initially it emerged as the central ingredient of
building delivery that is responsible for verifying design intent. We also recognized that
in its current form building commissioning is rapidly becoming the choice for
performance verification for HVAC systems and LEED certification. Finally, we argued
for a computer based technology, called Embedded Commissioning that redefines
commissioning as a persistent vehicle for verifying and validating design intent. We
pointed out the important implications of this on the design delivery process: decision
complexity, system integration and seamless processing. Furthermore, we reported on the
work that we have been doing in two areas: (1) eliciting EC data from existing documents
and processes in the field, and (2) designing a proof of concept prototype model of
HVAC commissioning data and its transformation.
Our future work envisions several additional activities: (1) completing and testing data
modeling and exchange applications for the embedded commissioning of HVAC
equipment, (2) exploring other areas of EC particularly in the facility management area,
and (3) revisiting and refining the larger implications of EC on the entire building
lifecycle process, particularly expanding the use of design intent and its tracking as a
catalyst for upstream and downstream issues.
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The development of a technical office

organization structure for enhancing
performance and productivity in fast track
construction projects
T.A.H.Barakat, A.R.J.Dainty & D.J.Edwards Department of Civil and
Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK
ABSTRACT: The success (or failure) of any construction project is
inextricably linked to the quality, accuracy and timely delivery of design
and production information. For large fast track schemes, the management
and coordination of this information amongst the project team is
particularly problematic because information, is required more rapidly
than on traditional projects. This paper reports on seminal research, which
developed a new theoretical organization structure to cope with the
onerous demands for information on fast track schemes. It proposes the
creation of a new information centre termed the Technical Office (TO).
The organization structure differs from traditional organizational models
as the TO concentrates on tasks rather than functions to achieve: enhanced
communication; greater flexibility to respond to changes and adapt
accordingly; and concurrent engineering. The TO structure was tested on
a large industrial project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project
was the Industrial City-Contract 2B with a value of approximately
15,000,000 USD, which consisted of 49 buildings, including precast
elements and a complex electro-mechanical system. The initial results of
the analysis were encouraging.
1 INTRODUCTION
The success (or failure) of any construction project is inextricably linked to the quality,
accuracy and timely delivery of design and production information. For large fast track
schemes, the management and coordination of this information amongst the project team
is particularly problematic, because information is required more rapidly than on
traditional projects. Fast track processes are designed to reduce project duration by
overlapping project phases and performing them in parallel as much as possible. Large
reductions in project durations have been achieved by applying fast track processes.
However, many organizations are having difficulty to successfully implement fast track
processes and realizing their benefits. (Ford, D.N., 2000).
Two of the principal explanations for failures to implement fast track processes are:
(1) the failure to match the organizations people, controls, tools, work into smaller
pieces. Fast track processes increase process and management complexity Process design
359
and management policies failed to address processes and structure with its need for
efficiency, focus, incremental change, radical innovation and proficiency, and (2) the
effects of disaggregating the increased complexity inherent in fast track processes and
this has been a reason for failure to realize the potential to reduce project durations (Ford,
D.N., 2000).
The aim of this paper is to outline an organizational system that would align the
structure, process, controls and people with the need for efficiency, productivity,
flexibility, innovation, proficiency and adaptability A new organization structure which
aligns the dependent variables crucial to project success on fast track schemes is
proposed (termed the Technical Office) which demonstrably leads to improved outturn
performance on these types of projects. The paper deconstructs the various facets of
effective organizational structures and outlines the benefits of the TO in addressing each
area. This is put into context through a case study project which demonstrably shows the
benefits that the TO can bring.
2 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Baccarini (1996) states that organizational complexity may be defined by differentiation
and interdependency. Organizational structures are more complex when the
differentiation of the parts is greater. Differentiation has two dimensions: vertical and
horizontal. Vertical differentiation refers to the number of levels in the organization,
where more levels indicate more complexity. Horizontal differentiation has two parts:
organizational units such as departments or groups, and task structure, which refers to the
division of tasks. The second attribute of organizational complexity in projects is the
degree of operational interdependencies and interaction between the organizational
elements. The construction industry has displayed difficulty in coping with the increasing
complexity of construction projects. Complex prqjects demand an exceptional level of
management, where conventional systems developed for ordinary projects have been
found inappropriate. Complex projects require that differentiation and interdependencies
are managed by integration (i.e. coordination, communication and control). This is
particularly true of construction prqjects, which are typified by strongly differentiated but
largely interdependent parts (Baccarini, 1996).
It may be the mindset of the construction industry that complex projects require
complex organizations, but this is far from certain. To answer the question of which
structure suits large and complex projects it is best to start with a basic management
model. An accepted model shows five main phases in the management cycle: planning,
preparation, execution, reporting and control. The first two phases logically fit together,
and they provide the requirements for the execution phase. The last two phases of
reporting and control also fit together. Those planning and preparing are best suited to
report and control the execution phase. With this in mind, the structure may be divided in
two main parts. Figure 1 shows the main structure, which is the basis for the development
of the Technical Office (TO) concept.
The concept is to have all tasks for each phase in the project, and resources required to
perform them, within each part of the structure. The execution phase would be performed
by the site management team. The planning and preparation phase would be performed
360
by the TO While execution is under way the actual versus planned is continuously
monitored by the TO for reporting to the Project Manager and for control of activities.
Administration provides overall
Figure 1. Technical Office

organization structure.
support for the project Within this would lie human resources, accounting, etc.
This structure provides some advantages that may not be obvious at first glance. The
literature recommends that project organization structures should be hybrid type, flat and
decentralized, flexible and responsive to changes, reduce fiinctional barriers, improve
communication and achieve coordination and concurrency. The TO achieves all of these
requirements. The benefits of the TO are discussed below in relation to the essential
facets of effective project management organizational systems, before the practical
implications are explored through its application to a case study project.
2.1 Organic structure
Anumba et al (2002) recommend that integrated team structures be implemented at the
project level. Layered or bubble structures are recommended as they are more flexible
than matrix and team structures. These types of structures are recommended as they
provide greater flexibility and improved communications. This is in agreement with
Nikolendo and Kleiner (1996) who state that more companies operating in dynamic and
unstable environments are adopting organic models. Organic models are characterized by
openness, responsiveness, and lack of hierarchy.
The TO stmcture is such an organic type structure. It is not a functional/divisional
structure and not a matrix or team structure. It is an organic structure based on the phases
of the management cycle. Within this structure is the multi-disciplinary team based on a
common objective and without any fiinctional disruptions. In this manner we get a lean
system that is flexible and robust.
The realization that traditional structures were unsuitable led to the development of
more flexible structures. These are flat and decentralized and characterized by lateral
communication and wide spans of control. These organizations are intended to promote
teamwork and collaboration, which is required to implement concurrent engineering.
361
Additionally, construction projects are highly volatile. That is, the tasks required to be
performed in a given project are variable and low in analyzability. The tasks are largely
non-routine, and the task process does not consistently remain the same over time (Shih
and Tseng, 1996; Pena-Mora and Li, 2001). In this setting, the organization structure
needs to be flatter and more decentralized than traditional structures. The flatter structure
permits greater information processing among all members. In the face of task
uncertainty, providing relevant information enables managers to make better decisions
(Dibrell and Miller, 2002). Barber et al (1999) state that by granting more autonomy to
segments of a complex operation, better utilization of local knowledge is gained.
Additionally, quicker responses to needs and improved motivation are achieved.
The TO provides a flat and decentralized structure. The intent is to minimize the
length of both vertical and horizontal communication. Communication should be
achieved across the shortest possible route. Therefore, there are only three levels
vertically within the structure. Additionally, the length of horizontal communication is
minimized within each of the divisions and amongst them. This is particularly important
within the TO whose tasks are largely variable, non-routine and low in analyzability.
Also, communication is unhampered across the divisions as each is reliant on the other.
In effect, each division is provided its autonomy to manage itself. This would be required
to handle the largely non-routine tasks in a suitable manner. It is also necessary to allow
each division to manage the tasks within its phases.
2.2 Reduce functional barriers
The organization should not be centered around functions, but should be centered on
tasks. These tasks need to be performed in accordance with the management phases
stated previously. In order to perform tasks for construction projects, team members
should come from a variety of disciplines in order that all aspects of the project are dealt
with (Evans et al, 1994). Members totally committed to the team and have no allegiances
to functional departments help overcome many of the potential team problems (Prasad,
1995). Underlying the team is the requirement to be decentralized within the
organization structure. Decentralization means the need to empower. Empowerment is
stated as providing flexibility and tolerance of diversity from an implementation model
developed mainly for contractors. However, it gives senior management the retention of
ultimate business control. It is also shown that empowered employees are provided the
required resources and autonomy to strive for innovation and to be able to respond to
change (Holt et al, 2000).
The TO concept is centered around the tasks required to be performed during the
phases each unit is responsible for. It dissipates all functional allegiances and establishes
a multi-disciplinary team that is focused on achievement of the same objectives. In
addition, the TO organization is necessarily decentralized, and hence, the requirement for
employee empowerment to perform the tasks required in the manner best suitable for
them. That does not mean allowing loose ends as control is maintained by senior
managers. This results in a more dynamic model. This is important as there are many
changes that occur during a construction project. These changes come for a variety of
reasons and from a variety of sources, internal or external to the organization. Some of
these changes may be anticipated. That is, as an inevitable consequence of the
362
construction process itself (common cause variations). Others may not be foreseen
(special cause variation) (Cox et al, 1999).
The phenomena of construction delays and overruns, a critical function in construction
projects, is expected to continue unless management actions are taken to control the
causes within the planned element of the design and construction works. Good
management practice in planning, coordination, and a change in control procedures need
to be recognized and its implications understood (Al-Momani, 2000). In fact, the project
organizations responsiveness may be inhibited by its organizational structure (Love et al,
2002). The TO is highly flexible and has the ability to respond to changes as they occur.
3 COMMUNICATION
Late project information is a primary cause of quality problems on site (Bentley, 1981).
Cornick (1990) states that two thirds of construction problems are caused by poor
coordination and inefficient means of communication of project information and data.
This results in delays and incorrect decisions being made. This communication problem
is compounded by the large volumes of information and documentation produced. Turk
et al (1994) estimate that the number of documents produced in a single building
structure may be in the order of 10,000, most of which are stored on paper. The
construction process demands proper and timely management of project information and
documentation. The improvement of the communication process in projects is essential.
The key requirement to achieve this is coordination of information exchange. Even
though the technology is available, the development of an improved communication and
data system to meet the needs of the various parties in the project has to be done first.
(Rojos and Songer, 1999).
Collaboration and coordination is required with data and information exchange
between dozens of companies. These companies work together to achieve a common
project goal, many times located in different geographical locations. The implementation
of construction projects involves thousands of activities requiring hundreds of different
resources. These activities trigger information intensive processes during the construction
phase. Additionally, construction projects are dynamic and subject to change during its
life cycle.
There are many factors affecting the implementation of a construction project. These
include technologies, inhibitors and internal or external constraints may lead to changes.
These changes must be communicated to all those concerned or affected by them in order
to enable them to make necessary modifications and changes to the project according to
the new situation. The amount of information generated during the implementation of a
construction project is immense. An efficient and effective system to manage this
information would affect the projects cost, time and quality (Soibelman and Caldas,
2000).
Information is strongly linked to activity. It enhances the ability to act, and activity
creates information. Therefore, information is a crucial element in the enhancement of
any organizational process, and timelines, accuracy relevance and quality are requisites
of information. Contingency Theory (Galbraith, 1973) states that there is no best way to
organize but different methods of organizing are not equally the effective. Different
363
organization structures and networks of information flows will probably have diiferent
effectiveness and efficiencies. In order to achieve better effectiveness and efficiencies of
the process, the organizational structure and the network of information flows have to be
closely linked.
Additionally, the fragmented nature of the construction industry results in a lack of a
central project information repository and the lack of effective cross-discipline
communication within the project team. This reinforces the confrontational culture
common in construction projects (Sun et al, 2000).
Figure 2 shows a macro view of the communication process in construction. It is very
erratic and not channeled. Dawood et al (2002) proposed a framework for a central
information repository as shown in Figure 3. The Technical Office concept is in
agreement with the requirement for a central information repository. However, this
repository is best suited to be with the contractor and the modified diagram would be as
shown in Figure 4.
The TO would then be the information center for both the contractor and the parties
involved. The TO is suitable because the contractor is responsible for bringing aboard all
subcontractors, suppliers, vendors, etc. to plan, prepare, and execute the project in a
timely manner and within quality standards. This would provide the shortest
communication channel to all parties. Additionally, the contractor is responsible for
planning and preparation of all construction documents (e.g. shop drawings), which can
be completed only with the input of subcontractors, suppliers, vendors, etc. who are in
contractual agreement with the contractor. The contractor receives all information,
coordinates them and distributes the construction ready information. The TO allows for
the flexibility to organize and change based on the team within it and the requirements
expected. This flexibility to organize and change is enhanced by the fact that there is a
single information center. This information center allows for better informed managers,
which allows for better decisions being made. Additionally, the management phase cycle
concept will not allow for loss of control as the division of phases provides a push-pull
balance.
Figure 2. Macro view of the

communication process.
364
Figure 3. Proposed framework

(Dawood, N. et al, 2002).
Figure 4. Macro view of proposed TO.

3.1 Production information
Nambayashi et al (2000) divided production information into two main parts: principal
information and miscellaneous information. Principal information in construction
projects are defined as information of drawings and construction planning, which provide
construction products and process. Miscellaneous information processing is defined
as the work required for confirmation and adjustment of principal information, and was
described as production control information. It was found that 73% of work hours of
365
the general contractors staff was spent for confirmation and adjustment of principal
information. This is contrary to the importance of the information!
The multi disciplinary characteristic of a construction project makes it necessary to
include representatives of domain-specific backgrounds within the team. The initial
design will be the basis for development of detailed design for each discipline. Each
discipline develops its components of the overall design. This may seem as logical and
correct. However, this only provides for local optimization (i.e. of components), but may
well be sub-optimal for the whole process. According to Galbraith (1973) this may be
interpreted as the creation of self-contained tasks and is an information reduction strategy
Interdependencies always occur among components and decisions have to be made
considering the best solution fitting all disciplines requirements (global optimization).
This process may be termed as coordination. Most of the design related problems occur
where interdependencies between components are. Therefore, to achieve an optimal
global solution, not only should information and knowledge be shared, but they should
also be managed in a manner that actively promotes integration (Nambayashi et al, 2000).
The TO, as the information center responsible for the planning and preparation phases
takes the initial documents and transforms them to production information capable of
being executed. It receives all information from all sources required to produce the
production information. The production information will consider the best solution fitting
all disciplines requirements since there are no ftmctional barriers established within the
team, and they are working to a common objective. Additionally, all interdependencies
are known and coordination will be required of all information received.
3.2 Information, uncertainty and iterations
As was alluded to above, construction projects face a high degree of task uncertainty.
Task uncertainty may be defined as the difference between the amount of information
required to perform the task and the amount of information already possessed by the
organization (Galbraith, 1973, p. 5). Therefore, task uncertainty requires information to
close the gap between information available and information required, thereby enabling
the achievement of the task. Galbraith (1973, p. 4) states, the greater the
taskuncertainty, the greater the amount of information that must be processed among
decision-makers during task execution in order to achieve a given level of performance.
Information flows are of primary importance in project planning and execution and serve
a dual purpose. First, they provide a clear picture of the ongoing project on a real-time
basis. This enables decision makers to monitor and control activities and to make
corrective actions when required to meet planned milestones, schedules and budgets.
Secondly, information flows between informatively linked activities may modify or
affect the other when information is generated from it. Untimely information flow change
requirements and resources availability, and hence affects activities completion time or
execution.
Overall project quality depends upon the possibility and capacity to implement
corrective actions in order to minimize the consequences of errors and accidents, thereby,
avoiding an unplanned iteration in the project. However, the more two activities are
informatively linked, the more an unplanned iteration of one of them affects the other,
and the overall execution of the project. The more two activities are informatively linked;
366
the more important it is to execute them concurrently. This is supported by the definition
of concurrent engineering as a methodology to schedule concurrent activities which
share common conceptual tools and information resources (Nicolleti and Nicolo, 1998).
A major reason that enterprises react slowly and inflexibly is the sequential process of
product development. Departments act rather independently, and thereby, do not know
the demands and capabilities of each other. Generally, information and communication
systems support sequential rather than concurrent workflow. They are able to handle
documents and exact information. Partial information and uncertain and incomplete
information are not supported by these systems, even if they contain important and
valuable information for succeeding activities. In the early stages of product and process
development, this type of information is typical. It contains constraints and determines
the main part of the development process. The benefit of this additional information is its
capability to reduce the number of iterations, thereby reducing the time between the
creation and use of information.
Making information available early means that costly iterations can be avoided, and
this is relevant for parallelism. In current processes the document structure restricts the
concurrent development of activities since information is collected in documents and
passed on. Recipients of the documents usually require a small fraction of the information
in a document. However, the need for small pieces of information for successive
activities is neglected. Small and flexible information units can be passed on and used
very early, which advance the feedback to assess results and to actualize knowledge bases
(Eversheim et al, 1997).
The impact of concurrence on performance is asymmetric because effects of
unplanned iteration cycles increase as projects become more concurrent. Errors generate
additional work and iteration cycles as concurrency is increased. Additionally, the
average iteration path length is increased with increased concurrence by delaying the
discovery of the need for rework to phases farther from the generating phase.
The failure to achieve the full potential of fast track processes stems from processconstrained progress magnified by concurrent development practices. Iteration cycles
increase duration even with availability of ample resources since the process is
constrained by the underlying recursive structure of information exchanges. Iteration
cycles delay projects by being more in number, longer in the distance which information
must travel, slower in traversing that distance and occurring later than possible. With
increased concurrence, development processes become more difficult to manage.
Managers generally have more influence on resources than processes, and thereby, have
few effective tools and methods to accelerate with when iteration cycles constrain
progress (Ford, D.N., 2000).
Williams et al (1995) term the iteration process in a project for design and
manufacturing of a vehicle as the vicious circle of parallelism. The design process
where the design of cross-related parts of the product occurs concurrently causes the
design activities to take longer as each part affects the other(s). This causes delay, and
with time limitations, the project becomes more concurrent as delayed activities overlap
succeeding non-delayed activities in order to attempt completion within project duration.
Even though this effect may be accounted for during planning, the process becomes nonrobust. A change in one element causes a loop to be set up where the tight time scale
causes more parallelism, which increases cross-relationship between activities, thereby
367
increasing activity durations and results in increased delay resulting in even more
parallelism. This situation is self-perpetuating. However, there are further loops that
accelerate this loop. Increased cross-relations between parallel activities implies difficulty
in freezing the system as a change in one component will aifect other components.
Without a system freeze, and within time limitations, management is forced to work on
items where the surrounding parts are yet not frozen. This has two main effects. The first
is that it demotivates the design staff who work with unclear parameters and know that
their work may be done in vain. The second and more important is that the design of such
components may have to be reworked if any changes are made to any of its cross-related
components.
The TO, as the information center of the project, has several advantages regarding the
information flow and achieving concurrency. Firstly, the TO has the responsibility to get
the information and transform that into production information in a timely manner and in
the required quality. Therefore, the TO would know the information needs to complete its
tasks and the information dependencies between tasks. The TO would strive to get the
information required in a timely manner as they have prepared the planning and know the
needs. In addition, it would know what information can be delayed and when it is
required to execute the plan. Also, all information required for the completion of
dependent tasks would be known. This would provide the ability to achieve a higher
degree of concurrency as all required versus available information is known, as well as
the time frame they are required in. Secondly, the iterations of information across phases
is minimized. The TO, as the information center and the unit that plans and prepares all
production information, provides for all iterations of production information within a
single multi-disciplinary team setting. This would provide for better manageability of
these iterations and distribution of production information, which would minimize
rework considerably. Thirdly, the TO is able to issue smaller units of information
required for the execution phase. The TO would not necessarily wait for all information
required to complete all systems when only a fraction of the information is required for
execution.
4 CASE STUDY PROJECT
The case study project was the Industrial City-part B, which was a $15,000,000 project in
the U.A.E. The project was one of five simultaneous projects awarded to a variety of
contractors. The largest contract was the case study project. This was a good opportunity
to compare performance against other contractors in a project of similar nature. The TO
was organized in the manner shown in Figure 1. The structure was based on the
management cycle model. The fiinctions were dissipated and concentration was on tasks
to be performed within the respective phases. It acted as the information and production
center for all parties involved in the project. The TO was responsible to get all
information required from all parties including consultant, subcontractors, etc. to ensure
that all production information required for a given task is made available in a timely
manner. The information is then coordinated between informatively linked tasks in order
to ensure that there are no discrepancies. At times the site team would require specific
information related to complete systems. An example is the electromechanical openings
368
in the structure. The TO would provide this information to the site team, even though not
all information for the complete systems was available. The importance was to minimize
any uncertainties within the information given in order to avoid rework. The TO achieved
this objective.
The TO performed effectively in the planning and preparation phases in the project.
This resulted in full knowledge of what information was available, what was still required
and when, what information was required for informatively linked tasks and ensuring that
they were coordinated to achieve optimal production information. The TO was also able
to minimize the iterations of information in two ways. Firstly, any information missing
was sought from the parties providing it. If the site team required partial information, it
was provided to them, but complete systems were delayed until all information was
provided, at least to a certain degree of certainty, but as not to allow any delays to the
project. In essence, a system freeze was only made after information was gathered and
coordinated, but before the planned date. Secondly, the informatively linked tasks were
clear within the planning and preparation. Additionally, the multi-disciplinary team made
all information required and all links known. The tasks would be completed only after
getting all the information and coordinating them. This was instrumental in reducing
iterations of information and achieving a higher level of concurrency. The TO was
demonstrably flexible and adapted well to changes occurring. If a change was made, the
TO would immediately set out to clarify what information was required versus what was
available. Again, any missing information was sought after and all effects of the change
were coordinated with all other tasks and any changes were made in new production
information, which would subsequently be distributed to those concerned. The effects of
the change would be included in the planning as well.
From the above it was found that the TO performed well in terms of time, cost and
quality, even when compared to the other contractors in the project The TO was able to
save time by minimizing the iterations of information and providing coordinated
production information. Rework was minimized and cost overruns were largely nonexistent. Quality was just a result. The staff were largely content with the system. They
were quite motivated by seeing the outcome of their work. They were also happy that
they worked in a decentralized environment in which they were providing suggestions
and making decisions within the tasks they were working in. They brought attention to
many problems that could have been overlooked. The multi-disciplinary team setting in
the TO, with no functional allegiances, made them work together to perform their tasks,
resulting in large amounts of information within the team and a great learning process at
the same time.
5 CONCLUSION
The TO concept provides a simple organization setting for complex fast track projects.
The concept is based on the phases of the management cycle. This allows for an organic
type structure, which would enhance the productivity and performance of construction
projects. It also provides for a multi-disciplinary team who share a common objective.
The communication is also enhanced by controlling the information coming in and out. It
also manages the iterations of information, which is a problem in large fast track projects,
369
depriving the use of concurrent engineering at a higher degree. With all of the above
many of the problems faced in construction projects may be minimized or alleviated.
6 FURTHER RESEARCH
The TO concept was created based on the pilot case study performed. Research is still
ongoing to develop the TO concept further. It is then to be tested in a fast track project.
The results will be compared to baseline performance measures to be devised. The parties
in the project will also be interviewed across the life cycle of the project for their input.
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Innovative production planning system for

bespoke precast concrete products
V.Benjaoran, N.Dawood & R.Marasini Centre for Construction
Innovation Research, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK
ABSTRACT: Bespoke precast concrete products are increasingly
becoming major components of construction projects. This is mainly
because offsite prefabrication and production offer a unique opportunity
for innovation and cost savings for construction projects. The workload in
the precast industry is a complex combination of uniquely and identically
designed products, which have various delivery dates. The production
process from design to manufacturing contains uncertainties due to many
factors such as: multi-disciplinary design, progress on construction site,
and requirement of costly purpose-built moulds. In this context, this
research is aimed to improve the efficiency of the process by addressing
the production planning because it has a significant impact to the success
of the business. An innovative planning system and its prototype called
Artificial Intelligence Planner (AIP) is being developed. The
manufacturing process model is mathematically formulated according to
current practices, characteristics and scheduling logics. Two artificial
intelligent techniques: Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Neural Network (NN)
have been implemented in AIP to enhance data analyses and decision
supports for production planning. GA is used in the optimization to search
for optimal schedules and NN based estimation is applied to estimate the
processing time required for any individual unique product design. The
outcomes of the research include shortened customer lead-time, optimum
factorys resource utilization, and in-house repository of production
knowledge.
1 INTRODUCTION
The precast industry is a major supplier of offsiteprefabricated components to the
construction industry. The construction of a building can be regarded as an assembly of
hundreds of different designs and delivery dates of bespoke precast concrete
components. This demand creates the difficulty in the bespoke precast production.
Bespoke precast production system is in make-to-order or engineer-to-order style
(Ballard et al., 2002). Bespoke precast production has a major distinction from ordinary
mass production that every time the process is start from new product design. The
complexity of bespoke precast production is based on this ground. Since the production is
less uniformity, the learning curve is hard to establish and the automation is hardly
372
implemented to assist the process. The optimum resources utilizations are serious issues
of precast manufacturers.
Therefore, the production planning requires sophisticated managerial tasks and
becomes a key of the success of the delivery program, customer leadtime
competitiveness, and the effective utilization of purposed-built precast mould (Benjaoran
and Dawood, 2003).
The aim of this research is to develop a new (semiautomatic) planning system to
manage bespoke precast production called the Artificial Intelligence Planner (AIP). The
AIP system and its components operations are separately described in different sections
of this paper. The paper is mainly focused on the formulations of process and product
models, which are applied to the bespoke precast production.
2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PLANNER (AIP)APPROACH
AIPs transactions start from gathering input data to finally arranging a production
schedule. The system adopted artificial intelligence technologies: neural network (NN)
and genetic algorithm (GA) to assist the difficulty of the production process.
Figure 1 shows primary input data of the bespoke precast production process come
from the external sources (project designers and contractors of construction projects).
These are project drawings, product specifications, and construction schedule. The
precast product design and delivery schedule are created to conform to both external
input data.
Figure 1. An overview flowchart of the

AIP planning system.
Innovative production planning system
373
The main production process includes product design, productivity estimation,

production planning, and manufacturing. Two main AIPs components called
Processing-Time Estimator (PTE) and Production Scheduler (PS) are developed. PTE
is assigned to assist the productivity estimation and PS is for the production scheduling
tasks. The details of development of these two components are described in the following
sections. Also, the AIP system implements data integration technology through the
Central Database to manage historical and current project data. The data in AIPs
transactions, therefore, current project data are integrated and consistent while historical
data can be analyzed and used. The ultimate outcome of the system can be the high
quality of precast products resulting from short customer lead-time, effective factory
resource utilization, and satisfaction of delivery requirements.
3 PRODUCTIVITY ESTIMATION WITH PTE
The productivity estimation of precast manufacturing routines is a necessary task before
being able to arrange a production schedule. A large variety of bespoke product designs
results in requiring their own different manufacturing time. The task relies on estimators
implicit knowledge, which is experience and intuition based. This current manual
practice is person-dependent and difficult to transfer or share this valuable knowledge
within the company. This study adopts two different techniques: neural network (NN)
and multiple regression (MR) and attempts to formulate two productivity estimation
models called BPPE-NN and BPPE-MR, respectively. The outputs from BPPENN are
compared with the ones from BPPE-MR. This is to verify the results and prevents errors
made by either model. The outline of PTE is illustrated with a flowchart in Figure 2.
The detail operations of PTE are related to the estimation models inside. The models
are used to map the mathematical relationships between the productivity and its own
influential factors. These relationships are built upon historical project data and are used
to estimate productivity values of the new project. These mathematical relationships are
updated regularly as the historical project data increase. The values of the influential
factors that are taken from the new project are fed into both models. The outputs are the
estimated processing-time values.
3.1 Formulation of bespoke precast productivity estimation
Four precast manufacturing routines, namely Moulding, Pouring, Demoulding, and
Finishing (definitions are provided in Section 4.1) are considered in both models. The
productivity of these routines is defined in terms of durations for accomplishing the
routines and these terms are the values to be estimated. A large number of these estimated
figures can be demonstrated as an example of a construction project may require more
than a hundred different designed products; each of them requires different durations
374
Figure 2. A flowchart of ProcessingTime Estimator (PTE).

for those four routines. All these figures have to be estimated.
3.1.1 Productivity influential factors
It is difficult to exhaustively determine all factors affecting labor productivity. Many
productivity models have proposed different sets of these factors. Previous research
studies (Russell (1993), Sonmez and Rowings (1998), AbouRiszk et al. (2001), Thomas
et al. (2003), Srinavin and Mohamed (2003)) have considered influential factors largely
based on the variation of the working environment (such as, temperature, site condition,
or equipment setting, etc) regardless building designs. The reason is their models are for
the construction tasks, which are executed on site.
Yeh (1998) suggested that if an influential factor has a very small variation, their
effects could be very small and could be neglected from a model. Although the precast
manufacturing routines are basically similar to the construction tasks, they are executed
in a more controlled working environment. In this way, a number of the influential
factors could be removed. However, in the bespoke precast production, there is a large
variation of product designs. The difficulties in product designs should contribute
important influences. For this research study, twenty influential factors are identified
mostly based on the difficulty and variation in their custom designs including product
shape, materials, and manpower groups. The following sixteen factors extracted from
precast product shop-designs are regarded with their product shape and materials:
Nominal height is the vertical dimension, nominal length is the longer horizontal
dimension, and nominal width is the other horizontal dimension of a product.
Base area is the area that is on the bottom when a product is being cast.
Top surface area is the area that are on the top and do not contact with the mould.
Dropping area is the area that a panel has dropped its nominal height.
Finishing area is the area of concrete finishing area on the top surface area.
Tiling area is the area that is pasted with tiles.
Volume is the total concrete volume of a product.
Weight is a weight of a product calculated from concrete and reinforcement weight and
all embedded parts weights.
375
Number of curves is the counting number of curve surfaces along a products shape; for
example, a curve surface of a window, or a curve surface of a balcony
Number of embedded parts is counted from all embedded parts, which are not
reinforcement, such as lifting-point and duct blockouts.
Concrete strength, and slump of the used concrete are determined.
Reinforcement weight, and number of different bar shapes are determined from the bar
list table provided on a product design drawing.
The other four factors come from manpower are the number of workers assigned to the
four routines for manufacturing that product. The manpower information can be obtained
from factory daily-reports (manufacturing booking sheets). Sample data-sets of 50
different precast products were collected from a leading bespoke precast manufacturer in
the UK and used for designing architecture and evaluating performance of the models.
3.1.2 Neural network based model (BPPE-NN)
The common practice of designing NNs architecture is through trial-and-error. The first
step is to develop the NN with a common architecture and rule-of-thumb settings, then
evaluate the NNs performance, and adjust the parameters to improve the NNs
performance. Finally, the multi layer perceptrons (MLP) with feed forward and backpropagation train is selected as the BPPE-NN architecture. The BPPE-NN has fiill
connection of three layers. The transfer function of processing elements (PEs) is the
hyperbolic tangent (tanh). The hidden layer with the optimum number of hidden PEs is 8.
The input layer has 20 PEs for all of the influential factors, and the output layer has 1 PE
for each estimated value. The model is divided into four networks for four estimated
outputs. The final networks of BPPE-NN use the momentum learning rule method with
the momentum rate=0.7, the step size of output layer=0.2, and the step size of hidden
layer=0.5.
3.1.3 Multiple regression based model (BPPE-MR)
Bespoke precast productivity is also modeled using the multiple regression (MR)
technique. The relationships between each productivity value and all influential factors
are described by Equation (1) below:
(i)
where y is an estimated output variable; xt=a variable of an influential factor i; Ai=a linear
coefficient; A0=a constant or an intercept; and n is the total number of influential factors.
3.2 Models performances
The estimation performances of both models are measured with three statistical values,
namely absolute percentage error (APE), mean square error (MSE), and correlation
coefficient (r). The results from the model evaluation are concluded that both BPPE-NN
and BPPE-MR are comparable. They can be implemented together as BPPE-NN will
376
give more often precise estimated values while BPPE-MR will help cross examine or
verify the results and to alert the fault extrapolation from BPPE-NN. However, the
reliability of both models much depends on the exhaustiveness of influential factors, and
an amount and the representativeness of historical data.
In a long-term implementation, the BPPE-NN is based on a large amount of historical
data. Its estimation performance is anticipated to be better and better because its ability to
be generalized to match future cases. Also, the BPPE-NN supports the automation in the
estimation process and integrates data to product design process. Precast manufacturers
potentially benefit from the model through the more accurate but less effortfiil
estimation.
4 PRODUCTION SCHEDULING WITH PS
The production planning is very complicated and has a high impact on time and cost of
the production program; however, the current practice of production planning is much
simplified by applying the earliest due-date sequencing rule. Precast concrete
manufacturing consists of many repetitive routines and each product is independent with
no obvious logical precedence required. Pioneering researchers (Chan and Hu, 2002; Leu
and Hwang, 2001) have proposed new scheduling methods for precast manufacturing.
They applied the flowshop scheduling modeV on general precast manufacturing
processes and used the GA approach for the optimization.
This study has further developed the flowshop scheduling model particularly for
bespoke precast manufacturing named as BP-FSSM. It aims to improve the production
planning technique using the flowshop scheduling and GA based optimization
approaches. BP-FSSM has included moulds reuse consideration since types and available
numbers of moulds have impacts to the production cost and time. The moulds are costly
and purpose-built in a limited number. The PS system is connected with PTE and Central
Database. PS is illustrated with a flowchart in Figure 3.
The operations of PS start from details of new jobs (products) fed into the scheduling
model. BP-FSSM has been formulated according to the current implemented method of
crew organization. GA randomly arranges job sequences and then evaluates them with
the multi-objective function in order to reach the optimum. This procedure is repeated
numerous times until GA programming loop is terminated. The final job sequences are
the best findings and they are then allocated into a factorys timetable with regard to the
existing workload. The outputs of PS are efficient production schedules and a decision
support for utilizing factorys resources such as moulds and manpower.
Precast designers intend to make all products as identical as possible to reduce the
product design effort and to economize the cost of moulds. Purposebuilt moulds made of
timber are designed and prefabricated to be able to cast slightly different designed
products. Different and identical designed products, which can be cast with the same
mould type, are grouped as a same product family($). The moulds can be reused but these
jobs cannot be cast in the adjacent sequence instead they need to wait until their family
moulds are available (see Equation (2)). Planners have to decide the number of each
mould type (X$) and trade-off between time and cost by arranging a good schedule that
effectively and efficiently utilizes this constrained resource.
377
Also, bespoke precast products are specified with delivery dates, which usually
correspond to the construction progress on sites. Therefore, bespoke precast products
even of the same project may have different delivery dates. Product delivery dates are
treated as due dates (dj). It is important that the production schedule must be attempted
to satisfy all product delivery dates.
Manufacturing process of a bespoke precast product consists of many routine tasks
some of which are directive and the others are supportive. The directive routines are
the focus of the production planning
Figure 3. A flowchart of Production

Scheduler (PS).
while the supportive routines are less concerned and their planning is derived from the
master plan of the directive routines. The directive routines are activities associated with
casting procedures. They are as the following in sequence:
Modifyingadjusting, reshape or resize the mould to fit another product design.
Mouldingcleaning the mould, reassembly, oiling of mould surfaces, and then placing
all reinforcement cage, mosaic or tiling, fixing, conduits and other embedded parts
into the mould.
Pouringpouring, compacting and levelling of concrete.
Curingleaving the concrete to harden through natural process.
Demouldingstripping or removing the mould from the product after its concrete
develops adequate strength.
Finishingcleaning, checking or repair or finishing the product.
These six routines are regarded as machines. In case m=6, they are namely Modifying
(M1), Moulding (M2), Pouring (M3), Curing (M4), Demoulding (M5), and Finishing (M6).
Some of characteristics are taken from the model proposed by Chan and Hu (2002).
That are twenty-four hours of a working day are divided into working-time (Hw) and nonworking-time (HN); and the routines are defined as pre-emptive and non-pre-emptive.
Pre-emptive routines are ordinarily performed only on working-time. If they are not
completed at the end of the day, they can be paused and continued on the next working
day. They are M1, M2, M5, and M6 (see Equations (3) and (4)). Non-pre-emptive routines,
M3 and M4, are special. The routine M3 must be finished within one working day. If it
378
cannot be finished within the working-time, a limited overtime (HE), which is counted
after the working-time, will be allowed; otherwise, the whole routine is postponed to the
next working day (see Equation (5)). For M4, the no-wait condition is applied to since the
routine must start immediately after M3 is finished. In addition, M4 can continue during
the non-working time without any workers attending so that the overtime is not required
on this routine. Another special condition for M4 is it has a capacity to process more than
one job at a time (see Equation (6)).
The industry survey reports that manufacturing workers are divided into three crews.
One crew is assigned to perform Modifying (M1). The workers in this crew called
Joiners who have high carpentering skills. The second crew performs most of the
routines, which are M2, M3, and M5, and the last crew performs M6. The three crews are
working together to complete each product (or job). This crew organization method
becomes the fundamental assumption for the flowshop scheduling formulation. The
work-sequencing logics of the crews (therefore, the machines) are quite complicated
and different from the basic assumption applied on the general flowshop scheduling
model
The first and the last crews use the same completion time equation as defined in
Equation (3). The second crew behaves differently because anytime it has more
alternatives to begin its consecutive task. After finish a task, its consecutive task can be
M2, M3, or M5 of the previous in-progress product, or continuing the next routine on the
current product (see Equations (2), (4) and (5)). More work sequencing logics are applied
on this second crew of how it selects its consecutive task wisely. All characteristics of
BP-FSSMs routines are exhibited through their completion time, which are formulated
in the following Equations (2)(6).
BP-FSSM includes the mould reuse consideration. The machine that starts occupying
a mould is Modifying (Mj); and the machine that releases the mould when it finishes is
the Demoulding (M5). Any job Jj on M1 needs to wait for an available mould particularly
of its mould type ($). The start time of M1 of any Jj (C(Jj S, M0)) is expressed in
Equation (2).
Figure 4. Gantt chart of BP-FSSM

with mould reuse consideration
(Equation (2))
379
(2)
where Jj,$=a job at the sequence j that uses mould family $;j=1, 2, 3,, n; Mk=a machine
number k; C(Jj, M0)=the completion time of job j on the machine 0 (therefore, it is the
start time of the machine 1); C(Jj, M5)=the completion time of job j on the machine 5;
{}= the
minimum value of {}; Ay=for every y, where 1y<j; Jy,$=a job at
the sequence y that uses the same mould family $ as Jj,$ does; the number of mould type
$=X$.
An example scenario shown in Figure 4 illustrates that job-ID 1 and 2 have slightly
different designs so they can be assigned to use and share mould A; job-ID 3 and 4 use
mould B; job-ID 5 uses mould C. While the factory has prepared one of mould A,
two of mould B, and one of mould C (XA, XB, XC=1, 2, 1, respectively). The planners
have arranged a production sequence as job-ID 1, 3, 4, 2, and 5. From the Gantt chart,
job-ID 2, which now is produced in the fourth sequence (J4), needs to wait until mould
A is released from job-ID 1 since there is only one mould A available. Job-ID 3 and
job-ID 4 can be cast in an adjacent sequence without waiting for mould availability
because there are two of mould Bs; Job-ID 5 has its own mould C so that it can be
cast whenever Mj is ready. The Gantt chart also shows the idle time of Mj caused by jobID 2 waiting; and the completion time ofjob-ID 2 (C(J4, M6)) conforming to the above
Equation (2).
For pre-emptive routines, they are performed within the working-time. If they are not
completed at the end of the day, they can be paused and continued on the next working
day. The completion time of pre-emptive M1 and M6, which are executed by the first and
the third crew, respectively, on the twenty-four hour scale is expressed in Equation (3).
(3)
where C(Jj, Mk)=the completion time of job j on machine k; Jj=ajob at the sequencey
j;j=1, 2, 3,, n; Mk=a machine number k; k=1, 6; T=Max {C(Jjl, Mk), C(Jj,
Mk1)}+Pjk; Pjk=the processing time of job j on machine k; 0PjkHw; D =
integer(T/24); Hw=working hours per one working day; HN=non-working hours per one
working day; HN=24-HW.
Note: In case of M1, C(Jj, M0) was defined in Equation (2).
The completion time of pre-emptive routines M2 and M5, which are executed by the
second crew, on the twenty-four hour scale is expressed in Equation (4) below.
(4)
380
where C(Jj, Mk)=the completion time of job j on machine k; Jj=a job at the sequence j; j
= 1, 2, 3,, n; Mk=a machine number k; k=2, 5; T#=PrecTime (D)+Pjk; Pjk=the
processing time of job j on machine k; 0PjkHw;D=integer (C(Jj, Mk1)/24);
PrecTime(D)=Max-of-Day(D) {C(Jj,1, M2), C(Jj1, M3), C(Jj1, M5), C(Jj, Mk1)};
PrecTime (D+1)=Max-of-Day(D+1) {C(Jj1 M2), C(Jj1, M3), C(Jj1, M5), C(Jj, Mk1)};
C(J0, Mk)=0.
Note: Equation (4) is different from (3) that it uses Max-of-Day(D) and &=2, 5.
For example of how the second crew decide to move to the consecutive task, or the
application of Equation (4). To determine C(J3, M2), let C(J2, M2)=28; C(J2, M3)=30;
C(J2, M5)=50; C(J3, M1)=27; P32=1.5. Therefore, D=integer(27/24)=1; Prec
Time(1)=Max-of-Day(1) {28, 30, 50, 27}=C(J2, M3)=30. The reason is that although C(J2,
M5)=50 is the maximum time among the choices, it is on the next day whilst the others
are on the same day (D=1). As a result, C(J3, M2)=C(J2, M3)+ P32=30+1.5=31.5.
For non-pre-emptive routine M3, it must be finished within one working day. If it
cannot be finished within the working-time, a limited overtime (HE), which is counted
after the working-time, will be allowed. Otherwise, the whole routine is postponed to the
next working day. The completion time of M3 on the twenty-four hour scale is expressed
in Equation (5).
(5)
where C(Jp Mk)=the completion time of job j on machine Jc, Jj is ajob at the sequence j;
j=1, 2, 3,, n; Mk=amachine number k; k=3; T#=PrecTime(D)+ Pjk; Pjk is the
processing time of job j on machine k; 0PjkHW+HE; D=integer (C(Jj, Mk1)/24);
PrecTime(D)=Max-of-Day(D){C(Jj1, M2), C(Jj1, M3), C(Jj1, M5), C(Jj, Mk1)};
PrecTime (D+1) = Max-of-Day(D+1) {C(Jj1, M2), C(Jj1, M3), C(Jj1, M5), C(Jj, Mk1)};
and C(J0, Mk)=0.HE=overtime hours allowed per one working day.
For non-pre-emptive routine M4, it will start immediately after M3 is finished.
Moreover, it can continue during the non-working time without workers attending so that
the overtime is not applied on this routine. Another special condition for M4 is it has a
capacity to process more than one job at a time. The completion time of M4 on the
twenty-four hour scale is expressed in Equation (6) as follows:
(6)
where T*=Max{0, C(Jj, Mk1)}+Pjk; k=4; 0PjkHN.
381
4.1 GA based optimization

After BP-FSSMs completion time is formulated, the model is tested through the
optimisation process in order to find optimum schedules. Many quantitative ways are
proposed to evaluate the performance of the flowshop scheduling model such as:
makespan (=C(Jn, Mm))the total length of the production program (Johnson,
1954);
total flowtimethe sum of the completion times ofalljobs(Rajendran, 1995);
total machine idle timethe sum of machine idle time of all machines all jobs
(Rajendran, 1995);
to tal tardiness and earlinessthe sum of all jobs penalty that are charged if a job is
either later or earlier completed than their due date (Sung and Min, 2001).
For BP-FSSM, two kinds of idle times are targeted and kept to minimum. The first is the
time that a precast component (job) waits for a machine. There is a job queue behind the
machine. This wasted time can be measured by the totalflowtime (TF). The other is the
time that a machine waits for a job. A downstream machine is ready and unoccupied
while a job is still being executed at the upstream machine. This waste can be measured
by the total idle machine time (MI). Another important concerns for bespoke precast
production are the successful delivery program to a construction project and to minimize
the inventory expenses; therefore, the measurement of the total tardiness and earliness
(TE) is also considered. These three criteria are combined and used for evaluating the BPFSSMs performance. They are set as a multiobjectivefunction of the optimization
(minimization) and are expressed in Equations (7) to (9) below.
(7)
(8)
(9)
where =a possible solution (a permutation of job sequence); j=1, 2, 3,, n; k=1, 2,

3,, m; Cj=the completion time of a job at the sequence j; dj=the due date of job
sequence j; j=the tardiness penalty rate for the job at the sequence j; j=the earliness
penalty rate for the job at the sequence j.
382
4.2 Performance of BP-FSSM

From the example tests of 30 jobs (a combination unique and identical product designs
which stimulates the actual workload of bespoke precast factory), the GA based
optimization on BP-FSSM gives better schedules comparing to using the earliest due date
rule. The improvement according to the three criteria are around 25% TF; 30% MI; and
55% TE reduction. The reduction of these criteria terms means a factory can gain benefits
from more efficient resource utilization (more occupied crews, equipment, and moulds)
and also products are completed nearer (not too early nor too late) to their due date. From
this improvement the factory could save production time and cost, and also can control
the quality of product delivery services.
BP-FSSM can be used as a decision support for making an efficient production
schedule. Also, it can be an analysis tool to determine the optimum number of each
mould type. BP-FSSM captures characteristics and work sequencing logics of the precast
routines regarding the crew organization.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The paper proposes an innovation production planning system for bespoke precast
concrete products. The system is a decision support, which adopts artificial intelligence
techniques: genetic algorithm (GA) and neural network (NN) to alleviate the complexity
in bespoke precast production. The system consists of two components namely
Processing-Time Estimator (PTE) and Production Scheduler (PS) which are integrated
together through the Central Database. PTE assists the productivity estimation and PS
assists the production scheduling tasks.
The core operations of both developed components are performed through the product
and process models. Therefore, the main content of the paper is on the formulation of
bespoke precast productivity estimation and flowshop scheduling models.
The outcomes of the system include shortened customer lead-time, optimum factorys
resource utilization, and in-house repository of production knowledge. This improvement
can benefit to both precast concrete and construction industries.
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to Precast Concrete Fabrication Proc. 10th Ann. Conf. Intl. Group for Lean Construction,
Gramado, Brazil, August 68, 2002.
Benjaoran, V., and Dawood, N. (2003). Development of an artificial intelligence planner
framework for bespoke precast concrete production. Proceeding of the llth Annual Conference
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Sung, C.S., and Min, J.I. (2001). Scheduling in a twomachine flowshop with batch processing
machine(s) for earliness/tardiness measure under a common due date. European Journal of
Operational Research, 131(1), 95106.
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Warszawski, A. (1990). Industrialization androbotics in building: A managerial approach, Harper
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Yeh, I.C. (1998). Quantity estimating of building with logarithm-neuron networks. Journal of
Construction Engineering and Management, 124(5), 374380.
Process and information flow in mass

customisation of multi-story housing
T.Olofsson, L.Stehn & E.Cassel-Engqvist eByggCentre for Information
Technology in Construction, Div of Structural Engineering, Luled
University of Technology, Luled, Sweden
ABSTRACT: This paper illustrates how the process and information flow
might be accomplished between a manufacturer of prefabricated houses, a
real state trustee and end-users, i.e. the holder of the tenant-ownership.
The research question investigated is how the house manufacturers can
adapt its manufacturing process after customers demand. By mass
customisation and a large variation of the final product, houses/flats, can
be produced with a standardised manufacturing process. Giving customers
the opportunity to design their own apartment with internally possessions
can be considered as a competitive advantage. The paper examines the
possibility to use an IT system to support the design, manufacturing and
customisation process instead of using traditional manually capacity for
customers options. A case study shows that the IT support should mainly
focus on the information flow between the manufacturers design and
manufacturing process and the real state trustee sales process to minimize
errors for an efficient manufacturing. Supply chain management
advantages for all stakeholders are found in the concept of using a single
source of information. The case study also shows the importance of
adapting the information model to the actual building process and product
structure and to balance the available options to customers needs and
expectations.
1 INTRODUCTION
The construction of timber frame houses has a long tradition in Sweden. The great
majority of detached houses has timber frames and is manufactured in permanent
factories by small and medium-sized enterprises (approximately 74% between 1990
2002). By comparison, about 69% (down from 90% 20 years ago) of all housing starts in
the US are stick built on site. The experiences from the detached house market, having
had an open competition for a long time, indicate that an industrialized and processoriented production approach could have a potential also for the whole housing industry.
This is supported by an extensive evaluation of the Swedish construction industry (SOU
2002), indicating that it is possible to reduce production costs in housing construction
through industrialisation, customer orientation, and a more efficient construction process.
Logistics and supply chain management (SCM) are demonstrated as disciplines with the
potential to increase efficiency in the construction process (Agapiou et al 1998; Naim and
Process an information
385
Barlow 2003). In the large enterprise manufacturing industry, the supply chain concept
has been one model for improvements in efficiency. Holistic production philosophies
such as lean production, and comprehensive planning methods such as enterprise
resource planning (ERP), which are supported by information technology (IT) based
software systems, are used to manage parts of or the entire supply chain (Crowley 1998,
Tarn et al 2002, Al Mashari et al 2003). The possibility of cross industry learning from
the manufacturing to the housing industry is analysed in (Gann, 1996). The potential for
improvements in the housing industry as well as the use of concepts such as SCM, lean
production using IT supported ERP, applied to small and medium-sized enterprises
(SME) have been pointed out by Stehn and Bergstrom (2002) and Bergstrom and Stehn
(in press). This paper describes a case study on how mass customisation of prefabricated
timber houses might be accomplished using an integrated information management
system in the design, manufacturing and sales process of tenant owned apartments and
how the manufacturing process can be adapted. It also investigates the needs of, and
relations between, the different stakeholders in the process, e.g. between a manufacturer,
a real state trustee and the finally holder of the tenant-ownership.
2 THE CURRENT BUILDING PROCESS
The investigated SME company (Olofsson et al 2004, Cassel-Engqvist, in press) is a
producer of timber frame multi-storey houses in Sweden. Fifty percent of the production
is based on skeleton contracts with real estate trustees. This has been a deliberately
strategy taken by the SME to achieve a solid economical base. The skeleton contract with
the real estate trustee investigated is based on a few typical house layouts. The
simplified tendering process only includes adaptation of the house layouts to the
project in question (only minor changes of the principle design are allowed to keep a high
production-cost efficiency), negotiation of price and date of delivery and setting up a list
of options for the prospective holder of the tenant-ownership. This type of market
segmentation, i.e., a predefined principle design targeted to a specific customer group in
terms of flat layout etc. and specific or typical features are offered to the customers by
options (extras), e.g., equipment, flooring and finishing etc. is reported in Stehn and
Jonsson (1999).
386
Figure 1. The manufacturing of multistorey houses in the investigated SME

company.
The detailed design, purchase and manufacturing process starts after the real estate
trustee have sold approximately 30% of the tenants-owned flats.
The detailed design phase delivers element and block drawings to the manufacturing
units. The purchase department supplies the manufacturing process with raw materials
and components. Most raw materials are delivered on call. However, many components
are delivered via a procurement process that in many cases needs to be initiated long
before the actual building contract is signed.
The manufacturing process can schematically be described as (Fig. 1):
1 Manufacturing of buildings elements such as inner and outer walls, floors and flats
roofs
2 The elements are assembled to building blocks
3 The blocks are completed with fittings and fixtures in kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms
such as wall papers, flooring, cabinets etc.
4 Finished building blocks are stored in the factory stock before
5 Transportation to the building site and
387
6 Assembly of blocks to multi-storey houses.

The current building process has a number of drawbacks:
Physical measures of electrical appliances and ventilation pipes that collide with
construction details have caused problems in the production. The design of electrical
and HVAC installations are made by subcontractors in 2D using symbols.
Quantity take-off from 2D drawings. Delivery inspection cannot be made on goods
from supplier that uses 2D drawings for quantity take-off.
Lack of a common article numbering system. Problems in verification of delivery from
supplier can sometimes occur due to the use of different article numbering systems.
Supply chain management. The planning of the supply chain has become more difficult
to handle with increasing production rate and customisation.
Customisation. The handling of selected options such as surface finish (wall papers,
flooring) and fittings is error prone. Information errors cause problems in the purchase
and production process and must be corrected on the building site.
Most of these issues are related to information management. Several isolated systems
including handwritten notes are used in the current building process. The information is
mostly informal, i.e., can only be interpreted and processed by human beings. In the next
chapter we will propose a strategy to remedy the deficiencies in the information
management flow.
3 STRATEGIES FOR PROCESS AND INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
The research was conducted using a single, exploratory, case study research design. The
building process can be divided into 4 distinct sub-processes:
1 Tender and design
2 Manufacturing
3 Supply chain management (SCM)
4 Sales and customisation
Process 13 is owned by the construction company and the sales and customisation
process is owned by the real estate trustee. Figure 2 shows a schematic view of the
information flow between the different processes and involved actors.
After the contract has been signed the real estate trustee initiates the sales and
customization process of the residential houses. When 30% of the flats are sold, the start
order (1) is given and the pre-production engineering work commence. The detail design
delivers (2) bill of materials and design drawings to the manufacturing process which
affect the stock balance and supply chain management (3) When production starts
information of selected option (4) from the real estate trustee sales and customization
process must be passed to the construction company in order to individually customize
the tenant-owned purchased flat.
388
Figure 2. Schematic view of the

information flow, processes and actors.
To get a supportive IT environment an information strategy that supports the business
strategy of the company is needed. IT systems requires that the information is formal and
computer interpretable. Hence, an adequate information model thats supports the
business needs have to be defined, (Ward and Griffith, 1996). The IT systems must also
support a seamless flow of information over process and organisational boundaries.
In an industrialised construction process, the focus is set on the manufacturing
process. Therefore, a block oriented information model was chosen to support the
manufacturing process in the factory, (Fig 3). Since the multi-storey houses are made of
blocks it is easy to extend the product information model to a complete building
information model, (Fig 4).
The most important process requirements on the information system can be
summarized as follows:
1 3D-design to enable automatic quantity take-off and collision detection between
installations and structural design.
389
Figure 3.
Figure 4. Building information model.

2 Information sharing with subcontractors. The design process will benefit if the
installation design is integrated with the structural design. A number of check-points
and design iterations can also be avoided if the two design processes are done
concurrently.
3 Version management ofdesigned components. An important motivation for industrial
constructions is the reuse of design components. Since flaws in the design can be
rectified in the next constructions project, a new version of that component is created.
Version management is also a key factor in any quality systems.
4 Information sharing with the real estate trustee. The customisation information on
buyers selected options must be securely transferred from the sales organisation to the
manufacturing process.
5 Supply chain management redesign. Handling of pre-production engineering,
procurements, delivery on calls, delivery checks, stocks and the supply of material and
components to the production units in the factory should be integrated.
To find a single system that fulfils all the process and information requirements is hard.
In the massproducing industry the design and manufacturing process is often in the
handled by two separate systems, a PDM system (Product Data Management) and
MRP/ERP system (Material/Enterprise Resource Planning). These systems are often
integrated using a common product information structure.
390
Since the case company had already decided to investigate in a MRP system (req. #5),
the suggested solution was to complement the MRP system with a PDM system that
would fulfil reqs. #13. To enable
Figure 5. Suggested IT support system.

information sharing with the real estate trustee (req. #4) a simple web application was
developed to demonstrate information sharing with the selected PDM system.
Figure 5 shows the suggested IT support environment in the process view.
Since the MRP system is designed to concurrently support the manufacturing process
of many building projects, the PDM system is selected as a single source of information
for a building project. Updates and change orders are made in the PDM product
information model before the product structure of blocks is transferred to the MRP
systems.
The PDM system used, is an Internet-based database management system, developed
by Enterprixe Ltd (Enterprixe 2002). The system stores all project data in a central
database, to which project members have concurrent access over the Internet. Depending
on access rights, users can view or edit information by loading data from the server to
local software clients. The server keeps track of the modeling work and modifications by
connected users, who can check out and check in parts of the project. The PDM system is
also responsible for producing production drawing for element production and block
assembly. The demonstration web client was developed by Avantra, (Avantra 2004) and
includes an administration user interface to create option programs for each type of flat.
391
The sales representative, or the prospective customer, can login and select a flat layout
and surface material, fittings etc for each type of room from a list of options. When all
the option are selected the information is transferred to the PDM system and stored in the
product structure. The room id created in the design was chosen as the common
identification. Figure 6 shows the web clients user interface.
Figure 6. Web clients user interface.

4 CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
In mass production to the consumer market the customer is well defined. The situation
for many builders is more complicated since the customer is not the end user. In this case
the holder of the tenant-ownership is customer to the real estate trustee who is the
customer to the builder. Still, the needs and expectations of the end users are important
parameters for the industrialised builder since the success for a particular building system
depends on satisfying both the real estate trustee as well as the end user.
An in-depth qualitative interview study was performed with two employees (selected
on the basis of their special knowledge) of the real estate trustee. A quantitative survey
followed by a qualitative interview of ten tenant owners of a newly built residential area
was also performed. The aim was to identify customers needs and expectations to find
the requirements and demands on the sales process and the information flow (4) in Figure
2.
Both the real estate trustee and the tenant owners considered the possibility to select
surface materials, fittings etc. as important. The investigation also showed that the
392
experienced quality of the workmanship was an equally important parameter. Scratches,

dents and marks from nail machines influenced the experienced quality in a negative
way. When the tenant owner was asked to rank the different parameters, the following list
of preferences was established:
1 Quality of workmanship
2 Options in the kitchen and bathroom
3 Options in other rooms
The interview also showed that the real state trustee was interested in purchasing and
installing some of the offered options themselves, such as kitchen fixtures, cupboards and
white goods.
Regarding the administration of the options programme, the real estate trustee was
most in favour of using the web client. They saw obvious advantages in administration of
the options selection procedure and facilitated communication with the case company.
However, 90% of the interviewed tenant owners could not imagine to making the
selection only based on picture on a web page. They were of the opinion that they wanted
to see and feel the offered materials and fixtures in the real world before they made their
final choice.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The use of product model technology in construction is still a subject for many research
and development projects, (Fischer and Kam 2002, Ronneblad and Olofsson 2003,
Jongeling et al. in prep). According to (Blokpoel 2003) the main strengths of the
technology are in the areas of communication and configuration management. The main
weakness is the lack of practical implementation where measured performances in terms
of improved information flow and costs savings have been demonstrated.
Even if many of the deficiencies in the information flow in todays practice can be
overcome by using product oriented IT support, the lack of product orientation, the
fragmentised business process and lack of strong process owners in the construction
industry are the main obstacles that have to be overcome before the technology is going
to be spread. For the builder in the case study the main driving force has been the
possibility to improve the customisation of the product and the manufacturing process.
The builder is also a strong process owner.
The case study also shows the importance of adapting the product information model
to the actual building process and product structure. This is the main weakness of
standardised product information models, such as IFC. If IFC is going to be the future
standard in the construction industry, the product structure (the hierarchy of the model)
must be configurable in order to map the hierarchy to different needs of the user. We are
not convinced that this is the case to day.
The use of MRP/ERP system for preproduction engineering, supply chain
management and production control is widely spread in the manufacturing industry. In
the building sector it is mainly used by suppliers of building components, (Bergstrom and
Stehn 2004). The planning process in the construction industry is also focused on
organisations and work breakdown, (Ballard et al 2001). Decision-making is often based
393
on practice, general information and assumptions, resulting in sub-optimal solutions that

often have a negative impact on the total project costs. The case study shows that product
orientation and industrial building methods shift the focus from organisation and work
breakdown to operations, flows and supply chain management. Concepts that are
generally accepted as key performance indicators in lean production systems.
A method for customer orientation in industrial construction that can be used to meet
the varying demand on a market is mass customisation, (Krajewski & Ritzman 1999).
According to Gu et al. (2002) the number of customised components and manufacturing
operations can be balanced against the degree of customer satisfaction. The optimum is
reached when the customers gets a product that fulfil the needs and expectations using a
number of customized components and operations that still can be produced using the
standardized manufacturing process.
The interviews indicated that focus for customisation should be the options for the
kitchen and bathroom. The possible options in the other rooms can be decreased or
replaced by balancing the offer with a higher standard. The possibility of a shared
customisation process with the real estate trustee in offering a more generous option
program has several advantages:
The builder can have a more standardized production process and can focus only on
options that refine or add-value to the end product, i.e. surface materials such as wall
paper, tile and flooring.
The real estate trustee gets more involved in the customisation process.
Reducing the number of middlemens handling options would probably be beneficial
for the end user.
The interviews also showed that the surface finish and experienced quality of
workmanship is of outmost importance. Therefore, the industrialised builders should
focus to an equally high extent on the surface finish of the delivered product. Methods for
quality assurance and control should be implemented to reduce complaints and increase
the customers satisfaction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The financial support from SBUFThe development fund of the Swedish construction
industry, Lindbacks bygg AB and the centre for information technology in construction
(eBygg) at the Lulea University of Technology is greatly acknowledged.
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Cassel-Engqvist, E. 2004. Kundorderstyrning i det industriella byggandetEnfallstudie av
volymbyggda trdhus, Master thesis (in Swedish), Lulea University of Technology. in press.
Crowley, A., 1998. Construction as a manufacturing process: Lessons from the automotive
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ITconElectronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction, Submitted.
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Jongeling, R., Olofsson, T., Emborg, M. 2004. Towards virtual prototyping of construction
innovations, Proc European Conference ofProduct and Process Modeling, ECPPM 2004, 89
September, Istanbul, Turkey. To be published.
Krajewski, L.J. and Ritzman, L.P. 1999. Operation Management: strategy and analysis, fifth
edition. USA: Addison-Westly Publishing Company.
Olofsson, T., Cassel, E., Stehn, L., Ruuth, S., Edgar, J-O., Lindback, S. 2004. Produktmodeller i
ettflexibelt industriellt byggande, Teknisk rapport 2004:06, Luled tekniska universitet (in
Swedish).
Pine II, B.J. (1993). Mass Customizing Products and Service. Planning Review, 22(4):613.
Ronneblad, A., Olofsson, T. 2003. Application of IFC in design and production of precast concrete
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offentliga utredningar 2000:44, Stockholm (in Swedish).
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Stehn, L. and Jonsson, J. 1999. Conceptual and customer oriented development of a multi-storey
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Publisher.
RoadSim: an integrated simulation system for

road construction management
S.Castro & N.Dawood School of Science and Technology, University of
Teesside, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, UK
ABSTRACT: Road construction is an equipment-intensive process and its
planning and performance management are essentially different from the
methods usually adopted for other construction activities due to: the very
high value of the road contracts; the very high cost of the inputs
(equipment and materials); the physical extension of the works; the
sensitiveness of the works to the meteorological factors; the
environmental impacts and the potential conflicts with other social and
economic activities. Current practices in the industry suggested that road
construction is inefficient and projects are often over budget and over
time. Also, project managers use only on their experiences, historical and
technical data and gut feeling to manage the process. In order to have
efficiency gains and construct projects on time and on budget, more
innovative tools and techniques are needed to assist managers in planning
and managing road construction projects. Also, there is a need for tools
that will be able to assist project managers to study and compare all
possible strategies and methodologies for the execution of the works and
without comparison there is no evidence that the planners choice
corresponds to the most advantageous possibility. To overcome that
limitation and automate the road construction planning process a
computer-based system has been developed, incorporating a knowledge
base and a simulation of the principal road construction operations. The
system is designated RoadSim and the respective framework is described
in this paper. The main components of the systems are: knowledge based
system that encapsulates rules; procedures, factors and technical data;
central database for storing and retrieval project information; simulation
engine and graphical user interface. The paper concluded that the adoption
of RoadSim can help managers/planners to convert the strategy of the
company into a planning, select the resources, define a construction
budget, control productivity and use performance measurement indicators
(cost and time) to redefine goals.
1 INTRODUCTION
Current practices in the industry suggested that road construction is inefficient and
projects are often over budget and over time (Castro, S 2002). Also, project managers use
only on their experiences, historical and technical data and gut feeling to manage the
process. In order to have efficiency gains and construct projects on time and on budget,
more innovative tools and techniques are needed to assist managers in planning and
396
managing road construction projects. Also, there is a need for tools that will be able to
assist project managers to study and compare all possible strategies and methodologies
for the execution of the works and without comparison there is no evidence that the
planners choice corresponds to the most advantageous possibility.
To overcome that limitation and automate the road construction planning process a
computer-based system has been developed, incorporating a knowledge base and a
simulation of the principal road construction operations.
The system is designated RoadSim and the respective framework is described in this
paper. The main components of the systems are: knowledge based system that
encapsulates rules; procedures, factors and technical data; central database for storing and
retrieval project information; simulation engine and graphical user interface.
Due to the limitations on the size of the paper, only a brief description of current
construction simulation literature is given.
The ultimate purpose of all simulation systems is the determination and analysis of the
behavior of a certain construction solution or a certain construction resource involved in a
construction operation under different scenarios, measured basically by its physical
feasibility and/or productivity.
The simulation systems created by the research communitycombined with
visualizationrevealed to be very helpful in designing complex construction operations
and in making optimal decisions at the planning stage. Though the fact that there has
been limited use of simulation in planning construction operations (Kamat and Martinez,
2001) in the past, it has been also recognized that the construction industry is
progressively investing in the adoption of IT tools.
Since the development of CYCLONE by D.W.Halpin in 1977, to simulate
construction processes, a number of meaningful simulation systems have been created in
order to achieve two important goals: to verification of the feasibility of a certain
technical solution, either in terms of design and construction method or as a tool for the
automation of planning in construction processes.
Among the number of simulation systems developed by the research community for
the construction industry, deserve especial mention INSIGHT (Paulson and Koo, 1987),
MicroCYCLONE (Halpin, 1985), RESQUE (Chang, 1987), COOPS (Liu and loannou,
1992), DISCO (Huang et al, 1994), CIPROS (Odeh et al, 1992) and STROBOSCOPE
(Martinez and loannou, 1994).
AbouRizk and Mather (2000) developed a simulation system through integration with
3D CAD in which each resource is associated with its atomic model. The concept of
atomic model has been presented by Ziegler (1987), Luna (1992) and Odeh (1992) in
order to simplify simulation model building.
One of the major conclusions that the authors have reached in reviewing historical and
recent literature is that there is very little work that has been accomplished in the
simulation of road construction. No paper was found dealing with road construction as a
whole process composed by tasks defined as plan the project, execute the works and
evaluate the economic results. The difficulty faced by the researchers is probably due
to the fact that road construction has a particular culture for planning and performance
management, brought to the construction process by:
The geographical extension of the works;
Roadsim: an integrated simulation system
397
The sensibility of the road works to the local conditions (materials to be removed, water
table, site organisation, accesses, etc.);
The sensibility of road works to the weather conditions;
The environmental impacts;
The potential conflicts with other social and economic activities.
Specificity and simplicity seem to be the key for the success of simulation in
construction. In the search of that simplicity and specificity, this paper presents a
knowledge-based simulation system developed for the modeling of road construction
operations and for the automation of the planning process in road construction projects.
The simulation system is designated RoadSim and has been created to automate the
process of: selection of resources; scheduling of the works and definition of contract
construction cost.
The next sections deal with the analysis of road constmction processes and
specification of RoadSim.
2 ANALYSIS OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES
The authors of this paper have been involved in road construction for long time (in
particular Mr. Castro who is currently a production director at Mota, Lisbon) and this
section is based on the analysis of current planning practices of more than 50 road
construction projects. It can be concluded that every construction operation can be
considered as a collection of integrated activities. Table 1 shows an example of road
construction operations.
This is not just a particular case in construction industry since it is common practice in
construction modelling to break a complex system (construction operation) into
subsystems (activity) of a lesser complexity. But in road construction it is not only a
question of reducing complexity. Acting in that way we have the possibility to use the
same simple model in a certain number of operations in which the activity is included.
For example, in a cut-to-fill operation using motor scraper as a hauler it is possible to
divide and model the whole operation into two sub-systems (activities):
The loading and hauling phase with the interaction between the track-type bulldozer and
the motor scraper;
The levelling, watering and compaction phase, with the interaction of motor graders,
water-tankers and rollers.
The loading and hauling phases are exactly the same activity for other operations like
fill from borrow pit or cut to spoil (mutatis mutandis) and therefore can be used in
the modelling process of other activities (the same is valid for the levelling, watering and
compaction activity).
Using activity as a nuclear modelling element allows the possibility of analysis of
the system in great detail, especially in terms of bunching effect, as shown in Table 2.
398
Table 1. Example of road construction operations.

System
Construction operation (fill from borrow pit, execution of base course, etc.)
Entity
Activity (dozing, hauling, compaction, etc.)
Attributes
Quantity, hauling distance, compaction degree, etc.
Resources
Equipment, materials, workers
The example shows that the simulation can be done by tracking continually certain
variables (time elapsed, counter variables, state of the system at the time t, etc.). In our
example, and assuming that the scrapers are loaded in a first-in, first-out manner (FIFO),
the motor scrapers arrive at the loading point in accordance with a non-homogeneous
poisson process and start immediately the loading operation if the pusher is free or wait
in the queue if the pusher is busy. That is shown in the flow chart of Fig. 1. The example
also shows that if the pusher (bulldozer) has to perform random tasks (ex: dozing and
ripping every 250 m3), the consequent effect in the system can be studied (this is virtually
impossible to execute using analytical models).
Under the viewpoint of the road planner, the construction operation should be seen as
a whole process. However, it is also noted that the duration and total cost of the overall
operation is determined by one of the activities (leading activity). For example, in a cut to
fill operation, the leading activity may be the cut if the other resources working for
different activities in the operation have the capacity to haul, level, water and compact the
totality of material produced in the cut activity. But may be the hauling activity if the
haulers are not able to transport the totality of material produced by the cut activity and is
inferior to the
Table 2. Identification of bunching effect and state

of the entities (time points are different for
bulldozer & motor scraper).
Time
point
Bulldozer
Motor scraper
Remarks
Position for pusher
Arrival to loading
point
Start pushing
Start loading
Finish pushing
End loading
Travel backwards
Travel loaded
Position for pusher

(completes cycle)
Start unloading
T5T4=scraper travel loaded time
Finish unloading
T6T5=scraper unloading time
Travel unloaded
Arrival at queue point
T3T2=scraper loading time
T8T6=scraper travel unloaded time
399
Arrival to the loading T9T8=scraper waiting time (bunching

point (completes cycle) effect) T9/T5=number of scrapers in the
operation
capacity installed at the filling point (levelling, watering and compaction).

Consequently, the number, states and productivity of the resources present in a certain
construction operation are affected and conditioned by the leading activity. If the
selection of resources is correctly balanced, all resources will be working in the vicinity
of their maximum possible productivity. If the team is unbalanced, some resources can
experience important idleness and relatively high activity costs.
Though it is important to identify the behaviour of each resource involved in the
construction operation, in order to determine the compatibility among resources, define
the different resource states (idle, active, etc.) and verify partial unit costs, the most
relevant part of the modelling of a road construction operation is the identification of the
leading activity in order to establish the real duration of the operation and, consequently,
the cost.
Figure 1. Motor scraper routine.
400
401
3 THE CONCEPT OF ROADSIM

It should be emphasised that the activities in a road construction process are the result of
the action and interaction of resources. For a given road construction operation there are
several or many possible combination of resources. The behaviour or final productivity of
a certain combination of resources depends on:
Type of resources in the team;
Variable and specific factors such as technical specifications, site organisation,
operators skill, hauling distances, etc.;
Random factors such as weather, accuracy of geological information, etc.
Thus, the behavior of a given combination of resources for a certain construction
operation can be modelled and simulated taking into account the characteristics of the
resources involved and their interactions being the simulation result made dependent on
the variable and random factors.
For that, and using practical knowledge, RoadSim established the rules governing the
action of a resource in a given process by considering two main aspects:
The inherent characteristics of the resources (power, bucket capacity, etc. for
equipment; size, chemical composition, etc. for materials; skill for labour);
Interaction with other resources and constraints present in the same operation.
The study and correspondent simulation modelling of the behaviour of resources in
construction operations needs the identification of the tasks usually performed in road
projects. For that, and as part of the establishment of RoadSim, a data collection process
(Castro, 2002) has been undertaken in several countries representing different levels of
economic development and different geographical conditions and referring to projects
executed in the period 19962001.
For road works, that is, earthworks, drainage and pavement (bridges were not
included in the research at this stage), 50 tasks or construction operations have been
identified as forming part of the BOQ of road contracts. These 50 tasks form part of the
RoadSim menu.
For every task or construction operation identified it has been defined a number of
possible resource combinations and possible construction methods, leading each
combination to different costs and time of execution. Different type of resources means
the use of a totally different kind of resource (ex: hauling of soils using a motor scraper
or a tipper truck). Therefore, the power, model or size of the resource only changes the
performance but neither the type of resource nor the way the work is carried out.
For the modelling of the action of the resources involved in the execution of the tasks
identified as forming part of the RoadSim standard BOQ, a relation between the input
(cost and time) corresponding to the resource allocated in the task and the resulting
output (m3, m2 or ton of work done), that is, the productivity of the resource in the task
was determined.
The same was done for the possible resource combinations and respective interactions.
Corrective factors have been established to take into account:
operators skill
402
site organisation
total duration of the activity (long duration increases productivity)
duration of the cycle time (short cycle times are more susceptible of experiencing losses
in productivity)
bunching effect
random works.
4 STRUCTURE AND SPECIFICATION OF ROADSIM

Figure 2 shows a road construction project, which is composed of three, tasks or phases:
the planning
Figure 2. Inputs and actions in road

construction.
process, the execution of the works and the evaluation of the economic results phase.
These three phases can be considered as the actions responding to the inputs represented
by a road project.
RoadSim architecture has been designed in order to make the current project elements
(nature and quantity of works to be carried out, technical specifications, site constraints,
etc.) available as input for the simulation modelling programme which, in reaction,
returns actions such as selection of resources, scheduling of works or construction
cost estimating.
Figure 3 shows the component system of Roadsim. As can be seen, the RoadSim
structure is composed by three principal elements: database, knowledge base and
simulator. The system was developed using integrated Access database, MSproject,
AutoCAD, Excel Spreadsheets and VBA application to improve and automate
fimctionalities of the different software.
The following sections outline the three components in details.
403
5 DATA AND KNOWLEDGE BASE

The RoadSim data and knowledge base contains three important elements. The first is the
collection of the work packages of every routine operation as indicated in the previous
sections. As the works can be performed using different equipment combinations, the
database is constructed in order to define all routine operations and their alternatives in
terms of equipment combinations.
Figure 3. RoadSim components.
404
Figure 4. Visualisation of earthworks

progress.
The second element is the productivity formulas of the equipment combinations.
Different combinations lead to different productivities that can be estimated with a
certain mathematical formula, which is the function of its work conditions and equipment
properties. These productivity formulas are the result of historical work performances of
the referred to equipment combination. This is regarded as the knowledge base part of the
system.
The third and last element of the database contains the unit costs of the resources
(equipment, materials and labour). As road construction is equipment-intensive process,
special care has been granted to equipment costs, namely by considering:
Life time of the equipment unit as the average of at least three working conditions. A
guide line is provided in RoadSim to allow the user to make the correct choice of the
depreciation period which should be based on usefiil life time rather than write-off
life;
The formula of the hourly owning and operating cost allows the user to customise the
calculations.
6 SIMULATOR
The simulator is conceived to unambiguously describe, both spatial and temporally, a
complex road construction operation, depicting the movements, transformations and
interactions between the resources involved.
The simulator receives the information referring to a new road contract (BOQ,
technical specifications, contract agreement, working conditions, etc.) as input and then
retrieves the relevant data in the database to perform a set of programming calculations.
The simulator recognises the operations from the inputs and automatically generates all
possible options of equipment combinations for the operations. After the planner inputs
405
more details of every operation, the arithmetic module produce results of estimated
productivities and required execution durations. For every option, the simulator estimates
the respective cost of execution using the information stored in the database.
After the execution of the works on site, the planner can later introduce the actual
productivity of work done in an up dating module to enable RoadSim to check the
difference from the estimation and readjust the existing formula, if necessary.
In terms of earthworks, RoadSim allows the visualisation of how the road evolves
with time, as shown in Figure 4. This RoadSim feature uses Integration with CAD, since
it is common practice today to produce road designs using CAD. Obviously, the
visualisation refers to a pre-selected section of the road. Using this application, the
planner can select the period of time he wishes to analyse and the unit of counting (day,
week or month).
7 VALIDATION
This is a brief section about the validation of the system and more information will give
in a subsequent paper. RoadSim system has been tested in the re-planning of the highway
A25Talhadas-Vouzela section (Portugal). The A25 is a 166 km long highway
spanning from the port city of Aveiro (Portugal) to the Spanish border of Vilar Formoso.
The highway will replace the existing IP5. The section Talhadas-Vouzela has a length
of 17.1 km, a cross section of 2X2 lanes with a total with of 28 m. The works in this
section are basically the widening of the existing IP5. The main quantities of work
include 2 000 000 m3 of excavation (650000m3 in rock), 400000ton of stone base and
ISOOOOton of asphalt. The works in this section started in June 2003. Meaningful
differences in terms of geological data and hauling distances, more severe environmental
restrictions than expected and a more accurate safety assessment led to the need of a replanning process. The re-planning work was done using both the traditional method and
the RoadSim.
Simulation output from RoadSim was compared with the actual system installed in the
project (equipment combinations and performances), with the following conclusions:
The re-planning process took only 2 days, instead of the 15 days using traditional
methods;
The results from RoadSim are too close from the results obtained using traditional
methods;
RoadSim was able to give the output of all possible options, while the traditional
method only focused in the actual combination of equipment.
The tests already done indicated that the system could be used to select the resources,
schedule the works and estimate the construction cost of road contracts. However, more
tests are to be performed to evaluate the applicability of RoadSim and fiirther analysis
and refinements are needed to validate the system.
406
8 CONCLUSIONS
Current practices in the industry suggested that road construction is inefficient and
projects are often over budget and over time. Also, project managers use only on their
experiences, historical and technical data and gut feeling to manage the process. The
paper concluded that there is a need for tools that will be able to assist project managers
to study and compare all possible strategies and methodologies for the execution of the
works and without comparison there is no evidence that the planners choice corresponds
to the most advantageous possibility. The paper presented a computer-based system has
been developed, incorporating a knowledge base and a simulation of the principal road
construction operations.
The system is designated RoadSim and the respective framework is described in this
paper. The paper concluded that the model is important to road construction planning and
has the potential to save cost and improve efficiency. RoadSim will provide a platform
for road construction automation in the construction industry.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr. V Benjaoran for the
development of the software.
REFERENCES
AbouRizk, S. and Mather, K. (2000). Simplifying simulation modelling through integration with
3D CAD. J. Constr. Engrg. And Mgmt, ASCE 126(6) pp. 475483.
Castro, S. (2002). Integrated simulation models applied to road construction management: a
conceptual framework. Internal report, University of Teesside.
Castro, S. (2002). Analysis of road construction process aiming the creation of an automated
management process. Internal report, University of Teesside.
Chang, D.Y. (1986). RESQUE: a resource based simulation for construction process planning.
PhD dissertation, University of Michigan.
Halpin, D.W. (1977). An investigation of the use of simulation networks for modelling
construction operations. PhD Thesis, University of Illinois.
Huang, R., Grigoriadis, A.M. and Halpin, D.W. (1994). Simulation of cable-stayed bridges using
DISCO. Proc. 1994 Winter Simulation Conf. 11301196.
Kim, K.J. and Gibson, Edward Jr. (2003). Interactive simulation modelling for heavy construction
operations. Automation in Construction, 12(1) pp. 97109.
Law, Averill, M. and Kelton, W.D. (2000). Simulation modelling and analysis. 3rd edition,
McGraw-Hill.
Ledin, Jim. (2001). Simulation Engineering. CMP books.
Liu, L.Y. and loannou, P.G. (1992). Graphical object-oriented discrete-event simulation system.
Proc. 1992 Winter Simulation Conf. 12851291.
Llunch, J. and Halpin, D.W. (1982). Construction operations and microcomputers. J. Constr.
Div., ASCE 108(1), pp. 129145.
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Luna, J.J. (1992). Hierarchical modular concepts applied to an object-oriented simulation model
development environment. Proc. 1992 Winter Simulation Conf. 694699.
Martinez, J.C. and loannou, G.P. (1994). General purpose simulation with stroboscope. Proc.
1994 Winter Simulation Conf., 11591166.
Odeh, A.M. (1992). CIPROS: Knowledge-based construction integrated project and process
planning simulation system. PhD dissertation, University of Michigan.
Paulson, B.C.Jr. and Koo, C.C. (1987). Construction operations simulation by microcomputer. J.
Constr. Engrg. And Mgmt., ASCE, 113(2), pp. 302314.
Peyret, F., Jurasz, J., Carrel, A., Zekri, E. and Gorham, B. (2000). The computer integrated road
construction project. Automation in Construction., 9, pp. 447461.
Ziegler, B.P. (1987). Hierarchical modular discrete-event modelling in an object-oriented
environment. Simulation, 49(5), 219230.
Connet Turkeygateway to construction in

Europe
A.Dikba Istanbul Technical University, Project Management Center,
Istanbul, Turkey
S.Durusoy DNA Internet Solutions Inc., Istanbul, Turkey
H.Yaman, L.Tanaan & E.Ta Istanbul Technical University, Faculty
ofArchitecture, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: For the construction industries to move into the knowledge
society and knowledge economy they need to be able to build upon their
existing information base. Drawing together the information resources
within nations and connecting them with each other to form transnational
resources enables a more effective, informed, and intelligent industry.
ConNet is such a solution developed among participating countries which
are Belgium, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia,
Spain, the United Kingdom and Turkey. Turkey has developed the
Turkish gateway to gain throughput in efficiency for the construction
industry and also designed and implemented necessary tools and software
for providing relevant, timely, and up-to-date information, trade and ebusiness services through a web portal.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Connet Europe
Connet Europe consists of a set of electronic information services offered through one or
more web portals and accessed through the European Gateway. Connet Europe plays the
role of the integration point where each country site is registered with its online services
(Bloomfield et al. 2001a & 2001b).
Such integration point not only provides a visual portal environment, but also
information exchange utility where local information databases are shared for
multinational reach of knowledge.
It is also a vital role of this gateway to provide translation services to discard language
differences as an issue in knowledge sharing. The Connet Europe gateway brings
together the dispersed knowledge to better utilize information in a multinational business
environment where industry players in each participating country already carry out
projects across each other.
Each national service is not necessarily provided by one vendor; in fact may be a set
of services from varying sources, again brought together through each national gateway.
Connet turkeygateway to construction in Europe
409
It is not a strict must that each country provides the same set of services and
information. As can be seen on the European Gateway; some countries provide certain
types of services whereas some provide others, seamlessly integrated to work together
efficiently.
1.2 Connet Turkey
Connet Turkey has started as a research and development project at Istanbul Technical
University Project Management Center (ITU-PMC) and is currently being
Figure 1. Schematics of information

exchange.
finalized by ITU-PMC and DNA Internet Solutions Inc. (DNA) towards a goal to
commercialize the portal and services.
Connet Turkey covers the full range of information, consultancy, training, trade and ebusiness services. Construction industry in Turkey is merely introduced to portal services
and there is a growing demand for a trusted party to develop and operate a large scale
portal.
ITU-PMC and DNA collaboratively provide the necessary resources, know-how and
initial information to develop and launch Connet Turkey portal bearing a content
management infrastructure with repository management, page layout management and
site map management in the first phase. This first phase content management
infrastructure provides necessary tools to manage information, consultancy and training
services.
410
The second phase is to provide specialized services like building materials

classification system, trade system, download center and banner advertisement
management.
Final phase of the project is the implementation of subscription services management
infrastructure, allowing rapid commercialization of the whole system, bringing together
various information providers and information seekers, namely the players in Turkish
construction industry.
Finally, Connet Turkey is also a very important tool and means for Turkey integrating
with the European Union (EU). By literally integrating one of the largest industries in
Turkey with EU, a working model for such deed will eventually have accomplished,
practically implemented and tested.
2 PROJECT OVERVIEW
2.1 Key problems andproject goals
The construction industry occupies the largest share among the overall economy. 11% of
total gross national income among EU is generated by the construction industry. With an
estimated number of 8.8 million employeeswhich is 7% among allit is also an
important market itself for many other industries.
On the contrary, the construction industry remains at the end of the list for information
technology penetration with a large gap to its closest competitors. In order to gain the
necessary competitive advantage and increase efficiency, both large players and SMEs
must define information technology demands. ITUPMC with its well possessed knowhow and experience, is equipped with the necessary information and skills to define the
demands and provide the supply, namely Connet Turkey.
Connet Turkey web portal is targeting to fulfill many of the industrys expectations to
meet:
SME requirements,
easily serve geographically disparate subscribers and,
well-organized information accompanied by bestpractices and case studies.
The portal services target to solve common issues that are known as:
Standardization,
Improved communication,
Time and location independent collaboration,
Improved knowledge exchange,
and if solved, known to gain important increase in productivity and efficiency.
To address all issues, ITU-PMC and DNA collated a list of services to be launched on
Connet Turkey web portal:
Management and information system for construction projects,
Technical information repository,
Software and hardware inventory,
411
News central,
enter for consultancy services,
Classification systems center,
Web hosting services,
Online B2B building materials market,
Banner and ad server,
Waste material and idle equipment utilization market,
Center of continuous education,
Construction management service.
Outputs of a research project carried out in Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Technical
University (ITU) will be used in classification system and online B2B building materials
services of the Connet Turkey project. Main objectives of the Building Materials
Information System (BMIS) project were to examine Turkish market and to develop an
web-based information system in the context of building materials and components (Tas
et al. 2002).
Outputs and data structures of the BMIS project are being revised for Connet Turkey
project compatibility.
2.2 Management and information system for construction projects
This web based tool is developed for managers and project responsible. It allows multiple
construction projects to be managedbudget-wise and time-wise-through cost analysis,
project schedule, building material and work standardization. This tool is especially
helpful for universities, municipalities and other government organizations who seek to
manage their construction projects.
2.3 Technical information repository
This repository and portal gateway is planned to be the one stop access point to all
written and published work available to the construction industry and covers all
disciplines. The service allows content providers to integrate their content into the Connet
Turkey web portal.
2.4 Software and hardware inventory
This inventory module provides means of categorization and access to all available
hardware and software information technology tools and products for the benefit of the
construction industry. Designers at the site or office can gain instant access to this
module to find required hardware and software.
2.5 News central
The news central is going to be a spot where all information will be gathered from news
service providers and centrally published to subscribers. News headlines and content is
412
grouped, for convenience, into categories such as government projects, upcoming bids,
projects news, and technology news and such.
2.6 Centerfor consultancy services
This service will cover all consultancy needs, especially contract management, project
analysis, contract analysis, arbitration and general consultancy as well as research and
development support.
2.7 Classiflcation systems center
Turkish building materials industry bears a large number of suppliers, yet lack a
consistent standardization and classification. This very module is especially important for
the integration process with the EU and supply all necessary materials cataloging
requirements. Suppliers and their products will also be displayed under categories.
2.8 Web hosting services
SMEs in Turkey merely have the necessary abilities and budget to start corporate web
sites, let alone e-business sites. A web manageable hosting services is going to be
provided through a centralized data center infrastructure.
2.9 Online B2B materials market
In order to enlarge the reach of building material suppliers in global markets, as well as
the national market, an on-line trade platform is planned to be developed and operated.
2.10 Banner and ad server
The portal is going to utilize banner ads both accompanying its own income model, and
assisting subscribers and banner ad clients for better market penetration and brand
communication.
2.11 Waste material and idle equipment utilization market
Reusable second hand machinery and waste materials/ equipment is a very important
asset if utilized. Through this module, such assets will re-enter the market, thus
maximizing efficiency and decreasing certain project costs for portal subscribers.
2.12 Center of continuous education
ITU-PMC is already a well established continuous education provider in Turkey. This
module is going to allow a wide spread reach of such educative content through elearning.
413
2.13 Construction management service

General information, links and services will be offered through this section of the portal.
3 TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
3.1 Connet integration infrastructure
The whole system is based on standardized platform independent and scalable
technologies such as Java and XML.
Figure 2. Connet integration map.

After each country develops its own portal interface and integration with local content
and news service providers, all local database content is to be reachable through other
countries.
To provide such means, XML integration technology and common techniques are to
be used. Integration gateway programs are to provide inter-portal communications and
information exchange while Connet Europe Gateway is to utilize add-on services such as
the translation engine.
414
3.2 Connet Turkey infrastructure

Parallel to the international infrastructure components, Connet Turkey web portal utilizes
Java and XML technologies.
The core of the system is designed and implemented on already preferred open-source
server infrastructure such as Apache Jakarta Tomcat JSP engine/ servlet container and
MySQL relational database management system.
The whole system is based on open technologies and the operating system choice is
similarly Linux for its low cost, robust and secure environment.
The heart of the portal is its content management system with centralized typeindependent content repository, layout management and site navigation management
solution allowing the right, up-to-date and consistent information to be displayed on the
web site.
4 PROJECT STAGES AND INCOME
4.1 Project stages
The project has past and is following phases until its ultimate goal of successful
implementation and commercial income model, these stages are:
Information gathering and analysis,
Design and construction,
Dataentry,
Connet integration,
Complete localization, and
Commercialization.
4.2 Project income and goals
It is very obvious and eagerly awaited that this project is going to play critical role for the
improvement and EU integration of the Turkish construction industry.
All players in the industry are welcomed and targeted to be subscribed to at least one
or more of the services offered.
Enabling single point of information aggregation, easier access to information and
development of shared knowledge is aspired.
Especially SMEs as well as the large players will more easily find business partners
for international projects, and provide standardized goods and services on a multinational
scale.
For the first time, e-business enabling the construction industry.
Exploring new business opportunities under the EU identity and umbrella.
EU standards being implemented on a live project in international scale.
5 CONCLUSION
415
Turkish construction industry, unlike the structure in other Connet partnering countries
and though large and promising, is at an early stage in terms of information and
knowledge sharing and management. Thus, Connet is a well crafted opportunity for the
players especially SMEsin Turkey to obtain higher effectiveness and innovation,
standards based design and production through information-reach, collaboration, training
and consultancy.
Connet is believed to be an important tool to reach at an international business stage of
competition through collaboration.
REFERENCES & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Bloomfield, D., Amor, R., (2001a), I-SEEK: An Internet gateway to European Construction
Resources, Proceedings of the CIB W78 conference, Mpumalanga South Africa, May 30-Jun
1.
Bloomfield, D., Amor, R. and Groosman, M., (2001b), The Evolving CONNET Gateway to
European Construction resources, Proceedings of the CIB W102 conference, Melbourne,
Australia, 2627 March.
Connet project web site http://www.connet.org/ (2004).
Tas, E., Tanacan, L., Yaman, H., (2002) Design of a Building Materials Information System for
Turkey, Unpublished Research Found Project Report, Istanbul Technical University.
416
Modelling collaborative processes for Virtual

Organisations in the building industry
M.Keller, P.Katranuschkov & K.Menzel
Institute of Construction Informcttics, TU Dresden, Germany
ABSTRACT: The paper describes how collaborative business processes
can be enhanced, harmonised, eventually standardised and re-used with
the help of formalised business process patterns for initialising and
operating construction projects. A methodology is introduced that
structures aspects of construction projects by defining different
classification types for the overall project such as geometrical and
semantic description of construction objects as well as fimctional and
organisational aspects. The use of an extensible reference process library
identifyinggenericallycommunicating
actors,
information
requirements, communication requirements, applicable standards, meta
data types etc. is shown, and the added value that can be achieved by
combining organisational and technical Virtual Organisation aspects in an
extensible, re-usable specification of collaboration processes for Virtual
Organisations is explained.
1 INTRODUCTION
Recently, considerable research efforts have been spent on the modelling of Virtual
Organisations (VO) and the related processes, phases, topologies, and coordination/
collaboration aspects. However, the developed models have different background, take
different viewpoints, and apply different specification approaches. A common weakness
is the lack of appropriate formal methods, consistent modelling paradigms and adequate
modelling tools. Therefore, it is necessary to consolidate and synthesise the gained
insights and develop a formal methodology for harmonised process modelling. Especially
efforts for the development of domainspecific requirements and inter-enterprise process
modelling paradigms are of utmost importance.
The main objective of the research presented in this paper is the development of a
systematic approach for the specification, instantiation and management ofprocess
pattern related to the collaboration and the information exchange between the different
types of enterprises that may form a VO in the building industry.
The application of process modelling paradigms can foster efficient interorganisational business relationships and help to achieve a common understanding for
project management and information exchange. However, on each specific construction
project various aspects need to be adapted to the particular restrictions of the domain such
as: legal regulations, functional and organisational structures, and technical aspects.
418
To define these requirements for VOs in the construction sector an analysis of existing
regulations, common procedures, and research results has been conducted by the authors.
On the basis of that analysis an overall modelling framework is suggested for modelling
and instantiating collaborative processes for Virtual Organisations in the building
industry. Moreover, an extensible reference library of tasks identifying organisation and
communication requirements as well as standards and meta data types will be introduced.
The added value that can be achieved by combining organisational and technical VO
aspects will be explained. The following chapter will first of all introduce the
requirements of VOs in the building domain.
2 VIRTUAL ORGANISATIONS IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY
Construction projects are characterised by a high complexity of problems. They usually
involve a great number of different specialists such as architects, structural engineers,
building services engineers, quantity surveyors, cost estimators, etc. Furthermore, the
different business goals and perspectives of the participating partners regularly result in
opposing project interests and conflicts in the design and construction phase. Applying
the principles of Virtual Organisations for construction projects these problems may be
reduced by establishing a common understanding for the business operation within the
consortium.
2.1 Deflnition of Virtual Organisations
A Virtual Organisation (VO) is a cooperation of legally independent enterprises, bodies
and/or individuals, which perform businesses on a common understanding (Mertens et
al., 1998). The business associates in a VO primarily participate with their core
competencies. To external partners the VO acts as a single company. According to Picot
et al. (2001) the use of modern information and communication technology enables the
creation and operation of VOs by:
penetrating regional and international borders
an improved integration of third parties communication systems
the extension of capacity limits by the incorporation of third parties
worldwide access to knowledge carrier and knowledge bases
cross-linking processes and actors
Thus, the aim of the Virtual Organisation is to gather various competencies of different
companies in order to enhance efficiency and productivity while decreasing overheads.
2.2 Virtual Organisation phases
The lifecycle of a VO can be broken down into five or six phases as indicated in Figure 1.
Due to the dynamics of a building project several of these phases may run
simultaneously. While one partner is already leaving the project, another partner is still
negotiating with the project manager. Every phase can be supported by an information
and communication system, whereas some systems might be comprehensive.
Modelling collaborative processes for virtual organisations
419
2.3 Construction speciflc aspects of VOs

Virtual Organisations can be characterised by different parameters such as: duration,
topology, participation, co-ordination, and visibility (Camarinha-Matos et al., 1999).
According to this classification a construction project is mostly structured as indicated in
Table 1 (construction project specific are checked).
Considering the specification of VOs a construction project has a star like architecture
coordinated by the project manager and the architect respectively. Domain specialist like
construction engineers, earthquake engineers, etc. will support him. The domain
manager, who in turn is supported by various engineers, will act as a representative of the
virtual company.
Figure 1. Lifecycle of a Virtual

Organisation.
Table 1. Classification of a construction project
(Keller et al., 2003).
Duration
Participation
Single Business
Single Alliance
Long Term Alliance

Topolgy:
Variable/Dynamic Nature
Fixed Structure
Coordination
Star-Like Struture
Demoratic Alliance
Federation
Mulitple Allinace
Visibility:
Single Level
Multi Level
420
Due to the dynamic construction design process it is almost inevitable to individually

connect and disconnect companies over the project. Therefore, the main project
information need to be accessible to each VO-member. New members must be capable to
easily gather all relevant information together with the status of the project and its
boundary conditions. Therefore, data exchange standards as well as communication
methods should be aligned to the activities in order to reduce information losses and lacks
of communication.
2.4 Collaborative process support for VOs
The information and communication exchangein particular the management of
workflowsfor the collaborative processes in operation phase of construction VOs is
still insufficiently supported. Particularly with regard to inter-organisational business
processes modelling paradigms are missing. The application of process modelling
paradigms can foster efficient inter-organisational business relationships and help to
achieve a common understanding for project management and information exchange.
However, for each specific construction project different aspects need to be adapted to
the particular restrictions of domain such as: (1) legal regulations, (2) functional and
organisational structures and (3) technical aspects.
In the following chapters we propose a methodology how construction projects can be
structured by different classification types to facilitate inter-organisational business
processes modelling.
3 PROCESS CONTEXT AND SCHEMES FOR CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS
In current practice, dedicated data models are successfully employed and integrated for
the processing of various business tasks but this is not being done in a harmonised
manner, on the basis of a consistent process-centred approach. Efficient modelling of
collaboration processes within a VO should encompass both tasks, subtasks, their
dependencies and the actors performing them. The necessary data type specifications, and
managerial information about who is exchanging what data with whom and what kind of
(standardised) representations should be used for that purpose.
For the definition and instantiation of specific construction processes it is essential to
define the context, which influences the realisation of a certain construction tasks. That
means all parameters influencing the realisation and management of process need to be
specified in advance. Therefore, it has to be analysed which factors influence the
realisation of a construction project. This comprises geometrical information and
semantic description of the construction objects as well as functional and organisational
aspects.
This chapter will introduce and classify the different parameters influencing the
instantiation and management of construction projects. Firstly a decomposition of the
complex construction processes into project-parts will be conducted by specifying
different classification types for the overall project. Secondly, the definition of
421
construction specific workflow schemes supporting communication as well as

information exchange aspects for VOs will be introduced.
3.1 Classification types of construction projects
Construction projects are defined as complex one of a kind projects. Thus, the major
concern of the project manager is to reduce this complexity by subdividing it into
integral/coherent sub-projects or activities to be merge again after completion.
The major interest of all project participants is in an effective and efficient planning,
realisation and control of the project considering the three main project risk-factors:
cost
time
performance
Table 2. Classification types for the boundary

conditions of construction projects.
In order to quantify these risk-factors using distinct values (for workflow processes the
limitation of time is of uttermost interest) it is essential to define the influence factors and
respectively the context that controls them. Therefore, the entire project will be
decomposed into its elements and structured in a hierarchical manner. The aim is to
formulate a project workflow or schedule, in which each single work-task is determined
by a specific outcome. The work-tasks and the corresponding outcome have to be
adjusted to the boundary conditions of the project
The boundary conditions of the work-tasks can be classified in regard to various
criteria, that can again be organised according to two the main classification types
specifying the (a) Project-Type Organisation and the (b) Project Structural-Scheme.
These types in turn consist of two sub-types as indicated in Table 2.
The major difference between the Project-Type Organisation and the Project
Structural-Scheme is that the former is defined by the project manager or the building
owner in a very early state of the project. It is also influenced by legal guidelines and
422
informal recommendations. Modifications within the Project-Type Organisation at

project runtime are very limited. Therefore, this classification type is considered as static
or external influence parameter. In contrast to this, the Project-Structural-Plan will be
instantiated and refined at project runtime. With the progressing of the project the quality
of the information available on the objects of the Project-Structural-Plan is improving.
Thus, this classification type is characterised by dynamic or internal influence
parameters.
Figure 2 indicates the relationships between the project risk-factors and the described
classification types for construction projects.
In the following chapters the classification types and sub-types will be described in
more detail providing corresponding examples.
3.1.1 Project-Type Organisation
The Project-Type Organisation determines the boundary conditions for the Project
Organisation Structure
Figure 2. Construction project

management scheme (Branden-berger
et al., 1996).
and the Structuring of Operations. It is set up by the project manager or the building
owner, considering legal and organisational aspects as well as best practise experiences.
423
Project Organisation Structure

The requirements on the Project Organisation Structure within construction projects are
considerable, since the realisation of such a project passes through several different
requirements within each phase. Thus, the Project Organisation Structure has to be
aligned to all phases. Furthermore, every construction project will have its own Project
Organisation Structure. In practice different Project Organisation Structures are realised,
such as:
Conventional/classical organisation
Bidding consortium and joint venture
General planner
General contractor
The predefinition of the organisational arrangement within the different phases of the
project mainly depends on the building owner. Depending on the organisational structure
his influence and involvement in the project varies.
Structuring of Operations
The overall construction process can be subdivided into phases of thebuilding lifecycle:
initiation, planning, realisation, operation/usage and closure/destruction. The Structuring
of Operations provides the guidelines for the sequences of tasks, responsibilities,
coordination procedures, office organisation, etc. within the individual phases.
Different national as well as international regulations and recommendations exist,
which standardize the procedures within construction projects. For example in Germany
the HOAI1 standardizes the tasks and responsibilities of architects and engineers in
construction projects. The HOAI is phase oriented and catalogues the activities that have
to be performed by designers and engineers in cooperation with other participants of the
project, like craftsman and construction companies.
An international approach for structuring the construction processes is provided by the
Generic Process Protocol. It considers that the lifecycle of a project development is
described in terms of four main stages, i.e. pre-project stage, pre-construction stage,
construction stage and post-completion stage, with 11 associated sub-stages (phases).
3.1.2 Project Structural-Scheme
The Project Structural-Scheme hierarchically organises the entire project in sub-projects
or -tasks. This structure can be both object orientated (e.g. by construction components)
and function orientated (e.g. by work-packages). In praxis combinations of the object
oriented and function oriented project views are common, since a single structure lead to
understandings (Greiner et al., 2000).
By preparing a Project Structural-Scheme it is possible to generate a reasonable time
schedule for the different tasks of a project within general steps:
1. The Project Structural-Scheme will divide the entire project into different workpackages.
2. Each work-package will have is own workflow defining the different tasks to be
performed.
424
3. From the workflow a time-schedule can be derived by applying the project specifics
Function Orientated Project Structural-Scheme
The focus of the Function Orientated Project Structural-Scheme is on the performance of
tasks. That means that the overall project will be divided into its different activity-types.
Each activity-types will be performed by an actor of the VO.
Another option to structure a project by its function is by dividing it into its various
phases that will be performed during the project.
An example of a Function Orientated Project Structural-Scheme is given in Figure 3.
A sound example to structure a project in a functional manner is provided by the
German STLB2.
1
HOAIHonorarordnung ftir Architekten und Ingenieure, regulation to calculate the hires for
performed work of architects and engineers. The HOAI structures the construction design and
realisation process into nine phases.
2
STLB: The Standardleistungsbuch (Standard Construction Service Manual) is a general,
standardised catalogues of text modules for the specification of construction activities.
Figure 3. Example of a Function

Orientated Project Structural-Scheme.
425
Figure 4. Example of a Object

Oriented Project Structural-Scheme.
Object oriented Project Structural-Scheme
With the Object Oriented Project Structural-Scheme the entire building will be divided
into its building components. This structuring can be performed by two different focuses:
1. Spatial focus (e.g. house floor room)
2. Domain focus (see Figure 4)
One possibility to set up an Object Oriented Project Structural-Scheme is given by the
DIN 2763 Building Costs. The ifc2x building model also provides an object orientated
structuring of a construction design.
3.2 Process patterns
In general a workflow modelling methodology comprises three general phases:
1. Definition of a workflow language (or model) to specify the legal expressions in a
formal manner.
2. Development of a generic representation of a workflow using the workflow language.
426
3. Implementation and instantiation of the business processes applying the required

workflow for the specific workflow management system.
To set up the processes of a construction project various workflows have to be modelled
for each work-task by the members of the VO. Since, several similar tasks have to be
performed in one project or even within different projects the definition of generalised,
reusable workflow-patterns is beneficial. The following section will give an example of a
workflow-library developed for construction project specific requirements (from
Katranuschkov et al., 2004).
The Process Matrix mainly developed within the EU ICCI project describes a new
process-centred method for capturing business and user requirements as well as their
inter-linking with applicable ICT standards. The essence of the developed method is in
recognising requirements and use-cases in the context of the real construction process,
identifying the actors and roles for each individual activity and associating these activities
with information, communication and standardisation requirements on the basis of a
formalised specification.
The Process Matrix rationalizes many existing models bringing them into a coherent
framework. Its essence is in combining and further extending aspects of the Generic
Process Protocol (Kagiouglou et al., 1998) to achieve a harmonized, commonly
applicable identification of processes and related requirements.
The Process Matrix is the result of critically reviewing and merging the content of
nearly 100 process models to define a simple formal method for identifying atomic
process concepts that should be universally applicable.
From the end user viewpoint the Process Matrix appears as a simple table that brings
all stored information concerning a reference process together in
3
The DIN 267 is used for the determination and classification of costs in building construction. It
acquires the costs for production, reconstruction and modernisation tasks including the association
expenses.
Figure 5. The structure of the Process

Matrix.
one line. This approach has been adopted because experience shows that industry end
users are not particularly familiar with formal modelling notations.
427
Each row in the matrix represents a single business process and the information
communication shows the end result and who is supposed to use that result in subsequent
processes. Each process can be broken down further into sub-processes or detailed by
using a diagramming approach such as UML activity diagrams. Processes are explicitly
represented in the matrix by their Process_ID, Name and optional Description. They are
defined as being either actions or activities. The definition of action and activity is
adapted from their specification in UML. Processes are organised by project stage
whereby the organisation of project stages set down in the Generic Process Protocol is
used with some extensions.
A process has a typical formalization of communication indicated in the matrix, e.g.
3D model, 2D drawing, cost plan, schedule, list etc. This is covered by the attribute basic
information type. Information in a process is received from one or more predecessors (as
a prerequisite for executing the process), created and exchanged within the process, and
passed over to subsequent processes.
Two major extensions have been defined to complement the basic Process Matrix.
Their purpose is to provide additional details on the requirements to a process that can be
seamlessly incorporated in the matrix. These aspects are the generic information type
(related to some classification system) and the speciflc information type (enabling
association of information items to secondary, more detailed classification items).
Information Requirements Extension
The objective of this extension is to identify the actual data communicated in a process
that can serve as guideline for the definition of more specific requirements for a software
system or tool intended to support that process. In addition to the basic, generic and
specific information types it introduces two new fields: data model and data content.
Communication Requirements Extension
The objective of this extension is to identify the technical aspects of the communication
between the actors in the process, such as the model of the communication process (e.g.
client/server), the network protocol (e.g. FTP or HTTP), the exchange/messaging format
used (e.g. XML, HTML, IFC exchange file) etc. It can also capture requirements for
more advanced communication techniques such as SOAP or WSDL. The components are
structured in three groups: communication model, communication protocol and exchange
format.
4 PROCESSES MODELING APPROACH
The aim of this paper is to introduce an approach for collaborative business processes
modelling, in order to enhance, harmonise and eventually standardise the use of
formalised business process patterns for initialising and operating construction projects.
First of all the workflow-management concepts can be applied. However, current
project/process management systems provide only little user support to select and
instantiate the most appropriate workflow patterns for the tasks that have to be
performed, in regard to the project goals and restrictions. Thus, the performance and
428
success of the project are essentially depended on the knowledge and experiences of the
project manager.
In order to develop a project/process management support system various aspects have
to be considered, namely: (a) analysing the requirements for the underlining
organisational and technical aspects of the project, (b) identifying the context parameters,
which influences the instantiation and operation of project activities, (c) developing a
methodology to extract these parameters from different data sources (that comprises
implicit as well as explicit available information), (d) designing a workflow language to
model standardised, generic business processes, (e) developing domain specific process
pattern that identify actors and roles for each individual activity and associate these
activities with information like communication and standardisation requirements.
An approach to identify and classify different influence factors for scheduling
construction projects is introduced in Chapter 3.1. This comprises the classification of
geometrical and object information as well as organisational and functional
characteristics. We propose to use these parameters for selecting the dedicated workflow
pattern that has to be instantiated to specify a task. The required information for the
parameters can be extracted from various data sources like cost models, product models,
or project management systems or entered manually. An example for construction
specific process pattern is given in Chapter 3.2.
Figure 6 provides a schematic sketch of a framework integrating the required services
for such a project/process management support system. The basis of the framework is a
library of various process patterns generally describing workflows to perform a certain
construction task, for example Development of the structural system. These process
patterns define the tasks, their sequences, the actors, and the resources/ information
needed to perform it. To control a process pattern in a workflow management system the
required actors and information has to be instantiated. This will be performed in cooperation with the VO structure of the project and the deployed information system. For
example new partners have to be integrated or responsibilities have to be shifted while
information will be exchanged through certain interfaces.
To instantiate the appropriate process pattern from the process pattern library the
identified influence parameters for the specific work package have to be determined from
the Project-Type Organisation and the Project Structure-Scheme. Based on this
information the most suitable process pattern can be selected and adjusted to the project
requirements. In order to allow for an efficient operation of the framework it is essential
to model various workflow patterns for different purposes, phases, objects, and functions.
These patterns have to be defined in a manner that they can be (semi-) automatically
instantiated by the workflow-management-system according to the available context
parameters.
Using the introduced Process Matrix as a first source for the process pattern library
will foster the
429
Figure 6. Framework for modelling

collaborative business processes for
Virtual Organisations in the building
industry.
modelling and operation of Virtual Organisations as well as their information
management since:
1. The sender and recipient of the process information is determined.
2. Communication requirements to perform the tasks are specified.
430
3. Data standards are suggested for each task.

4. More than 250 construction related processes are stored in the database.
Thus, the operation of collaborative processes for VOs in the building industry are
already supported and facilitated to a certain extent. According to the lifecycle phase, the
organisational structure, and functional aspects a dedicated Process Matrix entity can be
instantiated. Consequently, the communication requirements and data standards for the
tasks are predefined.
In future, this framework can be enhanced by two further perspectives:
1. Improving the Process Matrix in a way, that the activities can be scheduled (i.e.
appointing the time to perform a task) according to the project requirements and goals.
Therefore, control parameters have to be introduced.
2. To reduce the complexity of a project it should be separated into different hierarchical
layers. With the development of these layers (Keller et al., 2003 proposes three layers)
it is possible to decompose the complex design and construction processes into
different stages of granularity.
5 CONCLUSION
The instantiation and operation of collaborative processes in the building industry has
been the focus of numerous research projects for several years. However, an overall
modelling methodology considering domain specific requirements and restrictions for
organisational, fimctional, as well as technical aspects has not been realised so far. The
principles of Virtual Organisations have been identified as a first starting point to more
thoroughly characterise construction project processes. By establishing a common
understanding of the business operations among all project participants, first problems are
reduced.
Based on requirements for Virtual Organisations in construction projects, the paper
introduces an approach using formalised business process patterns. A methodology to
structure aspects of construction projects by defining different classification types for the
overall project is proposed. Eventually, four different classification types have been
identified: Project Organisation Structure, Structuring of Operations, Function- and
Object Orientated Project StructuralSchemes. By detecting the classification types for a
specific activity of a project the most appropriate process pattern can be instantiated from
a library of standardised, generic reference processes. Therefore, the paper explains the
use of an extensible reference process library identifying communicating actors,
information and communication requirements, applicable standards as well as meta data
types. The Process Matrix developed in the ICCI project gives an example for predefined,
generic processes in the building industry. This library is the basis for a framework to
support collaborative business processes. By means of this framework it is feasible to
establish the Virtual Organisation structure as well as the communication requirements
and data standards for the activities that have to be performed in the VO.
431
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M.Konig, A.Klinger & V.Berkhahn
Institute of Computer Science in Civil Engineering, University of
Hanover, Germany
ABSTRACT: In building engineering every state of design, planning,
construction and usage is characterized by specific processes. These
processes can be organized very efficiently with the support of modern
information and communication technology. Within the research project
Relational Process Modelling in Co-operative Building Planning a
process model is described by three parts: an organization structure with
participants, a building structure with states and a process structure with
activities. The project is part of the priority program 1103 Networkbased Co-operative Planning Processes in Structural Engineering which
is promoted by the German Research Foundation (DFG). This paper
covers the concept of the mathematical model for relational planning
processes.
1 INTRODUCTION
Planning processes in building engineering are described by a process model and a
product model: The process model defines the time dependent planning tasks, which can
be assigned to different specialized planning participants. The product model includes
information on the building elements and their relations within the context of the whole
building. This information consists of product data, CADdata and related documents.
Within the research project the process model is described in detail. Related projects in
the priority program 1103 are dealing with the definition and the software
implementation of product models.
The planning process of a building is subdivided into three sub models: an
organisation structure, a building structure and a process structure. The consistency of
these three sub models is provided by process management based on methods of graph
theory. The process model and the corresponding relations are outlined in Figure 1.
2 ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
The cooperative planning process requires an organisation structure for planning
participants and their different planning roles. This organisation structure is project
related and can be changed during the term of the planning process. Planning participants
represent planning actors, planning groups, offices or subcontractors. For every planning
participant one or more planning roles
433
Figure 1. Process model and product

model.
can be defined. To carry out planning tasks certain planning roles are required. Planning
participants and planning roles are managed in two sets. Roles are assigned to
participants by a n:m relation. These disjunct sets of roles and participants in combination
with the corresponding relation build up the bipartitegraph O.
(1)
R
Set of roles
Set of participants
Relation between roles and participants
Before a participant can start to perform a task he has to obtain all necessary data from
the product model. The building structure acts as an interface to the product data. After
finishing a task the participant has to add all results to the product model. In addition it is
his duty to report any conflicts arising from the execution of his planning activities.
3 BUILDING STRUCTURE
434
The building structure covers the planning states of all building elements including the
references to the product model. Relations between components are defined by
connections. Within the context of planning processes the building structure only
contains topological information on building elements. All information on dimensions,
material and documents are subject of the product model.
Components and connections of a building form a bipartite undirected graph. During
the term of planning processes components and connections can be specified in more
detail by decomposing the graph structure. This recursive decomposition leads to a
topological building structure which is represented mathematically by a hierarchical
bipartite undirected graph.
S:=(C, F; R, RT, fCF)
(2)
C
Set of components
Set of connections
R
R
Relations between components and connections

T
fCF
Relations between connections and components

Mapping for the composition of components and connections
The consistent composition of components and connections with their relationships is

important for further analysis. The hierarchical bipartite undirected graph is consistent, if
an undirected relationship on a higher level is associated with an undirected relationship
on a lower level and vice versa. The following logical expressions are necessary
conditions for the consistency of the building structure.
Figure 2. Topological building

structure.
435
(3)
(4)
For each component and for each connection a planning schedule with an ordered set of
planning tasks has to be defined. Every task has a certain planning state with references
to the corresponding objects or documents of the product model. The planning of a
component or connections is finished, if all tasks are carried out.
4 PROCESS STRUCTURE
The process structure covers all planning activities. Activities represent work packages
carried out by planning participants within a prescribed time period. They are specified
on the basis of planning schedules for components and connections.
4.1 Structure
The entire planning process of a project is decomposed into basic activities which are
also called phases. Typical basic activities are the feasibility phase, design phase and
construction phase. The directed relationships from one activity to a successive activity
are specified by transitions. Activities and transitions form a bipartite directed graph
which is acyclic and is called workflow graph.
436
Figure 3. Planning schedule of a

building component.
The following rules are introduced to realize parallel or alternative execution of activities
and transitions. These rules, illustrated in Figure 4, form the basis for checking the
structural correctness of workflow graphs.
A decision (xor-split) is modelled if a transition has more than one successor. In this
case only one of the following activities can be chosen and will be executed. A contact
(xor-join) is modelled if a transition has more than one predecessor. In this case the
execution of exactly one of the predecessors must be guaranteed. An asynchronization
(and-split) is modelled if an activity has more than one successor. In this case all
following transitions will be executed. A synchronization (and-join) is modelled if an
activity has more than one predecessor. In this case it must be guaranteed that all
predecessors are executable.
During the planning process defined activities and transitions can be specified in more
detail. This recursive decomposition process leads to a process structure which is
represented mathematically by a hierarchical bipartite directed graph. The similarity of
the process structure and the building structure allows a generalized implementation of
the topology of both structures.
P:=(A, T; R, Q, fAT)
(5)
with
A
Set of activities
Set of transitions
Relations between activities and transitions
Relations between transitions and activities
fAT
Mapping for composition of the activities and transition
The hierarchical bipartite directed graph is consistent, if a directed relationship on a

higher level is associated with a directed relationship on a lower level and vice versa. For
the correct execution of the activities the structural correctness of the process structure
must be guaranteed. The process structure is correct, if there are no deadlocks and no
lacks of synchronization.
437
Figure 4. Rules for activities and

transitions.
Figure 5. Hierarchical process

structure.
A deadlock as shown in Figure 6 arises, if after a decision alternative activities are
merged by a synchronization. In this case the synchronization activity can not be
executed.
A lack of synchronization as shown in Figure 6 arises, if asynchrony activities are
merged by a contact. In this case the following activities would be executed more than
once.
Deadlocks and lacks of synchronization are detected by hierarchical instance
subgraphs. Every hierarchical instance subgraph describes one possible workflow without
decisions. An algorithm for building hierarchical instance graphs is presented in Konig
(2004).
Figure 6. Deadlock and lack of

synchronization.
438
439
Figure 7. Hierarchical instance

subgraphs.
440
Figure 8. Consistent labelling of a

hierarchical process structure.
4.2 Criticalpath method

The observance of time schedule for the planning process is very important. If an activity
is not completed by a certain time the whole planning process could get delayed. The
planning and observance of a time schedule is one important task for process modelling.
For time scheduling the critical path methods can be used. They can be transferred in
generalized form to bipartite graphs. The consideration of the hierarchy requires
additional consistency conditions.
For each activity a participant needs a certain time to finish. Therefore each activity is
labelled with a positive real time value.
A transition specifies a relationship between activities. For time scheduling different
types of relationships are defined. For a planning process it is sufficient to describe a
transition with a minimal time lag between predecessor and successor activity. If the time
lag is negative these two activities can be handled parallel. If the time lag is positive a
waiting time between these activities exists. Each transition is labelled with a real time
value.
For critical path methods the hierarchical directed bipartite graph is extended by a
label mapping for activities and transitions.
P:=(A, T; R, Q, fAT, w)
(6)
with
P
Labelled process structure
Labelling of activities and transitions
441
The critical path for each level of the hierarchy of a labelled hierarchical bipartite graph
can be calculated with the well-known critical path methods. If the hierarchical graph is
consistently labelled, the length of a
Figure 9. Consistent marking of a

hierarchical process structure.
critical path on an upper level is an upper bound for the length of a critical path on a
lower level.
The consistency of the labelling has to be verified. For each decomposition of an
activity on a lower level there is a labelled bipartite partial graph. The labelling is
consistent if the critical path length of the partial graph is not greater than the labelling of
corresponding activity.
w(x)P(x)
(7)
w(x)
Label of x
P(x)
Length of critical path in partial graph
4.3 Petri nets

For the process structure the methods of simple Petri nets are used to realize an event
oriented communication. The hierarchy leads to additional conditions for the consistent
marking of the process structure.
Each activity is in a certain state at any time. For an event oriented communication
two different states of an activity are defined: not completed and completed. Each activity
is marked by 0 (not completed) or by 1 (completed).
A transition is active if all predecessor activities are completed and all successor
activities are not completed. Each transition is marked by 0 (not active) or by 1 (active).
For the application of simple Petri nets the hierarchical process structure is extended
by a mapping for the marking of the activities and transitions.
P:=(A, T; R, Q, fAT, m)
(8)
442
with
m
Marking of activities and transitions
The marked process structure is extended by exactly one start transition and exactly one
end transition. The initial condition of the marked process structure is defined as: each
Transition without predecessors is marked with 1 and each transition with predecessors
and each activity is marked with 0.
The consistency of the marking of a hierarchical process structure has to be checked.
Each decomposed
Figure 10. Marked process structure

with a decision situation.
activity is completed, when all activities of the decomposition are completed.
The consistency conditions for transitions are based on the firing rules of transitions in
Petri nets. These conditions can be described in vector and matrix form. With the initial
marking of transitions and the actual marking of activities the actual marking of
transitions can be checked.
An event oriented communication for planning processes is supported by a marked
hierarchical process structure and Petri net methods. An activity can start if all
predecessor transitions are active. Thereupon the planning participant is notified. If the
participant reports the completion of an activity, the activity is marked with 1. The
marked hierarchical process structure has to be updated.
Planning decisions obstruct the automation of an event oriented communication
system. If a decision transition (xor-split) is active the automatic process flow has to be
stopped. The obstruction of the process has to be solved interactively by a participant
with an appropriate role. If one of the successor activities is selected to be executed the
associated participant can be notified.
5 RELATIONS BETWEEN SUBMODELS
Three binary relations with conditions exist between the three structures of the process
model. At least one planning role of the organisation structure is required in order to
perform a planning task of the building structure. The dependencies between planning
tasks and planning roles are defined by a binary n:m relation.
443
(9)
T
Set of tasks
Set of roles
SO
Relations between tasks and roles
Every planning task is mapped to exactly one planning activity of the process structure.
An activity can be related to more then one task.
fSP:TA
(10)
T
Set of tasks
Set of activities
fsp
Mapping of tasks to activities
Figure 11. Relations between the three

sub models.
An activity is carried out by exactly one planning participant of the organization
structure. The mapping between participants and activities describes the third binary
relation.
fPO:AP
(11)
A
Set of activities
Set of participants
fpo
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Mapping of activities to participants
During the composition of the relations between the three structures the consistency must
be considered. A activity can only be assigned to a participant, if the participant has all
planning roles of the tasks of the activity.
(12)
R(a)
Set of roles of all tasks of an activity a
R(p)
Set of roles of a participant p
These relations can be used to navigate through the hierarchical process model. In order
to manage the complexity of the entire planning process the hierarchical structures for the
building and the process can be supportively adopted.
6 PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Methods for the process management are defined on the basis of the formal description of
the process model. The methods are used for coordinating und controlling the entire
planning process. The graph theory allows a formal definition of these methods.
For example a planning participant can use the methods to find all references for a
component of the building structure in the product model or to find all activities with
their associated building elements which a participant has to process.
The formal description of the methods and the whole process model are a good
precondition for a simple software implementation. For this project the structures,
conditions and methods have been implemented in the programming language JAVA
(Konig 2004).
7 SUMMARY
In this paper a concept for a process model for planning processes in building engineering
is presented. The relational process model consists of an organization structure with
planning participants, a building structure with planning states and a process structure
with planning activities. These sub models are mathematically described on the basis of
relation theory and graph theory.
The building structure and the process structure are represented by hierarchical
bipartite graphs. These hierarchical structures support the dynamical aspects of
cooperated planning processes in building engineering. The consistent and correct
composition of the relational process model is very important. To ensure consistency and
correctness of the compositions, conditions as well as methods for coordination and
controlling of the planning process are formally defined.
The structures, conditions and methods have been implemented prototypically and
were used in extracts for an example project.
445
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors thank gratefully the German Research Foundation (DFG) for supporting the
research project Relation Process Modelling in Co-operative Building Planning
embedded in the priority program 1103 Network-based Co-operative Planning Processes
in Structural Engineering.
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Space competition on construction sites:

assignment and quantification utilising 4D
space planning tools
Z.Mallasi & N.Dawood Centre for Construction Innovation and
Research, The School of Science and Technology, The University of
Teesside, Middlesbrough
ABSTRACT: This study addresses the problem arising on all construction
sites: the occurrence of workspace interference between construction
activities. From a site space organisation and planning context, this
problem can lead to an inevitable roadblock to the progress of the
scheduled construction operations. In real situations, when the spatial
congestions occur, they could reduce productivity of workers sharing the
same workspace and may cause health and safety hazard issues. The aim
of this paper is on presenting a computer-based method and developed
tool to assist site managers in the assignment and identification of
workspace conflicts. The authors focus on the concept of visualising
space competition between the construction activities. The concept is
based on a unique representation of the dynamic behaviour of activity
workspace in 3D space and time.
An innovative computer-based tool dubbed PECASO (Patterns Execution
and Critical Analysis of Sitespace Organisation) has been developed. The
emerging technique of 4D (3D+time) visualisation has been chosen to
yield an interesting 4D space planning and visualisation tool. A multicriteria function for measuring the severity of the workspace congestions
is designed, embedding the spatial and schedule related criteria. The paper
evaluates the PECASO approach in order to minimise the workspace
congestions, using a real case study. The paper concludes that the
PECASO approach reduces the number of competing workspaces and the
conflicting volumes between occupied workspace, which in turn produces
better assessment to the execution strategy for a given project schedule.
The system proves to be a promising tool for 4D space planning; in that it
introduces a new way of communicating the programme of work.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problems in visual workspace planning
Communicating the construction schedule and strategy of work among the project team
members is a unique problem that takes place in most construction sites. This problem is
448
even cumbersome as the built facility generates complex shapes of occupied sitespaces
by the executed construction processes. The ideal solutions in traditional space-time
planning techniques, have involved textual description, hand sketches with site layout
templates, a number of graphical technologies, including bar charts, network diagrams,
and 2D/3D scaled visualisation models (Morris, 1994). However, there are shortcomings
of techniques in forming a visual representation of the construction execution workspace:
Activity workspace execution: Considering the Gantt chart a favourable technique,
planners are not capable of communicating visually the execution strategy and plan. In
other words, the Gantt chart can be thought of as a what to do list and sequence of
assignments concerning the construction activities. Cheng and OConnor (1996) claim
that, in field practice, construction planners have to interpret space information into
poor visual descriptions. However, they do not seem to convey the dynamic behaviour
of construction activity workspace in 3D space and time.
Mental rehearsal of site operations: Mawdesley et al., (1997) explained that Gantt
chart techniques do not furnish a communication medium on how the project activities
on the construction site are to be executed. During the construction phase, the format
of Gantt chart does not capture the visual interaction between the site operations.
Consequently, the Gantt chart is not entirely adequate for rehearsing site operations,
both in space and time.
Loss of productivity: Productivity problems were investigated by Kaming et al. (1998)
and showed that inappropriate workspace planning caused interferences between
subcontractors. Many frequent visits by the workforce had occurred in some zones of
the building, which resulted in work interruptions. There is evidence to suggest that
workspace interference was a factor in decreasing productivity of work by 40%.
1.2 What was neglected in construction workspace-time planning
exercise?
Four important issues, therefore, were not highlighted in 4D workspace-time planning.
They are:
Execution strategy representation: Traditional workspace-time planning methods, such
as the space-time Chainage charts and layout motion diagrams, in their most general
forms, are ambiguous. Construction planners often express the coordination of the
planned schedules based on highly generalised conceptual space terms, such as North,
South, East and West. Take an example of a construction planner conveying the
execution of
GroundFloor Steel Columns activity to begin from the East and progressing towards
the West. The execution plan of such an activity is left to the workmen on the site. In
such manner, work interruptions between site operations might occur (Mallasi &
Dawood, 2001), especially in large complex construction projects, where the site
space involves a number of constrained site operations.
Construction progress state simulation: The weekly visualisation technique used for
the construction progress state is not realistic. Previous site layout planning applied
such techniques from a factory/plant perspective that only featured linear patterns of
direction for the produced work (Zouein and Tommelein, 1999). This research
Space compettion on construction sites
449
proposes a time-based 4D simulation of the activities execution workspace as the

construction progress state changes dynamically
Planning in three-dimension: Planning and analysis of construction workspace inside
the building requires a three-dimensional approach. In some situations, for example,
workspace conflicts could exist in different floors of a building project (Cheng &
Yang, 2001). Planners in some construction situations, such as the plant and
equipment operation, need to analyse space three-dimensionally External site layout
techniques using the Grid System neglecting the analysis of spatial information in 3D,
and applied 2D approach that only dealt with horizontal workspace conflicts.
Workspace-time connectivity analysis: In building construction, workspace-time
connectivity analysis should be based on the intervals where activity execution
workspace changes over points-in-time. Nowadays, the accepted view of most
researchers is that space has properties related to things, explained Hillier (1996).
Further, it is highly acknowledged
Figure 1. The two planning levels

along the project stages including the
four workspace planning tasks.
that workspace behaviour is connected and relative to its defined properties.
From one perspective, research in workspace planning did not provide workspace
connectivity mechanism, so that to encapsulates the activity workspace behaviour
at any point-in-time.
1.3 Indusion of specific visual planning features
Figure 1 indicates two levels of project planning: stra tegic and operational. This study
elaborates on improving the conventional visual space planning features, utilised in the
operational level. As revealed by Gardiner & Ritchie (1999), the planner systematically
involves their technical judgment when making the decisions about what tasks will be
performed, how the tasks will be performed, restrictions on how to perform them, and
who will perform the tasks.
450
To some extent, these decisions are of a spatial nature and they do not appear to have
the adequate visual representation in the traditional planning methods. There are four
workspace planning tasks (Fig. 1) that can be highlighted during project planning stages:
(1) developing a space concept of the built facility (2) planning the workspace
requirement based on the construction method and physical resources (3) the Critical
Space Analysis (CSA) of workspace conflicts, and (4) the detail output of work execution
strategy.
From the above, three main visual features are studied to help in generating 3D visual
representation of the activities workspace configuration are:
Visualising quantities of work: Planners realise the importance of recording the
progress of construction work at weekly intervals, then presenting it on a Gantt chart.
This work, therefore, suggests three types for work rate distributions to be included in
the 3D visualisation: Uniform, High-Low, and Low-High distribution. In this respect,
the example shown in Figure 2 explains the significant correlation between the activity
behaviour at a point-in-time and its completion, based on the three types of work rate
distribution.
Figure 2. Activity-behaviour at pointin-time based on the three types of

work rate distributions (after
Mawdesley et al., 1997).
Figure 3. Illustration of two examples

out of twelve EP types showing the
mechanism of the PW and EW
directions.
451
Workspaces location and overlap in time: Representation of the physical location of

workspace overlap between progressing activities across the horizontal and vertical
space (3D+time). This is a simple feature acquired from the space-time Chainage
overlapping method in one-dimensional space (1D+time). This representation,
therefore, is suitable by means of giving an indication of where and when activities
workspaces take place.
Execution Patterns (EP): Planners analyse the execution strategy of work utilising Site
Layout Motion diagrams (Roberts, 1998). This technique has been utilised in many
literature to optimise the facility and site layout planning (Zouin & Tommelein, 2001).
Equally, EP have been recognised by Riley & Sanvido (1997) as an important element
in workspace planning. Visualisation of the motion diagrams technique and the EP is
improved in this study by visualising the activity execution strategy in twelve EP.
This research project automates the above twelve EP in the 4D workspace planning. The
overall combinations of these EP facilitate 4D visualisation of what-if scenarios based
on Progress of Work (PW) direction and Execution of Work (EW) direction that are
considered perpendicular to each other in Universal 2D Cartesian space (Fig. 3).
Execution patterns are divided into two main categories. The first is the cardinal
category (Fig. 3a), which occurs as a result of referencing the PWin the main cardinal
directions and the EW perpendicular to it. This category produces four EP types (e.g. PW
being executed from the West to the East, and the EWm both directions of North and
South). The sub-cardinal directions are in the second category, which results in the eight
EP types (e.g. PW being executed from North to South, and the EWbeing executed from
the east-west accessed from northeast).
2 ENABLING TECHNOLOGY OF 4DVISUALISATION
4D construction visualisation is becoming a popular technique in the construction
planning. For the last fifteen years, both practitioners and researchers in construction
management realised the great promise of such emerging visualisation techniques.
Nowadays, the Construction Industry is becoming familiar with the uptake of 4D models
to improve visualisation of construction schedules.
2.1 What is 4D-CAD visualisation?
The most common about 4D-CAD visualisation is that it brings together the Gant chart
schedule information (using any project scheduling software like MS Project) and
three-dimensional components of a construction project (using any CAD software). In
1987, the development of the first generation of 4D project scheduling were initiated by
the engineering and construction firm Bechtel, in collaboration with Hitachi Ltd. and
exploited the characteristics of the fourth dimension (Rischmoller & Alarcon, 2002). This
firm, together with the Martin Fischer research team, from Stanford University,
formulated the original technique and basis of visual 4D models, linking project schedule
to the 3D CAD model to simulate the construction sequence. The goal of the
visualisations is meaningful for sharing experience among the project team.
452
Many researchers have addressed the concept of 4D-CAD in construction

management. Although 4D visualisation does not quantify workspace conflicts between
the construction processes, there were several research attempts in academia. Some
examples can be found in the work by: Akinci et al. (2000a) who formalised construction
workspace types and taxonomy; Akbas et al. (2001), identified 4D visualisations
technique using construction zone generation. 4D-CAD space visualisation has also been
identified throughout the Virtual Construction Site (VIRCON) project a UK research
initiative to develop a decision support system for construction project planning (Mallasi
& Dawood, 2002); the technical survey of 4D-CAD research by Heesom & Mahdjoubi
(2002) have benchmarked the construction knowledge, framework, and resources
necessary to develop 4D models.
The next sections of this paper elaborate on the basics for quantifying workspace
conflicts utilising the visual feature identified earlier in this paper.
3 THE CONTEXT FOR WORKSPACE COMPETETION
3.1 Rational for Critical Space-time Analysis (CSA)
The proposed CSA associates the visual features for workspace planning with the
workspace competition. CSA deals particularly with analysing the space-time
competition that occurs between construction operations. Therefore, CSA verifies the
occupied workspaces by construction operation as competing together. The focus will be
on how to quantify the nature of this competition, by assessing criticality of the
workspace conflicts sharing the same space (Fig. 4, a & b). The key assumptions are that
the dynamic nature of workspace usage and change should be traced continually and so
accommodate space connectivity in the fourth dimension. Once the space connectivity
mechanism is established, it would then be possible to quantify the particular effect of
critical spaces on the construction work progress.
Hence, the PECASO prototype was developed in this work to evaluate the outcome of
the CSA (Fig. 4). The 4D-CAD prototype integrates MS Project scheduling application
with the AutoCAD ADT, via the MS Access database. A graphical user interface
(GUI) is built on top of AutoCAD, utilising the advanced features of Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) programming.
3.2 Use of past classiflcation of workspace conflicts
For the purpose of analysing the workspace competition, the CSA mechanism must
provide a reasoning mechanism, in order to minimise the criticality of a construction
workspace. If a workspace conflict is expected to occur in a specific week, for example,
questions, such as which space-types are expected to interfere during that week? and
what is the severity and knock-on-effect of such interference on the construction
progress? must be raised. By providing answers to these questions, the severity (i.e.
degree of space-conflict) of the interference can be assessed and work execution adjusted,
to allow increase in the productivity of workers on the job.
453
Figure 4. Framework of PECASO tool

utilising 4D-CAD visualisation of CSA
and workspace competition
visualisation.
Originally, the established theoretical approach for classifying the clash types, was
developed by Akinci et al., (2000a), space-time conflict taxonomy. The space-time
taxonomy considers the conflicting spacetypes among the properties for classifying the
clash types (Fig. 5). The outcome from this is a classification to include the main clash
types like congestion, damage, and safety hazard. The result from this taxonomy is the
detailed sub-clashes of the main clash typesbecause different level of congestion might
exist on site.
As can be noticed in Figure 5, it has been practical in this research to rank the severity
of workspace clash types. Some conflict types were added, such as work interruption,
space obstruction and access blockage.
3.3 How can workspace conflicts be quantifled?
The immense amount of spatial data related with the analysis of activity construction
workspace emphasises the importance of developing the CSA quantification approach.
This is a complex issue and an on-going area of research that has started to receive some
attention among the construction research community The crucial point that is beginning
to emerge is the determination of the variables associated with the measurement of space
criticality, therefore minimising the severity of workspace conflicts.
This study developed the quantification approaches for CSA, based on literature
survey presented in
454
Figure 5. Review of theoretical

approaches for classifying ranking to
workspace conflicts.
Table 1. The table shows clearly the gaps in the justification of an approach for obtaining
the related space properties in critical space-time analysis; also in terms of linking the
measurement of the space conflict to the criticality, or severity, of that conflict. As a
consequence, there are currently no mature benchmark quantification approaches to
spatially analyse and enable a measurement of the performance of the construction
schedule.
The next subsection describes the proposed measurement and assessment for
quantifying the workspace competition.
3.4 Proposed quantification method
The proposed assessment of workspace competition quantifies the CSA value. In the
interest of CSA, therefore, a multi-criteria evaluation function has been developed. The
multi-criteria fimction will provide a measurement for CSA value, and so values the
different criterion for the construction schedule and the workspace data. The multicriteria function utilises weighting between the multiple criteria. Ramulu & Kim (2003)
believe that multi-criteria function measurement is the first important step to formulating
a solution to the problem.
The multi-criteria function comprises of the sum of five schedule and spatial related
criteria, using various weight coefficients for each criterion. Figure 6 illustrates an
abstract example for applying the calculation of the CSA value, based on Equation 1.
This study has developed the multi-criteria function fA(scr) for the possible conflicts
between A number of activities during monitoring period D (per week) as follows:
455
(1)
where f(scr)=the project schedule space criticality calculated value; f(co)=the criteria
fimction for the percentage of conflicting workspace. Where
(2)
f(r)=the criteria function for the total number of workspace conflicts with respect to the
rankings; f(no)=the criteria function for the total number of conflicting activities;
(st)=thecriteriaftmctionforthe conflicting space types; f(cr)=the criteria function for the
critical activities (1 for critical and 0 for non-critical); vwi=the weighted coefficients for
each criteria in the function fA(scr).
The weighting coefficients vwi (sometimes referred to as variable weights) are an
estimated measure for each criterion governing a priority scheme. By doing so, the
performance of the value of fA(scr) fimction can be assessed. Although these coefficients
could be obtained through trial and error, they could also be user-deflned values from the
project planner. This is
Table 1. The theoretical approaches for identifying

space and clash types.
Properties and quantification approaches
Author(s) Variables
& date
Preserve Volume Work Conflict Conflict Visualisa Optimisa Apply

CSA
conflict space details ranking tion
tion
CPA
analysis types
medium approach criteria
and
priorities
Thabet
- Space
and
Capacity
Beliveau Factor
(1994)
No
Yes
No
No
No
CAD
Akinci
etal.
(2000a)
Conflict
Ratio
Clash
severity
sub
classifica
tion
No
Yes
Not
all
Yes
Yes
4D-CAD N.A.
Guo
(2002)
Inter
No
ference
Space
Percentage
Inter
Yes
Yes
No
No
4D-CAD Manual
Yes
reschedul
ing
N.A.
No
Yes
456
ference
Duration
Percentage
Winch
(2003)
Spatial
Loading
Yes
No
Not
all
No
No
4D
Evolution Yes
CAD/VR ary
algorithm
(brute
force)
Figure 6. Examples showing the

developed approach for calculating the
critical space-time analysis (CSA)
value (scr),
most preferable, as explained by Chang et al., (2002), because the value for each weight
will be given, according to the relative importance of the criteria attached to it.
Generally, the sum of these weights should satisfy the following conditions:
(3)
VW(i)=VW(1)+VW(2)+VW(3)+VW(4)+VW(5)=1
and: 0vw(i)1
(4)
The values for in Equation (3) are the measures of priority for each criterion that is
chosen by the project planner. These values range from Zero to One: more important
criteria will get a higher weight, and less important criteria will get lower weights.
457
3.5 Implementation oftime-based 4D simulation

A key concept in the visualisation of workspace competition is the technique for
simulating construction product and processes in a time-based fashion. The time-based
simulation mechanism involves the construction progress state in space-time and is done
dynamically. Research by Kamat & Martinez (2001) confirmed that 4D time-based
simulation was suitable and highly scalable in designing a generic 4D visualisation
system. Arguably, representing the activity-workspace change in time is an abstract
simulation mechanism to process the change of
Figure 7. The 4D time-based

simulation at X-time.
activity-workspace behaviour. This way, 4D time-based technique becomes a snapshot of
time and workspace simultaneously. The mechanism utilises a visualisation clock as a
controller (dates and times) for altering the time forward and backward (Fig. 7).
The time-based concept simulates the Quantities of Workper week (QW(prog)) during
three time-based frames (or intervals). The first time-based simulation frame (Fig. 7)
visualises the progressing activity-workspace during X-time, based on Equation (5)
illustrated below.
QW(prog)=QW(tot)/AD(tot)
(5)
where QW(tot)=total quantity of work value obtained from the database; and AD(tot)=total
activity calendar duration obtained from the schedule information.
The second time-based simulation frame obtains the Quantities of Finished Work
(QW(fin)) from previous week(s) before X-time, which represent the state of completed
work. Equation (6) is utilised in identifying this amount of QW(fin).
458
QW(fin)=QW(prog) (this Mon Week-Week)

(6)
where QW(fin)=quantity of finished work calculated during X_Monitoring_Week (X_Mon
Week).
The third time-based simulation frame deals with activities that have not started yet
after X-time, and also determines any Unfmished Quantity of Work (QW(unfin)) for
progressing activities (Equation 7).
QW(unfin)=QW(tot)(QW(fin)+QW(prog))
(7)
where QW(unfin)=quantity of unfinished work calculated during X_Monitoring_Week
(X_Mon Week).
4 ASSIGNMENT OF WORKSPACE
4.1 Main techniques found in literature
Sirajuddin (1991) and Thabet & Beliveau (1994), propose that construction workspace is
a combination of resource gangs, including their equipment and tools. This is a situation
where resource gangs operate and manoeuvre equipment within the direct workspace at
the activity location. Another typical case is similar to pouring concrete into pad
foundations, using a concrete mixer and a concrete vibrator. Sirajuddin suggested that, to
some planners, these workspace dimensions could be obtained either from their previous
work experience, or from data, such as equipment and tools manuals. Similarly, Akinci et
al. (2000b) incorporated a concept for assigning projectspecific space requirements
associated with a construction method model into the 4D WorkPlanner Space Generator.
The positional information about space was modelled using an allocentric representation
(such as, roof scaffolding outside or inside a building envelope).
To specify the workspace requirement in a generic way, while satisfying a set of
spatial dynamics and change of workspace usage over time intervals, is a difficult
problem as there are many alternative space strategies to apply on the logic of work
execution. Therefore, it was decided in this research to design the construction workspace
based on the Approximation Envelope (AE) that uses a 3D Box to represent the activity
workspace (Fig. 8). The AE technique improves previous research efforts, by including
the characteristics of workspaces like: above, below, and surrounding (North, East,
South, and West).
459
Figure 8. The three workspaces

properties associated with the 3D AE
around a construction product.
Figure 9. Representation of dynamic

workspace configuration utilising the
3D AE concept.
4.2 Capture of dynamic requirements for workspace

The assignment of workspace based on the 3D AE provides the planners with generic
capture of different workspace requirements, according to the nature of the construction
activity. The application and concept of the 3D AE for workspace representation is
provided in the example in Figure 9. The example shows two construction product groups
A and B, and the plant associated with them (Fig. 9, a & b). Even when the location
and position of the products groups associated with the construction activity are changed,
the assignments of the workspaces are dynamically reconfigured utilising the 3D AE (Fig.
9, c & d).
The result is a dynamic representation of the construction workspace that
accommodates the construction method for the activities. This AE mechanism eliminates
the tedious effort of re-describing the volumetric properties of workspace manually (i.e.
marking-up areas of workspaces around products).
460
5 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF WORKSPACE COMPETITION

The authors utilised the PECASO 4D tool to experiment with CSA results and hence
evaluate the workspace competition concept. The CSA values are obtained after running
three scenarios utilising the
Figure 10. Three weeks of workspace

variation and minimisation of CSA
values (scr) for three experimental 4D
simulation runs.
PECASO 4D simulation approach. It was important to consider in the analysis the
occupied workspaces by the resources on site like plants, material paths, and storage
areas. On a weekly basis, the simulation results were exported to the MS ACCESS
database for future evaluation of the space criticality fanction fA(scr).
A typical experimental illustration for minimising workspace conflict is shown above
in Figure 10 and applied on the School of Health project case study. The simulation
began with a max CSA value of 108 representing the actual project schedule (run No. 1).
The alteration of the above variables for minimising workspace conflicts indicates a
reduction of CSA by 25% less than the original schedule (run No. 3). The reason for this
minimisation is due to the variation in EP type for the Ground Flooring Concreting
activity (North to South), while the rest of the activities were progressing from the West
to the East. At the same time, the occupied workspace by the plant moved to a space free
of congestions and reduced the total number of conflicting space types f(st).
6 SUMMARY
This paper introduced the workspace competition as a new concept for minimising
workspace congestions occurring on construction sites. Visual planning features like:
461
twelve execution pattern types, three different work rate distribution types, and timebased QW simulation were identified and implemented in the developed 4D visualisation
environment. The design of a multi-criteria function was the core of the PECASO
approach for evaluating the CSA value. Based on the experimental results, the PECASO
CSA approach is expected to increase the planners awareness for workspace planning
and become more confidence when using 4D visualisation for communicating the project
plans. One could argue that the advancements in 4D space-time conflict analysis relies on
capturing the dynamic nature of construction site operations. The results also suggest
possible future use of the proposed technique in 4D workspace planning.
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Project planning: a novel approach through a

universal e-engineering Huba case study of
seismic risk analysis
G.Augenbroe
College ofArchitecture, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA
Z.Ren, C.J.Anumba & T.M.Hassan
Department ofCivil & Building Engineering, Loughborough University,
UK
M.Mangini
Geodeco S.P.A., Italy
ABSTRACT: The e-HUBs project has conceived and developed a novel
approach to web hosted e-engineering services. Focusing on Project
Planning, the e-engineering Hub facilitates the outsourcing of engineering
services and the fast creation of a project plan that can be executed by
design engineering teams. This paper presents the e-Hub through a testbed
demonstrator produced as a result of this project. It first introduces the key
concepts of the e-Hub; then presents the seismic engineering scenario with
focus on the role and services of the eRiskZone portal and its seamless
integration with the e-Hub. The focus is on the workflows and related
attribute templates as well as the supporting engineering services
developed for this scenario.
1 THE e-ENGINEERING HUB

1.1 Overview
Most companies are recognizing that partnerships are critical to their future success.
Rather than betting on the extended enterprise formula, companies express the desire to
engage in on-the-fly partnerships. Ad-hoc partnering in project specific dynamic settings
provides the agility that long term strategic alliance based partnering cannot guarantee. It
is this realization that has companies looking for support to initiate and plan partnerships
that are remote, time-critical and volatile. Such partnerships necessitate a new generation
of collaborative project planning (PP) methodologies and services.
The e-engineering Hub (URLl) is developed to offer such kind of collaborative PP
services focusing on collaborative, tactical decision making that goes into the formation,
work planning, contracting and trust building (TA, 2001).
464
1.2 Business perspective

Three main business drivers of the e-Hub have emerged from an analysis of the current
landscape of collaborative engineering (Augenbroe, 2004):
Efficient integration of engineering services on an Ad-hoc basis into engineering
projects is of strategic importance for the productivity and competitiveness of
engineering design consortia.
Good project preparation and planning is a key element for the effectiveness of
dispersed collaborative engineering teams thus adding to the business value and return
of investment in current collabo rative engineering platforms.
The delivery of generic project planning functionality paves the way for a whole range
of other services that enhance the productivity and competitiveness of companies
engaged in new product development.
1.3 Technology
Collaborative PP is viewed by the e-Hub as a managed process that transparently
generates a set of comprehensive planning documents. They may contain both structured
models and unstructured documents. The added value of the e-Hub is that the generation
process is collaborative in nature and logically ordered, driven by structured content
exchange. Both aspects are embodied in a formal Project Planning Model (PPM)
Figure 1. The functional architecture of

the e-Hub.
that companies develop and agree on at the strategic and international trade level. They
represent the business intelligence of how companies want to engage in remote
Project planning: a novel approach through a universal
465
partnerships. The PPM is not one single model but a collection of models. Each of these
models consists of a PP process model, representing with workflow (WF) models, that
incorporates the coordination logic of how the project planners negotiate and reach a
resolution on one of the aspects that need to be tactically agreed. Each of the WF models
operates on one or more content templates.
A content template is an ordered set of fields with specific meaning. The WF model
controls who has read or write access to which field. All parts of the PPM are grouped in
packages, each of which may contain a set of (sub) process models. Each process
model is defined as a workflow model that adheres to the WfMC standard. In the PP
platform in the e-Hub the workflow models are enacted, initiated by the project planners.
Figure 1 illustrates the functional architecture of the e-Hub discussed above.
The following sections present the collaborative PP process conducted on the e-Hub
platform in a seismic risk analysis scenario.
2 SEISMIC ENGINEERING SCENARIO
The seismic engineering scenario aims to demonstrate how a small company with a high
degree of specialization, can take advantage of the e-Hubs services. In this example,
Geodeco, which is a consulting company based in Italy specialized in geotechnical, geoseismic, geo-environmental and earthquake engineering problems, provides through a
Web Portal, engineering services to companies seeking advice on seismic risk assessment
problems. The portal helps the potential clients to find other companies or professionals
able to provide the required services.
It has to be noted that the same concept could be applied to very different engineering
fields. The scenario just shows one example related to the civil engineering domain.
In this scenario, a Dutch design company (the Client) has won a project in Central
Italy to design a Paper Mill. The project is at preliminary design stage. The company
knows that the location is a strong seismic area, but it has no expertise in seismic risk
assessment. It thus needs to employ professionals which are able to provide the necessary
knowledge and services. However, the company does not have such contacts in Italy. It
finds the eRiskZone portal to help it procure such services and collaborate with the
professionals.
2.1 eRiskZone portal
The eRiskZone (URL2) is a seismic engineering portal, run by GEODECO. The Client
can take advantage of specific engineering services provided by the eRiskZone (mainly
dedicated to seismic risk assessment, tools for distant co-engineering, information
logistics, legal support, procurement etc (Figure 2). The eRiskZone also provides a sort of
certification that all the companies offering services through it are regular members of the
Chamber of Commerce, and the professionals are listed in the official professional
associations.
466
Figure 2. The Client interacts with

Geodeco through the eRiskZone.
2.2 Use ofthe eRiskZoneportal in the scenario

In this scenario, the following steps are made by the Client, the portal and other players:
1. The Client uses the interactive service provided by the eRiskZone to check the seismic
hazard for the Paper Mill. The result shows that the factory could be prone to relevant
seismic risk that needs to be assessed in detail by specialized experts. The portal
suggests to the Client that a fiirther off-line seismic risk analysis carried out by human
experts is necessary.
The Client then decides to build a link with Geodeco through the portal to further
discuss the possibility to request Geodeco to conduct the seismic risk analysis.
2. The Client and Geodeco then discuss and negotiate some essential project information
through the portal. The eRiskZone plays a role to:
Set a general communication approach;
Manage data exchange between the two parties providing storage facilities, access
right, information logistics, etc.;
467
Store related engineering service providers information; and
Figure 3. The e-Engineering Hub.

Provide an online infrastructure for distant co-engineering.
After several iterations negotiation, the Client intents to hire Geodecos

services.
3. During this process, Geodeco suggests the Client to conduct geotechnical investigation
at the site because the initial soil profile provided by the Client is not sufficient. The
Client then selects a soil investigation subcontractor from the contractor list provided
by the eRiskZone.
4. After all the project participants express their intend to further cooperation, the
eRiskZone then leads them into the e-engineering Hub to collaboratively define the
detailed work statements (Figure 3). From this point, they start to plan the project
strategic issues on the e-Hub PP platform.
3 WORKFLOWS
As illustrated in the functional architecture, generic PP workflows form the core of the eHub. These workflows codify the logic of a process that enforces collaborative project
definition and planning conducted in the e-Hub platform with the involvement of all the
project partners. Altogether, three workflows and related attribute templates are
developed in this testbed with each representing a key phase of project planning process.
468
It is important to note that each of the workflows require certain supporting

engineering services to be implemented in, or deployed in co-existence with, the e-Hub.
3.1 Project definition and cost estimate workflow
This workflow defines the process of collaborative project definition and initial project
cost estimate. It extends the project participants' hand-shaking and initial project
definition process conducted in the eRiskZone. Based on their previous discussion,
project participants further define the project and negotiate the most important element
for cooperation (i.e. the cost for service) in the e-Hub platform. According to the Client
and Geodeco, this workflow includes the following activities:
Define the basic project charter and scope: the Client provides Geodeco with the
essential project information. Geodeco also enquires some basic information from the
Client.
Define project input requirements: the Client and Geodeco discuss what information the
Client can provide to Geodeco at this stage, and what information Geodeco needs to
perform the seismic analysis.
Define project output requirements: Geodeco explains to the Client what outcome it can
provide to the Client at the end of the seismic analysis. The Client addresses what it is
expecting from Geodeco.
Define any particular requirements including methodology, material, equipment, or
other resources: in many cases, the Client has some special requirements to Geodeco
such as a particular methodology of analysis, project team member, or equipment
used. Both parties often need to have a special section to discuss these items.
Define project cost: finally, an initial cost estimate about the service is made based on
the above project definition. If both parties cannot reach an agreement on the cost,
may go back to release some of the constraints defined in the above items. In most
cases, they will not be able to carry on the negotiation if they cannot reach an initial
agreement on the initial project cost.
Figure 4 illustrates this collaborative project definition process. A generic negotiation
workflow is embedded in this workflow which allows users to negotiate each project
definition item (e.g. Party A makes a proposal; Party B checks it. If the proposal is
accepted, then it is saved into database. If it is rejected, Party B then explains the reason
and modifies the proposal. The improved proposal is then checked by Party A. This
process continues till both parties reach an agreement on each project item).
469
Figure 4. Project description and cost

estimate WF.
Table 1 defines the attributes to be negotiated in the negotiation workflow, which are
summarised from the Client and Geodeco industrial experience, and the related literature
review (e.g. PMBOK, 2000).
Table 1. Attribute template for workflow 1.

Item
Attributes to address
Project description
ProjectlD
Projecttitle
Project description (e.g. nature, service required, location,
etc.)
Attachments
Input requirements
InputlD
Input items
Input description
Level of requirements
Format requirements
Date of submission
Output requirements
470
Deliverable ID
Deliverable items
Deliverable description
Type of service
Level of service
Options required
Date
Method/resource/ quality of the

work
Deadline
Milestones
Yes/no
If yes, then (1) item, (2) description, (3) date
Final submission date
Particular requirements?
Ifresource,
Manpower
Material
Machinery
Other particular services
If method, then...
If quality, then...
Cost estimate
Cost system
Fix rate
Lump sum item
Negotiated rate
Amount
Payment approach
Liquidated damage
Quality retention amount
3.2 Project execution plan and scheduling workflow

After both parties reach an agreement on the essential project definition and initial cost
estimate, they, together with other partners, enter a stage to define various detailed
project work statements in the e-Hub platform. These work statements address the most
471
important collaborative issues for the execution of the project (e.g. project execution plan
and schedule, quality plan, risk plan and change protocol).
In this scenario, project execution plan and schedule is particularly important for
project participants, therefore the related workflow and attribute template are fully
developed and implemented. This section also briefly presents other related workflows
and attribute templates which, though not being adopted and implemented in this testbed,
are essential for most of the engineering outsourcing projects.
To define project execution plan and schedule, a number of activities will be
performed by project participants, which include:
Define activities: both parties collaboratively define all the potential activities which are
necessary to perform the project. After defining the activities, the Client and Geodeco
need to identify the partners who can perform the activities. Related partners could be
identified either at this stage or at the hand-shaking stage.
Identify dependencies: after defining all the activities to undertake and the potential
parties to perform them, all the participants will try to identify the dependencies
between/among these activities. This shows there inter-relationships. Some new
activities or sub-activities can be further identified if it is required.
Define duration: participants define the duration for each activity. In the end, the overall
schedule should be addressed.
Specify deliverables: participants particularly specify the date for submitting
deliverables. This further strengthens the definition of outputs defined in the workflow
1. Similarly they also further address the date for project inputs.
Address milestone: besides defining the inputs and outputs date, participants also
address milestones in the defined project schedule.
Figure 5 illustrates this workflow. Table 2 presents the document template for this
workflow.
3.3 Contract negotiation workflow
After defining the work statements, the Client and Geodeco (as well as other participants)
enter the contract negotiation stage. The contract negotiation is conducted in two steps:
negotiation of agreement, and negotiation of conditions of the contract.
An agreement template is developed based on standard engineering service
outsourcing contracts commonly used in the construction and manufacturing industries
(D5.2). A contract negotiation workflow is then developed to facilitate the negotiation of
the key contract items in the agreement template. For example, if there are four key items
(i.e. no. of test samples, final service cost, liquidated damage, and governing laws) to be
addressed in the agreement template, the contract negotiation workflow will guide the
Client and Geodeco to negotiate these items step by step (e.g. no. of testing sample
service cost liquidated damage governing laws). The items finally agreed by both
parties will fill into the right place in agreement template which is saved in the
eRiskZone database in this case. A particular data transferring mechanism has been
developed in this study.
Figure 5. Project execution plan and

schedule WK
Table 2. Attribute template for workflow 2.
Item
Activities
IDNo.
Title Description
Responsibility
Pre-conditions
Post-conditions
Dependencies
Precedent activity Successor activity
Duration
Time
Deliverables/Inputs
IDno.
Title
Description
Responsibility
Date
472
473
Milestones
IDno. Title
Description
Date
Figure 6. Interaction between contract

negotiation WF and eRiskZone
database.
There are two particular advantages of this approach:
The agreement template highlights the key contract items (which could be different for
different engineering services); the enactment of the contract negotiation workflow
thus guide users to negotiate these key issues.
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The collaborative work statements generated through previous workflows are integrated
into the agreement template, which provide a sound basis for the service outsource
contract.
The negotiation of the key contract items could be conducted on a generic negotiation
platform (like those in workflow 1&2) embedded in the e-Hub, however, there are many
legal and contractual related issues which are not easily addressed by general negotiation
platform. Therefore, sophisticated contract negotiation platforms (i.e. eLEGAL contract
editor URL3) are required. Although the eLEGAL contract editor was initially developed
for ICT related legal issues, it provides an effective approach to representing contract
clauses and addressing all the general legal and contractual issues general e-contracting,
which makes it possible to be used for general engineering contract negotiation (Ren et
al, 2004).
In this testbed, the eLEGAL contract editor is adopted as a negotiation platform for
project participants to address the key contract items and finalize the Conditions of
Contract, which often involves the
Figure 7. Negotiation of Conditions of

contract through the eLEGAL contract
editor.
475
complex contract clauses (Figure 7). A Conditions of Contract template for engineering
service has been developed, which is stored in the eRiskZone database and linked with
the eLEGAL contract editor through a SOAP web service.
3.4 Supporting engineering services
3.4.1 Supporting engineering servicefor Workflow 1
A typical supporting engineering service required in this workflow is the cost estimation
tool. When users enter the stage to negotiate engineering service cost, they often need the
support of cost estimation tools to estimate the service cost. These tools could be a simple
cost breakdpwn table where users estimate each single cost iteni by their best
professional guess. In this testbed, Geodeco uses a spreadsheet as the cost estimation tool.
In other cases, other sophisticated tools such as ACEIT (URL4), BEST ESTIMATE
(URL5) and COCOMO (URL6) are adopted.
The use of these cost estimation tools (as well as other cost estimate activities) is
closely integrated through e-Hub workflow. In the seismic example, Geodeco normally
estimates the service cost based on a few key factors which include scope of service,
methodology, data provided by the client, deliverables, time, and overhead.
By defining these inputs and the related adjust parameters, the cost estimation tool
(e.g. spreadsheet) will generate the initial project cost estimate. These input factors are
addressed by the project definition activities in Workflow 1 step by step (e.g. project
description (a), input requirements (c), output requirements (d) & (e), special
requirements (b)). The outcome of each stage of the workflow will become input to
the cost estimation tool. All the key input factors will be inserted into the cost estimation
tool, when the workflow runs to the final stage, and therefore, the cost estimate will be
generated, which will be then used for the cost negotiation between the Client and
Geodeco.
3.4.2 Supporting engineering service for Wbrkflow 2
Although Workflow 2 and the related attribute template specify the process of defining
project execution plan and schedule, particular engineering tools (e.g. scheduling service)
are necessary for project participants to undertake the detailed task scheduling. This is
because the e-Hub is not designed as a specific task scheduling tool. External project
scheduling services need to be incorporated with the e-Hub engineering services (Figure
8). Some of the commonly used project scheduling tools could be adopted such as MS.
Project, Primavera, Barchart, GanttProject, task scheduling whiteboard and other
visualized project planning tools (e.g. project planning JAWE and JDPG).
In this testbed, project planning and scheduling starts when all the potential activities
to be performed have been identified by project participants in the e-Hub platform. They
then enter into task scheduling, either offline or through a task scheduling platform that
could be either recommended by the e-Hub or by participants. In this testbed use is made
of a collaborative task scheduling platform. For this, GanttProject (URL7) is adopted as
the scheduling platform due to its particular advantages such as:
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GanttProject is written in java; thus it can be run in any operating system;

GanttProject is easy to use. The task scheduling process in GanttProject follow the same
process defined in Workflow 2; and
GanttProject uses a XML file format to save the schedule defined, which can be
exported into HTML web pages. This allows different project participants to edit the
same project schedule online. For example, the Client defines its tasks and save the
schedule into the eRiskZone database; Geodeco and other partners can open the
schedule from the database and improve it, then save it back to the database.
The scheduling activities conducted in GanttProject are integrated through e-Hub enacted
workflow (e.g. define tasks, identify dependencies and define duration). Depending on
the project, schedule requirement and team members, these activities could be integrated
either tightly or relatively loosely. All the notes and comments made by each participant
during the collaborative definition process are recorded in the scheduling file. Project
participants can also communicate and negotiate the schedule through the e-Hub basic
collaboration platform.
Furthermore, the e-Hub also provides a project planning and scheduling
whiteboard, which allows project participants to discuss any particular aspect of task
schedule or of any issue of the project plan in a synchronous session through live
diagrammatic communication. This is particularly useful for the projects adopting the
traditional task scheduling tools such as MS. Project and Primavera which do not support
online scheduling and negotiation. Through this whiteboard, the detailed task schedule
negotiation is further integrated.
Figure 8. Scheduling service

incorporated with the e-Hub
engineering services.
477
478
3.4.3 Supporting engineering service for Workflow 3

As discussed above, the eLEGAL contract editor (with the support of eRiskZone
database in this case) provides a comprehensive contract negotiation platform for the eHub. Guided by the contract negotiation workflow, the contract editor (together with the
generic negotiation workflow embedded in the e-Hub) provide both offline and online
contract negotiation platforms. The contract negotiation activities conducted on the
contract editor are tightly integrated with e-Hub workflow. Most importantly, tight
integration through linkage with generated planning documents on e-Hub.
4 CONCLUSION
The development of the e-Hub is backed by multilevel knowledge and technologies such
as collaboration platforms offering shared project workspaces for team building, group
communication, project management methods, portal store front functionality for
marketing, contract management, process representation, sharing and execution,
knowledge capturing and sharing. These technologies, supported by available Webhosted services, form the basis of the e-Hub. They could be integrated to form a
collaboration gateway that provides a transparent and effective collaboration approach.
This paper has demonstrated these key issues through the application of the e-Hub in
the seismic engineering scenario, which can be summarised as:
The advanced technologies for Internet based communication and web hosted
collaborative engineering form the baseline of the core of the prototypical e-Hubs.
On top of this core, incremental layers of additional services is built in a holonomic
systems sense. Each service system offers dedicated e-engineering fimctions at
increasing subsystem scales: individual, collaborative group, and e-engineering team.
The e-Hub is configured by offering transparent collaboration templates to each of these
systems. Its services is defined and developed for process sharing and configuration
based on the process templates for effective collaboration. The e-Hub also supports
necessary and adequate levels of knowledge capture and sharing, provides small and
medium enterprises (SME) back-office engineering tool support and fosters trust
building, contract management and marketing relationships.
The development of the e-Hub is done with open and reusable middle ware components
and deployment of existing best of breed service components through a franchise
model of web hosted services. The system approach to the transparent hosting of these
services is based on open back end architectures of meta product and process models
of e-engineering scenarios.
Through this testbed, it can be observed that the e-Hub has achieved its major expected
objectives:
Offer job procurement, contracting and collaborative process facilities, including
handshaking, process sharing and process mediation.
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Offer low entry barrier for SMEs to the global marketplace for the outsourcing and
fulfillment of engineering subtasks.
Offer configurable e-Engineering process templates, thus harnessing proven procedures
for remote collaboration.
Enable trade organizations to enforce quality in collaborative engineering through
certification of procedures and standard practices.
Provide a trusted engineering gateway to SMEs.
Support new organizational development in e-collaboration.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The e-Hubs project is supported by the European Commission under the IST
programmed (Contract no: IST-200134031). The authors would like to acknowledge the
financial support of the European Commission, and record their appreciation to the eHubs project partners for their contributions to Testbed 1.
REFERENCES
Augenbroe, G., 2004. e-HUBs: e-engineering enabled by holonomic and universal broker services
(In Press). eChallenge conference, Vienna.
Project Management Institute, 2000. A Guide to the project management body of knowledge
(PMBOK). Project Management Institute Inc.
Ren, Z., Anumba, C.J., Hassan, T.M., 2004. D5.2: Set of working e-engineering services dedicated
for seismic engineering demonstrator. Q-HUBs Project Deliverable. ISTproject: (IST-2001
34031).
Ren, Z., Hassan, T.M., Anumba, C.J., Augenbroe, G. and Mangini, M. (2004). e-contracting for the
e-engineering hub, a case study in the construction industry. The 5th IFIP working conference
on virtual enterprises, Toulouse, France.
Technical Annex-1, 2001. e-Engineering enabled by Holonomic and Universal Broker Services (eHUBs), Description of Work. ISTproject: (IST-200134031).
URLl: http://elf.eurodyn.com:8080/edos/index.do
URL2: http://www.geodeco.it/eRiskZone/eRiskZone.html
URL3: http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/elegal/public.html
URL4: http://www.aceit.com/
URL5: http://www.best-estimate.com/
URL6: http://sunset.usc.edu/research/COCOMOII/index.html
URL7: http://ganttproject.sourceforge.net/
A decision support model for material supply

management for the construction industry
J.Perdomo & W.Thabet
Department ofBuilding Construction, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
R.Badinelli
Department ofBusiness Information Technology, Pamplin College
ofBusiness, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
ABSTRACT: Decision models are ever-present in the materials
management processes of industries other than construction and have
proven their worth in improving productivity and profitability. This paper
presents research that focused on supply chains for the electrical
contracting industry. The authors applied knowledgemanagement
concepts to design an integrated, effective system of decision-support
tools for materials-management decisions of an electrical contractor
during the construction phase of a project We developed a structured
systems design of distributed, integrated decision support systems for
materials management of the electrical contractor. The research derives
the optimal integration of people, decision processes, decision support
systems and data that are required to support efficient and effective
systems for acquisition, procurement, transport, storage and allocation of
material in the construction industry. This research will extend and bring
to fruition previous and current research by the principal authors that has
created detailed mappings of the essential decisions, decision models and
data that are required to support supply-chain activities of construction
contractors throughout a project life cycle.
1 INTRODUCTION
There is a growing awareness in the construction industry that materials management
needs to be addressed as a comprehensive integrated management activity. Materials
account for approximately 50% to 60% of the cost of construction projects. More
significantly, materials management typically controls 80% of a projects schedule and
40% of the time lost on a construction project can be attributed to bad management, lack
of materials when needed, poor identification of materials and inadequate storage
(Stukhart, 1995). Integrated Logistics Support, the holistic approach to supply chain
management over the entire life cycle of a product, has transformed manufacturing
industries over the last three decades. The construction industry, facing opportunities and
threats in a global marketplace for construction, is poised to embrace a similar approach
to its materials management practices.
A decision support model for material supply management
481
General activities that should be considered in preparing the plan for materials include
the determination of materials needed (i.e. quantity, type, sizes, color, etc.), the sources of
materials, specific dates when the materials are needed, procurement, expediting,
receiving, storage, usage, disposal and provisions for contingencies.
Effective planning is required to keep costs to a minimum and to insure that the
material is on site when needed. Poor planning of materials will increase indirect costs
as-associated with delivery and use of materials. In addition, losses in productivity,
delays, rehandling, and duplicate orders among other factors can be expected when there
is a poor materials management system.
Material management problems have a great impact on general contractors, but are
more critical for specialty contractors such as electrical contractors. Based on the coauthors experience, the construction industry has moved toward specialty contractors in
the last decade to the point where at least 80% of the work performed on a typical
construction contract is done by specialty contractors. General contractors have become,
for the most part, project managers. Today there are more than 25,000 specialty
contractors in the United States (http://www.assoc-spec-cn.org/). The electrical
contracting market, in particular, has expanded in recent years compared to the other
areas of construction. Employees in the electrical contracting industry account for around
13% of the total employees in the construction industry. The nature of the electrical
contracting business requires that a large volume of sales needs to be achieved in order to
support the company. In the last 14 years the electrical contracting industry has tripled
their volume of sales. In addition, the number of employees in electrical contracting
activities increased by more than 350,000 (NECA, 2001).
This trend of moving towards subcontracting parallels the trend seen in manufacturing
economy that has increased the role played by original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs) that supply basic components to name-brand companies that carry out final
assembly. The effects of this evolution in the construction industry also parallels the
effects witnessed in the manufacturing economy over the last decade:
increased the pressure on contractors to deliver goods cheaply and on time
flexibility for the general contractor with respect to sourcing contractors
negotiating with suppliers and manufacturers
increased need for closer coordination between the specialty contractor and the general
contractor
Most specialty contracting companies are small companies. Therefore, these companies
have to provide services efficiently and at the lowest cost possible in order for the
company to remain in business. Specialty contractors need to track constantly the
materials, resources and labor due to the risk that they undertake in every construction
job. This tracking is useful to avoid losing material due to theft, misplacement or damage,
for productivity improvement and to compare actual resource and labor usage against
planned. The electrical contractor has to plan and schedule the purchasing, expediting,
receiving, storage, and installation of the materials by coordinating the different parties
involved (i.e. estimating, job managers and field personnel). Timely availability of
materials, systems, and assemblies is vital to successfiil construction.
This paper presents research that focuses on supply chains for the electrical
contracting industry. The authors applied knowledge-management concepts to design a
482
prototype for an integrated, effective system of decision-support tools for materialsmanagement decisions during the construction phase of a project. Based on previous
research by two of the authors, the paper first reviews current phases of material
management in the electrical contracting industry including bidding, sourcing,
procurement, construction and post-construction. The paper then introduces some of the
challenges that face material managers. Decisions needed to be made during all phase of
material management are introduced with a focus on the decisions needed during the
procurement and construction phases. A proposed decision modeling solution, based on
similar models adopted by manufacturing, is presented. A decision support framework is
proposed that integrate various alternatives and parameters to provide possible solution
for some of the decision making questions posed.
2 CURRENT PHASES OF MATERIAL MANAGEMENT IN
CONSTRUCTION
Research work by Thabet and Perdomo (2003) has investigated current materials
management practices in the EC industry. The investigation considered the entire range
of activities necessary for procuring the needed material, starting with the estimating
process and ending with site delivery, distribution and storage logistics. Research
outcomes included documenting the problem bottlenecks in the supply chain as well as
identifying and classifying the various criteria that influence the decision process for
procuring material. A conceptual framework for the material supply chain process was
developed based on various discussions and interviews with office and site personnel
from the electrical contracting industry including contractors, suppliers, manufacturers
and a software provider. Five distinct phases, as shown in Figure 1, that comprise the
material management process were identified: 1Bidding Phase, 2Sourcing Phase,
3Materials Procurement, 4Construction Phase, 5Post-Construction Phase. Based
on information acquired from these interviews, a more detailed representation of the five
material management phases for a typical electrical contractor was developed.
During the Bidding Phase the contractor identifies the materials needed as well as any
special requirements or special materials to be used in the project. Quantities needed are
estimated and a bid package is put together and submitted. In general, materials used by
electrical contractors can be classified into two categories: miscellaneous materials or
commodities, and major materials. Miscellaneous materials refer to off-the-shelf items
such as cables, conduits, straps and fittings. Major materials include switch gears,
lighting fixtures, alarm systems and other items that need to be designed/fabricated
specifically for a given job. If the project is successfully won, the contractor schedules a
meeting to generate a material requisition
Figure 1. Typical material cycle in a

483
schedule (e.g. release forms) specifying material types, quantities needed, dates when the
material should be delivered and any additional information needed for clarification. In
addition, any notes related to particular items and the drawings for the job are included.
Figure 2 illustrates this phase.
The Sourcing Phase involves the selection of reputable suppliers and manufacturers.
The selection of suppliers is critical and the performance of a supplier can decide
between a successful project and a project fiill of delays. Therefore, the contractor needs
to verify that the supplier is capable of delivering the right material (i.e. type, quality and
quantity) when needed (i.e. at dates specified). In general, most materials (miscellaneous
and major) are purchased through suppliers/distributors. Typically, after a contract has
been awarded, the contractor issues a temporary purchase order to ensure the supplier that
the material will be bought from him/her upon approval of submittals. Once the submittal
process is over (i.e. submittals are approved), the temporary purchase order becomes a
valid contract. This phase is presented in Figure 3.
The Material Procurement Phase involves the generation of a material requisition
schedule. Once a
Figure 2. Bidding Phase.

material requisition schedule is in place, individual requisitions are generated from the
construction site by either the foreman or the project manager. Once a release form is
generated, suppliers are contacted for procuring the material needed. The type of material
needed, quantities, time when the material is needed and delivery location are specified to
the supplier. This phase is presented in Figure 4.
The Construction Phase involves receiving, storing and distributing the material on
site. The receiving process involves inspection of the material when it is received to
verify that the type of material delivered is the one ordered, quantities received against
quantities ordered and quality of the delivered material. In addition, the contractor needs
to decide where the material will be stored depending on the time that it will be used,
storage limitations, and possible damage, among others. Figure 5 depicts the Construction
Phase.
In the Post-Construction Phase and after installation of the materials in place, the EC
has to manage any surplus material. The surplus is handled differently depending on the
type of material and also whether or not the contractor has a warehouse. If the company
has a warehouse, the surplus material is stored in the warehouse for use in future projects.
Other companies return surplus material to the supplier for reimbursement. Usually, there
is no penalty or re-stocking fee for commodity items. For specialty items there is usually
a 2025% penalty. The EC has to track surplus material to avoid lost or theft.
484
Figure 3. Sourcing Phase.
Figure 4. Material Procurement Phase.
Figure 5. Construction Phase.

3 CHALLENGES WITH CURRENT PRACTICES
Currently, supply chain functions in the construction industry are often performed on a
fragmented basis with minimal communication and no clearly established responsibilities
between the parties involved. In addition, the collaboration required between departments
has not been considered and implemented. This fragmentation creates gaps in information
flow, which leads to delays in material ordering and receiving, expediting costs,
excessive inventories of some items and project delays. Every phase in the SCM process
is important for the successful completion of a construction project. Furthermore, the
485
manager needs to realize that decisions taken at one stage in the process will certainly
impact other activities and processes in the supply chain, therefore these effects are not
realized due to this fragmentation. Specific problems that are encountered are:
There is no structured approach to SCM in the construction industry
Supply chain decisions are not made consistently across projects and contractors or
even within a project and contractor
The construction industry does not learn from experience how to improve its supply
chain methods
There is no theoretical foundation for the methods for supply chain management that
are currently used in the construction industry
There are cultural characteristics of the construction industry that encourage shortsighted actions and little information sharing and cooperation, especially at the level of
foremen and supervisors
There are limited IT applications and available technologies for SCM in the
Especially in small contractor companies, there is little or no awareness among
personnel who carry out supply chain activities of the impacts of poor planning and
decision making on the big picture of project costs and delays
Figure 6. Decision node for the

Construction Phase.
Small contractors cannot afford to invest in research and development of new
technologies and processes.
An industry made up of thousands of small contractors requires standardization
4 DECISION MAKING IN THE MATERIAL MANAGEMENT

PROCESS
There are a number of managerial decisions that create and regulate the supply chain.
Among these decisions are from whom to buy, when to buy, how much to buy, when to
deliver, where to deliver and where to store. Figure 6 illustrates a summary of decisions
in every phase. The research presented in this paper concentrates on the procurement and
486
construction phases, therefore only the decision making process performed during these
faces will be explained.
There are critical decisions that need to be made at the procurement and construction
phases. This includes how much material to buy, when to buy this material, when to
deliver, where to deliver and where to store on site. The decision of how much to buy is
very important to assure that material quantities needed are available and that there are no
material shortages. The decision of when to buy is important to ensure that material is
available when needed. The lead times for the material to buy need to be considered. The
decision of when to deliver requires understanding the progress of the work, installation
rates and forecast of any possible changes in these factors. In addition, the performance
of the supplier needs to be considered. The decision of where to deliver the material
requires space planning and consideration of site limitations, pre-fabrication strategies,
and subcontractors to be used. The decision of where to store on site requires considering
the number of trades working, possible damage and any storage restrictions.
Review of current practices (Thabet and Perdomo, 2003) indicates that the electrical
contractor buys the material based on what the foreman requests without considering the
storage costs associated with having material early on the construction site. The
important aspect is purchasing and delivery of the material either to the jobsite,
warehouse or subcontractor without considering any costs that could result from damage
while the material is stored and/or re-handled due to space limitations.
Better material management practices and more structured decision making models
could increase the efficiency of the material management process. There is a growing
awareness in the electrical contracting industry that materials management needs to be
addressed as a comprehensive integrated management activity. Increasing pressures on
project costs and completion times are motivating the need to make supply-chain
decisions in a coordinated fashion and in consideration of minimizing total supply-chain
cost without causing stockouts. The performance of these decisions is heavily dependent
on the combination of the different alternatives listed in every phase. Currently, there is
no structured approach to identifying the optimum combination of decisions that will lead
to processing the needed material with the least total costs. Fortunately, model-based,
computerized solutions to supply-chain problems are proliferating. However, the typical
contractor may be over-whelmed by the technology embodied by these solutions and the
challenges of integrating this knowledge into business practices. A definition of the data,
models, decision makers and procedures that make up this knowledge and a mapping of
their relation-ships and uses is a vital first step towards building integrated decision
support for the contractor. The term knowledge management has become the
recognized name for this definition and structuring of all of these knowledge elements
that an organization uses to make decisions.
5 DECISION MODELING APPROACH
The last two decades have demonstrated that implementing the use of decision support
technologies in an industry can be done successfiilly only with an enabling culture
change. In the manufacturing sector the movements of total quality management, just-intime management, business process re-engineering
487
Figure 7. Example of a decision model.

and enterprise resource planning have produced a body of theory and practice that clearly
supports this claim. Like other manufacturing and service industries, the construction
industry is being pressured by market forces to be more effective, more responsive, more
efficient and to provide more value by reengineering its methods and processes. The
economic threat posed by current practices in the construction industry strongly
motivates change in this industry.
Comparing the supply chain system for construction with those of other industries we
can infer that the successful implementation of material management depends on the
decision making process and in recognizing the interdependency between departments
and the decisions made at different stages of the project life cycle. Therefore, the supply
chain activities should not be studied in isolation and all the aspects that might have an
impact on the system should be considered.
There are a number of managerial decisions that create and regulate the supply chain
and are embedded in the five-phase process for materials management that were
described earlier. Our current and previous research is directed at identifying and
specifying these key decision points in the supply chain process. Each of these decisions
should be supported by the application of a decision model in a decision support system.
A decision model is an analytical tool, usually in the form of a computer application, that
assists a decision maker in estimating the outcomes of different alternatives and
quantifying the tradeoffs inherent in choosing one alternative over another. Figure 7
shows schematically an example of a decision model. Fundamentally, a decision model
quantitatively describes the cause-efFect relationship between two sets of causative
factors and the set of evaluative measures that the decision maker uses in order to judge
the desirability of each alternative. The causative factors are divided into a set of
controllable factors that constitute the decision alternatives and a set of un-controllable
factors called parameters that must be measured, estimated or forecasted. The evaluative
measures are called performance measures because they quantify the performance of
each decision alternative.
Alternatives represent the different courses of action that a decision maker could
exercise for a particular decision node or possibilities from where the decision maker
chooses.
Parameters represent values that affect the decision making process. A parameter
could remain constant throughout the analysis or could be an uncontrollable variable.
488
Uncontrollable variables refer to those parts of the decision that although having an eifect
in the decision taken, is not controlled by the decision maker; its values are given by
factors external to the model. An example of an uncontrollable factor could be the level
of demand when deciding how much production to allocate to a new product. In reality,
many parameters that affect the decision making process are variable, however they are
treated as constant. This assumption is part of the simplification that characterizes
decision modeling processes (Cooke and Slack, 1984). Parameters must be satisfied
while selecting an alternative and are critical data to be considered in the analysis since
they could have a great impact in the decision making process.
Some decision models go fUrther than describing the outcomes of each alternative by
determining the optimal choice from among all of the alternatives. These kinds of models
are called prescriptive models and embody a search routine that a computer uses to carry
out an intelligent, restricted trial-and-error search for the optimal solution. Prescriptive
models leverage the decision maker by evaluating tradeoffs that are too complex or
numerous for human judgment to comprehend.
For example, a descriptive model could be used when a company needs to decide on
how much material to order. Decision alternatives might include ordering material as
estimated, order less material than estimated, order more material than estimated, order
material based on actual quantity or order the quantity calculated with the EOQ model.
Examples of parameters might include the storage capacity, availability of space, location
of the job, discounts, progress of the work, among others. Examples of performance
measures might include shortages, surplus of material, among others. Based on the
information input (i.e. alternatives and the parameters), an analysis can be performed to
assist the electrical contractor with the amount of material that should be acquired.
6 PROPOSED DECISION SUPPORT FRAMEWORK FOR SCM
The proposed framework will encompass several decision flowcharts at different decision
nodes. Decision nodes in the material management process include those points where
something has to be done or a decision has to be made with material such as
purchasing, delivery options and storage alternatives. Each flowchart will provide the
logical sequence to respond to the different decision making questions presented in
Figure 6. An example flowchart that comprises part of the framework is presented in
Figure 8.
489
Figure 8. Example decision making

flowchart.
The decision of what type of material to buy deals with the type of material to buy,
based on requirements of the construction job, progress, schedule, productivity, among
other factors, and from whom to buy the material.
Materials used by electrical contractor fall into two main categories: miscellaneous
material and major material. These two types of material and the material source (i.e.
supplier) represent the alternatives for this decision node. The parameters for this
decision node depend on the type of material being considered. Examples of parameters
for major material include the brand, size, capacity and cost. One of the most important
parameters for major material is the brand. Often, the brand of the material to be used in a
certain project is specified in the contract documents, therefore the contractor has to buy
the material from the specified source. If the brand is not specified in the contract
documents, the contractor has two options to obtain material. The contractor can use a
negotiated process with a manufacturer or a bidding process. For miscellaneous material
the process is similar with the difference that there could be blanket orders or yearly
contracts for the type of material being considered. If the brand is specified in the
contract documents, the contractor verifies whether or not there is a blanket order for that
material. If there is a blanket order in place, the contractor buys the material from that
490
particular supplier. If there are no blanket orders, the contractor requests bids from
different suppliers.
Figure 9. The model and its data

extraction.
The example presented in Figure 8 deals with the decision making process for a material
specified in the plans and specifications, in this case a transformer from a particular
supplier. Since the brand is specified in the documents, the contractor has to negotiate
contract conditions with that particular supplier.
Figure 9 depicts the setup for the implementation of the framework into a computer
model. The model, per se, is a computer program as opposed to data. In a knowledge
map, this program can be recognized as a file that is stored either on the decision makers
computer or on the companys server. The user calls the model application (1). The user
selects, from a menu, the decision to be analyzed. This decision is specified as an
intelligent decision (query).
491
This definition allows filtering and extracting the model parameters needed for a
particular decision from all the data available in the companys database (2). The model
parameters needed for the analysis are filtered and extracted from their permanent storage
locations in the companys database or other locations such as supplier servers, internet
resources, etc. (3). Once extracted, these data are loaded into a temporary location for the
running of the model (4). These data are all temporary data elements that exist while the
model is being used for the specific user call initiated. The model calls the necessary
analytical tools that utilize the temporary data elements to provide the best decision at
that particular instant. These analytical tools are filtered using the intelligent query
defined for the particular decision (5). Once the model runs and provides a decision
support for the user (6), including performance measures and alternatives considered in
the analysis, the knowledge elements stored in the temporary database are erased.
7 SPARCSSUPPLY CHAIN PARAMETER CLASSIFICATION
SYSTEM
The performance of the material-procurement decisions is heavily dependent on the
combination of the different alternatives listed in every phase of the materials
management process and the factors or parameters that influence the selection among the
different alternatives for each particular decision. These knowledge elements (i.e.
parameters) can be acquired from different sources such as historical databases, the
internet, and suppliers, among others.
These data need to be extracted on a regular basis as decisions related to material
management are ever present in a construction project. The identification of parameters is
a task that requires more attention, since parameters related to different issues, such as
schedule, suppliers, among others, need to be considered.
The identification and extraction process for the parameters could be tedious and time
consuming be-cause the decision maker could be extracting the information from
unstructured records that contain vast amounts of data. In addition, important parameters
that relate to different categories such as schedules, storage, cost, among others, need to
be extracted and sorted. Currently, there is no structured model to categorize the
parameters that need to be considered on the supply chain decision making process for
the electrical contractor. The electrical contracting industry needs a structured database
design that can allow decision makers to review and categorize these parameters. This
categorization could facilitate the storage and classification of this parameter information
for future extraction and use. As part of this research, a structured approach was defined
for parameter classification.
Based on the information gathered through interviews with electrical contracting
industry personnel such as contractors, suppliers and manufacturers, and extensive
literature reviews, a system for classifying parameters for material supply chain,
specifically for the electrical contracting industry, was developed. The system is known
as SPARCS, which is an acronym for Supply-chain PARameter Classification System.
This system will allow decision makers to classify supply chain parameters and organize
them in a structured format, thus minimizing the time required for data extraction and
reducing the tediousness of the current approach.
492
In SPARCS, decision supports systems (DSS) are described as independent systems

for each decision to be made. Each DSS extracts the information needed from a data
source that contains the specific data required to analyze that particular decision.
The first step in the development of the system was to gather information from
interviews with companies and literature review. Once the information was gathered, the
decision nodes for material supply chain were identified, and the data needed (i.e.
alternatives,
Figure 10. The SPARCS classification

system.
parameters and performance measures) for all the decision nodes were also identified.
Once the data were identified, categories under which the parameters could be classified
were defined for each decision. Examples of the categories include cost, schedule and
storage. Categories could also contain subcategories. For example, the Cost category can
be subdivided into direct and indirect cost. The parameters are then classified into the
respective category and subcategory, if applicable. Each category is comprised by
parameters that can directly influence that category. For example, some parameters that
are included in the storage category are capacity, cost, etc.
Figure 10 depicts an example of the SPARCS classification structure. This figure
depicts information that is related to the Where to Deliver decision that was considered in
the study. The main categories shown in the figure are Storage and Schedule. Sub-
493
categories are used to further divide the Storage categories into on-site or off-site storage.
The parameters are then classified into the appropriate category and subcategory.
8 FUTURE RESEARCH
This article presented a research effort that established the knowledge and bases that
allow re-engineering the current practices for material supply chain management for the
electrical contracting industry. A framework for the design of a decision support system
to assist the decision maker in the construction phase of the project was presented. The
implementation of the framework will allow making better decisions on what material to
buy, when to buy, where to deliver, where to store. This research didnt consider all the
phases in the supply chain management for the electrical contracting industry. However,
it serves as the basis for future research in the area. This section presents research
directions and issues that could be the basis for fUture research efforts. Some of these
directions include:
1. Expand the Fmmework to Include Other Phases of the Material Management Process
2. Database Design and Development for the Knowledge Elements
3. Expand FSPARCS into a Knowledge Map
By expanding SPARCS to be a knowledge map, it would def ine all of the
knowledge elements of the decision support system including the decision
variables, performance measures, formulas, optimization routines and human
expert knowledge that are involved in the decisions, thus providing better
information about the relationships among such elements.
4. Expand the Framework to Better Represent the ECIndustry
The framework could be expanded to include other types of work such as
residential, industrial, government work among others, consider bigger size
companies, in terms of volume of sales per year and include companies from
other geographical areas.
5. Development ofthe Framework into a Computer Program
Further research can focus on the implementation of the design specified in this
document in the development of a computer application of decision support
system.
6. Build an Implementation Plan for the DSS
This implementation plan should address the areas that could concern contractors
such as computational requirements, educational requirements, monetary
requirements and collaboration requirements for successful implementation.
7. Study Cultural Change Issues
The construction industry is very resistant to change. Implementation of new
innovative methods might be difficult in such an environment. Therefore a study
of the culture encountered in construction is essential for the implementation of
the decision sup-port system in a company.
494
8. Implementation of the DSS in a company Implementation of the model in the field is

essential for quantifying the accuracy of the model and to identify gray areas that need
refinement and a closer analysis.
9. Incorporate Existing Tools and Technologies to the Developed Framework
Existing technologies (i.e. web based methods, Pocket PCs, bar codes, RFID)
could be very usefiil to effectively manage the materials management process.
10. Implementation ofthe DSS in other Construction Sectors
The construction industry is moving towards fragmentation and in a typical
construction project more than 80% is performed by specialty contractors. The
concepts described in this article could be easily applied to other sectors to build
industry specific decision support systems for material supply chain.
9 CONCLUSION
An effective material management system is essential to avoid material shortages,
misplacements, loss, and theft which might result in increases in crew idle times, loss of
productivity and delay of activities. Electrical contractors should implement an efficient
material management system due to the fact that in most of the cases they are asked to
squeeze their bids in order to keep the costs of project under budget. In such a case,
failures to effectively manage materials could result in decreases in profit or even a loss.
The pnmary goal is to have the matenal needed, in the amounts needed, with the quahty
required, and the time that they are needed. Most electrical contracting companies have a
material management system that serves their needs, although it could be improved.
Standardization of the material management system could be a step forward in improving
the system and eliminating some of the bottlenecks.
REFERENCES
Cooke, S., and Slack, N., (1984), Making Management Decisions, Prentice-Hall International Inc.,
London.
Stukhart, G., (1995), Construction Materials Management, Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Thabet, W., and Perdomo, J., (2003), A Framework for an Integrated Matenal Management
System, Research Report Submitted To the Electrical Contracting Foundation, Inc.
Web site of the Associated Specialty Contractors (ASC), http://www.assoc-spec-cn.org/
Web site of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), http://www.necanet.org/
Modeling processes and processing product

model information based on Petri Nets
U.Rueppel, U.R.Meissner & S.Greb
Institutefor Numerical Methods and Informatics in Civil Engineering,
Technische Universitdt Darmstadt,
Darmstadt, Germany
ABSTRACT: Process-orientation is important for the support and the
coordination of planning processes in the building and construction
industry. This contribution presents an approach to support the network
based planning processes in civil engineering based on a formal
description of planning processes with regard to specific process-relevant
product model information. The objective is to enable process modeling,
process analysis and process control based on Petri Nets with individual
tokens. Hereby, the process-relevant information, as a distinct subset of
the total amount of product model information, is represented as
individual tokens processed in the Petri Net-based process model. Based
on this methodological approach the network enabled software
architecture ProMiSE (Process Model in Structural Engineering) with its
client and server applications is presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Planning processes in the building and construction industry differ from planning and
design processes of other industry domains by specific characteristics. Generally, in Civil
Engineering the processes are complex and characterized by a
high number of planning participants where each planning participant is a specialist in
his technical domain and each planner has his own view on the building project,
heterogeneous and distributed planning environment concerning the software methods,
models and means of communication, and
high demand of communication between the planning participants.
Furthermore, in civil engineering projects architects, engineers, authorities and craftsmen
design complex buildings with a unique design. The specific planning tasks and the
associated communication network of planning participants vary from project to prqject.
Consequently, an identical process model can hardly be applied to different building
projects. Thats the reason why the application of process modeling and the processoriented view on the planning processes in the building and construction industry is
neglected compared to other industry domains. Instead, webbased projectcommunication-systems became very widespread in the last years. These systems mainly
base on document-management tools and therefore dont provide appropriate means for
496
the coordination of planning processes and the control of communication between the
planning participants. Basically, these project-communication-systems dont rely on a
consistent process model at all.
2 PETRINET-BASED PROCESS MODELING IN CIVIL
ENGINEERING
The presented approach supports the coordination of distributed and cooperative planning
processes in Civil Engineering based on the Petri Net theory. Hereby, the focus is not so
much on the product modelling but rather on the process orientation, i.e., the
identification, publication, analysis, optimization and finally the management of planning
processes. Nevertheless, processing distinct product model information is essential for the
case-based process management and control.
2.1 Formal process modeling methods
From the early 60s different process modeling methods have been developed each
addressing its specific objectives. However, there is one important criteria for the use of a
certain modeling method, which is known as the degree of formalism. In general, nonformal, semi-formal and formal modeling methods are distinguished. In non-formal
modeling methods neither the syntax nor the semantics are defined. Non-formal modeling
methods are, e.g., the human speech, pseudo-code or the UML use-case diagrams. In
semi-formal modeling methods, e.g., the eventdriven process chains (EPCs), entityrelationship-models (ERMs) or UML sequence diagrams certainly the syntax is clearly
defined, but not the semantics. Finally, in formal modeling methods the syntax and the
semantics are clearly defined. Examples are programming languages, simulation models
and mathematical models. However, there exist various formal modeling methods like
ACP, CSP or CCS which have an algebraic character but no appropriate graphical
representation. These methods are hardly suitable for process modeling [Aalst/Hee 2002].
2.2 Petri Nets for process modeling
The Petri Nets provide both a mathematical formalism and a graphical representation
based on the graph theory in order to model the concurrent and asynchronous behaviour
of a discrete system. The Petri Net theory origins from the PhD thesis of Carl Adam Petri
in 1962 [Petri 1962]. Since then, various researches, extensions and improvements have
been applied to the original Petri Net theory. The application of Petri Nets to process
modeling and workflow management has been introduced by, e.g., v.d. Aalst [Aalst
1998a] and Oberweis [Oberweis 1996]. Especially, the application of Petri Nets on civil
engineering processes is explained in, e.g., [Rueppel et al. 2003]. The main reasons for
modelling Civil Engineering processes with Petri Nets are
the graphical representation,
the bipartite structure with places and transitions for modelling both planning states and
planning activities,
Modeling processes and processing product model information
497
the token concept for modelling logical firing conditions and the flow of planning
information within an engineering workflow, and
the mathematical formalism for structural, behavioural and simulation analysis of
engineering process models.
For a short introduction to Petri Nets see, e.g., [Aalst 1998a], for a comprehensive
introduction, e.g., [Reisig 1985] or [Baumgarten 1990] are recommend. As illustrated in
Figure 1 Petri Net consists of places, transitions and arcs, with each arc connecting either
a transition and a place or a place and a transition. The tokens reside on the places. Based
on well defined rules the transitions can fire and thus let the tokens flow through the
net.
The basic idea in modeling Structural Engineering processes with Petri Nets is to
describe
planning states with places,
lanning activities with transitions,
planning dependencies with arcs and
planning information with tokens.
Figure 1. Petri Nets for modeling

engineering processes.
Places, transitions and arcs form finite sets. Additionally, mapping functions and firing
rules assign tokens to places and thus form another set, the so called marking of the Petri
Net M. The marking M denotes a discrete planning state within the whole planning
process. Based on this marking M, various structural and behavioural analysis
possibilities can be derived from the Petri Net. In [Aalst 1998a] a special formal property,
498
the soundness property, is defined in order to test the correctness of a Petri Netbased
process model.
2.3 Petri Nets with individual tokensfor process decision navigation
Petri Nets with individual tokens extend the original Petri Net theory by concepts of data
types and the manipulation of data values, known from programming languages.
Especially, Petri Nets with individual tokens are well-suited for systems modeling
communication, concurrency, synchronization and resource sharing [Jensen 1996].
Using the example of process decision navigation the application of Petri Nets with
individual tokens for processing product model information in the process model is
illustrated. Typically, in process models decisions are modeled as XOR-splits. In Petri
Nets these XOR-splits consist of a marked place and subsequent transitions, with each
transition initializing a specific process path (see Figure 2 left hand side). In simple
Petri Nets, e.g., condition/event-nets or place/transition nets, the decision is made by a
human supervisor interactively or by the system either based on a random value or a
probability function. The basic drawback arising from process modeling with simple Petri
Nets is that there is no reference to any product model information at all. However,
product model information
Figure 2. Process decision navigation

modeled as XORsplit with Petri Net
elements.
is essential for decision making in process decision navigations.
Petri Nets with individual tokens overcome this drawback in two ways:
firstly, the tokens can carry information, e.g., distinct product model information.
secondly, the transitions can be associated with (firing) conditions evaluating the
information.
The right hand side of Figure 2 shows typical process decision navigation modeled as
Petri Net with individual tokens. The individual token, often referred to as coloured
token, carries the information about the Geotechnical Category (GC). This processrelevant information will be discussed in more detail in section 5.
Figure 2 illustrates the token in grey-scaled colour representing the information about
the GC and its value 3. The subsequent transitions are associated with a condition
499
evaluating the tokens GC-value. In the presented example only one transition with
GC==3 will yield true und thus initialize subsequent planning processes (path P3) based
on the token value, i.e., the product model information.
In this way, it is possible to process distinct product model information for process
decision navigation in the process model. Of course, there are other typical process
structures like process synchronization for which the use of product model information is
absolutely important.
3 PROCESSING MODEL INFORMATION IN PETRINET-BASED
PROCESSES MODELS
According to the reference model of the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC)
specific data generated or updated by humans or technical application programs during
the process run time has to be accessible for process management. In [Hollingsworth
1995] this kind of data is termed process-relevant data in contrast to application data
which denotes the total set of product model information. In order to make
Figure 3. Process-relevant information

linking product model and process
model.
the process-relevant data accessible to the process control software it has to be
abstracted from standards, regulations and engineering knowledge
represented in a computer processable form suitable for a specific process modeling
technique.
3.1 Abstraction of process-relevant information
A current discussion of the abstraction of processrelevant information by example of
geotechnical standards and regulations is presented in [Katzenbach et al. 2004].
Generally, the abstraction of process-relevant information is based on
500
process modeling knowledge,

the analysis ofplanning processes, e.g., constructionoriented analysis, applicationoriented analysis or dialogue with technical engineers, and
the analysis of standards and regulations.
Hereby, the amount of process-relevant data abstracted from the total set of product
model information is mainly influenced by the granularity of the processes being
modeled. The abstraction of appropriate process-relevant data is an import step towards
the linkage of product model and process model (see Figure 3).
3.2 Representing process-relevant information as individual tokens in
theprocess model
The next step is to represent the process-relevant data in a computer processable form
especially as individual tokens of the Petri Net-based process model (Figure 3). In
general, the process-relevant information can be modelled as a list of key-value-pairs
where each pair is extended by an index, with the following meaning:
the key provides a name of the process-relevant information, e.g., Geotechnical
Category
the value provides the corresponding value, e.g.1, 2 of 3
the index provides the history of the information.
This data structure is encapsulated as individual token and thus becomes immediate part
of the process model. There it can reside on the Petri Nets places and mark the current
planning state or it can be processed by the Petri Nets transitions for example at XORsplits or AND-synchronizations.
4 IMPLEMENTATION PROMISE
For the management of engineering processes in heterogeneous computer networks the
network enabled software tool ProMiSE is being developed at the Institute for Numerical
Methods and Informatics in Civil Engineering in close co-operation with the Institute of
Geotechnics at the Darmstadt University of Technology. ProMiSE is based on Petri Nets
with individual tokens to represent and evaluate process-relevant product model
information. ProMiSE is used for
process design, definition and analysis at build time, and
process instantiation, control and user/software interaction at run time.
From the developers point of view the implementation of ProMiSE is based on two
concepts:
on the one hand own programming approaches have been implemented in order to
realize graph theoretical algorithms, workflow specific analysis properties like, e.g.,
the soundness property, and network communication mechanisms.
501
on the other hand, existing Java Petri Net archives, like the Platform Independent Petri
Net Editor (PIPE), have been iritegrated. PIPE provides basic Petri Net analysis
possibilities, e.g., liveness, boundedness or safeness [Bloom 2003].
In ProMiSE the information representation is realized with the Petri Net Markup
Language (PNML)
Figure 4. ProMiSE Architecture.

[Kindler 2002]. The PNML format is the basis for the file-based input/output, the storage
in XML databases or the network exchange based on WebServices. Especially, the
ProMiSE interface to PIPE uses the PNML information representation with the JDOM
API [Hunter/McLaughlin 2001].
The Petri Net based process control software tool ProMiSE is embedded in the JBoss
application server with interfaces to the relational database system MySQL and the native
XML database Xindice [Xindice 2002]. The network interaction between ProMiSE and
client applications during process run time is realized with WebServices based on the
Apache Axis implementation [Axis 2002] [Chappell/Jewell]. Figure 4 illustrates the
ProMiSE architecture comprising the ProMiSE server and different client applications
like standard internet applications, e.g., an E-mail-client, a process modeling client and
technical applications, e.g., GAPP (Geotechnical Application for Product and Process
Modeling).
Concerning the process modeling client a file-based interface to the software ARIS
Toolset was realized (see Figure 5). In ARIS event-driven process chains (EPCs) are the
preferred process modeling technique. The EPC information can be exported as XML file
in the ARIS Markup Language format (AML). The trans formation from EPCs to Petri
Nets is based on the formalization introduced in [Aalst 1998b]. Hereby, special process
routing blocks comprising places, transitions and arcs have to be added to the EPC
process structure in order to satisfy the formal requirements of a Petri Net-based process
model.
502
Figure 5. Formal transformation from

EPCs to Petri Nets.
5 PLANNING SCENARIO FROM GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

A typical design task in structural engineering is the design of the foundation for a
building and the corresponding retaining wall for the excavation. This task is carried out
by the geotechnical engineering in cooperation with other planning participants, e.g., the
architect, the structural engineer or the environmental approval authority. For design
purpose the geotechnical engineer has to process various information. In an early
planning phase the geotechnical engineer determines the Geotechnical Category based
on the loads of the raising building construction, the design of the foundation with the
retaining wall, and the soil structure with groundwater information (see Figure 6).
The Geotechnical Category is defined in [DIN 4020]. Once, the geotechnical
engineer has determined the category, it becomes part of the soil expertise. Based on this
value, different subsequent planning tasks have to be initialized. Figure 7 illustrates a part
of the process model according to DIN 4020 and enlarged the process decision navigation
modeled as XOR-split processing the Geotechnical Categoryvalue.
Hereby, the transitions t12, t13 and t14 do not model real world planning activities. In
fact they are automatic transitions for processing the process-relevant product model
information. This product model information is immediate represented in the process
model as an individual token. Depending on the tokens value only one transition yields
the value true und thus initiates subsequent planning activities, e.g. the Design of the
Measuring Devices modeled by transition t16.
To specify the Geotechnical Category and to submit the soil expertise, e.g., as PDFdocument to the ProMiSE server, the Geotechnical Engineer can use a simple SOAP
client and send the information to a specific WebService. The WebService filters the
SOAP message: (a) the soil expertise document is stored in the servers file system and
there it is accessible for other planning participants; (b) the processrelevant information is
represented as individual token in the Petri Net-based process model and there it is
processed in order to initiate specific planning activities. With regard to the ProMiSE
503
architecture introduced in Figure 4 the network communication from the SOAP client via
the Petri Net server to a specific planning participant according to the process model is
illustrated in Figure 8.
Figure 6. Definition of the

geotechnical category.
Figure 7. Process decision navigation

based on the geotechnical category.
504
505
Figure 8. Network communication

controlled by the Petri Net server
ProMiSE.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Process-orientation is an important approach for the support and the coordination of
planning processes in the building and construction industry. Within this context the
methodological approach based on Petri Nets with individual tokens is the basis for the
distributed architecture ProMiSE. ProMiSE provides means for process modeling,
process analysis and process control based on network interaction with client
applications. Hereby, the process control relies on the representation of distinct processrelevant product information as individual tokens of the Petri Net-based process model.
REFERENCES
v.d.Aalst, W.M.P & v.Hee, K. 2002. Workflow Management, Models, Methods, and Systems, MIT
Press
v.d. Aalst, W.M.P 1998a., The Application of Petri-Nets to Workflow Management, In: Journal
ofdrcuits, Systems and Computers, 8(1), World Scientific, Singapur, p. 2166
v.d. Aalst, W.M.P. 1998b. Formalization and Verification of Event-driven Process Chains, In:
Computing Science Reports, 98/01, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven
Axis 2002. Apache Axis, The Apache Project, http://ws.apache.org/axis
Baumgarten, B. 1990. Petri-NetzeGrundlagen und Anwendungen, Spektrum-AkademischerVerlag
Bloom, J. 2003. Platform Independent Petri Net Editor (PIPE), Imperial College, London,
Computer Department, http ://petri-net. sourceforge.net
Chappell, D.A. & Jewell, T. 2002. Java Web Services, OReilly
DIN4020. 2003. Geotechnische Untersuchungenfurbautechnische Zwecke, German DIN-Standard,
Beuth-Verlag
D. Hollingsworth. 1995. Workflow Management Coalition (WjMC)The Wbrkflow Reference
Model, Document Number WfMC-TC-1003, http://www.wfmc.org/
Hunter, J. & McLaughlin, B. 2000. jdom.org, http://www. jdom.org
506
Katzenbach, R., Meissner, U.F., Rueppel, U., Savidis, S.A., Giere, J., Greb, S. & Mejstrik, M.
2004. Abstraction of Process-Relevant Information from Geotechnical Standards and
Regulations, accepted for: Xth International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building
Engineering (ICCCBE), 0204 June, Weimar, Germany
Jensen, K. 1996. Coloured Petri-NetsBasic Concepts, Analysis Methods and Practical Use,
Springer-Verlag
Kindler, E. 2002. The Petri Net Markup Language, In: H.Weber (ed), Petri Net Technology for
Communication Based Systems, Springer LNCS
Oberweis, A. 1996. Modellierung und Ausfuhrung von Wbrkflows mit Petri-Netzen, TeubnerVerlag
Reisig, W. 1985. Petri Nets, An Introduction, In: W.Brauer, G.Rozenberg & A.Salomaa (eds.),
Monographs on Theoretical Computer Science, Springer Verlag, Berlin
Petri C.A. 1962. Kommunikation mit Automaten, Schriften des Instituts ftir Instrumentelle
Mathematik der Universitat Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Rueppel, U.; Greb, S. & Theiss, M. 2003. Managing Distributed Planning Processes in Fire
Protection Engineering based on Agent Technologies and Petri-Nets In J.Cha, R.JardimGonalves & A. Steiger-Garo (eds), Proceedings ofthe 10th ISPE International Conference
on Concurrent Engineering, Book 2, p. 651656, Madeira Island, Portugal, July, 2003
Xindice (2001), Apache Native XML Database, The Apache Software Foundation,
http://xml.apache.org/xindice
A building material information system:

BMISin the context of CONNET-Turkey
project
E.Ta, L.Tanagan, H.Yaman & A.Dikba
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty ofArchitecture, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Building material information supply is discussed. The
problems which are encountered by users on web-based building material
information sources in Turkish construction sector and worldwide are
evaluated. A building material information systemBMIS which is being
revised for CONNET-Turkey project is introduced in brief.
1 INTRODUCTION
It is a well-known fact that building material sector grows parallel to the technological
developments in the construction sector since 1970s. There are many imported building
materials and components available in the market besides those are being manufactured
in Turkey. All of these products have an effect on construction sector as a whole complex
manner. On the other hand, it is a very significant enrichment for the users who
accomplish to select an appropriate building material among alternatives. The very
process of getting access to choose and specify building materials is persistently changing
by virtue of the emerging information technology tools. By the help of these tools, it is
also easy to access up-to-date, accurate and sufficient information about building
materials on time.
At the moment there are numerous information sources that have a very intense and
up-to-date content related to building materials in the countries where construction sector
is well-developed. In the last decade in particular web-based information tools have been
dramatically developed. Emerging web-based technologies offer opportunities to create a
straight link among manufacturers, suppliers and customers. Online supply chains and
electronic business considerably change the way products are specified, ordered,
customized, marketed and sold. It reduces the time and effort spent in the assessment and
choice of appropriate building materials and components. Hence, more efforts can be
spent to decrease the total building cost. Simultaneously, these tools provide
opportunities,
to the users to make comparisons among the alternative building materials and
components available in the market faster than conventional methods,
to the manufacturers and suppliers to introduce and present comprehensively their
products and to make less investment in marketing operations.
508
Material and labor inputs used up through the construction process create quality control
dilemma. That is the reason why the performance of the building materials pointed out in
the catalogues cannot be accomplished after the construction has been completed.
Manufacturers spend a great effort to solve the problem in the scope of total quality
management.
Besides, in the building materials sector numerous new products introduced to the
market continuously. It is becoming unattainable to check their performance by tests, thus
most of the new products are to be used without being sure if they have satisfactory
performance or not. In this case, making the users to be in conscious is quite important.
Users should consider following factors throughout the assessment and selection process
of building materials:
the properties of the materials that are pointed out in the catalogues,
the physical, chemical or aesthetic compatibility with other materials,
costof the material,
availability of the material particularly for long-lead items,
familiarity or experience (that is to say knowledge about the material by craftsmen and
suppliers),
laborcost,
labor skill,
guarantee conditions,
standards, codes, regulations, and specifications that should be satisfied,
ease of maintenance and repairs (Keyser et al. 1978).
2 BUILDING MATERIAL INFORMATION ACCESS PROBLEMS

At the moment various information sources are used to choose building materials and
components at different stages of a construction project. Some trade associations,
institutions, public and private organizations deliver information about regulations and
standards that should be satisfied in the use of building materials and components. So
called information can be obtained from paper-based sources, e.g. books, journals,
catalogues and brochures. On the other hand, there are online web-based sources or offline CD-ROMs making use of emerging information technology opportunities.
However, users come across many difficulties to access building material information
depending on technological development level they are in. Some of them are being
encountered in Turkey as follows (Yaman et al. 2000):
1 The users who write technical specifications particularly in the design phase have to
spend a lot of effort in finding accurate and up-to-date information about building
materials available in the market,
2 Information found from different sources is not uniform. It makes hard for users to
assess, compare, decide, and choose the appropriate building material among
alternatives,
3 Manufacturers mostly concern in marketing, therefore their presentation includes only
the best characteristics of their products,
A building material information system
509
for marketing purposes, manufacturers sometimes need to emphasize or conceal certain

physical characteristics,
the reported data they quote are obsolete or inappropriate or do not match the reporting
requirements of the standardized tests,
the reported measurement units they give for the properties of the materials do not
match each other. This happens especially when imported products are introduced to
the market. These imported products can have either inch-pound units or inch-pound
to SI unit conversions is frequently in error,
consequently, it is almost impossible to compare the alternative materials produced by
different manufacturers.
4 When the performance of a building material indicated in various information sources
is found acceptable, this doesnt mean that the material is fully compatible with the
other building materials or the construction methods applied.
5 The building materials found in the catalogues may not be available easily and with
reasonable price within all-geographical regions of the country.
6 It is also observed that there is no effective official authority that checks up building
materials both in manufacturing and using processes. This is generally the user who
has to control the technical information given by the suppliers or manufacturers in
order to find out if a building material is compatible to the standards and regulations or
sustains its performance when applied.
3 WEB-BASED BUILDING MATERIAL INFORMATION SOURCES

The subject of supplying building material information to the users has been
tremendously developed by the help of the opportunities of emerging information
technologies particularly within the last decade. The building material information exists
mainly in paper form, e.g. brochures, catalogues etc., lost its actuality because of the
development of innovative manufacturing technologies and introduction of new building
materials to the market. The paper-based information rapidly is being replaced by the
information, which serves the users by taking the advantage of digital media like offline
CD-ROMs or online web-based databases. Such as CONNET, ROSETTA NET,
SWEETS ONLINE etc. Latest developments in the communication and computer
technology make available all the information or experiences in any place in the world
for the users. Those can be systematically gathered, processed and used to modify the
rationality of the decisions taken by the human brains.
AEC communities who are the major participants of the construction sector also take
advantage of webbased tools and the developments of information technology frequently
They also keep up searching methods to solve their communication problems among each
other such as using wireless communication. Since the quality and reliability of the
information are as important as its accessibility, which has the key factor for the
construction sector, it should be accessed easily and on time. Construction sector has
some problems because of its nature and this has an affect on the information access
issue. Some information systems serve in different domains can be a solution to the
information access issue to such an extent.
Building material information sources serve on the web:
510
provide the users making comparisons, evaluating and choosing among alternative
building materials in the market in a quick and rational manner,
provide the manufacturers or suppliers publishing reliable, up-to-date and detailed
technical information and introducing their new products economically,
provide suppliers developing e-commerce facilities between manufacturers and users,
provide building material manufacturers developing supply chains among each other.
3.1 Web-based building material information sources in the world
At the moment there are numerous global web-based sources that supply building
material information to the users. The structure of those web-based sources varies
according to the (Tas et al. 1999):
financial capacity of the sponsor institutions or the organizations,
the user profile which it serves,
its capacity,
geographical range that it serves.
On the other hand, the content of the web-based sources can be grouped under four main
topics:
General information (contact info, mailing and e-mail address of the institution or
organization that supports and maintains the source),
Product profile (the content contains technical and the other information about products
the users look for),
Other services (catalogs, CD-ROMs and floppy diskettes, electronic magazines and
manuals sent via mail or e-mail mostly on registration basis, web page design and
electronic mail services),
Communication and web links (interactivity between the user and the web-based
source, discussion forums, message centers, live chat, e-business etc.).
Factors that influence the users preference of the web-based sources are:
ease of use, in other words user-friendliness and enabling accurate and fast access to
information,
whether or not a well-known classification system is used in the organization of the
content, e.g. CSI Master Format, CI/SfB,
having a fast search engine and a comprehensive database,
having services like technical specification data, etc.,
having not only technical information but also problem solving alternatives related to
the application of building materials, e.g. CAD files,
having not only online services but also using traditional tools such as mailing paperbased sources.
It can be said that those services and content is progressively developed parallel to the
increase of numbers of users. It is a well-organized source if the content is in order,
reliable and up-to-date.
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3.2 Web-based building material information sources in the Turkish

construction sector
According to the results of a survey carried out over different manufacturers and
suppliers in different size actively work in Turkish construction sector, it is seen that
manufacturers make a great deal of investment in marketing operations (Tas 2001).
Most of the companies find it attractive to supply or to introduce building material
information on the web because it is:
easier and faster,
integrated,
more economical than other traditional marketing methods and,
information is up-to-date, reliable.
Almost all of the companies (91%) want to be involved in such a system. However, they
also think that the web-based building material information supply cannot be done
effectively because of the following reasons:
applications attempted on this area are still in developing phase,
there are bandwidth problems on the Internet infrastructure and,
computerization level of the users is quite low.
On the other hand, the manufacturers expect that the supply of building material
information via Internet will become prevailing and useful over paper-based sources
within the next few years.
There are limited well-organized sources in Turkey. Building Industry Center webbased source and the building catalog off-line CD-ROM, Turkish Chambers of
Architects web site, Turkish Chambers of Civil Engineers web site, Constructera
and Building Guide web site are used most frequently.
When the web-based building information sources in Turkey are examined, it is seen
that the efforts are not beyond collecting various brochures and scanned information files
in a digital medium without using any classification system. Apart from that, some other
communication facilities like e-mail bulletin and online forum are put forward by
personal enforcements. Web-based contents and links are quite poor. Updating frequency
of the content is quite poor as well. Hence, it can be said that web-based sources in
Turkey are not user friendly or practical in use.
3.3 Problems in designing ofa web-based building information tool in
Turkey
Problems that should be taken into consideration in the planning phase of a web-based
building material information tool are (Yaman et al. 2000):
changing inflation rate,
economical instability and diminishing of the construction sector,
omplexity of classification systems,
quality and standardization problems of building materials and components.
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Economical instability and changing inflation rate in Turkey are the most important
factors that prevent the development of Turkish construction sector for years.
It is well-known fact that the Turkish construction sector as the driving force of the
economy has not only been extensively affected by the reformist economical movements
but also has seen as a solution to unemployment problem. The companies, which have an
active role in construction sector, are adversely affected by the cost variations during the
construction process, which cannot be foreseen in the design phase. The share of the
building material cost is very high in total building cost. Since it is necessary to access
up-to-date market prices besides technical information of building materials.
There is no widespread use of well-known international classification systems in
Turkey except CI/SfB to some extent. Selection of a classification system is a very
important step in the design of a building material information tool. Moreover, it is hard
to exchange data among accessible information sources.
The audit to check the conformity of the standards, manufacturing, storage and
application of building materials and components is not enough. On the other hand, there
is no well-developed quality assurance system for the imported products to control the
suitability of them for the Turkish conditions. Users are not supplied with any further
knowledge that can guide them through building material assessment and selection
process. Most of the users are not aware enough about standards and regulations. So,
building materials are mostly selected in an empirical way, such as along with personal
experiences, knowledge and preferences. There are low quality mostly imported products
available in market cheaper than the others.
A web-based building material information tool should have a role to orient the
building material sector by encouraging the manufacturers to produce high quality
products and by helping users to aware in assessing and choosing building materials in
Turkey.
4 A BUILDING MATERIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM MODEL
(BMIS) FORTURKEY
This section mentions about a research project carried out in The Center of Building
Cost and Construction Management Center in the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul
Technical University (ITU). The main theme of the project was developing a Building
Materials Information System (BMIS) based on relational database structure in the
context of Turkish construction sector. The main objectives were to examine Turkish
market and to develop an information system. It would be possible to estimate the
approximate total building cost of a project even in the design development phase by
means of developed information system. The information system would be used both in
schematic design and design development phases of the construction process.
There were two main objectives of the studies carried out within the scope of the
BMIS research. First group of the objectives were as follows:
gathering all the information on the subject of building materials used in market at
present,
having access to detailed technical information about available building materials in the
market,
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having access to detailed information about manufacturers and suppliers,

obtaining information about the current unit prices of building materials, including
labor and equipment,
choosing among alternative building materials by the taking advantage of the
comparative building material data sheets,
linking the BMIS building product classification system to Turkish Ministry of Public
works and Resettlement classification system,
linking the BMIS building product classification system to well-known international
classification systems e.g. CI/SfB and CSI Master Format,
developing and maintaining an up-to-date building materials and components database,
making BMIS a web-based information source for Turkish construction sector
operating on registration basis.
The second and ultimate objective of the research project was to estimate total building
cost based on fimctional building elements. The cost estimation module based on
functional elements is a computer-based model that estimates the building cost in
schematic design and design development phases by making use of the data retrieved
from similar projects.
The major steps of the research project were:
studying state-of-the-art of building material information sources accessible in Turkey
and worldwide,
gathering information concerning building materials and components available in
Turkish market,
developing BMIS product classification system and linking it to international and
domestic ones,
developing relational database,
developing building cost estimation module,
making BMIS as a web-based information source.
4.1 Gathering the building material information
From the studies of the previous research it is seen that most of the available worldwide
building material information sources utilize technical specifications e.g. Spec-Data and
Manu-Spec created by the manufacturers (in USA under the licensure of CSI) in order to
supply the users.
Conversely, the users and researchers do not have any occasion to get such wellorganized and comprehensive product literature information from the manufacturers.
However, since the building materials available in the market have to hold Turkish
Standard approval given by Turkish Institution of Standards (TSE), these standards were
taken into consideration all through the research project. Building material standards that
are currently approved by TSE were studied and material data sheets that summarize the
performance characteristics like physical, mechanical, and environmental properties of
the material were generated.
Standardization is based on a technical and scientific institution. It determines the
qualities of a material, a product, a method or a service by the rules it put forward. In the
developed countries there is no obligation in the applications of standardization except
514
the subjects directly related with the human life, health and safety. On the other hand, in
developing countries, since the economical and social conditions are not at the sufficient
enough, national standards have a compulsory character by the laws. The standards
approved by the TSE are called as Turkish Standard. According to the National
Notification #82/113 related to Public Procurement of Turkish Ministry of Industry
and Technology it is pointed out that (Esen 1984):
Turkish standards should be referred in technical specifications prepared for public
procurement and tenders,
If a Turkish standard is available in an issue, Turkish Standard Conformity
Certification given by TSE should be looked for,
If a Turkish standard is not available in an issue, once more and only TSEK
Certification given by TSE should be looked for,
The authority given to the other boards by regulation, law and decrees is reserved.
Therefore when the users know that the building material complies with the TSE
standards, they can easily assess and select it. It also helps them to be protected from
deceiving advertisements or announcements.
The building material data sheets that are engaged in different generic categories are
developed as follows:
For instance, in developing a building material data sheet in the category of paint,
TS 7847 (Wall-Coating Emulsions for ExteriorsPolymer Based), TS 39 (PaintsOrganic Solvent Based-Top) and TS 5808 (Water-Based Emulsion TypeArchitectural
Paints) are analyzed. The structure of the data sheets mainly consists of following titles:
material category name,
structure of the material,
TSEnumber,
physical, chemical, mechanical performance characteristics and environmental
properties of the material,
manufacturer,
the Turkish Ministry of Public Works and Resettlement classification number and unit
price of material.
Hence, the user has an opportunity to check the performance characteristics of the
building material he/she selects from the data in the sheets, which are generated from its
corresponding standards.
Developing standard building material data sheet formats for Turkish construction
sector and using them extensively are considered to be the next step for the research.
4.2 BMIS coding system development
The system can also be used as a computer-based model that estimates the building cost
in schematic design and design development phases. In that context, a BMIS coding
system based on classification system based on functional building elements was
developed. So called BMIS classification system was linked to Turkish Ministry of
Public Works and Resettlement and CI/SfB classification system.
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4.3 Building material information system (BMIS) development

Microsoft Access relational database management system software was used to generate
data entry and query forms using data structures on building material data sheets.
Building material alternatives in the database were classified in the context of first
group of objectives of the research project. Therefore, users could easily take advantage
of cost estimation module for the current market prices of the building material
alternatives as well as technical information forms.
5 CONNET PROJECT
The CONNET initiative provides an open arena through which appropriate information
resources can be identified within a nation and across Europe. CONNET has been
developed through EC fiinding to become an open portal to connect industry practitioners
to relevant information. CONNET establishes a technology transfer network for those
involved with the built environment with active notification services (CONNET 2004).
CONNET-Turkey project is aimed to develop a virtual technological park. However,
as a candidate country, such a virtual technological park could not be designed separately
projects being carried out EU 5th and 6th frame programs. Thus, CONNET-Turkey
project will be linked to the backbone of the European Construction Network.
Objective of the CONNET-Turkey project are:
developing a web-based virtual technology park,
preparing an infrastructure in order to integrate and to standardize Turkish construction
sector consistent with EU norms,
starting up vital services for the sector.
The European CONNET entry point provides a range of technology park services as well
as industry-specific services such as:
management of security services,
help desk for potential service providers and for problem resolution,
information broker role,
technology observatory service,
provision of user profiles,
multi-classification support,
inter-service communication services,
multi-language supports (Bloomfield et al. 2001).
Outputs of above mentioned BMIS research will be a part of the CONNET-Turkey
project. BMIS will serve as an online building material and component information
source.
Currently BMIS is being revised for CONNET-Turkey project as a whole.
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6 CONCLUSION
Construction sector is called as the driving force of the national economy and cannot be
separated from the development process of a country. In addition, construction sector
uses the products or services of the other sectors, and the products it produces also are
used by the others. Construction sector is not only affected by the activities occur in the
other sectors, but also affects other sectors concerning to the decisions taken and the
industrial improvements. Besides, it creates employment opportunities.
Alternatively, as a candidate country for the EU, Turkey knows his duties and
responsibilities very well. International contractors and building material manufacturers
perceive Turkey as an important potential market. Turkish contractors, building material
manufacturers and designers are also getting projects abroad together with their partners.
As BMIS is started being used practically, the characteristics and properties of the
building materials manufactured in Turkey will be introduced to the world and it will be
an important step to a web-based source which has a link with the international
classification systems.
Availability of the building material information on the web will give the users the
opportunity of easy access to up-to-date and accurate technical information. It will have
encouraging contributions to the building material assessment and selection process
regarding time and cost issues. By the help of the BMIS, users can select the appropriate
products bearing in mind detailed technical information and unit cost, and through users
experiences or feedbacks. It will encourage manufacturers to search more economical
production and marketing operations. The users will be aware of quality and standard
issues. In addition, during the schematic design or design development phases of the
project, building cost estimation can be made to check whether the building material
selected is a rational choice or not.
REFERENCES
Building Industry Center, YEM, http://www.yapi-tr.com./
Bloomfield, D., Amor, R. and Groosman, M., 2001, The Evolving CONNET Gateway to
European Construction resources, Proceedings of the CIB W102 conference, Melbourne,
Australia, 2627 March.
CONNET Project, http://www.connet.org/ web site (2004).
Esen, D., Documenting and Studies inTurkey, Unpublished MasterThesis, ITU Science &
Technology Institute, 1984.
Tas, E., Tanacan, L., Yaman, H., (1999) Building Material Information Systems On The World
Wide Web, Proc. Int. Conference On Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics, Special
Focus Symposium World Wide Web as Framework for Collaboration, pp: 147156, BadenBaden, Germany.
Tas, E., (2001) A Research Project to Design A building Materials Information System, YAPI,
No.238, pp: 8491, Istanbul, In Turkish.
Yaman, H., Tas, E., Tanacan, L., (2000) The Content of an Ideal Web Site for Building Materials
Information in the World Wide Web: A Turkish Perspective, CIB W78 Proc. Construction
Information Technology CIT 2000, pp: 10691079, RejkjavikIceland.
Ontologies
2004 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 0415359384
Managing changes in the AEC industryhow

can ontologies help?
Q.Y.Cai & F.F.Ng
Department of Real Estate & Construction, the University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong
ABSTRACT: Due to the uncertainties and dynamic nature of the business
processes in the AEC industry, a demand in effective change management
has been increased. During a project lifecycle, stakeholders are highly
interdependent for managing information, resources and tasks. In this
collaboration process, different people may have different perspectives
and personal needs to cope with the changes. For example, a change in
design may impact the contractor to revise the construction process, or
impact the material supplier to provide different products. Current
Internet-based project management systems are unable to support this
custom-tailored service and interpret the implications of changes in terms
of time and cost. This paper describes an ongoing research to develop an
ontology-driven change management model in the AEC industry. To
support different perspectives and personal needs on the changes,
ontologies are supposed to act as the backbone and enable different
applications of different professions to work together in order to fulfill the
desired goals. In this paper, a framework consisted of ontologies,
intelligent agents and customized interface is proposed to implement the
change identification and propagation. An example of ontologies is also
developed to demonstrate how ontologies can help to manage information
changes in the AEC industry.
1 INTRODUCTION
Due to the fragmented nature of the AEC industry, various research works have been
conducted in the area of information management based on the concept of
interoperability, e.g., the Industrial Foundation Classes (IFC)1 and aecXML2 developed
by International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), and the method of Business Process
Reengineering (BPR), etc. With the support of Information Technology (IT), information
generated in the process can now be integrated and subsequently reusable across
disparate disciplines throughout the project lifecycle. One example is the development of
Internet-based project management system, which aims to integrate heterogeneous
systems using workflow technologies and business-to-business integration standards.
However, information management is not just about managing the information flow.
One problem of the project management systems is the lack of flexibility to handle
dynamic information changes. They are reactive, instead of proactive, to the changes
Managing changes in the AEC industry
519
initiated in other disciplines. Moreover, they treat changes as new coming messages and
broadcast them to all the stakeholders. Therefore, information neglect due to information
overload always occurs, and no implications of the changes are suggested for the stakeholders. As stakeholders have different perspectives and requirements to cope with
changes, they need to know how to identify the changes as early as possible, how to
respond to them immediately, who and what task will be affected by them, when the
project will finally finished, and what the final cost will be. Therefore, possible delay,
extra cost and even disputes can be avoided or minimized in the project.
Based on these demands, this paper describes an ongoing research to develop an
ontology-driven change management model in the AEC industry. Its initiative is to use
ontologies as the backbone to support the identification of complex information
interactions during the project process. In order to enable the change propagation across
different domains, this research uses intelligent agents to interact with the ontological
data, and also uses customized interface to deliver the custom-tailored change reports to
the stakeholders.
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Ontology as a common vocabulary to describe domain knowledge
Ontology is a term borrowed from the field of philosophy, where it refers to what the
world exists and how it is configured. In the Artificial Intelligence (AI)
1
2
http://www.iai-ev.de/spezifikation/IFC2x/index.htm
http://www.iai-na.org/aecxml/mission.php
domain, it is defined as a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization

(Gruber 1993, cited in Fensel 2003). Here a conceptualization refers to an abstract
model of some phenomenon in the world which identifies the concept related to the
phenomenon. For example, when we say a hippo, in our minds, we can picture what a
hippo looks like in the real world, and we can make sure that we refer to the same kind of
animal. By this means, people from different perspectives can reach consensus through
commitment to that ontology.
A set of common ontologies can be used to model certain knowledge in different
domains of discourse, thus people involved can speak the same language without
necessarily sharing a global knowledge base. By this means, knowledge can become
reusable across different domains without the point-to-point translation between pairs of
applications.
Based on the above characteristics of ontologies, they are widely used in the
collaborative works, where different professionals need to interact with each other to
achieve a cornmon goal.
520
2.2 The role of ontologies in the AEC industry

During the construction process, heterogeneous information is produced in different
domains by different professionals, e.g. architect, structural engineer, contractor, quantity
surveyor, E & M engineer, etc. They have different requirements and perspectives to
handle the information. Therefore, it is common to see information is misinterpreted or
lost in the downstream process. This is because current IT supports information
exchanged in standard formats, but with little or no semantic interpretation. For example,
with the development of IFC, now different CAD systems can reuse the building product
models if they are IFC compatible. However, professionals still interpret the drawings
from their own points of view, and sometimes this results in conflicts.
If we view all the documents generated in the communication process are shared
representations, then they only reflect the individual understandings. How to facilitate a
shared understanding among different professionals has aroused much research
awareness in the AEC industry. Ontologies are supposed to benefit this communication
process by embedding domain knowledge into the common representations or agents
(human or artificial) to enable a shared understanding. The development in knowledge
management and intelligent agents are trying to create computing tools capable for
semantic interpretation of information in a rational manner.
2.3 Existing ontologies in the AEC industry
As stated above, the AEC industry needs a common terminology to structure the
information in a computer interpretable manner. Over the past few years, sets of
classifications/taxonomies have been developed by various organizations. For example,
the IFC developed by IAI, and the IFD (International Framework for Dictionaries)
developed by ISO TC59/SC13/WG6. The former develops the EXPRESS language and
the schema EXPRESS-G based on the object-oriented modeling language to describe the
building entities and their relationships. It is endorsed by ISO TC184/SC4 as ISO PAS
16739 in November 2002. It has achieved quite a success and popularity that now it has
been adopted by many new developed visual design tools. The latter develops a
framework for object-oriented information exchange. It is an EXPRESS model
standardized in ISO/DIS 120063. Several countries have started building dictionaries
based on IFD. For example, BARB in Norway, SDC in France, and LexiCon in
Netherlands etc. They define the ontology dictionary including wall, floor, brick,
bridge deck, etc. in the AEC industry. With this, they aim to keep consistency in naming
and usage of the terms and their properties in software applications. IFC and IFD are
currently being harmonized through the work of XM-7.
The taxonomies existing in the AEC industry can be regarded as highly structured
ontologies. We argue that ontologies are more than that. However, at current preliminary
stage, the ontologies that we developed are based on them.
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2.4 Intelligent agents

After the introduction of the background of ontologies, we would like to introduce the
intelligent agents before we propose the framework of information change management.
An intelligent agent is defined as an autonomous, (preferably) intelligent,
collaborative, adaptive computational entity. Here, intelligence is the ability to infer and
execute needed actions, and seek and incorporate relevant information, given certain
goals.3 As stated in the definition, the key features of intelligent agents include:
autonomy, where agent can formulate its own goals and act to meet the clients
requirements; co-operation, where multiple agents can co-ordinate with each other to
fulfill the desired tasks; learning, where agents can learn as they react/interact with
external environment.
Having above features, agents are widely used in workflow management, business
process reengineering, information retrieval and management, e-commerce, personal
digital assistants, etc.
These software agents operate on some standard platforms, such as XML (Extensible
Markup Language), CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), Java, etc,
and they communicate with each other in some common languages, e.g. KQML
(Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language),
3
http://www-2.cs.cmu.cdu/~softagents/intro.htm
ACL (Agent Communication Language), IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol), XMLbased scripting language, etc.
3 THE FRAMEWORK OF INFORMATION CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
After reviewing the necessary background, here we propose the framework of
information change management. We argue that in future Internet-based project
management systems, different stakeholders will have their own agents on behalf of them
to exchange information and update the changes. The agent will have the ontology as its
backbone, and customized workspace as its representation interface. We illustrate this
idea as below:
As figure 1 shows, the framework is consisted of three layers, i.e. interface layer,
application layer and theory core layer. We discuss them in more details:
Ontology (Theory core layer)
This layer is the backbone for other layers. It defines a common vocabulary for
different agents to communicate with each other, and supports the users to
customize their interfaces based on their preferences. In this layer, terms are
defined and used consistently in naming objects, e.g. task, pre-condition, postcondition, etc. This is the requisite for an explicit representation of a shared
understanding of different domains.
522
Information Agents (Application layer)

During the construction process, the Information Agents create/collect ontologies
for their masters
Figure 1. Proposed framework for

intelligent change management.
from the project resources, i.e. documents, drawings, mail, etc. They group the
planed process into the Plan Library, and query/answer the particular requests
from the Task Agents. This process can be automatically or semi-automatically
with the support of current/developing technologies.
Plan Library (Application layer)
This is the library of the workflow engine, where the process templates are
collected and stored by the Information Agents. In this library, tasks are
decomposed according to the planed process. There are some constraints in order
to execute the tasks, i.e., preceding tasks must be completed, the pre-conditions
must be fiilfilled and the post-conditions will be achieved upon task completion.
Moreover, the responsible parties, the time/schedule and the cost that associate
with the tasks are presented in this library. When there are new changes occur,
523
this library has all the planed time, cost and process templates for Information
Agents to extract the related information.
Organization Sever (Application layer)
This server allows the Information Agents to collect information across the
organization boundaries, and stores the plan library specific to that organization,
where the Interface Agents can be designed to fit for specific purpose.
Task Agents (Application layer)
If we classify the Information Agents as internal agents for specific organizations
to structure information for them, then the Task Agents are external ones for
different organizations to exchange information and negotiate with each other in
case of conflicts. Because changes are initiated by one organization, and then
propagated to other ones, we need this kind of agents to roam from one
organization to another to collect the updated information, and report the changes
to stakeholders.
Interface Agents (Interface layer)
Interface Agents represent the users to respond to the Task Agents, and facilitate
the results to be displayed in a way that satisfies the users preferences. For
example, users can choose the preference as manual input or selection to
display the options.
Customized Workspace: Internet-based System (Interface layer)
After the manipulation of Interface Agents, different users can have their own
customized Web pages, and this is integrated into the Internet-based project
management systems.
With the implementation of the framework, changes are supposed to be delivered to the
right hand at the right time, thus possible delay due to information neglect can be
avoided, fast reaction can be initiated, and efficient authorization process can be enabled.
Figure 2. Example of ontologies

related to change of space.
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4 ONTOLOGICAL ENGINEERING FOR MODELING

INFORMATION CHANGES
After setting up a framework of information change management, we developed some
preliminary ontolo gies to investigate how to model the information changes to enable
intelligent agents to make use of. We use the following example for ontological
engineering, and use Protg 2000 to implement it.
4.1 Modeling example
During construction, the architect receives a clients requirement to change the size of a
conference room. To implement the clients requirement, the architect relocates one of
the partition walls of the conference room. The wall is between the conference room and
the adjacent multipurpose function room. Hence the change implemented is just a
relocation of a partition wall. However, the impacts of this change result in the change of
two rooms space in the architecture domain, the change of air-conditioning design in the
HVAC domain, and the change of structural design in the structural analysis domain, etc.
The impact on the construction process depends on the current states of construction. If
that partition wall has been constructed, it means a demolition of the wall is required.
That means extra time and cost. If not, it means a slight modification to the construction
program.
4.2 Modeling toolProtg 2000
To develop ontologies, several ontology editor software can be chose, such as Protg
20004, Ontolingua,
4
http://protege.stanford.edu/index.html
WebOnto, OntoEdit, etc. In this paper, we use Protg 2000, a graphical tool for ontology
editing and knowledge acquisition with new and evolving Semantic Web language, i.e.
OWL and ezOWL plugin. Comparing with other software, Protg 2000 can interoperate
with other ontology development platforms and support for most of the activities of
ontology lifecycle (Corcho et al., 2002). It concentrates on the concept models instead of
the syntax of the languages to be used on the web. One of the advantages of Protege 2000
is translating a model from one language to another is as easy as selecting a save as
item from a menu. Another key feature of Protg 2000 is it allows the user to define the
meta-class and metaslots to fit for the personal needs of concept modeling. For more
technical information, please refer to its website.
4.3 Implementation
In our research, we make use of IFC 22 to develop ontologies. In IFC, there are welldeveloped entities and relationships. According to the example mentioned above, the
entity, IfcSpaceProgram, is used to define the client requirements for the space before
the building is designed. Space programs can change over the life cycle of a building,
525
after the building is occupied. Changes to space programs take place in the facilities
management/operations phase of the building life cycle.5 Based on this, we model some
key concepts and their relationships shown as figure 2.
In this model, objects/entities are represented as classes with the properties/attributes
as slots, and
5
http://www.iai-ev.de/spezifikation/IFC2x/index.htm
Figure 3. Example of ontology

specification related to change of
space.
there are forms to enable capturing realistic knowledge as instances. After all the needed
ontologies are finished, users can query the knowledge model to get the desired
information.
These taxonomies can be exported as OWL format specifications shown as figure 3.
As ontology development is an iterative process, our research is still at its preliminary
stage. However, we demonstrate the possibility to develop ontologies in different
domains, which can be linked by relationships across domain boundaries. For example,
entity IfcRelSpaceBoundary is linked to entity IfcElement by the
526
RelatedBuildingElement relationship. The former belongs to the architecture domain, and

the latter can be linked to the structural analysis domain. With different ontologies
developed in different domains, we can enable different agents to embed this knowledge
as their backbones to communicate with each other.
5 DISCUSSION AND RELATED WORKS
As discussed above, we aim to develop some ontologies to enable agents to identify
changes, and propagate them to the stakeholders in a custom-tailored way. Existing
research works to reflect the impact of changes may be the use of Excel spreadsheet to
automatically update the affected data, e.g. Barron and Fischer (2001). They use tables as
the schema to capture the implications of changes. For example, the column may state the
business process, and the rows may state resource, actor, cost, duration time, output
documents, etc. Different tables can be linked together to interpret the implications. It is a
very powerfiil way to reflect the impact of changes.
Moreover, some researchers, e.g. Schevers (2004) use UML to develop Model Objects
and Behaviour Objects to model the change propagation by using the invokes relation.
When the first Behaviour Object is invoked, it may change the property value, invoking
another Behaviour Object. Subsequently, it could result in a chain of reactions. (p.85)
This research uses a similar concept in modeling the ontologies and their relationships,
and also in an attempt to model the design change propagation.
However, is there any theory behind the use of spreadsheet to model the process and
manage the changes? Or is there any better way for information change management?
We argue that what the spreadsheet represents is a preliminary ontology. Ontologies
may have different layers/levels, which correspond to different granularities of
conceptualization. Under this assumption, we are doing a research to explore the usage of
ontologies in modeling the information changes in the project process. With this, we hope
to find out the structure of ontologies, and explore how they can be integrated into
existing applications in the AEC industry, e.g. CAD system, plan and scheduling
program, cost estimation program, etc. These developed ontologies will be able to benefit
the interaction between the ontological data and the applications. By this means, an
effective information management is not so far away according the stakeholders
demands.
6 CONCLUSION
Due to the fact that various uncertainties, complexity of task and mobility of people
involved in the construction process, changes are inevitable. In this paper, we try to
illustrate how ontologies can help to manage the changes in the AEC industry. We argue
that in the future, different stakeholders will have their own agents on behalf of them,
which can identify the latest changes, evaluate their impacts and give customized reports
to advise the stakeholders how to cope with the changes. Ontologies are expected to act
as the backbone to support this.
527
REFERENCES
Barron, A and Fischer, M. (2001) Potential Benefits of Internet-Based Project Control SystemsA
Study On Change Order Processing, CIFE Technical Report #126, Stanford University,
http://www.stanford.edu/group/CIFE/Publications/index.html [April, 2004]
Corcho, O., Fernandez-Lopez, M., Comez-Perez, A. and Vicente, O. (2002) WebODE: An
Integrated Workbench for Ontology Representation, Reasoning, and Exchange, Proceedings of
13th European Knowledge Acquisition Workshop: Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge
Management: Ontologies and the Semantic Web, Editors: Gomez-Perez, A. and Benjamins,
V.R., Siguenza, Spain, pp. 138153.
Fensel, D. (2003) Semantic Web Services: A Communication Infrastructure for eWork and
eCommerce, In: Lovelle, J.M.C. et al (Eds), Web Engineering: International Conference,
ICWE2003, July 1418, 2003, Oviedo, Spain, Springer, 17.
Schevers, H. (2004) Demand Support By Virtual ExpertsSupporting the Client During the
Inception Phase of a Building and Construction Project, unpublished PhD thesis, Faculty of
Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
An ontology-driven approach for monitoring

collaborative design knowledge
Y-C.Lai & M.Carlsen
Dept of Building Technology & Structural Engineering, Aalborg
University, Aalborg, Denmark
ABSTRACT: Meeting minutes has been confined as recorded summaries
corresponding to the discussion content of a progress meeting. The
recorded summaries are sometimes used as agenda for the next meeting.
The conventional approach implemented to arrange the summaries in treestructure format results in design rationales and decision intents are
implicitly contained as paragraphs of weakly structured plain-text. The
conventional meeting minutes are also incapable of integrating pieces of
design information effectively. This paper hypothesizes that semantically
structured meeting minutes may serve as dynamic medium to record key
design information by presenting the design intents explicitly. This paper
describes a prototype system that is developed based on semantic web
technologies and ontological approach. The prototype supports design
progress meeting by generating dynamic records with respect to the
content of discussion.
1 INTRODUCTION
The building industry has become aware that an ergonomic fit project information
management system is one of the fundamental needs at the project outset so that
knowledge corresponds to the activities conducted throughout the project life can be
managed effectively. The project information management system has evolved from the
conventional paper-based mechanism to the nowadays digital based mechanism.
However, the implementation of the digital based project information system does not
respond perfectly to the demands of the building industry yet indicated weaknesses
identified from the current web technologies. This paper presents a hypothetical
knowledge management system supported by the semantic web in which ontological
approach is applied for knowledge modeling purposes. The outlines of this paper is
divided into two parts where the current practice of project information management will
be analyzed followed by a comprehensive description of the hypothetical system that is to
improve the pitfalls identified from the current practice.
1.1 Background
The design process of the building industry was characterized as a sequential conversion
flow that transforms information from technical standards, legislations and other design
An ontology-driven approach for monitoring collaborative
529
specialties into solutions and product specifications. The conventional design process as
such is typically disciplinary orientated, which means that different team actors concern
mainly about their respective interests and knowledge to formulate technical solutions
corresponding to the design requirements under their disciplinary specialties. Reworks in
designs are the consequences of this fragmented design process in order to maintain the
coherence among the numerous decisions made throughout particularly the ambiguous
and frequently changed briefing and early design process (Mesquita, 2002). Close
collaboration amongst the multidisciplinary team actors has therefore become a necessity
from the outset of a project.
2 COLLABORATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
The characteristic of building project is unique in a way to involve multi-participants
from different business natures to collaborate closely throughout the project life. It has
been custom for the building industry to organize a vast amount of information,
particularly those generated during the early design phase, with particular mechanisms to
ensure future reuse and retrieval. Basically, information that can lead to effective action
can be defined as explicit knowledge (Davies, Fensel & Van Harmelen, 2003). Both the
tacit and explicit knowledge have been recognized as the important strategic resource of
an organization (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). These two types of knowledge are reused
and shared amongst the project team actors as a means to achieve the optimum state of
collaboration. Organizing both of these two types of knowledge has also been realized as
an uneasy task (Fruchter, 2002).
2.1 The attempts
The basic need of an ergonomic fit project information management system is to enable
support of traditional project management tasks in planning, monitoring, reporting and
control of baseline scope, cost, time and quality (Archer et al., 1997). Such a system is
also expected incorporate to the mechanisms of trend forecasting and change control, and
able to manage documents in a manner that would track issues, provide fast retrieval of
relevant documents and support the time limited process for the resolution of disputes
(Archer et al., 1997). Several attempts have been conducted including the concept of
project web, which tends to apply the fast developing information communication
technologies (ICT) to manage the existing information base more effectively. A
comprehensive discussion in regard to project web associated with the technology behind
will be given in the following section of the paper.
3 METADATA AND PROJECT WEB
3.1 What is metadata
In brief, metadata is defined as data about data, and obviously metadata itself is also data.
Metadata can be embedded in the document that it describes/represents, or exist
530
separately from the document. Metadata can be used to describe any object in the
universe. Generally, metadata about an object is structured to provide a description. The
structure is common for all instances of the same type of object. A very typical example
for this is the library card system where each library card contains description of a book
such as title, author, keywords, publishing date, and so forth (NAEH, 2004b). Metadata
used in the library card system is to facilitate the library user for books searching by
considering a book as an object, having a number of properties that can be represented
with descriptive metadata. With this respect, it has been obvious that the application of
metadata has its long history in the aspect of information management.
3.2 Project web
Project web is a project-level mechanism, which is to fimction as a centralised repository
for project team actors to exchange project information during the phases of planning,
design, construction and facility management (FM). Digitalised information, such as
design drawings, progress reports and meeting minutes are available in this information
container.
3.3 Use of metadata in the building industry
Integrating information, as a mechanism to improve the efficiency of information
monitoring, becomes a crucial task for the A/E/C professionals. The mass amount of
information produced at the project outset may have a big variety of formats, including
the well structured data stored in database management system (DBMS), the semistructured HTML and/or XML files, and also the weakly structured texts/graphics/
multimedia files (Maher & Simoff, 1998). Both technical and managerial approaches
have been investigated for the purpose of improving information integration (Fisher &
Kunz, 1995). These approaches involved the use of a centralized project model that
adopts data standards ranging from the previous ISO-STEPS to the recent IFC, in which
structured data integration was the primary concern. Apart from that, some recent
researches started to take unstructured data integration into consideration. Amongst these
efforts were design tool that could capture, share and reuse project information (Fruchter,
2002), approach that could extract concepts from textual design documentation, the use
of arbitrarily metadata that could markup documentation (Briiggemann et al., 2000), as
well as the use of controlled vocabularies that could integrate heterogeneous data
representations (Kosovac et al., 2000). Apparently, metadata has been one of the
approaches under investigation by the A/E/C professionals which tended to improve data
integration.
3.4 The current practice
The use of project web by the A/E/C professionals becomes more and more widespread.
However, the conscious use of metadata in the construction industry is seldom. The use is
often limited to unconscious use of more or less occasional metadata elements in
desultory situations. Therefore the potential benefits of using metadata have decreased.
531
3.5 Case studies

Several semi-structured interviews were conducted by the author of this paper to
investigate project webs operated for the building industry. During the interviews,
limitations of project webs with respect to their respective efficiencies in information
dissemination were delineated by the interviewees, and were described hereafter.
Information was first categorized based on some sort of relations, and was then archived
under different electronic file folders corresponding to the information categories. Semiand unstructured information such as briefing notes, design rationale, and e-mail
messages, was usually not stored in the project web. In general, e-mail messages were
collected in another project-level digital information source while the paper-based
information was kept in company-level paper-based archives such as filing cabinets.
Drawings were generated at every stage with respect to the change of design, but only the
final version was uploaded to the project web. In brief, such descriptions reflected the
implication of fragmentary communication and information flow in project web. As a
consequence, project web turned out to be highly dependent on inefficient human efforts
in processing such as searching, browsing and extracting the stored information.
Comments about the contribution of project web in the regular basis design progress
meeting were also given by interviewees. It was commented that, meeting participants
(i.e. project team actors) required spending rather long time to read a specific piece of
information in order to comprehend its context during the discussion in the meeting. It
was also observed that meeting participants faced the difficulty of finding a specific piece
of document during the meeting, particularly when the need of the specific document
arose at random. On the other hand, the person who was responsible for making meeting
minutes tempted to capture the discussion content on papers. The captured information
would then be transformed to digital format with word processor tool after the
completion of the meeting before it could be uploaded to project web, which resulted in
repetition of workload. The conventional notes-taking approach also structured the
meeting summaries in tree-structure format with design rationales and decision intent
implicitly contained in written plain text. The implicit design rationales and decision
intents could only be interpreted rapidly by those who attended the meeting and actively
joined the discussion. For those who did not participate the meeting but were interested in
following the design progress, extra time needed to be spent to collate and review the
series of meeting minutes that were stitched with time element. The conventional meeting
minutes were also incapable of integrating pieces of design information that had been
produced throughout the early design process. This increased the time needed to review
the stitches of meeting minutes in particular when the necessity to gather the relevant but
scattered design information arose.
3.6 The analysis of questionnaire survey
The Danish National Agency for Enterprise and Housing conducted a series of
questionnaire surveys to study a blend of eight Danish and international project webs to
what extent metadata was applied in their respective systems (NAEH, 2004a). The
purpose of the study was to understand the current situation of metadata implemented in
order to look into potential improvements when necessary. The analysis with respect to
the result of the survey study indicated that there was between the systems a big diversity
532
if users were obliged to use metadata to connect to files. Only in half of the systems a
search on metadata could be done otherwise they were just indicated when the user
browsed the files. In fact, it was only possible to make a direct search on metadata in very
few systems. User reactions therefore claimed that the retrieval of documents often took
place in a list named e.g. New Documents or Since last Time. This list was sorted by
date and contained therefore documents concerning quite different subjects. The list was
emptied after each visit and the documents were automatically stored in folders that
corresponded to categories of the different subjects. This user pattern illustrated the
unawareness of users with respect to the functionalities of the system or more likely that
document retrieval functioning on metadata was poorly developed.
The connection of metadata to files was either done automatically by the system or
manually by the user. The automatically connected elements were often of the type as
Date, User ID and File Name (NAEH, 2004b). Only a few elements such as Document
Number and Revision were mandatory while the rest were optional. The optional
elements were sometimes used with different approaches or just ignored by the system
user.
In most cases, the metadata elements did not follow a common standard. The elements
were defined on the basis of the providers preferences indifferent of actual user needs or
patterns. The standards that were used to define the metadata elements were either out of
date or uncommonly used and therefore useless (NAEH, 2004b).
For the further work with metadata in project webs systems with respect to these
shortcomings, it would be naturally to follow a standard. ISO/IEC 820455 Document
managementPart 5: Application of metadata for the construction and facility
management sector which is a standard for the utilization of metadata in the construction
industry providing four metadata sets each of which directed to specific phases of the
construction process (ISO/IEC CD 820455). The standard is under development.
For some project team actors such a standard would make some limitations to their
work procedure and require modifications, but in accordance with common
understanding a poor standard is better than no standard. With the standard proposed by
ISO/IEC 820455, it would be possible to raise the use of project web systems from
merely document containers to more intelligent document management systems. By
following a standard the users would be presented with the same user interface
independent of which project web system the actual construction project is using. The
transfer of data from one system to another would become less problematic.
4 THE HYPOTHETICAL SYSTEM
4.1 The concept
With reference to the comments given by interviewees and the analyses of questionnaires
survey, a semantic web based knowledge management system is developed to improve
the management of project information which is a crucial means to enhance collaboration
amongst project actors (Lai et al., 2002; Lai et al., 2003). The system is primarily devised
to integrate pieces of information generated at the iterative early design stage in order to
provide decision making support in a multi-actors environment where information is
533
archived in heterogeneous sources. Pieces of information in this case are hypothesized as

information chunks which respectively represent different discussion issues in a meeting.
Each of these issues can be represented as an object while document is represented as the
container for the information objects (Fig. 1). Annotate information chuck with metadata
is a method to integrate information in a way to make the relationships between the
different pieces of information explicit.
Progress meetings are one of the important collaboration activities since the project
outset. Notes-taking has been a common practice to record discussion content of a
meeting. This prototype system is thus
Figure 1. Representations of
information and document.
developed to support progress meeting, and meeting minutes is chosen as the medium for
integrating information. The prototype may be an alternative method of capturing
discussion content of design progress meetings rather than the conventional notes-taking
534
approach. In light of the limited use of conventional meeting minutes, the prototype
system is also devised to provide fast and precise semantic search, and to capture the
intent and rationale behind decisions made during the early design process. The prototype
system is envisioned to fulfil the following tasks:
To integrate information that is distributed in heterogeneous sources without using one
central repository to reduce repetition of workload.
To capture and store discussion content wherein design rationale and decision intent are
intrinsically encompassed.
To organise the captured information in a way that is both human and machine
readable.
To contextualise the captured information in representation that may improve the
humans efficiency to interpret its implicit meaning.
4.2 The tools used
The semantic web (Bernes-Lee, 2001) technologies were chosen as the core of the
prototype system. In order to fulfil its tasks, the prototype system was built based on an
underlying ontology model so that the discussion content is organized in a semanticbased network. Resource Description Framework and its Schema (RDF(S)), the de facto
standards proposed by the industry group W3C (W3C, 2002) are adopted to develop the
ontology model of the prototype system mainly due to the availability of several open
source RDF(S) tools.
Protege 2.01, an open source ontology editor is used to develop the form-based user
interface of the prototype system. This user interface is to facilitate the system user
establishing RDF data file based on the lightweight ontology model, which is written in
RDFS. Sesame 1.0 (detail see http://sesame.aidministration.nl/), an open source RDF(S)
based repository and querying facility is used as the development base of the prototype
system. RQL, query language used in Sesame, is also implemented in this prototype
system as the means of accessing information in RDF(S) (detail see Broekstra &
Kampman, 2001).
4.3 The implementation
The underlying ontology model of the prototype system consists of a few modular
components, which respectively is ontology, as illustrated in Figure 2. Each of these
ontologies describes another aspect of interest, for instance the team-profile ontology
describing the profile of the design team. The modular characteristic with respect to the
ontologies network streamlines the prototypes flexibility for future expansion. Each
modular component within the ontologies network is accessible through uniquely
specified URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). This modular characteristic permits the
scattered information including the existent data and the respective ontologies not to be
collected under one central repository.
535
Figure 2. The modular characteristic of

ontology network implemented in the
prototype.
Form-based user interface is chosen as the mechanism to annotate the content of the
meeting minutes with a set of metadata that is pre-defined in the ontology model,
including Infoblock Author (denotes the person who raised the discussion issue),
Discussion Date, Text (denotes the discussion content), Title (denotes the title of the
discussion issue) and so forth. With this set of metadata, the content of the meeting
minutes could be semantically structured, and become readable to the machine and easily
interpretable to the human. As shown in Figure 3, for instance: <has_action_taker> Joe
Young </has_action_taker> illustrates that Joe Young would take the action on
something that was discussed in the meeting. The form filling user interface is chosen
because form-filling has been a familiar activity for most computer users. The filled-up
form represents a dynamic meeting minute with all of the annotated information
populates in the RDF(S) based repository. The annotated information can be stored
separately from its corresponding ontology. Queries can be established by system user to
initiate semantic search (for details please see Lai et al., 2003). The searched result,
which is a list of URIs, is accessible to the system user provided that all of the relevant
repositories are connected to the Internet.
Figure 3. The form filling user

interface supported by the prototype to
generate dynamic and semantic
structured meeting minutes.
Figure 4. The contextual map feature

supported by the prototype as a means
to make the relations between issues
explicit based on reasoning derived
from the ontologies network.
536
537
5 DISCUSSION
The prototype is to test if ontology-driven approach is contributable to collaborative
design knowledge management. At this stage, the reasoning structure of the prototype
system is evaluated by populating instances to the underlying ontology model via the
form-filling user interface. The interim findings have identified that the current metadata
initiatives are insufficient for the prototype to fulfil all of its tasks. These initiatives focus
on the encoding of primary content attributes of resources (e.g. documents, datasets, etc),
such as author, date, location ID, and so forth, with the purpose merely to improve
information retrieval and interoperability. In order to fulfil all of its tasks, the prototype
system is devised one step forward to take the challenge claimed by Goel (Goel, 1995),
which is to provide possible means for analyzing the contents from group discussions so
that the idea flow can be traced.
Ideas with respect to various issues were generated, shared, and discussed during the
design progress meetings. These ideas comprise newly defined or existing design
problems, propositions to solutions, as well as the solutions themselves. The relationship
between these ideas was implicitly written as plain-text messages in the conventional
meeting minutes. The implicit relationship between these ideas can be made explicit by
contextualizing them with reference to the propositions given by Shum et al. (2002) so
that the flow of ideas can be traced, i.e.
1. The intellectual lineage of ideas, for instance, where has this idea come from, is this
idea a problem or proposition, has this problem been solved, are there any precedent
cases?
2. The impact of ideas, for instance, what was the impact of this proposition to its
problem and to other proposition?
3. Inconsistencies, for instance, did the solution gain unanimous agreement from the
project team, what was the reason given as opposition?
Contextualizing information in such a way is similar to overlaying interpretation of
contents explicitly based on the semantic network derived from the underlying ontology
model. As shown in Figure 4, the contextual map, which is part of the prototype system
devised for this purpose, allows system users to model the semantic relationships
between information graphically by binding the different sets of annotated ideas with
context dependent relations (or properties as defined in RDF(S)). Please see Lai (2004)
for the detailed explanation with respect to this knowledge authoring approach. With
reference to Figure 4, <Agreement> and <Problem> were two of the examples of
metadata used in the prototype system to annotate the information content, and solved_by
was the example of relations used to disclose the semantic relationships between
information. Briefly, disclosing the semantic relationships between information
graphically as illustrated in Figure 4 may reduce the time users will spend to digest the
non-relevant information and therefore enable the users to manage information of interest
more efficiently.
At this stage, metadata used in the prototype was arbitrarily defined based on its
meaning in natural language. Vocabularies were chosen on the basis of their expressive
semantic in describing collaborative design process. Use of arbitrary metadata is a pitfall
538
that may hinder effective information interoperability as already identified in the project
web system in Section 3.6.
6 CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORK
Design rationale and decision intent are intrinsically contained in the discussion content
of the design progress meeting. Discussion content has been conventionally captured in
meeting minutes simply as a piece of plain-text document written in natural language.
This piece of document is circulated amongst the project team actors. Sources of design
information that is referred to during discussion are usually specified in this plain-text
record. By making use of the technologies of Semantic Web and ontologies, the
conventional meeting minutes is envisioned upgradeable to a dynamic and semantically
structured medium. The implication is that this medium may handle the mass quantity of
design information effectively by eliminating repetition of workload. The dynamic
meeting minutes may also allow the design intents be explicitly presented instead of
implicitly described in plain-text records. This envisioned system will be a medium for
project team actors to manipulate (store, index, search and retrieve) knowledge as well as
the corresponding meta knowledge effectively
The proposition of further research is to examine the possibility of incorporating the
standards for metadata as proposed by the ISO/IEC 820455 in the ontology modeling
process. This consideration may avoid repeating the same imperfection of project web
while offering a coordinated strategy for better mapping of metadata between different
knowledge management systems. A promising standard may adapt the prototype
knowledge management system not only sufficient to serve the early design stage but
also to serve the whole building life cycle.
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Setting up the open semantic infrastructure for

the construction sector in Europethe
FUNSIEC project
C.Lima, B.Fis & C.Ferreira da Silva
Centre Scientiflque et Technique du Btiment, Route des Lucioles, Sophia
Antipolis, France
S.Barresi
Information Systems Institute, University of Salford, UK
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the work to be done by the FUNSIEC
project, which aims to evaluate the feasibility of building an Open
Semantic Infrastructure for the European Construction Sector (OSIECS).
Such an infrastructure is to be built by selecting semantic resources
devoted to construction in different languages, exploiting some public
results produced by international initiatives (e.g. IFC) and European
funded projects. OSIECS will be open to any linguistic resources; in
particular those developed for less widely spoken languages and those of
the Candidates countries. The innovation in OSIECS is to be on the
semantic mappings to be established among the existing semantic
resources. The assessment of the results produced by FUNSIEC is centred
on the main subjects: its business plan and the education (in the large
sense) of the practitioners from Construction regarding the use of
semantic resources.
1 INTRODUCTION
Historically, construction projects have been organised on a local or national basis.
Construction, over the last decades, has become a global industry, with a variety of
activities, carried out on an international scale. For instance, the process of design has
followed international practice of creating a supply chain of independent companies, each
adding value in a particular area.
The result has been a large number of SMEs representing architectural practices, and
firms of structural and building services engineers. This situation results in a very highly
fragmented, heterogeneous, chain of information (complying with diverse official and de
facto standards) in the building process.
One of the major consequences in this scenario is the difficulty to communicate
effectively and efficiently among partners during a building project or between clients
and suppliers of construction products. This is a well-known problem, and several
European and international initiatives have tried to overcome this problem by producing
dictionaries, thesauri, and several semantic resources (e.g. BS6100 glossary, the e-
Setting up the open semantic
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Cognos ontology, the LexiCon, bcXML Meta-schema/Language) focused on Building

and Construction terms to facilitate communication and improve understanding among
the various stakeholders operating on a construction project.
However, even considering the convergent efforts found in some initiatives (e.g. the eCOGNOS ontology uses IFC concepts and is bcXML-compliant), most of these semantic
sources are non-interoperable and cannot be easily used by either service providers or
users in general. There is a need to gather and characterise all these resources, establish
semantic links among them and make them available through a single access point.
Moreover, this structured pool of resources should be open to new resources in order to
extend its scope by taking into account new sub-domains or new languages. The
feasibility study to be carried out by the FUNSIEC intends to provide an answer to this
need.
This paper is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the context of work in which
FUNSIEC is developed. Section 3 discusses the FUNSIEC approach. Section 4 presents
the inputs used in FUNSIEC. Section 5 reports the current status of the project and the
problems envisaged. Finally, Section 6 concludes the paper including the work to be
done.
2 CONTEXT OF THE WORK
The general aim of the FUNSIEC project is to study the feasibility of building and
maintaining an Open Semantic Infrastructure for the European Construction Sector
(OSIECS) at a technical, organisational and business level. Such an infrastructure is to be
built by gathering semantic resources devoted to the construction sector in different
languages, including public results produced by international initiatives and EC-funded
projects. OSIECS will be made available to content and service providers, as well as to
other actors in the construction area, to help them exploit fully the advantages of
Construction-oriented semantic-based e-resources.
FUNSIEC is also committed to evaluate the best alternatives to set up and maintain
semantic mappings amongst the available (semantic) resources, in order to foster the
complementarities among these diverse resources and favour the emergence of new
services, especially those supporting multiple languages. These mappings are to be
supported by a neutral language-independent representation of construction concepts,
where the promising candidate is the recommendation from the Semantic Web group, the
OWL language.
In order to develop OSIECS, the work to be carried out in FUNSIEC follows major
trends and strategies currently in place in Europe on one hand and, on the other hand, it
can (likely) be a good mechanism to provide answers to the business needs related to the
use of what is named Semantic Resource (SR) in FUNSIEC. A Semantic Resource is a
generic term used to refer dictionaries, taxonomies, ontologies, and other similar types of
resources where semantics play a crucial role.
A good reference taken by FUNSIEC is the eConstruction Workshop, which was
performed under the umbrella of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN).
This workshop, which was actually a series of workshops helped by the SPICE project1,
produced a number of CEN Workshop Agreements (CWAs) on ICT-related matters
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covering an architecture identifying an infrastructure and some of its actual key

components (meta-schema, SRs and supporting software tools), all relevant in the context
of Construction Processes.
All in all, FUNSIECs work considers four major points, namely: (i) the state of the art
in relation to the development and use of construction-oriented semantic-based eresources; (ii) the identification of appropriate e-services (supported by existing or to be
developed tools) that could exploit OSIECS; (iii) the definition of relevant and pragmatic
partnerships (including content and service providers) likely to sustain the development
and ensure the business viability of OSIECS; and finally (iv) an implementation plan
recommending the future actions to be performed in order to maintain and enrich
OSIECS.
2.1 The FUNSIEC vision
The FUNSIEC project is not a classical RTD project. Rather, the feasibility parameter
drives the work toward a pragmatic analysis of the potential business-oriented benefits
that can be achieved by the construction sector in general and by the content/service
providers in a more specific way.
It is true that there is a gap between the results delivered by researchers and their
adoption by the industry. This is the way of foreseeing the future of the business.
However, sometimes the language and the mechanisms used to promote the research
results are not elaborated from the viewpoint of the final users. FUNSIEC is committed
to help educating the construction sector over the theme semantic resources
considering that semantics/meaning can be used to raise the gains of the sector.
2.2 Rationale and motivations
FUNSIEC work is committed to help finding answers to the requirements identified by
the CEN/ISSS roadmap that have to be fulfilled in order to put in place the eEurope 2005
goal: interoperable systems, common resources of open and accessible content, and
guidance through examples, awareness and training.
One fundamental element in the standardisation domain is the collaborative work
required to keep up and maintain the promotion of the standards. The alliance of key
players from the domain is vital in this process. FUNSIEC targets this matter by
promoting the partnership of European (and not only) organisations that can contribute to
produce better results as well as to disseminate them.
Equally relevant in FUNSIEC work is the (e)business side of the story. FUNSIEC
intends to be an instrument to help promoting e-business practices into the construction
community. The goal is to become the landing place for the sector where people can get
educated by knowing the SRs currently available and potentially usable by construction
in Europe, by seeing usage scenarios for these SRs, and by having access to on-line
tutorials and demonstrations of the software tools (films or simple mock-ups) handling
the SRs.
The success of FUNSIEC is to be assessed by three main results: the quality business
plan, the establishment of the so-named FUNSIEC Semantic Experience Centre, and
the OSIECS infrastructure. The first is to be used as an instrument to support the
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development of new businesses exploiting the available semantic resources for the
construction sector. The second, a very ambitious one, is to be used as the main
instrument in the FUNSIEC quest towards the education of the construction sector over
semantic-related matters. Finally, the third one will rely on the
1
SPICE project is an European initiative that was over May 2004. Its main goal was to produce a
set of CEN Workshop Agreements (CWA) in order to support the establishment of the
eConstruction (e-world for Construction) in Europe.
technical quality of OSIECS, especially considering its openness, simplicity, and

usability.
3 THE FUNSIEC APPROACH (CS)
3.1 General overview
FUNSIEC targets the current situation where there are standards (both official and de
facto), classification systems, taxonomies, ontologies, and related technologies and tools
that are used either in a complementary or in a completely isolated way, in order to
produce the frameworkOSIECS in Figure 1where the above mentioned elements can
be combined in a inter-related and holistic fashion. The OSIECS Kernel represents the
holistic inter-link connecting a plethora of different existing semantic e-resources
targeting the BC sector. Additionally, this kernel is to provide an open door through
which new e-resources can become integral part of OSIECS in the future.
FUNSIEC intends to carry out feasibility study targeting four major points, namely:
The state ofthe art analysis: analysis and evaluation of the current situation in Europe
regarding standards (official/de facto), classification systems, taxonomies, ontologies
and the related technologies and tools currently available.
Services characterisation: description of the electronic services that could represent a
benefit for the building actors. Some examples of such services are the following:
publication and management of electronic catalogues of products, standard-based
search of construction products across multiple catalogues (one single query, several
searches through multiple catalogues), and ontology-based search of knowledge;
Partnerships: on one hand, this is related to the identification of the more
representative organisations in Europe that must work together in order to produce
OSIECS. On the other hand, this includes the setting-up of a set of procedures (likely
supported by rules of cooperation, formal organisational models and tools) aiming at
enabling small (but not less important) organisations and their respective
resources/initiatives (e.g. regional dictionaries) to be incorporated as part of the
FUNSIEC framework.
Implementation plan: this is the definition of the various actions required to foment the
cooperation among the institutions identified for the partnership, taking as input the
analysis of the state of the art and the added-value services to be built upon OSIECS.
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Beyond the simple pooling of linguistic resources, the project aims at creating a
harmonised environment where each resource is clearly characterised
Figure 1. The FUNSIEC framework.
Figure 2. Three layers in the FUNSIEC

framework.
(content, scope, usage) and situated in the overall map of resources, and where
semantic links are created among these resources.
The lack of educated users is one of the main factors explaining why the existing
SRs have not been used more intensively. Moreover, the creation of consistent linguistic
resources is most often a tedious task for content providers with no warranty on the real
profitability of the effort. This is certainly a major challenge of FUNSIEC to force these
bottlenecks and create the interest and confidence needed for both content and service
providers. This aspect is a potential risk of failure that has to be carefully evaluated
during the project.
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3.2 Three-layers based modelling

All semantic resources follow some underlying meta-model and model, even if some
times they are not explicitly stated. In order to enable interoperability between different
Semantic Resources it is unavoidable to state and understand what meta-models they
follow, beforehand. Modeling at three levels of abstraction is explained in this section.
The CEN/ISSS eConstruction Workshop recommends the use of frameworks
structured in two levels, namely meta-schema and schema. FUNSIEC considers a third
level in this framework, the instances (Fig. 2). At the highest level, there are metaschemas that describe very general and abstract concepts that are
Figure 3. Fundamental concepts

around Semantic Resources.
necessary in the structuring of an information model and those that describe broadly
sharable ideas usually being specific to building construction. A metaschema can
therefore be seen as a schema on a high level of abstraction. In the second level, the
schema represents an agreed structure expressed in some suitable and mostly formal
language for describing the things on the different description levels (e.g. a taxonomy
or an ontology). It should be able to handle both definitions and specifications (types and
occurrences) of construction-related products and services. Finally, in the bottom level,
instances are very specific representations of a schema, for instance a catalogue of
products where all the properties that define a given product has the right values defined
(e.g. catalogues of products).
From a top-down perspective, specialisation is the axis transforming a meta-schema
into instances and generalisation supports the other way round. In other words, the lower
levels represent more detailed and concrete information whilst higher levels mean more
abstract things. The lowest levels are more tangible and more clearly understood by the
ordinary users.
At the different levels, the FUNSIEC framework is to be designed taking into account
the following references, namely: the IFC model, The R&D projects eConstruct and
eCognos, the CEN/ISSS eConstruction Workshop Agreements, the ISO DIS1200632, and
the recommendations from the Semantic Web group.
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3.3 Three-layers based modelling

The fundamental definitions around the term Semantic Resources considered in
FUNSIEC are the following (Fig. 3):
Classification system/Thesaurus: a classification system is a dictionary where the terms
are related via some human-made, human-friendly ordering relations. A classification
not involving specialisation but more general broader/narrower relationships is often
referred to as a Thesaurus. These weaker relations typically stand for some
abstraction of specialisation and/or decomposition;
Dictionary: a reference list of technical terms (words) with their definitions. The
simplest dictionary, a defining dictionary, provides a core glossary of the simplest
meanings of the simplest concepts;
Ontology: denotes a (typically shared) understanding of a particular domain in terms of
concepts (abstract ideas having some semantic value) which are inter-connected
through a set of relevant relations. An ontology can be seen as a hierarchy of concepts
that becomes complete with a taxonomy of relations that is applied to it.
Taxonomy: is the backbone or skeleton part of an Ontology. A taxonomy is a
hierarchical specialisation tree/network structure of Concepts (i.e
specialisation/generalisation is one of the standard Relations);
Vocabulary: is an (alphabetical) list of technical terms (words) in a given language.
Usually, in a specialised field of knowledge such as in Building and Construction
domain, those terms, or couple of terms, intend to represent concepts.
4 THE REFERENCES USED IN FUNSIEC

The most relevant projects, initiatives and semantic resources currently available for the
construction sector in Europe are shortly described in this section.
4.1 Results produced by the European RTD projects
4.1.1 The bcBuildingDefinitions taxonomy
The eConstruct project developed a communication technology called Building and
Construction eXtensible mark-up Language (bcXML). It provides the European Building
and Construction industry with a powerful but low cost XML-based language that
primarily supports the e-business communication needed between clients, architects,
engineers, suppliers, and contractors for the procurement of products, components, and
services (Tolman et al. 2001).
In order to enable the bcXML communication lan guage to be demonstrated and
tested, the bcXML Reference Architecture was designed and a prototype demonstrator
was implemented. A number of client applications have also been implemented within
the prototype and demonstrated the proof of concept for bcXML.
The bcBuildingDefinitions is the taxonomy developed by the eConstruct project in
order to demonstrate the power of bcXML. It supports the Objects
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The ISO standard proposes a model to guide the development of taxonomies for Construction. It
is used by some SRs currently available in Europe, namely the LexiCon (the Netherlands), Barbi
(Norway), and Edibatec (France).
of interest that were used in the eConstruct end-user demonstration scenarios and
concentrates on the context of Buildings, especially Doors. It contains nearly 3000 terms
specifically related to doors and expressed in the following languages: English, French,
Dutch, German, Norwegian, and Greeklish3.
The bcBuildingDefinitions can be instantiated to create catalogue contents or the
actual requirements and solutions messages. For example consider that a user wants to
get quotations from a number of door suppliers that meet the following specification: 5
no. I hour fire resistant, internal solid core doors, Ash veneered and lippings on both
faces, door leaf height 2040mm and width 826mm.
The bcXML is primary capable of supporting simple eCommerce communication of
products (materials, components, equipment, documents) and services inside or over the
national borders. Users can specify the content of their messages (both supply and
demand) in terms used in the building and construction industry. Simple, small and clear
XML code is generated. Both B2C/C2B and B2B communication are provided. The
bcXML is also able to communicate with external taxonomies that add more complex
structuring mechanisms like specialisation, decomposition, or views.
The demonstration scenarios used in eConstruct show the use of
bcBuildingDefinitions. A given company is searching for a specific timber flush door.
Using their software tool or via the eConstruct Browser, they query the taxonomy server
in order to get the product they are looking for. They have access to the structure of the
door, they fill in the properties they are interested in and search in their native language
(assuming English) through French and German catalogues. If the product is found, the
company receives a list of the products currently available. The bcBuildingDefinitions is
used to provide the structure of timber flush door and to help the translation of the query
in different languages, since each element/concept in the taxonomy is represented in
several languages.
4.1.2 The e-COGNOS ontology
The e-COGNOS IST project developed the e-COGNOS Knowledge Management
Infrastructure (e-CKMI), a Web-based KM solution targeting the needs of the
Construction industry. Two concepts are fundamental in the e-CKMI: Knowledge Items
(KI) and Knowledge Representations (KR). The former are the real pieces of knowledge
(documents, experts, projects, organisations, etc.) and the latter are the respective
representation of KIs within e-CKML In other words, each KI is represented by a KR
within e-CKMI (Lima et al. 2003).
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Figure 4. The e-COGNOS conceptual

architecture
The e-CKMI has been developed as a middleware solution offering web services to
support KM needs in construction companies (Fig.4). Essentially, it is composed of a set
of KM Core Services representing the vital functionalities within the system. These
services have been structured into the seven categories of knowledge-related
functionalities identified in a classical KM life cycle: acquisition, cleansing/
transformation, indexing, updating, refreshing, searching/discovering, and
sharing/dissemination.
The KM services are supported by e-COSer, the ontological pillar that helps these
services perform their tasks in a semantically richer way Fundamentally, the e-COSer is
called to help prepare the best ontology-based indexes to index and find KRs. In order do
that, e-COSer uses the e-COGNOS ontology, a semantic resource domain-specific
created to support the construction needs in the context of the development of
construction projects.
The e-COGNOS ontology focuses on construction concepts as they relate to eCOGNOS main objective: consistent knowledge representation of construction
knowledge items. Such an ontology was developed taking into account relevant sources
of inspiration, namely the IFC model, the bcXML MetaSchema, the BS6100
Classification, and the DAML+OIL language, as shown in the table below.
The conceptual model of the e-COGNOS ontology is based on the bcXML metaschema. In the development of the e-COGNOS ontology, a taxonomy is considered as the
cornerstone upon which all the subsequent developments are based. The e-COGNOS
ontology is essentially composed of two taxonomies, namely a taxonomy of concepts and
a taxonomy of relations. The taxonomy of concepts is grounded on the IFC concepts,
which are used to form its highest levels.
Essentially, the e-COGNOS ontology is used to support KM practices, such as
knowledge acquisition, indexation, search, etc.. The e-COGNOS Infrastructure (e-CKMI)
acquires Knowledge ItemsKI (e.g. documents, experts, organisations, projects, etc.)
and
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Greek language written with Latin characters.
creates the respective knowledge representation (KR). This KR is then indexed through
keywords and ontological concepts. In the search process, the ontology is used to support
an so-named advanced process where the user can browse the ontology in order to
prepare his/her query in a more precise way.
A group of four end users assessed the e-COGNOS ontology as part of the e-CKMI
tool as well as in an isolated way. In the first case, the ontology was used to provide
ontological references to index their KIs. As expected, the results reported showed that
better answers were obtained when using ontological indexes. In the second case, the
users were invited to play the role of administrator of the ontology. Positive results and
precise criticisms were acquired, showing that ontologies (or semantic resources in
general) are not so well understood by ordinary users. This conclusion provides precious
insights regarding future works on this area.
The e-COGNOS vision over the development of a big ontology was confronted with
an unexpected reality. The users actually showed their preferences to use their very
specific, concise and precise taxonomies. They do not want to handle big ontologies;
rather they are perfectly happy if their small resources are in place providing the results
they are expecting. This fact has changed the concept of the e-COGNOS ontology: the
big ontology is available but it is totally customisable in the sense that a small taxonomy
with 100 concepts can replace it.
4.2 The IFC model
The primary target of the IFC model is the interoperability among software applications
within the building and construction market sector. IFC classes are therefore defined
according to the scope and the abstraction level of software systems dealing with building
and construction specific content. Thus, the IFC model has not been developed as an
ontology per se, however its object model is structured according to principles that are
common with other semantic resources (CWA3 2004).
These concepts (or terms) are defined as follows:
As predefined concepts (of IFC classes and relations), if such concepts are commonly
used across many general and construction domain specific software products. These
statically defined concepts allow to speed-up the exchange and sharing of
information and reduce the risk of ambiguous interpretation;
As open concepts (of IFC proxies for classes, or IFC property sets for attributes), if
such concepts are subjected to deep domain knowledge or are specific to certain
localities. These dynamically defined concepts allow to enhance the scope of terms
used within IFC by enabling the IFC model to be extended by the use of an external
classification or taxonomy concept.
The predefined concepts form a well defined hierarchy of terms in the sense of a
taxonomical hierarchy. At the leaf nodes of that hierarchy more dynamic means to extend
the definitions (like enumeration for special occurrence types or type objects for common
types) towards more granularities.
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The IFC model comprises several schemas that are organised according to the layer
they belong to. The schema IfcKernel defines the most abstract part within the IFC
architecture which contains the most abstract IFC entitythe IfcRoot. Each entity
defined in the core, interoperability or domain layer of the IFC model inherits (over some
intermediate steps) from the IfcRoot entity. It provides for the fundamental properties of
identification, ownership and change information, and optional label attribution. There
are three fundamental entity types in the IFC model derived from the IfcRoot, that form
the first level of specialization within the IFC class hierarchy, namely:
Objects are the generalisation of any semantically treated item within the IFC model.
An object can be: the abstract supertype, all physically tangible items physically
existing items or conceptual items, processes, controls, resources or actors. An object
gets its context information from the relationships it is involved in.
Relations are the generalisation of all relationships among items that are treaded as
objectified relationships in the IFC model. A concept of relationships is the objectified
relationshipIfcRelationshipwhich is the preferred way to handle relationships
among objects. This allows to keep the relationship specific properties directly in the
relationship object and to uncouple the relationship semantics from the object
attributes. The introduction of the objectified relationships also allows the
development of a separate subtype tree for the relationship semantics.
Properties are the generalisation of all characteristics (either types or partial type, i.e.,
property sets) that may be assigned to objects. The property definition
IfcPropertyDefinitionis the generalisation of all characteristics of objects. It reflects
the specific information of an object type, versus the occurrence information of the
actual object in the project context. The property definition gets applied to the objects
using the concept of relationships.
The entities of the IfcKernel schemata are organised in a taxonomy, which is not the case
for the entities belonging to other schemas. This is a consequence of the object oriented
approach of the IFC model. In that case, there is no real need for an explicit organisation
of the concepts; rather the IfcEntities are related among themselves through explicitly
defined relations.
4.3 The ISO 120063 family
ISO 120063 is a Construction specific standard that defines a schema for a taxonomy
model, which provides the ability to define concepts by means of properties, to group
concepts, and to define relationships between concepts (Fig. 5). Objects, collections and
relationships are the basic entities of the model. The set of properties associated with an
object provide the formal definition of the object as well as its typical behaviour.
Properties have values, optionally expressed in units (CWA3 2004).
The role that an object is intended to play can be designated through the model and
this provides the capability to define the context within which the object is used. Each
object may have multiple names and this allows for its expression in terms of synonyms
or in multiple languages. The language name of each object must always be given in
English (the default language). An object may also be named in terms of the language of
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the location in which it is determined or used. Objects may be related to formal

classification systems through the provision of references.
Two applications of this standard are evaluated by FUNSIEC here, namely the
LexiCon (Netherlands) and BARBi (Norway).
4.3.1 The LexiCon (Netherlands)
The LexiCon is a vocabulary of terms of interest for the construction industry and as such
an implementation of ISO DIS 120063. The LexicOn is a structure for the storage of
data in such a way thatwithin a certain contextthe meaning of these data is assured.
The LexiCon therefore can be regarded as a semantic system, defining the context for
data explicitly and defining contexts within broader contexts (Wostneck 2003).
The context of the LexiCon is specific to the construction sector. In the LexiCon, all
the construction objects of interest (including materials and products) are grouped under
the heading Subject, everything dealing with the production process (maintenance,
demolishment and use) is grouped under the heading
Figure 5. Top level structure of ISO

120063.
Activity. The LexiCon only contains generalizations of Subjects and Activities, therefore,
Subjects and Activities should be interpreted as Subject types and Activity types.
4.3.2 BARBi (Nonvay)
BARBi is a project initiated by the Norwegian construction industry to establish a
reference data library with a complete collection of all concepts and objects from the
building and construction industry with associated properties and relationships. The
library will contain everything from complete constructions down to individual parts or
products. Resources, activities and references to standards, classification tables and
application protocols like IFC and STEP-APs (Standard for The Exchange ofProduct
model data, Application Protocol) are included in the library. The Norwegian Building
Research Institute has a central role in the development of the library and is working in
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close cooperation with Norwegian and international organisations involved with similar
projects.
BARBi is a conceptual, object-oriented, language neutral reference data library. It is
the Norwegian version of a common reference data library based on the ISO DIS 12006
3. BARBI is conceptual because it describes objects from what they are, independent of
use and time, and not from what they are named or classified as. It is Object-oriented
because it puts the object (concept) in the centre and studies its properties and relations to
other objects. It is Language neutral because one object can have several names in the
same language, one name can refer to several objects, and because what a dictionary
gives as a translation of a word in one language not necessarily refers to the same object
in another language.
BARBi links standards, classification systems and their definitions. Every object
(concept) in BARBi has a global unique Identifier. BARBi also provides multiple
classification-and specialisation hierarchies for any concept.
4.4 The Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a vision for the future of the Web in which information is given
explicit meaning, making it easier for machines to automatically process and integrate
information available on the Web. A requirement for the Semantic Web is an ontology
language that can formally describe the meaning of terminology used in Web documents.
OWL has been designed to meet this need for a Web Ontology Language. OWL is
part of the growing stack of W3C recommendations related to the Semantic Web in
which OWL adds more vocabulary for describing properties and classes: among others,
relations between classes (e.g. disjointness), cardinality (e.g. exactly one), equality,
richer typing of properties, characteristics of properties (e.g. symmetry), and enumerated
classes.
In OWL, an ontology is a set of definitions of classes and properties, and constraints
on the way those classes and properties can be employed. An OWL ontology may include
the following elements: (i) taxonomic relations among classes; (ii) datatype properties,
descriptions of attributes of elements of classes; and (iii) instances of classes and
instances of properties.
4.5 Standardisation efforts
SPICE is an European project running together with the CEN/ISSS eConstruction
workshop aiming at helping to promote e-volution in European Construction by
providing an open discussion forum for consensus on several interrelated CEN Workshop
Agreements (CWAs)specifications needed for outworking of eConstruction.
In recent years there has been a strong cooperation between committed industry
players and the research community to create a climate of industrial interest and to
encourage industrial uptake. Fundamental to this is the establishment of standards for
eConstruction that application developers can implement to enable free flow of
information between diverse software tools. Here is where the CEN/ISSS Workshop on
eConstruction comes in, relying on the work carried out by some of the well-recognised
European institutions in this field.
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FUNSIEC is using the results produced by the CEN/ISSS eConstruction workshop

since they are valuable ones. It is clear that the FUNSIEC approach is not about
reinventing the wheel; rather it is really oriented to reuse and adopt/adapt what seems to
be the best for helping the construction sector to be educated on use and development of
SRs.
5 CURRENT STATUS OF THE PROJECT
FUNSIEC project is in its very first phase. The state of the art analysis is about to finish,
the specification of OSIECS is on the way to be started. This means that up to now only
the foundations of the work were prepared; the long way run is still to come in the next
period. The major steps to be taken are the creation of the FUNSIEC Semantic
Experience Centre (FSEC), and the specification of the OSIECS infrastructure.
The FSEC is an attempt to deploy a Web-based experience centre where
practitioners can come to see and be educated about the potential application of
semantic resources. The experience centre will use animations, films, and mock-ups, i.e.,
simple but talkative means. Complexity is out of scope of this action.
The major guidelines supporting this action are the following: (i) simplicity: be
presented in a very simple way, avoiding the classical fear created on people when
discussing ontologies, meta-schemas, and related themes; (ii) state of the art: show the
SRs currently available now in Europe; (iii) usage scenarios: show how the SRs can be
used in the business; and (iv) business arguments: explain the benefits, gains, and
advantages of using SRs.
The OSIECS specification is essentially centred on defining semantic mappings
among SRs on the one hand and on providing the required openness and flexibility to
incorporate new SRs, on the other hand. FUNSIEC approach follows the standard. The
OSIECS kernel is being developed based on the SRs previously mentioned. A
preliminary evaluation of the meta-schemas supporting each one of the SRs has been
conducted. A common meta-schema is to be designed, exploiting the best features found
on those meta-schemas. The specific richness of the ISO 120063 is to be combined with
the flexibility offered by OWL. The content of the e-COGNOS ontology can be used as
input. The simplicity of bcXML when creating and importing taxonomies cannot be
neglected.
Among the problems likely to be faced during the development of FUNSIEC project,
it is important not to neglect or underestimate the effort required to promote and
disseminate this initiative. The experience centre has to be known and used by the
targeted audience, otherwise it becomes useless. The promotion of the OSIECS
infrastructure will also require more effort than its development, for sure.
On the technical side of the (e)story, dealing with meaning is a very demanding
challenge, especially when proposing any sort of reference for a given domain.
Meaning is, sometimes, strongly related to the eyes of the observer. There are good
results available now over the matter semantic mappings and FUNSIEC will capitalise
on them. FUNSIEC believes that it is possible to combine the best features of the existing
solutions and produce a good reference with OSIECS.
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6 CONCLUSIONS AND WORK TO BE DONE

The FUNSIEC project is a small but very ambitious one. Tackling the meaning of
things and education of the practitioners in a sector that has historically rejected this sort
of initiatives is quite a challenge. However, the business aspect of the process is a very
motivating factor per se.
The technical side of the project is a very challenging one, but the business one is even
more so, still knowing in advance that the semantic mappings will pose serious problems
in the development of OSIECS. Promotion, dissemination, reach visibility of FUNSIEC
within the sector is the major challenge on the long way towards the education of
construction organisation over SRs.
Education, in the largest possible sense, is the key factor in the FUNSIEC quest.
Education requires having the right material to hand, the appropriate dissemination
channels, and well-formed preachers capable to demonstrate categorically the real
benefits and gains of standardised resources.
Last but not least, a board of Evaluators is put in place bringing together researchers
from Spain, Netherlands, England, and Canada, all of them involved with semantic
matters and in a position to assess and help developing the project in the best possible
way.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the FUNSIEC consortium for their contributions as well
as the financial support from the European Commission under the eContent programme.
REFERENCES
CEN, 2003. CEN/ISSS Roadmap for addressing key eBusiness standards issues 20032005,
Source: CEN/ISSS eBusiness Standards Focus Group, available at http://www.eeuropestandards.org/Docs/Roadmap.pdf.
Tolman F., Bohms M., Lima C., van Rees R., Fleuren J. and Stephens J., 2001. eConstruct:
expectations, solutions and results, ITcon Vol. 6, Special Issue Information and Communication
Technology Advances in the European Construction Industry, pp. 175197.
Lima C., Fies B., Zarli A., El Diraby T. and Lefrancois G., 2003. Using ontologies to support a KM
solution targeting the Construction industry, CE2003, Madeira, Portugal, July 2003.
CWA3, 2004. European eConstruction Meta-Schema (EeM), CEN/ISSS eConstruction Workshop.
Wostneck K., 2003. Classification, Taxonomy, Ontology, what do we mean with it? In: 10TH ISPE
2003, 2003, Funchal. International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and
Applications. 2003.
Practical use of the semantic web: lessons

learned and opportunities found
R.V.Rees, W.V.Vegchel & F.Tolman
Faculty ofdvil Engineering and Geosciences, Technical University Delft,
The Netherlands
ABSTRACT: This paper describes an early application of the semantic
web, the lessons learned, and the research done afterwards on elements
needing improvement. The scenario focused on private house owners that
want a contractor to build an extension to their home for an enlargement
of their living room. In the typical case, the client does not use the
services of an architect, but deals with the contractor directly, The clients
perception problems and lack of building knowledge are a severe
handicap in his dealing with the contractor and in his ability to
communicate in a clear way the desired outcome. The research question
was: Is it possible to realise adequate support for this category of clients
over the Internet?
Semantic web technologies were used in an effort to build a prototype
application to support the client. The semantic web supports linking an
item in one semantic web file directly to an item in another file, so this
mechanism was used to try out a number of separate co-operating
ontologies instead of the usual single large ontology. In the last stage, to
test out the integration with existing systems, the data describing the
living room extension was coupled with two existing classifications, one
for specifications and one for costing.
After the initial prototype, an evaluation was made. The tools used in
the process were evaluated. The idea of utilising multiple co-operating
ontologies worked well. Combining the data with existing classification
systems was straightforward and fits in well with the overall semantic web
system. Creating the content of the example ontologies, however, was an
unsatisfactory part of the prototype development. Directly usable
ontologies were not available, most were restricted to existing
classifications or were small test ontologies. The most pressing problem
was unclear separation between the functional and the technical viewpoint
and their relation to the part-of problem.
In the final research the focus became the content of the ontologies and
especially the functional/technical distinction. The second focus was the
extension of the prototype towards the automatic generation of a building
specification in a web services setting. The aim was to provide insight in
the applicability of the semantic web regarding knowledge-oriented tasks.
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1 INTRODUCTION
Meaningful (semantic) electronic communication in Building and Civil Engineering has
been researched for many years. Success has been limited however. The bottleneck was
the time-to-market of the standard itself. ISO-STEP produced paper-based standards that
first had to be implemented by the application vendors before end-users could profit.
AIA-IFC shortened the cycle somewhat, but at the cost of speeding up the number of new
releases. With the arrival of XML a new approach became feasible. The European
eConstruct project developed bcXML as an example of a web-based communication
language for Building and Construction. With the newest OWL/RDF technology many
problems disappear that eConstruct could not solve at the time. It seems that electronic
meaningful communication is finally entering the arena ready to change Building
Construction into a truly modern industry. At least that might be the case if the Semantic
Web delivers what it promises.
2 TERMINOLOGY BASELINE
To set a baseline for this paper, we will first introduce the semantic web and shortly
explain what we mean with ontology and classification.
Figure 1. Visualisation of RDF data.

2.1 RDF: the semantic webs data model
The difference between the web and the semantic web is:
Web: links from web page to web page.
Semantic web: links from individual data item to individual data item, even when
placed in a different file.
URLs used as globally unique id for identifying data items. The links themselves are also
classified
with
an
URL.
http://example.org/ont/Door
(resource):
http://example.org/ont/height (property)=2.40 (value). Values can themselves be
resources, like in http://example.org/ont/Door (resource): http://example.org/ont/material
(property)=http://example.org/ont/ Wood (resource used as value).
Practical use of the semantic
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RDF sees everything as resource-property-value triples also named subject-predicateobject. When reading multiple files, an RDF application combines all data into one set of
triples, so that data items with the same URL in both files are internally seen as one. This
means that the information in the files is combined, making it feasible to have dispersed
information that can later be combined. Also you can extend other semantic web files, for
instance you can add your own extra levels to an existing classification system.
2.2 Ontology and classification
Both the term ontology and classification will be used in this paper. As discussed in
(Rees 2003), these terms can be used to indicate multiple things, partly over-lapping. The
semantics suggested in that paper for classification:
Classification or simple classification. A grouping of entities according to some
external criteria. The grouping will be quite natural, as it is mostly made from a certain
viewpoint.
Classification is basically a set of boxes (with labels) to sort things into. It can be used
as a user-friendly view on/in a taxonomy or ontology
Likewise for ontology: Ontology is a set of well-defined concepts describing a specific
domain. The concepts are defined using an subclass hierarchy, by assigning and defining
properties and by defining relationships between the concepts etcetera.
When using the term ontology an indication should be given of the kind of ontology.
A very simple ontology could perhaps better be named taxonomy, but a heavyweight
ontology should specify and advertise its capabilities lest it be grouped with the apparent
majority of very lightweight ontologies.
An ontologys goal is to provide a common, reference-able set of concepts for use in
communication. It is quite common to use multiple ontologies, each providing concepts
for a particular domain, together forming a rich vocabulary for communication.
The intended semantics of ontology is a set of identifiable classes, placed at least
partly in a subclass hierarchy, with labels and possibly descriptions, with associated
properties.
2.3 OWL: the semantic webs ontology formal
RDF makes it possible to identify and relate data items. This by itself is not enough.
What is needed is to make the semantics of the data items explicit. An ontology can be
used to define classes and to provide a list of properties associated with those classes.
Besides being a standardised (Owl 2004) web format for ontologies, OWL also allows
a limited amount of reasoning. The semantics of the OWL model elements are welldefined, which is a necessary prerequisite for reasoning. When a certain property (say
door_height) is defined as being only allowed on a certain class (say door_leaf), any
object that has that property can be deducted as being part of that class. When needed,
this allows you to define class A as being the same as class B, but excluding those objects
that have property C.
In practice, you can for instance exclude objects from being a member of the class
load bearing walls if they are not connected to another supporting load bearing
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structural element, like a foundation. This way you can detect possible failureson the
condition, of course, that the ontologies and supporting applications are detailed enough.
3 IMPLEMENTATION OF A SEMANTIC WEB SCENARIO
This section describes an implementation of a semantic web based prototype. Much of
the work was done by graduate student Wouter van Vegchel (Vegchel 2004).
3.1 The scenario
The business scenario was directed to private house owners who want to improve and
extend their houses. Typically, no architect is involved in such a smallscale project. But
that means that the house owner (the client) has much less relevant knowledge than the
contractor. This inequality can lead to problems.
1 The client is unable to make his desires sufficiently clear to the contractor, leading to
disappointments later in the process.
2 The client is unaware of a lot of possibilities, and learns about unknown technical
solutions and alternatives during the project.
3 The client is unaware of a lot of risks, resulting in friction between the client and the
contractor.
The basic premise is that it is possible to support the private house owner with relevant
computer-based knowledge. House owner associations typically have a lot of data on
common risks. Identifying these risks beforehand allows you to prevent the risk or to
agree on the risk beforehand with the contractor, for example.
Providing the client in an early stage with multiple common alternatives for his wishes
might mean more satisfaction because of a better fit between the solution and the wish.
Ideally, a simple, but good, building specification can be generated that can form a
basis for a better and clearer contract.
The technical reason for this scenario was to provide a back to back walk-through of a
complete semantic web enabled building information exchange. There are so many
clients that have the same problem as our private house owner, though on a large scale. A
small experiment to learn about the technology, its features, and its limitations seemed
worthwhile.
3.2 The Ontology: basis for communication
Obviously the semantic web was a pre-requisite for this research. Therefore definitions of
objects used in the communication (house, extension, addition, foundation, roof, height,
and so on) were made explicit in an on-line ontology. As the Building Construction
industry is strongly fragmented, instead of developing a single huge ontology it seemed a
good idea to create multiple smaller cooperating ontologies, each for a certain domain.
Ultimately domain experts have to create the ontologies for their own domains. If
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estimates are correct some 300.000 objects with properties and units should be described;
clearly not a sma ll project.
Using OWL this possibility is becoming a real alternative, as OWL allows the mixing
of multiple ontologies. This is the semantic web in action: on the web you can link from
one document to another, on the semantic web you can link from one data item in one
location to one data item in another location. So a mechanical ventilation system can
have a subclassOf link with a more generic ventilation system in another ontology.
In the initial implementation a number small ontologies were created using Proteges
(Protege 2004) ezOWL (ezowl 2004) plug-in. The ezOWL plug-in
Figure 2. Example of the structure of

the small ontologies.
provides a graphical UML-like interface, but beyond a few dozen classes the display
becomes overcrowded. The ontologies contained the modest ad-hoc needs for the
prototype implementation. The top ontology described various types of private houses.
This ontology used sub ontologies for Roofs, Walls, Foundations and such. For example
the roof ontology described various alternative roofs the user can choose between. The
roof system was broken down into great detail, i.e. down to side board and such.
Protg is a very powerful tool that already exists for a decade. Protege is extremely
powerful as an information modeling tool, though basically only supports the subclass
relation as object structuring mechanism. This scenarios implementation added a limited
part-of relation, as it was needed. Using Protg, the main structure of the home
extension ontology consisted of small two-level hierarchies. Each two-level hierarchy
focused on a particular end-user choice. The subtypes were mainly technical solutions for
a more generic concept. The more generic concept was often used as the target for either
a relation or a part-of relation.
The prototype was implemented for a simple extension at the back of the house. After
making the required choices and filling in some properties for his project, a small
instance model is available for the client.
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3.3 The customer support tool: generating a design

With the concepts stored in the ontologies, a prototype web application was made that
supported the client in his awareness and decision process. The main focus of the effort
was to use as much as possible only the ontologies.
The starting point, a house, is fixed. But the application retrieves the available
subclasses of House and presents them as choices to the user. The selected class is then
polled for attributes, which are presented to the user (flat or tilted roof, for instance). The
design
Figure 3. Visualisation of a house with

an extension.
can be used as the basis for a visualisation (Figure 3) following the research of
eConstruct (Rees et al. 2002) where VR shapes were generated as mark-ups from bcXML
content files.
It is fair to say that, though the user seemed to have a lot of choices, the set-up
strongly resembled the principle introduced by Henri Ford (a T-Ford can be delivered in
any colour, as long as it is black).
3.4 Knowledge modelling
The next step was to look into the knowledge modelling capacity of OWL. OWL DL
(Description Logic) strongly resembles its predecessor DAML/OIL (DAML OIL 2001).
DAML/OIL has been around a couple of years and experience with description logic, or
logic programming, is amply available.
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As a test case the applicable rules in the building regulations have been added to the
ontology. As these rules are simply of an if-then-else type OWL had no problem with
them. In fact it seems that OWL DL and OWL Full provide a strong basis for this type of
applications and opens up a whole new market for knowledge vendors (including R&D
institutions). Though time became rather limited we looked into the possibility to check
the designs against a knowledge base that contained knowledge to prevent construction
errors. From what we did it seemed that this type of services can be nicely build on-top of
the ontology network. As many other services spring to mind from costs, risks, to a
multitude of analyses, the idea took shape that this might become a whole new way to
market knowledge.
3.5 Coupling with specification systems: using the available data
With the instance available, we made a coupling with the Dutch specification system. A
problem is that the Dutch specification system does not support such small projects
without an architect (it is both an implementation and a legal problem: there are two
differing legal frameworks, one for small works like these and one for bigger works with
architects, subcontractors, etc.). The work done is therefore just for test purposes.
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Figure 4. Specification generation.

The starting point was a text-based specification which was converted into an XMLformatted file (just text conversion). That was transformed (using xslt) into two separate
semantic web RDF files, one for the specifications chapter structure and one for the
actual specification items content.
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The instance was an RDF file pointing to the concepts in the ontologies. A file was
created that specified the mapping between concepts in the ontologies and specification
items. For example, House is the starting point. The mapping file specifies that for the
opening section of the specification, naming the project, the address and the description
of the extension have to be extracted from the instance. This mapping was, of course,
done in RDF.
The mapping used both push and pull. The specification pulls the info needed in
the opening section (the houses address, the extension description) from the instance.
But it just reacts (push) on a lot of other items. It only includes a section on brick walls
when the instance pushes the brick wall to the mapper. In a way, this simple solution
mimics XSLTs behaviour.
The result is an RDF file with just the specification items, but without a chapter
structure. A small program adds the relevant chapters from the separate chapter RDF file,
generated previously. This is converted to HTML at the end.
An interesting addition to this process was the conversion of the Dutch SfB
classification table (nl-SfB, elementenmethode) to a similar chapter structure and
adding the links from these chapters to the specification items. Without changing
anything in the original data, this second chapter structure could be combined with the
resulting specification items and transformed to HTML as an alternative building
specification.
To be more accurate, the first specification structure is a work breakdown structure,
which is the structure of the Dutch building specifications. The second classification (nlSfB) is normally used (in the Netherlands) for costing applications and CAD drawing
layering. As a side note, work is underway to make the nl-Sf B an alternative for the
work break-down classification in the building specifications.
4 DISCUSSION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION AND FURTHER
RESEARCH
4.1 The basic scenario as a whole
Storing the base data in ontologies worked well. Both the support application and the
specification generator could use it as a basis for communication. The possibility of
subclassing (inheritance) was used well by both applications. The client support
application displayed different kinds of houses (subclasses of House), the specification
generator needed a House instance as a starting point, but reacted also perfectly to an
instance of a subclass. This might not seem like a big deal, but there are not many current
applications that have such a thing build-in.
The real support of the client by warning him for common pitfalls etc., was not
undertaken because of time constraints. In this way, only the generation of a simple
specification as a basis for a contract provides a bit of support. On the other hand, the
ontologies contained common solutions for house extensions, preventing possible
omissions.
Regarding further work on the instance model, the next stage is obvious: a real
interaction with CAD-based data. The only currently realistic option is IFC. When
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looking at a semantic web supported scenario, it makes sense to use ifcXML. As a

baseline, ifcXML files should be downloadable on the Internet, but it makes a lot of sense
to expose the normal IFC data store fUnctionality on the Internet.
http://example.com/building42/2nd_floor could return an ifcXML file with all elements
on the second floor, http://example.com/building42/doors could return all doors in the
model.
4.2 Ontology development
The ontologies created were ad-hoc. The only objective was to support the selection of
alternative technical solutions. The small modelling needs of the case study provided the
classes for the ontologies.
4.2.1 Ontology sources
The problem is that there are no ready-made ontologies available. With ontology we
mean basically a set of classes and attributes. There are a few projects aiming at creating
such an ontology and there are a few starting points for ontology developments.
*0 120063: LexiCon, Barbi, SDC. (Includes eConstructs taxonomy, as it was LexiCon-based).
No definitive, usable results are available yet.
*1 120062: SfB-like system, but mainly a basis for classification systems. The objective is to
harmonise national and regional classification systems. The (inter-)national SfB variants have
tables with useful classes, but they are not coupled with attributes. Those tables can be a good
starting point, though. Classification systems are cornerstones in ontologies as they summarise
and organise existing knowledge (Ekholm 2004).
*2 E-cognos ontology: mainly collection of existing classification systems (BS6100, Uniclass), so
missing attributes.
*3 IFC has both classes and attributes (property sets), but separated from the standard. The choice
of classes and attributes and their definitions is in first instance based on object oriented CAD
packages (broadly spoken). It is a limited set, but the reasonably widespread use of IFC and the
attractiveness of a coupling with a CAD system make it a good candidate for inclusion or
coupling. TNO (the Netherlands) has extracted the classes and property sets as an OWL file.
The XM7 project harmonises 120063 with IFC.
A more detailed discussion can be found in CWA4 (CEN Workshop Agreement),

available at http://www.nen.nl/wseconstruction.
4.2.2 Ontological business needs
For ontologies to be created and used, they have to fulfill real business needs. The two
places in the construction process where money can be seen most readily are the
following:
Procurement: searching, buying and selling of construction materials.
Selection of technical solutions for designed objects; the coupling of a design or
designed elements with a contractors offering or possible technical solutions.
565
On a higher level, both can be seen as a matching process between supply and demand.
Objects and properties can be viewed from a functional perspective (demand) and a
technical perspective (offering, supply).
Functional objects have functional attributes, or better, functional requirements.
Unless the client demands a specific object, the demand specification will normally be
phrased with functional requirements. An example is provided below. A technical object
or, technical solution is a specific object like a brick wall.
In between the functional demand specification and the possible technical solutions
there ought to be a matching process. The functional objects in the ontology should
therefore be specific enough to allow suppliers to automate the matching process of those
fimctional objects with their products.
4.2.3 Some implications
Ontologies can perhaps best be seen as basic pieces of infrastructure, the costs of which
should be shared. Non-proprietary and a shared workload: open source. If the advantages
of generally available ontologies are realistic enough, investing in coordination, some
infrastructure and the man-hours needed to fill the ontologies should be possible. In other
(richer) industries like the medical industry huge ontology building efforts are taking
place. Their ontology web, UMLS is said to contain over 700.000 objects. The advantage
of ontology based information and knowledge sharing are obvious: a priori integration (if
based on the same ontology, applications can communicate) instead of the commonly
used a posteriori integration. It seems that in Building Construction the government has a
large stake in the development effort (provided that the results are open and given enough
momentum market forces can take over) because there is so much at stake and so much
tax payer money spoiled each year.
4.2.4 Future work
The approach followed in the presented research, combined with the indicated
demand/supply direction, gives us a few very interesting research topics.
First ontologies: The functional unit/technical solution FU/TS paradigm proposed in
the General AEC Reference Model GARM (Gielingh 1988) seems useful, but it needs to
be tested with a sizeable set of data. This directly draws attention to the part-of relation
semantics. Taking just eConstructs ontology as example, it was never clarified whether
the parts indicated in the ontology were a definitive list or just a suggested list of
common parts, or a set of obligatory parts. FU/TS includes the decomposition of a
technical solution into a few smaller functional units and so could be a good basis for a
clarification. The ISO standard 120062 is partly ftmctional-based, partly technicalbased, so this common classification needs attention.
566
Figure 5. Prototype web-based

functional unit/technical solution
editor.
A second subject of interest regarding ontologies is the specialisation hierarchy. This
mechanism is very useful, especially for data reduction. From a scientific viewpoint it is
interesting to try to combine the specialisation hierarchy with FU/TS decomposition
using multiple, smaller, ontologies as shown in this research.
A third challenge is to get an open source like ontology development off the ground.
This needs a good web-based interface for cooperative ontology development and a good,
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clear license. Preliminary think work suggests that a creative commons license
(http://www.creativecommons.org/) might be a good choice.
4.3 Web services
This section provides a view on the possibilities of web services. Information from
several sources, available in web-readable formats, is combined into a new result. The
actual implementation of the client support application is independent from the
specification generation, as only the readable result that is transferred over the Internet
matters.
Note that in this case we only transfer files (XML, RDF) using the normal Internet
protocols (HTTP), we are not defining a custom SOAP API for every application that has
to be implemented by the other applications. It is recommended to not use SOAP unless
absolutely necessary.
SOAP raises the coordination costs with the num ber of attached applications. For
each different application (identified by an address) you need another API. HTTP is
always the same, so more applications do not raise the coordination costs, apart from the
extra addresses (naturally).
4.4 Semantic web as knowledge support
A other interesting area of research is to look beyond the obvious advantages of semantic
web based ontologies. The obvious part is having easily usable object and property
definitions. The less obvious part is the built-in support for knowledge support. OWL
supports a basic level of reasoning. It allows you to define classes as the set of objects
fulfilling a set of criteria. A certain class of houses can be defined as having an internal
sound level that is lower than a certain value. Existing houses (or designed houses) can
than be tested if they are part of that class. This allows an integrated handling of some
types of regulations.
Likewise, regulations can define a certain class of doors to have a minimum width (for
safety reasons). A public building can require all doors to be part of that safety class.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A common network of object definitions (including properties and units) first should
satisfy the needs of the national industry. This has been one of the lessons learned from
the European eConstruct project where endless discussions about the nature of very
common objects (like inner doors) proved beyond reasonable doubt that different
concepts are applied in different European countries. French inner doors differ from
Dutch inner doors and German inner doors. The same is true for most objects, large and
small. Standardisation efforts of data describing Building Construction object definitions
should realise this fact. Only after each country has defined its own objects, European or
even ISO standardisation comes into play. The case study presented above clearly
confirmed that conclusion. Everything contained in the ontology is coloured by national
568
regulations: the type of houses, the type of extensions, the type of walls, foundations and
roofs, the details of the constructions, everything.
Interesting is that the purpose of the ontology reflects in its structure. Supporting the
client in his decision making process makes it mandatory to distinguish between a
functional view and a technical view. In the small this has been implemented and demonstrated. How it should be done for large projects is a question for the future.
Also rather interesting is that ontology-based web services might well change the
future of software and service providers. Ideally web services should be implemented as
Virtual Experts. Paying only for the time the service is actually being consumed and not
for the availability of the applications seems quite interesting for the clients, though
maybe somewhat fearfiil for the vendors or their service staff (vendors only have to
support one version of their software!!). The case study learned that it might well be
possible to develop support for all kinds of knowledge-rich services like cost analysis,
risk analysis, specification, feasibility, maintainability, and much more, and make that
support available on every PC over the Internet.
Also interesting is the possibility that new players may enter the market. R&D
institutions can transfer results of research into usable services instead of new
regulations, for example to provide knowledge intensive services, such as analysing
designs for possible design errors, or transaction risks.
All in all the case study proved to be useful. The semantic web brings challenging
opportunities for improved information and knowledge sharing which, in time, will
change Building-Construction as we know it into an industry that intensively co-operates
to truly fulfill the clients demands.
REFERENCES
DAML/OIL 2001. Reference description of the DAML+OIL (March 2001) ontology markup
language. Available on-line at http://www.daml.org/2001/03/ reference
Ekholm, A. 2004. ISO 120062 and IFCcould they be harmonized? Unpublished, w78 workshop
Toronto 2004.
Ezowl 2004. Visual semantic web ontology editor. Available on-line at http://iweb.etri.re.kr/ezowl/
Gielingh, W.F. 1988. General AEC reference model (GARM). Delft: TNO bouw.
OWL 2004. OWL Web Ontology Language Reference. Available on-line at
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-ref-20040210/
Protege 2004. Protege ontology editor. Available on-line at http://protege.stanford.edu/
Rees, R.van, Behesthi, R., Tolman, F. 2002. bcXML enabled VR project information front-ends.
Ework and ebusiness in architecture, engineering and construction. Lisse: Balkema
Rees, R. van 2003. Clarity in the Usage of the Terms Ontology, Taxonomy and Classification.
Proceedings of the 2003 cib w 78 conference. Auckland. Available on-line at
http://vanrees.org/phd/Cib78ConferencePaper2003
Veghel, W. van 2004. Het bouwportaal. (Note: master thesis in Dutch). Available on-line at
http://www.woutervanvegchel.com/afstuderen/BouwPortaalFinal.pdf
Supporting ontology management through

self-describing concepts
T.E.El-Diraby
Assistant Professor & Director, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of
Toronto, Canada
ABSTRACT: Lately, several research projects developed more coherent
hierarchies, in the form of taxonomies (e-construct project and eCOGNOS project, for example). However, there is a need to bridge the
gap between these taxonomies, wrap legacy classification systems, and
link the construction industry to other industries. i.e. we need to develop
formal clustering mechanisms to allow these (and future) taxonomies to
interoperate. This paper presents an architecture for clustering
construction concepts. The proposed architecture clusters construction
concepts into two main dimensions. The first: Practical Concepts,
encapsulates the main entities in construction terms (such as Process,
Actor, Resource and Products). The second: Clustering concepts, is meant
to capture the attributes, types and constraints of entities. Using genetic
algorithms, each concept will carry within itself full reference to its
attributes, constraints and other related concepts. Such self-describing
concept representation is in valuable in data mining exercise, where
formal concept analysis (FCA) and genetic analysis techniques could be
used to automatically generate construction taxonomies and/or concept
lattice. The clustering concepts are based on the basic IDEFO dimensions
(input, output, mechanisms and controls). As such they contain metadata
about concepts. This will allow other industries taxonomies to access
concept in any taxonomy based on the proposed architecture.
1 INTRODUCTION
An ever-existing theme/concern during the development of any ontology is the clustering
of industry concepts in a flexible and meaningful manner. Clustering is the task of
dividing a knowledge domain into coherent subsets of classes (or concepts) that share a
common thread (use, meaning, origin, etc.). Classification refers to methods and
algorithms for placing (or classifying) concepts in relevant clusters. Both tasks are illdefined, non-deterministic task, in the sense that, using only the training data [initial
concept pool], one cannot be sure that a discovered classification [or clustering] rule will
have a high predictive accuracy on the test set, which contains data instances unseen
during training (Freitas, 2002).
The development of clustering mechanism is the cornerstone for taxonomy
development. It is inherently an exercise in the balance between the art and the science of
doing so. Several advanced data mining techniques are available for automatically
discovering common patterns in industry databases. Through Formal Concept Analysis
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(FCA) and advanced algorithms, these patterns could be used to create taxonomies. The
complete reliance on data mining tools cannot produce a usable taxonomy. This has to be
balanced with human interference to assure practical analysis and modeling of industry
fundamental concepts.
Several attempts have been made for developing concept clusters in the construction
domain. Most of these have followed a top-down modeling approach, i.e. through
dependence on human knowledge, a group of researchers using different modeling tools
(IDEFO, EXPRESS, UML) have created several cluster structures for construction
concepts. This is very suitable for an industry with ill-defined data structures like the
construction industry The overwhelming portion of these clustering mechanisms was in
the form of classification systems (Masterformat, UniClass, BS6100, for example). Most
of these classification systems are rich in industry-friendly terms. However, their
fundamental drawback are in their structured (in contrast to object oriented) approach,
their static nature, product-orientation, and the lack of coherent underlying clustering
principles.
In contrast, other industries, with well established databases, have relied on the
bottom-up approach for establishing some of these taxonomies (Michalski and Stepp,
1983; Fisher and Langley, 1985; Fisher, 1987; Hull and King, 1987).
The objective of this research is to develop a flexible scalable clustering mechanism
for construction concepts that balances the industry need for practical terminology and
the needs of automated machine-based concept mining. The research also aimed at using
the clustering mechanisms to equip each concept with a full reference to its metadata
(attributes, constraints and related concepts) in a manner that will allow a distributed
agent-like environment where inter-industry concepts can interact in a virtual
collaborative process.
2 RESEARCH SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
To develop an effective clustering (or taxonomy) architecture, we need to create a set of
metadata (referred to here also as clustering concepts), which give us all a place to record
what a document, or concept, is for or about. To achieve that, we need to establish a
standard syntax, so metadata can be recognised as such; and one or more standard
vocabularies, so search engines, producers and consumers all speak the same language
when describing concepts.
The proposed architecture clusters construction concepts into two main dimensions.
The first: Practical Concepts, encapsulates the main entities in the construction industry
(Project, Process, Actor, Resource and Product). The second: Clustering concepts, are
meant to capture the attributes, types and constraints of these entities. Each concept is
then represented as a gene that will carry within itself full reference to its metadata
(parameters, domain, attributes, constraints, etc.). Concepts, acting as agents, can
enquire about other concepts domain of application, constraints, attributes, etc. Such
self-describing concept representation is also invaluable in machine-based
knowledge/pattern discovery, where FCA and other data mining techniques could be used
to automatically generate construction taxonomies and/or concept lattice.
Supporting ontology management
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To achieve that, the research first identified a set of motivating examples describing an
industry need or situation. These were represented in the form of use-cases. A set of
industry needs were then developed to guide the development of the clustering
architecture in parallel with an extensive literature reviews of clustering
methods/ontology/knowledge management/data mining/lattice theory. The research
project, which spanned 3 years, then developed a set of taxonomies for several industry
domains (highways, telecommunications, buildings, sustainable infrastructure systems,
project finance, and land development). These taxonomies were built on the same lines of
the e-COGNOS taxonomy. Overall, these taxonomies encompass about 15,000 unique
concepts. Iterative revisions of these taxonomies were conducted over time.
Throughout the development, 36 industry experts were involved in one-on-one
interviews to assess the validity of these taxonomies. Analysis of recursive industry input
led to the development of a top-down model for the clustering architecture. i.e. a model
that is dependent on researchers and industry views of construction concepts. In other
words, the base architecture did not depend on a data mining approach (which is referred
to hereinafter as bottom up approach). This is mainly due to concerns for external validity
(Cook and Campbell, 1979). External validity refers to the reusability and ease of
application of a system.
3 TOP-DOWN APPROACH: ENTITY MODELING
This research contribution is in the creation of a top-down clustering scheme that could
help future bottom-up discovery of construction taxonomies (through data mining
techniques). The research developed an extended model of IDEFO. It includes an
extended semantic description of its four dimensions: Input, Output, Controls and
Mechanisms. Furthermore, the research attempted to generalize the use of these four
dimensions beyond Process to secure more comprehensive representation of Actors and
Products. The research project has developed a generic mechanism to extend the use of
these four dimensions to the e-COGNOS Entity. An Entity is a Project, a Process, a
Product, an Actor or a Resource. Figure 1 shows the extended IDEFO representation of
Entity:
Controls: represent an umbrella for all Laws, Code, Specifications, User requirements,
Conditions (such as Site restrictions, Topography, Weather) and other controls like
Cultural and Environmental requirements.
Mechanisms: have been defined to include:
Theoretical dimension: this is a fundamental mechanism that helps us formalize a
metaphorical model for analyzing a problem, a process, a product, etc. This
include:
Theories: such as the Theory of Structures and the Theory of Architecture.
Algorithms: such as Clustering Algorithms and Genetic Algorithms.
Principals: such as the Least Energy Principle.
Strategies: where formal theoretical representations are not available, strategies
represent the fundamental mechanism that supports the handling of our work.
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As an example, one can think of the different impacts of adopting a

Sustainable Strategy Vs. Traditional Strategy. In addition, Company Strategy
is a major tool in shaping most of its processes.
Best Practice: at lower levels of our work, best practices are one important tool
in forming a model of our work entities.
Figure 1. Extended IDEFO model.

Abstract Concepts: concepts like Motive (of a human being), optimization (of Process),
usability (of a software), Team Spirit, Scalability (of a system) and the Ecological
Footprint (of a Product) are some of the most fundamental elements/mechanisms that
we use in forming/ modeling our Entities.
Parameters: in contrast to the Abstract Concepts, which are fuzzy and generic,
Parameters are crisp formal/mathematical elements that contribute directly to a
Theory or an Algorithm. For example, Bending Moment and Load (relevant to the
Structural Analysis Theory).
Attributes: in contrast to Parameters, which are dedicated to describing another
mechanism (Theories and Algorithms), Attributes are dedicated to the description of
Entity features. These could be indigenous features such as the Skill (of labourer) or
exogenous (assigned) such as Schedule (that is assigned to a Project), Objectives (of a
Project or a Process).
Technologies: these are the tools that help us perform our work based on the
Theoretical metaphor that was built for each Entity (Process, Product, Resource, etc.)
and on the desired attribute of such work. This includes Methods such as the
Management by Objective Method (for managing a Project), Techniques such as the
Lift Slab technique, and Best Practice such as the Best Practice #n in motivating
Labour.
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Measures: After theorizing a metaphor for Entities, modeling their aspects using
Abstract Concepts and Parameters, specifying their attributes, and using some
Techniques for executing them, we have to measure the conformance of the output to
our objectives. This includes conducting Tests (for physical Entities) and using
Metrics (for the logical and tacit Entities).
Input and Output: this defines the input and outputs of Processes. It is also applicable, to
an extent, to Actors (Inputs and outputs of an organization) and Projects.
It can be immediately noticed that this is not the only way to cluster construction
concepts. The definitions used are also not universal. Since the classification task is
studied in many different disciplines, there is a wide variety of terminology in use to
describe the basic elements of this task. For example, a data instance [in data mining
domain] can be called an example, an object, a case, a record, or a tuple. An attribute can
be called a variable or a feature (Freitas, 2002).
Another important note that can be observed is the need for developing means for
capturing the polymorphic nature of our concepts through what could be called typedevelopment, i.e. we need consistent ways to drive flavours of Entities from an abstract
Entity (Steimann, 2000). For example, Safety Code, Accounting Code, Zoning Code,
National Code, Provincial Code, Municipal Code, are flavours of Code derived along the
dimensions: Domain (for Safety, Accounting, and Zoning) and the Setting dimension
(Local, Provincial/Sate, National/Federal). Agreeing on unified sorting/clustering
dimensions will enable consistent generation of concept flavours.
It can also be further noted that, due to the multidimensional nature of our concepts,
any clustering mechanism has to allow for multiple inheritance. For example, Best
Practice can be a Theoretical tool that supports the design of a product. It can also be an
execution Technique for a process.
4 BASE CLUSTERING ARCHITECTURE
Figure 2 represent a clustering framework proposed by this research. The framework
used two main dimensions to cluster knowledge: Practical concepts and Clustering
concepts. The practical concepts encompass the Entity concept and some Basic concepts.
The Clustering concepts encompass the extended IDEFO model discussed above and
type-development mechanism.
The Horizontal dimension in Figure 2 shows the main types of Entities in
Construction: Projects, Processes, Products, Actors, Resources. The Vertical dimension
shows the clustering concepts or metadata used to describe these entities. The
mechanism, controls, inputs and outputs related to these entities are shown in the lower
part of the vertical dimension. The upper portion shows the types of these entities.
Systematically, the clustering concepts are used to develop types and sub elements of the
practical
concepts.
They
also
could
be
used
to
link
related
attributes/constraints/mechanisms to their relevant entities. As can be seen in Figure 2,
this allows an out-of-domain taxonomy (Operations Research taxonomy for example) to
be easily integrated in a construction taxonomy (items in the construction taxonomy will
refer to operations research terms as their mechanisms or theories, etc.). Similarly, a
574
taxonomy for sustainability or even engineering design could be easily blended into the
main taxonomy.
Figure 2. Proposed clustering

architecture.
4.1 Type-ing metadata
The proposed clustering framework identified a set of features that could be used to
generate concept types in a consistent manner. These include:
Setting: Mainly Local Vs. National Vs. International. For example, a National Code is a
type of code, a Local Authority is a type of actor and so forth.
Style: This is used to define flavours of concepts. For example, Green Filed Project Vs.
Brown Field Project, a Sustainable Resource Vs. Non-Sustainable Resource.
Domain: This is used to develop domain-oriented types. Different from traditional
clustering techniques (prevalent in data mining), the proposed framework allows for
multiple inheritance. For example, the Structural Design Process belongs to the Design
domain, the Structural Analysis domain, which is a subtype of the Engineering
domain. Also, a Design Process is subtype of the Process Concept that belongs to the
Design domain. Similarly, a Planning Process belongs to the Planning Domain. Figure
5 shows an outline of the overlapping domains proposed by this framework.
4.2 Sub-ing metadata
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Whole-Part sub-ing: The first obvious sub-ing mechanism is the traditional whole-part
relationship. For example, in Figure 2, a Project can be divided into several contracts.
Phase-ing: Processes and Products have life cycles that span several phases. It is
proposed that four generic phases be used to express the timeline of Entities:
conceptualization, planning, execution and utilization. Figure 3 shows a sample Phaseing of some construction processes.
The self explanatory Figure 4 shows an amended e-COGNOS taxonomy that is based on
this clustering architecture.
5 CONCEPT GENES: SELF-DESCRIBING CONCEPTS
It is proposed that each Practical Concept carries in its definition a reference to its
Clustering Concepts, hence providing a genetic signature for each concept. Figure 5
shows a self describing concept in the form of a gene. It includes a unique Name and an
ID that are relevant to a certain domain or an industry. It also includes a reference to
other synonyms. It also includes a reference to the mechanisms used in its operation (if
any), any input, output and controls. For example, the gene for a Civil Design Process
could include a reference to the Theory of Structures, Structural Engineer, Structural
Design and Structural Code. In contrast, the gene for a Mechanical Design
Figure 3. Phas-ing metadata.
Figure 4. Amended e-COGNOS

taxonomy.
Figure 5. Self describing concepts.
576
577
Process could include a reference to Thermodynamic Principles, Mechanical Engineer,

Mechanical Design and Thermodynamics/mechanical code.
Furthermore, the gene could also carry reference to some hedges defining its type and
genre. For example, it could include reference to which domain does it belong and its
membership in such domain. For example, a Value Analysis Process belongs with a
100% membership to Project Planning/Scoping domain and with, say, 60% to the Project
Management domain and with 40% to the Constructability domain. A Design Process
could be controlled with a 100% membership by the Local Code and with a 90%
membership by the National Code. If the membership of a process into the Virtual
Domain is 100%, then it would, automatically, be type-ed a Virtual Process. If on the
other hand, the membership is 0%, then it is a traditional Process. If the membership is
somewhere in between, then its a partially virtual process.
A full concept gene would include a membership value respective to each clustering
concept. A partially described gene would just include those clustering concepts that have
a membership of, say 60% or more.
More importantly, one concept could have in its input filed a reference to another
concept. For example, in Figure 5, concept #33 is occupying the input field. A search
engine could also categorize concepts based on their metadata. For example, in Figure 5,
concept #1 and #33 are both of the same style (virtual). This allows for easy
establishment of a causal relationship between the two concepts in a collaborative
process.
6 BOTTOM-UP APPROACH: AUTOMATION OF CONCEPT AND
PATTERN DISCOVERY
The top-down modeling approach includes only a partial subset of all possible concepts.
This is due to the always limited time for taxonomy development, the limited knowledge
of the modeling team, the normally limited scope of the taxonomy projects (no one
project will, in deed should, attempt to cover every concept in our lives. As such, it is
certain that the end user (especially those who are at the boarders of the taxonomy scope)
will need to use concepts that are beyond the training set which the Top-Down approach
has used. This reduces the coverage of such models, produce inflexibility in discovering
and allocating new concepts (that were not known during the modeling time). Upon
retrieving data in a data mining exercise or during a web search, this could reduce the
system efficiency.
The solution to these problems has been always in the use of a Bottom-Up approach
for concept definitions. Normally, this is done through data mining techniques such as
Formal Concept Analysis (FCA).
In this approach, a set of relevant documents (or knowledge items) are queried to
detect concepts clusters and their interrelationships. The result is a concept lattice that
could include some artificial concepts (non user friendly concepts) that is, however, very
important for automated knowledge retrieval.
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7 FORMAL CONCEPT ANALYSIS & LATTICE ALGEBRA

FCA defines a formal concept C as a triple (E, I, R). E (extent) and I (intent) are two sets
and R is a relation on Ex I. The elements of E are called formal objects and the elements
of I are called formal attributes. eRi is a relationship and is read formal object g has the
formal attribute i. A formal context is a table whose raw(s) are formal objects, columns
are formal attribute, and cell values are fo rmal relationships (Haav, 2003). For example,
Table 1 shows a simple formal context. In this context, an infrastructure product is either
a bridge, a telecom duct or a water pipe (all of these are formal objects. i.e. they belong to
E). The attributes of these objects, in this context, are above ground, underground,
privatized or non-privatized (all of these belong to I). Figure 6a shows the concept lattice
resulting from applying FCA to this context.
It can be seen that the lattice does not include the main objects only ( bridge, telecom
duct and water pipe) but that a set of intermediately concepts have been created to
describe the intent of these objects. For example, we see a concept like non-privatized
underground infrastructure products. If we assume that latter on Bridges can be
privatized, then a concept called privatized above ground infrastructure will be created
shown in dotted lines in Figure 6a.
FCA is a key tool in developing lattice. Representing our concepts in the form of a
lattice is quite important to machine learning as it allows full use of lattice algebra. In the
context above, the set of all common attributes of a set of formal objects A (subset of E)
is denoted as eA. For example, e{telecom duct}= {underground, privatized, nonprivatized} and e{water
Table 1. Infrastructure products.

Above ground
systems
Underground
systems
Privatized
assets
Nonprivatized
assets
Infrastructure
product
Bridge
system
Telecomm
system
Water
systems
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Figure 6. Lattice algebra.

pipe)={underground, non-privatized}. The set of all formal concepts that posses a certain
attribute B (sub-set of I) is denoted iB. For example, i{non-privatized}={telecom Duct,
waterpipe}.
The pair (A, B) is called a formal concept if A=iB and B=eA. For a formal concept (A,
B), A is called the extent of the concept. B is called the intent of the concept. In our
example, ({Non privatized Under-ground infrastructure, telecom duct, water pipe}, {Nonprivatized Assets}) is a formal concept.
Having concepts represented as lattice is a key factor in machine-based mining
through lattice algebra. For example, if we use the binary operators+for supremum and x
for infimum and using the formal context in Table 1, we can deduct the following rules:
Infrastructure Product=Above ground systems+ underground systems
Telecom Ducts=Privatized AssetsNon-rivatizedAssets
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Above ground systemsprivatizedAssets=Null

Privatized underground infrastructuresWater pipe=Null
Such straightforward generation of rules is invaluable in document retrieval and web
mining domains.
8 DYNAMIC ONTOLOGY MATCHING
One main advantage of the proposed framework is the creation of clustering
metaconcepts. It allows for describing what the concept is all about (in a similar way to
metadata). This will allow for more dynamic cross-domain integration in an objectoriented approach. For example, by defining Algorithms as main element in Mechanism
domain, the framework allows a specialist in Operations Research to develop a taxonomy
of all Operations Research algorithms and plug them under this metaconcept into their
proper place in this framework (see Figure 2). In other words, these metaconcepts
represent a pointer to other domains or taxonomies. Similarly, if an expert develops a
taxonomy for Sustainability, it can be plugged into the framework through proper
mapping.
Metaphorically, these clustering concepts represent contact pins for taxonomies.
Other taxonomies, just like the one in Figure 4, could now be put side by side and the
information could flow between them in a seamless manner. Virtual construction
products could be easily matched to virtual manufacturing or financial products
immediately. For example, consistent levels of skill could be defined for Actors in all
three industries, hence, comparing the training strategies and development techniques
among these industries. The codes of all three industries could also be compared as they
relate to each process, product, or resource. In an e-business environment, it would be
easier to verify that the requirements of such diverse codes have been met. If several
operations research technique are used in one process that spans the three industries, an
attempt could be made to select one technique and consistent parameters to analyze the
process actions, build common project metaphor (or model) using consistent parameters,
agree on final product attributes and subscribe to consistent metrics for performance
measurement.
Moreover, the use of lattice is also very helpful in merging several ontologies and in
effective information retrieval. For example, let us assume that the first part of Figure 6a
represent a taxonomy for Infrastructure Products. The second part includes a taxonomy
for Infrastructure Finance (for simplicity, we assume that this taxonomy has one concept
only: BOOT). Let us also assume that a system user is enquiring a set of corporate
documents (D), each of these documents include a set of phrases (P) that include a set of
concepts (C). Let us also assume that the user is querying for the concept of Bridge
BOOT projects in these documents. This con cept does not have a match in first or
second taxonomy. Let us also assume that Table 1 shows the phrases found in each
document with the concepts related to Bridge BOOT.
FCA algorithms could help link these two taxonomies (given that they are represented
as lattice). Figure 6b shows the resulting lattice of the two taxonomies. Notice that the
resulting lattice in Figure 6b represent a biased product of lattice 1 and lattice 2 according
581
to Table 2. With various versions of Table 2, we could produce, dynamically, a biased

common lattice that combines two lattices according to some specifications.
Table 2. Two taxonomies.

Document
Phrase
Taxonomy 1 concepts
Taxonomy 2 concepts
D1
P1
IP, BS, WS
D2
P12
IP,BS
D7
P10
IP, TS, WS
D7
P15
IP,WS
BOOT
D10
P8
IP
BOOT
It is also perceivable th at we can replace the word Document in Table 2 by

Company, the word Phrase by Process and the word Concept by Activity. The
resulting lattice in Figure 6b would show the combinations of activities in the four
companies in a dynamic virtual project.
The combination of FCA and genetic representation of concepts could facilitate real
time knowledge discovery and management as follows (see Figure 7):
A lattice (a taxonomy) could be generated through basic modeling that is later amended
through FCA (to include counterintuitive concepts). Each concept will have a unique
name and ID.
Let us also assume that several of these taxonomies are created for various industries.
For example, the construction industry, the financial industry and so forth.
In a collaborative environment, FCA could be used to create a dynamic combined
taxonomy that establishes interoperability among all three industries.
As such, concept A in taxonomy 1 (the construction taxonomy, for example) could be
linked to Concept B in taxonomy 2 (the financial taxonomy, for example). Moreover, if
through the comparison of the genes, we discover that two concepts in the two
taxonomies are similar (even though they have different names and IDs) then we can
create a instance human-independent mapping between the two taxonomies. For example,
the construction industry view of products is focused on the physical products (buildings
and highways, for example). On the other hand, the financial industry list of products is
almost all logical products (a loan or a fund, for example). The gene comparison could
reconcile these two cultures as it will define both as Product.
This, perceivably, will allow three organizations to collaborate through dynamically
matching their ontologies/processes on line. This means that each could keep their own
semantic representation, yet they can collaborate perfectly due to the dynamically created
combined concept lattice (through lattice algebra).
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Figure 7. Dynamic process matching in

collaborative environments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research work was supported mainly through the Interoperable Infrastructure
Management Systems Project, which was funded by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council, Canada. Additional funding was also provided by the
Centre for Information Systems in Infrastructure and Construction, University of
Toronto. Several graduate and undergraduate students from the University as well
Canadian industry experts participated in the implementation and validation of some of
the research thrusts.
REFERENCES
Freitas, A. (2002). Data mining and knowledge discovery with evolutionary algorithms.
Springer.
Fisher, D. and Langley, P. (1985). Approaches to Conceptual Clustering. Proc. 9th Int. Joint
Conf. on AI, Los Angeles, CA.
Fisher, D. (1987). Improving Inference Through Conceptual Clustering. Proc. AAAI Conf.,
Seattle, WA.
Hull, R. and King, R. (1987). Semantic Database Modeling: Survey, Applications, and Research
Issues. ACMComput. Surv., 19(3).
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Michalski, R.S. and Stepp, R. (1983). Automated Construction of Classifications: Conceptual

Clustering Versus Numerical Taxonomy. IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine
Intelligence, 5.
Haav, H-M. (2003). Learning Ontologies for Domain-specific Information Retrieval. In
Abramowicz (Ed), Knowledge-Based Information Retrieval and Filtering from the Web,
Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Steimann, F. (2000). On the Representation of Roles in Object-Oriented and Conceptual Modelling.
Data and Knowledge Engineering, ACM, Vol 35 (1).
eWork and eBusiness
An assessment methodology for eBusiness

and eCommerce in the AEC sector
A.Grilo
Associate Professor Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa
P.Mal & R.Jardim-Gonalves
Assistant Professors at Faculdade Cincias e Tecnologia da Universidade
Nova de Lisboa, Senior Resercheres in UNINOVA
ABSTRACT: Recent studies have illustrated that the AEC sector has
embraced e-commerce and e-business. Indeed, case studies demonstrate
that the use of electronic collaborative and commerce platforms by the
different players in the AEC sector can be as sophisticated as the best
practices found in Automotive, Aeronautics or Retailing sectors.
However, the same studies do also recognize that though the best practices
are at the same level, they are much less frequently deployed. This paper
presents a methodology based on business factors to assess the readiness
and likeliness of the development of e-Business and e-Commerce between
the disparate players in AEC projects.
1 INTRODUCTION
The AEC sector has embraced e-commerce and e-business, as demonstrated by recent
case studies that illustrate the use of electronic collaborative and commerce platforms by
the different AEC players. These applications can be as sophisticated as the best practices
found in Automotive, Aeronautics or Retailing sectors, though they are much less
frequently deployed. In order to create the enabling conditions for the deployment of the
electronic collaborative and commerce platforms it is fundamental to understand the
variables that may influence its development, and how they determine the configuration
of the e-platform.
E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS FUNCTIONS
2.1 Informational
The initial use of the Internet technology for business purposes had mainly an
informational function. Web pages describing companies services and products were,
and still are, the simplest and most common usage of an e-platform. The informational
function has evolved and currently, more than just simple Web pages with descriptions,
some companies make available databases with sophisticated data about products,
Ework and ebusiness in architecture, engineering and construction
586
services and the interaction (through business intelligence tools), including 3D CAD
components to be embedded in 3D CAD applications. Architects, builders merchants,
contractors, consultants, suppliers, etc, widely use this function.
2.2 Transactional
The electronic exchange of commercial data relates to the transaction life-cycle, from the
request for quotation, order, etc. until invoice. Before the availability of the Internet as a
communication network, companies used X.25 based technology for Virtual Areas
Networks (VAN) to exchange Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messages. There was
scarce use of this transactional ftmction in the AEC sector ten years ago (see Baldwin et
al, 1995 or Akintoye and McKellar, 1997), and its use was mainly restricted between
builders merchants and their suppliers.
This reality has changed in the last years. The emergence of the virtual marketplaces
has dramatically changed the use of transactional function, with contractors, suppliers,
builder merchants, consultants and clients exchanging request for quotations, orders,
invoice, etc. through these platforms (Flood et al, 2002; PRODAEC, 2004).
Often denominated as e-procurement, this functions is rarely exploited at its full. The
reason lies in the lack of integration of the companies internal ERP systems with the
marketplaces. Thus, most of the companies type the transactional information in a Web
browser and receive data in a file that print before re-introducing data manually in their
ERP system.
2.3 Collaboration
The oldest and simplest way of the collaboration function is the exchange of files through
e-mail. This is a pervasive way of companies using an e-platform for collaboration.
However, very sophisticated tools have emerged in the last years. Initially, the
deployment of private Extranets allowed disparate parties in construction projects to
share information by uploading and downloading files in a central server. More recently
several commercial collaborative tools have appeared in the market, with very complex
and complete functions like on-line CAD red-lining and markup, forums, logs
registration, workflow, etc. Examples are Buzzsaw (see Autodesk, 2004) of Autodesk
and ProjectNet of Citadon (see Citadon, 2004). These sophisticated tools are mainly used
in large-scale construction projects (see PRODAEC, 2004).
2.4 Configuration of the e-platform
These three functions can occur simultaneously between two companies. The degree of
sophistication can vary, from the simple usage of e-mail usage or having a Web page
with basic information, to intense marketplace transaction and use of a complex
collaborative tool with workflow and on-line CAD redlining.
The technology is availabe, it is reasonably inex pensive, de jure and de facto exist to
facilitate exchange of files and data. Security issues, once a concern for users, are hardly
an excuse as most professionals age below 40 years use home-banking, a much more data
sensitive world. Case studies have demonstrated that the AEC sector can deploy and use
587
sophisticated configuration of e-platforms (PRODAEC 2004). The main issue is, Why is
it not more widely used?The answer is on the business side of the problem.
BUSINESS FACTORS
3
3.1 Companies Individual Features
A determinant factor for the likeliness and readiness of a company to engage in any IT
development (Venkatraman, 1991) and particularly in e-business or e-commerce is its
internal features, namely:
Business Strategy, Organizational Infrastructure and Processes. Companies prone to
innovation in all sides of the business, aligned with a strong, centralized organization
and leadership are positive factors. Streamlined processes are fundamental to be able
to take advantage of collaborative and transaction functions. Teams IT proficient are
also crucial, particularly for collaborative functions.
IT Strategy, Infrastructure and Resources. Companies with low level of IT automation
and integration between application, with significant legacy systems, and non-Web
based applications may experience major difficulties. Availability of IT resources,
either internal or contract out is important, though cost of implementing these tools are
significantly low nowadays.
3.2 Relationship
The relationship between firms is very important for the deployment of an e-platform
between two firms. There are two main dimensions that should be analyzed (Hakansson
and Snehota, 1995):
Exchange Episodes. The more intense, frequent and regular are the exchanges of
information between firms the more likely they to use e-platforms, and the increased
sophistication of the system. This is reinforced when also occurs strong
product/service and financial exchanges. If the transactional type of information is the
more intensely exchanged it is likely that an e-platform with more transactional
function be developed. Conversely, if the nature of the relationship is mainly
regarding the exchange of information needing collaborative interaction then
collaborative type of e-platforms are likely to emerge.
Atmosphere. It is not only what is exchanged but also how it is that is important. Thus,
close relationships, with strong bonds, institutionalized co-operation, and mutual
expectationsthat develop and evolve over timeis a very important driver for
deployment of sophisticated e-platforms. The power dependency may also contribute,
though if not on a conflict basis.
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3.3 Production Network

Firms are not isolated in the market, firms tend to organize in production networks
(Harrison, 1994), being the AEC sector networks very dynamic. The characteristics of the
network influence in two major ways:
Governance Structure. Networks with a strong core, where the leading firms are prone
to innovation and e-business technology is a very important driver. Examples can be
found on construction projects with innovation and leadership commitment clients, or
when project/construction managers with e-business focus are contracted. Ideally, the
augmented core of the network, composed by Client, leading Architect/Designer and
Main Contractor should have a good degree of e-business readiness and commitment.
Input-Output Structure. A small number of production units and firms in a network, and
these with reasonably homogeneous size, IT capabilities, and streamlined processes
are clear facilitator for e-business deployment, particularly for collaboration fimction.
However, often e-platforms require a critical mass of users for the return of
investments.
3.4 Interplay of Business Factors
The deployment of e-platforms and their degree of sophistication is influenced not by just
one business factor but from the interplay of factors. The larger the alignment between
current conditions of firms internal features, relationships and the characteristics of the
production network, with what was identified as the e-business/e-commerce facilitating
conditions of the factors, the more likely the deployment of e-platforms and the more
sophisticated the systems can aim to be.
4 E-BUSINESS/E-COMMERCE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
The proposed assessment methodology is based on the previous described factors and
grounded on empirical work by Grilo (1998).
The assessment methodology consists on a Gap Analysis regarding the previously
defined factors and the situation of potential deployment of e-platform. To visualize this
Gap Analysis, it is used a radar graphic, as depict on the Fig. 1.
The widest the cover of the factors the higher the degree of readiness for deployment
of e-platforms but also more likely sophisticated systems can emerge.
The function typology can be analyzed through the Exchange Episodes, particularly
the informational and product exchanges. If two companies exchange essentially
technical and managerial information (Atkin, 1995) then it is likely that applications with
collaborative functions are developed. Conversely, if companies exchange mainly
commercial information, than the transactional function occurs.
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Figure 1. Example of the assessment

graphic.
5 ECONSTROIAND MOTA-ENGIL
In order to illustrate the analytical function of the methodology, a case study is described,
based on PRODAEC research.
The econstroi.com is a construction-oriented initiative that targets the entire sector in
Portugal. It represents an ambitious attempt to integrate a value chain that potentially
involves 80.000 companies.
The econstroi.com project was launched in 2000. It started considering the use of the
Internet to improve the business processes as well as some functions that exist in the
fragmented construction industry where the buying process is particularly detailed and
demanding in terms of information flow.
Initially, econstroi.com .com .com provided only informational functions and by
October 2001, it has started to operate in its core business: an instrument to support the
electronic commerce for the construction sector. Nowadays, econstroi.com .com .com has
combined the three functions: informational, transactional (the most used), and also some
collaboration features.
Ask for information and share documents or project models among the participants in
the same project;
Request and answer to proposals;
Compare budgets and choose among them the best proposal and carry out the respective
orders and selection process;
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Coordinate the logistic process;

Contract financing services and perform financial transactions.
Construction companies can join the econstroi.com market for free. However, they are
required to go through a registration process, which includes authentication and prequalification procedures. All goods, services and information are provided in a safe and
confidential environment based on encrypted and closed communication channels.
The econstroi.com has introduced innovations on the critical processes of the
construction value chain, namely e-procurement and e-project management. Regarding
the e-procurement, the econstroi.com way of working match buyers and sellers,
comparing who is looking for the best offer/price and quality conditions against who is
selling their products and services. Econstroi.com .com acts as a facilitator for
Figure 2. EConstroi.com
this matching to happen in the same way that it takes place in the physical market.
The e-project management manages all information (technical, financing contractual
specifications) that is necessary to perform construction projects. This is a process that
demands the involvement of a large number of entities (promoters, regulators,
contractors, project managers, suppliers, etc) and demands a very intense and continuous
exchange of documents mainly CAD drawings.
Mota-Engil is a Portuguese general contractor, and is the company with the highest
number of transactions in the portal, and with 90% of procurement through
econstroi.com. Despite using the e-platform mainly for transacting exchanges, uses it to
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its full extent. The degree of sophistication in terms of the transaction function is very
high, having Mota-Engil integrated their internal ERP SAP application with the portal, in
order to reduce re-typing, or manual upload and download of files. It does not cover
digital invoicing, since legally in Portugal it is not accepted.
Business Strategy, Organizational Infrastructure and Processes. Company has very
streamlined processes, with centralized supporting departments. It has been in the
forefront of innovation regarding construction methods, management, IT, quality
assurance and recently in environment and health and safety.
IT Strategy, Infrastructure and Resources. MotaEngil has most of the documents in
digital format, with workflow implemented. All sites are connected to central ERP
system. High degree of automatized processes.
Exchange Episodes. Mota-Engil exchanges mainly request for quotations, tenders and
supporting
Figure 3. Assessment of
econstroi.com/Mota-Engil readiness of
development of an e-platform.
technical documents with their suppliers. Despite the use of the portal has opened
the market for the contractor, in generic terms, previous relationships with higher
number of transactions are still the most frequent users of the system.
Atmosphere. Despite econstroi.com enables market to work, with new suppliers coming
in, most of Mota-Engil suppliers adhering to the e-platform, worked previously for
many years with the contractor, with strong institutional and personal bonds. The
market conditions (price, quality, delivery) are crucial, but still, new comers have to
pass a confidence threshold in the procurement process for buys above certain budget.
Governance Structure. Clearly Mota-Engil is a core leader in the network of its
suppliers. Traditional suppliers were warned that they have to trade through
econstroi.comdespite being given a period to adapt themselves, or are out of
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business with the contractor. Most of suppliers are complying with the request,
showing the leadership governance capability of Mota-Engil. Curiously, the least
adherent are the companies that are on the loose end of the network ring, some of them
well known and large companies but that do not dependent much of Mota-Engil for
their overall business.
Input-Output Structure. The number of companies on Mota-Engil suppliers network is
high, and their characteristics very heterogeneous. This has clearly been a problem due
the need to convince them all to adhere to the system, training, etc. Particularly for
small supplier, to whom connecting to the Internet is far from trifle.
Figure 3 presents the assessment made. It is easily concluded that in this case Mota-Engil
had a reasonably high degree of readiness for the deployment of an e-platform.
The assessment graphic does also show that the Input-Output structure of the network
is the main hindrance to developments and sophistication of the system. Indeed, it was
this area of concern that has deserved the biggest efforts by Mota-Engil managers in the
last year for the full scale implementation of the digital procurement process.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper focused on describing a methodology in order to systematize the analysis of
development of e-business/e-commerce platforms and their degree of sophistication. It
was argued that technology in itself is hardly an important factor as business factors are:
Individual Features of companies, like their business strategy and organisational
infrastructure and processes, IT strategy, infrastructure and resources; the characteristics
of the Relationship between companies, addressing issues like the type of informational
and product exchanges as wel.l as the atmosphere between the parties; and the
Production Network where companies are embedded, with variables like their
governance structure and input-output structure. A case study was described, and it is
possible to conclude that based on this methodology, managers can act accordingly in
order to create the enabling conditions for the deployment of the electronic collaborative
and commerce platforms.
REFERENCES
Akintoye, A. and McKellar, T. (1997). Electronic Data Interchange in the UK construction
Industry. RICS Research Paper Series, 2:4, London
Atkin, B. (1995). Information management of construction projects. In Integrated construction
information. Ed. P. Brandon and M.Betts, Chapman & Hall, London
Autodesk (2004), http://usa.autodesk.com/
Baldwin, A., Thorpe, A. and Carter, C. (1995). An internal survey report on the Construction
Industry Trade Electronically GroupCITE, Loughborough University of Technology,
Loughborough
Citadon (2004), http://www.citadon.com/
Flood, I. Issa, R and Caglasin, G. (2002). Assessment of ebusiness implementation in US
Construction Industry. eWork and eBusiness in AEC; Turk & Scherer (eds), Swets and
Zeitlinger
593
Grilo, A. (1998). The development of electronic trading between construction firms. Unpublished
PhD Thesis, University of Salford
Hakansson, H. and Snehota, I. (1995). Developing relationships in business networks. Ed.
H.Hakansson and I. Snethota; Routledge, London
Harrison, B. (1994). Lean and mean: the changing land-scape of corporate power in the age of
flexibility. Basic Books; NY
PRODAEC (2004), http://www.prodaec.net/, as in June 2004
Venkatraman, N. (1991). IT-induced business reconfiguration. In The Corporation of the 1990s:
information technology and organizational transformation. Eds M.Scott Morton
The digital dormerapplying for building

permits online
J.P.van Leeuwen & A.J.Jessurun
Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Architecture,
Building, and Planning
E.de Wit
Municipality of Rotterdam, Department for Urban Planning, Housing,
and Traffic
ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the objectives, functionality, and
implementation of a tool that supports the online ap plication for building
permits for dormers. Using the simple interaction of this tool, civilians can
design a dormer on their house and receive feedback on the necessity to
request a building permit for the dormer. The tool also provides feedback
on whether or not the design of the dormer passes the criteria that are
posed by national and local authorities regarding the aesthetical aspects of
dormers. The paper concludes with a discussion of future developments of
this project as well as its impact for the innovation of civil administration.
1 INTRODUCTION
The municipality of Rotterdam yearly receives around 2,500 applications for building
permits. Approximately 1,000 of these concern larger construction projects of new
buildings, such as office buildings, housing prqjects, and single private houses. The other
1,500 permits are requested for smaller projects, mostly for extensions and modifications
to houses. Of these, around 300 projects involve the extension of houses by placement of
dormers. The construction-costs of these dormers vary between 2, 500 and 35, 000.
The licensing procedure for dormers is relatively straight forward, compared to that of
most other building permits. The variety and complexity of this kind of constructions is
limited and the regulations for approval are strictly defined by most municipalities. This
offers an opportunity for automation of the process, from which we can learn to later
address other, more complex, projects as well.
An example of how governmental services can be made available online, mainly by
providing structured information to civilians and ofFering tools for the support of the
application process, is found in the UK (Planningportal, 2004).
The objective of the project described in this paper is to ease both processes of
applying for permits and granting permits for the construction of dormers. This is
achieved by the development of a web-based tool, called the Digital Dormer, that allows
civilians to design the dormer on their house and to submit the information that is
required to perform automatic checking with national as well as local regulations.
The digital dormer-applying for building permits online
595
Ultimately, the tool also generates all documents (forms and technical drawings) that are
necessary to submit an online building permit application for the dormer.
Research on building codes checking already has some history. Acknowledging that
the main problem is not just in formalising the building codes, but in unambiguously
describing the building information, much effort has been targeted at standardisation of
building models, e.g. (Vanier, 1995). More recently, other approaches have been
developed that take advantage of more flexible technologies (Woodbury et al., 2000;
Tang and Xiang, 2001).
While dormers as the targeted kind of construction work are relatively small, the
technological challenges in developing the software for this tool are significant and the
potential impact on further automation support of public procedures is considerable. The
main technological challenges for developing the required functionality in this project
were:
to offer sufficiently simple graphical design tools for use by lay persons, with a good
balance between the realism of the representation and the level of user-interaction
required;
to provide an attractive and informative feedback system that acquires all information
from the user that is necessary to evaluate the design using criteria from zoning plans
as well as from the local policy on building aesthetics;
to perform the checking of both geometrical and non-geometrical criteria regarding the
position, size, and other characteristics of dormers with respect to the specific context
of the house and its location.
Additionally, important requirements for the application were:
to minimize the requirements of client-side software to what can be expected at
peoples homes: just a web browser;
to have a flexible software architecture to be able to vary the context in which the
software will be applied, regarding the type of houses and dormers and the contents of
the criteria.
The paper describes how these challenges were countered in the developed application. It
describes the functionality of the system which provides: parameterised stereotypes of
houses and dormers; a graphical engine for dynamically rendering the visual feedback;
code checking functionality; and a web application that provides interfaces for the users
activities.
The paper then discusses the further development of the system and concludes with a
discussion of the potential impacts of this project.
First, however, we will briefly discuss the regulations concerning building permits for
dormers in the Netherlands.
2 BUILDING PERMITS FOR DORMERS
The regulations concerning building permits for dormers in the Netherlands are
established on both national and municipal level. At the national level, there are
regulations by the Dutch Ministry of Housing (VROM) that state when a dormer can be
596
build without applying for a building permit. This largely depends on a number of
geometrical criteria for location and measurements of the dormer, and on the status of the
existing building as a registered monument.
If the particular situation does not fulfil the criteria of these regulations, a building
permit must be requested from the local municipality.
The local municipality will evaluate the building permit application on three aspects:
1. Zoning plan: does the spatial profile of the area in which the dwelling is situated allow
the extension of the built space with this dormer;
2. Construction law: these are the building codes related to structural safety and, e.g.,
energy performance. Which of these codes apply depends on the type of permit that is
necessary. Municipalities generally distinguish light permits (structural safety only)
from regular permits, where the latter are required for larger construction plans;
3. Aesthetical aspects: The municipal aesthetics committee assesses applications on
aesthetical aspects. Their working methods are generally laid out in a local aesthetics
policy note. As of 1 July 2004, municipalities are by law obliged to provide this policy
note. While these notes are the responsibility of municipalities, the Dutch Ministry of
Housing aims to have these municipal notes as unambiguous as possible, in order to
ensure equality of rights (VROM, 2004).
The aesthetics policy note for Rotterdam is published in (Gemeente Rotterdam, 2003).
The project described in this paper addresses the automatic checking of the national
regulations and of aspects 1 and 3 of the local regulations above. Building codes
regarding technical issues are not automatically checked at this stage.
2.1 Procedure of evaluation
The procedure of evaluation of the building permit application is driven by the
aforementioned criteria. The outcome of the evaluation of the criteria can be summarised
in the following schema, which states the consequences of satisfying and not satisfying
the criteria at the national and municipal level. It should be noted that the evaluation of
the municipal criteria merely functions as an indication for the eventual outcome of the
committees assessment of the application. If these criteria are not satisfied, the normal
procedure for building permits is followed.
Satisfied
Not satisfied
National criteria
No building permit required.
Building permit required.
Municipal criteria
Building permit likely to be granted.
Building Permit not sure.
2.2 Criteria for dormers

The criteria for the building permits for dormers mainly comprise the following types:
Geometrical criteria. These relate to the dimensions of the dormer and its location on
the roof. An example of these criteria is: The distance from the side of the dormer to
the edge of the roof is at least 0.5 m; if the house is next to a public green space or
road, this distance is at least 2 m.
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Design criteria: These relate to the shape of the dormer and, e.g., the design of its front.
Material usage.
Colour usage.
3 FUNCTIONALITY OF THE TOOL

The description of the functionality of the Digital Dormer website in this section is
related to the general flow of the dormer design process (see Figure 2) that is offered to
the user in six major steps. These steps are represented in the sites menu and the
background process for these steps is integrated with the two main server tasks for code
checking and visualisation of the house and dormer.
Figure 1. User interface for

dimensioning the house.
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Figure 2. General flow of the dormer

design process: six steps of user input
integrated with two main server tasks.
3.1 Selection of criteria by postal code
The user enters the postal code and house number of his address. This information is used
to verify the address and to select which local aesthetics criteria are applicable.
Additional information regarding the nature of dwelling is asked, in order to perform the
first checks with the national regulations on building permits for dormers. In case the
building is registered as a monument, a building permit must always be applied for.
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3.2 Selection of stereotype house

The design process in the application is based on stereotypes of houses and dormers,
where the house stereotypes in fact concern roof types. There have been two reasons for
this decision. One is that reduction of the design space, and thus simplification of the
otherwise complex process, can be achieved this way. A justification for this is that 80%
of the house stock can be covered with around 7 stereotypes.
A second reason is that the criteria for dormers are based on a number of variant roof
types. It thus appeared logical to use these roof types as point of departure.
The stereotypes are represented by parameterised geometric models. After the user has
selected his type of house, he can proceed to input the various dimensions for it.
3.3 Dimensioning the house
The number of parameters of the geometry of the house is reduced to the minimum that is
required to perform the code checking. In the case of the most simple roof type, these
parameters are:
1. Width and length of the house;
2. Height to the ridge and height to the base of the roof.
Figure 1 shows the user interface for entering these parameters. The image of the house is
dynamically updated when changes to the dimensions are submitted.
In addition to the geometric parameters, there are two parameters that specify the
usage of the neighbouring ground to the house. For either side, the user can indicate
whether or not there is a connecting house or a green space or public road. These
parameters also influence the applicability of the criteria, e.g. the minimum distance
between the side of the dormer and the edge of the roof.
3.4 Selection, location, and dimensioning of the dormer
Similarly, the type of dormer and the values for its geometrical parameter must be
specified. In addition, the user must indicate on which surface of the roof the dormer will
be located.
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Figure 3. Dimensioning and

positioning the dormer.
At this point, a number of criteria are again checked. At the national level it is
established that dormers located at the front side of the house cannot be built without a
permit. The dimensions of the dormer and, in particular, the distances from the boundary
of the dormer to the edges of the roof are bound by criteria at national and municipal
level.
The code checking is performed at the background, on the basis of the value of
parameters, but feedback to the user is presented directly in the interface. For details of
the code checking, see section 3.6 and section 4.4.
3.5 Visualisation of house and dormer
As shown in Figure 1 and 3, the actual state of the design is shown in a graphical
representation of the parametric geometry. These are still image renderings of the 3D
model, which can be easily incorporated into the applications website, without any
requirements for client-side applications. In the configuration of the system, various
camera viewpoints can be configured.
An additional feature of the system is that the user can upload a digital photograph of
the front elevation of the house, which will then be used as a texture on the 3D model as
shown in Figure 3. The portion of the photograph that contains the elevation is cut out by
the user through a very simple point and click method, shown in Figure 4. The red
corners are positioned according to the nearest mouse-clicks on the image.
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3.6 Code checking

The application performs three types of code checking procedures. These procedures take
place at
Figure 4. Cutting out the elevation

from the photograph.
server-side, invisible to the user, but feedback to the user is given at each relevant stage
in the process.
1. Basic test.
This is a geometrical check of the users input. It checks the logical correctness of
sizes. Examples are: all sizes>0, height to roof-base<height to ridge, width of
dormer<width of house, etc.
2. VROM test.
This is a combination of geometric and non-geometric criteria that establish the
necessity for a building permit at the national level.
3. Aesthetics test.
This comprises the criteria used by the municipal aesthetics committee, a set of
criteria comparable to, but more elaborated than, the VROM criteria. If these
criteria are satisfied, the committee is likely to support the granting of a permit.
These three checking procedures are logically dependent as shown in Table 1. In the
applications interface, visual feedback is given with respect to the status of the code
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checking, by way of a traffic light in the upper right corner. The table shows the meaning
of the various lights.
4 IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
4.1 Modules of the system
The system was designed as two communicating server applications.
1. The Dormer Render Server (DRS) is an internal process that contains the procedures
regarding the parameterised geometry, produces the graphics of the requested
geometry, and performs the code checking.
Table 1. Three types of test with interdependencies

and visual feedback.
When
performed?
If satisfied, then
Basic test
Always
Input is logically
correct
(blinking orange light) Logical

error in user input
VROM
test
If basic test
satisfied
Building
permit is not
required
Building permit is required
Aesthetics
committee is
likely to agree
Approval of aesthetics
committee is not sure, at this
stage the normal procedure for
building permit application is
followed.
Aesthetics If VROM test not

test
satisfied (a permit
is required)
If not satisfied, then
Figure 5. System Architecture.
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2. The Dormer Web Application (DWA) is a web application that generates the necessary
web pages and processes the related requests for the interaction with the user.
These two applications communicate internally with XML formatted data and using the
HTTP protocol in order to share the requested and generated data (see Figure 5).
4.2 Technical approach
The DRS application is a server application that accepts HTTP requests to perform two
tasks:
1. Requests to render graphical images of the house and dormer geometry;
2. Requests to perform the checking of the three kinds of criteria.
The implementation of this application involves two modules. The Open Scene Graph
rendering library is used to generate the images. A Perl scripting engine is used to
generate the geometry for the OSG calls, and to perform the code checking.
The DWA application is built upon an Apache web server and utlises PHP script to
dynamically generate and handle the user interface.
The development of the system was mainly done using the following software tools
and technologies.
Microsofts Windows 2000 Server operating system;
Apache web server with PHP programming environment;
XML data format for exchange between the two applications;
Autodesks 3D Studio Max for the generation of the basis geometries;
Open Scene Graph for the production of the graphical representations;
Perl script environment for the parameterisation of the geometries;
Microsofts Visual Studio 2003 for development of the DRS application.
While the objective of the project is to utilise only open source software and open
standards, commercial software was utilised only for the development of the applications.
The resulting applications can operate on an open source basis.
4.3 Parametric geometry
The parametric geometry for the house and dormer types is generated from a geometric
basis created in 3D Studio Max. Including its textures and light sources, this geometry
can be exported using a plug-in for the production of Open Scene Graph files. This plugin was enhanced for the purpose of this project to export a Perl script that contains a
version of the geometry that includes labelled vertices. These vertex labels can be added
to the geometry in 3D Studio Max by the developer, prior to performing the export. After
this Perl script with labelled geometry is produced, it can be manually modified by the
developer into a parameterised version, based on the parameters defined for the user
interaction.
Besides the Perl script, a configuration file is exported that contains additional data
concerning the configuration of the cameras.
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4.4 Digital format of the criteria

The criteria from the Basic test, the VROM test, and the Aesthetics test were digitally
represented in a dedicated XML format. In this format, references are made to the
parameters used for the description of the house and dormer types. The criteria are
specified within the XML format in the form of Perl expressions that can directly be
evaluated by the Perl engine which is a module of the DRS application.
The tests are performed by the DRS application. This application contains an engine
that can perform any type of test that is expressed in the defined XML format. The
distinction between the three types of tests is not made within this engine. In fact, only
the DWA application that sends the requests for testing to the DRS test engine presents
the distinction between the three types of test in the textual and visual feedback to the
user.
5 FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The procedure of applying for a building permit is not completely implemented with the
current state of the project. Although much information regarding the dormer design is
already acquired from the user at this point, some additional information will be
necessary to generate the technical drawings required for the building permit application.
Section drawing.
The process of drawing a section of the dorme and roof will be implemented by
means of standard details for the construction of dormers. A limited number of
such standard details will be produced in parameterised form, representing the
types of dormer constructions that are suitable for the various roof construction
types. Probably another differentiation will be necessary for ranges of roof slopes.
Additional user input that will be required includes the type of roof construction,
the height of the floor level, and a floor plan.
Floorplan.
A drawing of the modified floor plan will be super-imposed on a scanned image
of the existing floor plan. Similar to the way the photograph of the elevation is
applied as texture to the 3D model, the scanned floor plan can be used to generate
the new floor plan from the available 3D geometry. Additional information
regarding spatial layout and wall thickness can be obtained from the user either
numerically or by graphical interaction with the uploaded scan.
Administrative forms.
With simple extensions to the web interface, the information concerning the
applicant can be acquired and entered into automatically generated forms that will
be used for online application at the municipality. In this context, collaboration in
this project will be sought with another national initiative for the implementation
of a central server for building permit applications.
Apart from the above-mentioned developments, an inventory of necessary improvements
is made and reported for the subsequent stages of this project. Many of these regard the
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user interface and the enhancement of the feedback of test results. A detailed discussion
of these issues is not relevant within the scope of this paper.
6 IMPACT AND UTILISATION
The potential impact and utilisation of the results of this project are manifold. Firstly, the
type of technology developed and applied in this project enables civilians to be well
informed about the possibilities of their plans without the need to go through lengthy
procedures before taking any decisions.
Secondly, the online application for building permits is strongly supported by the tool:
information is gathered, checked, and made available to municipalities in a format that is
easy to handle. This will reduce the administrative workload related to these relatively
low-cost construction works.
Thirdly, the organisational approach that underlies this project makes it possible for
municipalities to promote best practices and preferred designs and constructions with
respect to dormers. A commercial spin-off of this development could also be achieved by
relating the site to a digital market-place for construction companies that specialise in this
type of construction works. However, legal issues need to be studied with respect to such
direct relationships with commerce.
Finally, while this project deals with permits to build dormers, it is part of a set of
initiatives that aims to provide digital support for applying and granting building permits
in general. As such, the Digital Dormer project functions as a pilot project in the context
of the afore-mentioned initiative for a central server for building permits that centralises
the communication between civilians and their municipalities regarding building
activities. While these developments are still in preliminary phase, the Dutch Ministry of
Spatial Planning, Housing and the Environment (VROM) has already expressed strong
interests in these projects.
The Digital Dormer website will in the near future be made available to municipalities
and civilians, probably under the management of a foundation. Municipalities will have
access to tools that enable the specification of their local criteria. Civilians will have
access to evaluate their plans and, with minimal costs, to apply for the permit if
necessary.
Extrapolation of the concepts developed in this project, with respect to other kinds of
building permits or even other kinds of civil services, may seem obvious but must be
considered with caution. Much of the success of this project relies on the ability to
express building information in parametric form. Whether this success can also be
achieved in other circumstances remains to be proven. Also, a broad social discussion
should lead to an indication of the limits to automating design and design evaluation
processes. Although the authors believe that the increased responsibility and active
participation of civilians in the development and design of our built environment are
strongly desirable, the value of expert knowledge and experience must not be trivialised.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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The Digital Dormer project is initiated by the Municipalities of Rotterdam and

Zoetermeer. Its first stage of development was financed by InAxis, a committee for
innovation of civil administration from the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs. Project
management and public relations were under care of the foundation SAV.
REFERENCES
The web application of the Digital Dormer can be accessed temporarily (during 2004) at:
http://www.ds.arch.tue.nl/research/projects/DigitalDormer
Gemeente Rotterdam. 2003. Koepelnota Welstand Rotterdam, voorontwerp 2003. Municipality of
Rotterdam.
Planningportal. 2004. Portal website for the British town and country planning system:
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/
Vanier, D.J. (1995) Canada and computer representations of design standards and building codes,
The Int. Journal of Construction IT 3(1), pp. 112
VROM. 2004. Website of the Dutch Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing and the Environment
(VROM) with information on Dutch laws for housing and building permits:
http://www.vrom.nl/international (in English) http: //www.vrom.nl/woningwet (in Dutch)
http://www.vrom.nl/bouwvergunningen_online (in Dutch) http://vrom.nl/bouwbesluit_online (in
Dutch)
Woodbury, R., Burrow, A., Drogenuller, R. and Datta, S. (2000) Code checking by representation
comparison, Proceedings of CAADRIA2000, Singapore, pp. 235244
Yang, Q.Z. and Li, Xiang (2001) Representation and Execution of Building Codes for Automated
Code Checking, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on ComputerAided
Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0792370236] Eindhoven, 811 July 2001, pp. 315329
Information regarding the open source sofrware used in this project can be found here:
OpenSceneGraph: http://openscenegraph.sourceforge.net/ Perl: http://www.perl.com/
ActivePerl: http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/
Apache Webserver: http://www.apache.org/
PHP: http://www.php.net/
An inquiry into building product information

acquisition and processing
A.Mahdavi, G.Suter, S.Husler & S.Kernstock
Department of Building Physics, Vienna University of Technology
ABSTRACT: Building product information provided by manufacturers
and publishers should reflect the actual patterns of information acquisition
and processing by those involved in the building delivery process.
However, little factual data is available in that respect. This paper presents
an empirical inquiry into product information acquisition and processing
by architects and building owners in Austria. The results suggest that
there are considerable differences between the two groups with respect to
information needs, reuse of information, and information sources. Paperbased product information and personal conversations with sales
representatives remain the preferred information sources for both
architects and building owners. The present role of electronic media in
product information processes appears rather small.
1 INTRODUCTION
Several studies have been conducted to assess the use of information technology in
construction. Most recently, Rivard et al. have investigated information technology use
patterns in the Canadian construction industry through case studies and surveys (Rivard
et al. 2004, Rivard et al. 2000). Similar studies exist for other countries (see, for example,
Issa et al. 2003, Samuelson 2002). These studies generally share an emphasis on the use
of information technology in various construction and business activities. In contrast, our
focus in this paper is specifically on the current needs and habits (which may or may not
be supported by electronic tools) of building practitioners with respect to acquisition and
processing of building product information. In the context of this paper, the term building
product primarily refers to manufactured components that are used to construct buildings.
In the past decades, various research efforts aimed to improve the information flow
between manufacturers and design professionals. Most of these projects developed
solutions that would address the limitations of traditional paper-based media such as
paper-based product catalogs. Work by Amor and Newnham (1999) and Jain and
Augenbroe (2003) demonstrates the potential of tight integration of electronic product
information into the work flow of architects and its impact on the product selection
process. In Austria, Seiffarth (1989) initiated a project for an Austrian building product
information system based on television display technology. A survey gathered user
expectations from such a system. As the tools and processes in architectural firms have
changed dramatically since then, a re-evaluation of those expectations is necessary to
inform future research and development efforts. More recent case studies of
608
manufacturers and architects by Jain & Augenbroe (1999) document decision and process
patterns related to product information. Finne (2003) investigated the potential impact of
electronic commerce on information intermediation services in the construction industry.
With improved internet accessibility, many product information providers nowadays use
the internet as an additional communication channel (see, for example, Heinze 2004).
However, as research in economics and human interaction research suggests, this requires
considerable and often costly adaptation of existing documentation to take full advantage
of electronic media (see, for example, Katz and Byrne 2003, Hoque and Lohse 1999). So
far, especially product information offerings on the internet appear to have been driven
by technology rather than actual information and processing needs of user groups. Still,
comparatively little factual data is available concerning the actual patterns of product
information acquisition and processing by those involved in the building delivery
process. This paper presents the results of an exploratory, local effort to address this
knowledge gap. It reports on an empirical inquiry into the patterns of product information
habits and needs of architects and building owners in Austria. Within the constraints of
the study, which was funded by the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, these two groups
were chosen mainly because they are usually deeply involved in product-related decisionmaking in construction projects. Respective data was collected using internet-based
questionnaires as well as telephone-based and personal interviews. The paper entails a
summary and discussion of the findings and highlights their implications for
computational research and development efforts in the areas of building product selection
support.
2 ARCHITECTS
2.1 Approach
This portion of the paper presents the results from a study that investigated the building
product information acquisition and processing habits of architects (Hausler 2003). It was
carried out with an online questionnaire followed by on-site visits with participants who
agreed to a personal interview. The decision for the former was made because many
architectural offices in Austria nowadays have Internet access. The survey was limited to
three provinces in Austria. Altogether 485 licensed architects were contacted by
electronic mail. The mail included an explanation of the project objectives and a link to
an internet page, which included instructions and the questionnaire itself. The response
rate was 88 or 18% out of the 485 contacted architects, which is good for this type of
survey (Table 1).
The items in the online survey included questions about the participants background,
product selection responsibilities, product information content/presentation, sources, and
integration in work flow/processes. Whereas the questions in the online survey were
asked in multiple-choice style, those in the personal interviews were more open-ended.
The objective for the personal interviews was to gain a better understanding of survey
trends and the habits of individual architects.
609
2.2 Results
Results from the online survey were processed electronically and, in some cases,
aggregated and weighted
Table 1. Sample selection and response rate for

electronic survey and personal interview.
Number of architects
Total number of architects (Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland)
1360
Licensed architects
880
Licensed architects with email address
540
Emails sent
485
Online survey participants
88
Interview participants
12
to facilitate analysis. This was done with those questions to which participants could
respond by selecting more than one answer among alternative answers. An alternative
answer would carry more weight if it were the only one that had been selected compared
with the case where other alternative answers had been checked as well.
Tables 2, 3, 4 and Figures 17 show selected results from the online survey.
2.3 Discussion
According to the results from the survey and the interviews, architects view themselves
as playing an active, leading role in the product search and selection process. Decisions
regarding the use of a product in a building project tend to be made by design architects
(46%) rather than owners (17%) or project leaders (15%, Figure 1). Although product
information is relevant in all project phases, the selection of a product is often finalized
only in design documentation and procurement stages (Figure 2).
Table 2. Type of employment of respondents

(multiple selections allowed).
Position
Number of respondents
Self-employed/partner
68
Employed
20
Free-lancer
Consortium member
Other
610
Table 3. Size of respondents firms.

Office size
Percentage of respondents
0 employees
10
11.4
15 employees
48
54.5
515 employees
24
27.3
1530 employees
3.4
30 employees and more
3.4
88
100.0
Total
Table 4. Age groups of survey respondents.

Age group
Percentage of respondents
Less than 30 years
13
14.8
3040 years
22
25.0
4050 years
28
31.8
50 years and older
25
28.4
Total
88
100.0
Figure 1. Who decides about the use of

a product?
The architects are most often interested in a products visual performance characteristics
and pricing, followed by solutions for integration with other systems and technical
information (Figure 3). Demand for information regarding product alternatives,
contractors, and standard compliance is significantly lower. Although architects as well
611
as manufacturers are increasingly aware of environmental issues, building ecology

aspects do in general seem less relevant to the product information acquisition and
selection process.
A combination of two- and three-dimensional drawings, pictures, tables, and text are
useful to explain product characteristics to an architect (Figure 4).
Figure 2. At what stage is a products

use finalized?
Figure 3. How often do architects

search certain aspects of product
information?
612
Figure 4. How important are product

presentation styles for architects?
Figure 5. How is product information

reused in the planning process?
However, clear preferences seem to exist as far as reuse of product information into an
architects workflow is concerned. This is where electronic product representations are
useful. Product representations in the form of electronic two-dimensional drawings and
text are frequently inserted into other documents. Whereas 76% of respondents indicated
that they transfer manufacturer drawings electronically, 14% do so manually (Figure 5).
613
Architects who agreed to be interviewed mentioned that electronic drawings are often
adapted to a working documents level of detail and representation style. Threedimensional drawings are significantly less important for reuse in an architects
workflow. This finding is hardly surprising in light of abundant anecdotal evidence as
well as feedback from the interviews suggesting that architects continue to rely on twodimensional drawings although most CAD tools provide fiill three-dimensional modeling
capabilities.
Paper-based catalogs (so-called Architektenmappe) appear to remain the most
effective medium for manufacturers to promote and explain their products to architects.
However, architects increasingly rely on a combination of information sources (Figure 6).
For example, they contact sales representatives for specific technical questions because
pricing and delivery information might vary among customers and locations. Somewhat
surprisingly, the electronic media are still secondary in the product information
acquisition process. Among electronic product information offerings, manufacturer sites
are viewed as more effective for product search than online catalogs (Figure 7). This
could be because the latter often resemble company directories rather than rich
repositories of product information. Furthermore, even popular general-purpose search
engines are viewed as slightly more effective for product search than online or CD
catalogs. Since the latter often merely mirror company sites, their only benefit appears to
be persistent access to certain product information for future reference. Although younger
architects tend to rely more on the internet for product search than older ones, the overall
product information acquisition and processing habits identified in this study appear to be
largely independent of age, firm or area of specialization. Beyond index-based
organization of paper-based catalogs and manufacturers internet sites, we have not found
evidence that architects organize product information in a systematic way that would
make the product search and selection process more effective across projects.
Figure 6. What are the architects

product information sources?
614
Figure 7. How effective are media for

product information search for
architevts? (Lines indicate standard
deviations
3OWNERS
3.1 Approach
There exists, to our knowledge, no previous study on the building product information
acquisition and processing habits of the building owners in Austria. In the absence of a
precedence, the scope of the inquiry and the identification of a proper sample had to be
initiated ab ovo. It was decided to limit the study to Vienna. Moreover, only recently
completed projects were considered. Identification of participants and the communication
method turned out to be a formidable challenge. Given various constraints, the following
process was followed:
(i) Recent issues of a weekly publication (Wiener Amtsblatt) of the municipality of the
city of Vienna were studied. This publication includes, amongst many other kinds of
information, a list with the announcements of permission requests for construction
projects. The list entails for each project a title, the location of the construction site, as
well as the name and postal address of the owner. In some cases the type of the project
is mentioned, whereby the following high-level categories can be discerned: (a)
615
industry, (b) office, (c) residential (single houses, apartments, and adaptations), and
(d) technical upgrades (mainly elevator installations).
(ii) We limited our search to requests published early 2002 and considered only those
with an identifiable building prqject category. This resulted in a total of 423 projects.
(iii) Using this list and publicly available electronic information directories, the telephone
numbers of 73 building owners could be identified.
(iv) An attempt was made to contact the building owners via telephone. 35 could not be
reached and 6 declined to participate. The remaining 32 building owners participated
in the study. Table 5 provides a comparison of the distribution of different project
categories in the initial project the sample of sample versus the participants in the
study.
Table 5. Distribution of building project categories

in the initial project sample versus participants (in
%).
Category
Industry
Initially selected projects

Participants
Office
Residential
Technical
76
12
13
72
Table 6. Participants age for each project category

(in %).
Ageof participant
Industry
Office
Residential
Technical
Over 40
75
68
48
100
Under 40
25
32
52
Table 7. Participants experience for each project

category (in %).
Number of previous prqjects
Industry
Office
Residential
Technical
25
70
50
2 or more
75
100
30
50
Table 8. Participants occupation for each project

category (in %).
Occupation
Industry
Office
Residential
Technical
Office workers
100
100
52
Trade/industry
25
32
13
35
100
Non-active
616
(v) Telephone interviews were conducted based on a questionnaire, which included three
main sections: (1) general information about the background of the participants (age,
profession, prior experience, etc.); (2) areas of interest in product information search;
(3) types of building product information sources.
(vi) Upon completion and analysis of the telephone-based interviews, additional in-depth
personal interviews were conducted with 5 building owners.
3.2 Results
Tables 6 to 8 and Figures 8 to 10 entail selected results from the telephone interviews.
3.3 Discussion
Compared with the architects survey, sample size (88 vs 32 respondents) as well as the
type and breadth of data obtained from owners are less amenable to detailed analysis.
Nevertheless, some general observations can be made. Other than in the residential
category, the majority of building owners are in the older than forty age category.
Other than in the technical category, owners in industry/office project category are more
experienced with building projects. Note that the interviewees in these categories are
often technically educated professionals representing building owner groups and
organizations.
Figure 8. What product information

media do building owners prefer the
most?
Figure 9. What product information

media are least desirable to building
owners?
Figure 10. Information on what types

of products is most frequently searched
by building owners?
617
618
As far as the preferred building product information sources are concerned, personal
conversation with product representatives represents undoubtedly the most important
source of information. The relative large number of those who do not express any clear
preference means that many building owners use multiple sources and compare the
information content they offer. Prevalent building product brochures constitute also a
relatively popular product information resource for the building owners. However,
brochures typically represent the starting point for information acquisition, which
subsequently leads to the collection of more detailed and complete information via other
resources. Electronic media (Internet and CD-Roms) find apparently the least level of
acceptance amongst building owners.
Generally, most building owners are interested in information on all kinds of products.
The somewhat higher frequency of expressed interest in information on floor systems is
probably due to the fact that they can be implemented in smaller residential projects by
building owners themselves.
The results of the personal interviews with the building owners may be summarized as
follows. As with the architects, two kinds of search habit may be found by building
owners. The first is project-dependent and is typically triggered by mailed brochures on
building products. Apparently such material, if prepared professionally, can catch the
attention of the addressees and thus be remembered, once a concrete building project is at
hand. The project-centric search is tied with a concrete project and follows the overall
scheme of the building delivery process.
Personal conversations with product representatives or other knowledgeable people
are (as already established in the course of telephone interviews) the most important
source of product information. Product brochures are also used quite frequently as the
basis for selection of specific products. Actual buildings as well as trade fairs and
expositions with sample buildings and building products represent an important source of
information for many building owners. They are seen as opportunities not only to gain a
first-hand impression of specific products, but also benefit from the professional advisory
service typically offered in such occasions.
Regarding electronic media, there are many CD-Roms produced and generated by
various product manufacturers, yet there is a lack of interest on the side of the building
owners to put together for themselves CD collections as the source of product
information. Likewise, internet is still not acknowledged as an effective information
acquisition tool. This circumstance is not only due to the absent or slow internet
connections but also an expression of the dissatisfaction with the quality and quantity of
information offered in the internet. The typical search scenario involving the internet is
when a building owner looks into the homepage of a manufacturer she already knows.
Search engines are used when the homepage is unknown or when additional information
is desired. None of the building owners interviewed had knowledge of online building
product catalogs.
4 CONCLUSION
The results of the preceding inquiry permit a few high-level conclusions:
619
(i) The generally postulated potential of electronic media (see, for example, Scoones
1997) in view of decision making support for product information acquisition is not
exploited in practice. Building catalogs are still the dominant source of information for
architects. Both architects and building owners heavily depend on personal
conversations with representatives of building product manufacturers and distributors.
Electronic media represent de facto a negligible factor in product information search
by building owners.
(ii) There is a certain contradiction in the views of architects and building owners
regarding decision making responsibility. Architects believe to be the main decision
making agents regarding the selection of building products. However, this is
confirmed by building owners only in the case of industry, office, and large residential
buildings. Building owners believe to be the main decision makers in the case of small
residential projects and residential renovation projects.
(iii) Architects and building owners differ somewhat with regard to both the attributes
and the presentation of the product information they search for. Building owners are
more interested (particularly in the initial stages of design) in qualitative product
features, as well as price and service information. Architects are, in addition,
interested in information on details, specifications, technical attributes, and applicable
standards. Accordingly, building owners prefer a mixed presentation of product
information consisting mainly of photographic and 3-D depictions together with some
2-D and text information. Architects require in addition information included in
technical details and tables of product properties.
(iv) Both architects and building owners commit to product selection decisions rather late
in the design process. Especially in the case of building owners, decisions seem not to
be based on extensive proactive search, but rather in response to contingencies of
the building delivery process.
(v) Both architects and building owners display a rather unorganized, often ad hoc
product information acquisition behavior. This may be more or less understandable in
the case of building owners whose search activities seem to be literally triggered by
immediate requirements of the building construction schedule. However, in case of
architects, one would expect a more organized, efficient, and long-term product
information acquisition and collection behavior. It appears as though the architects
have not fully internalized the product information acquisition and product selection
activities as important and integrated constituents of their professional self-perception.
For practical reasons, the surveys on product information needs and habits have been
limited to architects and owners. Given the finding from these surveys, one can expect
that the behavior of project engineers or contractors, which are equally important product
information users, will again be different. Similar surveys, interviews, and case studies
are necessary to learn about the needs of these groups.
These conclusions highlight some of the difficult challenges facing those
computational systems and electronic environments that intend to support building
product selection. In the short term, they may provide more comprehensive search
mechanisms and a better presentation of product information. More substantial progress,
however, depends on overall improvements in the building delivery process in general.
This implies that the provision of computational support for building product selection is
620
more likely to succeed, if it is seen and pursued as part of a larger agenda toward building
delivery process support.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The studies were supported in part by a grant from the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.
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Bauherren. Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
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T.2004. Case studies on the use of information technology in the Canadian construction
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Forschungsvorhaben F 1004, Baden, Austria.
Usefulness and ease-of-use assessment of a

project management tool for the construction
industry
B.Otjacques, G.Barrre & F.Feltz
Centre de Recherche PublicGabriel Lippmann, Luxembourg
M.Naaranoja
University of Vaasa, Finland
ABSTRACT: The reasons why the new information technologies diffuse
at a low rate in the construction industry are not clearly understood yet.
The Information System (IS) science has been confronted to this problem
for a long time and the construction specialists can benefit from former
research findings. Usefulness and ease-of-use are currently considered as
influencing factors in the context of IT adoption. The usefulness concept
refers to the extent to which using a specific IT tool improves the
performance for carrying out some tasks. The ease-of-use concept
relates to the extent to which the IT tool can be used easily.
This paper describes an experiment dedicated to assess the usefulness, the
ease-of-use and the intent of use of a project management tool dedicated
to the SMEs. The results show that though the perceived ease-of-use of
the tool reaches rather high levels usefulness obtains rather poor scores.
Moreover, the experience highlights the importance of external variables
to influence the intent of use.
1 INTRODUCTION
IT adoption in the construction industry is a crucial issue that has been studied by
numerous researchers (e.g. Betts, 1999; Flood et al., 2002; Stewart and Mohamed, 2004).
Several reasons have been found to influence it at different levels, such as the industry
structure, the enterprise resources, or the individual skills. The potential
inappropriateness, or at least the limitations, of the current IT tools has also been
mentioned as a hindering factor (e.g. Amor and Faraj, 2001).
Distinct methodologies were used to obtain these research results, such as surveys
(e.g. Doherty, 1997) or case studies (e.g. Rivard et al., 2004). This paper adopts another
strategy: the combination of an experimental test and some interviews.
2 IT ADOPTION: THE TAM MODEL
The Information Systems discipline has studied the IT adoption problem from a generic
viewpoint and several models have been proposed to study the factors that influence the
mechanism of technology adoption by individuals. Three of these models are especially
622
famous: the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), the theory of planned
behaviour (Azjen, 1991), and the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989).
After a review of the IS literature, it appears that Davis TAM model (Technology
Acceptance Model) is considered as one of the most influent models for studying the final
acceptation of a computer-based application (Davis et al, 1989; Veiga et al., 2001). The
TAM model aims to predict the degree of acceptation of new technologies by users. It
relies on two key concepts: perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use. Perceived
usefulness refers to the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system
would enhance his or her job performance (Davis, 1989). Perceived ease of use, in
contrast, refers to the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system
would be free of effort (Davis, 1989).
Figure 1. Technology Acceptance

Model.
According to the TAM model, the use of a new technology is defined by behavioral
intentions to use the technical system, which are determined by people attitudes toward
using and by perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness depends on perceived ease-ofuse and on external variables that may refer, for instance, to individual characteristics, the
features of the task to be done, or the organisation.
The TAM model has been largely used in the context of the adoption of new
information and communication technologies, such as the web (Lederer et al., 1998;
Moon and Kim, 2001), the intranet (Horton et al., 2001), or the cellular phone (Kwon and
Chidambaram, 2000). This model has also been used and validated on several types of
populations: administration (Roberts and Henderson, 2000), bank industry (Horton et al,
2001), students (Heilman et al., 2002), hospitals (Rawstorne et al., 2000), and computer
industry (Taylor and Todd, 1995).
Though TAM model is said to explain only 40% of the actual use (Legris et al., 2003)
most of the studies have showed significant relationship between perceived usefulness
and intent to use (Lee et al, 2003). Therefore studying the perceived usefulness and easeof-use of a prototype can help to better understand its potential in terms of real usage.
3 THE SOFTWARE TO BE EVALUATED
The software to be evaluated is a prototype called BBeLink2 that has been developed
within a public research center. This tool aims to facilitate the management of small
Usefulness and ease-of-use assessment of a project management tool
623
construction projects (Otjacques and Post, 2002; Otjacques et al, 2003). Four basic
features of this application are under examination in the context of this paper.
First, the prototype integrates several tools within a unique application, such as an
enhanced electronic messaging system, an organizer, an address book, a project
management module (see hereafter), and a conversation visualization module. This
feature will be called integration in the study.
Second, BBeLink2 offers a module dedicated to handle small construction projects.
This includes the following features: a standardized description of any project with meta
data, a mechanism to invite companies to join the project, and the synchronization of
project data. This is called project management module.
Third, BBeLink2 is able to store in unified format some metadata (e.g. project phase,
content type, communication medium used, people concerned) about potentially every
communication occurring during the project. On this basis, the module allows to visualize
all these information flows in a single user interface. In the experiment, the module is
referred to as information flows module.
Fourth, the security issue has been specifically tackled in the prototype. On the one
hand, it supports digital signature and encryption. On the other hand, it provides
additional features, such as a reliable system to date messages, an automated message
receipt handling system, the ability to individually encrypt the documents attached to a
message, the encryption of the data stored on the local hard disk These functionalities
are grouped under the security label.
4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The evaluation of BBeLink2 combines two complementary methodologies: an
experimental test with students and some semi-structured interviews with practitioners.
4.1 Experiences with students
The purpose of this experiment is to assess the perceived usefulness and the perceived
ease-of-use of the four above-mentioned basic features of the BBeLink2 prototype.
The test has been applied to a sample of 20 students of a Belgian School of
Architecture. They were all students in penultimate year (4th) of the Master in
Architecture class. They had already spent significant periods of time as trainee in real
offices of architects, which qualif ied them to give some valuable feedback in the context
of the experiment. The sample was composed of 10 men and 10 women, on a voluntary
basis.
Before the actual test, a pre-experimental phase has been carried out with 5
individuals, in order to ensure that the experimental methodology was appropriate and
could produce usable results.
The experiment was conducted simultaneously by three researchers according to the
following schedule. First of all, the researchers explained the context of the experiment
and asked the subjects to fill a questionnaire about their degree of familiarity with
computers, the Internet, and IT tools. Second, one researcher made a presentation of the
BBeLink2 application with a special focus on the four features to be evaluated. The
624
presentation mixed static slides and live demos. In this phase, the subjects played a
passive role. Next, the students were asked to actively interact with the software to do
some exercises relating to the features to be evaluated. After the exercises the subjects
were asked to fill a paper-based questionnaire about their perception of the usefulness
(PU) and the ease-of-use (PEU) of the related features, as well as their intent to use them
(I). The questionnaire mainly included some Likert scale-based questions having 7
modalities.
In order to reduce biases, they have been consolidated into three major opinions as
explained in Table 1. Comments are based on consolidated results. Nevertheless, the
figures are provided with detailed Likert scale results.
Table 1. Likert scale modalities consolidation.

Encoded answer
Retained opinion
+3 and +2
(rather) positive
1, 0 and +l
(rather) neutral
3 and 2
(rather) negative
The questionnaire also included a few open questions at its end. The experiment ended
with an open discussion about the prototype. The comments were registered by one of the
researchers. The total duration of the test was 1 h 45 min. Each session of the test
regrouped 4 students.
4.2 Interviews
The methodology used was semi-stuctured interview, that focused especially on the four
major featuresintegration, project management module, information flow module and
securityto be evaluated. The prototype was demonstrated during the discussion. The
session took around one hour.
The interviewees all had experience in project management and had been involved in
projects in Finland. The positions and experience of the interviewees varied as follows:
an architect that had worked as architect and project manager, over 15 years experience;
a young designer, 3 years experience;
a researcher that had no construction experience but had managed other projects and
researched at the time the challenges of construction projects.
5 RESULTS
5.1 Experiment with students
The profile of the subjects may be summarized as follows. All of them use a PC for less
than 3 years for one third of them and for more than 3 years for the remaining part.
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Ninety percents of them use a computer tool at least one time a day. The subjects are thus
very familiar with computer use. Moreover, they have a positive attitude towards
computers. Indeed, 85% of them think that computers add value to carry out their work
and 90% affirm that they are interested by informatics in general. All of the subjects use
the Internet at least once a week, for both professional and leisure reasons.
Before commenting the results, it must be mentioned that, considering the time
constraint of the test, the perceived ease-of-use has been evaluated only for the project
management module and the information flows module. This is consistent with the fact
that these two features have the most specific user interface. The integration and
security features are completely embedded in the whole environment and their ease-ofuse would be quite difficult to isolate. The usefulness as well as the intent of use has been
evaluated for the four features.
Table 2. Evaluation of the integration feature.

Negative (%)
Neutral (%)
Positive (%)
Perceived usefulness
1.25
56.25
42.50
Intent of use
2.50
20.00
77.50
Figure 2. Evaluation of the

integration feature.
Table 3. Evaluation of the project management
module.
Negative (%)
Neutral (%)
Positive (%)
6.25
63.75
30.00
Perceived ease-of-use
8.75
28.75
62.50
Intent of use
5.00
25.00
70.00
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The experimental results are first individually described for each of the targeted
features. Then, a global overview will be proposed.
The first evaluation relates to the integration feature (cf. Table 2). It has received the
most positive scores for intent of use and perceived usefulness. This result is not very
surprising as it confirms the interest to provide software that integrates features dealing
with communication, information diffusion, task management, planning and so forth.
The evaluation of the project management module has provided more subtle results.
The Likert-scale questions (cf. Table 3) shows that less than one third of the subjects find
it useful. Nevertheless, the informal discussion has shown that they valuate positively
many specific features at a lower level of analysis, such as the ability to disseminate
automatically some information about the project or to invite people to join the project.
Figure 3. Evaluation of the project

management module.
Table 4. Evaluation of the information flows
module.
Negative (%)
Neutral (%)
Positive (%)
2.50
73.75
23.75
Perceived ease-of-use
0.00
38.75
61.25
Intent of use
0.00
32.50
67.50
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Figure 4. Evaluation of the information

flows module.
Therefore, one might hypothesize that the usefulness of this module is not immediate
but that it appears with time. Finally, it is interesting to mention that most of the
comments during the informal discussion relate to the advantages of information
structuring. For instance, the ability to assign a message to a specific project via
dedicated meta data, the harmonized description of all projects, and the automatic
creation of a message storage hierarchy when the participation to a project is accepted
were especially considered as valuable.
The information flows module was the most difficult to evaluate. Indeed, it is a
completely new feature for all the subjects. This is probably due to the fact that most of
the current commercial software do not offer a similar functionality.
Table 5. Evaluation of the security feature.

Negative (%)
Neutral (%)
Positive (%)
3.75
65.00
31.25
Intent of use
2.50
37.50
60.00
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Figure 5. Evaluation of the security

feature.
The subjects consider this module as the least useful of the four features under
examination. The perceived ease-of-use and the intent of use reaches, however, a rather
high score.
The informal discussion provides some explanations to this result. The subjects think
that this feature has some interesting potential from a theoretical view-point but they fear
that it is quite difficult to use it in practice. They mentioned that an efficient usage would
require some time that architects lack on the field. The main drawbacks are thus not
linked to the user interface itself but to the organizational aspects. This confirms that
future developments should focus on increased automation of information flow
registering. Encoding of information flows directly from mobile devices is another
promising direction to improve the potential of real life applicability of this module.
The security feature evaluation has also provided some surprising results.
Less than one third of the subjects find this feature useful. This could indicate that,
despite the large efforts to communicate about this theme, many among the next
generation architects do not feel very concerned by this aspect.
The informal discussion has highlighted the poor understanding of security issues in
the sample population. For instance, the digital signature, the message encryption, or the
secure storage of data are confused concepts for the subjects. It is worth reminding that
this population had a clear positive opinion about informatics and that it uses computer
very regularly. Therefore, one cannot argue that the bad perception of computers limits
the awareness of security issues. The limited experience of the subjects may have played
a role in this context. It is probable that they were not confronted to computer security
issues during their training periods. Nevertheless, in this case, it is also an indicator that
senior architects that manage these offices dont think that computer security is an
essential element to which trainees have to be made sensitive.
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5.2 Interviews
The tool as whole was seen very easy to use but the interviewees did not intend to use it,
however. The usefulness could have been greater if one could use only the prototype to
manage all the e-mails and project data of the architect company and also the
management information of the client. The interviewees pointed out the importance to
integrate everything into the same systemall project data should be there. The interface
did not either solve the problem of different tools needed to view the attached files.
The project management module was seen as useful for an architecta skilled
architect is able to do such things also with a normal tool but it requires more discipline
than with the prototype.
The information flow module was seen as too complicated. It was difficult to see
rapidly how a decision was made. The comments were that this type of information
should be somehow in the drawings too. The idea to use symbols in the message to show
the type of message was considered as a good idea.
Security was seen as very important and one of the claims of a normal e-mail was the
security issue. The interviewees again compared the function with a project intranet that
can also take care of the security.
The interviewees said they would not use the system since the project intranets take
care of informing via normal e-mail about changes and such events. The compatibility
with the classic e-mail system was seen as a very important factor.
In conclusion, we can say that some external variables that the formal questionnaire
did not study were used to explain the intent of not using the prototype. In other words,
the negative aspects of the prototype that the interviewees pointed out were linked to
external variables like the concurrent use of normal e-mail and the difficulties to manage
all the projects they had. External variables affected thus the attitudes and even the intent
to use the prototype.
5.3 Globalview
First of all, one must be aware that potential biases may have influenced the experimental
results.
As already mentioned, the sample was composed of Belgian students and a small
number of practitioners from Finland. The application of the results to professional
architects should thus be made careflilly. Nevertheless, the students had a limited but real
experience within offices of architects. Therefore, they had already been confronted to
real life problems.
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Figure 6. Percentage of rather

positive opinion about each feature.
The low level of negative opinions expressed by the students for the evaluation of all
features may be partly due to the fact that the subjects develop some respect or some
empathy toward the experimenters, which hinder them to assign very negative scores. It
must be mentioned, however, that the subjects were reminded that they were totally free
to express their opinion and that a negative score was as worth as a positive one for the
experimenters.
Finally, the sample may be considered as a small one, which limits the ability to draw
conclusions based on extensive statistics. The comments are thus essentially descriptive
and rely both on the answers to the questionnaire and on the informal discussions.
Considering those biases, the experimenters consider that a higher importance should
be given to the results concerning the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease-of-use
than to those about the intent of use.
The first conclusion to be drawn concerns the ease-of-use of the prototype.
Concerning the two features that were evaluated in the student test (project management
module and information flows module), collected data shows that the intended high level
of simplicity of the software interface has been reached. The practitioners also judged the
tool very easy to use. This indicates the quality of the underlying design strategy, which
postulated to offer to the user an interface that mimics the appearance of the most
diffused applications (i.e. e-mail).
The second conclusion relates to the globally low level of usefulness of all features.
This is probably caused by a dual effect. First, the subjects were given little time to
evaluate the application. They had no opportunity to carefully reflect on usefulness and
their answers were rather impulsive. Second, the prototype probably has weaknesses in
terms of usefulness or at least in terms of communicating the usefulness of some of its
features. This might also be due to the fact that the perceived advantages of
administrative management software are less obvious than those of drawing, computing
or design tools.
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6 CONCLUSIONS
The evaluation has shown that the user interface of the prototype meets the expectation of
the subjects in terms of ease-of-use. It also highlighted some weaknesses concerning the
usefulness of some features.
The discussion confirms the role that usefulness plays for the intent of use of the
system. Despite the fact that the methodology does not allow to draw statistically
significant inferences, it seem to confirm, however, some components of the TAM
model.
The interviews also confirm that external variables might play a decisive role in the
perception of usefulness and ease-of-use. Indeed, some external factors (e.g. the features
of the applications that the users are familiar with) that were neglected in the formal tests
appeared to be significant in the open discussion. Similarly, very practical elements may
influence the intent of use, such as the ability to run the application concurrently with
other ones.
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Development and implementation of a

functional architecture for an e-engineering
Hub in construction
Z.Ren, C.J.Anumba & T.M.Hassan
Department of civil & Building Engineering, Loughborough University,
UK
G.Augenbroe
College of Architecture, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the conceptual development and
implementation of the functional architecture for the e-Engineering Hub
developed by the eHUBs project (e-Engineering enabled by Holonomic
and Universal Broker Services, IST-200134031). The e-Hub is
conceived to offer a balanced combination of system based approaches to
e-engineering cultures, trust building, enterprise modelling and process
sharing, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) services hosting and reengineering of collaborative workflows. One of the key research
objectives is to develop and implement the e-Hubs functional
architecture.
1 INTRODUCTION
The emergence of various e-Hubs are changing the traditional approaches of marketing,
transaction and collaboration among enterprises. The e-HUBs project aims to develop a
new approach to facilitating collaboration among SMEs by offering transparent templates
during the engineering collaboration process. Such an e-Hub extends the capabilities of
its business partners with joint engineering, knowledge and other resources of individual
SMEs by providing brokerage of complementary engineering services. One of the key
research objectives of this project is to develop and implement a functional architecture
to support the e-Hubs generic engineering services.
To develop the functional architecture, two major research approaches have been
undertaken. Firstly, a top-down research approach was adopted to identify an appropriate
project planning (PP) platform and functional architecture which allow the users to define
projects collaboratively by taking advantage of the engineering services provided by the
e-Hub. Some of these research activities include: review of the Technical Annex (TA)
which represents the description of work to be undertaken; study of various business,
collaborative and engineering e-Hubs, their services and structures; analysis of eEngineering services; and study of prqject planning, process protocol and workflow
management systems.
634
Secondly, a bottom-up research approach was adopted through the development of

two engineering scenarios in construction to explore the potential engineering services of
the e-Hub in project definition and planning process. A number of e-Hubs generic
services were drawn from these scenarios, with consideration of its potential applications
in other industries. These scenarios were further extended as testbeds to implement and
evaluate the functional architecture and engineering services.
This paper presents the research work related to the development and implementation
of the e-Hubs functional architecture. It first reviews the key concepts of workflow
management system and addresses the rationale of adopting workflow as the core of the
e-Hub; then identifies the ftmctional requirements of the e-Hub; and discusses the
development of the functional architecture. Finally, it demonstrates the implementation of
the ftmctional architecture with the seismic engineering scenario.
2
WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
The development of the e-Hub is backed by multi-level knowledge and technologies such
as collaboration platforms offering shared project workspaces for team building, group
communication, project management, portal store front functionality for marketing,
contract management, process representation, sharing and execution, knowledge
capturing and sharing. The two most important theories behind the development of the eHubs functional architecture are project planning and workflow management. The
former addresses the generic PP process and content; the latter provides an innovative
and systematic approach to addressing construction work content. This section reviews
the key concept of workflow management system and discusses the rationale of adopting
workflow to present project plan process.
2.1 Definition
In WfMC (2000), workflow is defined as: The automation of a business process, in
whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one
participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules. Gerogakopoulos
et al. (1995) give a more explicit description of a workflow process. They define a
workflow or a process as a collection of activities organised to accomplish some business
goals. An activity can be performed by software systems, humans, or a combination of
these. In addition to a collection of activities, a workflow may include constraints that
influence the order of performing activities as well as information flow between them. A
workflow can be defined by three components: process definition, process instance and
activity instance.
2.2 Workflow characteristics
The essential workflow characteristics are persons, activities, application tools and
resources (Marshak, 1994). The roles perform tasks using application tools that provide
Development and implementation of a functional architecture
635
access to various shared information resources. This characteristics model of workflow is

shown in Figure 1 (Marshak, 1994).
Marshak (1994; 1997) defines the 3Rs and the 3Ps of workflow technology:
Rules: Workflow systems take various business rules into account. The rules should
be maintainable and understandable by business professionals.
Routes: A route is strongly coupled to the concept of information logistic that
typically supports organisation flow of all kinds of objects including documents, forms
and processes.
Roles: Information is routed to roles rather than to a particular person. The role in an
organisation is a group of people with the required skills and authority.
Processes: Business/engineering processes span over organisation units and legacy
information systems.
Policies: Policies correspond to a normative process model that describes how certain
processes should be handled.
Figure 1. Characteristics of workflow.
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Figure 2. Workflow system

architecture and data structure (WfMC,
2002).
Practices: This is the way that a work is actually performed in the organisation.
2.3 Workflow Management System
Workflow Management System (WfMS) aims to provide computer-based support for the
task of workflow management. It supports the specification, execution, and dynamic
control of workflows involving humans and information systems (McCarthy & Sarin,
1993). WfMS runs on one or more workflow engines that are able to interpret the process
definition, interact with knowledge participants and, where required, invoke the use of IT
tools and applications (WfMC, 2000).
Figure 2 shows an outline of workflow management architecture. The process
analysis, modelling and definition tools facilitate the specification of the components of a
workflow as a process definition. The workflow enactment service enacts a process
definition by assigning tasks to humans and software systems while also maintaining the
constraints between tasks. The workflow control data represents the dynamic state of the
workflow system and its process instance, which is managed and accessible by the
workflow management system. The workflow relevant data is used by the workflow
management system to determine the state transitions of the workflow instance.
2.4 Workflow in the e-Hub
Prior (2003) concludes that workflow system provides three major solutions to business
and engineering problems:
A unique and systematic approach to model business or engineering processes where
the key features involved in the business or engineering processes such as roles,
activities, inter dependencies, routes and resources are included in the workflow;
An effective tool to administrate contract management; and
637
An approach to facilitating knowledge management, records management and process

monitoring.
With regard to the particular research purpose, the concept of meta workflow model is
introduced in this study. The workflow contains various meta information necessary to
define a project plan. Each activity in the workflow contains all the essential attributes
(meta information) addressing all the key issues of this activity. The meta workflow,
configured with the generic PP process and templates, is embedded in the e-Hub PP
platform to guide users to conduct PP activities.
3 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND FUNCTIONAL
ARCHITECTURE
Four major engineering functional requirements have been identified for the e-Hub in the
User Requirements (UR) of this project. These functional requirements form different
levels of the e-Hub services, from project planning, Engineering Service Provider (ESP)
selection, contract development, project execution to the completion of the project (Dl,
2003). Given such a wide range of engineering services, the UR particularly emphasises
the e-Hubs role in facilitating project preparation activities to shorten the project starting
up period, while preserving and even improving the quality of the group work required
for successful project execution.
3.1 The role of the e-Hub in project preparation process
As illustrated in Figure 3, the e-Hub should, through its value added services, provide the
Client and the ESP with a workspace to define a collaborative work plan during the
project definition and planning, and contract negotiation processes. The UR specifies the
Figure 3. The collaborative role of the

e-Hub.
638
e-Hubs role as: The e-Hub could facilitate process of preparation of project in SMEs
proposing electronic templates for the documents, related to various areas of engineering.
Development of document templates, especially these containing macros and elements of
automation, requires significant effort and specific skills. Preparation of document
templates and instruction for filling in the formats as well as consultations in preparation
of contractual documentation may constitute a part of the business activities of the eHub.
3.2 Functional architecture
The e-Hubs functional architecture is developed to achieve these engineering functions
(Figure 4). Some key points of the functional architecture are summarised as follows:
The workspace provided by the e-Hub will mainly facilitate collaborative project
definition and planning, and contract negotiation between the Client and the ESP.
Essentially, the e-Hub workspace will be a generic negotiation platform allowing the
users to define, plan and negotiate various project engineering and contractual issues.
All these activities will be supported by the related Engineering Web Services (Ren et
al, 2003).
To facilitate the project definition and planning, workflows, representing the generic PP
process, are embedded in the e-Hub workspace. This PP workflows will guide users to
go through every key project definition and planning stage. First, it leads users to
define the project charter, address project scope statement, and then define detailed
project work statements (PMBOK, 2000). These project work statements address all
the key issues for project execution such as project execution plan and schedule,
quality plan, riskplan, communication protocol, change management protocol, and
resource plan, each guided by a sub-workflow.
Besides the generic PPP workflow, various attribute templates for each of the PP issues
are also embedded in the e-Hub. These templates, built based on both theoretical
studies and industrial scenarios, include all the key elements which every plan should
cover. The negotiation between the Client and the ESP is basically to address these
attributes defined in the templates. Also, these templates form the basis for the
development of the sub-workflows.
639
Figure 4. The functional architecture of

the e-Hub.
Meanwhile, a generic negotiation workflow is also embedded in the e-Hub. The
enactment of this workflow will guide users through the general negotiation process
(e.g. propose, check, modify, re-check, and re-modify). This negotiation workflow is
generic to all the PP issues.
Besides the above issues, it is important to note that the workflow requires certain
supporting engineering services to be implemented in, or deployed in co-existence
with, the e-Hub. For example, spread sheet (a cost estimation tool), GanttProject (a
project scheduling tool.) and eLEGAL contract editor (e-contract tool) are adopted in
the seismic engineering scenario (discussed below).
Furthermore, the e-Hub provides a transparent and traceable environment allowing
users to jointly define, negotiate and modify this meta workflow both graphically and
textually. Figure 5 illustrates the PP process by the Client and the ESP conducted in
the e-Hub negotiation platform.
Based on the work plan defined, the e-Hub will further facilitate the contract negotiation
between users. To do that, the e-Hub provides various engineering service contract
templates covering different situations users may encounter. Either in the e-Hub
negotiation platform or through other online contracting system (e.g. eLEGAL Contract
Editor), users can negotiate and specify the details of a contract. All the related work
statements (e.g. diagrams and reports) will be integrated in the contract as attachments.
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4 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE

The implementation of the e-Hubs functional architecture involves many important
issues. This section discusses the development of generic PP workflows and the
supporting engineering services in a seismic engineering scenario. In this example, the
Client and the ESP need to collaboratively define a work plan for the outsourcing of
seismic risk analysis service on the e-Hub platform. There are three major aspects to be
addressed in this case: project description and cost estimate, project execution and
schedule and contract negotiation. This section takes the project execution plan and
schedule as an example.
Figure 5. Project planning conducted

in the e-Hub negotiation platform.
641
Figure 6. Project execution plan and

schedule WF.
4.1 Development of generic PP workflows

As illustrated in Figure 4, generic PP workflows form the core of the e-Hubs functional
architecture. These workflows codify the logic of a process that enforces collaborative
project definition and planning conducted in the e-Hub platform with the involvement of
all the project partners. Altogether, three workflows and related attribute templates are
developed in the seismic engineering scenario with each representing a key phase of PP
process.
Figure 6 illustrates the workflow which defines project execution plan and schedule
for the seismic engineering scenario. Table 1 presents the attribute template for this
workflow.
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Table 1. Attribute template for project execution

plan and schedule workflow.
Item
Activities
ID No.
Title
Description
Responsibility
Pre-conditions
Post-conditions
Dependencies
Precedent activity
Successor activity
Duration
Time
Deliverables/Inputs
ID no.
Title
Description
Responsibility
Date
Milestones
ID no.
Title
Description
Date
4.2 Supporting engineering services

Although the project execution plan and scheduling workflow and the related attribute
template specify the process of defining project execution plan and schedule, a project
planning and scheduling platform (i.e. scheduling service) is necessary for project
participants to undertake detailed task scheduling. This is because the e-Hub is not
designed as a specific task scheduling tool. External project scheduling services need to
be incorporated with the e-Hub engineering services (Figure 7). Some of the commonly
used project scheduling tools could be adopted such as MS. Project, Primavera, Barchart,
GanttProject, task scheduling whiteboard and other visualized PP tools (e.g. PP JAWE
and JDPG).
643
Figure 7. Scheduling service

incorporated with the e-Hub
engineering services.
In this testbed, project planning and scheduling starts when all the potential activities
to be performed have been identified by project participants in the e-Hub platform. They
then enter into task scheduling, either offline or through a task scheduling platform that
could be either recommended by the e-Hub or by participants. In this testbed use is made
644
of a collaborative task scheduling platform. For this, GanttProject (URL1) is adopted as

the scheduling platform due to its particular advantages such as:
GanttProject is written in java; thus it can be run in any operating system;
GanttProject is easy to use. The task scheduling process in GanttProject follow the same
process defined in Workflow 2; and
GanttProject uses an XML file format to save the schedule defined, which can be
exported into HTML web pages. This allows different project participants to edit the
same project schedule online. For example, the Client defines its tasks and save the
schedule into the eRiskZone database; Geodeco and other partners can open the
schedule from the database and improve it, then save it back to the database.
The scheduling activities conducted in GanttProject are integrated through e-Hub enacted
workflow (e.g. define tasks, identify dependencies and define duration). Depending on
the project, schedule requirement and team members, these activities could be integrated
either tightly or relatively loosely. All the nptes and comments made by each participant
during the collaborative definition process are recorded in the scheduling file. Project
participants can also communicate and negotiate the schedule through the e-Hub basic
collaboration platform.
Furthermore, the e-Hub also provides a PP and scheduling whiteboard, which allows
project participants to discuss any particular aspect of task schedule or of any issue of the
project plan in a synchronous session through live diagrammatic communication. This is
particularly useful for the projects adopting the traditional task scheduling tools such as
MS. Project and Primavera which do not support online scheduling and negotiation.
Through this whiteboard, the detailed task schedule negotiation is further integrated.
4.3 Implementation of PP workflows
The generic PP workflows need to be translated into XPDL format so that they can be
embedded in the e-Hub platform. The extended JaWE developed by European Dynamics
(one of the partners of the e-Hubs project) is adopted to design the workflows (URL2).
Figure 8 is the screenshots of the project execution plan and schedule workflow defined
in JaWE.
Many important conceptual and technical issues are involved in the workflow design
and implementation process, which are vital for the successful implementation of the eHub. This testbed has successfully solved a few such problems such as:
The achievement of contract negotiation tracking and annotation function,
The data authority management in the workflow,
The call upon of external software (e.g. GanttProject and eLEGAL contract editor,
URL3) in an workflow activity,
The data transferring between workflow and document templates in database, and
The adoption of sub-flows to allow an activity calls other workflows or sub-processes.
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5 CONCLUSION
Supported by Web-hosted engineering services, the developed e-Hubs functional
architecture provides users with a unique workspace to conduct project planning and
contract negotiation. Users are able to plan the details of the work to be outsourced
collaboratively and negotiate the contract with the support of
Figure 8. Workflow defined in JaWE.

the generic PP workflow and attribute templates embedded in the e-Hub workspace. Such
a functional architecture is innovative in terms of the approach it provides to facilitate
collaborative planning, and the generic PP workflow management system and document
templates embedded in the system. The generic engineering services supported by this
functional architecture will enable the e-Hub to act as a universal broker to facilitate the
engineering outsourcing work in different industries.
Above all, the overall e-Hubs functional architecture can be summarised as:
The advanced technologies for Internet based communication and web hosted
collaborative engineering form the baseline of the core of the prototypical e-Hubs.
On top of this core, incremental layers of additional services are built in a holonomic
systems sense. Each service system offers dedicated e-engineering functions at
increasing subsystem scales: individual, collaborative group, and e-engineering team.
The e-Hub is configured by offering transparent collaboration templates to each of these
systems. Its services is defined and developed for process sharing and configuration
based on the process templates for eifective collaboration. The e-Hub also supports
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necessary and adequate levels of knowledge capture and sharing, provides SME backoffice engineering tool support and fosters trust building, contract management and
marketing relationships.
The development of the e-Hub is done with open and reusable middleware components
and deployment of existing best of breed service components through a franchise
model of web hosted services. The system approach to the transparent hosting of these
services is based on open back end architectures of meta product and process models
of e-engineering scenarios.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The e-Hubs project is supported by the European Commission under the IST
programmed (Contract no: IST-200134031). The authors would like to acknowledge the
financial support of the European Commission, and record their appreciation to the eHubs project partners for their contributions to this study.
REFERENCES
Gerogakopoulos D., Hornick M., Shet A., 1995. An overview of workflow management: form
process modelling to workflow automation infrastructure. Distributed and parallel databases,
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McCarthy D.R., Sarin S.K., 1993. Workflow and transaction in concert. Bulletin of the technical
committee on data engineering, 16N2-IEEE, June, special issues on workflow extended
transaction systems.
WfMC, 2000. Proposal for an asynchronous HTTP binding of Wf-XML. Workflow management
coalition. Future Strategies Inc.
WfMC, 2002. The Workflow management coalition workflow standard, Workflow process
definition interfaceXML Process definition language. Workflow management coalition.
Future Strategies Inc.
Prior C, 2003. Workflow and process management. In Fischer L. (ed.), Workflow handbook 2003.
Future Strategies Inc., pp. 1725.
Project management institute, 2000. A guide to the project management body of knowledge
(PMBOK). Project Management Institute Inc.
Ren, Z., Anumba, C.J., Hassan, T.M., 2003. D5.1: Functional architecture of the e-Hub. e-HUBs
project deliverable. IST project: (IST-200134031).
Ren, Z., Anumba, C.J., Hassan, T.M., 2004. D5.2: Set of working e-engineering services dedicated
for seismic engineering demonstrator. e-HUBs project deliverable. IST project: (IST-2001
34031).
Ren, Z., Hassan, T.M., Anumba, C.J., Augenbroe, G., Mangini, M. 2004. e-contracting for the eengineering hub, a case study in the construction industry. The 5th IFIP working conference on
virtual enterprises, Toulouse, France.
Shevchenko A., Horvath I., Vergeest J., 2003. D1: Formal requirements specification for e-HUBs.
e-HUBs project deliverable. IST project: (IST-200134031).
Technical Annex-1, 2001. e-Engineering enabled by holonomic and universal broker services (eHUBs), description of work. IST project: (IST-200134031).
URL 1: http://ganttproject.sourceforge.net/
URL 2: http://elf.eurodyn.com:8080/edos/index.do
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URL 3: http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/elegal/public.html
Legal and contractual issuesare they

considered in RTD achievements
M.A.Shelbourn, T.M.Hassan & C.D.Carter
Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University,
Loughborough, UK
ABSTRACT: One of the main reasons for using information and
communication technologies in the construction industry is to increase the
efficiency and accuracy of communications. The use of ICT in a business
such as construction is a good example where smart organisations are
commonly used for any number of different projects. This paper uses the
construction industry as an example to highlight whether the legal and
contractual challenges of using ICT have been addressed in IST funded
projects of the EU. Communications generally operate without contractual
support, resulting in a number of potentially serious legal implications
such as validity of contract notices, ownership of data and intellectual
property rights. This paper reflects on the collaborative working
technologies being applied in a virtual organisation (VO). Here the SO
example is the construction industry but many of the issues and concepts
can be used in many different domains. The impact of the legal and
contractual issues is discussed; with many of the findings from the EU
funded research projects eLEGAL and ICCI being used to show how
these issues can be addressed.
1 INTRODUCTION
One of the main reasons for using information and communication technologies in the
construction industry is to increase the efficiency and accuracy of communications
through collaborative systems. The use of ICT in a business such as construction is a
good example where virtual organisations are commonly used for any number of
different projects. This paper uses the construction industry as an example to highlight
whether the legal and contractual challenges of using ICT in collaborative systems have
been addressed in IST funded projects of the EU. Communications generally operate
without contractual support, resulting in a number of potentially serious legal
implicationssuch as validity of contract notices, ownership of data and intellectual
property rights.
Effective use of collaborative systems are vital in the construction industry because of
the large number of project participants, often being geographically dispersed. Studies
have highlighted the problems inherent in construction communications. These include
inappropriate modes of communication, (i.e. document formats, insufficient infrastructure
etc), organisational frameworks that restrict intra-organisational communications and
Legal and contractual issues-are they considered in RTD achievments
649
adversarial contractual relationships which inhibit inter-organisational communications.

Information technologiesor information and communication technologiesas they are
now referred to have been applied in the construction domain for many years in an
attempt to improve communications through more efficient information transfer. These
technologies were initially intended to speed up the transfer of data, and possibly provide
reusable data to avoid rekeying.
The introduction of information and communication technologies is not easy. The
implementation of new systems produces problems, ranging from technical limitations to
cultural and social issues. These problems have limited both the uptake of the technology
and their effectiveness. Many of these barriers have been addressed through the definition
of standards, recognition of training requirements and change management processes,
with varying degrees of success. Further work is needed in many of these areas, but a
new focus has emerged as a result of the changing use of information and communication
technologies, the legal and contractual issues surrounding their provision and application.
2 LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL ISSUES AFFECTING ICT IN
CONSTRUCTION
2.1 Validity of contract notices
The collaborative nature of construction and engineering projects is reflected in the
standard forms of contract, for example the use of the JCT suite of contracts in the UK is
prevalent on construction projects (JCT 1998). By examining standard construction
contracts in several EU countries including Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Slovenia and the UK it was determined that these contracts typically contain
obligations on the parties to communicate with one another by serving and receiving
specific formal notices (eLEGAL 2001, ICCI 2002). In order to be contractually valid
(and therefore effective) some of these notices are required to be served in writing, but
in UK law it is still unclear whether an email, or the posting of data to a project website,
satisfies the requirement that something be in writing (eLEGAL 2001). As a minimum,
it will be necessary to introduce clauses into contracts which provide that any
communication, be it of a notice, certificate or programme, etc., may be made
electronically and which provide that the term writing includes electronic
communication (eLEGAL 2001).
2.2 Legal admissibility
In the EU construction sector any kind of document has the potential to be legally
admissible. A document for the purposes of the law of evidence is very widely defined as
anything in which information of any description is recorded. Therefore potentially any
type of electronic communication will be legally admissible in the event of a dispute
(GOODWIN 2001). Legal admissibility should not be confused with contractual validity.
If a document is legally admissible this means that it will be admitted in evidence, i.e. it
will be permitted for it to be put before a court for its consideration. The rules on
admissibility are a matter of law and it is not open to the parties to a contract to specify
650
what will and will not be admissible. That is a matter for the court to decide. However, it
is open to parties to specify requirements for contractual validity (such as the requirement
that a notice be in writing) (TESEI ET AL. 2001).
2.3 Agreements with technology suppliers
Depending on the level of the technology employed on a project, the technology provider
will play a vital role in its success. Where the use of technology is extensive (for example
where a third party provides the design, maintenance and hosting of an on-line project
collaboration tool, usually an Application Service Provider (ASP)) the performance of
the other members of the project team will greatly depend on the performance of that
technology supplier (VALIKNGAS & PUTTONEN 2002).
Therefore, careful attention needs to be given to the question of who is liable for any
failure on the part of the technology supplier, as this will inevitably have a knock-on
effect on the performance of other members of a project team (JUNGEMANN-DORNER
2002).
Agreements with technology suppliers need to be carefully drafted to ensure that such
liability is properly identified and allocated appropriately.
2.4 Agreements between project team members in relation to the use of
technology
The use of new technology changes the way in which project team members
communicate. Therefore, there may be a need to formalise the way in which this
communication takes place (eLEGAL 2001). This may range from simply having an
agreed project-wide e-mail protocol to providing addenda and amendments to main
contracts and designers appointment contracts to regulate the use of other kinds of ICT
(SHUM 2002). On larger projects there could even be a contract specifically written for
the use of ICT. This contract could be the ICT contract that was developed by the
eLEGAL project (eLEGAL 2002).
The issue here is really one of good practice. Any party wishing to rely on any
document, whether electronic or not, can increase the weight likely to be given to such a
document by a court of law through demonstrating good practice in its creation and
storage.
2.5 Ownership of and access to data
With the increasing use of web-based project collaboration, increasing amounts of data
will be held centrally on project servers, which may be hosted by a third party. It is
important to address who is entitled to have access to this datanot just project
communications, i.e. correspondence, drawings, etc., but also to meta-data which is
data about data and which can provide information about any project team members
access to, and use of, the project information (SHELBOURN ET AL. 2002).
Where there is extensive use of ICT on a project this issue can and should be
addressed in the contracts between the various project participants (eLEGAL 2002).
651
2.6 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

For Architectural, Engineering and Construction businesses copyright is the most
important IPR protected by law. In the UK, like many other EU countries no formality
such as registration is needed in order for copyright to arise, it is automatically created
along with the material itself, e.g. architectural drawing, a model or even the building
itself.
In the UK the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) gives the owner of the
copyright in a work exclusive rights in relation to it including the right to copy it and
adapt it. Section 17(2) of the Act states that copying means reproducing the work in any
material form including storing the work by electronic means. The implications for
project team members using ICT are cleardownloading copyright material is a
potential infringement.
However, by providing designs for use on a project it is likely that designers will be
granting an implied licence to members of the project team to use them for the purposes
of the project. Furthermore, the designers appointment will usually deal with this
explicitly and contain provisions about copyright in the designers designs. Typically, the
copyright vests in the designer, but the employer is granted a licence to use the design in
connection with the project in question (ALIVE 2002).
With Design and Build (turnkey) Contracts, contractors designs are typically owned
by the contractor, with the employer having a licence to use them for the purposes of a
project. In cases where the contractor does not carry out the design (i.e. an architect does
so on behalf of the employer), the contractor is not allowed to use the designs for any
purposes other than the completion of the works (ALIVE 2002).
Designers have expressed concerns about the effect that the Internet and especially online project collaboration tools will have on their copyright in their designs. In the EU,
the same legal protection is afforded to those seeking to prevent unlawful copying
electronically as in the paper world, but the ease with which unlawful copies can be made
is dramatically increased when material is made available electronically (ALIVE 2002).
The increased use of electronic transmission of copyright material therefore increases
the problem of detection of misuse and enforcement, rather than introducing any novel
legal issues.
2.7 Data protection
EU legislation has meant that the way in which an individuals data can be collected and
processed is now regulated by statute. This legislation includes: The common law duty of
confidentiality; The Human Rights Act 1998; The Data Protection Act 1998; and The
Freedom of Information Act (GUARDIAN, EPUBLIC 2003).
The use of ICT on a construction project will often involve the processing of an
individuals personal data, for example, the collection of databases of individuals contact
details. With few exceptions, the permission of such individuals must be received before
their personal data can be processed. Systems need to be put in place to ensure that any
necessary permissions are gained from individuals whose data is to be processed, and to
ensure that adequate security is provided in relation to that data (DATA PROTECTION
ACT 1998).
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3 METHODS AND TOOLS TO ENABLE LEGAL AND

CONTRACTUAL VALIDITY
To enable many of the legal and contractual barriers for ICT use in construction projects,
research sponsored by the EU has produced a number of simple to use tools to enable
project based businesses to realise legal and contractual validity of ICT in their projects.
The main track of much of this research is to provide project based businesses (mainly
in the construction sector) with a framework for specifying legal conditions and contracts
to enable a legally admissible (exclusive) use if ICT in their projects (eLEGAL 2001a).
The results of the research have provided a clause library, a collection of clauses to
support the application of ICTs to business processes, including provisions for different
types of project and the variations in national legal and regulatory frameworks across
Europe. The clause library provides the knowledge base to a contract configuration tool.
This is software that is able to produce ICT contracts for different forms of project based
business for construction projects in particular. The various parties defining and
negotiating the ICT contract can do so in a collaborative environment known as a virtual
negotiation room (VNR). The VNR allows a user of the contract configuration software
to download the latest version of the contract, edit it and return it to the VNR over the
Internet. The VNR also requires the user to digitally sign each submission to avoid any
chance of argument over who sent what and when it was sent.
These type of tools have been developed to help project based businesses in their dayto-day activities. GEODECO, (an Italian Geotechnical engineering company) has used
these types of tools as part of their collaboration platform (also provided from EU funded
research ISTFORCE). The combination of the legal and contractual compliance tools
with their collaboration platform has meant that setting up and running virtual
organisations (VOs) to tackle a business problem has become much easier (MERZ &
MANGINI 2002). A graphical representation of a typical VO is shown in Figure 1.
A typical scenario would involve a user inputting coordinates of a site (by clicking on
an interactive GIS map) where they wish to build a structure, and inputting all available
information about the soil characteristics and the structure typology. The GEODECO
system provides, free of charge, results of a simplified analysis which is useful to
establish the real need for a more sophisticated analysis that will be performed off-line
through human intervention by experts in the field. Traditionally, a standard contract
adapted to the needs of the specific project would be sent to the client for signature. The
client would then sign it and send it back to the design office at GEODECO. This process
is now facilitated electronically by using the contract configuration and VNR tools
described above. Using these tools it is possible for the two parties to negotiate and
digitally sign every clause of a consulting contract, and still ensuring that remote
consulting activities do not differ from traditional contact-based consulting. Digital
signatures on the relevant documents, also ensure the necessary tracking and consequent
liability from the consultants side. All contractual issues are finalised using these types
of tools in a very short time, which is crucial for services which may be required at very
short notice.
653
Figure 1. Graphical representation of

the GEODECOs use of the eLEGAL
tools for online contracting (MERZ &
MANGINI 2002).
4 ARE THE LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL ISSUES BEING

IMPLEMENTED IN IST RTD ACTIVITIES
Having described how legal and contractual validity for transactions using ICT on
construction projects can be achieved using the tools and methods described in section 3,
the question to now consider is: are these or similar tools being implemented in RTD
activities in the construction domain.
Research has focused on analysing and synthesising the results of EU and National
research projects providing collaborative working technologies to all project stakeholders
on construction projects. A more targeted study within the ICCI project (ICCI 2003) has
654
determined whether 8 key legal and contractual issues are being considered in RTD tools
and software.
The 8 key issues are:
1. Electronic/digital signaturesthese allow a recipient of a piece of information to know
when the information arrived and who has sent it, and to check whether the
information has been changed since it was sent;
2. Digital notariesthese provide a time stamping service, proving the existence of a
piece of information at a particular time. These are often used in conjunction with an
electronic/digital signature;
3. ICT contractsthese describe the ICT use and supporting environment in which all
parties involved in a project must comply with to enable the effective use of ICT;
4. ASP contractthese are contracts between an ASP and a client, and the ASP and the
other stakeholders involved within a project. The ASP sets up and manages services
on behalf of the client, providing facilities and functionality for all project participants;
5. End user licencesthese are determined by the ASP and the end users of the ASPs
services. They typically contain information on permitted use of the ASPs services by
the end users, a method of granting access to the services, training for users, IPR and
confidentiality conditions, and limits on liability;
6. IPR issues of informationthis describes the rights to the information contained
within the project for the different stakeholders involved within the project. Many
different levels of rights to access will exist that must be managed by the ICT
contained within the project;
7. AEC objectsthe increased use of object technology within construction projects
has raised a number of legal and contractual issues. These include ownership, access,
change rights, accuracy and management of these objects; and
8. Legal infrastructurethe legal and contractual issues highlighted above need an
infrastructure associated with them to enable them to be achieved.
To determine at what level each of these legal and contractual issues has been integrated
into RTD developments a number of projects have been recognised as appropriate for this
purpose. There are 7 EU funded and 2 national funded projects for consideration. Each of
the projects were given a score of between 0 and 4 for their recognition and use of the
legal and contractual aspects in their developments.
The scoring levels were:
4 deployed in the industry/commercial context
3 prototyped/RTD demonstrator
2 made a contribution to the research area
1 studied/conceptually considered
0 not addressed
A matrix was devised to show the legal and contractual issues along the top with the 9
projects down the side. The individual scores are shown in the central cells of the matrix.
The matrix can be seen in Figure 2.
The results are also shown in Figure 2, and more detailed information on the matrix
can be found in ICCI (2003). The implications of the results can be summarised as:
The AEC objects issue was the first in the list of resources dedicated to it by the
projects, as this was the issue that had the highest scores in the matrix;
655
There were tools and methods that had been deployed in the industry/commercial
context in 3 of the issues, electronic signatures, ICT contracts, and ASP contracts. In
the ASP contracts issue there were three different deployments from three different
projects studied;
Although the legal infrastructure issue was ranked second in the results, along with
ASP contracts, there was no deployment in the industry/commercial context scores,
with only a single prototype/RTD demonstrator being developed by of the projects.
This is immediately an issue that requires further study;
Towards the end of the results came the ICT contracts and IPR issues of information
issues. They were ranked 5th equal. However in the ICT contracts there is an
industrial deployment from one of the projects and 3 RTD demonstrators/prototypes,
so although not many projects addressed this issue, those that did developed
technology that can be readily used by the industry;
The issue of the use of end user licences was ranked 7th in the results, but there was an
RTD/ prototype made available by one of the projects;
The digital notaries issue was the one with the least score, but again there was an
RTD/demonstrator available for organisations that wish to begin to trial its use in their
day-to-day workings with electronic transactions.
Figure 2. Matrix showing the areas

where the legal and contractual issues
have or have not been addressed in the
projects associated with the ICCI
project.
656
To summarise the results have shown that there is a commercial product available for the
use of electronic signatures, ICT contracts, or ASP contracts directly from the projects
studied in this exercise. There are prototypes available for users to test and possibly
integrate into their day-to-day working in all of the other legal and contractual issues
studied. The number of projects that carried out research into each of the legal and
contractual issues differed significantly. For example the area of legal AEC objects
although researched by all projects, does not have commercially available tools to use to
overcome the legal barriers to the wider uptake of AEC objects (ICCI2003). However, it
should be noted that even though there are commercial products available for all of the
legal and contractual issues researched, the development of a complete legal framework
to enable the use of ICT on construction projects has yet to be fully realised. This is one
of a number of areas that requires further research. These areas are discussed in the next
section.
5 FUTURE RTD ACTIVITIES FOR LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL
ISSUES
The acceptance of the legal accountability of electronic transactions is an area where all
stakeholders of the project have to be in agreement. Having transactions that a user has
trust and confidence in the use of ICT for electric transactions will be a real benefit to the
project. This can in turn lead to increased quality and profitability of the finished product.
Assessing and fully addressing the IPR, security, privacy, and ownership implications of
electronic data will have to be defined in contractual aspects of the project. Figure 3
shows a graphical representation of the different activities
Figure 3. Roadmap of legal and

contractual governance for ICT in
collaborative working.
657
needed at different timescales to enable full legal and contractual governance for ICT and
collaborative working.
The development of comprehensive online smart contract configuration tools to enable
the editing of contracts from the negotiation to the final process of digitally signing the
contract will play a major part in addressing the IPR, security, etc issues. These tools
should also provide support for assigning and defining contractual liabilities, including
the liabilities of the partners in relation to the accessibility of electronic data as part of
these contract definition tools.
It is widely acknowledged that object-model based ICT will be the flavour of future
ICT developments for the construction industry, (ROADCON 2003) however, the legal
issues of using these objects, i.e. their specification in the ICT contract for example, still
needs to be further researched to be fully understood. Such legal issues would include the
ownership of the object, stakeholders who have the rights to view, manipulate or delete
the objects.
Virtual identity management is the next progression to allow document validation, in
such a way that it is possible to guarantee the author identity of a document. This ensures
that no changes have been carried out to the original when they should not have been.
The identification and clarification of the benefits of addressing the legal and contractual
aspects of using the digital signature and notary technology in any country is also a big
challenge for future research.
Digital rights management (DRM) systems that restrict the use of digital files in order
to protect the interests of copyright holders are also needed. DRM technologies should be
developed to control file access (number of views, length of views), altering, sharing,
copying, printing, and saving. These technologies may be developed to be contained
within the operating system, program software, or in the actual hardware of a device.
Trust models need to be used to assign different levels of trust to different
stakeholders within the project dependent upon the nature of the transaction taking place
between the stakeholders using the ICT. Transaction monitors should be used to monitor
the flow of electronic information and documentation to ensure that they meet the predefined levels of legal validity, e.g. it conforms to the terms of the clauses set out in the
ICT contract, the level of security, e.g. the level of digital signature required, and the
amount of trust from the party that has sent the information.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A barrier to the strategic use of ICT on construction projects was identified as being the
legal and contractual issues by the eLEGAL project. Studies identified that the legal and
contractual use of ICT was not covered by in traditional construction contracts in a
number of EU countries. A brief summary of the legal and contractual issues that require
studying to enable the strategic use of ICT to continue has been described. Solutions
developed by the eLEGAL project that include tools to enable the online negotiation and
signing of contracts by stakeholders in a construction project, with no legal experience
have been described.
Research into the use of these tools has also been discussed. The results show that
solutions (some of them being commercial products, but many being RTD
658
demonstrators/prototypes) are available to the industry to enable the legal and contractual
issues identified to no longer be a barrier for certain aspects of ICT use on construction
projects.
From the conclusions of these results a number of new research areas have been
identified. These include the development of complete legal infrastructure that
incorporates virtual identity management, transaction monitors and trust models as new
research areas to compliment the ones already identified and described in this paper.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the European Commission for their continued support,
and our gratitude and appreciation to all the ALIVE (IST-200025459), eLEGAL (IST199920570) and ICCI (IST-200133022) project partners for their contributions to these
projects and this paper.
More information on the eLEGAL and ICCI projects results, including document and
software downloads can be found at their website: http://cic.vtt.fi/projects.
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Modeling of ERP system solutions for the

M.O.Tatari
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
B-Y.Ryoo
Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
M.J.Skibniewski
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
ABSTRACT: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is considered to be one
of the greatest innovations of the 1990s in information technology. Yet,
compared to other industries, the significant impacts of ERP have not
been realized in the construction industry. Although some large
construction companies have implemented certain modules of ERP, there
are few companies that have integrated their project-based information
systems and their enterprise information systems. Also, it is observed that
there are barely any installations in the mid-market construction
companies. The successful diffusion of ERP in the construction industry
can have substantial benefits and solutions to integration problems in the
industry Building on an assessment of current diffusion of innovation
literature, a model of ERP adoption in the construction industry has been
developed. With this model, it is aimed to identify the factors that affect
the adoption of ERP in the construction industry.
1 INTRODUCTION
The efficiency and productivity of the construction industry is crucial for the whole
economy Nevertheless, as it is studied enormously in the literature, the construction
industry has many hindered problems, such as the fragmented and the inefficient nature,
and the technology-averse practices. The construction industry has not been successful on
combining high quality with productivity, and still, most of the decisions are made based
on the lowest cost instead of quality, sustainability, safety, and value. Most importantly,
the construction industry has not been able to realize the information integration fully,
which influences productivity and quality negatively
While all these problems still persist, there are some efforts to change. As a matter of
fact, many governmental institutions, industrial and academic organizations, and
construction firms, in US and worldwide, are investing in research to improve the
performance of the industry. In many of these research efforts, the problem of integration
issue is addressed and some solutions are proposed.
661
On the other hand, the manufacturing industry has had the same problems of
integration, but was able to solve it with the aid of integrated information systems, such
as enterprise resource planning systems (ERP).
ERP systems are considered to be the greatest information technology innovation of
the 1990s in the corporate use (Davenport 1998). Solutions offered by tier 1 ERP vendors
such as SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft, have been installed by the largest manufacturing
firms. According to a recent study, it is evidenced that nearly 19% of organizations across
all industry sectors have installed ERP software, with the manufacturing sector leading
the trend (Computer Economics 1999). In another study, 70% of Fortune 1000 companies
were reported as having or in the process of implementing an ERP system (Hoffman
1998).
ERP systems offer real-time integrated information systems, which could solve some
of the information integration problems in construction firms. As a matter of fact, major
ERP vendors, such as SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft, have already tailored their software to
fit the construction market, and they are promising to solve these hindered integration
problems.
1.1 Enterprise resource planning
ERP systems can be defined as integrated information systems (Duplaga and Marzie
2003). These systems integrate all the information flowing through an enterprise,
including people across functions, and geographic locations (Davenport 1998; Kumar et
al. 2002). This integration includes all the business functions of the enterprise, and
included sophisticated reporting and optimizations. Furthermore, this integration and
automation is facilitated by the inclusion of best practices to facilitate rapid decisionmaking, cost reduction, and greater managerial control (Holland and Light 1999).
ERP systems consist of a suite of software modules, each responsible for a different
business function. These modules can be purchased separately, or they can be combined
together according to the needs of the firm. These modules include accounting
management, financial management, workflow management, production management,
project management, logistics management, inventory management, human resources
management, supply chain management, customer relationship management and others.
In a typical ERP, the modules would share and transfer information freely, thus an
integration of functions of the firm would be realized (Chalmers 1999).
Organizations have adopted ERP systems for several reasons. The most important
reasons mentioned in the literature are integration capability, reputation, and standardized
software. ERP systems streamline the data flows of organizations and provide
management with a direct real-time access to a wealth of information (Davenport 1998).
The ability to take advantage of real time information is cmcial for increasing
productivity in organizations. Also, the replacement of ERP systems with legacy systems
reduces the number of software programs and the needed support and maintenance. The
high cost of in-house system building will also be reduced (Holland and Light 1999).
On the other hand, such complex systems come with risks, both tangible an intangible.
Especially, with the absence of tedious planning, the amount of risk may increase
substantially. Since ERP systems may force a change in the business processes, it is
important to know the business implications of ERP systems before implementation
662
(Davenport 1998). Further-more, ERP implementations generally require more time,

money, and effort to be installed (Holland and Light 1999), and the outcomes of the
implementation may require years. In a recent study, it was estimated that customers
spend between three and seven times more money on ERP implementation and associated
services compared to the purchase of the software license (Scheer and Habermann 2000).
1.2 ERP solution for the construction industry
The construction industry has a truly unique character. Although, it shares some
similarities with manufacturing industry in terms of processes and disciplines, but it
mostly produces customized one time order products. Some of these projects may last for
years. Also, the construction industry operates project-based activities that are carried out
by many different parties. All of these parties that constitute different organizational
entities perceive the project with different goals.
Furthermore, the construction industry has many problems, such as the fragmented
and the inefficient nature, and the technology-averse practices. Most importantly, the
construction industry has not been able to realize the information integration management
fiilly, which could hinder productivity and quality. These issues have led the construction
industry to look for new techniques and solutions to resolve these issues and to enhance
its productivity (Zhang and Tiong 2003).
The amount of information and its time-sensitiveness in the construction industry
makes it very hard to be managed. Furthermore, several industry characteristics such as
the large amount of different organizations participating in the project, lack of control on
the project location and working conditions of construction sites, and fragmentation
within the industry makes information management even harder (Russell andFroese
1997).
While there are several standalone scheduling, estimating, cost control and accounting
software, manual, paper-based information flow on construction projects is still very
common (Shahid and Froese 1998). Many standalone computer applications are used in
different departments, and the output of one, is reentered as an input by the other
department of the firm. The industry lacks standardized systems that help integrate those
tasks. Many firms have developed in-house systems for each department. These systems
are generally point to point solutions and they are not integrated to other departments, or
project sites. As a result, multiple entries of the same data occur between one application
and another. Furthermore, there is a lack of interface with office applications.
Another important issue is the lack of real-time information. Especially in a timeoriented business such as the construction industry, this issue causes many problems.
Also, the absence of tools to act in advance and on-time foster a reactive management
rather than a proactive management.
Meanwhile, ERP systems offer real-time integrated information systems that can be a
solution to the information integration problem of construction firms. Yet, generic
standard ERP systems that are offered are not able to address the unique business needs
of project-oriented organizations, including the construction industry. Extensive
customization is required to be able answer these specific needs. This has been the
primary reason for the low implementation rate of these systems in the construction
industry.
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Figure 1. ERP with the construction

site as the central element (adapted
from SAP 2001).
There are many diiferences in the business and accounting requirements of project-based
firms. Some of these differences can be listed as follows:
Tracking costs and profitability on a project-by-project basis,
Providing timely project information to managers and customers,
Submitting accurate and detailed bills/invoices, often in compliance with complex
industry-specific and regulatory requirements.
In addition, there are many unique project-based processes that are not addressed
specifically by standard ERP systems: job costing, managing the sub-contactor, financial
reporting, managing the workforce, process time and expense, winning new business,
purchasing goods and services, managing the project, and build to order.
These differences have formed a gap between offered ERP solutions and the needs of
the construction industry. Fortunately, the saturation of the market in other industries led
ERP vendors to look at unexplored industries and to expand their existing services
(Piturro 1999). As a result of this, major ERP vendors have tailored their software to fit
the construction market. ERP tailored for the construction market is promising to solve
the hindered integration problem. SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft are the largest ERP
vendors that have already tailored their solution to fit the construction industry.
In order to answer to the needs of the construction industry, an ERP should be based
on the project site. This is illustrated in figure 1. Also, it should be compatible with the
664
way construction firms are doing business. Industry specific processes and accounting
standards should be designed comprehensively. Furthermore, there should be all the
necessary interfaces with standard engineering, scheduling, and office software. Internet
should also be utilized to access information worldwide.
1.3 Problem statement
As mentioned earlier, ERP systems have had a huge impact on many industries, and
mostly on the manufacturing industry. Yet, compared to other industries, these significant
impacts have not been realized in the construction industry. Although some large
construction companies have implemented certain modules of ERP, there are few
companies that have integrated their project-based information systems and their
enterprise information systems. Moreover, it is observed that there are barely any ERP
implementations in the mid-market construction companies.
The successful diffusion of ERP in the construction industry may have substantial
benefits and solutions to integration problems in the industry. However, research
regarding the implications of ERP in the construction industry is extremely limited. There
is an urgent need to know if these integrated systems could be implemented in the
industry or not. Empirical research is needed to identify the factors that affect the
adoption of ERP in the construction industry. Also, there is a need to investigate the
relationship between the extent of ERP implementation and the performance of the
construction firm. By knowing which factors may lead to the adoption of ERP and their
level of impact, the awareness of the possible outcomes of ERP adoption in the
construction industry will be revealed. Because of the absence of such a study, the real
compatibility and usability of ERP systems in the construction industry remains
undisclosed.
2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The overall aim of this research is to conceptualize the role of ERP in the construction
industry through a holistic perspective. More specifically, the research aims to study the
factors that affect construction firms in adopting ERP and to explore the impact of the
extent of ERP implementation on the organizational performance.
Given the gaps in the related literature and the stated problem statement, these
questions will be investigated:
What factors influence the decision of construction firms to adopt ERP?
Are the factors that affect the decision of ERP adoption different from the factors that
affect the extent of ERP adoption?
What are the critical barriers to the diffusion of ERP in the construction industry?
How would the extent of ERP adoption affect the organizational performance?
How would ERP success be measured in the construction industry?
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2.1 Significance of this study

The results of this research will facilitate to have a big picture of the ERP phenomenon in
the construction industry. This is crucial since many ERP providers are trying to tailor
their solutions to the construction industry, despite the lack of knowledge on the demand
and inner motivations o the industry. Also, this research will unearth any hidden
opportunities of ERP and what the construction firms lack that prevent them from
adopting these systems. Moreover, this research will open new doors to research in
construction management.
3 ERP ADOPTION MODEL IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
Many researchers from different disciplines have done empirical studies in the field of
innovation, focusing on either the individual or organizational level. Diffusion of
innovations (DOI) theory has been used extensively by many IS researchers to explain
the adoption and diffusion of information technologies. Rogers (1995) defines an
innovation as an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by the unit of adoption.
Since ERP can be considered as a technological innovation, the use of DOI theory as a
reference discipline for empirical studies will be appropriate. In fact, Waarts et al. (2002),
and Bradford and Florin (2003) and have utilized the DOI theory for ERP adoption.
The proposed model is shown in figure 2. This model has been proposed based on past
research in IS/IT innovation adoption and diffusion, ERP literature, and IS
implementation. The model addresses two different objectives to study. It identifies the
factors that are related to ERP adoption, and then, it examines the relationship between
the extent of diffusion and the organizational performance.
3.1 Adoption & diffusion of ERP
In this study, a firm is considered to be an adopter if it has one or more ERP modules
installed. If the firm does not have an ERP, but is planning to have one in the next 3
years, then that firm would be considered an adopter, too. On the other hand, a firm
would be considered a non-adopter if it does not have any plan to purchase any modules
of ERP.
666
Figure 2. ERP adoption model for the

There are two measures are used for ERP; the likelihood of ERP adoption and the
extent of ERP adoption. These measures were adopted from Thongs study of IS adoption
(1999). The likelihood of ERP adoption was measured by asking the future plans of
adoption of ERP. The second measure was operationalized by the number of modules
installed. This measure demonstrates the extent to which ERP has been adopted.
3.2 Perceived innovation characteristics
The influence of perceived innovations characteristics has been frequently studied in the
literature. Over twenty five characteristics can be cited from the relevant studies. Six
factors are included in this study. These are: Compatibility of ERP systems, advantages
of ERP systems, complexity of ERP systems, trialibility of ERP systems, observability of
ERP systems, and cost of ERP systems.
Importantly, adopters can perceive the innovation characteristics diiferently. For this
reason, we utilize the perceived characteristics instead of the primary characteristics
which are the objective characteristics that do not vary across organizations (Moore and
Benbasat 1991).
667
3.3 Organizational characteristics

Organizational characteristics look at the structure and processes of an organization that
constrain or facilitate the adoption of innovations (Chau and Tam 1997). Many studies
have shown strong evidence of the relationship between these characteristics and
innovations (Tornatzky and Fleischer 1990). Since we are interested in the different
characteristics of construction firms and in how they operate in the adoption context,
more emphasis is given to these factors. Fourteen factors are included in this study, which
are: Classification, specialty area, contract delivery method, prqject delivery method,
centralization, formalization, integration, strategic planning, top management support,
satisfaction with existing system, champion, risk, geographic dispersion, and IT
infrastructure.
3.4 Environmental characteristics
The environment can be defined as the surroundings that a firm conducts its business.
This includes the relationship of the firm with the industry, the competitors, the suppliers,
the government and other external entities. Two factors that have been studied and welldocumented in the literature are included in this study: Competitive pressure and market
uncertainty.
3.5 Organizational performance
The literature is replete with studies on the impact of ERP on the organizational
performance. Five dimensions of organizational performance have been considered in
this study to capture the benefits of ERP. These dimensions were studied thoroughly by
Shang and Seddon (2002). The five-dimensional framework they have developed is built
on large body of previous ERP research. These five dimensions are: Operational benefits,
managerial benefits, strategic benefits, IT infrastructure benefits, and organizational
benefits.
4 METHODOLOGY
Due to the limited research, this exploratory study is hypothesizing that the factors
proposed in the research model will make key contribution to the adoption of ERP for the
construction industry. A survey will be used to test the proposed model with a sample
size of 100 construction firms. The questionnaire aims to capture the information
reflecting the perceptions and practice of the adopters and non-adopters of ERP and the
influence of the factors. The method of delivery would be a web-based survey. The
survey method is utilized to establish the parameters of the model and the relationship
between the dependent and independent variables. It also serves as a means to verify the
research model.
The empirical analysis will be complemented by a case study approach, with the aim
of verifying and enriching the results. A detailed examination of three firms will be
668
realized through personal interviews with key decision-makers within the selected firms.
The combined results of inductive and qualitative approach would formulate the ERP
adoption model for the construction industry.
5 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH
This study is expected to be beneficial both for the industry and for the academia. The
results of this research will facilitate to have the big picture of the ERP phenomenon in
the construction industry. This is crucial since many ERP providers are trying to tailor
their solutions to the construction industry, despite the lack of knowledge on the demand
and inner motivations o the industry. Also, this research will unearth any hidden
opportunities of ERP and what the construction firms lack that prevent them from
adopting these systems.
No study has attempted to investigate the ERP phenomena in the construction industry
with such comprehensiveness. With this research, many practitioners will be able to get
guidance regarding the factors that affects the adoption of ERP. In addition, the effects of
ERP on the organizational performance of the adopted firms might provide a good
knowledge map regarding the outcomes of such an investment.
REFERENCES
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implementation success of enterprise resource planning systems. International Journal of
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Chalmers, R.E. 1999. Small manufacturers seek best ERP fit. Manufacturing Engineering 16(5):4
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Chau, P.Y.K. & Tam, K.Y. 1997. Factors affecting the adoption of open systems: An exploratory
study. MIS Quarterly 21(1):124.
Computer Economics 1999. Annual Information Systems and eBusiness Spending Study.
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Davenport, T.H. 1998. Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system. Harvard Business Review
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Duplaga, E.A. & Marzie, A. 2003. Implementing ERP in manufacturing. Information Systems
Management 20(3):6875.
Hoffman, T. 1998. ERP: The next stage. Computerworld,
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5/5/2004.
Holland, C.P. & Light, B. 1999. A critical success factors model for ERP implementation. IEEE
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Kumar, V, Maheshwari, B. & Kumar, U. 2002. Enterprise resource planning systems adoption
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the adoption of innovation. The journal of product innovation management 19(6):412423.
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ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 129(5):578585.
Construction informatics themes in the

framework 5 programme
.Turk
University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: The paper presents the results of a survey on the current and
future research and development themes in construction informatics. The
survey was conducted in the fall of 2003 among the participants of the
ICCI cluster project. It is based on the topic-map of construction
informatics that structures the R&D themes into (1) core themesmostly
creating knowledge and (2) support themes. The support themes address
the research needs, transfer, deployment and impact of research. Core
research themes are related to processing activities and
communication/coordination activities. It has been found out that the 5th
framework projects made a breakthrough in the themes related to ebusiness and e-commerce. Collaboration, integration and data
management was strongly represented but more work is needed. Future
themes are expected to be knowledge management, intelligent software
and intelligent interfaces. The projects were mainly involved with the
requirements analysis and prototyping. The community realizes that in the
future more effort should go into commercialized industry deployment
and the study of the impacts of the technologies.
1 INTRODUCTION
Innovation and advancement in information and communication technologies (ICT) is
moving at a rapid pace. Many EU-funded projects using state-of the-art technologies
have produced, tested and implemented advanced software solutions for the construction
industry.
In the wake of the 6th framework projects like ICCI (http://icci.vtt.fi/) and
ROADCON (http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/roadcon/) were supposed to prepare the funding
bodies as well as the researchers for new tasks in the coming years and the thinking on
what we (construction informatics professionals) are, where we are headed and what kind
of obstacles are on the road. Specifically the ROADCON project (Zarliet al., 2003)
tracked the way forward; ICCI was more involved with analysing and harmonizing the
current research.
The objective of this document is quantify RTD technical advancements within the
ICCI
partner
projects,
(OSMOScic.vtt.fi/projects/osmos/,
eConstruct
http://www.econstruct.org/,
DIVERCITY
http://www.nicve.salford.ac.uk/divercity/index.html,
ISTforCE
http://www.istforce.com/, eLegalhttp://cic.vrt.fi/projects/elegal and GLOBEMEN
671
http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/globemen) by technological themes that are targeted by these

projects and ICT technologies that are relevant in the their context and of the construction
industry.
2 METHODOLOGY
The study is based on the results of the survey among the participants of the ICCI
member projects. The design of the survey was based on the definition of a generic
process model of research and development that is then used as a basis for the topic map
of construction informatics.
2.1 Process model of R&D
The generic process model of research and development (RDPM) is shown in Figure 1.
Industry needs and general human curiosities generate problems and questions.
The research process, done by academia and other researchers, using the knowledge
from other disciplines and principles of scientific investigation, results in knowledge (as
well as new questions). The knowledge is then used in (1) teaching, (2) development of
technology and (3) development of standards, codes, best practices etc. Through these
three main mechanisms this new knowledge reaches the industry and affects the day-today business processes.
Figure 1. Simplified IDEF0-ish

process model of R&D (RDPM).
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2.2 Types of activities in the RDPM

Kinds of efforts/works in the Figure 1 can be further structured according to the
technology maturity levels. The kinds of efforts include:
Related to the emerging stage of research:
roadmap creation, research strategy development.
research needs assessment.
problem definition, requirements analysis.
Related to the research and problem solving:
research that furthered state-of-the-art in general
research that furthered state-of-the-art in AEC
application of computer science in AEC
Related to the transfer and use of research results:
software prototyping and demonstrators
contribution to standards
contribution to education
contribution to best-practice
Related to the deployment of research results:
commercialized industry deployment
Related to the impact of the deployed research results:
studies of economic/business impacts
studies of environmental impacts
studies of social impacts
This classification was used in questions 3.2 and 4.2 of the Survey.
2.3 Construction informatics themes
Construction informatics is an interdisciplinary topic that studies (the construction
specific issues) related to representation, processing, and communication of (construction
specific) information in humans and software (Turk, 2002). In the paper (Turk, ibid.)
presented the topic map of construction informatics. It includes dozens of hierarchically
structured topics. The hierarchy was found too much complex and hard to understand by
the test respondents, therefore a linear list of well-understood topics was suggested. It
was a design goal of these topics to omit the technical terms tied to a particular
fashionable technology in order to make the form as time-proof as possible. The list of
themes was:
collaboration, concurrent engineering infrastructures, project webs
person-person communication technologies, videoconferencing, email
software interoperability and integration, XML, IFC, STEP
673
human-computer interaction
computationally intensive applications (FEM etc.)
knowledge intensive applications, AI, expert systems
knowledge management
3D modelling and drafting
databases, information retrieval
business process reengineering
e-business infrastructures
e-legal infrastructures
The list is further elaborated in Section 3.
2.4 The survey
As a general method on getting the empirical data on the current an future research and
problems that may lie ahead, a survey among the project partners of the ICCI member
projects as well as the general research community was conducted in October and
November 2003. Had five sets of questions:
General information about the project in which the respondent took part
Questions about the person responding
Theme and contribution of the project
Future research plans
Barriers and risks
This paper focuses on the results related to the 3rd and 4th set of questions. Another
paper (Turk, 2004) focuses on the barriers and risks.
2.5 Member projects
The Figure 2 shows the projects there were studied. Most answers in the survey were
related to the ICCI member projects, however, some also came from other parties.
2.6 General demographics of the respondents
The survey was taken by 50 persons. The average age was 42 years. The average size of
the company was 2600 employees, the median size 500. They spent 17.1 PM on average
on the project on which they are responding. The business and work profiles of the
respondents are shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 2. Projects studied and how

they were represented in the survey.
Figure 3. Respondents of the survey.
3 CURRENT AND FUTURE EFFORTS

Sections 3 and 4 of the questionnaire were dealing with topics and kinds of efforts in the
current 5th framework research projects (Section 3) as well as in the planed future
research projects (Section 4). This section discusses some overall results:
675
Current kinds of work

Question 1.3 was dealing with the type of work that the person was doing in the
project:
42.3% research, development, demonstration, testing
19.6% deliverables editing (writing project deliverables)
15.2% dissemination efforts (writing papers, presentations)
7.4% other paperwork for the EU
14.2% proj ect management
4.5%other
Figure 4. Themes of the current

(above) and future (below) themes of
the research projects.
Over 1/5 is spent of what could be described as project management (the limit for this
kind of funding in the 6th Framework is 7%!). What also seems wrong is the difference
in the effort related to deliverables editing and dissemination. The first is typically very
low circulation reports often read by the consortium, project officer and reviewers only,
the second are publications in journals, trade magazines, at conferences and fairsfor a
much wider audience and often subject to peer review.
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3.1 Current and future themes

Current research themes are shown in Figure 4. Several figures like this will be printed in
this report. With each row, the respondents could answer not just with yes/no but with
answers between 1 and 5. The proportion of each answer is color coded in the Figures.
Red bar stands for 5, orange for 4, yellow for 3, vanilla for 2 and grey for 1. Darker bar
therefore means more.
It should be noted first that the respondents were critical of their current and optimistic
about their future contribution. On average, the contribution of the future project would
be more than half a grade more significant than the current project.
Tables 1 and 2 show the current and future research themes. On the left there is the
ranking of themes in the current projects. Higher numbers in front of the theme mean
stronger contribution. It is the average of all answers. The right hand side is based on the
answers to 4.1 and shows the themes of the future projects.
Table 1. Current and future research themes.

Movers up in bold, movers down in italic.
Rank Current (question 3.1)
Change Rank Future (question 4.1)
3.9 collaboration, concurrent

engineering infrastructures, project
webs
1 4.0 collaboration, concurrent

engineering infrastructures, project
webs
3.2 software interoperability and

integration, XML, IFC, STEP
2 3.8 knowledge management
2.9 e-business infrastructures
2.9 databases, information retrieval
4 3.3 databases, information retrieval
2.7 business process reengineering
5 3.2 knowledge intensive

applications, AI, expert systems
2.6 knowledge management
6 3.2 human-computer interaction
2.3 knowledge intensive

applications, AI, expert systems
7 3.2 e-business infrastructures
2.3 human-computer interaction
8 3.2 business process reengineering
2.2 person-person communication

technologies, videoconferencing,
email
10
2.0 3D modelling and drafting
11
1.9 e-legal infrastructures
11 2.4 e-legal infrastructures
12
1.4 computationally intensive

applications (FEM etc.)
12 1.9 computationally intensive

applications (FEM etc.)
3 3.7 software interoperability and

integration, XML, IFC, STEP
9 2.8 3D modelling and drafting
10 2.6 person-person communication

technologies, videoconferencing,
email
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Table 2. Changes in the cureent and future kinds of

efforts.
Rank Current
Change Rank Future
3.8 software prototyping and

demonstrators
1 4.1 software prototyping and

demonstrators
3.5 problem definition,

requirements analysis
2 3.8 problem definition,

requirements analysis
3.5 application of computer science

in AEC
3 3.8 contribution to best-practise
3.4 research that furthered state-ofthe-art in AEC
4 3.8 commercialized industry

deployment
3.3 research that furthered state-ofthe-art in general
5 3.7 studies of economic/business

impacts
3.3 contribution to best-practise
6 3.7 research that furthered state-ofthe-art in general
3.0 contribution to standards
7 3.5 research that furthered state-ofthe-art in AEC
3.0 commercialized industry

deployment
8 3.5 application of computer science

in AEC
2.9 studies of economic/business

impacts
9 3.4 contribution to standards
10
2.6 research needs assessment
10 3.2 contribution to education
11
2.6 contribution to education
11 3.1 roadmap creation, research

strategies
12
2.3 roadmap creation, research

strategies
12 3.0 research needs assessment
13
2.0 studies of social impacts
13 2.7 studies of social impacts
14
1.9 studies of environmental

impacts
14 2.6 studies of environmental

impacts
Top themes like collaboration, concurrent engineering infrastructures, project webs,

software interoperability and integration and databases, information retrieval will
remain in the focus of the research of this community. e-Business related themes seem to
have addressed all relevant issues and are loosing priority in the future. The overall
winner (green background) are themes related to knowledge management and humancomputer interaction. The losers are e-business related themes.
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3.2 Current and future kinds of efforts

The Figure 5 compares the current and future kinds of efforts. Again the future efforts are
stronger than the current ones (1/4 of a point).
Figure 5. Current and future kinds of

efforts.
679
The changes are perhaps better understood from Table 2. It is quite apparent that the
respondents feel a need for a stronger transfer towards the practice, commercialization
and the study of the economic and business impacts (text in bold). On the other hand,
pure research and application of computer science to AEC is loosing the attention (text in
italic).
4 SELECTED ICT TOPICS AND DISCUSSION OF THEIR
REPRESENTATION IN THE SURVEY
This section details the themes of RTD projects, both current and future and presents
some results related to those themes, from the survey. Each topic is briefly introduced.
Then, based on the survey, four facets are discussed:
Status: how was the topic represented in the current research (question 3.1)
Trend: how is the topic represented in the future research (question 4.1)
Future themes: what topics will in the future (question 4.1) study the persons, who
thought that their current project did an above average contribution (question 3.1) in this
topic
Barriers: what barriers were found most severe by persons who did an above average
contribution in this theme?
4.1 Collaboration, concurrent engineering infrastructures, project
webs(common infrastructurescollaboration)
Infrastructure to enable the movement and communication of information over networks
(e.g. The Internet, the Web, portal and communication infrastructures).
Status: strong
Trend: up-stable
Future themes: more of the same, knowledge management
Barriers: funding, business case, demonstrators dont scale up.
4.2 Person-person communication technologies, videoconferencing,
email (communication person-person)
Communication of information between individuals to support coordination and
collaboration in human activities and work processes in the construction business.
Software and technologies serving this function can support distance working, virtual
workspaces, concurrent engineering and the virtual enterprise. Software like email, chat,
ICQ, on-line conference, project webs, groupware and workflow tools and technologies
like Internet technologies, Web technologies, Mobile technologies, Workflow
technologies.
Status: weak
Trend: up-stable
Future themes: collaboration, e-business infrastructures
Barriers: fixation to old problems, enlightened managers missing.
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4.3 Software interoperability and integration, XML, IFC, STEP

(communication software-software)
Software, programs and technologies that enable automated machine-to-machine
communication, distribution and sharing of software and computing resources, data
exchange and data transfer. Software like SMTP, FTP, server and middleware
technologies like CORBA, DCOM, SOAP and GRID technologies, inter-process
communication like COM and protocols like HTTP, XML.
Status: strong
Trend: up-stable
Future themes: more of the same, knowledge management
Barriers: fixation to old problems, funding, success failure, demonstrators dont scale
up.
4.4 Human-computer interaction (communication person-software)
The interface between a user and a software program or a display device that defines how
the user interacts with the software or device and views information presented e.g. how
software controls and information fields are laid out and organised in screens, windows
and forms, visualisation of information and entering of data. Software, tools and
technologies for user interfaces and interactive devices e.g. mouse, touch screens and
visualisation of information like virtual reality environments.
Status: weak
Trend: up
Future themes: collaboration, HCI, more of the same, knowledge management
Barriers: community closed for new ideas.
4.5 Computationally intensive applications (FEM etc.) (processing
create information)
Support for human activities in creating, analyzing and processing information by using
software and programs. Synthesis like drafting, computer aided design (CAD) and 3D
modelling, analyzing like design, structural design, structural analysis, finite element
analysis and data processing to create new information like machine learning and
regulation checking.
Status: very weak
Trend: will continue to be weak
Future themes: more of the same, several other topics. Collaboration significantly not
an issue!
Barriers: comparably few, funding not seen as a problem.
4.6 Knowledge intensive applications, AI, expert systems
This is the other topic that actually creates new information, this time by using
knowledge and logic intensive applications, not computationally intensive. Includes
technologies such as data mining, expert systems and other artificial intelligence tools
(AI).
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Status: average-strong
Trend: up-stable
Future themes: knowledge management, more of the same, interoperability, HCI.
Collaboration not a future issue!
Barriers: stakeholders not involved, educators, software developers, standardisation
bodies not involved in the project team, does not address user needs, funding.
4.7 Knowledge management
Knowledge management involves the identification and analysis of available and
required knowledge assets and knowledge asset related processes, and the subsequent
planning and control of actions to develop both the assets and the processes so as to fulfil
organisational objectives.
Status: average
Trend: up
Future themes: more of the same, databases, information retrieval, business process
reengineering, e-business infrastructures
Barriers: funding, old problems not solved.
4.8 3D modelling and drafting (processingcreate information)
In themes 4.54.7 new information is created by software. However, in the AEC, a
substantial body of information is created by the designers by drafting (2D) and
modelling (3D).
Status: averagelow
Trend: down
Future themes: more of the same, collaboration, knowledge management. Not
interested in e-business infrastructures.
Barriers: old problems not solved, demonstrators do not scale up, enlightened
managers missing.
4.9 Databases, information retrieval (processingmanage information)
Support for human activities in managing collections of data and information, in the
construction business, over its life cycle. Manage information includes the representation
and structuring of the physical information (e.g. format, schema, ontology, data structure,
XML), modelling it (e.g. business information modelling, enterprise modelling, product
modelling, STEP, IFC, process modelling, IDEF0), software and technologies for
physically storing and organising it (e.g. relational and OO databases, product model
databases, data warehouses, knowledge management, document management) and
retrieval and search technologies and mechanisms (e.g. data mining, search, query,
classification, thesaurus, vocabulary, glossary).
Status: above average
Trend: slightly down
Future themes: more of the same, collaboration, knowledge management. Not
interested in e-business infrastructures.
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Barriers: old problems not solved, clear business case with ROI study missing,
demonstrator does not scale up, industrial robustness not achieved, difficult to use.
4.10 Business process reengineering
The study of how technological advances translate into new ways of organizing and
doing business.
Status: average
Trend: slightly up
Future themes: collaboration, knowledge management, e-business infrastructures
Barriers: funding, community closed for new ideas, enlightened managers missing.
4.11 E-business infrastructures (common infrastructurescommerce)
Infrastructure to support and facilitate, the business process, in delivery, buying and
selling of products and services, sales support and communicating information to
business partners in business and commerce and by means of electronic transactions (e.g.
e-Business, e-Commerce and e-Procurement systems).
Status: above average
Trend: down
Future themes: collaboration, interoperability, HCI
Barriers: clear business case with ROI study missing, demonstrator does not scale up.
4.12 E-legal infrastructures (common infrastructureslegal)
Creating, owning and distributing electronic information is of legal consequence.
Methods, technologies legal standards, laws and regulations designed to protect
information owners, information users, legal documents and contracts, intellectual
property rights, authentication of information and safe transport of information over the
global network (e.g. digital signatures, digital encryption, digital contracts etc.).
Status: low
Trend: will stay low
Future themes: collaboration, more of the same, integration, e-business
infrastructures.
Barriers: demonstrator does not scale up, industrial robustness not achieved, difficult
to use, old problems not solved.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The survey is providing an interesting insight into the RTD advances and migration risks.
The 5th frame-work projects seem to have made a decisive/sufficient breakthrough in the
themes related to e-business and e-commerce (which were, to be fair, quite popular at the
time). In spite of the large proportion of the efforts that was related to collaboration,
integration and data management, further work in this area is likely. Among the new
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themes identified are those related with the knowledge management, intelligent software
and intelligent interfaces.
Major effort of the projects was in the requirements analysis and prototyping. In the
future, more eifort is expect related to commercialized industry deployment and the study
of the impacts of the technologies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work reported was conducted in the context of the IST-ICCI Project. The financial
support of the European Commission under the IST program as well as the contribution
and comments of the ICCI partners, particularly Gudni Gudnasson, Vlado Stankovski,
Tomo Cerovek and Matev Dolenc is acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Rezgui, Y. & Zarli, A. 2003. ROADcon: a European strategic roadmap towards knowledge-driven
sustainable Construction, Civil Engineering Journal, October.
Turk 2002. Elements of an Ontology of Construction Informatics, In Y.Rezgui B.Ingirige
G.Aouad (eds), Proceedings of the European Conference on Information and Communication
technology Advances and Inovation in the Knowledge SocietyeSMART 2002, University of
Salford, ISBN 0902896415, 155167, http://www.zturk.com/.
Turk 2004. Migration Risks of Construction Informatics Research, position paper in D.J.Vanier
and T.El-Diraby, Integrated IT to support Sustainable Construction, Toronto, Canada, May,
2004, http://www.zturk.com/.
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Collaborative working
2004 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 04 1535 9384
Virtual pools of resources eliminate idle or

missing equipment in AEC companies
G.Antoniadis
Intracom S.A., Hellenic Telecommunications & Electronic Industry,
Greece
K.Menzel
Dresden University of Technology, Germany
ABSTRACT: Best utilization of the productive resources is a vital need
for construction companies. The e-Sharing project (Resource Sharing
ConstellationsIST-200133325) introduces an innovative service for
the efficient management of resources by enabling resource sharing within
different companies. e-Sharing, supports resource type models based on
XML schemas, employs intelligent functionality for matching offers and
requests and provides advanced auctioning and negotiation procedures by
using software agents. The e-Sharing has been designed on the principle
to be a practical and useful tool for professionals who need realistic and
integrated solutions for their work. This paper, in addition to the
presentation of the system individual functionalities, demonstrates the
strength of the approach and the benefits that e-Sharing offers to lessors,
lessees and service providers.
1 INTRODUCTION
Best utilization of the productive resources is a vital need for construction companies.
While any unpredicted need in important resources may result in difficulty in fulfilling a
contract or in loosing a business opportunity, a temporary and unexpected business
decline may result in having idle resources. Construction companies really need a fast
and dynamic way of acquiring specific resources to cope with work peaks and a way of
exploiting their idle resources and compensating for their fixed expenses. The modern
technology that offers high capabilities in interconnecting systems and users, fast and
intelligent information searching and advanced electronic bargaining methods, make the
concept of a virtual shared pool of idle resources, feasible.
The e-Sharing system is based on powerful resource and task type models, which
further extend existing standards in Construction Equipment and Tasks. e-Sharing
combines them with each other and provides a formal specifications in an XML schema
dialect. Sharing of resources is achieved by the introduction of a virtual resource pool
that includes the company-users own available resources and the idle resources that have
been declared in the e-Sharing system by other company-users. To facilitate the data
flow towards the pool of idle resources, e-Sharing allows data extracted from the users
Virtual pools of resources eliminate idle or missing equipment in AEC companies
687
ERP systems to be loaded to the system by means of XML messages and a web
connection.
Data Mining technology is used for analysing data from offers and requests. The users
of the e-Sharing system describe their requirements regarding resource special
characteristic, leasing period and price and the intelligent recommendations engine of the
e-Sharing system presents all the available solutions in a list with the most suitable
resources in the first positions. Estimated initial values auctions and negotiations are also
specified.
Various types of electronic auctions, various types of electronic negotiations and
various types of bidding agents that can participate in the electronic bargain on behalf of
the users, give a sample of the trading facilities that accompany the system and can be
used for achieving fast and profitable deals between the owners of the resources and the
potential lessees.
The various characteristics of the e-Sharing system are presented in the next sections
as follows: Section 2 presents the resource description models, section 3 presents the
matching and recommendation mechanism, section 4 presents the e-sharing Trader, while
the strength of the approach and the users benefits are discussed in sections 5 and 6
respectively. We conclude in section 6.
2 RESOURCE DESCRIPTIONS
A prerequisite for the spreading of the e-Sharing service is the existence of strong
resource and tasks description models. The models compatibility to the users practices,
their completeness, extensibility, and broad acceptance from the construction industry, is
the key factor for pulling together users so that a resource sharing community is formed.
The basis for the development of the integrated resource model in the e-Sharing
project was an analysis of existing standards and catalogues describing construction
equipments, construction tasks, and qualification profiles to select the most detailed and
general content descriptions and the appropriate models. The analysis was divided into
two sub-tasks: Firstly, content information for equipments and tasks as well as
qualification profiles in the construction sector was analysed. In a second step the content
specification was compared to existing standardized schemata in order to define the
appropriate schema to manage and maintain resource information. The evaluation process
was conducted in close cooperation with industry partners and further potential end-users
of the e-Sharing sy stem to continuously consider their requirements and experiences
[Menzel, 2004].
2.1 Equipment types
The BGL 2001 [BauGerteListe, 2001] specifies technical and relevant financial
information about equipment types in the construction sector. The BGL 2001 is used for
the estimation of costs as well as technical performances of construction equipment. Each
equipment type is specified by characteristic technical properties like height, load
moment or velocity. Based on the BGL 2001 the so called EUROLISTE has been
developed in cooperation of French and German authorities. The aim of the EUROLISTE
688
is to harmonize standards for construction equipment in Europe. EUROLISTE/BGL 2001

is the most complete and most detailed content description of equipment types in the
construction sector. Therefore, we have chosen the EUROLISTE/BGL 2001 as content
description.
2.2 Construction tasks
For construction projects in Germany the STLB [StandardLeistungsBuch 2004]
categorises construction tasks in a hierarchical order. Furthermore, each task can be
specified by certain properties which describe the type the amount of work that has to be
performed. Currently, the STLB is the most complete and most detailed content
description of task types in the European construction sector. Therefore, the STLB was
chosen in e-Sharing as content description for construction tasks.
2.3 bc-XML: A schema for equipment and tasks
In order to determine the appropriate schema that can describe equipment types and task
types for the e-Sharing system, two different criteria have been identified: Firstly,
information of equipments and tasks has to be structured hierarchically while attaching
certain properties to them. Thus, inheritance of properties must be supported. Secondly,
in order to find the appropriate equipment for a certain task equipment types and task
types must be comparable. Consequently, the two models shall be compatible. These
requirements are sufficiently covered by the bc-XML (developed within the
eConstruct project (http://www.econstruct.org/) specification, which can be used for
both, the equipment type description and the task type description.
2.4 Qualification profiles of personnel in AEC
Under the guidance of the British Department of Education and Employment (DfEE) the
Construction Industry Standing Conference (CISC) [http://www.cisc.org.uk/] developed a
framework for National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) [http://www.uce.ac.uk/], and
Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ). The first version was delivered in 1994.
Within e-Sharing the descriptions of level 4 and level 5 qualifications for the
construction sector will be used.
Under the guidance of the German Assembly of the Chambers of Handicrafts app.
50 job descriptions are maintained as standardised qualification profiles (comparable to
level 1 to level 3 of the NVQs). The CISC-approach and the job descriptions
complement each other. This holistic approach ensures the usability of our approach to
different organization types within the construction sector.
2.5 HR-XMLA Schema for qualification proflle representation
Within the e-Sharing project human resources (HR) are characterised through knowledge
and skills of a person (like a certificate for crane operation or a welding certificates).
Therefore, the schema describing the qualification profiles has to fulfil two requirements:
Firstly, it should be a neutral standard in order to allow integration of information from
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external systems, and secondly, the content for skills and knowledge (as described above)
has to be represented in the schema. The HR-XML [http://www.hr-xml.org/]
specification supports these requirements to the best.
2.6 ERP data transfer
The XML representation of the resources allows for simple communication berween eSharing and the customers ERP systems. Lists of idle resource extracted from the
companies ERPs, are coded to
Table 1. Content and Schemas Description in

construction.
Category
Models & Schemas
Content descriptions
Equipment
bcXML
BGL-2001
Task
bcXML
STLB
Qualification profiles
HR-XML
CISCAEC-Qual.Prof.
XML messages containing the resource descriptions. XML messages are send to eSharing by agents that reside on computers of companies-users. The incoming XML
messages are processed in e-Sharing by an XML-Parser and are inserted into e-Sharing
database.
3 INTELLIGENT RECOMMENDATIONS ENGINE
The e-Sharing intelligent recommendations engine, detects all the offers that could be
interesting for a specific lessees request, and evaluates them on the basis of the
probability of a successful negotiation between the lessor and the lessee.
In e-Sharing when a user registers a new offer or request for a resource, he has to
specify the following parameters: (1) Resource type & specific characteristics, (2)
Leasing period, (3) Price For each parameter, the users have also to specify how flexible
they are on accepting different values by selecting one out of three different values of a
flexibility indicator: (a) high flexibility (b) medium flexibility (c) low flexibility [Morris,
2000].
Based on the specified parameters value, and the flexibility indicator (high, medium,
low), for each parameter the system estimates automatically the flexibility factor for each
parameter. The flexibility factor is the system estimation of the percentage of the increase
or the decrease of the specified parameter value, which would be accepted by the user.
The flexibility factor takes a different value for each transaction and depends on the
specified value for this parameter and the values and the flexibility indicators for the
other parameters of a transaction (e.g. the flexibility factor for price depends on the
resource type, on the period of the year, on the leasing interval, etc). The system
estimates the flexibility factors by mining the data of all previous transactions [Han,
2001, Michlski, 1998].
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e-Sharing employs a data mining classification procedure in order to obtain distinct

values such as 5%, 10%,95%, 100%, for the flexibility factors for the parameters price
and time. Transactions historical data are transformed and stored in the Data Warehouse
table. Fields in the Data Warehouse table store data about average transaction prices for
that resource type, Request/Offer prices per resource type and period of the year,
Requests/Offers density per time period etc. As only the price and time parameters can be
negotiated by e-Sharing, only the flexibility factors for these parameters are calculated by
data mining.
The data in the Data Warehouse are mined by a batch procedure once a week in order
a Decision tree to be formed for each flexibility factor. The resulted Classification
Models are used in order to predict the flexibility factors for new requests or offers
[Oracle 9i, 2002].
Taking into consideration all parameters i in an offer and request pair and their
flexibility factors, each offer-request pair is rated by the sum:
((iR(1+fiR)io(1fio)) (for all params i)
Where: iR, fiR, are the value and flexibility for parameter i in a Request; iO, fiO are the
value and flexibility for parameter i in an Offer.
Sorting the rates for each Offer-Request pair, creates the system recommendation.
First item in the recommendation list is the item with minimum value for the above
expression.
4 THE TRADER
The constructions sector is characterized by high investment cost of certain equipment
and difficulty in maintaining a higher usage level of this equipment. These features leave
a wide space for benefits to both lessors (by earning revenue from idle equipment) and
lessees (lower investment requirements). The e-Sharing Traders goal is to increase the
overall market efficiency by supporting trading mechanisms for fast, transparent and
efficient sharing of resources by means of electronic auctions and negotiations [Bitsaki,
2004].
4.1 Auctions
The auction-related part of the Trader supports a variety of popular auction mechanisms,
both simple and multi-object, as opposed to most existing e-marketplaces. The selection
and adaptation of these mechanisms are strongly motivated from the projects context.
Since market demand for specific types of equipment (e.g. cranes, excavators, trucks) is
unpredictable due to the construction companies time-varying needs, it is very hard for
lessors to set a fixed price for their resources. To this end, auctions seem to be the proper
means of trade. The following auction types are supported by e-Sharing [Coucoubetis C.,
2003].
First Price Sealed-bid auction: each bidder submits a sealed bid without knowing
others bids. The object is awarded to the highest bidder. The winner pays his own bid.
691
Second Price Sealed-bid (Vickrey) auction: each bidder submits a sealed bid without
knowing others bids. The object is awarded to the highest bidder. However, contrary to
the first price sealed-bid auction, the winner pays the second-highest bid.
English auction: it is an open process, with price ascending progressively. In
particular, the price starts from the lowest acceptable level and proceeds to solicit higher
bids from the bidders until no one is willing to increase the bid. The object is awarded to
the highest bidder, who pays his bid.
Multi-object Auctions. When multiple identical items or multiple units of a divisible
quantity are to be traded, the respective mechanisms are defined as multi-unit auction
mechanisms.
Sealed bid multi-object auction: bids are submitted in sealed envelopes. The K units
available axe allocated to the K highest bids.
Ascending clock auction: this is a progressive auction mechanism; hence it is
conducted in rounds. A clock indicates the current per unit price, and bidders report the
quantity demanded for this price; the clock price is then raised again. Bidders gradually
reduce their demand (they are not allowed to increase it) and units are awarded to bidders
when demand matches supply.
Combinatorial sealed-bid auction for 23 objects: bidders are allowed to submit any
combination of units they wish at a single price. Examining all possible overall
allocations and finding the most profitable one perform winner determination.
4.2 Agents in auctions
e-Sharing enables users to select among various types of bidding agents to participate in
the English type auction on their behalf. Users presence in the system is not necessary
during the auction any more. The agents developed by e-Sharing are based on input of
certain parameters given by the user. They pertain to auctions taking place for a
predefined time period. In particular, three types of agents have been defined and
implemented.
The Simple Agent, which increases the bid up to the users maximum willingnessto-pay without taking any special care if the auction is nearing its completion.
The Smart Agent, which increases the bid by a small increment until he realizes that
the auction is nearing its completion. It then places one last bid, which is computed
according to a formula giving the optimal such bid under certain assumptions.
The Adaptive Agent, which is applicable when the users willingness-to-pay is not
accurately known, or can be influenced by the bids of the other players/ agents.
4.3 Negotiations
The e-Sharing Trader supports negotiations among users by means of a semi-structured
negotiation protocol. Inclusion of this functionality is primarily motivated by the fact that
in the construction sector, negotiations are very common. This implies that the Traders
users are familiar eith the basic principles of negotiations. Moreover, researchers studies
[Bichler, 2003] also agree that electronic negotiations are very promising. The users
negotiate by exchanging messages of standardized structure and content eliminating
misunderstandings and save time and money for the parties involved. This should be
692
contrasted with traditional negotiations that are conducted either face-to-face or by using
the telephone, or simplified electronic negotiations that are conducted by means of
exchanging unstructured details. The latter type of negotiations suffer from high
transaction costs and limited number of negotiation parties since negotiations among a
lessee and many lessors for the leasing of a resource is impossible over the phone.
Electronic negotiations can only be effective if resource description and negotiation
objects structure are standardized. Project e-Sharing has performed innovative work on
accurate resource description and related ontology. This motivates the use of automated
price negotiation agents that exchange negotiation messages on users behalf. The
following types of negotiations are supported by e-Sharing.
Multi-attribute negotiations; The users negotiate for multiple parameter e.g. the price
and the leasing period. Two-object negotiations, AND-type negotiation: this feature
allows a lessee to lease two complementary resources that are offered by generally
different lessors or none of them, e.g. both an excavator and a truck that are needed for a
Two-object negotiations, OR-type negotiation. Negotiation for exactly one of two
substitute resources, e.g. one of two cranes that are offered by two different lessors (ORtype negotiation). The support of this functionality is strongly motivated from the needs
of the constructions sector, where the existence of such complementarities or
substitutions among resources is common.
4.4 Agents in negotiation
The e-Sharing Trader provides a family of negotiation agents, each reflecting different
behavior regarding the urgency to make a deal and the risk aversion degree.
Impatient agents that approach (or even reach) their reservation value very quickly.
Patient agents that reveal their reservation value when time is almost exhausted.
Regular agents that approach steadily the reservation value until time is exhausted.
STRENGTH OF THE APPROACH
5
The strengths of the approach, which make it appealing for exploitation are the following:
in the particular sector of construction, the high investment cost of certain equipment
and the difficulty to maintain a large usage rate of this equipment, leave a large space
for benefits to both lessors (income from idle equipment) and lessees (less investment
requirements).
e-Sharing explores new approaches to flexible work forms that will allow enterprises to
be more competitive in an increasingly global business environment and at the same
time to keep their employees, increase the work stability and reduce the
unemployment. Compliance with EU efforts in employment is worth noting.
the owner of e-Sharing business is only a mediator and does not have to invest in
purchasing the resources to be leased. The value of the leasing transactions is large
enough to allow a descent revenue to the mediation service provider.
693
The main effort in developing the e-Sharing platform is in shaping the applications
according to the special needs of the resource sharing scenario. Additionally, effort is
targeted to the development of special components with advanced characteristics such as
sharing-specific matching agents and intelligent recommendations. A number of these
components, triggered original R&D work, including an advancement in the
corresponding research. The compilation of characteristics tailored to real workscenarios
provides e-Sharing with a competitive advantage.
The e-Sharing approach will contribute to new ways of working by supporting easy
co-operation of SMEs in the construction sector. It contributes to easier establishment of
new organizational patterns, such as Virtual Organizations (VOs), and therefore
strengthens and extends the competitiveness of SMEs and the construction sector in
general. Especially in the very fragmented and specialized construction sector this will
lead to productivity gains. Moreover, the e-Sharing approach enables access to modern
and up-to-date construction equipment on a cost-effective basis. By leasing high-tech
construction equipment SMEs can immediately improve their market position without
having the need for heavy investment.
6 BENEFITS OF THE E-SHARING SYSTEM
The e-Sharing system has been designed on the principle to be a practical and useful tool
for professionals which provides a quick and reliable way for seeking or exploiting
resources and a great flexibility in transactions between users.
The benefits for all the involved parts are significant:
Lessors (Equipment owners)
Exploitation of idle resources
Targeting of the offered resources to a special and attentive audience
Fast agreement completion
Profitable deals by means of advanced auctioning and negotiations features.
Lessees (Companies undergoing resource shortages)
Constantly available resources to select
Many alternative types of resources to select
Combinations of resources to accomplish a task
Access to rare resources
Fast seeking of the most suitable resources
Profitable deals by means of advanced auctioning and negotiations features.
Service provider
Marketplace domination by unifying highly fragmented markets
International market penetration by exploiting the systems multilingual capabilities
System extensibility to other business environments by including new resource
categories
Big profit possibilities by maintaining a continuous stream of transactions.
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7 CONCLUSION
e-Sharing system presents a pioneering service which allows companies that undergo
resource shortages to lease equipment or services form companies with temporarily
vacant equipment or personnel. e-Sharing supports resource type models based on XML
Schemas, employs intelligent functionality for matching offers and requests, and provides
advanced auctioning and negotiation procedures by using software agents. e-Sharing can
cooperate with the individual companys ERP systems, providing a fast and dynamic
Resource Management tool.
REFERENCES
BauGerteListe 2001, German National List of Construction Equipment
Bichler M., Kersten G., Stecjer S., 2003, Towards a structured Design of Electronic Negotiations.
Group Decision and Negotiation, Vol. 12, No. 4 (311335).
Bitsaki M., Dramitinos M., Stamoulis G., Antoniadis G., 2004, An e-Marketplace for Auctions and
Negotiations in the Constructions Sector, On The Move to Meaningful Internet Systems and
Ubiquitous Computing, CoopIS 2004, Larnaca Cyprus
Courcoubetis C., Weber R., 2003, Pricing Communication Networks: Economics, Technology and
Modelling, John Willey & Sons
Han J., Kamber M, 2001, Data mining: Concepts and Techniques, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
Menzel K., Wagner U, Keller M., Antoniadis G., Caires Branco A., 2004, Resource Management
for the Construction Industry, Xth International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building
Engineering. Weimar, Germany
Michlski R., Brakto L, Kubat M., 1998, Machine Learning and Data Mining: Methods and
Applications., NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Morris J., Maes. P, 2000, Negotiating Beyond the Bid Price. Workshop Proceedings of the
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2000), The Hague, The
Netherlands.
Oracle9i Data Mining, 2002, Concepts. Release 2 (9.2)
Oracle9i Data Mining, 2002, Administrators Guide. Release 2 (9.2)
StandardLeistungsBuch 2004Book of Standardised Construction Service Description
http://www.cisc.org.uk/
http://www.hr-xml.org/
http://www.uce.ac.uk/
DIVERCITY: distributed virtual workspace

for enhancing communication and
collaboration within the construction industry
Y.Arayici & G.Aouad
School of Construction and Property Management, University of Salford,
Greater Manchester, UK
ABSTRACT: DIVERCITY is a large EU funded project in the area of
construction IT undertaken by a European consortium of researchers and
practitioners from the construction industry. It is the acronym for
Distributed Virtual Workspace for enhancing Communication within the
Construction Industry and the prototype that presents the mechanism to
smoothly and collaboratively conduct the construction projects from early
briefing to the detailed design and even further by the end of the
construction phase. To be precise, DIVERCITY aims to supply a shared
virtual construction design and briefing environment that enables the
construction industry to better undertake the client briefing and design
review phases of a project.
DIVERCITY comprises three main workspaces, which are client briefing,
design review and construction workspaces respectively Whilst the Client
Briefing workspace enables architect to interact and communicate with
client for capturing client needs, the design review workspace allows
design team to review the design solution in different respects such as
lighting, acoustic and thermal conditions and the construction workspace
helps the planner evaluate optimum buildability for a building through
communication with other parties of the design team and site planning and
management.
The paper presents the DIVERCITY system and its main six
components: Client Briefing, Lighting, Acoustic, Thermal and Heating
Simulations, Visual Product Chronology for construction planning, lastly
Site planning & Analysis, how each of them handles different aspects of a
construction project in a construction supply chain and how they
complement each others to constitute a seamless integrated computer
environment for the sake of excellence of briefing and design and
construction planning.
1 INTRODUCTION
The Construction industry is one of the major sectors with 780 billion Euros: it means
that the construction industry is the largest industry in the industrial employment in
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Europe with 11 million workers, which equals 7% of the working population.

Furthermore, owing to being dependent on the construction industry, 22 million jobs are
created in other sectors (Coudret etal,2001).
In the past decade, construction companies have spent a great deal of effort and
resources in improving their business processes. New forms of innovative project
management, supported by recent IT developments, have appeared in response to evergrowing pressure from owners to complete projects on time and deliver high quality
buildings (Sarshar & Christiansson, 2004).
Construction has become an information intensive industry; and a new activity has
emerged from the process of managing projects, establishing itself as a discipline in its
own right: information management (Construct IT 2000).
Despite the interest and effort applied by leading companies, information management
in the construction industry is still in its infancy (Sarshar & Christiansson, 2004).
Construction projects involve a large number of direct stakeholders (clients, professional
teams, contractors) and indirect stakeholders (local authorities, residents, workers). There
are significant barriers to communications between the stakeholders. Many researchers
have acknowledged the limitations of current approaches to the management of
information in projects (Kiviniemi 1999) (Aouad, 1997) (Alshawi, 1996). Most of these
limitations are due to (Sarshar & Christiansson, 2004):
Much project information is stored on paper as drawings and written documents. This is
frequently unstructured and difficult to use. It is also easy to lose or damage
(Construct IT 2000). Thousands of documents are shared during a typical project,
leading to significant human errors in managing the versioning of these documents.
This process leads to incomplete understanding of the planned construction, functional
inefficiencies, inaccurate initial work or clashes between components.
People responsible for collecting and archiving project data may not always understand
the specific needs of those who will use it, such as those involved in building
maintenance.
The data is usually not managed while it is created, but instead it is captured and
archived at the end of the construction stage. This means that people who have
knowledge about the project are often likely to have left for another project by this
timeso their input is not captured.
Lessons learned are not organised well and are buried in details. It is therefore difficult
to compile and disseminate useful knowledge and best practice to other projects
(Watson and Marir 1994).
In the past, researchers have used IT for providing numerous decision support systems for
the professionals involved in the industry (Faraj & Alshawi, 1999). However, these
systems have created islands of automation and are far from achieving an acceptable
level of integration across disciplines and across the design and construction processes
(Faraj & Alshawi, 1999), and (Kartam, 1994).
Distributed virtual workspace for enhancing communication
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2 A VISION FOR CONSTRUCTION IT

Sarshar (2000) developed a vision for construction IT. Sarshar portrayed a scenario
where all stakeholders can produce their relevant project information and post it on an
electronic project information board. Each user has appropriate access rights and can
manipulate the necessary information on demand. This vision has been termed
construction integration, by many researchers (Issa, 1999) (Alshawi, 1996).
In this vision for construction IT (Sarshar 2000), the users of this information board
need not be tied to their computers and office network for connections and access.
Advances in communications technologies allow users to manipulate information in any
format, and in any geographical location. This is known as construction collaboration
(Sarshar & Christiansson, 2004).
2.1 Construction integration
Currently, construction project information is captured in documents and 2D CAD
drawings. The construction parties may share these documents and drawings using an
electronic environment. But problems arise as the volume of documents and drawings
and their versions increase (Sarshar 2002).
The project information board approach is a means of sharing project information,
via a shared conceptual product/process model. Information is entered once and is used
by all stakeholders, during a project. Some of the benefits of the integrated approach
include:
Much of the project information can be presented in a visual rather than textual format.
This eases communications and information sharing (Issa 1999, Thabet 1999, Brandon
1999).
Many aspects of the building can be simulated to improve client briefing and design
reviews (Sawhney 1999) (Shi 1999).
Such interactive technology can be used to consider life cycle issues such as
environmental impact, space planning, facilities management, emergency evacuation,
security and constructability during design reviews. This can facilitate concurrent
engineering by involving clients, planners, architects, designers, civil engineers,
contractors, facility managers and security personnel (Sarshar 2000, 2002).
It is easier to use past project knowledge and information for new developments
(Sarshar & Christiansson, 2004).
2.2 Construction Collaboration
Construction Collaboration is an area, which investigates how the supply chain can
access and manipulate the project information board, irrespective of their geographical
location. The key elements of this collaborative environment include (Divercity
Handbook 2003, Christiansson et.al, 2001):
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Advanced administration tools for distributed personal, team, and project information
repositories;
Access to virtual building models and collaborative environments through wireless
networked technologies and low cost virtual reality environments;
Appropriate security levels for sharing the information over the inter/intranets;
Process and workflow management tools to support variations in working practices
between different projects;
New generations of ICT tools that facilitate collaboration and communication with endusers.
3 THE DIVERCITY PROJECT

DIVERCITY was an EU funded project (19992002) (Divercity Handbook 2003),
(Christiansson 2002). The project used IFC standards in order to develop a toolkit for
shared virtual briefing and design in the construction industry. This toolkit allows
construction companies to conduct client briefing, design reviews, simulate what if
scenarios, test constructability of buildings, communicate and co-ordinate design
activities between teams. Both synchronous and asynchronous interaction are emphasised
in this framework.
DIVERCITY allows users to produce designs and simulate them in a virtual
environment. The designs are IFC based and can be viewed by all stakeholders within the
project team. The project had the following objectives:
Creation of a client-briefing workspace, which can facilitate interaction and
communication of design ideas between client and the architect
Creation of an interactive design review workspace, which can facilitate multidisciplinary design reviews involving different stakeholders of a construction project,
i.e. planners, architect, designers, civil engineers, electrical engineers, contractors,
facility managers, security personnel etc.
Creation of a virtual construction workspace, which can assess the buildability (the
sequence of construction activities, scheduling, material handling etc) of abuilding
Specification and development of a software framework for integrating the above three
workspaces and sharing them over networks to support collaboration between
geographically distributed project team members.
4 THE DIVERCITY SYSTEM

DIVERCITY has developed virtual workspaces that improve communication and
collaboration. DIVERCITY has focused on three construction processes, i.e. (i) client
briefing; (ii) design reviews; and (iii) site operations and constructability as well as
communication and integration framework.
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4.1 Client Briefing application

The Client Briefing application; Pre CAD represents the interface between the client and
design team: It is the mechanism for communication of ideas, the exploration of concepts
and the presentation of the design. It is intended to produce a single initial design, agreed
upon by all parties, and as this design is iteratively and progressively turned into a formal
detailed design, feedback is obtained in order to drive the design process forward.
Recent research carried out at the University of Salford (Barrett, Stanley, 1999)
suggests that Client Briefing should not be seen as an event but as a process, which works
in an iterative manner to refine the design. Figure 1 shows the DIVERCITY Client
Briefing process and a Pre CAD VR environment. In order to achieve this process, the
design team needs to be able to present their design to the client in a manner that the
client can easily understand. This presentation process may generate new inputs into the
design from either the client or the design team. These resultant inputs may be either new
parameters for the design, or simple modifications that may be made at the time of the
presentation.
4.2 Design Review applications
In the design/Constmction process, detailed design is an important phase where the inputs
are represented by a rather architectural design (usually drawings on a 1:1000 scale) and
the outputs are precise definition of
Figure 1. DIVERCITY Client Briefing

process and Pre CAD VR environment
for Client Briefing.
all technical domains related to the design, e.g. structural design, heating and thermal,
lighting, acoustic, fire safety, etc (Shelbourn et al, 1999). Although state-of-the-art
software tools exist for the detailed design stage, throughout the user requirements
capture in the DIVERCITY project, it has been observed that these existing tools suffer
from two important limitations: (Shelbourn et al, 1999)
700
Discontinuities between the different software tools. This makes the reuse of the results
of one technical domain as an input for another technical domain practically
impossible;
Lack of 3D real-time inspection features. Consequently, members of the project team
spend too much time trying to (i) understand the project information (ii) to describe
this information to one another.
In order to greatly reduce the above limitations, in the DIVERCITY context an
interactive design review workspace that allows the project teams to visualise and interact
with the project on a multidisciplinary basis has been created. The main features of the
design review workspace are as follows:
Supporting continuous design between different phases and within the detailed
design phase using IFC (Industry Foundation Classes), which means that the
calculation results yielded for one technical domain can be reused as an input for
another technical domain.
Model Driven Approach that allows project teams to share the same view about
the prqject through a visual and shared conceptual model. As a result substantial
improvements can then be made on the communication level between the project
teams.
Design Review applications within the DIVERCITY scope are:
Lighting Simulation by means of which user can visualise, with a photo realistic
rendering, the lighting conditions of each space taking into account both natural
and artificial light sources.
Acoustic Simulations allowing the user to experience what it would be like to
live and work in the spaces of the building.
Heating and Thermal simulations in order to assess both energy consumption of
a building and thermal comfort conditions in each space.
4.2.3 Lighting simulations
The lighting simulation module of DIVERCITY provides realistic simulation of light
transfers. Moreover, it is the first time that a lighting simulation involving radiosity
provides interactive solutions to the user. They can change and move objects or lights in
the building and see updated simulation interactively.
The lighting application will enable the user to look at different ways of lighting the
spaces by clicking and dragging objects into spaces and placing them at different
locations within the space. The reflections and contrasts from surfaces of flirniture, walls,
windows, etc can be viewed, enabling the user to place lights in their optimal positions
for best lighting in the room. Some example layouts are provided for the client or user to
see how different positions affect the light in the space. Furthermore, the effect of natural
daylight on the spaces can be viewed in the simulation. Figure 2 shows some lighting
simulation analysis from different perspectives.
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4.2.4 Acoustic simulations

The acoustic module of DIVERCITY offers users the ability to automatically read the
CAD-model, to interactively change materials of the building components
Figure 2. Examples of a rendered scene

and object motion in the lighting
simulation.
(walls, floors) and to listen to the acoustic environment inside a building, taking into
account sound scenes inside and outside the room.
Acoustic simulation enables the user to have a realistic experience of the acoustic of a
space in building. It yields sounds that can be perceived by the user and used very easily
to evaluate the project from acoustic point of view.
4.2.5 Thermal simulations
The thermal module of DIVERCITY offers users the ability to automatically read the
CAD-model yielded by a CAD tool supporting IFC export, to interactively change
materials of the building components (walls, floors,) and to simulate variation of
temperatures in different rooms and calculate exploitation costs.
The application enables the user to obtain quick feedback on the thermal performances
of the building including a realistic visualisation of the temperatures in each thermal
space and relevant information about exploitation costs related to the HVAC system. The
client or user can change the materials of the building in order to reach a compromise
between comfort conditions on one hand and exploitation costs on the other. Thermal
analysis can be a complex task taking into account diverse parameters such as building
geometry, climatic environment, HVAC systems, behaviour of the occupants, infiltration
and natural ventilation, air quality and pollutant transport (Shelbourn et al, 1999).
702
4.3 Construction workspace applications

The DIVERCITY construction workspace aims at providing functionality to allow for
rehearsing, evaluation, and optimisation of the construction planning stage. It can be
thought of as testing the constructibility of a building by assessing both temporal and
spatial aspects resulting from a planned schedule so as to identify and resolve potential
conflicts that would otherwise impose high costs if treated at later stages (Fernandoetal,
2001).
4.3.1 Site planning and analysis
This application aims to design a modelling and simulation platform for supporting the
construction site analysis stage, and allow the evaluation and optimisation of the
construction site layouts. In particular, it addresses the space planning aspects by
assisting with the representation and management of spatial requirements in the
construction site (Tawfik & Fernando, 2001). The main functions that are carried out by
the site-planning application are as follows.
Site layout initialisation: initial layout is generated by the user interacting with a VR
environment and populating the construction site with different spaces (vehicles,
building components, temporary facilities, etc), taking into account schedule
information. Alternatively, an initial site layout is constructed from GIS or CAD data.
Safety analysis: determines the hazard zones of site spaces such as cranes, vehicles and
equipment, according to their variable degree of risk and dimensions.
Space analysis: defines movement path and fields of vision for people and vehicles, and
evaluates accessibility and visibility in the site.
Optimisation: the generation of a favourable spatial arrangement of the site using an
optimisation algorithm, a user defined risk minimisation, space use -efficiencymaximisation and travelling cost minimisation criteria.
The Buildability Schedule provides information on the changing spatial dimensions of
objects in the site over time, such as the size of the building or the material store, etc.
This information could then be feedback to the site modelling and optimisation
modules, to evaluate the site layout at different stages of the construction period on the
site.
4.3.2 Visual Product Chronology
The second application of the construction workspace in DIVERCITY is a 4D VR
simulation application namely Visual Product Chronology that step by step shows how
the progress a construction project will look like in practice. The application links a
standard IFC based 3D building model with associated construction schedule, which can
be prepared with off the shelf project management software package (Fernando et al,
2001). The first basic process of using 4D simulation application is about linking
Building Model with Project Task Model. The IFC building product model provides the
standard for storing all this information. The additional processes firstly cover the
situation where task timings have been changed using project management software
703
package and there is a need to update the IFC 4D building model with this data.
Secondly, the additional processes facilitate the conversions between IFC task model and
the used project management software package. Afterwards, updated 4DIFC model is
converted to VRML format for simulation. Subsequently, the software makes it possible
to simulate the building schedule for example, day by day. The stage that will be reached
at the construction site can be seen on the computer display. The easiest way to use the
software is to access it by using an Internet browser, but it is also possible to take
advantage of it in virtual-reality studios. Figure 3 shows the process flow and simulation
display of the Visual Product Chronology.
Figure 3. VPC process flow and 4D

simulation display.
4.4 Communication and integration
4.4.1 Communication layer
The Communication Layer is at the heart of the distributed features of the DIVERCITY
system. It provides support to allow virtual collaborative spaces at geographically distant
sites to work together.
The communication layer of DIVERCITY employs XML as the distribution layer for
the exchange of information. The implementation of communication layer is based on
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) Internet protocol. One of the main advantages of
SOAP protocol is that it deals with proxies and firewalls, which are often very strict in
the industry domain (Da Dalto & Gobbetti, 2001). The communication layer provides the
followings.
Communication between heterogeneous systems, architectures and languages.
Robust and secure messages transfer.
Time performances to allow real time collaboration (only for specific messages-3D
scene motions and updates).
Multi-user management including identifications and access control.
704
4.4.2 Product modelling

IFC has been used as the product modelling technology, which was developed by the
International Alliance for Interoperability (http://www.iai.org.uk/). The IFC defines a
single object model of buildings shared by all IFC compatible applications. IFC project
models enable the users to exchange information accurately and error-free (Christianson,
et al, 2002). That is to say, an IFC sketch produced in the Pre CAD application can be
distributed over the communication layer and loaded to the other DIVERCITY
applications without any duplications and repetitions throughout the project lifecycle.
As well as the IFC, ISO Part 42 of STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data)
is also employed to keep track of a geometric representation within the DIVERCITY
kernel. Basing our common geometric representation on this standard has enforced
common comprehension of geometry by different Data Structuring Layers (Christianson
et al, 2002).
5 CONCLUSION
The paper first explained the vision for integration and collaboration for the construction
industry. Afterwards, it described the DIVERCITY R&D effort. The DIVERCITY
project aimed at developing innovative workspace technologies for the briefing and
design phases of the lifecycle. The DIVERCITY system incorporates six main
applications, each of which responds some special end user requirements from early
briefing to the detailed design and the construction monitoring stages. Those applications
can run comfortably within the DIVERCITY framework. Output of one application can
be distributed and be input to another application, which denotes a seamless integration
and collaboration for the stakeholders.
The DIVERCITY project has succeeded in gathering science and industry in a
collaborative, exploitative and enriching workspace. The traditional barriers between
special disciplines were broken down to establish collaboration scenarios based on
mutual visions (Christianson et al, 2002).
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S.Blokpoel
Civil Engineering and Management, University of Twente, the
Netherlands
R.P.M.Jongeling & T.Olofsson
eByggCentre for Information Technology in Construction, Lule
University of Technology, Lule, Sweden
ABSTRACT: This paper deals with the introduction of product modelling
in todays building process. The main potentials of these systems are
facilitating open communication, configuration management, reuse of
information, virtual prototyping (such as 4D) and allowing numerous
analyses on e.g. life cycle, energy use and accurate estimates of project
costs. The modelling systems have prerequisites for application that are
not fulfilled by the construction industry today. Therefore, the potential
benefits cannot be derived at the moment. Most unfulfilled prerequisites
are related to the way of cooperation. New building process organisation
types, like partnering, offer a better way to approach a project and a good
basis to use the systems. The development of these organisation types
should be integrated in the application of models because the systems
could be a good tool, and maybe even an enabler for partnering. This
synergy can be the basis of improvements in the construction industry.
1 INTRODUCTION
Since several years, product models are beginning to be adapted in mainly the design
processes of construction projects. Within the actual building process the application is
limited. However, demand is growing for a broader application of product modelling
systems and a sharp increase of their application is expected in the years to come. While
developing product models and systems, developers implicitly developed prerequisites
for the use of these models. If these prerequisites are not fulfilled by the construction
industry, the potential benefits of the product models will not come forward.
This paper describes a pilot study (Blokpoel 2003) where the application of product
models in construction and the consequences for the cooperation in these projects have
been investigated. Especially the relation between partnering as an emerging building
process organisation model and the potential use of product modelling has been
evaluated. From this analysis we derive directions for implementation and future
research.
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2 PRODUCT MODELS AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION

A product model for the construction industry can be described as formal set of
descriptions. Laitinen (1998:53) and Schenck (1994:55) describe the product data
technology as a set of IT methods, tools and standards for the development and
implementation of applications for the management, exchange and sharing of product
data. The product data that is stored in the model is defined by Karstila as a
representation of information about a project in a formal manner suitable for
communication, interpretation or processing by humans or by computers. This
information concerns both process as product information (Amor 2001) such as
information on geometry, planning, costs and work-documents.
Product models conceptualise a defined part of the real world. In these conceptual
models, entities and their relationship are set up in a formal language to describe reality.
The information can be created, exchanged and stored by various applications using a
comtnon interface to the product model. This interface can give access to the entire
model or only parts of the available data. Exchange files can be used to exchange the data
directly between various actors or a product model server can be used to give online,
direct access to the instantiated product model (Jongeling 2003). This difference can have
great influence on the usability and the relations between cooperating actors in a building
process. The current practice and possible exchange processes using a product model
schematically describe in figure 1.
In the current process, situation A, actors exchange information almost in a random
matter. The same
Figure 1. The current exchange of

information (A) compared to the
709
possible exchange process with

different product models (B, C and D)
(Blokpoel, 2003).
information is often created as much as 6 times (Laitinen 1998).
In situation C, actors save their information, created by different software applications,
in an exchange file and send this file to other actors. One common interface is used to
access the shared model server. Situation B uses a shared model server were data is
online and available in a central repository to all the actors directly. Situations D, uses the
same exchange file as in situation C, but stores this file on an exchange server, so that
other actors can retrieve this file and use it in their own software applications, after which
they upload it again.
The exchange scenarios involving product models (B, C and D) will put different
prerequisites on the organisations using the modelling systems. For example in situation
C and D the handling of versions and history of the product model is put on the
organisation of the project. In situation B these tasks can be automated by the shared
product model server. However, other prerequisites, such as trust and insight to project
iriformation for involved actors are valid for all exchange scenarios using a single
product model.
3 POSSIBILITIES
In this paragraph the intended benefits for the building process are outlined. These are
explicitly stated goals of the systems and (implicitly) derived potentials. These potentials
are proven to be possible in practise and are not just theoretical potentials. The
possibilities have been divided into four different categories, as displayed in figure 2:
Project management
Communication process
Organization process
Product development.
710
Figure 2. Possibilities of product

modeling system in the different
processes of a building project
(Blokpoel, 2003).
The first evident potentials of a product model are the project management tasks, and
especially configuration management. This consists of (Duhig 1996):
Conflguration management. The management of the deliverables in a project, both
products and management products. The configuration management identifies,
controls, tracks and protects these products. This includes version and status control of
products that can only be changed with the relevant authority.
Risk log. The administration of identified risks. The consequences, chance of
occurrence, dependencies, control actions and response actions are administrated.
Quality log. The administration of the quality control. Once deliverables have passed
the quality control, their status changes to ready. Result of the control such as
measure methods, responsible actors, shortcomings and consequences of that are
administrated as well.
Communication is the cornerstone of a project (Mohamed 2003). Todays business and
project organizations are based on management of information and knowledge; it has
become the most important production factor (Egbu 2002). As mentioned before, project
management task consists of 7590% of communication (Alshawi 2003). It is essential
711
that the right people communicate, on the right levels of different organisations. A
product modelling system makes different information flows explicitly possible. By using
a product model, the communication can go more efficient, more accurate, direct and at
any time.
The benefits for an entire project organization are rather abstract. A project
organization is responsible for the business cases of the different actors as well.
Modelling systems are project based systems. Product modelling systems make the
integration of different phases possible (Fischer 2002). In this way, costs are saved, time
is won and quality (both in product quality and in performance) is guaranteed. This is
explicitly done by e.g. the better communication. But considering a project with a more
business orientated view; other derived benefits can explain the eventual benefit of saving
costs and time:
First of all, a product modelling system makes it possible to focus more on actual value
adding activities than on processes (flows) around them. This tnakes lean (efficient)
production possible and can enlarges the margins (Koskela 1992).
Product models can contribute to integration of the process in three directions (1)
between the various actors, (2) between various phases and (3) between the various
projects (Laitinen 1998).
The product development can be improved. A model allows an improved prediction of
time and costs in the early phases, allowing a client to make the right decision about the
extension or reduction of the design (Suhanic 2001). Finally, by using a product model, a
designer uses time more efficient. Details and different views can easily be withdrawn
from a product model. In this way, he saves time to focus on the actual creative part of
his job and to cooperate with the client and the other actors to ensure the quality of the
design and the performance criteria of the client (Laitinen 1998).
4 PREREQUISITES
Prerequisites for the use of product modelling systems are made implicitly, but can keep
a system from being successfully used.
The most important part of a product modelling system is the storage of data and the
information exchange between the various actors. A prerequisite is that the information
exchange and the use of information in a modelling system is greater than the sole
digitalisation of current documents (Laitinen 1998). Another mayor prerequisite is that
actors actually open there internal information to other actors in a project (Adriaanse
2003). If actors do not do that, the potential advantages for project management and
communication do not come true.
It is a prerequisite that the project organisation has one project management board that
manages the entire project containing all the phases. In this way, the potential benefits on
configuration management can be derived. Looking at the decision making process, a
prerequisite is that the decisions are made on demand, at any time needed in the model.
Next, a prerequisite is that all actors in a building project have the same goal of building a
good building, with the intended specifications, within the planned time and costs;
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creating customer value. A product model can only be designed for the goal of the project
and will otherwise not function as desired (Suhanic 2001).
Although product modelling systems are developed for a project, the intended use for
a specific company is for multiple projects. Old information can be reused and, looking at
cooperation, long term cooperation with other parties can be pursued. This long term
relationship is needed to get the full benefits out of the model.
Concerning legal issues, the use of a product modelling system contains a number of
prerequisites. First of all, the previously mentioned authority to make decisions must be
based on digital documents. Suggested designs, costs, changes and many other subjects
must be agreed for on in digital document or system. The supplementary need is that this
document is unique and has a version and date attached to it, as the models suggests to
eventually have multiple documents of the same object due to easy to implement
changes. The documents must have a legal basis by which the tasks and responsibilities
of the involved parties are compulsory. Next, errors can occur in exchange files due to
conversion or wrong interpretation. Actors should be responsible for own
made/converted information and perform a check on their data, certifying it with a digital
signature. It is a prerequisite that actors take this responsibility. A log file of all
exchanged data, decisions, etcetera is needed. This file should be kept at a third party,
being updated with digital signatures in an encrypted data format. This ensures a proper
legal relation and the possibility to fulfil the contract.
Furthermore, the clear ownership of the information is a prerequisite of a product
model. The information that is entered in a product model should belong to a certain
party, or otherwise be destroyed after the completion of the project. One of the (potential)
benefits of a modelling system is the reuse of information. Except, not all project data has
to be shared. By using a middleware and a core data model only relevant parts are
exchanged, decreasing the risks for errors, sharing classified information, changing
internal company systems or exchanging irrelevant detail levels. Companies can connect
to the (core) product data model by using a standard slot and connect their internal
systems to the relevant module for specific activities, such as cost calculation.
This prerequisite is closely related to the one concerning the mutual project goal. If
actors try to manipulate information, communication and other actors for their own
advantages; this will damage the potentials of the system.
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Figure 3. Partnering project

organisation (NCC, Sweden, 2003).
New ways of cooperation are needed to derive all benefits; a mutual goal, central project
management, open communication, direct notification, involvement of the main actors in
the early phases, iterative design loops and sharing of risks are necessary.
5 PARTNERING
Partnering is a relative new concept in the construction industry. Since the middle of the
ninetys, a number of actors in the industry has tried a new way of working together.
Partnering is seen as a social cooperation method and a basis for a learning organisation.
Partnering is setting up the project together with the main actors in the project, and
trying to act as partners, not as opponents. Figure 3 displays a partnering project
organisation.
The main actors (mostly the client, the designer and the contractor) form a platform to
share risks and profits and to set mutual goals to reach high customer value for the client.
In the Project Start-up, a shared vision on the way of working must be agreed on. It has
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no use of putting these agreements in a contract, because then the whole thought of
partnering will be lost. A definition that summarizes some existing opinions of partnering
is:
Partnering is a (possible long term) commitment between two or more organisations
for the purpose of achieving specific business objectives by maximizing the effectiveness
of each participants resources. This requires changing traditional relationships to a
shared culture without regard to organisational boundaries. The relationship is based on
trust, dedication to common goals, and an understanding of each others individual
expectations and values (Briscoe 2001).
Project partnering is a high-risk high-gain approach (gain share, pain share). By
opening up business processes to other actors, an actor is vulnerable to be abused.
Especially in a sector where high risk avoidance and focusing on company goals instead
of project goals is common. This means that partnering can be compared with the
prisoners dilemma. The dependencies between two or more actors are high. The
behaviour of one actor affects both its own success and other actors successes. Positive
behaviour of all actors creates synergy and a positive project result for all actors, negative
(or: strategically) behaviour will lead to minor results for all actors involved. Keywords
in partnering are (Carr 1999):
trust
open and effective communication
commitment from senior management
clear understanding of different parties roles
consistency of objectives
flexibility to change
continuous improvement.
Within a partnering organisation, a total openness of information is given and an effort is
done to understand each actors dependencies and issues. Communication is one of the
most important parts of partnering.
Partnering will not take away the cause of problems in the building process. Changes
in the environment and at the client will always occur. Partnering creates a way to deal
with those errors and solve them quickly without getting into a formal dispute. These
benefits are the cause of fewer claims and lawsuits because (Kruus October 2003):
Problems are solved in the project team;
Problems are avoided due to good communication;
Insight in other actors processes.
The risk allocation is an important cause for behaviour in a project. The complexity, the
project view and the lack of trust are reasons for risk avoiding behaviour, such as
opportunistic behaviour, legal claims and strategic communication (Dorree 2001). The
soft word of trust turns out to be important in partnering. The inappropriate risk
allocation is also a source for mistrust. The lack of trust is another cause for e.g.
opportunistic behaviour. Without trust, actors feel the threat of being misused and, again,
try to avoid risks. The issues and behaviours above lead to the major shortcomings in the
sector; errors due to e.g. poor communication, budget and time exceeding projects,
mismatch between requirements and the eventual product. The lack of a central project
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management (and thus configuration management) is one of the technical causes for
errors in communication; others are behavioural such as strategic communication. The
paradox of Bresnen states that a complex environment needs specialists, but also
coordination between those (differentiation versus integration); needs contracts to
allocate risks, but also flexibility. These paradoxes can only be undone with sufficient
trust, for which mutual goals, a project view and open communication is needed in a
project.
To derive these benefits, a partnering organisation needs tools to actually make an
improved communication and an open organisation possible. Good communication is
essential for partnering. The right actors have to be reached at the right time, and relevant
information has to be communicated. The unwillingness to share information and open
up ones business process is a great threat for partnering.
Steps to come to partnering are first of all to pay attentions to the keywords. But
giving the facts that partnering also means taking responsibility to try and pursue a good
project, the right start for partnering is at an individual company.
6 MATCHING
From the sections on the prerequisites and partnering it can be concluded that in a
partnering project, most imminent prerequisites are fulfilled.
In the research leading to this paper, the potential possibilities of the modelling
systems and the prerequisites have been outlined in a matrix. The matrix was ordered in
project management, communication, organisational and product development. Scores in
the matrix indicated which possibilities of the systems were dependent of prerequisites. It
turned out that the most crucial part was the organisational prerequisites. Once further
research showed that these prerequisites were not fulfilled at all by the current
construction industry, more focus was given to new ways of cooperation.
To verify the results from theoretical research, projects in Helsinki, Finland, were
examined. The construction of a new headquarter for NCC Finland, application of design
analysis by Granlund and the HUT600 pilot project were examined, mostly by
interviews. In most of these projects, the relative good match between needs of the
construction industry and potentials of the systems were confirmed. The nature of the
projects confirmed as well that close cooperation was needed for mayor project
advantages. Next to that, it was found that internal company benefits can form a good
start for applying modelling systems.
7 DISCUSSION
The construction sector is strongly project based, each project is unique and produces a
prototype as final product resulting in risks and uncertainty, the projects are divided in
phases that are often strongly separated and there is a lack of long term vision.
The risk allocation is an important cause for behaviour in a project. The complexity,
the project view and the lack of trust are reasons for risk avoiding behaviour, such as
opportunistic behaviour, legal claims and strategic communication:
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The inappropriate risk allocation is also a source for mistrust. The lack of trust is
another cause for e.g. opportunistic behaviour. Without trust, actors feel the threat of
being misused and, again, try to avoid risks;
The issues and behaviours above lead to the major shortcomings in the sector; errors
due to e.g. poor communication, budget and time exceeding projects, mismatch
between requirements and the eventual product;
The paradox of Bresnen states that a complex environment needs specialists, but also
coordination between those (differentiation versus integration); needs contracts to
allocate risks, but also flexibility. These paradoxes can only be made undone with
sufficient trust, what needs e.g. mutual goals, a project view and open communication
in a project;
The needed change in cooperation such as open, errorless communication and the reuse
of information needs tools to facilitate these changes.
The potential advantages of product modelling systems seem to offer possibilities to
improve the construction sector. But the, often implicit, prerequisites for the use of the
models keep the advantages of coming true. Partnering offers a new way of cooperation
by which the construction sector fulfils in most of the important prerequisites. By using
partnering, the potential advantages of the modelling systems can actually improve the
construction sector. In that way, there is a great synergy between partnering and product
modelling systems as displayed graphically in figure 4.
Figure 4. The application of product

modeling systems in different Building
process organizations (Blokpoel 2003).
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8 CONCLUSION
Product modelling systems offer possibilities to the construction sector that match
relatively good with the needs of the sector. These needs come forward from the main
shortcoming in the sector; a lack of a common project view of the different parties
involved, an inappropriate allocation of risks, firm contracts and price focussed
organisations.
Important consequences of these shortcomings are opportunistic behaviour, strategic
communication, errors due to old, wrong or irrelevant documents, a mismatch between
the clients requirements and the eventual product and time and budget exceeding
projects. The application of modelling systems is not the ultimate solution for the
construction industry. Solving the shortcomings of the construction sector is a relevant
goal; modelling systems can be a useful tool, and maybe even an enabler for change.
Most of the unfulfilled prerequisites are related to the way of cooperating between
different parties in a project. New building process organisation types, like partnering,
offer a better way to approach a project and offer a good basis to use the modelling
systems. By taking trust as a basis, defining a mutual project goal for the main actors,
communicate openly and understand other actors processes a lot of the shortcomings can
be taken away in a project. Product modelling systems can be a good tool for this
development, and maybe even an enabler. The potentials of the models are to facilitate an
open communication, a good configuration management, more reuse of data and virtual
prototyping in 4D.
The application can result in fewer errors, better decision making, more insight for the
client, more efficiency and better (performance) quality in a project. Legal issues are no
roadblock, but need attention. The current contracts are sufficient, but need an add-on for
procedures in the use of ICT. A third party should keep an encrypted log file to ensure
traceability of changes. Model errors in exchange files can occur and cause problems.
Producers of data should be responsible for the produced data and check it on
consistency. A middleware is needed to exchange only core model information and to
allow company based ICT systems that connect through a shared modelling system. The
promising opportunities for facility management with as-build product model data could
be the right initiator for a building owner. At all time, a companys internal ICT benefit
should be started with.
The research on, the development of and the application of product modelling systems
should go hand in hand. The focus should be on application of the models in practice
with small steps, while at the same time focusing on:
Application in individual companies, gaining internal benefits first;
Developing KPIs for the measurement of results and the business justification;
Developing modelling systems on indicated issues;
Combine application with new or improved ways of cooperation in the construction
industry, like partnering.
The very first steps should be taken in the individual company; where internal benefit
must be reached. ICT strategies and employee training should set a basis for changes. In
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cooperation, especially the search for trust is important. Partnering is a useful concept,
and can be further exploited. Research on Product modelling systems should focus on
following the actual application and supporting a stepwise introduction, developing a
proper middleware with a definition of core models and solving practical legal issues.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The financial support from SBUFDevelopment Fund of the Swedish Construction
Industry, NCC and the Centre for Information Technology in Construction (eBygg) at the
Lule University of Technology is acknowledged.
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Press.
Linking early design decisions across multiple

disciplies
R.Drogemuller, J.Crawford & S.Egan
CSIRO Division of Manufacturing and Infrastructure Engineering,
Highett, Australia
ABSTRACT: The early stages of the building design process are when the
most far reaching decisions are made regarding the configuration of the
proposed project. This paper examines methods of providing decision
support to building designers across multiple disciplines during the early
stage of design. The level of detail supported is at the massing study stage
where the basic envelope of the project is being defined. The block
outlines on the building envelope are sliced into floors. Within a floor the
only spatial divisions supported are the user space and the building
core. The building core includes vertical transportation systems,
emergency egress and vertical duct runs. The current focus of the project
described in te paper is multi-storey mixed use office/residential buildings
with car parking. This is a common type of building in redevelopment
projects within and adjacent to the central business districts of major
Australian cities. The key design parameters for system selection across
the major systems in multi-storey building projectsarchitectural,
structural, HVAC, vertical transportation, electrical distribution, fire
protection, hydraulics and costare examined. These have been identified
through literature research and discussions with building designers from
various disciplines. This information is being encoded in decision support
tools. The decision support tools communicate through a shared database
to ensure that the relevant information is shared across all of the
disciplines. An internal data model has been developed to support the very
early design phase and the high level system descriptions required. A
mapping to IFC 22 has also been defined to ensure that this early
information is available at later stages of the design process.
1 INTRODUCTION
Building projects follow the Pareto Principle or 80:20 rule, where 80% of the decisions
affecting the project outcome are made during the first 20% of the projects life. Thus the
decisions made early in the design process have the most far reaching consequences and
should be made with an appropriate level of care. However, this stage of the design
process is poorly supported by current CAD systems. The aim of the project described in
this paper is to assess how well three major architectural CAD systems and a CAD
system aimed at mechanical design, support the parametric description of building
720
designs across multiple disciplines. While the results of the comparison are not yet
complete, this paper describes the current status of the project and the deliverables to
date. A side effect of the main deliverable is the implementation of a decision support
system for the early stage of building design that interfaces with four different CAD
systems. This demonstrates the benefits of interoperability in providing shared
information services.
This is one of the projects supported by the Cooperative Research Centre for
Construction Innovation (CRC CI) (CRC CI, 2004) as part of its charter to change the
way that the AEC-FM industry operates. Some of the deliverables from previous projects
have been adapted to suit the needs of early design problem solving.
2 IDENTIFYING KEY SYSTEMS
The starting point of the project was to identify the major building systems that should be
considered during early design. Discussions with the industry partners and a literature
review identified these key systems and the relevant parameters within the systems.
Systems were only chosen if they had major implications for the shape and layout of the
project. The systems selected were:
Architectural spatial layout
Structural
Environmental
Fire protection
Hydraulics
Electrical
Vertical transport
HVAC
Cost/budget
The types of projects and the level of detail used are illustrated in figure 1.
Figure 1. Massing model with storeys.

Upper shaded floors are residential,
middle floors are office space, lower
levels are below ground car parking.
Lift overrun on top represents the
building core.
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3 BUILDING SYSTEMS
Even at the early stages of design with which we were concerned each of the building
systems is interdependent with the others. We were not able to identify any one view that
could be modeled independently of the others. We were also not able to identify one
system on which there were no dependent systems.
Each of the design advisors within the software has its own view of the shared
information in the database. The development of the advisors has assisted in defining
these specialist views at the early design stage.
An overarching parameter that applies to all building services systems is the quality
or level of service that the building will provide. Normally the rental return on a building
will be closely linked with the quality. In Australia and, presumably, in other countries,
there is a list of requirements for the various grades of office accommodation which
make the requirements very explicit. The rental charged on space is then negotiated with
this standard as the starting point.
3.1 Architectural spatial layout
The way that spaces can be laid out depends on the type of space and how flexible it
needs to be over the proposed life span of the building. The types of user space that are
handled in this system are residences, office accommodation and car parking. All of the
space types have a scaling factor applied to allow for shared communication space. For
example, the area of residential units is scaled up by a factor that caters for corridors and
lobbies that are shared on a floor. This factor is user configurable to allow adjustment for
different layouts and requirements.
Residences are treated as a single space representing the entire unit. The parameters
that are used cover the number of bedrooms and the standard of accommodation based
on local real estate categories. Connection points for the plumbing are also required to
assess whether a vented stack is required or not. Constraints on the minimum width of the
space are applied and some adjacency to an external wall, for views and ventilation, is
required. The requirements for services are applied to the unit as a whole since they do
not vary much within a residential unit.
The office accommodation is much simpler to handle from a geometrical perspective
since most office accommodation is designed to be flexible. There are no inbuilt
constraints on shape or adjacency to external walls although these can be added. There is
an increased requirement for detail on the building services. Briefing documents from
completed projects were used to define a standard template for space data. The space data
is aggregated under user control to provide the appropriate level of granularity for the
particular design requirements.
The information stored for office spaces includes:
Location/access requirementspublic or private space, access to other spaces. Etc
Occupancynumber of people
General surface finishes
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Environmental controlHVAC, naturally ventilated, etc

Hydraulic requirementswater supply and drainage
Sanitary fixtures
Electric power and lighting requirements, including heat generating equipment
Communication system requirements
Security requirements
Special fixturesany non-standard fixtures or fixtures that will affect the provision of
building services.
Not all of this information is currently used but it was considered important to maintain
continuity of information from the brief ing stage through this very early design stage.
As van Leeuwen & van Zupthen (1994) recognised, even at this stage the functional
requirement/technical solution concept of GARM (Gielingh, 1988) is useful. The
requirement of Xm2 of general office space is met by the physical solution of floors 37
of the proposed building.
3.2 Structural system
The current modeling and implementation of the structural system is fairly crude. It relies
on lookup tables to estimate the size of columns and beams for reinforced concrete and
steel framed construction. The inputs required to estimate member sizes are the spacing
of columns in both directions and the storey height between floors. It is assumed that the
building core provides sufficient stiffness for the structure.
While this is a crude solution it gives satisfactory results for this stage of the design
process. Future work is planned to improve the scope of this module by refining the
available structural systems and adding alternative structural systems.
3.3 Environmental system
The environmental analysis system is provided by a modified version of LCADesign
(Tucker et al, 2003). An automated take-off module provides the quantities of all
building components. The specific production processes, logistics and raw material inputs
are identified to calculate a complete list of quantities for all products such as concrete,
steel, timber, plastic etc. This information is then combines with the life cycle inventory
database, to estimate key internationally recognised environmental indicators such as
CML, EPS and Eco-indicator 99. The original version of LCADesign requires a detailed
breakdown of the quantities of the materials in the building. The revised version uses
default reasoning to infer the likely material breakdowns of the project given system level
descriptions of the building. For example, if a reinforced concrete structural frame has
been chosen, the structural module gives the number and size of columns and beams on a
floor and the thickness of slabs. This provides all of the information necessary to
calculate the volume of concrete and to estimate the amount of reinforcing steel required.
The area of formwork required can be estimated to a reasonable level of accuracy from
the floor area of the slab multiplied by a scaling factor plus the surface area of the
columns. This information can then be aggregated with the information from other
systems to provide whole of building results.
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The required inputs are the geometry of the building and indications of the overall
physical building system configurations. The outputs are graphs that allow assessment
and comparison of the building performance.
3.4 Hydraulics
The hydraulics system is concerned about two issuesidentifying needs for water
storage within the building and passing this information on to other components and
ensuring that vertical service ducts are appropriately located within the building
envelope.
The population of the building provides the necessary information for the estimation
of tank sizes. The output is a requirement for a tank size in floor area and headroom.
3.5 Fire protection
Fire protection systems are pervasive in modern multistorey buildings. Local building
regulations will often mandate the type of system that must be used for buildings of
various heights, occupancies and areas.
The applicable input parameters in Australia are the building height, area and
occupancy type. The outputs are whether an automatic sprinkler system is required and if
so, the capacity of any storage tanks, whether a fire control centre is required and whether
diesel/electric booster pumps are required. Assessment for smoke protections systems
could be added in the future.
3.6 Electrical
The major impact of the electrical system in the early stages of design is in deciding if a
substation is necessary in the project and if so, where it should be located. Obviously, on
large sites this may not be a major constraint, but on smaller, highly developed sites this
can be a major decision.
Whether a substation will be needed can be identified by taking the area of the
building and applying a load density appropriate for the particular usage(s). Electrical
loads from the other building services systems, especially HVAC also need to be factored
in. This gives the total estimated load, which can be used as a basis for discussion with
the local supply authority. If a substation is required the size can be given in a simple
lookup table based on the total electrical load.
Other spaces which may be needed include:
Switch room
Batteryroom
Emergency generator
However, at the level of detail at which we are working these can normally be added to
the substation.
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3.7 Vertical transport

The choice of vertical transportation system depends heavily on the height of a building,
the usage, the population and the standard of the building. Slower installations may be
appropriate in smaller buildings or where the standard is lower.
Once a system is selected, the number of floors served, the population of these floors,
maximum waiting times and usage patterns all provide input into the number of lifts and
the capacity and speed of the lift cars.
3.8 HVAC
The HVAC system is often the most expensive services system and has significant
impacts on the spatial configuration of a building. One of the first considerations is
whether to have a centralized systetn that services many floors or to have a separate
system on each floor. Either choice has its advantages and disadvantages.
If a centralised system is chosen then the location and size of the vertical air
conditioning ducts is significant.
The most important factor is the number of occupants, which is normally estimated
from the usage type and the floor area. The required values of airflow, heating and
cooling load can then be looked up. Obviously the external environment also plays a role
in HVAC loads so a load factor can be applied for locations where explicit data is not
available. If data on the external envelope of the building is also available then the
estimates can be made more accurate. This is an appropriate time to assess various
alternative external envelopes and HVAC system selections to ensure that the most
appropriate choice is made.
Once the overall loads have been determined and a system selected the plant room
requirements can then be estimated.
When the plant room location(s) has been selected and loads per floor calculated the
duct sizes for the vertical ducts (if necessary) can be calculated and vertical duct positions
determined. This then allows the horizontal duct sizes to be determined. If necessary the
floor-to-floor height may need to be adjusted before going through the loop again.
3.9 Cost/budget
The cost implications of the project are obviously determined by the decisions made for
all of the other systems. However, projects have financial constraints so cost implications
can provide a significant constraint on the selection of the other building services
systems. The use of cost planning methods to control project budgets through the
design/construction process and also when trading off between systems is well
understood (ie. Ferry & Brandon, 2002). Currently an overall budget is entered as a cost
constraint. The cost module uses user defined rules and unit rates to calculate a cost
estimate based on elemental data extracted from the shared model.
Where necessary information is not directly available it is derived using inference
rules.
726
The quantities are shared with the life cycle assessment module through a shared
quantity calculation module that writes the calculated quantities back into the shared
database. In some instances different quantities are required across the life cycle
assessment and cost modules due to differing classifications of building systems and
elements.
3.10 Server database
The server database uses the EDM Express server (EPM Technology, 2004). This
provides single writer/ multiple reader capabilities that comply with the ISO 10303
standard. A connection manager has been implemented as an interface to the EDM server
to handle the event notification required to keep all of the co-operating components
synchronized.
The EDM Server can store multiple projects by storing them in separate repositories.
Within each repository there can also be multiple models. This provides a useful
mechanism if there is a need to store different versions of the one project model for
comparative analysis. Separate models are necessary if two alternatives differ in more
ways than just substituting one material for another within a building component. For
example, if a steel frame was being compared with a concrete frame it may be necessary
to use different column and beam spacings to produce efficient structural designs for each
construction type. Trying to track such alternatives within a single model is difficult. It is
easier to clone the entire database and then vary one of the copies to suit the new
alternative.
3.11 CAD customisation
The CAD customisation provides the interface between the inbuilt facilities offered by
the CAD software and the information stored in the shared database. The implementation
consists of three functions:
User interface elements that provide access to the information and services that underlie
the entire system;
Data import facilities that read the information in the shared database and convert it to
the internal structures necessary for manipulation within the CAD system; and
Data export facilities which map the internal information on to the schema used in the
shared database.
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Figure 2. Overall systems software

architecture.
4 SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE
The overall system architecture (figure 2) consists of three levels:
1. The user interface is provided from within the CAD system. This is the
sole interface to the various services which sit behind it.
2. The shared database which provides access to all of the shared
information within a project.
3. The individual components which read and operate on the shared
information within the database.
An event model has been defined to support the interaction between the various
components. This is a synchronous model that assumes that only one human is interacting
with the system at any particular time.
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5 SERVICE COMPONENT ARCHITECTURE

The structure of each building service design component is very simple. The EDM server
provides a shared database where all of the information that must be available to others
components can be stored. Within the component itself the inference mechanisms
recognize particular facts or groups of facts and draw conclusions from these facts and
then add the new information into the shared database. When necessary, non-project
specific information, such as unit rates in the cost estimating component, are stored in a
private database. This private database can also be used as a persistent store for project
specific information that is not needed by other components.
Figure 3. Structural model in CATIA

(RMIT).
Figure 4. Individual component

software architecture.
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6 CURRENT STATE OF IMPLEMENTATION

The planned completion date for the project is October 2004. The status in June 2004 is
that initial implementations of the Autodesk ADT and the Dassault CATIA interfaces to
the EDM Server are complete. The simpler components have been completed but several
of the more complex components still require more work.
7 OVERALL AND LONG TERM STRATEGY
This work is one aspect of the work being undertaken by the CRC for Construction
Innovation (CRC CI, 2004). The major effort in IT deliverables to date within the CRC
CI has focused on the information and functions occurring at the end of the
documentation phase when a comprehensive and detailed three dimensional product
model is available. This has allowed the definition of the information requirements for a
fully populated model.
This project has moved to the start of the building design process and is examining
which information is available at the early design stage, how this information is generated
and used and methods for supporting designers in their decision making and examination
of alternatives.
Future projects will then examine the information requirements during the
intermediate stages of building design.
8 FUTURE WORK
One of the overarching aims of the CRC CI is to change the way that the AEC-FM
industry works. A suite of projects (CRC CI, 2004) are developing ICT deliverables
which will provide wide support for the design and construction process.
This project is unashamedly taking a pragmatic approach to supporting the design
process. The focus is on what can be done now, to improve existing tools, to provide
benefits to building designers in the very near future.
The longer term strategy is to use this first generation of deliverables as a test bed
which will then be used as a basis for the next generation of design and construction
support tools. As part of this strategy, more formalized methods of viewing information
and providing decision support are being examined. One promising approach, which will
be examined and tested over the next few months, is perspectors (Haymaker, 2003). It
is expected that other methods will be tested subsequently.
One important capability that has not been addressed in this project is collaboration
between designers within a discipline and between designers in separate disciplines. The
need for collaboration gives rise to many other issues that will also be taken up in future
projects.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper describes work undertaken in CRC for Construction Innovation project 2002
060-B, Parametric Building Development during Early Design. The authors
acknowledge the contributions of Professor Mark Bury, Julian Canterbury and Alison
Fairley of RMIT, Peter Bowtell of Arup Australia and David Marchant of Woods Bagot.
REFERENCES
CRC CI (Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation), 2004,
http://www.construction-innovation.info/ourprojects.php
Drogemuller, R. An ICT Platform for AEC, Proc. INCITE 2004, Bejaya Beach Resort, Malaysia
EPM Technology, 2004, www.jotne.com/epmtech/
Ferry, D.J. & Brandon, P.S., 2002, Cost Planning of Buildings
Gielingh, W.F., 1988, General AEC Reference Model, TNO Tech. Rep., P.O. Box 46 2600 AA, the
Netherlands, BI-88-150, October
Haymaker J., Suter, B., Fischer, M., and Kunz, J., 2003, The Perspective Approach: Enabling
Engineers to Construct, and Integrate Geometric Views to Generate an Evolving, Integrated
Project Model Working Paper Nr 081, CIFE, Stanford University
Parlour, R.P., 1990, Air Conditioning: Design at the Early Stage, Integral Publishing, Sydney
Parlour, R.P., 1994, Building Services: Egineering for Architects, Integral Publishing, Sydney
Schevers, H., Tolman F.P., 2001, Modelling the first building life cycle stages, in Proceedings of
the CIB W78 conference, White River, Mpulanga, South Africa
Stein, B., 1997, Building Technology: Mechanical & Electrical Systems, 2nd Edition, John Wiley
& Sons
Stein, B. & Reynolds, J.S., 2000, Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, 9th Edition,
John Wiley & Sons
Tucker S.N., Ambrose M.D., Johnston D.R., Newton P.W., Seo S. and Jones D.G., 2003,
LCADesign: An integrated approach to automatic eco-efficiency assessment of commercial
buildings, Proc CIB W78, Auckland
van Leeuwen, J.P. and R.H.M. van Zutphen, 1994, Architectural Product Modellinga Case
Study. In: Proceedings of the CIB W78 Workshop, Helsinki, August 1994
State of the art of the implementation of

Information Management Systems in the
construction industry in Spain
N., Forcada, M.Casals & X., Roca
Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
ABSTRACT: From all over Europe, many improvements in terms of
Information and Communication Systems have been implemented. In the
construction sector, large enterprises use Information Systems to manage
internal documents to control their ever-increasing number of various
documents and drawings.
Many companies use Information Systems to standardise the way
information is for anybody with correct privileges to find and access the
document they want. An Information System helps the user perform their
work easier and provides the company with security, data reliability and
work process management. Many of these features eventually save time,
simplify work, protect investment made in creating these documents,
enforce quality standards, enable an audit trail and ensure accountability.
Although most technical aspects of Information Systems are resolved
by the adoption of low cost databases and easier integration with the
Windows environment, companies often resist to implement changes in
their organisations because of the costs and complexity involved in
implementing Information Systems. Moreover, in Spain the change in
working culture and practices, which is required initially, very often deters
the users.
In this Paper we will show the State of the Art of the implementation of
Information Management Systems in the construction Industry in Spain.
We will also expose how the Spanish building sector is facing
Interoperability and Information Systems and also and schema of a
strategy and implementation plan, a training programme to develop, and
the definition of operating procedures to modifying organisational
structures, to extend the use of Information Management Systems.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the handling of information and its access has been converted into essential
factors for the economical development and business success.
In the last years, Information Society and basically Internet, has become the main
information transmission and communication media among companies.
732
Probably, the construction industry is the geographically most dispersed and it

involves a big quantity of Small and Medium Enterprises. The variety of professionals in
a project can easily cover dozens of disciplines from architecture, engineering to
installations and demolition, all with very different information requisites.
In this paper we will analyse the current Systems and on-line platforms that are being
used for the construction industry in Spain to improve Project Management. From the
beginning of Internet (early 90s) these services have changed significantly. First, only
static information was provided on the web. The evolution tended to join professional
users communities and create a dynamic space to exchange and share information and
currently researches and investigation is being focused on collaboration.
2 WEB BASED PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION SECTOR
The Construction Sector and specifically AEC industry is one of the most challenging for
Project Management. For any given project, many different participants from many
diiferent professions, often widely dispersed geographically, are thrown together for a
limited duration. Team collaboration and information exchange is absolutely critical yet.
It is believed that the use of Web-based Project Management tools will have as
substantial impact on the design, construction and operation of buildings, plants and
infrastructure projects.
The sheer number of parties that require coordination to bring a project to completion
is a challenge. In order to do so, the industry has relied on traditional communication
methods, typically time and labour
Figure 1. Traditional chaos in the

communication and workflow of AEC
industry.
State of the art of the implementation of Information Management Systems
733
intensive that have resulted in higher costs and inefficiencies (Figure 1).
Coordinating the numerous parties involved to take a project from initiation through
construction is often a daunting experience. Owners/developers, architects, engineers,
general contractors, specialty contractors, material suppliers and government and
regulatory bodies have all traditionally communicated using methods such as fax, face-toface meetings, email, couriers and mail to exchange ideas, provide progress updates,
schedule labour, deliver documents and make supply requests.
The complex process required to turn around a RFI (request for information)
illustrates some of these inefficiencies: today, a RFI is hand-written by a specialty
contractor, faxed to the general contractor, reviewed/rewritten and faxed to the architect.
The architect may fax it to a sub-consultant (electrical, structural, mechanical) for review,
who in turn may fax it to a sub-sub-consultant (lighting, acoustical) for input. The
response is formulated, documented and sent back to the sub-consultant for review, and
then faxed back to the architect. Assuming no further clarification is needed, the architect
faxes the RFI back to the general contractor and the owner. Once approved by the owner,
the RFI is faxed back to the specialty contractor with action items. Finally, the general
contractor needs to ensure that the response is received on the job site by foremen, staff,
specialty contractors, suppliers, project managers and administrators, all in their
respective office locations.
As the above example demonstrates, we believe the AEC industry is ready to take
advantage of current developments in online project collaboration tools. Incorporating
these tools into current industry practices can make a significant difference.
Collaboration software enables organisations to centralise electronic documents, thus
allowing users from a number of different organisations to work in a more collaborative
fashion. The primary objective is to move away from traditional sequential paper-based
systems, thereby breaking down barriers to communication.
In the construction industry, there are typically 50 to 250 organisations involved with
the execution of building contracts, (construction professionals, contractors, specialist
contractors, suppliers, statutory authorities, health and safety, highways agencies etc.).
Traditional paper based administrative systems mean that for every document issued,
there is need to copy (sometimes in part, sometimes whole) and pass down the supply
chain sometimes for information, sometimes for comment and return and usually in
accordance with some level of contractual obligation.
Bearing in mind the number of organisations in a typical project supply chain, this
creates two major problems:
the system is inherently challenging in terms of effective communication and
the administrative burden is tedious and expensive. Ineffective communication and
poor administration lead to bad management.
The essence of collaboration software is to develop a process whereby documents are all
electronic, thus enabling them to be located at a secure central location that can be
accessed by those to whom access rights have been given while maintaining business
processes, supply chain relationships and organisational hierarchies. In Figure 2 both
situations, traditional project management and web based project management are shown.
The basic improvement is the centralisation of the information as it can be noticed.
734
Project collaboration services focus on tools and services that make it easier to manage
the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) design projects. Common services
include backing up files, keeping a document revision history and tracking who accesses
what files. Such sites also offer online document viewing, online markup, and plotting.
Three main services are available in Web Based Project Management Systems:
Business Process Automation, Online Document Management andTeam Communication.
Many other services are also available but they can be grouped in one of these three main
services.
On line project management provides an instant, on-demand, secure online solution
for all team members to communicate, share documents and collaborate using a standard
Web browser.
The heart of some on line project management systems is a secure document
management and workflow system that stores all project documents and forms. The
information repository can be updated daily to ensure that everyone has access to current
information. It enables everyone in the project team to work from the same page,
improving productivity. It helps accelerate time-to-market, reduce cost, increase revenues
and to minimized rework due to communications errors. With a minimal investment in
Internet technology and personnel, On line project management systems provides the
tools for instant information access anytime, anywhere as it can be noticed in the
following Figure, collaborative software offers any kind of information services (consult,
procure, maintain, modify, etc.). Throughout the lifecycle of the project.
Figure 2. Communication mechanisms

between enterprises.
735
Figure 3. Information services of

collaboration software throughout the
lifecycle of a project.
Online project management is an out-sourced Internet-based project information and
workflow management service for the design, engineering and construction industry. It
provides specialized tools for all the individuals involved in the building process and
enables construction projects to be completed under budget and ahead of schedule.
This service is focused on providing prqject teams with rapid, secure, and easy access
to project information. It promotes the concept of partneringenabling project owners,
planners and architects to collaborate and to jointly determine how best to fulfil the goals
of the project. To implement effective partnering it is critical that all project players
remain in regular contact with each other and have access to the same data. To insure
effective coordination of the numerous partners that make up the project team, it is
critical to get everyone communicating as quickly and efficiently as possible.
2.1 Advantages of the Web Based Project Management
The adoption and benefits gained in using online project collaboration tools within the
AEC industry has been studied by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and has found a number
of very real and tangible benefits currently being experienced by early adopters (Wesek J.
et al, 2002).
In this study, its said that overall the use of these tools within the industry is in its
infancy, with architects, engineers and general contractors leading the way. Owners,
developers and specialty contractors currently seem to be slower in their adoption, in part
due to limited exposure to the use of these tools and infrastructure issues.
They believe that the benefits currently being realized by early adopters cover only a
limited range of the services that can potentially be offered by online project
collaboration tools; today these benefits centre around:
736
Improving project progress communication,

Providing access to information and reducing the response time for RFI (Requests for
Information),
CO (Change Orders) and specifications clarification,
Shortening of the project life cycle,
Increasing ownership and accountability,
Improving record keeping and documentation.
These benefits have far-reaching implications for construction projects. By improving
prqject progress communication, all team members are kept informed of issues in a
timely manner, project schedules are distributed faster, and consequently, less
overlapping and/or no show of workers would occur.
If the cycle-time taken to turn around a RFI/CO is shortened, this could have a direct
impact on the length of the project: with fewer delays and quicker response times, the life
cycle of a project can be shortened.
Shortening the life cycle of construction brings benefits such as reduced expenditures
in man-hours, equipment rentals, project site office costs, and security costs and allows
the project team to begin working on new revenue-generating projects.
Finally, by completing the project sooner, tenants can occupy the site earlier and
owners/developers can enjoy earlier rental/lease revenue.
As the AEC industry moves to embrace these tools, all participants will realize
additional benefits progressively. Its foreseen that as understanding of client needs and
adoption increases, vendors will develop product offerings to meet the needs of all
industry players; in turn, these will increase overall usage of online project collaboration
tools. Its believed that the AEC industry will open itself up and adopt the changes
brought about by the development of online collaboration tools.
Finally, in the not too distant future, its believed that online collaboration tools will
be able to extend their offering to not only enable project collaboration but also support
procurement and market capabilities (i.e. matching buyers and sellers).
2.2 Utilization of Web Based Project Management tools in the
The AEC industry is in the early days of adopting these online collaboration tools;
however, early adopters are already realizing some of the benefits to be gained.
In general, architects, engineers and general contractors are adopting online project
collaboration tools and understand the benefits to be gained. Specialty contractors were
the least likely users of online tools and owners and developers, although keen to try this
technology, were hesitant to adopt it at this stage.
Further reasons for the adoption and non-adoption of onlinetools are:
Architects and engineers are most likely to use online project collaboration tools as
they: have the infrastructure necessary to support them (i.e. network systems,
hardware, etc.); have technologically savvy employees familiar with technological
solutions such as computer-aided design (CAD)
General contractors are also keen adopters of these tools; some of the reasons are that
they: have seen some of the associated benefits through demonstrations and marketing
737
efforts; have been mandated to utilize a specific tool by an owner/ developer or

architect felt much of the communication frustrations and could foresee that these tool
would help alleviate this burden; have the infrastructure necessary to support the tools
(i.e. network systems, hardware, etc.)
Owners and developers had mixed responses regarding the adoption of online tools.
Some were early adopters where as others were not. Reasons for their positions
include: adoption driven by marketing and advertising campaigns; resistance attributed
to lack of critical mass of players within the industry currently using the tools
Specialty contractors have to date been the most resistant to adopting these tools. Those
using them were doing so because they: have been approached to be part of a project
team which was using a particular tool; have seen advertising/marketing efforts;
believed that this was the way work is to evolve in the future.
Collectively, reasons for resistance cantered on the lack of exposure and education about
these tools within the industry.
As evidenced from the research, the drivers to adoption in the AEC industry are less
about understanding the benefits and more about perceived benefits, client
recommendation and awareness brought on by marketing campaigns.
2.3 Study of different collaborative extranets
After analysing all the Web Based Project Management services that are currently
available for the construction sector, two of them have been studied in depth by means of
interviews with their managers.
From one side, ProjectCentre from Bricsnet was chosen because its one of the few
Web Based Project Management services that have headquarters in Spain and the
software is available in Spanish.
The other one was ProjectNet from Bidcom. It was also studied because the
ProjectNet Extranet Solution is one of the global leaders in collaboration. In this case
Bidcom is from UK and for the moment its services are still not available in Spain.
2.3.1 ProjectCenter
In April 2001, Bricsnet presented the first on-line construction Project Management
solution in Spanish: ProjectCenter. This platform was orientated towards promoters,
owners, construction companies, public administrations and engineering companies for
the management of projects through Internet. This tool enables all users previously
authorised, to have access to all the documentations of the project.
A 20% of the projects in UK have already used extranets in 2001. Promoters leader
this market as it can be seen in the next figure.
A 32% of the companies with more than 100 workers have already used an ASP
service for the management of collaborative projects.
In Spain, promoters (35%) and engineers (23%) are the main users of these kina of
new technologies for the management of construction projects. See Figure 5.
Figure 4. Evolution of the market in

Great Britain.
Figure 5. Implementation of
ProjectCenter in Spain by type of
companies.
Figure 6. Localization of projects using ProjectCenter in
Spain.
738
739
By autonomic communities, Madrid, Catalonia and Andalucia are the regions that use
more these kind of tools.
2.3.2 ProjectNet
Bidcom Ltd is the leading provider of online collaboration solutions for the design,
engineering and construction industry. Bidcom Ltd, based in London, provides sales and
service solutions throughout Europe. Originally founded in 2000, Bidcom Ltd has
developed lasting relationships with some of the worlds leading companies, including
owners, architects, engineering and construction firms.
Bidcom has developed a very powerful tool for the management of on-line projects in
construction, ProjectNet.
ProjectNet is a way for all team members to share and access project documents
around the clock and around the world.
ProjectNet is powerful and scalable, and includes project management tools such as
RFIs, Submitted Samples, Architects Instructions, Meeting Minutes, Action Items,
Logs, and more.
ProjectNet is the glue that brings all of the disparate systems from multiple
organisations together in one environment, the web. Some of the key features of
ProjectNet are: Automatic file conversion for browser viewing of all file formats; Folder
creation and access control by multiple users. For example, both the architect and the
contractor can create folders that the other cannot see. Individual users or groups can be
given rights to create subfolders under one folder without giving them the right to create
folders everywhere; External Reference file management for AutoCAD, Microstation and
Primavera. All Xrefs are automatically uploaded and downloaded. If you upload 100
DWGs all pointing to the same Xref, the Xref is only uploaded once; a user or group can
have multiple workflow roles. For example: the contractor may only be allowed to submit
RFIs to the Architect; and the Architect can only submit RFIs to the Owners rep.;
Workflow (RFFs, Meeting minutes, Submittals, etc.) items can link to multiple
documents previously uploaded; and automatically create calendar and task items.
ProjectNet has over 6.000 active users in the UK. Bidcoms customers include facility
owners and operators, architecture, engineering and construction firms.
After analysing these services, we reach the conclusion that the majority of Web
Based Project Management Services are addressed to Architecture and Engineering
Studies, Contractors and Owners.
All the other participants like suppliers; quality control entities, etc. usually use these
services not for the management of the project but for consulting. This means that they
will have certain accesses and privileges but they wont be the direct users.
Basically, Web Based Project Management services are only focused on document
management and communication management, other services like electronic transactions
are not offered in these services. They are very complex and specific tools.
Because of this, we have analysed and studied some architecture and engineering
studies, contractors and owners who are working with some kind of Web Based Project
Management services.
The aim was to have a general view of the application of these services. It must be
said that we have chosen solid companies with a high degree of innovation. This means
740
that this analysis is not to reach conclusions on the use of these tools in SMEs of the
construction sector. The majority of AEC SMEs in Spain dont use any kind of
Management System and sometimes neither PCs for their day-to-day work.
2.4 Study of some companies using Web Based Project Management
services
2.4.1 JG Asociados
As a representative for the role of designer in the construction Project (Architect,
Engineer, etc.) we have chosen the engineering company JG Asociados. Although JG
Asociados has a Web Based Project Management tool called COBRA, its an internal
service for the organisation of the companys information.
It has three servers: one for Internet and e-mail, another for projects that is divided by
delegations and the last one is for models and software. The server also stores all the
particular information of all the workers of the office in a space called Users.
The Web Based Project Management COBRA is divided by areas: projects, bids, time
and cost, general data, turnover, consultations, accounting and payments.
The project area allows generating new projects or edit the old ones. The
nomenclature to define a project is characterized for an initial depending on the
delegation, 3 correlative digits and the starting year of the project. For example the
project B00103 is the first project from Barcelonas delegation of 2003 year. Each project
includes the options of Payments, General Data, Attributes (class, type, surface, budget),
Contacts (architect, acoustic consultor, promoter, etc.) Prevision (person, hours, etc.),
Images, Results (comparison between the expected results and the real ones to do a
balance of the project), Web link. All JG Asociados workers have access to incorporate
their personal data like the hours they invest in a project but other information like
biddings, contact persons, etc. are restricted to some persons.
The bidding area allows creating new offers or consulting the state of the offers. Other
options are the management of hours and costs, introduction and control of the
collaborators hours and costs.
Relating to general data, information like contacts, collaboration data, Cobra help, etc.
is available and can be edited.
In the turnover area, the allowed people can insert, control and consult the turnover.
There is also an area of general people consults (working charges of a current project,
costs, etc.) bids (total, accepted, etc.) costs graphs, hours, etc.
Another functionality is the accounting and payments that includes consults of
companies and delegations.
As a conclusion, COBRA is basically a human resources and project accounting
control and management systems, a system that allows the classification of the basic
information of the projects in each delegation. It works as an Intranet but some areas of
information can be viewed on the web, so it works partially as an Extranet.
Moreover, they are working in some projects that they were required by the client to
use some collaboration platform.
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2.4.2 IDOM
Idom Architecture, Engineering and Consulting opted for creating their own Web Based
Project Management System focused on the specific characteristics of their projects. With
this application they aimed to solidify the digital management of the company activities
processes reducing drastically the paper based storage of information, to facilitate the
exchange of information (easy, faster and cheaper) and to improve their working
methodology.
The tool is structured as a Lotus Notes (.nsf) database stored in a server of the
company and published in Internet (D.Prosper et al, 2002).
When developing the tool they opted for a simple and friendly (loolk & feel)
application to guarantee a fast access to the information.
From IDOM a very relevant aspect of having the information in digital support was
the easiness of finding information in a multidimensional classification. They have
chosen three ways of document classification: firstly, a Decimal Classification due to the
way they organise paper based documentation, secondly, a classification for types of
documents, sometimes more useful for certain external collaborative spaces, and the third
option by keywords. In all cases, the responsible of the project can chose the
classification that fits better to the object and participants.
Each agent that takes part of the project has the information that has stored previously
available, the information that other agents have put at the disposal of them and a tool to
store information. The document publications between agents can be enclosed by an email message.
They basically store document in .pdf format. When a document comes from different
applications (text, images, excel, etc.) the .pdf format helps the readness of the document.
The only problem is that its never editable.
When publishing a document, the person who publishes it should specify to who is
addressed so as he or they will be the only people who will visualize it and because of a
major control of the information, major flexibility and trying not to charge agents with
superfluous information. The management of biddings is also done via Internet.
According to IDOM this application has been successfully accepted in the company.
By the end of 2002, more than 200 projects were using it.
The experience created some problems that can be summed up in:
The digital management of a project is not easily assumed by all the involved agents. In
general terms, the tnost effective way would be the obligation at contractual level by
the Client to use these tools. But, although a Web Based Project Management tool
were imposed, certain suppliers will have limitations for not having and adequate
technical infrastructure.
The digital edition of documents like a letter is easy to implement. But, certain type of
reports or the technical documentation of the project with a complex structure, need a
complementary paper based edition.
Digital management wont avoid paper based communication and documents of
specific characteristics. Normally a notice is given by letter, projects are visados in
paper, etc. But it is also a fact that interesting experiences are beginning like electronic
visado, digital signature, etc.
742
When the information project is stored in the server of a partner company, the other
agents can doubt of the manipulation of the information. In this sense, the acceptance
of the electronic signature can be used as a validation element to increase the trust.
The development of this tool was initially for the management of internal aspect, but for
IDOM it can be very useful for external agents. To improve this factor, they want to:
Provide specific formats for some type of documents like reports, minutes reports, etc.
Create an option to visualize documents. Currently there is only the possibility to open
documents with the programmes that are installed in the PC.
Create a fast and informal communication modality, like chat, incorporating and agenda
for the control of the development of activities.
Currently, the tool develops functions as a repository of information. In a near future,
they want to incorporate collaboration tools to allow a common generation of
documents.
2.4.3 Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC)
At the beginning of 2001, FCC created an Intranet for the management of the company.
The solution was a private IP net with the following services: e-mail, web publication,
documents transfer, net remote management, corporative database and Internet access.
Referring to the e-mail, they have a global addresses list, which is a public archive
system, controlled by electronic permissions and forms.
The web publication is formed by a Technical Boletin, Topics of Informatics (relation
of applications, specifications and equipment costs, reports and manuals), Training
(indexes and texts of the internal courses), Quality and Environment (agreements of the
Quality Committee, General Procedures, experiences to transmit, improvement
equipment), Machinery (internal norms and machinery utilization, norms for the risks
prevention, etc.), Spain Constmction (list of current sites).
Referring to document transfer, the Intranet includes documents of the Quality
System, Drivers and Controllers and software installations.
From the net remote management, remote login, net monitoring, inventory and
hardware management can be obtained.
In relation to the corporative database, biddings, catalogs of suppliers and photographs
of different sites are stored.
The tool also allows Internet access and access to public databases.
Concluding, and based on the study carried out by FCC and presented in the seminar
ConstruTIC (FCC, 2001) the implantation of the Intranet obtained: faster and better
fiability of the information distribution, fluidity of the communication between Central
Services and Sites, quality of the information, awareness of the advance grade of the
sites.
2.4.4 GISA
GISA as a reference of the construction sector in Catalonia is leading, together with
Accenture, the development of a Collaborative portal based on a unique data repository,
accessible via Internet (GISA, 2002). This portals allows to deliver documentation to
743
Gisa through the portal, in a agile and structured way, to publish monthly reviews and the
advance of the site, to identify the different actors that are in each stage of the project
participating on it and to make easy the communication between them.
After some time using this collaborative portal the following results are extracted:
In reference to the usability of the system and based on the improvements suggested
by the users, the number of folders and levels should be reduced to a maximum of two
and its necessary to define document forms where the nomenclature and the document
structure to publish were established.
Site directors valuate positively the save of time, and both internal and external
workers consider the system very useful to add value to their diary tasks.
In a near future they foresee integrated the digital signature.
3 CONCLUSIONS
Concluding, some companies have leaded the application and development of Web Based
Project Management System, creating their own platforms. However, the majority of
SMEs dont use any kind of Web Based tool, even they dont have web page or dont use
PCs for their current work. Taking into account that the tendency of the sector turns to
the use of these management tools, these SMEs will be forced to start using them.
Nevertheless, big and some of medium companies are investing in creating their own
Intranets for the Management of their business and in a near future these tools will be
used as collaborative spaces with other partners of the project.
The main problem will be the differences between these services. Each company is
adapting these services to their necessities and obviously, each company has different
organizational and ftinctional systems. Its therefore, necessary a common organisational
modeltounifyalltheavailablesystems.
REFERENCES
Wesek J., Cottrez V., Landler, P. (2002), A Benefits Analysis of Online Project Collaboration
Tools within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry. Price Waterhouse
Coopers
Prosper, D., Rey A., San Emeterio, I. 2002. Experiencias en el desarrollo y utilizacin de una
herramienta extranet de archivo y comunicacin en la gestion de proyectos de construccin. VI
International congress on Project Engineering, Barcelona, pp 160
GISA, 2002, rea Col.laborativa per a la gesti de Direccions dObres. Jornada sobre Posibilidades
de Internet en el Sector de la Construccion. Barcelona 26 de Junio de 2002.
FCC 2001, Seminario sobre las tecnologas de la informacin y comumcacin a la construccin.
ConstruTIC.
Agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer infrastructure for

cross-company teamwork
A.Gehre, P.Katranuschkov & R.J.Scherer
Institute of Construction Informatics, Technical University of Dresden,
Germany
ABSTRACT: This paper presents an extensible dynamic distributed ICT
infrastructure for cross-company teamwork in virtual organisations which
allows to set up easily and user-friendly team-oriented information spaces
assembled ad-hoc from different information sources, such as dedicated
project servers, corporate information systems, content service providers,
and last but not least the workstations of the users themselves. The
suggested approach combines the technologies and methods of Peer-ToPeer based distributed networking, autonomous software agents and
ontology-centred management of information resources.
After a short introduction, background and related work are discussed.
The main chapter of the paper details the specific objectives and the
approach of the hybrid agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer infrastructure, and
provides insights to the three conceptual layers applied, namely the PeerTo-Peer layer, the agent layer and the ontology layer. A specific section is
dedicated to the realisation of a first demonstrator validating the approach.
The paper is concluded with an outline of envisaged further research steps
and conclusions drawn from the work performed so far.
1 INTRODUCTION
Efficient provision and management of information are key requirements for planning
processes in the construction industry. Building construction and management demand a
coherent information management considering the multitude of companies and
stakeholders involved as well as the broad variety of electronic infrastructure and standalone information management systems deployed.
The current state of the art in project centred information management in AEC/FM is
still represented by web based extranet platforms. However, being mainly based on the
client-server paradigm and used over the internet these systems do not adequately address
the information management requirements. They require a homogeneous organisational
and software structure that cannot be automatically assumed for teams assembled from
participants of different companies and for one single project or even for a part of a
project. Moreover, the time-consuming explicit management of information performed
manually (check-in, check-out, etc.), expenses for renting the portals, and the difficulties
in integrating the platforms with internal electronic infrastructure are crucial aspects.
The objective of the research work presented in this paper is the realisation of an
extensible dynamic distributed ICT infrastructure for cross-company teamwork in virtual
organisations dealing with one-of-a-kind products, processes and events. This
745
infrastructure should allow to set up easily and user-friendly team-oriented information

spaces, assembled ad-hoc from different information sources, such as dedicated project
servers, corporate information systems, content service providers, and last but not least
the premier participant, the machines of the different users itself, as depicted in Figure 1.
This approach should (1) bring together physically divided information resources and
users, (2) provide an efficient medium for ad hoc generation and sharing of
Figure 1. Building team-oriented

information spaces, assembled ad-hoc
from distributed information sources.
content, and (3) enable flexible team-oriented information exchange and management.
In order to meet these objectives an infrastructure is being developed that combines
the technologies and methods of P2P based distributed networking, autonomous
intelligent software agents and ontology centred management of information resources.
The current state of development described in the following concentrates on the agentenabled P2P network infrastructure, whereas the information management ontology
framework is presently under design and only roughly described.
2 BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK
Numerous approaches and systems have been explored for information management in
dynamic heterogeneous distributed environments, most of them utilising Multi Agent
System technology and P2P concepts, in some cases enriched with a domain model
captured within an ontology on a meta-information layer. In the following subsection the
most important features of the three technologies are introduced. However, as
comprehensive technological explanations are beyond the scope of the paper for more
comprehensive discussions on these technologies the reader is referred to (Ferber 1999)
746
and (Jennings & Wooldridge 1998) for an elaborated introduction to Multi Agent
Systems, to (Milojicic et al 2002) to gain an insight into P2P computing and to (Guarino
1996) for a short familiarizing with the ontology concept.
In Multi Agent Systems (MAS) specialised agents representing the users, the
information resources, and the system itself cooperate to address the information
processing requirements of the users, allowing for easy, dynamic reconfiguration of the
system and its resources. The key aspect of software agent technology is autonomy,
which allows the agent to decouple the sequence of operations from the user interactions.
The use of agent technology provides a high degree of decentralisation of capabilities
which is the key to system scalability and extensibility (Bayardo et al. 1997).
The P2P communication model allows PCs and other computational entities,
connected in a network, to communicate or share computational tasks and resources
without the explicit need for a server (as in web-based models). Each node is equal (peer)
to all others, and may operate as router, client, or server according to the task to be
performed. In addition, some protocols (e.g. Napster, Gnutella) use message routing
mechanisms based on broadcasting and time to live marker techniques. However, pure
P2P based tools have fundamental limitations, such as limited expressiveness of
messages (languages can only talk about objects/data that are well defined and uniquely
identified by their names, e.g. MP3 files, images, etc.) and rather simple data models
covering mainly file directories (Panti et al 2002). The power of P2P systems emerges
from their remarkable efficiency in self organising robust dynamic systems of
independent peers at runtime, enriched with advanced capabilities of modern P2P
frameworks, as e.g. JXTA (Sun Microsystems 2003), like peer-grouping and elaborated
security for communication channels. This is where almost all modern agent frameworks
provide pretty poor performance, although they are internally based on the P2P
communication model too.
Ontologies as domain models can provide for a concise, uniform, and declarative
description of semantic information, independent of the underlying syntactic
representation or the conceptual models of information bases. Domain models widen the
accessibility of information by allowing the use of multiple ontologies belonging to
diverse user groups (Bayardo et al 1997).
Several projects have combined two or three of these essential concepts. Most
prototyped systems apply the advanced Multi Agent System approach for intelligent
distributed information and knowledge management, e.g. the projects CoMMA (CoMMA
Consortium 2000), InfoSleuth (Bayardo et al 1997), and MAP (Weiss et al 2003), the
later emphasizes the mobility of the user and his/her devices. These projects utilise the
standard P2P functionality of MAS frameworks for establishing their own distributed
networks. However, these projects lack an advanced methodology for building robust
dynamically changing distributed networks, in particular in an ad hoc manner.
All MAS based systems deploy their own proprietary ontology to leverage inter-agent
communication and information exchange. Some of them (cf. e.g. CoMMA), provide
ontology inference mechanisms enabling automatic derivation of new information/
knowledge about information resources. Whereas projects five years ago developed their
ontologies more or less from scratch, the majority of present approaches revert to
available ontology standards, such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF) (W3C
747
2004a), as well as DAML+OIL (W3C 2001) and OWL (W3C 2004b) as more
appropriate specialisations of RDF.
The potential of a powerful semantic web framework harnessing P2P technology was
demonstrated in the SWAP project (Ehrig et al 2003). Unfortunately, this project did not
realise the potential that agent technology could contribute to the SWAP framework.
3 HYBRID AGENT-ENABLED PEER-TO-PEER INFRASTRUCTURE
3.1 Speciflc development objectives
The general objectives mentioned in the introductory chapter can be broken down to
more specific design
Figure 2. Establishing virtual prqject

spaces in a dynamic flat network
topology using virtual mapping to
physical networks.
748
requirements regarding the infrastructure to be developed.

1 Decentralisation and facilitation of the complex information management process by
shifting the management responsibility from server(s) to the clients that are now
individual peers with equal rights, as depicted schematically in Figure 2 below.
2 Enabling establishment of coherent virtual project spaces by integrating the autarchic
heterogeneous information subsystems of the projectparticipants. The infrastructure
has to enable the users to dynamically switch among different project spaces as well as
to initiate thematic subspaces on his/her personal responsibility.
3 Harnessing software agent technology in order to (1) delegate as much as possible
manual information management tasks (incl. notification services) from users to
agents supervised by the user; (2) facilitate search for document and information
resources based on information gathering agents, utilizing a resource ontology and
methods from artificial intelligence; and (3) provide an intelligent and user-friendly
interface to the system by employing a software agent as mediator utilising the domain
specific resource ontology for interface purposes.
3.2 Approach
Having in mind the potential of MAS, P2P and ontologies, the first question to answer is:
How can these concepts be merged within a coherent, efficient and robust system for
challenging advanced provision, search, exchange and management of information in
dynamic heterogeneous distributed environments?
749
Figure 3. Layered software architecture

integrating Peer-To-Peer networking
and software agent technology.
The presented technological approach combines the P2P framework JXTA (Sun
Microsystems 2003) and the JADE (Java Agent Development Framework) MAS
framework (Rimassa 2003) and facilitates the systematic exploitation of their respective
capabilities and advantages.
The P2P layer establishes a dynamic flat network topology ensuring the overall
technical interoperability and the basic information and resource management. The agent
technology layer leverages the underlying P2P functionality to provide advanced features
such as intelligent automated processing of various knowledge-intensive and/or contextdependent tasks, automated information gathering, as well as enhanced discovery and
notification services.
750
The five principle technological layers, depicted in Figure 3, demonstrate an

increasing abstraction of applied software concepts from bottom to top. The three bottom
layers are build by the P2P framework JXTA, developed by Sun Microsystems. They are
characterised as follows (Sun Microsystems 2003):
The JXTA core layer encapsulates the minimal and essential primitives that are
common to P2P networking. It includes building blocks to enable key mechanisms for
P2P applications, including discovery, transport (including firewall handling), the
creation of peers and peer groups, and associated security primitives.
The services layer includes network services that may not be absolutely necessary for a
P2P network to operate, but are common or desirable in the P2P environment.
Examples of network services include searching and indexing, directory, storage
systems, file sharing, distributed file systems, resource aggregation and renting,
protocol translation, authentication and PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) services.
The (P2P) applications layer includes implementation of integrated applications, such
as P2P instant messaging, document and resource sharing, entertainment content
management and delivery, P2P E-mail systems, distributed auction systems, and many
others.
These three P2P layers provide the infrastructure background for the two upper agent
technology layers, established by utilizing the JADE agent development framework.
The agent infrastructure services layer provides all necessary service agents for keeping
the MAS running. According to (Rimassa 2003) the two most important ones are: (1)
the Agent Management System (AMS) that exerts supervisory control over access to
and use of the underlying (P2P) platform; it is responsible for maintaining a directory
of resident agents and for handling their life cycle, (2) the Directory Facilitator (DF)
is the agent that passes on yellow page services to the agent platform, and finally (3)
an Interface Agent (IA) managing the inter-platform communication through the P2P
layer, as described below.
The most interesting layer for the system itself and the users is the applications layer
which shelters the specific application agents characterising the platform. Agents
residing on this conceptual layer are e.g. information gathering agents, the user
interface agent, acting as the mediator between the system and the user, or agents
performing the enhanced resource management and supporting the dynamic
distributed collaboration.
Having in mind the powerful services provided by the three bottom P2P infrastructure
layers it is obvious that the agent platform itself is freed from a lot of basic system
management work and additionally can revert to advanced and robust P2P concepts e.g.
dynamic distributed resource sharing, peer-groups and the Super-Peer networking model
for bridging peers that do not have direct physical connectivity (NAT, firewalls). In this
way a secure, reliable and scalable information infrastructure enabling teamwork-driven
just-in-time collaboration and flexible sharing of information, as well as computational
and human resources can be achieved.
The two information technology layers (P2P and MAS) as well as the foreseen
ontology layer will be explained in more detail, in the following subsections.
751
3.3 The Peer-To-Peer layer

The bottom three technological layers (see Figure) establish a P2P network based on the
JXTA development framework. This has several consequences regarding the
communication model that is quite different from Client/Server systems. The key
concepts of this decentralised model are outlined in the following, according to (Sun
Microsystems 2003).
The JXTA network consists of a series of interconnected nodes, or peers. A peer is
any networked device that implements one or more of the JXTA protocols. Peers can
include sensors, phones and PDAs, as well as PCs, servers, and supercomputers. Each
peer operates independently and asynchronous from all other peers, and is uniquely
identified by a Peer ID. Peers are not required to have direct point-to-point network
connections between themselves. Intermediary peers may be used to route messages to
peers that are separated due to physical network connections or network configuration
(e.g. NATs, proxies, firewalls). Peers are typically configured to spontaneously discover
each other on the network to form transient or persistent relationships called peer groups.
The peers self-organise into peer groups, each identified by a unique peer group ID.
Each peer group can establish its own membership policy from open (anybody can join)
to highly secure and protected (sufficient credentials are required to join). Peers may
belong to more than one peer group simultaneously. Groups also form a hierarchical
parent-child relationship, in which each group has a single parent. Search requests are
propagated within the group. A peer group provides a set of services called peer group
services. In order for two peers to interact via a service, they must both be part of the
same peer group. The core peer group services include Discovery Service, Membership
Service, Access Service, Pipe Service, Resolver Service and Monitoring Service. For
more details about these services see (Sun Microsystems 2003).
The peers use pipes to send messages to one another. Pipes are asynchronous and
unidirectional message transfer mechanisms used for service communication. Pipes are
indiscriminate, i.e. they support the transfer of any object, including binary code, data
strings, and e.g. Java technology-based objects. Pipes are virtual communication channels
and may connect peers that do not have a direct physical link. In this case, one or more
intermediary peer endpoints are used to relay messages between the two pipe endpoints.
Pipes offer two modes of communication, point-to-point and propagate. Furthermore, the
JXTA core also provides secure unicast pipes, a secure variant of point-to-point pipes.
The basic unit of data exchange between peers are messages. A JXTA message is an
ordered sequence of named and typed content called message elements. Thus a message
is essentially a set of name/value pairs. The content can be of arbitrary type. On the
presented hybrid platform the multitude of relevant messages transported by the P2P
layer are wrapped ACL (agent communication language) messages, handled by the
interface agents residing on the agent technology layer, as described in the subsequent
chapter.
All network resources, such as peers, peer groups, pipes, and services, are represented
by an advertisement. Advertisements are language-neutral metadata structures in the P2P
network, represented as XML documents. The JXTA protocols use advertisements to
describe and publish the existence of a peer resource. Peers discover resources by
searching for their corresponding advertisements, and may cache any discovered
advertisements locally. Each advertisement is published with a lifetime that specifies the
752
availability of its associated resource. Lifetimes enable the deletion of obsolete resources
without requiring any centralised control, what is an essential feature for the developed
distributed platform. An advertisement can be republished (before the original one
expires) to extend the lifetime of a resource.
For the sake of not going beyond the scope of the paper, security issues concerning the
transport layer security are omitted here. The interested reader is referred to (Sun
Microsystems 2001) which outlines the trustworthy security mechanisms JXTA comes
with.
3.4 The agent layer
After the principle discussion of the P2P layer communication model, this section
describes how the agent technology layer facilitates that functionality in order to establish
the MAS hosting the advanced application agents.
Establishing a MAS utilizing a pure JADE platform is performed by running a main
agent container hosting the AMS and the DF, and subsequently starting optional agent
containers on the same or other machines. The crucial aspect is that this architecture is
more or less comparable to a Client/Server architecture with the main container acting as
the central server-like instance. If the main-container disappears, the agent platform runs
out of service. Moreover, a permanent network connection between the main container
and its sub-containers is essential.
This JADE basic principle is not compatible with the intended P2P-based distributed
architecture, where peers dynamically build groups and are free to join and leave the
network as they want. Therefore, the basic JADE architecture had to be broken down into
distributed single JADE platforms, each with its own main container, only connected by
the underlying P2P infrastructure, as shown in Figure 4.
Although this approach seems quite simple, it entails several consequences. The most
apparent consequence is that now every peer has to run a main container with an AMS
and a
Figure 4. Braking down the centralized

JADE architecture ensuring a real P2P
environment
753
DF. Therefore more resources are required on all participating machines.

Furthermore, one agent technology feature commonly considered as very important,
the agent mobility, is lost. In JADE agent mobility is only supported within a closed
platform. This means that software agents can only travel among the participating
containers of the platform environment. However, for the developed hybrid agentenabled P2P infrastructure this drawback is justifiable as the main operational area for
mobile agents is the distributed information search and collection; a feature that is
heavily supported by the P2P-connected stationary agents in the presented infrastructure.
Moreover, it seems that currently there are efforts running in the JADE community to
upgrade JADE with inter-platform agent mobility. Hence, eventually this feature will be
integrated within some next version if it is really needed by a future extending
application.
The most tricky consequence of braking down the single agent platform comes with
the inter-agent communication. The message routing in the JADE MAS is entirely
performed by the platform; to send a message the agents only have to know the name of
the receiver. The platform automatically delivers the messages within the platform. For
inter-platform message delivery, additionally the name of the targeted platform and its
Interoperable Object Reference (IOR) is needed. Additionally, the agents would have to
perform mappings to the respecting peers. This is definitely not feasible for an agentenabled P2P environment. Moreover, as mentioned above, the transport layer security of
JADE is not as advanced as that of the JXTA framework. Therefore in the developed
approach all inter-agent-platform communication is performed by the underlying P2P
layer.
As the JADE ACL messages as well the JXTA messages are based on XML, agent
communications can be wrapped by JXTA messages for inter-platform delivery.
However, for the sake of unburden the JADE agents from the interoperability overload
with the P2P layer, what would additionally violate the principles of the JADE message
delivery mechanisms, each agent platform owns an Interface Agent responsible for all
interoperability with the underlying P2P layer, as depicted in Figure 5.
754
Figure 5. Utilising Interface Agents for

managing inter-agent-platform
communication by the underlying P2P
layer.
To send a message to an agent residing on an other peer the agent only has to know its
name and the peername. After calling a simple. send() method the platforms Interface
Agent and the P2P layer performs delivery. The Interface Agent is also employed to
translate events fired by the P2P layer objects into ACL messages ready to be delivered
to the agents in its scope.
3.5 The ontology layer
The current development state of the generic platform just implements the basic
ontological framework that comes with JADE, namely the integrated agent management
ontology, following the FIPA standards.
However, a powerful meta-information layer, implementing a common, shared,
explicit, and machine processable ontology is a decisive requirement of a modern system
for distributed information management. Establishing system-wide ontology commitment
for the access to information resources is a prerequisite for semantic interoperability and
thereby for the real-practice value of the system itself. It enables agents to talk to each
other by communicative acts, to share information via high-level semantic messages, and
to process these messages using deeper application-specific knowledge in a consistent
manner.
755
The benefit is that each agent retains its freedom to interpret any specific concept but
on a high-level commits to understand what it is asked to do. In this way the complexity
of the interoperability problem is reduced to a lean common ontological model and a
number of mappings to/from the application-specific knowledge intensive datastructures.
Five design criteria have been adopted from (Katranuschkov et al 2003) dominating
the development of the ontology that is currently under way:
Clarity. The ontology should effectively communicate the intended meaning of
defined terms. Its definitions shouldbe objective and, where possible, stated by means of
appropriate logical propositions.
Coherence. The ontology should be coherent, i.e. it should sanction inferences to such
that are consistent with basic ontology definitions.
Extensibility. The ontology should anticipate the use of a shared vocabulary. It should
offer a basis for a range of envisaged tasks, but it should also be possible to extend and
specialise its concepts.
Minimal ontological commitment. The ontology should make as few claims as
possible about the modeled real world products, allowing the actors in the environment
certain freedom for their own interpretations.
Web-enabled. Whilst not directly related to the conceptual design of the ontology
framework as such, this final issue is an essential prerequisite for its efficient use in
distributed internet environments.
Considering these design criteria the ontology framework will be based on the OWL
DL standard (W3C 2004b), a specialisation of the Resource Description Framework RDF
(W3C 2004a). The Web Ontology Language (OWL) enables the definition of domain
ontologies and sharing of domain vocabularies. OWL is modeled through an objectoriented approach, and the structure of a domain is described in terms of classes and
properties. From a formal point of view, OWL can be seen to be equivalent to description
logic (DL), which allows OWL to exploit the considerable existing body of DL reasoning
including class consistency and consumption, and other ontological reasoning.
Utilising the advanced OWL DL framework and available free tools for ontological
reasoning, the currently developed ontology framework for the construction domain will
be an integral part of the generic agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer infrastructure, providing
semantic interoperability, agent-based ontological reasoning as well as it provides for
improving the User Interface Agent with user-friendly ontology based interactions.
4 DEMONSTRATOR
The hybrid agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer infrastructure was designed and developed to
support cross-company teamwork in virtual organisations of the construction industry.
An early demonstrator developed at the TU Dresden (Groer 2003) provides first results
and insights to the current development work.
The demonstrator provides the following features:
Distributed information management based on documents, managed without the need
for a central storage device, as e.g. a file server.
756
Support for dynamic work groups. Thereby real organisational structures are mapped to
hierarchical peer-groups representing projects and teams. Users are represented with
their respecting roles within the groups. Furthermore they can switch easily between
the projects.
Autonomous agents are responsible for keeping track of the distributed resources their
user is interested in. Furthermore, they generate appropriate views that map the
resources to organisational structures based on resource patterns and support resource
exchange.
An User Interface Agent mediates the communication between the system and the user.
The screenshot of the German demonstrator below illustrates the feature of switching
between different projects using the tabs on the upper screen.
The navigation bar on the left side facilitates easy resource management as a Project
Agent automatically assigns the resources to a structure specific for construction projects.
A resource may have more than one representation within the navigation bar in order to
represent different organisational structures. E.g. a construction plan can be found within
a document type hierarchy, related to a company or assigned to a specific building,
element or system. The resource window on the right side presents standard resource
information as name and resource size, as well as the name of the owning peer.
Resources without an owner entry are available locally
The advanced underlying P2P network infrastructure is transparent for the user. The
look and feel is similar to standard project server software. However, there is no checkin/check-out mechanism as there is no central instance. The user stores his/her resources
in shared directories, that may be different for several projects. The agents propagate new
resources in the network to interested project members and provide advanced search
mechanisms for locating resources that match specified search attributes.
Most of the work in the background is performed by two specialised software agents,
namely the Project Agent and the Resource Agent. Each peer owns exactly one of each of
these agents, residing on the agent application layer.
The Project Agent manages all project information of the projects the user participates
in and is responsible for searching, updating and managing the project resources. The
local project information is updated by requests the user initiates and by inform actions
the Project Agents of other peers are sending if specific events occur.
The local resources itself are managed by the Resource Agent, which administrates the
local resources and responds to local and global search requests respecting the particular
project IDs.
These two agents that act in cooperation with the User Interface Agent, that currently
owns just reactive behaviours, result in a powerful ensemble managing a lot of daily
information resource management tasks the user is currently forced to perform manually.
However, it was only possible to develop this lightweight smart demonstrator in a
straightforward manner by exploiting the powerful generic agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer
infrastructure presented in chapter 3, even without the currently developed ontology
framework that could represent the resources on a meta-information layer.
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Figure 6. Screenshot of the

demonstrator application (in German)
illustrating coherent information
management spanning different
projects in the distributed Peer-To-Peer
environment.
5 NEXT STEPS
The described generic infrastructure as well as the demonstrator can be beneficially
extended in several ways.
Further stages of the generic infrastructure are:
The anticipated conceptual and technological progress regarding the generic
infrastructure, will be dominated by the ontology framework, that is currently being
developed. Following the criteria outlined in chapter 3.5, the ontology concepts
described as classes and properties as well as logical implications are being compiled
within a layered ontology structure. Furthermore, generic ontology processing
facilities supporting agent development are currently under construction.
Many tasks currently performed by the demonstrators Project Agent can be delegated
to a generic agent that comes with the infrastructure itself. This agent will
automatically perform peer-group based information management in a generic way
and provide its services to application specific agents that utilise the ontology to
reconfigure the offered information.
758
The infrastructure efficiency can be improved by integrating more powerful generic

application agents. Therefore, after performing the two previous tasks it is intended to
develop an autonomous backup agent, configurable to log group information flows
and to automatically perform backup storage of specified resource groups. Moreover,
it is aspired to implement agents that utilise process templates in order to support
standard construction information flows.
As the demonstrator proved to be very efficient within the targeted scenario it will also be
upgraded with additional fimctionality:
The ontology services are especially interesting for extending the demonstrator as soon
as they are available. Whereas the ontology framework developed for the generic
infrastructure encompasses high-level concepts and processing/reasoning facilities, to
be usable for the demonstrator domain specific concepts and rules have to be
developed.
Utilising this specialised ontology the User Interface Agent will be equipped with an
ontology supported interface. Experiences gained from that ontology based User
Interface Agent are planned to be exploited for designing a generic template for
straightforward development of user interface agents, that can become a part of the
generic infrastructure in a later stage.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The developed agent-enabled Peer-To-Peer infrastructure approach proved to be feasible
to meet the requirements of dynamic distributed cross-company teamwork in virtual
organisations. However, what was achieved so far is still to be evaluated according to the
specific objectives described in chapter 3.1.
The goal of facilitating the information management process is met by the
decentralised architecture presented in chapter 3. The P2P communication model proved
to be the best choice for constituting the basic information layer.
Support for virtual project spaces is provided by the peer-group concept. However,
only with the added value of software agent technology in the background, an advanced
framework for sharing distributed information resources can be offered.
Utilising software agents in general is the crucial point for making the system
efficient. Only if agent technology and an advanced ontology framework can provide for
intelligent user-friendly services and allow the engineer to delegate information
management tasks, the system will be competitive with centralised client/server
approaches.
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Sun Microsystems. 2001. Security and Project JXTA. Palo Alto, USA. available from:
http://www.jxta.org/project/www/docs/SecurityJXTA.PDF
Sun Microsystems. 2003. Project JXTA v2.0: Java Programmers Guide. available from:
http://www.jxta.org/docs/JxtaProgGuide_v2.pdf
W3C. 2001. DAML+OIL (March 2001) Reference Description. W3C Note. available from:
http://www.w3.org/TR/daml+oil-reference/
W3C. 2004a. RDF Primer. W3C Recommendation available from: http://www.w3.org/TR/rdfprimer/
W3C. 2004b. OWL Web Ontology Language Overview. W3C Recommendation. available from:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-features-20040210/
Weiss M., Busch C. & Schrter W. (Hg.). 2003. Multimedia Arbeitsplatz der ZukunftAssistenz
und Delegation mit mobilen Softwareagenten. Talheimer Verlag, Sammlung kritisches Wissen
Band 44, Germany.
Virtual communities: design for collaboration

and knowledge creation
I.L.Kondratova & I.Goldfarb
National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Information
Technology e-Business, Canada
ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the newly emerging paradigm of
knowledge dissemination and collaboration in Online Communities. The
authors present the results of a pilot study of thirty existing community
portals, including information about the portal architecture, fimctionality,
and design details. The paper discusses the functionality of different
elements of virtual community spaces such as the discussion forum,
digital repository, e-learning resources and collaborative tools that are
utilized by various online communities, including engineering and
scientific online communities. The authors devote a significant amount of
attention to the investigation of design functionality, collaborative tools
and practices that support member participation and knowledge sharing.
Knowledge sharing in virtual enterprises and communities of practice is
facing major challenges due to a failure to align their incentives system
with the objective of creating value through knowledge sharing. Special
design considerations to encourage member participation and knowledge
sharing in the online professional communities are discussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Communities of practice are communities of professionals and others who share
knowledge and resources (Wengler, 1998). Hildreth et al. (2000, p. 35) defines a
community of practice as the community which has a common set of interests to do
something in common, is concerned with motivation, is self-generating, is self-selecting,
is not necessarily co-located, and has a common set of interests motivated to a pattern of
work not directed to it. The key to a successful knowledge dissemination strategy is to
channel the knowledge to the communities of practice and at the same time provide
means for information exchange and peer-to-peer collaboration (Wengler, 2000).
An online community has to satisfy three main objectives. It has to supply content to
the user, it has to encourage members to participate in the community by contributing,
and it has to facilitate communication and interaction between them (Pickles, 2003). In
the design of a virtual community space some functionality should be provided to push
content to members. There are a multitude of techniques for pushing content to and from
members but the aim is for members to generate as much content between them as
possible (Pickles, 2003). These push functionality features include Knowledge
Repository, News, Workshops/E-learning modules, Classifieds and Job offerings.
762
Other features serve a means of pulling content from members of online

communities. Such pull features include the Forum, Member directories, Member
reviews, Polls and Surveys, Online and Offline events, as well as, providing Topic
Experts services to the users. The rest of the Portal features should be designed to
encourage member participation and collaboration. These features include online
conferencing, Forums, Chat rooms and Conferences, as well as live meetings.
The Knowledge Portal model for online community of practice is presented in Figure
1 (Kondratova and Goldfarb, 2003). Within this model, the Knowledge Portal site
provides, for scientists, practitioners and private companies, free access to the Discussion
Forum and to the Virtual Laboratory, as well as to the Digital Repository of research and
scientific information. The proposed Knowledge Portal model enables basic community
of practice portal requirements. These include a conversation space for online discussions
on a variety of topics, as well as, a facility for posing questions to the community
(Discussion Forum), a shared workspace for synchronous electronic collaboration,
discussion or meeting (Virtual Laboratory), and a document repository to be used as a
knowledge base (Repository) (USAID, 2004).
By providing a Forum for discussions and Learning Resources for reference, the
Knowledge Portal creates the opportunity for all members of the community of
Figure 1. Knowledge Portal: users and

players interactions.
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practice to directly and actively participate in the knowledge creation and scientific
dissemination process. The Virtual Laboratory, as part of the Knowledge Portal, enables
joint research work on common documents, databases, projects, and contains domainspecific software tools, like, for example, UNESCOs Electronic Support for Cooperative
Scientific Research Project (UNESCO, 2004).
In order for a Discussion Forum, within the Knowledge Portal, to be a place where
scientific discussion, knowledge sharing and exchange will happen and new knowledge
will be created, the Discussion Forum must be supported by a comprehensive digital
Knowledge Repository. The participating research organizations, private companies, and
industry practitioners can submit artifacts (raw data, research results, photographs,
reports and preprint papers) into this Repository. A peer review process of submissions,
by content experts from the user community, should be undertaken to assure the quality
of submissions, as it is done in the OneFish online scientific community (oneFish, 2004).
The processing of knowledge in the repository into value-added products for the
industry could be done by knowledge workers as in the SciX portal (Gudnason et al,
2002). Knowledge workers are the new actors in the value chain of the electronic
publishing process. The concept of value added services is quite important; it brings up a
new model of electronic publishing, which is totally different from the old paper-based
publishing model by virtue of facilitating new knowledge creation and aiding in
technology transfer to the industry. To achieve this, the virtual community needs to
attract highly skilled content experts as knowledge workers that are able to extract
information contained in different research studies and aggregate it into new knowledge.
Value adding could also be achieved by involving virtual community members into joint
creation of new knowledge by participating in the creation of a common document,
knowledgebase, or in general a knowledge artifact. This process brings a stimulating
quality into the life of the virtual community of practice (Hildredth et al, 2000).
The Knowledge Portal model is a model of the future professional community of
practice. To investigate the design and functionality of existing professional community
of practice portals and the implementation of the above-mentioned features of the
Knowledge Portal, a pilot research study was conducted as described in the following
sections.
2 STUDY ON DESIGN FUNCTIONALITY OF ONLINE
COMMUNITIES
This research study involved the evaluation of different online community portals, by
collecting and analyzing information about the design features and ftinctionality of 30
community portal websites. The following community portal types were studied:
1 Business
2 Government and Organizational
3 Professional
4 Social.
Business community portals are also known as commerce communities. In order to
provide information about their product or service companies tend to create these types of
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portals for the community of users. The business rational for creating this type of
community is that Informed customers may be picky, but they can also be devoted
customers. (Powazek, 2002, p. 219). It has also been noted, that people who participate
in online communities are more likely to buy from the same site (Powazek, 2002, p.
228). By providing a place for their consumers to meet, companies get a chance to get
client feedback, learn about areas of improvement, learn about the demographics of their
clients, about their needs and wants, and establish a loyal clientele, etc. A total of six
business community portals were evaluated in this study.
Government and organizational community portals are normally created and run by
the government or an organization. Their purpose is educational and informative to the
government/organization employees and to the general public. In addition, organizational
communities frequently accentuate the importance of their initiative and try to recruit
volunteers online. A total of four government/organizational community portals were
studied.
Professional communitiesalso known as communities of practiceare communities
of professionals who share knowledge and resources (Preece and Maloney-Krichmar,
2000). These communities usually have a common goal to achieve as their main purpose.
The main purpose of these communities is knowledge creation and knowledge
communication (Lueg, 2004). A total of eleven professional community portals,
representing the most interest to this research study, were tested.
Social community (also known as communities of interest) portals were tested as well.
The purpose of these communities is to bring together people with similar interests,
hobbies, such as gardening, golf, computers, cooking, etc. These communities can also
bring together people of the same religion, ethnic background, or demographic, for
example teen forums, seniors communities, etc. (Preece and Maloney-Krichmar, 2002).
A total of nine social community portals were evaluated in this study.
3 PORTAL STUDY PROCEDURE
The virtual community portals were tested according to 80 different criteria arranged into
the following categories, as suggested by USAID Knowledge Management for
Communities of Practice Functional Requirements Matrix (USAID, 2004):
1 Content: the Knowledge Repository and articles published on the site
2 Discussion Forum functionality
3 Features: chat, news, e-newsletters, workshops, events, web-conferencing
4 Tools and learning modules
5 Search functionality
6 Membership: Access to knowledge, tools, and collaboration by members and guests,
how open this community was to outsiders, member directory
7 Topic Experts as well as Moderator capabilities for forum and content submissions.
The portal study template is shown in Figure 2. Study results for each online community
portal were entered directly into the study template forms in the relational database. At
the end of this research project, the study reports were produced for each portal category.
765
The summary of the findings for the Community Portal study for different categories of
portals is presented in Figures 3 and 4.
4 PORTAL STUDY FINDINGS
The techniques used to improve member engagement and participation in online
communities, in the order of increasingly stimulating effect on member participation,
range from Pushing content to members (content generated by community Manager) to
Pulling content from members (most of the content generated by members) and to
peer-peer content generation when content is generated by members for other members,
as for example in special interest groups, or sub-communities (Pickles, 2003).
On this scale, as follows from Figure 3, business communities were mostly at the level
of pushing content to members, with very little opportunity provided for members to
contribute their own content (only through forum discussions) and with little opportunity
for engagement. It is interesting to note that the Discussion Forums for online business
communities were quite sophisticated, with multiple features used and, seemingly,
constituted the heart of the portal. In addition, only business community portals were
extensively utilizing the option of sending updates by
Figure 2. Community portal study

template.
email, again giving an indication of the predominantly content push mode of the portal.
Government and organizational online communities that were studied also seemed to
be designed to disseminate content mostly in the push mode, with little opportunity for
community members to contribute content into the repository (less than 25%).
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However, some member feedback was accepted in the form of document ranking
(more than 75% of portals had this functionality). In addition, polls and the survey option
were quite popular with Government/ Organizational portals indicating desire to receive
users feedback and collect members opinion. It is interesting to note that the Topic
Expert option was used by Government and Organizational portals the most, so was the
option to create sub-communities. However, these sub-communities did not constitute
special interests groups created by members for peer-to-peer collaboration and content
creation, as mentioned earlier, but rather were organized for administrative and content
management purposes.
We found that Professional community portals encouraged the submission of
documents and articles by members in to the repository the most, thus acting in both, the
pull and the push content modes. It is interesting to note that the option to rank
articles was not available for the Professional community portals studied. On the
contrary, the option to comment on articles was quite popularabout half of the
Professional community portals had this option.
Other common features of the Professional community portals, found in more than
half of the portals we studied, were as following: the portal repository was moderated and
the members had the option to submit and categorize content in the repository. The
search option for the Professional community portals was mostly well developed and
quite comprehensive and, among others, included options to search people, forum
postings and documents in the repository.
Member directories were available for seven out of eleven Professional community
portals studied, with comprehensive member profiles that included the total number of
documents submitted by the author and a picture or avatar of the member. Topic Expert
functionality was also quite popular with the Professional community portals, where the
Expert directory and information on the field of expertise of the expert were found in
more than half of the portals evaluated. According to Hildredth et al. (2000), one of the
most difficult parts of operating in a distributed environment is to facilitate the evolution
of the community and the development of the relationships.
The case study conducted by Hildredth et al. (2000) confirmed the importance of
maintaining face-to-face contacts for community building. Thus, offline events conducted
by the community of practice can potentially become quite important for online
community building.
As shown by our study, offline events were popular with less than half of the
Professional portals studied, revealing the missed opportunity for professional
communities to maintain face-to-face contacts alongside with online contacts, as it is
done much more frequently in government/organizational communities.
Figure 3. Content, Repository,

Discussion Forum, Features and Tools
for online communities.
767
768
Figure 4. Search, Membership and

Expert options for online communities
studied.
Online Professional communities, out of all portal types studied, had the largest
number of popular feature options available, including an events calendar, e-newsletter,
recent news, workshops, job advertisements and software downloads. In addition to this,
only members of online Professional communities had personal web space allocated for
them. However, we found that bloggingthe art of using a personal web space for
recording your own thoughts, ideas and experiences (Pickles, 2003) was not very
popular for the Professional communities portals, even though community members had
some personal space available to record their thoughts.
Most of the social community portals had moderated repositories and well developed
discussion forums. Surprisingly, out of all portal types studied, social community portals
had the largest number of learning resources available (this might be the result of the
majority of social portals studied being seniors portals). In contrast to this, less than half
of Professional portals had online learning materials available for community members.
Portal features not used by any of the communities were: the web
conferencing/whiteboard option, providing a custom email address to the member and the
expert ranking option. The functionalities that were used rather rarely: assigning roles to
community members, spell checking for the forum and the option to receive updates by
email (this was popular only with business communities), as well as the option for the
forum to act as a listserve (also popular with business communities only). In addition to
this, the option to create

Government/Organizationalportals.
sub-communities
was
only
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available
for
5 CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge sharing in virtual organizations and communities of practice is facing major
challenges and defeats due to a misalignment between the incentives system and the
objective of creating value through knowledge sharing (Kondratova and Goldfarb, 2003).
As well, private companies and their employees tend to be inherently hostile to
knowledge sharing (Husted and Michailova, 2002). To overcome this knowledge-sharing
hostility, some organizations utilize innovative knowledge-sharing tools such as, Xerox
Companys Docushare tool for document sharing by virtual teams. Olson and Olson
(2000) describe the subtle suggested improvement in the shared document repository
system design that potentially could increase the adoption of shared information
repositories. According to their observations, a simple design change that would make the
reading activity of the manager who monitors team contributions to the shared
information repository in groupware, visible to the contributing team members, would
dramatically increase the level of contributions to the repository. Clearly, there is a need
for similar studies and improvements for virtual collaborative spaces on the Internet, that
are intended to serve as knowledge creation and sharing spaces not for employees of the
individual company, or a group of companies, but by the diverse participants in
communities of practice.
Our pilot study is a first attempt to evaluate the use of particular design functionalities
for online community spaces in order to influence the level of member participation. As
an outcome of this study, we developed a study template and a study procedure for
studying community portal functionality; we evaluated the study procedure by
conducting a pilot study of different community portals.
The limitation of this study is that some of the Professional and
Government/Organizational community portals that were studied had paid membership
or membership by request option. Thus, information on the functionally of these types of
portals was gathered based on the description of the portal functionality posted to attract
new members and was not experienced directly. For our future study program, a
procedure that helps to overcome this limitation will be developed. It is planned to test indepth a large number of professional community portals to draw more precise
conclusions on the functionality and design features used in these portals. This will allow
the generation of better recommendations on how to improve the design and fimctionality
of Professional community portals to enhance member participation and knowledge
sharing for online communities, as well as improve learning opportunities that are
currently underutilized.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided for the project by the
National Research Council Canada, valuable input from my colleagues at NRC on the
770
study design, and the hard work and dedication of the University of New Brunswick
Computer Science student Magda Piasecka that participated in the development of study
template and conducted the pilot study of more than 50 community portals.
REFERENCES
Gudnason, G., Bjork, B.-C. and Turk, Z. 2002. SciX: open repository for scientific information
exchange and value added services for the construction industry. eWork and eBusiness in
Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Proc. of the Fourth European Conference on
Product and Process Modelling in the Building and Related lndustries, A.A.Balkema
Publishers: 667672.
Hildreth, P., Kimble, C. and Wright, P. 2000. Communities of practice in the distributed
international environment. Journal of knowledge management 4(1): 2737.
Husted, K. and Michailova, S. 2002. Diagnosing and fighting knowledge-sharing hostility.
Organizational Dynamics 31(1): 6073.
Kondratova, I. and Goldfarb, I. 2003. Design concepts for Virtual Research and Collaborative
Environments, in Knowledge Management in Architectural, Engineering and Construction, 10th
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Lueg, C. 2000. Where is the action in Virtual Communities of Practice? In Proc. of the D-CSCW
2000 German Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Conference Verteiltes ArbeitenArbeit
der Zukunft September 1113, 2000, Munich, Germany. Published electronically. http://wwwstaff.it.uts.edu.au/~lueg/papers/commdcscw00.pdf
Olson, G.M. and Olson, J.S. 2000. Groupware and computer-supported cooperative work. In Julie
A.Jacko and Andrew Sears (eds), The human-computer intemction handbook: 583595. New
York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
oneFish. 2004. OneFish research community. Online. http://www.onefish.org/
Pickles, T. 2003. Practice Guide: Techniques for Engaging with Members. Published electronically.
http://www.sift.co.uk/practice/tips/index.html
Powazek, D.M. 2002. Design for community. The art of connecting real people in virtual places.
Indianapolis.
Preece, J. and Maloney-Krichmar, D. 2000. Online communities: focusing on sociability and
usability. In Julie A. Jacko and Andrew Sears (eds), The human-computer interaction
handbook: 596620. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
UNESCO. 2004. UNESCOs Electronic Support for Cooperative Scientific Research Project.
Online. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/build_info/virt_lab.htrnl
USAID. 2004. Knowledge for development: Best Practices: Technology and systems. Published
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Wengler, E. 1998. Communities of Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Indiana:
New Riders, a division of Pearson Technology Group.
Wengler, E. 2000. Communities of practice: the key to knowledge strategy. Knowledge and
communities. Butterworth Heinemann: 321.
The design frameworka web environment

for collaborative design in the building
industry
M.Huhn
Bergische Universitt Wuppertal, Germany
ABSTRACT: A Design Framework (DFW) has been developed which
supports collaborative design of large, element-based building models.
The DFW is both an abstract architecture of a design environment and a
concrete, implemented framework which connects design stations. The
approach does not requires a central data base. Instead, data remain in
their local, native data bases. The framework provides all the services
which are necessary for the collaborative design, such as synchronization,
notification services, viewing services, access control, user and rights
management. The DFW is designed to work on a web platform, it takes
care for the specific conditions of a web environment incl. lower
bandwith, communication breakdown and offline phases.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Target industry and mode of operation
Steelwork and plant design are just two samples of areas where designers work in parallel
at digital building models today.
Engineers working in the same model domain subdivide the model into partitions.
Each designer owns a partition and works on it but needs read access to the whole model.
Several designers mutually access intersecting sectors.
Engineers in different domains (e.g., HVAC and steelwork) access the same geometric
areas.
1.2 State of the art
Recently, the building industry uses two approaches in supporting cooperation.
On one hand, commercial providers run Internet platforms which host project
documents. This works pretty well but addresses the classical document-centric approach
only: Drawings and other documents represent the design goal. But in many domains
(steelwork, timber construction, glass, HVAC etc.) these documents are just the outcome
of a digital building model (or partial model). Here, the model is both design medium and
goal. Models reside in local systems and remain isolated. Documents are potentially outof-date.
On the other hand, product modeling technology provides a means of forwarding real
models between different design systems which use native data models internally. This,
of course, does not include any automatic conversion between different partial models.
772
But in many projects, product models like PSS (DSTV 2000), and the LPM (Eastman
2001), have succeeded in passing relevant design information. The more general IFC
standard (e.g. ST-4 2003) still has to show its impact. Roundtrip engineering is not
inherently supported by product models. This is due to the lack of means of partial access
and navigation as well as the usual bottleneck problem. Even the transfer of models can
serve sequential design only. Designers cannot collaborate directly.
2 THE DESIGN FRAMEWORK
2.1 Idea and architecture
The Design Framework (DFW) links design systems (CAD) into one design
environment. Different systems run in different places, they may even address different
partial models. Figure 1 shows that every CAD system is wrapped by a specific adapter,
resulting in a uniform interface on the connector part. There is one connector per CAD
system and one connector for the central management components. All the DFW
connectors form a kind of design bus.
Each CAD system uses its own native data model. The design bus employs a uniform
product model, e.g. the PSS. The wrapper components do the mapping.
Designers work on different model partitions. The complete building model instance is
virtual: It is the
Figure 1. Principal parts of the Design

Framework.
aggregation of all the distributed model instances in terms of the employed product
model.
Local systems work as peers. Each system may serve services conc. its own model
part. At the same time, it may be a client of services of other systems of the framework.
The design framework
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2.2 Demands on design systems

Each native design system has to fulfil a number of requirements in order to work with
the DFW. These abilities may be accomplished by means of the system wrapper.
A unique identificator as well as a version number must be maintained for every first
level object of the product model.
It must be possible to differentiate between objects of the own model part and view
objects of foreign model parts. (See below for the view concept)
The design system must provide slots for the handling of a number of object events. For
instance, the system should be able to notify the environment when objects are
created, modified or deleted.
2.3 Implications and discussion
The participants of the DFW must agree on communicating at the semantic level of a
certain product model. This means, that everything in a foreign model which is of interest
can only be imported via product model. In practice, this is not that bad: Using data
exchange via STEP physical file, there is the same restriction right now.
There is no digital building model in one place. Instead, it is distributed over several
design systems. Compared to a central data base with check out/check in mechanisms,
this has some advantages:
The particular designer does not need to check out in order to start. He can start
working immediately, even offline.
All auxiliary elements (views, coord. systems, working planes etc.) remain in the
model, nothing gets lost after checking in to a neutral model.
The designer retains control over his model. In practice, this solves somes
psychological and legal issues which are sometimes harder to address than technical
challenges.
Every design system has additional semantics in its model. This does not get lost in a
check in/check out cycle.
The major part of the local model does not need to be transferred over the wire.
Some things can be achieved alike with a central data base.
Archiving can be done in terms of the product model as a central service of the Design
Framework.
Documents can be derived as usual. They represent the current design state and are
collected and hosted on a central document server.
Users might wish to apply commands to objects of the whole model. For instance, a
general arrangement drawing should be derived. This is not directly supported as the
DFW does not implement CAD functionality. Nevertheless, it can be implemented in
one of the involved CAD systems by using DFW query services.
Certainly, there are drawbacks too:
Older design systems might not have the usual event handling. Without notification
capabilities they loose essential framework functionality.
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The DFW does not support version branches. The short transaction principle normally
allows for a single branch only. If designers break the rules and work both offline and
without locking, two or more branches of the same object can be created. This requires
synchronization by hand.
Long offline phases lead to large model caches, see below. This might compensate
some advantages.
There is no overall model versioning. In a living framework, we would need to stop
all processing in order to get a total snapshot.
3 ABSTRACT DESCRIPTION
3.1 Abstraction levels
The framework has been described on two levels.
The system level abstracts from concrete building elements. It uses general concepts
like object, model, owner etc. The single designer sees the DFW as one system which
deals with the (building design) project. He can use and control that system through the
local workstation. The user knows that he owns only a part of the whole digital building.
At the component level, the DFW is decomposed into units which are distributed and
loosely coupled via the Internet. In terms of software development, each
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Figure 2. Abstraction levels of the

Design Framework.
Figure 3. WSDL schema.

unit can be developed independently, it is described by interfaces only.
Every level employs its own class model and is described by using a modified UML
representation.
The project level in figure 2 just shows the real design world in terms of business
cases.
3.2 Mapping
The business cases of the project level have been collected by a survey of Pegels & Koch
(2002). They have been classified and mapped onto system level scenarios. These
scenarios are externally expressed by use cases and internally implemented by abstract
scenarios (Huhn 2004). The behaviour can be finally mapped down to the level of
services which are implemented by components (Pegels & Huhn 2004).
The services are described by a simplified form of the WSDL standard. WSDL
(Christensen et al. 2001) comprises an abstract, implementation-independent
representation of functionality (port types) as well as services which implement that
functionality by using a concrete language binding, figure 3. The DFW employs some of
those concepts and expresses services in the Unified Modeling Language UML by
describing.
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Figure 4. Sample of a DFW

component interface.
port types by interfaces of stereotype portType,
operations by methods,
SOAP message parameters by classes of stereo-types of XML schema data types like
xsd:complex Type etc.
3.3 Benefit
By using the abstract description of the DFW, real-world design scenarios can be
represented and simulated. The DFW can be refined in order to support crucial design
scenarios.
On the other hand, the component level may serve as a template for an actual
implementation. The formal description in terms of web services does not imply a certain
platform and allows the independent development of components.
4 CONSISTENCYISSUES
4.1 Consistency, synchronization and notification
Different abstractions of the same building part need to be consistent, e.g. physical beam
and the element(s) used for it by the structural analysis. This can be evaluated and
decided by an engineer only. The DFW supports the usage of different domains and helps
in tracking those cross-domain relationships, see below.
The same model object might be used in different design systems at the same time.
Several engineers see that object, they even may try to change it concurrently. Although
there is a kind of local proxy in every design system, a model object should have one
777
consistent state only. This is the problem of synchronization. Offline phases are necessary
to support. The DFW tracks object locks and prevents parallel updates of objects.
In a distributed environment, a local designer wants to get notified of model changes
of interest. In turn, he wants that the DFW notifies others of changes he made.
4.2 Is synchronization always necessary?
Surveys have shown that designers do not want always be synchron. They need a reliable
environment, they want to control an update of their model part, they do not want to be
disturbed by instant messaging or changing.
For this reason, the DFW introduces the concept of views. Remote model parts are
presented locally in views. The actual representation depends on the local design system
and can even be a BOM in a report system. People can choose among different view
types.
A static view is just a snapshot of a model portion. The view client is responsible for
any update.
The status view enhances the static view: Modifications are reported automatically to
interested clients. The client knows that an object has been changed, but he does not
know how. Again, he is responsible for any update.
In a live view, all model changes are immediately communicated to clients.
Both the server and the client of a view choose their view type. This results in a
combined behaviour.
Relevant model versions must be kept. At the moment of clearance, the objects have
to be up-to-date, subsequent changes must not alter that version any more. This is
supported by the framework through a clearance concept. Technically, a copy of the
appropriate model part is being made.
4.3 Explicit vs. implicit synchronization
Normally, the DFW supports implicit synchronization. The system takes care for
synchronization of the distributed model as part of every user command. The user does
not need to explicitly perform any sync. command, he gets notified according to the
chosen view types.
On the other hand, explicit synchronization is necessary in case of errors. The system
needs to provide the means to fix corrupted data.
4.4 Online vs. offline
Synchronization does not necessarily require permanent online status. The local wrapper
as well as the central project component do a caching. If the system goes online again,
changes are communicated.
On the other hand, isolated changes require the reservation of objects for exclusive
access. This is supported. Finally, the user might be allowed to over-write even objects
which have not been reserved. In this case, synchronization cannot be executed
automatically. The user needs to choose the valid object version branch.
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4.5 Distributed objects

Thevirtualbuilding model instance is made up of objects called vobjects. Every
single vobject will be created only once, this means by one local design system resp. user.
The appropriate native object(s) reside in one local model. The local system is said to
have creatorship of the vobject.
Normally, the system with the creatorship of a vobject will also host that object. It is
said to have ownership of the vobject. The DFW links the management of rights to the
ownership, the owner is deciding if the vobject is exposed for modification or not etc. But
it can be necessary to change the ownership during the life of a vobject. For instance, a
new joint will be attached to a column of a foreign model part, all parts belong to the own
model part at first. The fabrication structure differs from the design structure, some plate
is welded on the column in the shop, the other parts are assembled on site later. In this
case, the plate should be moved to the foreign model, the ownership changes.
Nevertheless, it is important to maintain the creatorship information. In the sample, only
the creator might have the means to modify the joint correctly.
Sometimes, attributes of a vobject are created by different design systems. This
happens when a system does not fully implement all aspects of a vobject, it is neither able
to create the attribute nor to set it to a value. In this case, we have an object owner but
different creators. Early implementations show a lot of problems here. An alternative
solution is the artificial introduction of another model domain: In this case, two vobjects
exist in parallel.
Parallel domains exist anyway, e.g. analysis and steelwork. Objects of different
domains are usually interrelated somehow. The DFW does not reflect specific mappings
but introduces a more general relationship called rulership. This means that a vobject is
ruledor just influencedby vobjects of another domain. This leads to automatic
notification and clearance services by the DFW. The correct adaptation of a vobject to
any new situation is still up to the engineer. Rulerships can be defined bi-directional.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The Design Framework provides the means for linking engineering workplaces into one
building design environment. It suits best for CAD systems which address the same
model domain, but supports different domains as well. The connected systems have to
share the same product model which defines the level of communication.
The Design Framework addresses areas where designer work mutually at the same
model. It does not specifically support sequential design.
6 OUTLOOK
In a next step, areal-world implementation is intended. An adequate user interface of
all the aspects of the collaboration will be developed. This interface should not only fit
mto a specific CAD system but should be of common benefit.
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REFERENCES
Christensen, E.; Curbera, F.; Meredith, G.; Weerawarana, S. 2001. Web Services Description
Language 1.1 (WSDL)
Eastman, C. 2001. Overview of CIS/2. Georgia Tech University
German Steel Construction Association (DSTV) 2000. Standard description for Product Interface
Steel Construction. Dsseldorf: Deutscher Stahlbauverband DSTV
HuhnM. 2004. Abstract and concrete scenanos m concurrent in concureent engineering. In Proc.
of the international Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering. (in press)
Pegels, G.; Huhn, M. 2004. Grundlagen vernetzt-kooperativer Planungsprozesse fr Komplettbau
mit Stahl, Metall, Holz und Glas. Report II. Wuppertal: Bergische Universitt
Pegels, G.; Koch, A. 2002. Grundlagen vernetzt-kooperativer Planungsprozesse fr Komplettbau
mit Stahl, Metall, Holz und Glas. Report I. Wuppertal: Bergische Universitt
Structural Analysis Model and Steel Construction. IFC Project ST-4. 2003
Collaborative work practices in Turkey, five

case studies
Alexis Sanal
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Current work practices in five Turkish AEC sector
organizations are observed to better understand how it is knowledge
workers employ physical and virtual environments and ICT tools to
enable their collaborative work activities. The objective is to suggest
insights and actions to enhance the relationship of activity, place and tool
to leverage the potential to create new knowledge through teamwork. The
case studies probe into the organizations objectives of collaborative work
activities and how the tools utilized and the environments engaged
support those objectives. The common themes emerging from the case
studies are considered alongside three workplace-making perspectives that
attempt to expound the potentials of knowledge workers ability to
generate new ideas through their work practices. Each theory shares the
position that knowledge work is either enabled or hindered by the physical
and virtual environment in which the activity is carried out and by the
tools used to assist the activity. In conclusion, I suggest two actions
Turkish organizations can consider to explore available opportunities in
their existing knowledge capital and to engender a collaborative practice
with external stakeholders in order generate new products and services.
This research is a first effort in a broader initiative to motivate a
workplace-making methodology aimed to deliver sustainable workplace
accommodations appropriate for the context of Turkey.
1 INTRODUCTION
Effective collaborative work practices are important to any organization trying to
increase productivity in their knowledge capital. Knowledge work is typically complex,
requires multi-disciplinary teamwork and employs a variety of emerging information
communication technology (ICT) tools that are multi-faceted and imperfect. Currently
the AEC sector of Turkey is transforming from a manufacturing base to a hybrid with the
service sectors and therefore investing more resources into their intangible assets. It is in
this context I explore the relationship between knowledge workers, where they
collaborate with clients, consultants and partners and what their ICT tool preferences are
to facilitate those exchanges. The broader objective of this research is to frame a
methodology and practice of workplace-making that can deliver sustainable office
accommodations in Turkey. The outcomes and insights from this endeavor benefits the
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AEC sector in better industry collaborative practices and in developing future workplace
services and products in office markets locally and internationally.
Contemporary workplace makers give various theories to the significant relationship
between work activities, physical and electronic places, and ubiquitous ICT tools. The
first is an EU Fifth Framework research consortium led by the design consulting firm
DEGW, developing a model to generate Sustainable Accommodations for the New
Economy (SANE). The SANE Project is defined by the changing workplace in the new
economy with a broader vision of making propositions towards the intelligent city.
SANE maintains the potential impact of ubiquitous computing is greatest for
collaborative work, since virtual collaboration liberates the individual from having to
move to a colleagues current location to work with them (Harrison et al. 2002). Another
workplace-making proposition is from the US research group, Appliance Studio, trying to
understand how technologies interact with people. In their New Knowledge Environment
white paper they assert most teams undertaking knowledge work are performing
significantly below their potential because of the poor state of the environment and tools
with which they work (Sharpe 2002). A further theory is from the MIT Workplace
Group who recently partnered with Cambridge University to investigated how physical
and IT infrastructure can foster the involvement of customers into corporate research and
development environmentstermed embedding (Joroff et al. 2004). The general idea is
that work cannot be described independent of the circumstances and settings in which it
is conducted (Horgen 1999).
Through interviews with management, observation of their workplace environment,
and inventory of ICT tools employed I anticipate to reveal the preferences to use physical
or virtual places and to employ various ICT tools. In each case study the organizations
objectives for collaborative work activities are highlighted and their current utilization of
virtual and physical work settings, communication technologies utilized are learned to
understand how they use these modes to support their objectives.
The research is a reconnaissance approach to identify opportunities for actions and
indicate where workplace-making practices are currently positioned in Turkey. I will
share unexpected findings as well as common themes amongst the situational cases. In
conclusion, I make recommendations to advance collaborative environments in Turkeys
workplace accommodation paradigm.
2 CONTEXT
The AEC sector of Turkeys is one of the countries leading industries and many Turkish
based construction corporations with internalized architectural and engineering services
take part in international civil and large scale building projects. In recent years, pervasive
computing has been a key driver for Turkish organizations to access and share knowledge
as well as to enhance project team coordination. Mobile telecommunication has a higher
penetration than the US and telecommunication investors are focusing energies into value
added services. Recently, the government has laid the infrastructure for broadband
communication, but mobile computing has only recently taken roots. The McKinsey
Global Institute Report on Turkey looked at eleven growths sectors of Turkey. Of those
sectors identified three (residential construction, steel and cement) are within the AEC
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sector and two (telecommunication and electricity) have meaningful implications for the
workplace accommodation markets. McKinsey highlights organizations are working
below the productivity potentials and significantly below best practices in other nations.
Operating under potential capacity was more severe for the service sector, but their
investigation found organizations changing management styles learned from best
practices abroad or non-traditional management styles are far more productive than those
still operating within Turkeys traditional management models.
3 CASE STUDIES
The five case studies are selected on four criteria: they are within the AEC sector in its
broadest terms; identified by peers as innovative organizations; investing in their
knowledge assets; and working internationally. I also selected a range of organizational
sizes and years of establishment. This has resulted in: an office furniture manufacturer; a
contracting corporation with many building product manufacturing companies; a midsized structural engineering office; a technology company offering services and products
in IT networks, rapid prototyping product design and simulation; and a leading 3D
software development startup based in the US with one of their senior software
developers situated in Istanbul. In each case I first conducted an interview focused on: a)
how the organization engages four activities of collaboration (learning and training,
information exchange/coordination, idea creation/solutions and deliberations), b) where
these activities occurred, c) which tools would be employed and d) how given no limits
on resources, time or management support, what changes could be made to foster teams
to perform more effectively. After the interview their workplace was observed with
special attention to any place (virtual or physical) they identified where their
collaborative work occurred and surveyed the tools and IT resources supporting
collaborative work. Some office observations allowed for impromptu conversations with
the people in the office and further conversations with the interviewees. The cases are
presented by the number of years the organizations have been established.
3.1 Nurus
Nurus is a manufacturer of office furniture established 70 years ago by the two current
holders grandfather. Since then Nurus has evolved into Turkeys leading up-market
office furniture manufacturer expanding and competing in Europe and the Middle East.
After a decade of advancing their manufacturing (including mechatronic technologies)
and supply chain management they have shifted their management energies into strategic
changing management practices and IT infrastructure planning. This later change has
heightened their awareness to leverage their knowledge capital and value-added services.
Recently, NURUS made a spatial shift to move the exports, marketing and sales
groups to one location in a central business district on the European side of Istanbul. This
shift was to consolidate their human resources and synergy amongst internal groups, as
well as allow better access to international partners and clients. Within the year they will
implement an extensive extranet service for information sharing, project coordination,
data management and customer service/sales service support feedback. This investment
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intends to electronically link their network of international and national sales agents,
internal groups, the Ankara factory and their new showrooms abroad. They expect the
former shift into a hybrid, virtual and physical office environment will be a catalyst for
changes in their human resource underpinning.
3.1.1 Objectives of collaborative working
Extract clients or design teams needs.
Exhibit and disseminate product information, details and material specifications.
Train agents in foreign markets of new products, services and sales practices.
Coordinate proposed offices products with project design team.
Collecting data and information about a client environment and current workplace.
3.1.2 Interesting findings
Institutionalized various work forms to ensure interviews and observations with clients,
project visits and project design team coordination is standardized internally from
sales groups to design groups.
NURUS highlighted they approach the office market with the intention to share their
experience and knowledge.
The future extranet will integrate agents and showrooms from abroad, but a strategy to
integrate these stakeholders into the physical environment has not been established.
3.2 Yapi Merkezi
Yapi Merkezi was established in 1965 as a civil and building engineering project based
organization. Today they are a one of foremost contracting corporations in Turkey for
rail, heavy construction, building complexes, and restoration. Through their evolution
they have internalized many services and expertise including engineering, architecture,
real estate development and manufacturing a variety of building products. Yapi Merkezi
has always given great importance to their engineering and project design groups
expertise. They have dedicated resources to an internal research and development group
who publishes articles and attends international conferences as well as invested in a
substantive on-site library including an online catalog search engine. Yapi Merkezi is
currently located in the Asian side of Istanbul in their self built Campus. In planning their
campus they constructed a purpose built facility for meetings and external collaborations.
This building consists of two small sized meeting rooms, one mid-sized meeting room
and a larger conference room. Each room is equipped with broadband access and
telephone conferencing, while the larger rooms include digital media and white boards.
The conferencing room is also equipped with a printable whiteboard, a stationary
computer (with relevant software) and furniture that can be easily moved into a variety of
configurations.
Yapi Merkezis has developed a corporate culture in focusing on reliability and
highest quality products, services and professional practices. This corporate culture
extends to how to engage consultants, partners and clients in electronic and physical
settings. Since the mid-1990s they have prioritized investments in advanced IT
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infrastructure and intranets both on the campus and on construction sites (including
satellite services in remote regions). More recently Yapi Merkezi enhanced their
management and communication practices to comply with International Organization for
Standardization (ISO). They found the time and resource invested to comply with ISO
professional practice standards noticeably improved communication flows and made
project coordination more effective. Yapi Merkezi is also very conscientious on
protecting their know howparticularly in the physical environment of the campus
seeing it as the keystone of the companys assets.
Coordinate design with internal and external stakeholders.
Frame broad picture project concepts, strategies and implementation approaches with
project team stakeholders.
Solve design and technical problems amongst internal and external team members.
Market to clients and partners quality, reliability and advanced know-how.
Invested in a significant intranet and off-site IT infrastructure to communicate to project
teams for over a decade.
Put cameras on construction cranes, but till date only used information captured for
marketing purposes.
To transfer the highest density of information in the shortest amount of time, face to
face communication was seen most effective.
3.3 Erdemli engineering
Erdemli Engineering is a structural engineering firm established over 20 years ago by Mr.
Erdemli. They are currently 12 people, half are structural engineers and the others are
either drafting or support staff. Erdemli Engineering has established a local reputation for
bringing advanced knowledge into existing local construction abilities and practices in
both civil and building projects. They are keen to export their services to foreign markets,
but to date have only collaborated with foreign consultant teams on projects situated in
Turkey.
Erdemli Engineering is located in a building originally built for apartments in a central
location of a mixed-use district on the European side of Istanbul. The organization prefers
to collaborate with external partners, consultants and clients outside their offices and
conduct project coordination via email. For meetings that occur in the oifice, they have a
larger meeting place in Mr. Erdemlis office which is sized to accommodate large groups,
while colleague to colleague meetings occur at individual desks. The office is about to
implement a comprehensive data management and project coordination intranet to take
advantage of a more immediate access to shared information. Yet in the physical
environment, the engineers direct horizontal and vertical surfaces are filled with project
information including reference materials, project details, and project scheduling. The
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work activities undertaken where described as highly routine but each project is seen as a
new opportunity to advance and strengthen their knowledge, practices and experience.
Learn design preferences of clients and consultant team.
Project design coordination with consultant teams.
Design and technical problem solving with internal engineers and consultants.
Transform product specifications and make product modifications with suppliers.
Attend local university seminars and lectures.
All the engineers are from the same University. The engineers felt this nurtured the
offices social dynamic and a priori understanding of how things are done.
Digital cameras were used to capture site observations to relay information and
coordinate findings with internal engineers and consultant groups.
The walls and desks where treated as surfaces to visualize project information and
personal expressions.
3.4 InfoTRON
Founded ten years ago, InfoTRON is the leading distributor of advanced software,
hardware, and services for product design and development, IT networks, digital media
design, and simulation sectors in Turkey. One of their recent services is to broker the
unused capacity of rapid prototyping facilities, powerful multi-media computing facilities
and freelance technical persons in Turkey to European and local markets. Currently
InfoTRON has their head offices on the Asian side of Istanbul with three other locations
offering different core competencies. The software development core is located in Ankara
at the Middle Eastern Technical University Techno park, the rapid prototyping product
development core is located further eastward on a major artery in Istanbul and their
European interface is located in Siemens E-Excellence Center in Munich, Germany.
InfoTRON is unique in that many of their customers for their products are intern
clients and partners for their services. This has led to a very conscious effort to train sales
staff into knowledge network human resource management. It was explicit that sales
people should not be in the office, but out in client spaces and fostering their networks.
The sales people are responsible for the project management and coordination with a
team of technical experts. In projects where the know-how extends beyond the human
resources or facilities available within the organization the companies knowledge
network is tapped into to identify the most capable expert or facility. This informal
network has become a substantial intangible asset in their organization.
Assessment and benchmarking customers environments for product specifications.
Render design services with complex technical teams.
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Coordinate excess capacity of technical facilities.

Construct social networks with clients and partners.
Learn new market trends, products and services in exhibitions and periodicals.
InfoTRON demonstrated a high dexterity in using virtual environments to coordinate
and disseminate information. This included remote-awareness technologies to see who
was in the office, coordinate critical path schedules of design projects and track
services for product sales.
Participated in collaborations where their technical staff would be physically situated in
external organizations environments for extended periods of time.
Used their hybrid environment to display awards, trade-shows, product poster, and
success stories.
Nestled 2 organizations physical places in research and development science parks.
3.5 Splutterfish
This recently founded start-up company, with an address in California, is a small
organization comprised of leading computer graphics software developers extending over
four counties and five cities. The community of expertise in computer graphic specific to
3D Max software rendering engine and support plug-in modules is global, yet very
intimate one of these experts is based in Istanbul. The founders of Splutterfish and the
expert situated in Turkey met ten years ago online after his first plug-in contribution to
the 3D Max program developer community. Their initial communications and exchanges
where via email and online forums, but after some years of correspondence they met face
to face at SIGGRAPH (an annual trade show of leading digital technologies and
applications). This meeting, subsequent knowledge and project exchanges laid the
grounds to consolidate distributed expertise into one start-up organization to develop the
Brazil rendering engine. This start-ups size consisting of a crew of seven should not be
underestimated, as their clients include the distinguished animation and rendering houses
in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The crew member of Splutterfish in Istanbul works comprehensively in electronic
settings with his only physical environment extending to workstations at his home and
the annual SIGGRAPH Convention The companies only assets are their intangible
intellectual property synthesized into software solutions and hence security of their linked
electronic environments is of highest importance. Yet they have extended their
environment to include a selective number of contributors who are often clients,
colleagues and potential competitors to ensure direct and immediate feedback loops on
their products and current knowledge trends. The organization employs five electronic
settings loosely linked to conduct their exchanges: their website; an on-line forum; an
IRC (internet relay chat); email; and an electronic repository. Their preferences to
employ one over the other are dependent on the type of information and security of the
information exchanged. The first three have a public space and a discrete membership
places while the later two are private only.
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Coordinate components of Brazils software package.
Respond to client issues and suggestions.
Engage community of interest and current information and knowledge.
Exchange work and track changes.
Mentor and create inclusive communities to foster expertise and knowledge exchanges
extending into local and global networks.
Established a synergy of expertise merely independent of the physical environment.
Maximized physical space intensity utilizing only a home desk and an annual
convention.
Use electronic environment for dynamic and immediate feedback from customers.
Developed a remote-awareness plug-in for their crew to alert persons when other person
online types anothers name to get their immediate attention.
4 LEARNING FROM OTHERS & COMMON THEMES

4.1 SANE
4.1.1 Summary
Two results of the SANE Project (Harrison et al. 2002) are the Space Environment
Model, a tool for workplace evaluation and the SANE Strategy, a workplace
implementation strategy. The SANE Strategy is defined by four parallel trends meant to
improve the workplaces contribution to quality of life and social, economic and
environmental well-being: 1) Intensification of the use of space and time; 2) Reduction of
waste; 3) Ensuring energy efficiency; and 4) Organizational responsibility. Although, the
SANE Strategy is outside the scope of this research, it is important to be aware of what
the Space Environment Model aims to achieve.
The Space Environment Model is an elaboration from a tripartite analysis tool called
the Hybrid Work Environment Model developed by DEGW for workplace consulting.
The later tool attempts to decipher organizations priorities to: 1) access knowledge
(public, privileged or private), 2) positioning of work tasks in either physical, hybrid or
virtual work setting and 3) determining if the organization is a self-contained organism or
an organism within the greater urban infrastructures. The Space Environment Model tool
goes beyond these three dimensions into the broader context of an organizations cultures
and multitude of potential settings work activity may be carried out in. It considers that
preference given to a work setting to support a work activity will depend on three
considerations: mediating factors, physical landscape and suitability.
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4.1.2 Case study findings

Reflecting on the cases, the critical mediating factors for collaboration with external
teams were socializing to construct robust relations, maintaining cultural formalities, and
protecting know-how. In the physical landscape, clients and consultants were almost
exclusively excluded from organizations private places (e.g. Intranets, individual
workstations, home working); this resulted in a preference to conduct collaborations in
privileged places, such as private office meeting areas, dedicated meeting rooms or email
for external teams. Typically organizations preferred to go to client, consultant team or
exhibition places for faceto-face collaborations and did not provide shared privilege or
private places in virtual environments. The only organization actively using extranets to
generate a shared virtual environment was Splutterfish, who established a considerable
part of their organizations relationships through electronic work environments such as
on-line forums. None of the organizations where found to meaningfully employ public
settings (urban amenities, hotel facilities, trade-show exhibitions, websites, and
showrooms collaborations) for collaborations, except for marketing purposes and to
establish early social relations with clients. Again the exception was the software
development organization who had established privileged and public electronic settings
(forums and IRCs) to engage their customerstheir customers where also typically
software developers. Suitability was seen as the key decision making factor in
considering ICT tools. For example: the popularity to use personal mobile phones for
direct and immediate feedback with team members who were not available face-to-face;
email for transferring project information or coordinationfollowed-up with a phone
callevolving from fax and courier correspondence; or intranets (only for internal uses)
for data management and office information tidiness.
4.2 The New Knowledge Environment
4.2.1 Summary
The organizations observed use of ICT tools and the environment in order to make
collaborative work activities more effective are not being exploited; this reinforces
Appliance Studios (Sharpe 2002) claim that knowledge workers engaged in team work
perform significantly below their potentials because of the poor state of the physical
environment and tools with in it to get work done together. Critical to The New
Knowledge Environment are four foundation concepts for understanding team behavior:
information affordance, projectbraiding, knowledge transformation, and distributed
collaboration.
In summary, information affordance is the properties of an environment or artifact to
facilitate a task-also referred to as an appliances. The most ubiquitous example of an
appliance is paper, an information repository that is easily mobilized and written on.
Project braiding is the continual coordination of individual tasks, roles and strands of
information to the different activities of a team and to the overall goal of the project from
start to finish. The objective is to fully exploit the expertise of all the members and
fluidity of information. Important to project braiding is the social dynamics of a team.
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Third is knowledge transformation, this is the ability of an expert team to work in concert
to generate new knowledge from discrete or multi-disciplinary sources and add value to
an organizations knowledge capital. Knowledge transformation involves acquiring,
organizing, producing, manipulating and synthesizing concrete and abstract information.
The last principle, distributive collaboration, operates similar to the face-to-face
collaborations, but is the ability to coordinate, exchange data or information and create
new knowledge when teams are located in different places.
The New Knowledge Environmenfs believes teams can be more effective given three
potential in the ICT tool and the physical environment: shared surfaces, persistent
information and extended presence. It demands a shift in the traditional teamwork
practices of information handling towards a practice of rich visual representations,
democratic access to information and dynamic team manipulation-transformation of the
teams information.
4.2.2 Case study findings
The three potentials outlined were feeble in the observed organizations collaborative
practices. When looking at the foundations of teamwork behavior I found the
organizations behaviors underdeveloped. Although there were idiosyncratic exceptions,
ICT tools and the physical environment was not seen as an opportunity to enable more
effective collaborations, for example: whiteboards or flip-charts to note the important
content in a collaboration, pin-up space which everyone could share the same vantage
point of the information being presented, or cameras to easily record and distribute shared
notes or meeting material in real time where atypical in collaborations. Interestingly the
organizations dexterous in electronic project coordination tools or using the physical
environment, even in a minimum way, to visualize project information were most
effective in project braiding. Project braidings objective to maximize the potentials in
other team members was understood enigmatically by the organizations and viewed as
determined by a team social dynamicsorganizations had difficulty conceptualizing how
tools or the environment could foster this objective. The organizations observed
infrequently engaged in knowledge transformation in their collaborations. Instead what
was found is knowledge creation is generated by an organizations expert in the
individuals work arena and presented as solution to the team. The collaboration was then
to coordinate the discrete solution into the greater team project, deliberate on
appropriateness of the solution, or to make ref inements in the technical dimensions of
the solution presented. Distributed collaborative practices utilized electronic tools.
Electronic tool where limited to accessing shared information, project coordination
scheduling, tracking project correspondence and better workflow management for
internal groups, it was neither seen as a public or privileged place to transform
information or opportunity maximize team members potentials.
Important to note is all organizations impromptu or intimate (34 person)
collaborations in the physical environment where not readily (in the room) or casually
(not daunting) equipped with shared writing surface, pens and paper, internet access, a
projector for an shared laptop, a place to post and re-organize information, a copier or a
printer. This may clarify why the two modes to synthesize collaborative work were either
790
verbal understanding or with meeting notes prepared by one participant and circulated to
the other team members after the meeting concluded.
4.3 Embedding customers
4.3.1 Summary
MIT Workplace Group partnered with Cambridge University (Joroff et al. 2004) to
review how physical and IT infrastructure can foster the involvement of customers with
the multiple objectives and processes of corporate research and development. The reports
initial findings expand the bounds of workplace-making and explore propositions of how
experience of virtual and physical places can foster constructive collaborations. Their
notion of customer is defined as any person who seeks to engage the enterprise, to
serve its purposes, or who may benefit by connecting to activities This could include
the end-user, market analysts, individual who inform researchers about his needs, person
who influences public opinion about its products and services, distributors with insights
about demands of users, internal researchers who contributes or learns from colleagues,
persons with direct feedback from customers, a researcher from a partner company or
university, or even an organizational leader whose support and approval is critical for
continual resources. The potential benefits of embedding the customer in an
organizations collaborative activities are to strengthen institutionalized learning, reduce
risk by understanding customer preferences and needs, and can allow products to be
developed jointly with customers and partners which engages customers interests and
identification with the future products and services.
4.3.2 Case studyfin dings
Each organization observed is considered to be on Turkeys forefront in organizational
innovations. The organizations observed who directly integrate their customers into their
privileged work settings find this external stakeholder collaboration invaluable for their
sustained development of services and product. Splutterfish has IRC rooms and on-line
forum rooms for customers, partners and external colleagues. They noted the importance
of collaborating with the external stakeholders allows direct market concerns and an
immediate feedback-loop into their product development. InfoTRON was unique in that
their customers typically became their clients and partners and therefore their
engagement of external stakeholders has proliferate into a practice of institutionalized
networkingclients and partners where a direct source of knowledge to identify future
aspirations, trends and product needs in the market. All the other organizations are
intuitively driven to consider this non-traditional knowledge creation collaborative
practice with external stakeholders, but are insecure on how to set a course of action that
does not render them vulnerable to their competitors. The organizations using the
physical environment in traditional customer engagements (meeting rooms,
showrooms/demonstration areas and trade-show tours) do not capture this opportunity to
embed customers in the organizations knowledge creation.
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5 NEXT STEPS
Like abroad, Turkish organizations decisions for workplace change are driven by
economic and market conditions outlined by sustained competition advantage, continual
renewal of products and services, and obtaining and retaining the best know-how on the
market. Although the following suggestions for action may seem daunting to busy
mangers, it is important to keep in mind small and thrifty, but effective steps can
demonstrate new approaches.
The SANE Report highlights how evaluation approaches, measurements and tools for
workplace-making reflect current concerns and the way organizations and cultures think
about work. Maybe more importantly evaluation techniques can change the way society
thinks about what is being measured (Harrison et al. 2002). In retrospect of conducting
the case studies, I came to realize this insight is significant if we extend our
considerations to the collecting, organizing and synthesizing dimensions of evaluation.
Workplace evaluation and practices coming from Europe and North America assume
substantive organizational management groups and human resources underpinning
driving the collection, dissemination and implementation of the evaluation process. In
Turkey, only in the past decades have business management and human resources
education been available in higher education and hence these critical dimensions of
workplace-making are relatively new in the context of Turkey.
Regardless, knowledge work in any context requires us to think about work activities
in a different way and suggests a practice of situational awareness (Horgan 1999).
Situated awareness asserts settings within which work takes place need to be described in
ways that reflect their richness and their multi-layered complexity in order to detect ways
in which they affect how individuals play out their lives and work. The most common
theme amongst all the case studies is the dismal awareness of collaborative activities
(concentration, duration, continuity, importance, predictability, formality, participants,
geographic distribution, relationships needed, current relationships and confidentiality),
collaborative tasks (collect, organize, transform, manipulate and distribute information),
collaborative communication modes and mediums used to transfer, transform and create
knowledge (verbal, shared writing surfaces, remote awareness technologies, rapid capture
devices, or conferencing appliances); and where those collaborations occur (forums, chat
rooms, on-line conferencing, break-out project rooms and hotel lounges).
The first action plan is based on a concern given the current circumstances of meager
situational awareness the workplace-making evaluation tools presented would be
overwhelming without first becoming familiar with the fundamental tool-kit of
workplace-making. Grounding Turkish organizations in the fundamentals could be
conducted through a series of focused workplace-making workshops. The first workshop
would be an initial brainstorming of all the different activities the knowledge workers of
the organization may undertake to get their work done; including all the places employed
to carryout those activities. The facilitator of the workshops would suggest activities and
places not mentioned by the participants to open their vocabulary and imaginations of
where they work. The second workshop would focus on specific activities and
preferences that occurred or they modified in their work activities and places when they
became aware they where observing their practices to foster creativity in thinking or
increase their potentials. This workshop could include a take-away questionnaire
792
introducing tool preferences to track their behaviors and exercises to rehearse new work
practices. The final workshop could be an opportunity to share stories amongst the
participating organizations that enabled them to be more effective in their work
objectives, reveal places and tools hindering their collaborations and identify a series of
new collaborative practices in knowledge transformation founded on workplace-making
theories suitable for this activity. With this foundation of preliminary situational
awareness behind them, these innovative organizations could meaningfully employ tools
like SANE or Appliance Studio to suggest workplace approach on the most suitable
choices of loosely coupled settings working in concert with available ICT tools.
The second action is taken from MIT-Cambridge University proposal to leverage the
physical and IT infrastructure to embed the customer into an enterprises knowledge
creation. They suggest to launch rehearsallets try activitiesas alterations in the
organizations existing physical environment. The notion is rehearsals, like any form of
experimentation, are thrifty in their use of resources. And they reduce risk because they
do not fail; they merely inform us about how to be better. For example, organizations can
openly display the works team members for visitors to learn, explore and speculate on
emerging products and services (strategy used by the MIT Media Lab), provide an
interesting and highly readable history in waiting areas, or have a trained staff to
encourage customers to explore new products, recombine products and suggest new
products and services and ways of using them. If the organizations can institutionalize the
learning from these exchanges and experiments, they will be adept to take a course of
action to meaningfully integrate external stakeholders and immediate market feedback
into their value creation infrastructure.
REFERENCE
Harrison, A., et al. 2002. Sustainable Accommodation for the New Economy (SANE): Final Space
Environment Model. European Commissions 5th Framework Contract No. IST-200025257,
D3, v 1.1.
Horgen, T., et al. 1999. Excellence by Design: Transforming the Workplace and Work Practice.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,NewYork.
Joroff, M., et al. 2004. Embedding Customers in the R&D and Marketing Process of Research
Parks. Report for Cambridge-MIT Institute.
McKinsey Global Institute. 2003. Turkey: Making the Productivity and Growth Breakthrough.
[http://www.mckinsey.com/knowledge/mgi/turkey/]
Sharpe, B. 2002. The New Knowledge Environment. White-paper for Appliance Studio Ltd.
[http://www.appliancestudio.com/publications/whitepapers.htm]
Architecture for collaborative business

process managementenabling dynamic
collaboration
S.Zang, O.Adam & A.Hofer
Institutefor Information Systems (IWi) at the German Research Center for
Artificial Intelligence,
Saarbruecken, Germany
C.Hammer, M.Jerrentrup & S.Leinenbach
Interactive Software Solutions GmbH, Saarbruecken, Germany
ABSTRACT: New forms of cooperation like collaborative business
scenarios require a deep but flexible integration of enterprises. To manage
interorganizational business processes existing concepts for business
process management need to be adapted and extended. In this paper an
architecture is presented, that shows how cross-enterprise processes can
be planned, implemented and controlled. The architecture is based on the
differentiation of global knowledge within the network and local
knowledge of each participating company. Another important part of it is
the process life-cycle model that serves as a guideline for the processoriented setting-up and operation of cooperations. By the use of graphic
representations of BPM-models and intuitive metaphor-based modelgeneration and -visualization tools a broad acceptance for the
interorganizational BPM-effort within the partners can be achieved.
1 INNOVATION THROUGH COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS

The growing importance of cooperation in the construction industry is a result of
globalization in combination with the disappearance of political borders and
technological changes caused by the Internet (Scheer et al. 2000) (Naisbitt 1986). Thus,
enterprises have to react to the raised innovation pressure and are often forced to align
their processes in order to be able to collaborate on a global scale.
The borderless enterprise has been the subject of scientific discussion for years (Picot
et al. 1997) and the collaborative production of goods and services has been established
as a crucial factor in the consciousness of economic entities. The opening of the
organizations borders is no longer regarded as a necessary evil, but rather as a chance
with strategic importance (Kanter 1991). The additional effort caused by the
implementation and running of the network has to be overcompensated by the addedvalue. To facilitate this enterprises have to build up new forms of cooperation
characterized by a flexible and low-cost feasibility in order to be permanently successful
on largely saturated markets.
Current approaches that address solutions to specific problems of dynamically
interacting organizations are summarized under the term Business Integration; the field
794
of investigation is referred to as Collaborative Business (C-Business) (Scheer et al.

2002). C-Business describes the Internet-based interlinked collaboration of all
participants in an added-value networkfrom the raw material supplier to the endconsumer (Scheer et al. 2003a). It allows a comprehensive information exchange not only
between employees but also between departments and even between enterprises and
encourages creative cooperations at all levels. As first case-studies show, the increase in
added-value is out of proportion to the amount of participants in the network. Unlike
former concepts, as e.g. E-Procurement, which focused only on small parts of the value
chain, C-Business incorporates all stages of added value and business processes.
Measures for Business Integration incorporate all relevant business partners into the
system; by doing so they become part of the entire collaborative process (Scheer et al.
2003b).
While the technological implementation on the one hand and the business model lifecycle on the other hand have already been intensively researched, too little consideration
is given to the interconnecting business management concepts. A rethinking from the
pure technology-driven implementation or profit-driven business model discussion to an
integrated view that spans from the conceptual level to the system blueprint is needed. On
the conceptual view business processes have proven to be the ideal design item in
conjunction with the use of graphical methods. These models can then be transformed
into IT-based specifications. With the use of open, standardized technologies, such as
web services, they enable Business Process Automation, i.e. the automatic negotiation of
process interfaces.
For a detailed and systematic analysis and redesign of interorganizational processes,
enterprises need an architecture that offers a set of integrated methods from the business
concept level up to the implementation into IT-systems. The appropriate graphic
representation of these contents is of great importance in order to support the exchange of
ideas and the reconciliation of interests between the different recipients within the
network.
Finding consent and decision-making between the different stakeholders is
considerably facilitated by a general methodology; it encompasses not only the common
conception of a collaborative business process but also the system-side implementation in
an existing IT application landscape. Besides, more and more workflow-aware
application systems are used in mission-critical environments, e.g. as an extension of
ERP-systems. Thus the main challenge concerning technology is the open
implementation and interoperability of these process-sensitive applications in order to
integrate preceding and following process steps dynamically (zur Muehlen et al. 2003).
To achieve a truly flexible integration and interoperability, standards like ebXML,
RosettaNet, GAEB have to be consolidated within the architecture to ensure a common
procedure within the business network.
For these purposes a proposal for the architecture for collaborative process business
management is developed in this paper. Furthermore collaborative modeling tools already
used in the ArKoS project show are presented to demonstrate how theory can be put into
practice.
Architecture for collaborative business process management
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2 ARCHITECTURE
Compared to traditional business processes, the complexity of interorganizational
processes rises considerably as a result of the numerous possibilities of interaction as well
as the strategic, structural and cultural differences between the partners. Coordinating the
business partners turns out to be more difficult, especially because of the differing
objectives and the lack of inherent organizational arrangements and behavior guidelines
as they exist within an enterprise (Scheer et al. 2000). The allocation of performances and
resources of the business partners, the determination of responsibilities for material and
financial exchange relationships, as well as the information and data exchange over
interfaces have to be planned, arranged and lived together. Thus the demands on
Business Process Management (BPM) increase.
Existing BPM methods and phase models are used as a foundation in the architecture
presented here, which had to be adapted to the specifications of collaborative scenarios.
Especially because of its completeness of vision and its proven practicability, both in the
scientific and the economic context, the ARIS House (Scheer 2002) is accepted as a
generic framework for business process management and serves as a basis for further
considerations. The ARIS House describes a business process, assigning equal
importance to the questions of organization, functionality and the required
documentation. First, it isolates these questions for separate treatment, in order to reduce
the complexity of the description field, but then all the relationships are restored using the
Control View introduced for this purpose.
Below, the Architecture for C-Business Process Management is represented in a threetier framework that is connected through control loops, following the concept of business
process excellence of Scheer (Scheer & Borowsky 1999), which consists of a model to
track a complete life-cycle model of business process management, including modeling,
real-time control and monitoring of business processes. The first layer focuses on the
collaboration strategy. In the centre of the second layer, the C-Business process
engineering, there are design, optimization and controlling of both enterprise spanning
and internal processes. The third layer, C-Business execution, deals with the
(operational) implementation of business processes in value-added networks as well as
their support through information and communication technologies. The structure of the
layer model is clarified in Figure 1.
2.1 Views on business process models
As described above, the framework is based on the ARIS House and divides it into a
vertical axis of global knowledge of all collaboration partners and a horizontal axis of
local knowledge of the single participants (cf. Fig. 2). The organisation view and the
output view are global knowledge because a goal-oriented collaboration is impossible
without them.
At the time the interaction occurs between two partners, local knowledge is shared
(bilaterally) between the partners, i.e. additional information, like data structures and
semantics are exchanged. Updates of the local knowledge do not influence the network as
796
network knowledge has to be available for all partners. This information is stored in the
description of the interfaces in the Process Module Chain (cf. section 2.4). Changes in the
global network knowledge and as a consequence changes in the output and organization
Figure 1. Architecture for

Collaborative Business Process
Management.
Figure 2. Global and local knowledge

in value-added networks.
view have to be accessible to all partners immediately, for example if a company leaves
the network or if a product or service is no longer available within the network.
Global and local knowledge merge gradually in the step-by-step development of CBusiness process engineering. Following this distinction between global and local
797
knowledge, a language is needed for the exchange of these knowledge fragments.

Because the necessary detail functions and data schemes of the respective enterprise are
determined in the data and the fUnction view, these are treated from a micro perspective.
They are characterized by an intensive internal interdependence, whereas externally a
standardized encapsulation has to be provided. Interfaces of the data and function views
to other network participants become visible in the process view in form of attribute
correlations to process modules and concern the technological field of the cooperation
during the realisation much more intensely than the conceptual one.
This enables the generation of public and private (enterprise-internal) views and levels
of detail for management, process owner and IT-experts out of a C-Business model.
2.2 Visualisation of business process models
Discussing business processes means discussing abstract and mental formations as well.
Normally the process-owner has a clear understanding of what he is discussing. But if the
process has to be communicated to co-workers or even to partners within the network, the
notional construct has to be visualized. This task is called process visualization. In
general visualization can be defined as an activity to illustrate issues to a viewer. It is an
effort to refine the mental representation of a process by using available media like
images, texts or animations.
In order to extract relevant information out of visualization a special visualization
method is required. This method should appropriately convert abstract information into
graphical information. The value of information not only depends on the amount of
visualized data but especially on the possibility to easily extract relevant information
from the represented data. A special challenge of process visualization is mastering the
scope of interpretation. To exemplify this problem the common idiom a picture is worth
a thousand words can be used. The statement itself might be correct but the thousand
words probably differ depending on the respective viewer.
The main concern of process visualization is to achieve a common understanding of
collaborative processes among all persons involved in the business process. This means
all addressees have to be integrated although each of them has a different focus.
2.3 C-Business strategy
Enterprise spanning business processes are not planned in detail at the strategic level but
designed as concentrated, high-level process modules. Thus, they combine the public
knowledge about the collaborative processes that is shared by all participants. Business
process models for collaborative scenarios at the strategic level no longer act on the
assumption of a chronological view of the process alone, but more on a role-based
process model to discover new value-added potentials. C-Business scenario-diagrams that
are used e.g. by SAP Ltd. for the description of my-SAP.com collaboration scenarios,
aim at the representation of the cooperation of different enterprises and participants by
means of an easily understandable method and the documentation of the value-added
potentials resulting from it (Hack 2000). The responsibility for each process step,
indicated by swimlanes, is of central importance to the determination of the scenario.
This method is integrated into the ARIS concept and combined with methods of
798
(classical) business process and data modeling used at the C-Business Process
Engineering layer.
The question of core competences in the enterprises is directly associated with the
question which processes remain in the enterprise and which are supposed to be assigned
to partner enterprises or collaboratively operated (Jost & Scheer 2002).
2.4 C-Business process engineering
On this layer each partner considers their part in the inter-enterprise process. Each party
models its own internal processes. The event-driven process chain (EPC) is used for the
design of the process flow within an enterprise. A possibility to reduce complexity and to
focus on special aspects is the usage of different views like the data view, the
organizational view, the function view or the output view. The ARIS House delivers all
necessary methods for this step.
To generate a public view the EPC had to be enhanced by a new construct, the
interface, which is marked by the letter I and stands for the interfaces that link private
process models within the collaborative scenario. For the collaborating partners only the
data at the interfaces, that is the input respectively output data of the single process
modules (resp. EPC), are relevant for the realization of the collaboration. Thus it is
guaranteed that the enterprise-owned EPC is only internally visible. Fuelled by the global
need for organizational and output information, parts of the local business process models
can then be visualized by an appropriate graphical method in order to gain knowledge of
the common processes and to reduce the complexity of integrating the participating
organizational units into one virtual unit. The Process Module Chain clearly and
understandably represents the collaborative processes (Grieble et al. 2002a). It consists of
single process modules or components, in which again more detailed EPCs, that contain
the local processes, are lodged (Grieble et al. 2002b). Process Module Chains are
particularly suited for the illustration of collaborative process flows because the single
process modules form a logically terminated unit and the interfaces, located between the
single modules, contain input data for the following modules.
The collaboration partners have to continuously compare the result of the
implementation with their goals and adjust deviations. Hitherto the management has
obtained its knowledge about the companys success from figures of the past, e.g. cashflow, trading volume or profit made. The causes for fluctuations, requiring immediate
counter measures, are not discernible. Until the problem is recognized, valuable time has
elapsed. Therefore new measurement categories, which allow a reliable and contemporary evaluation of the process efficiency, are required. The information needed
cannot be extracted from the record and transaction oriented applications alone. Key
performance-indicators must be defined based on records, log-files, time stamps etc.
These can be measured and analysed by means of intelligent tools (Jost & Scheer 2002).
The controlling function is a must when there is a high degree of uncertainty as with
C-Business projects. The management can permanently control the implementation of the
strategic collaboration configuration and promptly evaluate whether the expected addedvalue potentials have been reached.
799
2.4.1 Tool-based, automatic generation of process models

The usage of views as described before should be supported effectively by a visualization
system. In general many different kinds of organizational units or external consultants are
involved in the modeling task. In the case of interorganizational process management the
amount of addressees increases immensely so that a standardization of the modeling task
and a common understanding of the process become critical to success. To face this
challenge the use of tools is strongly recommended.
A newer approach, which is followed in the ArKoS project, is to record the process
while reenacting it. This can be achieved with the aid of tools, e.g. the
Figure 3. Automatic generation of a

process model.
INTERACTIVE Process ModelerVR from Interactive Software Solutions (cf. Fig. 3),
which provides an intuitive communication platform available within the intranet of an
enterprise to record business processes interactively and in a decentralized way. In
particular the personnel functionally responsible for the process describe the business
processes by playing them through within a three-dimensional (or two-dimensional)
virtual visualization of the enterprise. Thereby they do not depend on the support of
method experts.
After having logged-on to the system the employees describe the relevant (partial)
processes by communicating with other employees and by interacting with close-toreality graphical objects, which represent the tools used or the objects transformed along
the business processes. The virtual representation of the reality is adapted individually to
the respective enterprise, so that the processes can be conceived and worked on as
intuitively as possible. Thereby the extent of visualization reaches from simple two-
800
dimensional metaphors for the immediate working space and processed objects and/or
tools up to a three-dimensional Virtual Reality representation of the enterprise.
The recording of the activities of the respective employee in the virtual working
environment is done by using the INTERACTIVE Process ModelerVR. Semi-formal
process models needed for the data processing-supported analysis and evaluation can be
produced by the click of a button. The automatically provided process models are based
on the method of the extended event-driven process chains (eEPC) and can be handed
over to a process modeling repository, for example the one of the ARIS Toolset, to
process the model.
By playing through the processes no further knowledge of modelling methods is
required and so the process recording can be accomplished by the functionally
responsible employees. In this way several advantages can be achieved: information loss
due to communication problems between employees as knowledge carriers and method
experts as knowledge modellers are reduced to a minimum. In addition,
Figure 4. Intuitive process

visualization in 3D.
modelling errors resulting from formalisation of the surveyed process knowledge by
method experts are avoided. By the intuitive representation weak points and opportunity
of improvement can be identified and used for the construction of optimized target
processes. Furthermore, expensive method training courses and the use of modelling
experts can be avoided to a large extent by renouncing the use of abstract display
elements, which are used for example in the context of formal process modelling
methods.
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2.4.2 Tool-based communication of process models

Within the process execution phase the implementation of target processes, the evaluation
of the existing processes and the permanent optimization of processes require an adequate
visualization of the processes in order to establish a common understanding of the
processes among all persons involved. This holds especially true for interorganizational
processes.
Specialized divisions employees with knowledge about the operations often take a
rather passive role. With the help of understandable and intuitive visualization tools, the
methodical access to the process models is simplified and thus the results of the business
process management initiative can be transferred to each employee. This is particularly
important in order to make employees participate in each phase of the BPM-effort.
In order to achieve the demanded participation by employees in validation and
discussion of the process concepts produced in reorganization projects the business
processes are visualized close-to-reality. Modeling errors can be recognized and
eliminated easier and faster on a much broader basis. The new form of business process
visualization can serve to reach a quality improvement of conventional semi-formal
business process modeling methods. For this intuitive and employee integrating
visualization the tool INTERACTIVE Process VisualizerVR from INTERACTIVE
Software Solutions is adapted here (cf. Fig. 4).
Figure 5. Collaborative Business

Process Management life-cycle.
802
When the optimization should go across corporate-frontiers the challenge gets more
demanding, because of the higher complexity, as described in section 2. There the
distributed modeling approach combined with the usage of close-toreality metaphors can
achieve an immense boost for the success of business process management within
distributed modeling environments.
2.5 C-Business process execution
Instead of closed systems that have been used so far, C-Business requires the integration
of different applications. Component based architectures that are process-driven and rely
on fully developed standards and interfaces can be seen as a state-of-the-art approach to
overcome these problems (McMichael 2003).
Process-driven emphasizes the importance of the process models created on the
preliminary layer. At the execution layer these models are used for process orchestration.
Orchestration in this context describes the composition of business objects in a process
flow. In detail, it defines the complex interaction between business objects, including the
business logic and execution order of the interactions. Without orchestrating business
objects the overall context between the single process steps would be lost.
So far these semantics are stored in the isolated process descriptions and models
(business process knowledge) on a conceptual level. However, the automation of crossorganizational business processes must be based on a system that allows the
transformation of semantic into formal models.
With the use of XML the technological basis for interoperability has been established,
the interoperability between the semantic business process definitions however is still
missing. EfForts like BPMIs Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) promise
standardization for the management of inter-organizational business processes that
involve different applications, departments and business partners (Arkin 2002). This
standard, which is based on XML, complements existing B2B protocols like RosettaNet,
Biz-Talk and ebXML. On the one hand BPML acts as an intermediary between business
process modeling tools and IT. On the other hand BPML enables the interoperability
between model-ing tools. Besides, a wide acceptance of the Business Process Execution
Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS) by BEA, IBM, and Microsoft as well as the
newly finalized specification of the Web Services Choreography Interface (WSC I)
mainly driven by BEA, Intalio, SAP and Sun show the importance of such
standardization efforts for interoperability (Shapiro 2001). While BPML is seen as more
conceptually-oriented, the latter two focus on the transformation into the system-level by
or orchestrating web services.
3 COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT LIFECYCLE
The life-cycle-model presented in this section serves as a manual for the process-oriented
setting-up and operation of cooperations. Using a consistent phase model and
standardized modeling methods increases transparency and structuring of cooperations
and creates a basis for comimmication between participants; these include the
803
management who lay down strategies as; those responsible for the processes in the
departments and IT-experts who integrate the different application systems. Despite the
increased complexity of a network process in comparison to internal processes, those
involved have to adapt to constantly occurring changes in a fast and flexible way.
The life-cycle-model presented above is a fusion of classic phase-models with lifecycle-models of virtual enterprises (Mertens & Faisst 1995). The resulting dynamic
model is consistent with the structure-oriented architecture of Collaborative Business
Process Management and follows the classification of the view model into global and
local knowledge. It represents a cyclical approach.
Protecting internal know-how is of paramount importance to the network participants,
even though the business process knowledge has to be used jointly. From this
perspective, global and local knowledge finds itself, regarding the processes, in internal
(private) and enterprise-spanning (public) process representations.
3.1 Pre-phase and reconfiguration
Prior to the use of the architecture is the awareness of one or more enterprises that they
can profit by collaboration with complementary core competence partners. Afterwards, in
the formation phase, mostly referred to initiation and agreement of the enterprise
network, the collaboration partners are determined by the shared goals of the
collaboration and the aspired win-win situation of all partners. In this model, it is
assumed, that a set of potential network participants is given.
The decision if and with which enterprises out of the basic set a C-Business scenario
should be implemented is taken by every single enterprise individually and rationally; for
this reason it depends highly on the expected economical profit of the individual partner.
After conducting the cooperation the companies regroup or split and reconfigurate
themselves. The life-cycle returns to its starting position awareness.
3.2 Main-phases
In the next step, the joint aims of the collaboration have to be defined as synthesis of the
individual aims.
To facilitate the collaborative service production, graphic methods, like product
models, are used in this stage for the determination of a common service bundle. They
simplify and put the often implicit objectives into concrete terms. In addition to the
characteristic features of a service or a product over its entire life-cycle, the
organizational units participating in the service production are contained in a product
model (Genderka 1995). By means of product trees enterprises can conceal detailed
service descriptions in an internal view that puts special focus on the organizational
aspects of the product offered by the partners. In an external view they just provide the
information required for the configuration of the common service bundle in form of
product bundle models (Scheer et al. 2004).
After the basic parameters of the collaboration are determined the procedures and the
interactions are planned in more detail at the engineering layer.
Having completed the strategy finding, in the next step the local (private) processes of
each partner are adapted and the processes regarding the collaboration (public processes)
804
are generated as an aggregation of all internal views of the network partners. The
business processes will be designed by using reference models based on best practice and
theoretical considerations. Like design patterns that show a generic solution of the
network architecture on a technical basis reference models are used to show possible
solutions for a process description on the conceptual level.
Each partner considers their part in the inter-enterprise process. Starting with process
modelling and optimisation over process controlling up to implementation, the processes
involved are aligned with the requirements of the collaborative scenario agreed on at the
strategic level.
In order to automate inter-organizational processes the conceptual models are
transformed into formal models that are used as configuration data for the orchestration
of business objects. The applications of the partners have to communicate bilaterally to
negotiate the interface specifications based on the formal models, defined in the
repository. The local knowledge is generated by this negotiation for a certain situation.
After this collaboration task has ended no updates of configuration changes etc. are
reported to any other party except at the time when a new direct interaction occurs. In this
context multi-agent systems offer a solution to achieve an automated or at least semiautomated interface-configuration (Blake 2003, Denti et al. 2003).
4 TOWARDS AN INTUITIVE COLLABORATION MANAGEMENT
The described conceptual design of inter-enterprise business processes is currently
elaborated in the research project Architecture for Collaborative Scenarios (ArKoS),
finded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As a proof
of concept the presented methods will be implemented in a software prototype and will
be used in real-life showcases. ArKoS is one project in a research effort conducted by the
Institute for Information Systems to improve business process management across
organizations. ArKoS uses e.g. the results of the successfully accomplished project
InfoCitizen. The project, funded by the European Commission under the 5th Research
Framework Program, aimed at creating a pan-European Information Architecture for
European PAs as well as to develop specific information technology that supports this
architecture and ensures a seamless information exchange between public administrations
on a pan-European level. Moreover, with this solution the EPAs are enabled to provide
transparent and integrated public services for their customers, i.e. citizens and businesses.
Eleven organizations within five different EU-countries (Germany, Greece, Italy,
Portugal, Spain) worked together for two years to succeed in the challenge of panEuropean interoperability. A prototype of an agent-based inter-operability platform with
a service repository as described in the conceptual part of this article was developed. The
business processes are stored in an XML-representation and the agent platform invokes
dynamically the service offers which are implemented as distributed web services.
On this basis a broad and intense dissemination and deployment impact is conducted.
The generic methods developed herein will enable ACE enterprises to seamlessly
integrate partners, building owners and subcontractors in collaboration scenarios on the
technology but especially on the conceptual level. Each user will experience intuitively
understandable business process design, planning and controlling, so that cooperation
805
procedures will be very clear. Userspecific views on the Business Process Models will
enable new user groups to use BP models. Moreover ICT can support actively business
process management by checking, verifying or even automatically negotiating
consistency and interoperability of models.
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Comprehensive information exchange for the

J.Daz
Area of Computer Science in AEC, University of Applied Sciences
Giessen-Friedberg, Germany
ABSTRACT: In the building and construction industry a change can be
determined from a sub structured to a more holistic enterprise-spreading
information exchange. Co-operation between companies, consultants, and
authorities by digital information ex-change becomes a strategic success
factor. Solutions, which cover all stages of the value creation chain, such
as e-tendering, cost estimation, calculation, and production must be
anytime accessible and hardware independent. While the basic conditions
of IT-infrastructure (digital networks) are today fully sufficient, the
compatibility between the systems and the information to be exchanged
represent the largest problem. The main problem is in the range of
different systems and various information domains. Transformations and
adjustments of the exchanged information still cost nearly 40% of
engineering time. Efficient information exchanges require an universal
exchange format, which makes the existing systems compatible. This
paper describes the German approach for a holistic information exchange
in the building and construction industry.
1 INTRODUCTION
The construction industry has a very heterogeneous IT landscape, which makes an
economical integration of software systems more difficult. The integration is prevented
by the existence of different software systems and their proprietary data standards.
Therefore the necessity of a standard for information exchange within the construction
processes is ever more obvious. These construction processes begin for example, with the
first request for bids by the project owner that could end with the distribution of
construction material and elements from the supplier to the contractor. Between the
construction processes there usually lies a multiplicity of individual activities, which
must be accomplished frequently by different project participants by means of different
software systems. According to these fragmented processes often a complex information
exchange with multiple data input follows, which increases information errors and time
delays (Kalantari, B., Diaz, J. 2001).
The infrastructure of the internet is an ideal platform for the integration of prqject
information in the construction industry where heterogeneous partners are working
together. By the possibilities of an online co-operation tool in the tendering and bidding
procedure, and material procurement, a large cost-reduction potential is achievable.
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Using a comprehensive information exchange the transparency and the quality of the
construction processes increases. Simultaneously the costs decrease.
Generally the tendering and bidding procedure is divided into three business domains:
planning, execution and supplying (see fig. 1). Furthermore there are two main sectors
within the tendering and bidding procedure: e-commerce and project communication. On
one hand the task of the GAEB project was to develop an efficient method of
collaboration. On the other hand it would also develop an enterprise wide exchange of
information within the tendering and bidding procedure (Diaz, J. 2002).
Figure 1. XML Integration in the

Domains of the Construction Industry.
2 GAEB (JOINT COMMITTEE FOR IT IN THE CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRY)
A holistic solution for the purpose of information exchange is offered by the German
group GAEB (Joint Committee on IT in the Construction Industry)
(http://www.gaeb.de/). GAEB offers a distributed approach, which makes the information
exchange by a common standard on basis of XML technology possible and helps to solve
existing communication problems. The developed standard and information structure
defines the holistic information exchange format and is based on the XML technology.
The following three points describe the decision of using XML as an overall standard:
(Kalantari, B., Schaffler, H., Diaz, J. 2000)
separation of structure, content, and layout in the documents,
compatibility, flexibility and internationality (UNICODE) and
platform independence
In the following the overall holistic information exchange format will be presented.
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The Joint Committee on Information Technology in the Construction Industry

(GAEB) promotes the use of data processing in building and construction. Public and
private owners, architects, engineers, the construction business, suppliers, research
institutions, and construction software companies are all represented by their own
federations or professional associations in the GAEB. The GAEB establishes the
preconditions necessary for the use of integrated information exchange in the execution
of construction work and supports all partners involved in the building and construction
process to use this open standard, which serves as a specification for the creation of
different interface software.
The current GAEB standard is called: GAEB DA2000-xml. The main objective of the
GAEB DA2000-xml project is to support the building and construction industry to cooperate faster, cheaper, and more effective, by using the new xml-based technology, that
is specifically tailored to the needs of the building and construction (BC) industry.
Although internet capabilities form the ideal low-cost communication platform for the
BC industry. In BC practice internet is currently only used in a very limited way. The
most important reasons for the limited internet use in BC are: insufficient security, low
bandwidth, unsatisfying possibilities for structuring specific information. The current
internet language XHTML is too simple, and too insufficient. It is also unstructured to
support BC communication requirements, due to the fact, that only limited data exchange
is supported. GAEB has developed a specific eXtensible Mark-up Language (GAEB
DA2000-xml), that covers all needs mentioned above by providing the right information
infrastructure for this industry.
2.1 Overview of information exchange for bid call, award and billing
processes
The bid call, award and billing (BAB) process is an important part of the construction
process, which for example regulate the first request for bids by the project owner. It ends
with the distribution of construction material and elements from the supplier to the
contractor and the billing of the services. For a holistic and economical information
exchange in the BAB process, the various BC partners using heterogeneous software
systems must be integrated based on the above mentioned standard. This is the most
important requirement for an optimal communication and value creation in the building
and construction industry. The BAB process for construction tasks also requires that a
common set of rules are defined and are available for free. It is required that the
generated information (specification, bill of quantities/materials, product descriptions,
bills etc.) must be exchanged in a digital way and therefore they must be well classified,
and well structured (Diaz, J., 2002).
Such a course of action has following advantages:
It makes information available and reusable on a digital basis.
It reduces working time managing the information.
It optimizes workflow processes.
It reduces input errors because there is no need to reenter the data.
The diagram below illustrates the parties involved in BAB processes.
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2.2 Information flow using GAEB-XML

The GAEB specifies different document types to cover the communication needs
between the different partners. Each document is assigned to a so called data exchange
phase, e.g. the data exchange phase D83 represents the call for bids (see fig. 3). During
Figure 2. Partners involved in the BAB

process.
each of this phases additional information like the description of work items, prices etc.,
are incorporated into the data structure. The specific information must be available in the
assigned construction sequence. Therefore the construction sequences form the basis for
the data exchange phases, which contain logical objects in which elements comprising
keywords and their values are embedded. It makes no difference whether the information
is exchanged between sophisticated cost estimating systems, or cost calculation systems,
or is used for viewing purposes on site. The following figure demonstrates all partners
and specified document types (data exchange phases). The figure shows all possible
scenarios of information exchange between the BC partners. The partners have to use for
each data exchange phase the specific document type for co-operation. This is based on
public building law. The most important data exchange documents in the GAEB standard
are defined in the so called 80s and 90s phases. The phases D80-D89 are responsible for
the co-operation on basis of bills of quantities/materials and the phases D90-D99 for
procuring processes (e.g. ordering products). All these documents are specified with the
platform independent and programming language independent XML technology. The
XML technology makes the implementation of BAB software systems easy and
economical. For the definition of different document types the newest XML schema
technology is used, which enables on a much better way the definition of data ranges,
exceptions etc.
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2.3 Explanation of the GAEB-XML procedure for inquiries/orders

The standardization of digital data exchange between contractors and suppliers based on
XML plays a very important role in the upcoming B2B environment.
Figure 3. Holistic Information Flow in

the GAEB DA2000-XML Standard.
Project information like bill of quantities/materials is used for data exchange between
construction companies and manufacturer/dealer/supplier. When preparing a bid, the
contractor sends the bill of quantities/materials to the manufacturer/dealer/supplier as a
price inquiry. The manufacturer/dealer/supplier then sends a quotation to the contractor.
This information is modified by the construction company, and finally incorporated in the
contractors estimate and used in the bid. The definition of a standard for material
procurement in the building and construction industry is one of the most important parts
in this project, because all stages of the procurement process must be considered.
Therefore different xml schemas are adopted like classified schemas and product catalog
schemas.
These standardization is essential, because only then BAB systems can exchange
successfully digital information covering the distinguish aspects. The standard has also to
consider various hardware and software platforms and has to provide a common language
for construction information exchange. However, the real problem is the heterogeneity
and openness of the exchanged content as is the case of bills of quantities/materials.
There are at least two levels at which this heterogeneity arises:
at the level of product catalogs structures,
at the level of product classifications.
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Structuring and standardizing the product descriptions is a significant challenge for BAB
processes. It helps customers to find efficiently the products they are looking for. There
are different schemas and standards for product classifications and product catalogs,
which are important for the BC industry. In the following are the most important
standardizations addressed (Leukel, J., Schmitz, V, Dorloff, F.-D., 2002).
3 STANDARDS FOR PRODUCT CLASSIFICATIONS AND
PRODUCT CATALOGS
3.1 A. The BMEcat format
The BMEcat-format (http://www.bmecat.org/) was developed with the objective of
standardizing and simplifying the exchange of product data catalogs, that are used
between suppliers and purchasing organizations. In the basic model, a supplier compiles a
catalogue in electronic form which complies with the BMEcat standard. The
Bundesverband Materialwirtschaft, Einkauf und Logistik e. V (BME) [Federal
Association for Material Management, Purchasing and Logistics] in Frankfurt/Main is
responsible for the BMEcat standard. Many renowned companies have taken a very
active part in this initiative. These
Figure 4. Necessary Steps for Ordering

Processes in GAEB.
include Alcatel, American Express, Audi, Bayer, BMW, C@Content, DaimlerChrysler,
Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Telekom, DLR, e-pro solutions, Frankfurt Intern. Airport,
813
GZS, InfraServ Hochst, Lufthansa, Mannesmann, Philips, PreussenElektra, Ruhrgas,

Siemens, VEBA and VISA (http://www.bmecad.de/).
3.2 The eCl@ss standard
Each supplier may use different structures and vocabularies to describe their products.
This may not cause a problem for a one-to-one relationship where the buyer may get use
to the private terminology of his supplier. BAB market places that enable n-m commerce
cannot rely on such an assumption. They must classify all products according to a
standard classification schema that help buyers and suppliers in communicating their
product information. eCl@ss is a widely used classification schema
(http://www.eclass.org/).
The following picture shows the necessary steps for the specification of information
exchange during the material order in GAEB. There are 3 steps within three different
domains:
physical data layer
categorization layer
cataloging layer
4 INTERNET BASED BAB PROCESSES USING GAEB-XML

Internet and Web technologies start to penetrate many aspects of our daily life. Its
importance as a medium for business transactions will grow during the next years. B2B
market places provide furthermore new kinds of services in the construction industry.
Construction projects become ever more complex. It also exist a large number on project
participants, which are at different places and have to co-operate with one another. This
requires a new methodology of collaboration that particularly applies to the execution of
BAB-processes. BAB-processes are to be controlled economically and supervised in
time. Therefore the use of modern and intelligent collaboration platforms is necessary.
These must offer a holistic and process orientated information management. A system for
BAB-processes essentially consists of the ranges: cooperation, communication, and
management of projects (Leukel, Schmitz, Dorloff, 2002).
There are software companies which support parts of the BAB-process via internet.
These distinguish BAB platforms have different goals, technologies, and usability. The
media discontinuity is a substantial lack according to existing BAB-platforms. Therefore
such systems could achieve only a limited spreading. Only a holistic system could lead to
success. In future, the internet will become the information exchange platform and XML
will become the language independent data description format for the building and
construction industry. These are the substantial conditions for the intelligent control and
monitoring of projects in the area of BAB. The describing of an information exchange
using the neutral XML technology for the construction industry will enable tendering,
planning, procurement, regulation, invoicing, and other business processes to be
conducted online. (Fensel D., Ding, Y., Schulten, E., Omelayenko, B., Botquin, G.,
Brown, M. andFlett,F. 2001)
814
A BAB-platform which considers the advantages mentioned before is the e-tendering

platform of the German government (http://www.e-vergabe.bund.de/). This Initiative is
called e-government Bund Online 2005 and defines technical specifications to allow
electronic communication between public sector bodies in Germany and private
suppliers. It is core to the governments aim of making all public sector services available
online by 2005. This system uses the advantages of the internet on the one hand and on
the other hand permits an entire document exchange on the basis of the language neutral
data exchange format XML.
The definition of a holistic information exchange format and system for the construction
industry increases dominantly the efficiency of planning and construction tasks. The
development of a Web-based system becomes possible by the linkage of already existing,
isolated software units (web services).
The web service technology makes the transition from a pure document-oriented to a
service-oriented business possible. This innovative family of technologies opens an
enormous potential for the software development of the fiiture in the construction
industry.
REFERENCES
Kalantari, B., Daz, J. 2001 Der Informationsaustausch im Bauwesen geht neue Wege, In:
Fachzeitschrift bauinformatik JOURNAL, 1/2001 (S. 30 ff.), Werner Verlag, Dsseldorf 2001.
Daz, J. 2002 Im Vordergrund die Leistungsbeschreibung, im Hintergrund das neue
Datenaustauschformat GAEB-DA 2000; In: GAEB-Forum -: Bundesamt fr Bau- und
Raumordnung, im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums fur Bau, Verkehr und Wohnungswesen,
Bonn Bad Godesberg, 10.April 2002.
http://www.gaeb.de/
Kalantari, B., Schffler, H., Diaz, J. 2000 Datenaustausch im Bauwesen auf der Basis von XML;
In: Forum BauinformatikBerlin 2000, VDI Fortschrittsberichte Reihe 4 Bauingenieurwesen
Nr. 163 (S. 43 ff.), VDI-Verlag Dsseldorf 2000.
Diaz, J. 2002 GAEB DA2000-XML-Aktuelle und zuknftige Entwicklungen; In: VDI
Fortschrittsbericht Nr. 1668; Bauen mit ComputernKooperation in IT-Netzwerken (Beilage),
Tagung Bonn, 11. und 12. April 2002, VDI-Verlag Dsseldorf 2002.
http://www.bmecat.org/
http://www.bmecat.org/deutsch/index.asp
http://www.eclass.de/
http://www.e-vergabe.bund.de/
Leukel, J., Schmitz, V., Dorloff, F.-D., 2002, Modeling and Exchange of Product Classification
Systems using XML, in: Proceedings of the 4th IEEE International Workshop on Advanced
Issues of E-Commerce and Web-based Information Systems (WECWIS 2002), 26.28.06.2002,
Newport Beach, California, USA, S. 242244.
Fensel D., Ding, Y., Schulten, E., Omelayenko, B., Botquin, G., Brown, M. and Flett, F. 2001:
Product Data Integration in B2B E-commerce. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 16(4):5459.
http://informatik.uibk.ac.at/users/c70385/ftp/paper/ieee.ec.pdf
Mobile computing
Mapping site processes for the introduction of

mobile IT
S.L.Bowden & A.Dorr
Arup, London, U.K.
A.Thorpe & C.J.Anumba
Loughborough University, Leicestershire, U.K.
ABSTRACT: Due to its nature, the construction industry requires its
personnel to be mobile, to communicate efficiently and to exchange,
analyse and synthesise large volumes of information. The construction
industrys drive towards utilising IT to enhance communication, both
within a company and between clients, consultants, contractors,
subcontractors and suppliers, has, to date, largely ignored the need to
deliver information effectively to mobile personnel e.g. whilst on site or
attending a client meeting. The advent of suitable devices and software
solutions will go some way to correct this. However, simply because the
technology is now available it should not be indiscriminately applied. This
paper documents activities undertaken to better understand which
construction processes would derive most benefit from the application of
mobile information and communication technologies. The approach taken
also illustrates how these processes linked together thus providing an
optimum implementation plan for mobilising site-based processes. This
research forms part of a larger study (known as COMIT).
1
INTRODUCTION
Construction affects the overheads of all industrial and commercial activities, and the
international competitiveness of all industries can be improved through better
construction productivity and quality.
In order to genuinely improve construction project performance against key criteria of
time, cost, quality, safety, the environment and respect for people, the organisations in the
construction supply chain need to become more integrated through increased internal and
external collaboration.
Collaboration requires communication and mobile, point-of-activity, digital tools
clearly can make a significant contribution to improving project performance. Computer
tools have already changed the ways buildings are designed, procured and constructed,
818
but now communication and knowledge-sharing techniques at and between points of

activity offer further potential for increased productivity, faster construction, higher
quality, and lower cost.
Currently, many people in the construction industry are prevented from efficiently and
effectively contributing to the information flows that are crucial to any business. Error
rates in data collection are high; the speed and immediacy of data receipt, capture and
feedback require significant improvement; information exchange is expensive; and audit
trails are by no means automatic. Delays, variable productivity, accidents, and quality
problems are therefore commonplace (Egan, 1998).
The development of affordable mobile technologies has enabled their deployment
across all sectors of industry and commerce. From bar codes on the weekly shopping to
hospital consultants recalling a patients records using a PDA, the ability to capture, store
and re-use information by a mobile user is now commonplace.
Although the European construction industries are the largest industrial cluster in the
European Union, representing 11% of total gross domestic product (GDP) with an annual
turnover of 520 billion and a quarter of all industrial output, this sector is still an
immature market for mobile technology solutions providers.
The recent advances in technology have increased the performance and reduced the
price of many mobile computing devices, resulting in renewed interest in their potential
application in the construction process.
2 THE COMIT PROJECT
The COMIT project, Construction Opportunities for Mobile IT, was formed to address
the issues outlined above. COMIT is a two-year research and development project ftmded
by the UKs Department of Trade and Industry led by Arup, in partnership with BSRIA
and Loughborough University.
A key element in the project is the formation of the COMIT community which is
formed of representatives from the key stakeholders:
Construction and engineering companies
Technology providers
Research and development institutions
Dissemination companies
The community, which comprises 50 different organisations, provides the research team
with guidance and input to the deliverables, making sure they are providing what is
needed.
The primary objectives of COMIT are to:
Document existing applications of Mobile IT in Construction
Create a better understanding between technology and construction companies
Understand which applications will deliver business benefits
Create wider awareness of the benefits of Mobile IT in construction
This paper focuses on the third objective: to understand which applications will deliver
business benefits.
819
This activity provided the COMIT community with a mechanism to decide on which
processes should be implemented on real construction projects (the demonstration
projects) in order to verify the theoretical benefits that were postulated.
3 INFORMATION NEEDS OF MOBILE PERSONNEL
There have been many attempts to categorise and identify construction information.
Researchers have filtered site information to a greater or lesser extent, from a high-level
division into technical, commercial, management and control (BT, 1995) to a more
detailed level where different types of documentation are classified, e.g. technical
queries, dayworks, requisitions, and method statements (Murray & Thorpe, 1996), to
classification by job-type (Tenah, 1986).
Bowden (2002) conducted a survey of site-based personnel which concluded that they
are both recipients and producers of paper-based information. The paper-based tasks that
they carry out in their normal work are numerous (85 different tasks were identified).
These were grouped into different document types revealing the most commonly
identified tasks as completing data collection forms (25%), dealing with correspondence
(18%), viewing and reviewing drawings (13%) and reading and writing specifications
(6%).
It was shown that the documentation to which sitebased personnel would like to have
access in the field is related to the paper-based tasks that they carry out as part of their
normal work. This provides support for Tenah (1986) who found that information needs
are inextricably linked to the management responsibilities of each member of the project
team. The survey results showed that the document types site-based personnel would find
most useful to have access to/record in the field (out of the office) were drawings (24%),
data collection forms (12%), correspondence (8%), progress information (7%) and
specifications (7%).
4 MOBILE IT APPLICATIONS
Since the late 1980s, both the academic and industrial sectors have been investigating
the use of Mobile IT for developing applications used in field data collection.
Researchers have looked at the application of Mobile IT to the following processes:
Progressrecords(Cox et al., 2002)
Site diaries (Scott, 1990)
Resource management (McCullouch & Gunn, 1993)
Construction documentation (Williams, 2001)
Quality inspections (Cox & Issa, 1996)
Maintenance conditions (Rojas & Songer, 1997)
Snagging/Defects management (Mobbs, 2002)
Health and safety (Hawkins, 2002)
Site design problem resolution (Liu, 1995)
Monitoring piling activities (Ward et al., 2003)
820
The benefits identified by this research can be broadly categorised as follows (Bowden &
Thorpe, 2002):
Improving efficiency of data capture
Improving access to data
Reducing errors and improving data integrity
However, it is clear that for any proposed system to be acceptable it has to be technically,
economically and operationally feasible. For a system to be economically viable, the cost
savings must be sufficient to justify the investment concerned and pay back the
investment within a realistic time-span given the technology involved and the business
environment concerned (Baldwin et al., 1994).
5 PROCESS MAPPING
Many people have argued that construction products are one-off with each project being
uniquehowever, the same underlying procedures and processes are adopted time and
again (McConalogue, 1999). The quality, quantity and timing of information can either
hinder or facilitate the successful completion of projects. It has been suggested that the
cost of construction can be reduced by 25% through the efficient transfer of information
(Davidson & Moshini, 1990).
To fully understand these construction procedures and processes and to identify the
opportunities to increase the efficiency of information transfer, a consistent approach
must be utilised. Process Mapping is a management tool initially developed and
implemented by General Electric as part of their integrated Work-out, Best Practices,
and Process Mapping strategy to improve significantly their bottom line business
performance (Hunt, 1996).
There have been many research projects investigating how to map construction
processes (Baldwin et al., 1999). Numerous systems are available, these include:
PetriNets
Function Decomposition
Structure Charts
HIPO Diagrams
Warnier-Orr Diagrams
Action Diagrams
Decision Trees
HOSCharts
IDEF0
Entity Relationship Diagrams
Data Flow Diagrams
Karhu (2000) provides a comparison of six commonly used methods; scheduling method,
simple flow method, IDEFO, IDEFOv, IDEF3 and Petri Nets. He concludes that these
process modelling methods have been developed for specific purposes. Therefore, a more
general method is required that eliminates the difficulties associated with the process
821
model graphical representations being too complicated for the employees involved within
the process to interpret and hence make meaningful contributions.
6 METHODOLOGY
To identify which construction processes would benefit most from the introduction of
Mobile IT, the following four stage approach was adopted (see Figure 1):
Stage 1: Identify ten processes to look at in further detail
Stage 2: Map out the As Is process for each of the ten
Stage 3: Map out the To Be process for each of the ten
Stage 4: Select four processes to be implemented on the demonstration projects
Each of these stages is discussed in further detail below.

6.1 Stage 1: Identify ten processes
The research team conducted a literature review to identify which construction processes
could be suitable for the introduction of Mobile IT and which technologies would be
applicable. These processes involve personnel working away from their desks and/or the
transfer of information from that point-of-activity. The processes were categorised into:
Communications (e.g. design professional to foreman)
Figure 1. Research methodology.

Data capture (e.g. goods received notes)
Identification (e.g. accounting for equipment/ materials on site)
The COMIT community was presented with a list of thirty processes and asked for any
additional processes they might wish to include. They then discussed which processes
822
they thought had most potential. Finally, they voted for their top ten processes. This
resulted in the following ten processes being selected to be investigated further:
Goods received notes
Drawing distribution and usage
Task allocation
Monitoring progress
Monitoring health and safety on site
Quality inspections
Site design problem resolution
Site diaries
On-site accounting of operatives/visitors
Maintenance inspections
6.2 Stage 2: Map out the As Is processes
The primary objective of the process maps that were developed was to present an
illustration to the COMIT community of the possible efficiency gains Mobile IT could
provide in order that the community could determine which processes should be selected
for implementation on the demonstration projects. Hence, it was decided that a simple
graphical representation, readily understood by construction professionals, should be
used.
As these maps were to be developed by several parties and it was vital that they should
be in standard format to enable comparison by the COMIT community it was decided
that a suitable software product should be found. This product should also provide the
capability to publish the maps on the Internet so that the maps could be viewed and used
by anyone without the need for the process mapping software.
Following a search and review of available tools the Triaster product Process
Navigator was selected. This is powered by Microsoft Visio, and designed for nonprocess specialists, hence it was very simple and easy to learn to use.
Data was collected from the COMIT community, and other relevant external contacts.
This was provided in the form of project procedures, form templates, or narrative
explaining what the construction company currently does. Input was received from 25
companies, including most of the major UK contractors. This information was then
collated to map out the generic As Is process for each of the ten.
The contributors then verified the As Is maps to ensure that they reflected the
current situation accurately.
6.3 Stage 3: Map out the To Be processes
Once the As Is maps had been verified, areas for improvement were identified. These
included:
Activities where information was collected on paper at the point of activity
Activities that could be fully automated if electronic data was collected at the point of
activity
Activities involving the delivery of paper information
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Activities involving the notification of personnel using traditional means (e.g. by

telephone)
These areas were highlighted on the As Is maps and Mobile IT, such as tablet PCs,
hand-held computers, digital pens, barcoding, RFID tags, SMS messaging, GPRS/GSM
and Wireless LAN, were proposed where their use would improve the overall process.
The resulting changes in the process were then mapped out to form the To Be maps.
For both the As Is and the To Be maps a colour coding for the deliverables was used:
greenelectronic file, orange printed document (structured but handwritten input), red
handwritten document.
A narrative was written to accompany each set of maps. This provided an overview of
the process, the issues that are present with the current approach, ideas for mobile
solutions, details of the benefits that they bring and an assessment of how easy the
solutions would be to implement. To ease the choice of the final four processes
mobilisation scores were given. These provided a subjective assessment of how widely
available relevant solutions are, the benefits to the end-user, the benefits to the
organisation and the ease of implementation.
These scores were given at the top of each process narrative to provide information
at a glance and help the COMIT community to decide which processes should be
considered for the implementation of Mobile IT pn the demonstration projects. The
scores were assessed as follows and then subsequently verified by the COMIT
community in Stage 4.
An assessment of available solutions is made in accordance with how many solutions
are available, their affordability, and are they in current use in the construction industry
and/or will they require customisation to suit the particular process under consideration.
The scores given were; Many, Several, and Few.
For any mobile solution to succeed it must deliver benefits that are directly apparent
and of value to the end-user. This will encourage the adoption of the solution and hence
help to deliver the organisational benefits. The scores given were; High, Medium, and
Low.
User benefits will result in benefits to the organisation. In addition benefits will be
derived through the collection of more accurate information, the reduction of information
transfer time and the ability to search and utilise the electronic information subsequently.
The scores given were; High, Medium, and Low.
The ease of implementation is assessed in accordance with whether the solutions are
already in use on construction or similar industries, the readiness of the users to take up
the technology and the current extent of electronic information in the process. Hence a
judgement can be made on the length of time and the effort that would be involved in the
implementation. The scores given were; Easy, Medium and Hard.
6.4 Stage 4: Select four processes
The COMIT community was presented with the As Is and To Be maps and the
associated narratives. Once all of the processes had been reviewed, the construction
companies were asked to vote for the top four processes they wished to see implemented
on the demonstration projects. The four selected were:
824
Monitoring health and safety on site

Monitoring progress
Site design problem resolution
Maintenance inspections
The As Is map for each of the four processes will be developed to be project specific
for the demonstration project and the proposed times and activity owners will be verified.
Then once the demonstration projects have commenced the To Be maps will be
verified and quantitative data will be collected to illustrate the process changes.
7 MONITORING CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS
Monitoring construction progress is detailed here to provide an example of the mapping
activities carried out.
By enhancing information flow between the different site processes and teams, it is
easier to monitor, control and assess the project progress and hence integrate the on-site
process (Moniem, 2000).
Site issues need to be resolved quickly and efficiently to avoid cost overruns and this
often requires collaboration between on and off-site personnel (Miah et al., 1998).
However, most project information is currently stored on paper, which is difficult to
access and requires large storage space. A computerised information system can store
vast amounts of data efficiently, and information can be located and viewed quickly
through computerised searching and display (Liu, 1995).
Scott (1990) defined progress records as including personal diaries, minutes of
progress meetings, daywork sheets, photographs and weekly progress reports. The main
applications of these are:
To confirm that work has been carried out
To assess the progress of works
To provide the main source of information detailing exactly what occurred
Initially, a project programme is drafted which provides a forecast of ftiture works on a
project. This is used to produce weekly progress sheets detailing the weeks activities, the
expected progress and a column to be completed for the actual progress.
Site engineers report back on a percentage complete (normally weekly) using visual
inspection/numerical methods. The progress sheets are then compared with expected
progress and the project programme is updated accordingly (see Figure 2).
Monitoring progress is vital to ensuring work is completed on time and that the project
is progressing as planned. Penalties for the failure to complete on time will usually result
in having to pay liquidated and ascertained damages (LADs), which could eliminate any
potential profit that the contractor expected to make from the entire project.
Currently this process is heavily paper-based, and relies on the site engineers returning
their progress sheets at the designated time. The information required is collected in
many different locations on site and provided by several site engineers.
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Figure 2. Monitoring progressAs

Is map.
It is important that progress information is circulated to the entire project team
including architect and consultants, as they may be able to provide ideas for getting the
project back on track. The following issues were raised for this process:
The process of reporting on progress is highly repetitive and laborious; therefore the
quality of the information collected will suffer
Progress reports often rely on the subjective assessment of percentage complete by the
site engineer rather than an objective analysis
The collation of data from several different sources is time-consuming and prone to
data entry mistakes
Formal reporting on progress only occurs periodically; therefore potential problems are
often not foreseen before they occur
Data transfer is often carried out manually between the progress reports which are
produced in Microsoft Excel and the project programme produced using planning
software
The following Mobile IT solutions were proposed for the monitoring progress process
and a two stage approach was recommended. The first stage will simply provide a form
on a PDA electronic data capture at the point-of-activity. The second stage will integrate
this further into the back-end systems.
A form could be created for use on the PDA to enable the site engineer to capture
progress made whilst he is out on site. This could be distributed over the network such
that each time the site engineer collects his/her PDA it is pre-loaded with the weeks
progress form.
Once the form is completed it could either be synchronised when the site engineer gets
back to the site office or it could be synchronised via WLAN or GPRS whilst out in the
field. Due to the nature of the data collected it is not thought necessary to provide
progress data on more than a daily basis, hence synchronisation on return to the site
office would be sufFicient.
The data can then be fed into a progress database which would collate the data from
each site engineer. This would enable the project progress report to be generated
automatically.
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The difficulty with producing the form for the PDA would be that the content of the
form would change on a weekly basis according to the project programme. Greater
benefits would be gained from enabling the forms to be automatically generated from the
project programme. The data collected could then be fed straight back in to update the
project programme.
Alternatively, relevant programme information could be distributed such that the site
engineer can see each programme activity and simply select the completed tasks e.g. they
could tick completed drainage
Table 1. Areas for improvement.

As Is
To Be
Planner copies and distributes blank progress System distributes any revised/new blank progress
sheets to site engineers
sheets
30 minutes each week
0 minutes each week
Site engineer returns completed progress

sheets to the planner
Completed progress sheets are synchronised with

the central progress database
30 minutes each week
3 minutes each week
Slippages are alerted to all of the project

team
Slippages are alerted automatically via SMS
1 hour each month
0 minutes each month
Planner produces (monthly) progress report
System automatically generates (monthly) progress

report
3 hours each month
0 hours each month
run from A to B and automatically the materials usage is calculated. Linear activities
could use GPS to show the distance completed but this may need to be supplemented by
GPRS and Inertial Navigation data to obtain a desired accuracy of position. Potential
areas for improvement to the generic As Is process were identified (see Table 1 and
Figure 3).
The times given above are indicative only and will be verified on the demonstration
projects. Using these times an overall time saving of at least 1 day each month of the
planners time is achieved by using Mobile IT. However, there are other benefits that are
more difficult to map and measure.
Capturing progress information directly in the field provides contemporaneous
information, eliminating errors typing up information from handwritten notes or from
memory. It also allows the site engineer to spend more time out on site undertaking work
that enables the project to be completed on time and on budget.
Providing an easy way for site engineers to capture the information may lead to the
information being collected on a more regular basis. This increased feedback could help
in the early identification and troubleshooting of many problems, thus avoiding
unnecessary escalation of issues on site.
Slippage alerts could be generated automatically and emailed to the appropriate person
who can initiate remedial measures.
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The correlation of the progress information is automated, monthly progress reports can
be generated at the touch of a button, and the information can be manipulated and
displayed easily. Many potential error-prone manual paper processes are skipped, saving
worker time and resources.
The project team will have access to more timely and accurate programme information
and will be able
Figure 3. Monitoring progress To Be

map.
to move from trying to understand what has happened to figuring out what to do about it.
An assessment was also made for the ease of implementation of a Mobile IT system
for this process. The provision of a PDA form for the collection of progress information
is relatively simple and there are many packages available that can be used to create the
form. Initially this form could have the same appearance as the current paper forms thus
providing the user with a familiar interface.
Primavera, a major provider of project management software offer a solution called
Mobile Manager, which provides programme information through a PDA. Although this
alleviates the issue of linking progress information back into the project programme it
provides a more complex interface which may be less readily understood and hence used.
It also relies on Primavera being used for creating the project programme, which may not
always be the case.
The mobilisation scores given for this process were:
Available solutions: Several
User benefits: Medium
Organisational benefits: High
Ease of implementation: Medium
The COMIT community ranked this process joint first alongside monitoring health and
safety on site.
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8 MOBILISATION PLAN
The mapping approach that was followed enabled the identification of common
deliverables and personnel across the ten processes e.g. the Project Plan is
Figure 4. Process linkages.

utilised in the processes for Monitoring progress, Task allocation, Goods received notes,
Quality inspections and site diaries. This provides a guide to which processes should be
mobilised in which order, although the benefits achievable should also be taken into
account.
Figure 4 illustrates how closely related the information requirements of each process
are.
It is suggested that justifying the business case for one process can be enhanced by
choosing a process that utilises information common to other processes. Once the first
process has been mobilised some of the electronic data required to mobilise a
subsequent process is already provided. Additionally, the equipment required is already
available, the users may be the same and hence the barrier to acceptance of a new
solution is lowered and also the training required.
9 NEXT STEPS
Mobile IT solutions are currently being developed for the four processes that have been
selected for implementation on the demonstration projects. Training and implementation
will begin in Autumn 2004 and the projects will be monitored until July 2005.
829
Quantitative data will be collected to verify the costs to the contractor and the benefits
that Mobile IT brings. This data will be collated and compared across the four projects to
demonstrate real-life business cases for Mobile IT. In addition, human factors and
cultural barriers will be analysed and reported on to provide the construction industry
with comprehensive guidance in order to aid future development and implementation of
appropriate Mobile IT solutions.
10 CONCLUSIONS
Mapping the As Is processes provided the research team with a sound basis on which
to determine the To Be processes. Mapping each activity and deliverable and
highlighting the areas for improvement enabled ideas for the To Be process to be
developed, often resulting in unforeseen improvements. The knock-on effects of
implementing a Mobile IT solution were also much more clearly identifiable.
One of the difficulties with illustrating the changes through the process maps was that
the To Be map often appeared more complicated than the original As Is map. This
was due to the use of a central database which created feedback loops on the maps, and
automated activities still being included on the maps. It would be useful to illustrate the
changes in activities for each individual participant so they can see graphically a real
reduction in activities and the time taken to complete them.
Although the maps provide an indication of the improvements that could be made
there is no real substitute for the information that can be gathered from a pilot project and
the demonstration projects will enable us to improve on the process maps by providing a
real view of the To Be process and the associated quantitative information.
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Mobile field data entry for concrete quality

control information
I.L.Kondratova
National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Information
Technology e-Business, Canada
ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the advantages and challenges of using
multimodal and voice technologies for field data collection on the
construction site. Current developments in the multimodal, mobile, field
data communications are discussed. Multimodal and VoiceXML
technology for speech-enabled information retrieval and input using
speech over the phone is explained. This paper describes an innovative
solution for field entry of quality control data and real-time
communication that utilizes concepts of voice and multimodal interaction
for field data entry on a handheld device. In this project, a field concrete
testing technician can enter test results using variable interaction modes
such as speech, stylus and keyboard via a handheld device, or speech-only
on a mobile phone. The multimodal prototype application, for data
collection in the field, includes a fat wireless client on a Pocket PC that
has a multimodal browser, embedded speech recognition technology, and
is based on X+V technology. The speech-only prototype, for field data
collection, is based on VoiceXML technology that allows data retrieval
and input using natural speech on the mobile phone.
1 INTRODUCTION
Multimodal interaction can be described as the integration of visual and voice interfaces
through the delivery of combined graphics and speech, on hand-held devices (Hjelm,
2000). This technology enables more complete information communication and supports
effective decision-making. It also helps to overcome the limitations imposed by the small
screen of mobile devices. A small screen size, and the need to use a pen to enter data and
commands, presents a great inconvenience for field usersespecially if their hands are
busy using other equipment, or instruments. Speech processing is one of the key
technologies to simplifying and expanding the use of handheld devices by mobile
workers (Burkhahardt et al, 2002; IDC Viewpoint 2002).
2 MULTIMODAL INTERACTION TECHNOLOGY
There are different models for implementing multimodal interaction on mobile devices.
The fat client model employs embedded speech recognition on the mobile device and
832
allows conducting speech processing locally. The thin client model involves speech
processing on a portal server and is suitable for mobile phones.
Currently there are two markup languages proposed for creating applications that use
voice input (speech recognition) and output (speech synthesis) and support multimodal
interaction. Speech Application Language Tags language (SALT) is a lightweight set of
extensions to existing markup languages, in particular to HTML and XHTML (XHTML
is essentially HTML 4.0 adjusted to comply with the rules of XML), that enables
multimodal and telephony access to information, applications and Web services from
PCs, telephones, tablet PCs and handheld devices. SALT applications can be
implemented using the thin client model with speech processing done on the speech
server (Moraes, 2002).
Another markup language that is currently proposed for developing multimodal Web
applications is VoiceXML+XHTML (X+V) (W3C Multimodal Activity, 2004). It
combines XHTML and a subset of VoiceXML (Voice Extensible Markup Language).
Currently VoiceXML is the major W3C standards effort for voice-based services (W3C
Voice Browser Activity, 2004). VoiceXML provides an easy, standardized format for
building speech-based applications. Together, XHTML and VoiceXML (X+V) enable
Web developers to add voice input and output to traditional, graphically based Web
pages. This allows the development of multimodal applications for mobile devices based
on the fat client model that includes a multimodal browser and embedded speech
recognition on a mobile device, and a Web application server (Figure 1).
833
Figure 1. X+V architecture for

multiple devices.
While both X+V and SALT use W3C standards for grammar and speech synthesis,
only X+V is based entirely on standardized languages. X+Vs modular architecture
makes it very simple to separate an X+V application into different components. As a
result, X+V applications can be developed in parts, with experts in voice programming
developing voice elements and experts in visual programming developing visual ones.
X+Vs modularity also makes it adaptable to stand-alone voice application development.
Another feature of X+V is that it leverages open industry APIs like the W3C DOM to
create interoperable web content that can be deployed across a variety of end-user
devices (VoiceXML Forum, 2004).
At the same time, SALTs reliance on the containing environment makes it very
difficult to disconnect its coding functions, and makes the language insufficient for the
task of stand-alone application development. As a result, the application developer must
834
generate different versions of the application for each execution environment (for
example, mobile phones or PDAs from different manufacturers).
X+V technology for multimodal interaction with mobile devices is based on
VoiceXML technology for voice access to Web services. VoiceXML technology and
examples of VoiceXML field services prototypes are described in the following section
of the paper.
3 VOICEXML TECHNOLOGY
VoiceXML technology follows the same model as the HTML and Web browser
technologies. Similar to HTML, a VoiceXML application does not contain any platform
specific knowledge for processing the content; it also does not have platform specific
processing capability. This ability is provided through the Voice XML Gateway that
incorporates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) engines
(Kondratova, 2003).
VoiceXML allows providers to deliver Web services using voice user interfaces
(VUIs). Developers can use VoiceXML to create audio dialogues that feature synthesized
speech, digitized audio, recognition of spoken and touchtone key input (DMTF),
recording of spoken input, telephony, and mixed-initiative conversations (Beasly et at,
2002). The words or phrases that a VoiceXML application must recognize are included in
a grammar. Large grammars can cause application problems because they can result in
recognition errors. Small grammars can cause VUI problems because they require
prescriptive prompts that limit the use of natural language dialog. However, small
grammars could be used successfully in designing applications for industrial users that
are trained in using the application (Kondratova, 2003).
The advantage of using the VoiceXML language to build voice-enabled services is
that companies can build automated voice services using the same technology they use to
create visual Web sites, significantly reducing the cost of construction of corporate voice
portals. A voice portal provides telephone users, including mobile phone users, with a
speech interface to access and retrieve Web content. In the next section of the paper, to
demonstrate the capabilities and mobile applications of voice technology, the author
describes several prototype systems developed for the mobile workforce.
3.1 VoiceXML for field applications
The full potential of speech-based information retrieval for industrial purposes is not yet
harnessed and there are only a handful of existing field applications of VoiceXML
technology. For example, Florida USA Power and Light Co. is using a VoiceXML based
system for field restoration crews. Using mobile phones, restoration crews can find out
about storm-damaged equipment, and report back to the system on the status ofthejob.
Considering the widespread use of the mobile phone in industrial field applications,
there is an opportunity to apply VoiceXML technology for field applications in
construction, manufacturing, power and resource industries. These industries can benefit
from voice-enabling their operations. The ongoing NRC research program on Voice and
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Multimodal communications specifically targets industrial field applications of Voice

Web technologies.
3.2 Voice inventory and time management prototypes
The Voice Inventory Management System (VIMS) prototype, developed at NRCIIT eBusiness, allows a mobile worker to easily retrieve product and warehouse information
out of the Web-based warehouse database, in real-time, using a regular, mobile phone, or
phone-enabled handheld device and natural speech dialog.
The VIMS application keeps track of a series of products and warehouses in a
database. All products in the database are entered into the VIMS speech recognition
grammar, so that the grammar is updated dynamically with the information on current
products in the database. Each product and warehouse has a number of attributes. Each
product has a price, product number and description and is associated with the
warehouses that product is located in. Each warehouse has an address, and information
on the contents of that warehouse. The system also keeps track of product types,
represented by a tree that links particular types of products together (Kondratova, 2003).
The Voice Time Management System (VTMS) prototype was developed to allow field
crewmembers to enter their time in the time management application, on the corporate
server, using a mobile phone. This technology, if implemented, could potentially allow
timely billing of the client for the field services provided and bring substantial savings to
service providers. The system was designed to fill information as required by the standard
timesheet for a construction project.
VTMS is designed to keep track of the users hours for each job, work number and
day and store this information in the corporate database. Using voice commands with
VTMS, a field service worker can retrieve and input information from a timesheet that is
unique to the caller. A user can retrieve information such as hours worked on a particular
day for a unique work number. A user can also find out the total hours worked for the
week and the total hours worked on a particular work number for a job and update time
information such as hours worked on a particular day (Kondratova, in press).
Both prototype systems have undergone in-house performance and usability testing in
an industrial noise environment (about 6070 dB) and were found to be performing quite
well in terms of accuracy of speech recognition and ease of navigation (Kondratova,
2004). However, both prototypes are limited to voice only input and output for data entry
and access. To provide users with multimodal interaction capabilities for data entry and
retrieval, a multimodal field data collection application on the Pocket PC was developed
using X+V technology.
4 MULTIMODAL FIELD DATA COLLECTION
To facilitate speedy field data collection and timely decision-making, especially in the
case of field quality control inspection it would be highly beneficial to use multimodal
wireless handheld devices capable of delivering, voice, text, graphics and even video. For
example, hands free voice input can be used by a concrete technician in the field to
enter inspection information using a hybrid phone-enabled PDA and a wireless,
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Bluetooth technology enabled headset piece. This information could be entered directly
into the inspection forms on the handheld device and stored locally in the embedded
database or wirelessly transmitted to the backend database server. Thus, field inspection
information could be communicated in real time to facilitate timely decision-making on
the construction site and at the ready-mix plant. This information will be stored in the
project database and retrieved easily, if needed, in case of litigation. By combining a
multimodal mobile handheld device with a GPS receiver and a Pocket GIS system, the
gathered inspection information could be automatically linked to its exact geographical
location. In addition, other environmental sensors, such as temperature and moisture
sensors could also be connected to a handheld device, if needed (Giroux et al, 2002).
4.1 Wireless field quality control data entry
Our current project on wireless, field quality control data collection is based on concepts
of both multimodal and voice field data collection. In this project, a field concrete testing
technician will be able to enter field quality control information into the Concrete Quality
Control Database using various interaction modes such as speech, stylus and keyboard on
the handheld device or speech on the mobile phone.
The multimodal field data entry application (MFDE) includes a fat wireless client on a
Pocket PC that has a multimodal browser and embedded speech recognition, and is based
on X+V technology, described previously in this paper. The voice-only data collection
application is based on the VoiceXML technology that allows data retrieval and input
using natural speech on the mobile phone, similar to the VIMS and VTMS applications
described in the previous section. The high-level system architecture for the prototype
MFDE application is similar to the one shown in Figure 1. This proof of concept
prototype was developed for the wireless Pocket PC utilizing multimodal NetFront 3.1
browser and a fat client with embedded
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Figure 2. Multimodal field data

collection usage scenario.
IBM Via Voice Speech recognition engine (IBM Pervasive computing, 2004). An
embedded relational database (IBM DB2 everyplace) was used for local data storage on
mobile device.
4.2 System design and functionality
The two usage scenarios for the field concrete quality control multimodal application are
presented in Figure 2.
A quality control inspector on a construction site will be using a wireless handheld
device to collect field inspection data. Since the application is multimodal, an inspector
can fill in the report form by using voice or stylus. On a site with wireless coverage an
inspector has the option to update the information in the concrete quality control database
directly through the synchronization server. Thus, inspection information is
communicated in real time and necessary adjustments to the concrete shipped to the site
could be made, if needed.
If there is no wireless coverage on site, an inspector will be using a stand-alone
multimodal application on the handheld device. This application utilizes an embedded
database to store data and access past records stored on the handheld device. Back at the
office information stored in the embedded database will be synchronized with the
backend concrete quality control database through the synchronization cradle, desktop
computer and the synchronization server. Field information could also be entered into the
backend database through a mobile phone utilizing VoiceXML technology as it is done
for the Voice Time Management system described earlier.
4.3 User interface design
The work on the development of the proof-of concept MFDE application for concrete
quality control data collection is conducted in collaboration with the New Brunswick
Department of Transportation (NBDOT) concrete quality control engineers and the
University of New Brunswick. A graduate student in Civil Engineering, in consultation
with NBDOT staff, developed field data entry forms for concrete quality control
information. These forms were placed in the Web-based construction project
management system. We adapted the design of the field quality control forms for
multimodal data entry on the Pocket PC. A screen shot of the Main Menu for the concrete
quality control multimodal field data entry application (MFDE) is given in Figure 3. This
menu provides options to search, delete and edit old reports, as well as, an option to
create and save new reports using voice and stylus or keyboard.
838
Figure 3. Main Menu for MFDE

(interaction with voice, stylus or
keyboard).
A Concrete Placing Report form is shown in Figure 4. It contains drop down menus,
as well as entry fields for information such as a sample ID or contract number that could
be filled in by using a stylus or by entering information by voice.
A Grammar Menu shown in Figure 5 allows minor editing of the MFDE's VoiceXML
grammar, including entering names of new contractors or adding material options. The
quality control technician could do this on-site to keep the information in the database
839
current. The grammar for the application is dynamically updated by updating information
in the database.
Figure 4. Concrete Placing Report

form (interaction with voice and stylus
or keyboard).
840
Figure 5. Grammar Menu (interaction

with stylus or keyboard).
Thus, major grammar adjustments will be made using a desktop version of the
application and later synchronized with the grammar on the handheld device.
5 TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES
In the multimodal prototype development phase we experienced some challenges
associated with the novelty of the multimodal technology, including unresolved
interoperability issues, mobile OS limitations and also challenges associated with a
841
limited number of multimodal browser vendors. We hope that the mobile industry will
resolve these issues in the near future. However, one challenge will remain and will
require extensive research and testing: the usability of this technology in the field. The
usability evaluation for the multimodal field data entry prototype will be conducted
during the next phase of our research project.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The advantages afforded by the field use of multimodal and VoiceXML technology to
retrieve corporate and project information and enter field data could be substantial. The
availability of real-time, complete information exchange with the project information
repository is critical for decision-making in the field of construction site inspection, as
information frequently has to be transmitted to and received from the project repository
right on-site.
In some cases, when the security and safety of people and infrastructure are at stake,
the importance of real-time communication of field data becomes paramount, as, for
example, in assessing the damage to buildings in emergency situation (Bacheldor, 2002).
In such cases multimodal applications for data collection could be used to collect other
types of information such as digital pictures or video of the site.
In this paper the author described applications of VoiceXML and multimodal
technology for field data collection on the construction site. The multimodal field data
entry prototype allows concrete technician in the field to enter testing data using speech
and stylus via the handheld device, as appropriate. On a site with wireless connectivity
the testing results are transmitted in real time and entered into the concrete quality control
database, enhancing decision-making on the construction project.
In spite of the current multimodal technology limitations, mentioned previously in this
paper, this technology has great potential to overcome user interface weaknesses for
mobile devices, in the field, and speed up the data collection and communication process.
However, the usability issues for this novel interaction technology require special
attention as user acceptance of this technology in the field will be, to a large extent,
determined by its ease of use.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to acknowledge the support provided for the project by the
National Research Council Canada and by New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, and
the hard work and dedication of the University of New Brunswick Computer Science
students that participated in the development of the multimodal prototype.
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Beasly, R., Farley, M., OReilly, J. & Squire, L. 2002. Voice Application Development with
VoiceXML. New York: SAM Publishing.
Burkhahardt, J., Henn, H., Hepper, S. & Rintdorff, K. 2002. Pervasive Computing. Boston, NJ:
Addison-Wesley.
Hjelm, J. 2000. Research Applications in the Mobile Environment, in Wireless Information
Services, John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Giroux, S., Moulin, C., Sanna, R. & Pintus, A. 2002. Mobile Lessons: Lessons based on georeferenced information, Proceedings of E-Learn 2002:331338.
IBM Pervasive Computing. 2004. Online. http://www-306.ibm.com/software/pervasive/
IDC Viewpoint. 2002. Five Segments Will Lead Software Out of the Complexity Crisis, by
A.C.Picardi, December 2002, Doc#VWP000148.
Kondratova, I. 2003. Voice and Multimodal Access to AEC Project Information, Mobile
Computing in Architectural, Engineering and Construction, 10th ISPE International Conference
On Concurrent Engineering, J.Cha et al. (eds), Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, Portugal: 755760.
Kondratova, I. 2004. Speech-enabled mobile field applications. Proc. of the International IASTED
conference on Internet and Multimedia Systems and Applications, IMSA 2004, Kauai, Hawaii,
August 1618, 2004 (in press).
Meissner, A., Mathes, L., Baxavanaki, L., Dore, G. & Branki, C. The COSMOS integrated IT
solution at railway and motorway construction sitesa case study, Proc. of the Conference on
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Moraes. 2002. VoiceXML, CCXML, SALT. Architectural tools for enabling speech applications,
XML Journal, Sept. 2002: 3025.
W3C. Multimodal Activity, X+V, http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml+voice/
W3C. Voice Browser ActivityVoice enabling the Web! http:www.w3org/Voice
VoiceXMLForum. XHTML+Voice Profile 1.2.
http://www.voicexml.org/specs/multimodal/x+v/12/
Issues of context sensitivity in mobile

computing: restrictions and challenges in the
construction sector
Karsten Menzel, Karin Eisenbltter & Martin Keller
Dresden University of Technology, Germany
ABSTRACT: The innovations presented in this paper rely on the Concept
of the Mobile Worker (CoMoWo) as well as of Mobile, Ambient
Intelligent, Networked Environment (MAIN-E). CoMoWo is based on the
paradigm of Virtual Organisations. The CoMoWo pattern library and the
related three-layer pattern-management framework support easy and
efficient set-up, management, and dissolution of Virtual Organisations in
the A/E/C-domain. In this way CoMoWo contributes to the development
of innovative methods and adaptive project management models. MAINE consists of a set of technology components supporting CoMoWo, such
as a multi-dimensional information framework, intelligent agents, and
location based services. This will lead to supportive IT-infrastructure
mobile and fixedproviding information on demand and in the right
context to the mobile worker and thus enabling novel ways of working.
Domain and task specific mobile applications can be developed within
that framework supporting a holistic management of built artefacts by
reducing the sectorial as well as the organisational separation between the
different actors.
1 INTRODUCTION
Extensive coordination, communication and data exchange processes are performed
during the planning, construction, and operation phases of built artefacts among the
different actors involved in one specific project. So far, advantages of using information
systems have been limited to office work and single tasks. Field personnel (e.g.
construction managers, foremen, facility managers, or inspectors) are not able to connect
to information management systems for the time being away from the office. Recently,
new technologies such as mobile devices and wireless networks became available and
support nearly unlimited accessibility to digital information.
However, the efficient usage of these new technologies requires deep understanding of
relevant activities and their inter-relationships. Current management and business process
models need to be analysed and re-engineered to fully exploit the potentials of mobile
technologies.
Furthermore, mobile technologies need to be complemented by flexible, sophisticated
information management systems. The user, working on construction sites should not be
844
overloaded by irrelevant information and not be hampered by inappropriate services and

cumbersome in- and output techniques.
Last but not least different qualification profiles of potential end-users need to be
taken into consideration when developing new user interfaces.
Therefore, this paper starts with an analysis of typical working scenario in
Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management Domain (A/ E/C &
FM) defining so-called context aspects contributing to an improved understanding of
relevant, on-site business processes. Based on that analysis a methodology for flexible
process modelling is developed, introducing a three layer concept. This methodology is
extended with pattern definitions describing an implantation strategy for mobile computer
solutions. The combination of the three layer concept and the pattern definitions
characterises the Concept of the Mobile Worker (CoMoWo).
The second part of this paper illustrates how Data Warehouse technology supports the
generation of different dimensions representing parts of a holistic information space. It
explains how the definition of the dimension hierarchies corresponds to the context
aspects specified in CoMoWo. The proposed Data Warehouse Extended Platform
(DWEP) supports the required integrated information management approach equally
considering on-site construction activities as well as in-house management and
supervision processes. Furthermore, it is explained how agent technology might assist the
user of mobile devices in the field supporting her/his individual requirements in specific
working scenario. The combination of the DWEP with agent technology creates locationbased services, forming the Mobile, Ambient Intelligent, Networked Environment
(MAIN-E).
2 ASPECTS OF CONTEXT SENSITIVITY IN THE A/E/C-DOMAIN
There are many working scenarios in the AEC & FM sector for which the usage of
mobile computer systems might be beneficial. However, the efficiency of using mobile
computing systems strongly depends on the specific working scenario in which they will
be applied. Therefore, each system or part of the system has to be developed carefully,
taking the specific requirements into account.
Therefore, it is necessary to formalize, specify, and categorize aspects of context
sensitive information management in the AEC & FM sector. Relevant aspects
characterizing a specific situation while working in the field have been defined by
Menzel et al. (2002) or Brgy (2002). Brgy for example developed in his work a so
called Interaction Constraints Mode. However, according to the authors opinion this
model focuses very detailed on the analysis of single tasks. Therefore, the model does
only partially reflect the needs for business-process driven analysis and development of
mobile applications. Furthermore, Brgys definition of a work situation only considers
locations and activities, whereas the activity analysis is mainly focused on the IT-aspects
and considers only partially the domain specific needs such as the time aspect reflecting
the evolutionary dimension of information management.
Based on our analysis as well as the analysis of other research work the following
definition for the term working scenario was developed:
Issues of context sensitivity in mobile computing
845
Definition: Within one specific WORK SCENARIO some ACTOR is using a specific
IT-INFRASTRUCTURE to obtain, enter, view or modify INFORMATION that he/she
requires to successfully accomplish his/her ACTIVITY at a specific LOCATION and
TIME under specific ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS.
Within the next paragraphs the individual aspects characterizing a specific working
scenario are explained in more detail.
2.1 The actor aspect
The term ACTOR describes a unit that is responsible to perform a specific activity or a
set of activities specified by a certain role; whereas a ROLE defines the required skills or
the qualification profile. An actor can either be an organisational unit or an individual
employee.
This short definition addresses two facets of the actor aspect. Firstly, the introduction
of mobile technologies on the construction site requires the involvement of a broader
scope of users. Not only engineering and management personnel should be able to use
mobile computers but also less qualified field workers. Therefore, systems need to adapt
to the individual qualification profiles.
Secondly, the integration of sub-contractors into complex, project-based IT-systems
requires efficient mechanisms for the management of their additional IT-infrastructure by
addressing the individual needs of small and medium-sized companies (SME).
2.2 The activity aspect
The ACTIVITY aspect describes and classifies single actions, or whole packages of
actions, their sequence and interdependencies among them. Activities can be
hierarchically ordered and grouped.
Activity specifications might be derived from already existing workflow management
systems.
2.3 The IT-Infrastructure aspect
The IT-INFRASTRUCTURE aspect describes and classifies the quality of the mobile,
end-user device as well as the performance of its network connection.
Discussions and surveys have proven that users in the field wish to access ITapplications by using mobile devices. Due to the much smaller screen size and different
in- and output interfaces of the mobile devices the applications should be able to adapt
to the specific hardware configuration.
2.4 The location aspect
A LOCATION is identified using a unique global position to the user. Based on these coordinates secondary, project specific descriptions of the location can be calculated as
result of a reasoning algorithm.
Typically, an organisation is involved in several projects. Therefore, field workers
often work on different sites. Automatic positioning services allow to conclude on which
846
site and, therefore, on which project the actor is working. Location based services will
only deliver relevant information to the user.
2.5 The environment aspect
The ENVIRONMENTAL aspect describes and classifies the conditions under which a
mobile device is used. It includes both, the description, classification and evaluation of
natural environmental aspects as well as of technological environmental aspects resulting
from the type of the technical artefact to be constructed, monitored, or maintained.
The environmental restrictions are very often decisive when choosing the mobile
computing system, especially the device to be used.
3 THE CONCEPT OF THE MOBILE WORKER
CoMoWo is based on the paradigm of Virtual Organisations. Within CoMoWo a Process
Pattern Library (PPL) and a related three-layer pattern-management framework are
currently developed. Both parts will support easy and efficient set-up, management, and
dissolution of Virtual Organisations in the A/E/C-domain.
A Virtual Organisation (VO) is an identifiable group of actors that makes substantially
more use of information and communication technologies than physical presence to
interact, conduct business and operate together, in order to achieve common, projectcentred business objectives. The aim of the VO is to gather complementing competencies
of different actors in order to enhance efficiency and productivity while decreasing
overheads. [see also: Camarinha-Mathos]
Within the A/E/C & FM-domain star like organisational structures are often used to
manage construction projects (see Fig. 1). The project manager and the project-centred
information system are placed in the centre of this structure. Participants of the project
team can join and leave such a VO in different phases of the life cycle. However, each of
these organisations has its own information system which must be able to exchange
information of different granularity with the project information system. Different
granularity of information is required because besides the project manager two more
classes of actors can be identified: the domain manager and the f ield worker.
3.1 The three-layer-approach
The layer concept supports the easy decomposition of complex AEC & FM problems into
different levels of granularityso called layers of information management. Each of
these layers should have its own paradigms for modelling and representing the desired
information. However, the models have to be integrated into a homogeneous domain
description.
Consequentially, we suggest introducing a three layer concept consisting of: (A) the
strategic layer, (B) the tactical layer, and (C) the operative layer (see Table 1).
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3.1.1 Strategic layer

The strategic layer defines the boundary conditions of the project by outlining the project
aims in a goal function. Goals and their relationships should be described in a formal and
definite manner with performance indicators like time, costs, resources, etc. By dividing
Figure 1. Structure of a VO
information system.
Table 1. Layer concept for a construction project.
Layer
Content
Model
Strategic
goals, milestones
goal function
Tactical
formal sequences
workflow-management
Operative
times & resources
scheduling
the goals in sub-goals in accordance with the prqject progress, milestones can be
determined. The project manager manages the strategic layer.
The strategic layer is the basis of all planning and management activities. It provides
general project information designated to the project management. The strategic layer
supports the progress monitoring and early detection and prevention of conflicts on
project level.
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3.1.2 Tactical layer

By introducing the tactical layer a complex AEC & FM project can be divided into
homogeneous, closed phases (milestones). These phases will gather a certain amount of
activities (control cycles) required to reach the goals of the strategic layer. The domain
manager together with the engineering staff manages the tactical layer.
The tactical layer is introduced to specify domain specific activities. The required
input and the generated output as well as the responsible actor for each activity are
defined. Furthermore, the sequence of activities is defined by specifying the successor
and predecessor.
3.1.3 Operative layer
While the activities defined in the tactical layer specifying the output needed to achieve
the goal of a milestone, the operative layer defines the way how to achieve the goal by
considering the given restrictions of the strategic layer (e.g. time, cost, quality). The
engineering personnel together with the field workers manage and use the operational
layer.
The operative layer defines and schedules sub-activities, so called tasks, needed to
fulfil the goals of each activity in accordance with the boundary conditions defined in the
tactical layer (e.g. time, cost, quality). Resources are planned and the critical path is
calculated.
3.2 Developing mobile computer applications using the pattern-based
design
Establishing the organisational as well as the process structure of a new project requires a
lot of efforts and experience of the project manager. However, it is impossible to
predetermine each single task needed to complete the project. Predefined process
descriptions might be of invaluable help to better describe prospective activities.
Homogeneous process descriptions and management guidelines can be made available by
developing a so called Process Pattern Library (PPL). Such a PPL can be used for the
set-up of new (virtual) project organisations. A PPL can be divided into different parts:
the concept part, the structures-part, the life cycle-part, the ICT-part and the Facilities
part as depicted in Fig. 2.
3.2.1 The origins of the approach
Within the EU-cluster project VOSTER the results of appr. 30 EU-research projects in
the area of VOs were consolidated and synthesized. A VO core concept and a general
modelling framework were developed [VOSTER]. These results were used as the basis
for the development of the framework depicted in Fig. 2. Within the next sections
selected patterns of that framework are described in a more detailed way. According to
Fig. 2 the following patterns will be explained: (1) transparency and self-organisation, (2)
lateral VO-structures, (3) continuous

architectures, and (5) integrated systems.
VO-structures,
(4)
849
distributed
software
3.2.2 Transparency and self-organisationpattern

To support the VO-approach it is necessary that all partners of a construction project have
transparent access to integrated information about construction activities. By applying the
lntegrated System pattern stand-alone applications (e.g. workflow management
systems) will be synchronized with each other. Thus, IT-applications remain no longer a
singular tool but will support the self organisation process of (virtual) project
organisations.
A process analysis is needed to get a detailed over-view of the current status and to
develop improved, homogeneous activity and information flow-descriptions. The result
of this pattern is an optimized, integrated ACTIVITY specification interlinked with an
ACTOR-specification and an IT-resource specification. Figure 3 depicts a process
description showing errors and omissions registration activities by using the ARISmethodology [Scheer].
Figure 2. Framework for VO-Patterns

in the AEC & FM sector.
850
Figure 3. Actor-activity information

flow.
3.2.3 Lateral VO-structurespattern

Mobile technologies complemented by holistic information systems are used to bridge
the gap in the information flow in two ways: (1) across organisational levels and (2)
across sectorial boarders.
On the one hand field workers and engineering personnel can monitor the construction
processes in the field. On the other hand, relevant information from the various partners
information systems must also be integrated into the project information space.
Both forms of data need to be stored and managed in the finest granularity possible.
The combination of in-field data acquisition, data consolidation, and data integration
bridges the gap in the information flow between the different organisational and sectorial
levels. Figure 4 shows the information management in the proposed three layered
architecture.
851
Figure 4. Layer concept and

information management actions &
perspectives.
852
Figure 5. Use case diagramAEC &

FM view.
3.2.4 Continuous VO-structurespattern
AEC & FM organisations are mostly project based operated. Therefore, it is essential to
support continuous, up-to-date information access as well as information acquisition. For
this reason we have developed a common basis of business process descriptions
supporting the interdisciplinary knowledge transfer between AEC & FM-actors and
actors representing the software engineering sector. Major business processes are
described using different representations of the Unified Modelling Language (UML).
By representing complex process specifications in multiple perspectives, it becomes
possible to consider the various aspects of context sensitive information management in
detail. Furthermore, the need for synchronized terminologies of the different sectors and
process modelling layers can be addressed. The availability of these patterns will allow
for easy and quick customisation of the mobile framework to match the project specific
needs.
853
Figure 6. Sequence diagram

Software Eng. View.
One example describing selected Error and Omission Registration activities is
depicted in Fig. 5 and in Fig. 6. Whereas the first figure represents the end-user
perspective represents the later one the perspective of the application developer.
3.2.5 Distributed software architecturepattern
The fragmented organisational structure of the AEC & FM sector requires a distributed
data management architecture. Each organisation will store and manage all relevant data
in its own IT-systems. Additionally, this information will be interlinked with data from
other VO-partners.
Project based information spaces can be implemented by introducing a web-portal.
This means, the primary organisation-centred information management infrastructure is
extended by an (over-lapping), secondary project-centred information management
infrastructure. The proposed architecture supports a clear but flexible distinction between
the two necessary organisational structures: the internal, organisation-oriented structure,
and the external project or VO-oriented structure. Figure 7 shows the proposed
architecture.
854
3.2.6 Integrated systemspattern

Integrated systems and distributed data and information management do not exclude each
other. Additionally to the development of the above explained patterns, it is also
necessary to integrate technical specifications. This can be achieved by using
standardized data exchange formats and their underlying product and process models.
Figure 7. Proposed and partially

implemented software architecture.
Last but not least, integration of IT-applications will also be achieved by using common
design styles and libraries for the development of common GUIs.
4 MAIN-E
The multi-dimensional data management approach and the usage of data warehouse
technology can compensate the various restrictions of mobile technology, such as:
smaller screen size, lower data processing and storage capacity, or smaller bandwidth of
wireless networks.
MAIN-E consists of a set of technology components supporting CoMoWo, such as a
multi-dimensional information framework, intelligent agents, and location based services.
855
This will lead to supportive IT-infrastructure providing information on demand and in the
right context to the mobile worker.
4.1 Data Warehouse Technology
Data Warehouse Technology provides methods and tools to systematically organize,
understand, and use complex data. Data warehouses integrate input data from already
existing information systems and data collected by (mobile) applications. They
consolidate and store data for fast access and retrieval and deliver requested data in an
appropriate presentation format.
Data Warehouses are based on a multidimensional data model. It is defined by
dimensions and facts. The metaphor of a Data cube allows data to be modelled and
represented in multiple dimensions. Dimensions are defined in Dimension Hierarchies.
Dimensions are the perspective with respect to which a user wants to have the data
presented or analysed. A formalised description of dimensions is presented in formulas
[1] to [6].
Facts are (numerical) values representing quantities by which one wants to analyse
relationships between dimensions. A formal fact definition is given in formula [7].
Definition: One schema DS of a dimension hierarchy DH consists of a partially
ordered set of category attributes.
({D1,, Dn, TopD}; ?)
[1]
TopD is one specific generic, maximum element, that is functional definable from all
other attributes.
?i(1=i=n):Di? TopD
[2]
Furthermore there exists exactly one Di, that determines all other category attributes
and defines the finest granularity.
?i(1=i=n)?j(1=j=n, i ?j):Di? Dj
[3]
Definition: The granularity G is a subset of the category attributes of all existing
dimensions of all dimension schemata DS1,, DSn
DS1,, DSn
G={G1,, Gn}
[4]
?i(1=i=k)?j(1=j=n):Gi? DSj
[5]
?i(1=i=k)?j(1=j=k)i?j:Gi? Gj
[6]
Definition: Facts F consist of a certain granularity Gand one specific summation
type.
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F=(G, SumTyp)
[7]
4.2 Schemata and navigation
A multidimensional data model can exist in the form of a star-schema, a snowflake
schema or a starflake schema. The star schema is the simplest schema, consisting of one
fact data table and a set of (smaller) attendant dimension tables. The snowflake schema
normalizes some dimension tables and thereby splits the dimension data into additional
tables. Starflake schemas additionally allow multiple fact data tables. Figure 8 illustrates
how the context aspects defined in chapter 2 are used to define the basic structure of a
star-schema. It clearly illustrates how different perspectives on the consolidated central
pool of fact data can be defined in order to reflect the various context aspects. Figure 9
depicts a detailed description of the different dimension hierarchies used to describe the
context aspects.
Figure 8. Context aspects ordered in a

star schema.
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Figure 9. Hierarchies specifying

context aspects.
Navigation through the different levels of the data cube is called drill down (showing
more detailed data) or roll up (showing data on next aggregation level). The different
dimensions generated by the system will be available as pre-processed aggregated
dimensions of the fact data (cuboids). Finally, the operations slicing and dicing
enable the presentation (or analysis) of selected parts of the whole data cube.
4.3 Data warehouse extended platform
The introduction of a so called Data Warehouse Extended Platform (DWEP) is proposed
to support flexible information management. It is depicted in Fig. 10. The data warehouse
is the main data source containing and managing all project information. Fast data
processing is ensured through the prearrangement of data in appropriate dimensions
reflecting the different aspects of context sensitivity.
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Figure 10. Proposed system

architecture, software components,
data classification and flow.
4.3.1 Data classification
This section classifies and analyses the content of the DWEP with respect to the
previously defined context aspects. Figure 10 depicts the following data categories:
Planning and Design Data (P), Field Data (F), Externally Collected Data (E), User Access
Record (O), and Data Warehouse Meta-Data (M).
Planning and design data consists of user data (actor aspect), process definition data
(activity aspect), and information about available software tools (IT-infrastructure
aspect). Most of this data is already part of the individual, organisation-specific
information systems of the VO-partners.
Therefore, this information can be collected, consolidated and integrated into the
DWEP by semi-automatic mechanisms. Planning and design data can be managed and
presented efficiently by developing appropriate data structures and defining improved
data management processes reflecting the requirements of the different business
processes.
Field data is collected on the construction site while monitoring all construction
activities, including service processes (e.g. material delivery). It contains information
about the status of a specific construction site (time and location aspect), which includes
the employees on the site (actor and location aspect), the accomplished and the ongoing
construction processes (activity and location aspect), the resources such as equipment or
859
material used and available (actor and location aspect), and other spontaneous notes
(environmental and location aspect).
User Access Records contain information about the access profile of each actor, the
requested service and the mobile device that (s)he is using (IT-infrastructure aspect), the
construction site described by GPS-co-ordinates (location aspect), the time of the request,
and the activity (s)he is working on.
External data do further specify the actor, activity, and environmental aspect. The
automatic collection of external data supports the user because of reduced necessary input
activities. Data collection processes are pre-determined by the specific business process
model.
Data warehouse meta-data describe the data warehouse architecture which is
characterized by dimensions. Meta-data define how to generate, request, modify, store,
restore, and delete the various dimensions. Furthermore, meta data contain rules for
interpreting the results of the user request profiles.
4.4 Functionalities of the DWEP
The functionality of each component depicted in Fig. 10 is briefly explained in the
following section. Currently, the agent paradigm is intensively discussed in the literature
and used in many software prototypes. Most of our system specifications require software
components which must be able to act independently on behalf of the user. Therefore, we
have called all of the described components agents. However, the authors are aware of
current discussions about limitations and negative aspects of the agent paradigm, such as
security features.
The data collection agent (DCA) is an external, reactive agent and carries out part of
the data pre-processing activities of the DWEP. Pre-processing activities cover all the
data input and consolidation activities. Two modes of activating the agent exist: first, if
the amount of modified data has exceeded a certain limit, or second, if time has exceeded
a certain period.
The information consolidation agent (ICA) belongs to the core of the DWEP. Its
behavior is controlled by using the meta-data of the DWEP. Since real world data tends
to be incomplete and inconsistent, information consolidation routines that will attempt to
fill in missing values and correct inconsistencies are necessary.
The Data transformation agent (DTA) is also part of the core of the DWEP Its tasks
are: (1) aggregation, (2) generalization, (3) normalization, and (4) feature construction.
Aggregation and generalization reduce the amount of data. Both functions are
described in more detail in the section about the dimension generation agent (see below).
Normalization will be used to calculate meaningful status descriptions for progress
reports instead of presenting total numbers to the user (e.g. work is due, overdue, with
lowerbudget, inbudget, heavily over budget).
The Dimension generation agent (DGA) is part of the representation layer of the
DWEP. To ensure fast data presentation and on-line analytical processing the DGA will
pre-compute the cuboids as subparts of the data cube. Depending on the basic technology
used, one distinguishes between the relational and the multidimensional approach. Cube
aggregation within relational environments uses sorting, hashing, and grouping
860
operations to re-order and cluster dimension attributes. Partial grouping steps are
introduced to decrease the computation time of sub-aggregates.
The array-based multidimensional approach divides the array into chunks. A chunk is
a sub-cube small enough to fit into the memory In a second step, chunks are compressed
in order to remove wasted space from empty cells. Furthermore, the order in which cells
are visited can be optimised in a way that the number of times each cell must be
(re)visited is minimised.
The end-user-access monitoring agent (EUA-MA) is the only cognitive agent within
the described scenario. It can either be implemented as an external agent or as part of the
DWEP. The authors suggest implementing the EUA-MA as an external agent.
The EUA-MA monitors all user requests sent towards the DWEP which is only a
reactive feature. However, the EUA-MA is able to collaborate with the CDCA (see
below). The CDCA is able to interpret the core of the output-request context data. Using
this extended context description, the EUA-MA is able to decide whether a new
dimension should be generated or not.
The context data collection agent (CDCA) is a reactive agent. It is an external agent
and has its own knowledge base. Supported by its knowledge base, the agent is able to
interpret core context data and extend it with additional information.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Mobile computers are a relatively new technology that has not yet been adopted in the
AEC & FM industry. The implantation process will require changes in our industry. Even
in the basic sciences such as e.g. computer science or human computer interaction many
uncertainties still exist on how to apply this technology appropriately and efficiently.
This means there exist neither any formalized implantation strategy nor detailed proven
rules of thumb.
The development of context sensitive mobile applications complemented by multidimensional data management technology might be one possible approach for solving
some problems related with the usage of mobile devices on construction sites. However,
the lack of general design and development criteria leads to the consequence that only by
systematic, intensive field-testing of prototypical solutions the advantages, disadvantages,
and limitations of mobile computing technology can be revealed.
The analysis of these results will lead to the development of new business processes,
considering the availability and potentials of mobile, wireless technologies. Finally, it
will lead to an integration of wireless and mobile technologies into the core businesses of
the AEC & FM sector. To achieve this goal it is absolutely necessary to develop and
define guidelines, standards, and specifications for both software development and
business process re-engineering.
Therefore, the future work of our research group will focus on the integrated work in
the areas of business process modelling and software engineering for mobile computer
environments focusing on interface design and multi dimensional information
management.
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Engineering Systems in Industrial Applications. PhD Thesis, Carnegie Mellon University.
Camarinha-Matos, L. The virtual enterprise concept, In lnfrastructures for the Virtual Enterprise
Networking industrial enterprises, ISBN 0-7923-8639-6.
Fowler, Martin 1997. Analysis PatternsReusable Object Models. Addison Wesley.
Jablonski, S., Bhm, M., Schulze, W. Workflow-ManagementEntwicklung von Anwendungen
und SystemenFacetten einer neuen Technologie. dpunkt.verlag 1997, 3-920993-73-X.
Keller, M., Scherer, R. & Menzel, K. 2002. A personal planning approach for the integration and
coordination of multi project process information. Proceedings of the European Conference on
Process and Product Modeling, Portoroz, Slowenia.
Kurz, A. 1999. Data WarehousingEnabling Technology. Bonn: MITP-Verlag.
Menzel, K., Eisenblatter, K., Keller, M. & Scherer, R.J. 2002. Context-sensitive process and data
management on mobile devices. In ECPPM 2002eWork and eBusiness in Architecture,
Engineering and Construction, Turk Z. & Scherer R.J., (ed.); A.A.Balkema.
Scheer, August Wilhelm: ARIS Modellierungsmethoden, Metamodelle, Anwendungen: 3. Auflage:
Springer Verlag, Berlin: 1998.
VOSTER: http://cic.vtt.fi/projects/voster/public.html. (last access June 2004).
A context based communication system for

construction
D.Rebolj, A.Magdi & N..Babi
University of Maribor, Faculty of civil engineering, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: One of the commonly recognized reasons for a relatively
slow application of information technology in construction is that the
construction industry has to build its products under circumstances not
convenient for appropriate IT support. Conventional computers are
ineffective to capture data at places of origin or to deliver or process data
where they are really needed. After conducting a series of experimental
projects, called e-site, we obtained a firm belief that mobile computing,
integrating mobile devices, wireless communication and mobile services,
present the missing link in Construction Information Technology, thus
providing appropriate information flow in the life-cycle of a building
product. Furthermore we came to the conclusion that more effective ways
of communication and organization are necessary to exploit the vast
quantity of contacts and data that became available through a mobile
network. The paper presents an overview on mobile computing in
construction, including experiences gathered through the e-site projects,
and then continues with the description of a context based communication
system that can help to transform the increasing quantity of data into
quality information.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mobile computing has become an important field in information technology. Specific
solutions are being offered to get access to data while outside office, on the road, or on
working site, and to feed information systems with instant data from distant locations.
Many business fields have been identified where mobile solutions are of high interest.
Construction is one of those fields that can gain a lot by applying mobile computing
technologies, since the main activity in the building process is taking place in the field,
outside of the reach of common information systems. Although quite interesting
applications of mobile computing in construction exist, the authors claim that the
potentials are by far not exhausted.
The term mobile computing or ubiquitous computing has no clear definition,
although some studies have already tried to survey this fast-growing area of information
technology. Mobile computing does not only involve mobile computing devices (such as
laptops, notebooks, PDAs and wearable computers), which are designed to be carried
around, but also the mobile (which in practice means wireless) networks to which these
863
computers are connected. Specialized services are the third component, rounding out the
definition of mobile computing.
Although the number of research papers addressing mobile computing is modest, there
is no doubt that a great deal of research is still going on, perhaps even too fast for papers
to be published. As one technology overtakes another (Jefferson and Orubeondo, 2000;
Mobileinfo, 2003), and technical solutions are undoubtedly becoming more consistent
and reliable, it is more reasonable to concentrate on general concepts and problems. One
such problem is the adaptation of existing information systems suitable for efficient
integration with mobile computing. But first of all we have to identify critical problems,
for which mobile computing can deliver effective solutions. In this regard, we agree with
Vizard that until then, mobile computing will just remain a troublesome niche
application for those, who can afford to pay for it(Vizard, 2000).
2 MOBILE COMPUTINGIN CONSTRUCTION
In using mobile computing, construction again performs some specific characteristics.
The problems are, however, much more common to other field operation industries. One
of them, the problem of controlling mobile computers by voice, which is also a
requirement for wearable computers, has attracted quite some researchers. In the field of
civil engineering, interesting reports can be found for inspection-oriented applications
(Garrett and Sunkpho, 2000), and navigation through drawings (Reinhardt and Scherer
2000).
In the field of construction, drawings are among the most important types of
documents, and therefore software for managing them is a necessary requirement for
mobile computing in construction. AutoDesks OnSite View offers viewing, mark-up
design changes, on-site project document queries using digital measurement tools, and
synchronization (Hernandez 2000). Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are already
available for some PDAs as well. Project management is another area where extensions
to mobile terminals can be very effective (Onsyss, 2003). On the other hand more and
more applications are becoming web-enabled (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2003), which
automatically extends their usability to browser-supported mobile devices connected to
the Internet. EBautagebuch is a web-based punch-list-like application, developed to be
used on a PDA for recording activities on a building site (Menzel et al., 2002b). Further
applications are related to site inspection and bridge inspection, most of them are
specialized on a specific task.
Another, more holistic approach originated in Japan, where the Daito Trust
Construction Company developed a large-scale mobile computing system called DK
Network (Daito 2000). This network consists of specially developed hardware and
software components. It remains to be seen how many companies working together on a
construction project would be able to follow this approach. For most companies, standard
devices, wireless networks and services must be available on the market at affordable
prices in order to be attractive. It is, however, perceivable that mobile computing
applications are becoming more complex, as for example in the case of pilling operations
(Ward et al., 2002).
864
In autumn 2000, a multipurpose experimental-educational research project called

Mobile Computing at a Construction Site (or e-site, for short) was launched at the Faculty
of Civil Engineering of the University of Maribor (Rebolj et al., 2001). The project has
been conducted by the Construction IT Centre and carried out by students and engineers
from the construction industry.
The purpose of the project has been to answer the open questions of how mobile
computing works on site, what organizational changes are required, are the common
commercial mobile phone network services sufficient for mobile computing in
construction, how complex is the problem of integrating mobile computing into existing
information systems (which are still not integrated to the desired extent themselves), and
what educational efforts will be necessary.
The final test, carried out in 2001 (Fig. 1), showed that the efficiency of information
exchange in construction, between the construction participants and within the
construction site itself, can be improved significantly even by using current mobile
computing components: unmodified, available PDAs, mobile phones and other existing
wireless networks, and web services. This project has been continued in 2002 (Magdic et
al, 2002) and in 2003. The results proved the high potential of mobile computing for the
Figure 1. E-siteexperimentaleducational research project 2001.

On the other hand, we are faced with another paradox. Currently, many engineers are
still using tools that are far from state-of-the-art, but they are very reluctant to change
them. This situation is causing an even higher complexity of engineering information
865
structures today. Existing processes could be rendered much more efficient by altering
older information structures to support newer ones, and rethinking the current philosophy
of computer use (Rebolj et al., 2002).
Despite the availability of hardware systems and high speed wireless networks, we are
still lacking software systems designed to support specific on-site tasks, provide helpful
guidance through these tasks, and support intelligent methods of human-computer
interaction that take into account the context of onsite construction and supervision
activities (Menzel et al., 2002).
An extended communication system, adaptable to the project and the user is one of the
possible solutions to improve existing information systems and to decrease the gap
between research in information technology and the state of the practice of everyday
work.
3 ESSENTIAL POTENTIALS OF MOBILE COMPUTINGIN
CONSTRUCTION
Two main aspects exist when looking at any system: the partial and the holistic aspects.
In construction this aspects can be defined as company view or project view, and
personal view or actor view. In both aspects, mobile computing can significantly
improve the efficiency of information flows or of information systems. Thus, we have to
be aware that mobile computing implies the following facts:
a mobile computer is bound to a specific person
the location of a mobile computer can become a significant piece of information
the mobile computer (and thus the person) is available anytime, anywhere
the person has access to the system anytime, anywhere.
These facts are of utmost importance and the basis for the core potentials of mobile
computing in construction.
From the company (or project) view any information system in use can improve as
follows:
information system boundaries extend to the maximum, which means that information
will flow to and from the destination/origin points without delays or obstacles
additional information is available from terminal points, like their position, user ID,
temperature etc.; in other words, terminals can help applications to become context
sensitive.
From the personal view following improvements are significant:
the person can be available anytime, according to her/his role in the relevant projects
any other actors in relevant projects are available
personal communication can improve significantly through automatic selection using
context parameters (date and time, location, activity etc.).
Based on these potentials we have built a concept of a communication system, which
uses the core potentials of mobile computing to improve the effectiveness of IT in
construction.
866
4 A DYNAMIC CONTEXT BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

4.1 Integration strategies
In concepts like mobile computing and ubiquitous computing, space is inherently present
(Mitra & Schwartz, 2001). The aim of this kind of computing is a desire to transcend
physical distance when accessing or manipulating information. For example, when a
foreman makes a decision to solve a problem on a construction site, he needs blueprints
at hand and has to update plans to be consistent with the current situation after a change
is made. Traditionally, in such situations an individual has to carry all potentially
valuable information with her/him, which is practically impossible. Otherwise, the
individual should move to some other location where the information is stored.
Computers and networks can sort required information, and physical location of the
information becomes irrelevant.
If mobile computing can help us to overcome the distance between the space where
we are located and the space where some valuable source of information is located, we
have to be aware of it. Todays information technology handles this problem and brings
new dimension to our lives and to our existing physical spacethis is known as virtual
space. With this new dimension, our existing space acquires some important shortcuts.
This means we can easily shorten the distances of our travel if we know how to use
these shortcuts in another dimension, in our case through virtual space. In that manner
many processes can be optimized for performance and quality.
We argue here that todays solutions are not exploiting these shortcuts. The mapping
between real and virtual space must be transparent to be successful. When reducing
distances in the real world, most systems introduce a new distance in a virtual space.
By the distance in a virtual space we have several factors in mind that prevent the
successftil transfer of information from the information source to the user. For example,
different format of data storage and representation, manipulation with communication
tools, understanding the real meaning of received information and the context in which it
was produced and should be used, to name just a few.
Therefore, we recognize the need to change the existing concept of computer use
which is a fundamental problem when trying to exploit all the potentials of mobile and
persistent computing. The change of this concept is inevitably related to the
reorganization of current processes in which computers are used today.
Conceptual changes in a networked world should start with the adjustment of
inhabitants to new space. People should build a new set of practices that are valid in this
space. This should be similar to the practices in real spaces, where a person inhabiting a
certain space builds relationships with that space. When someone moves from one space
to another, relations with previous and new spaces are changed and people have to adjust
and build a new set of practices (Hom, 2000). Introduction of a newvirtualspace
requires the same practice.
One approach to bridging real and virtual spaces is adopting context aware computing.
There are, however, many problems where location awareness is not sufficient. Besides
further developments in context awareness in the sense of location, we also see other
important factors of context that influence the user and their behavior (Gellersen, 2000).
These factors can improve the users understanding of available information or help the
867
user handle the connection, improve data manipulation and solve filtering problems.
Hence, more detailed context can bring a higher level of abstraction to mobile devices
and make them a better mediator to the virtual world. Similar to how human senses are
needed to help people understand and interact with their environment, senses are also
needed to understand and integrate virtual space to our lives.
There is also a need for new concepts of presence (Kindberg, 2000). If virtual
dimension should be fully exploited, real world entities should be present in the virtual
dimension as well. In this regard, more explicit representation of material objects and
everyday concepts should appear in virtual space. In making this abstraction, the
appearance of these objects in reality, whether they are live beings or things or even
concepts like roles or processes, is not tremendously important. Our opinion is that it is
important to define simple mechanisms for their representation and interaction. For
example, each object should have an identity in virtual space. One straight-forward
solution to this problem involves the use of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI).
The basis for interaction, communication and grouping can be linked to spatial and
other context attributes of real counterparts where this information is easily transferable
through virtual space. Methods for context creation become very important here, since
they represent a tool for mapping and establishing relations between real and virtual
instances of the same object. We can see many advantages as a result of the presence of
objects in virtual space in the appropriate context. Appliances are available to users no
matter where they are or where they are coming from. Services can better adapt to
capabilities of appliances and user needs. All of this considerably improves the mobility
ofusers.
Having an enterprise environment in mind, virtual space mediates communication
over different organizational levels. People can work closer to each other in terms of
more direct communication. Organization can become structured on a single level, and
due to more open communication, risks can be mitigated more effectively From the
personal viewpoint all persons needed are in reach and therefore information flow can
become direct and undisturbed. However, classification and structuring of personal links
are inevitable.
Work processes can be organized more tightly together, with less documentation
waiting. Once a document is available to one party, it can be available for all interested
parties as well. Parallel processes bring higher productivity to the organization. The same
information is not transferred from hand to hand throughout the organization, which is a
significant source of errors. The organization can focus on product development and
hence make better quality products more efficiently.
868
Figure 2. Dynamic Communication

EnvironmentIntegrated views
(filtered by selected project/task).
Figure 3. Proposed system

architecture.
As mentioned before, physical space and distribution of developed products and their
producers are not important any more. This means all participants can follow all entities
of organizational structure, processes that are performed by the organizational structure
869
and spatial distribution of products and actors at the same abstract denominator of an
object in a virtual space (Fig. 2).
4.2 System design considerations
This section discusses the main issues of system design to achieve a dynamic
communication environment for construction projects. These key issues include the
architecture of the proposed system. However, this paper is not intended to discuss all of
the details of the system architecture, instead, it elaborates only on issues directly related
to the paper subject. Figure 3 illustrates some major components of the proposed system
architecture.
From a general sense, the proposed system connects the existing product, process
models and project frameworks into the personal communication networks. Process and
product models are used as integrators for all the information needed (Tibaut and Rebolj,
2003). In this case, data flow can become fully automated and individuals will not have
to worry about which communication link to choose or which file to download or upload
in order to exchange the desired information. A user-friendly interface (client software)
to such a system is required as well.
In order to achieve inter-operability structured information is needed instead of
conventional documents and non-standard data formats. New technologies such as the
eXtensible Markup Language (XML), XML Schema, SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol) and XML/Object Serialization have now emerged and could solve problems for
future exchanges of information. Their main objective is the development of a system
that is not only extensible enough to meet future requirements but is also adaptable and
flexible enough to incorporate the new innovative technologies of the future as they
emerge.
With the availability and the maturity of such technology, heterogeneous systems can
share the semantics of information objects by sharing an XML schema that defines the
information objects. Between heterogeneous systems, SOAP as an industry standard, can
be used as a data exchange protocol. Once a system receives some XML data sets, it can
use the XML/ Object marshalling tool to map the XML data set to its internal object
model.
Thus, with these technologies, a system can manipulate objects from other systems
just as if these objects were local to it. However, the most critical issues of implementing
these technologies are XMLbased standards. Namely, the shared XML schema allows
cooperating systems to correctly interpret information exchanged between cooperating
companies. Many software vendors have developed and implemented their own
proprietary XML schemas. These proprietary schemas may not be compatible with each
other. At the industry level, XML-based standards such as aecXML and ifcXML are still
under development. Described possible use of XML-related technologies only shows
major design considerations that support the proposed system.
By reaching into such complex structures as product and process models, getting the
parameters that influence the current constellation of a personal communication network
can become a complicated task. Therefore, a modular, multi-layer approach is necessary
to make the system work. This simply means that the current selection of persons in
reach can be influenced by more or less parameters. The parameters can either include
870
very specific information on the current activity regarding the process model, and on a
current location, which is relevant to the part of the construction site or building (e.g.
specific column of a bridge), or just on the person and her or his item in the calendar. The
most important part is that the communication system is able to adjust to the information
available.
5 CONCLUSION
Research and applications in various domains have proved the high potential of mobile
computing. In the case of the construction industry this is even more obvious due to the
characteristics of a building site. The authors of this paper even believe that mobile
computing is the key technology for the IT break-through in construction. The
importance of mobile computing is not merely in bringing information to the external
terminals of common information systems, or in having this information and the
computing power available anywhere and anytime, but in some important new
conditions: in the permanent availability of the key project actors in the virtual space. Of
course this circumstance should not be abused to the human detriment. Instead, the
computer should take the role of a sophisticated assistant and automatically process as
much information as possible.
For this reason we have integrated existing applications (including the instant
messaging service, personal calendar and communication software), common information
sources (such as project data, product and process models), and specific terminal
information (such as location) to build a Dynamic Communication Environment (DyCE)
by measure of the humanthe actorinvolved in various projects and tasks. In this way
the mobile computer can really become a sophisticated personal digital assistant (PDA),
which will provide the human with necessary information for making good decisions, and
to leave the human more time for creative work. From the aspect of a project, this means
a much smoother flow of information and thus a higher level of quality. The proposed
DyCE concept does undoubtedly represent a much higher degree of IT use in the
construction industry, which fits well into the virtual enterprising of the future.
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MOBIKOmobile cooperation in the

construction industry based on wireless
technology
Rasso Steinmann
Munich University of Applied Sciences & Nemetschek Technology GmbH,
Munich
ABSTRACT: MOBIKO1 is one of the lead-projects of the MobilMedia2
campaign of the German Ministry of Economy and Labour. This paper
gives an overview on the project and its underlying technology, but is
focussing on its specific tasks for mobile applications in the construction
sector.
The goal of the project is to develop a mobile platform to support the
management of contractors in their processes on site. Adapting wireless
communication media, the platform will optimise time- and missioncritical processes using mobile communication and mobile collaboration.
The project is focussing especially on coordination of workflows,
communication of the actors, planning and disposition, quality-assurance
andcontrol and virtual project management.
The consortium is combining a strong portfolio of different
competences which is the German T-Systems with solutions and services
for mobile communication, Nemetschek with software and services in the
building and construction industry, conject with virtual prqject spaces and
BIBA with scientific background and testing fields.
From a technological viewpoint the project is researching in the fields
of mobile middleware, IP-roaming, UMTS, LDAP, augmented reality and
mobile digital signatures.
From an application viewpoint the project is researching in possible
future mobile business scenarios in the construction industry, new mobile
applications, mobile usability and acceptability. The areas of applications
are progress management of construction sites, management of
deficiencies, quality control and acceptance of construction work.
1 INTRODUCTION
Construction industry in general and under the current economic situation the German
construction sector in particular is suffering from increasing complexity, tight timeschedules and budgets on the one side and decreasing profitability on the other side. ICT
is offering many opportunities to counter this situation, while huge improvements had
been achieved in this field at the level of functionality, workflow support and data
874
integration, during the recent years. Still there is room left for further innovation,
especially in the area of data integration.
New hope is rising from the benefits which are expected from new approaches in
mobile computing. Actors in the construction sector are ready to take care of these new
attempts, especially when they feel that mission critical processes could be improved,
which are cost- and time-relevant.
The MOBIKO-research therefore is following a multilevel approach which is covering
application as well as underlying and supporting technology:
MOBIKO is strongly related to future industrial application and therefore the research
of adequate scenarios with strong relevance to costs and time is one of the main tasks
in the project
Another important task is the usability-analysis of available mobile devices and user
interfaces. The construction sector has specific and challenging requirements due to
the dimensions of buildings and of their technical documents (plans). Under this
aspect also questions of wear-ability, e.g. hands-free data-entry, and robustness are
playing an important role.
In huge construction projects in addition challenges are rising from the problem of
localization issues on the site and at the same time in the documentation.
More technically MOBIKO is working on server-based services for collaborative
scenarios. The tasks
1
MOBIKO Consortium: T-Systems, Nemetschek Technology GmbH, conject AG, BIBA,

http://www.mobiko.de/
2
MobilMedia Initiative of the German Ministry of Economy and Labour,
http://www.mobilmedia.de/
Mobile cooperation in the construction industry based on wireless technology
875
in this field are trying to find out the needs where to install servers and to define
their specific roles.
A collaboration platform is intended to serve as an infrastructure through which mobile
applications used on the construction site are able to share data with their counterparts,
the main applications in the office.
Quasi the backbone of the MOBIKO-architecture is a mobile middleware which is
offering a series of basic mobile services, which can be used by the mobile
applications and server-based applications. Main functionalities of the mobile
middleware are mobile availability of IPs (IP-roaming) over the various mobile
network services (UMTS, GPRS, GSM, WLAN), secure single-sign-on of all
participating applications (based on LDAP) and others.
An additional topic of MOBIKO is a mobile portal, which should serve as an
information service for the public.
2 MOBILE SCENARIOS IN THE CONSTRUCTIONINDUSTRY

As the usage of mobile technology is fairly new in the construction sector, at the
beginning of the project there were only some vague ideas, in which specific scenarios
this industry could really gain benefit from it. The result of some research in this area was
that quite some fantasy existed on the userside, but it was not sure, whether the
considered cases were really adequate. Therefore quite some research had to be undertaken in the definition of user scenarios.
Finally, together with potential fiiture end-users it became clear, that the following
scenarios raised so much interest, that the end-users, while even not directly involved in
the project, agreed to invest resources for the requirements analysis and for future field
tests:
Progress-Management
Defect-Management
Acceptance inspection based on augmented reality
2.1 Progress-manager
One of the management problems und huge and extended constmction sites, like roadand railway-construction, is the challenge to collect up-to-date information on the current
progress of the project and its processes. The consequences are that quite often problems
are recognized too late, so that necessary counter measure activities also are undertaken
too late. This results into higher cost either for the counter measure itself, or for
consequential losses.
876
Another consequence of late knowledge of the project status is, that partial payment is
invoiced late, as well, which results into loss of interest. Any day invoices can be made
out earlier, means less loss of interest.
A new tool, the so called Progress-Manager (PM)3, should help in future to support
especially these needs:
A mobile front-end component of the PM has the role to collect progress data on the
construction site and to report back the status of the sub-processes to the back-end part of
the PM. While the back-end part is a database application, the mobile front-end is
designed to run on mobile devices. Possible candidates are either notebooks and tablet
PCs for the cases where also graphical plans have to be displayed or PDAs for the cases,
where the status can be reported alphanumerically.
The basis of the progress data to be managed by the PM is a concept called BuildElements, which helps to define the smallest process-entities which need to be
controlled. Build-Elements are also serving as containers, collecting and carrying all
additional data needed to monitor the progress status.
The source data are coming from legacy applications which are CAD and project
management software. For the import of plans an SVG interface was implemented, which
877
allows to import CAD drawings. For the import of prqject management data, which are in
particular processes, tasks and trades, interfaces for the most widely used project
management applications in the construction sector (Microsoft Project, Power Project and
Primavera) had been implemented.
At the start of the controlling workflow, progress data are loaded form the database
application into the mobile client. This can either be done by synchronization in the
office or also over any TCP/IP network. With this the synchronization can also be done
on the construction site, using wireless networks based on UMTS, GPRS or WLAN.
The next step in the workflow is the actual controlling on the construction site by
assessing the progress of single work-tasks. The collected status can be synchronized
back to the data base application, either ad-hoc on the construction site using wireless
network in time-critical situations or some times later using a cradle in the office in
normal cases.
It turned out, that there is a need to get access to the results of the monitoring not only
in the office by using the database application but also on any places outside the office.
Therefore a web-front-end for the database application was developed in addition, which
is accessible on any place, where internet connection is available. Thanks to wireless
technology based on UMTS, GPRS or WLAN, nowadays this can be done almost
everywhere.
2.2 Defect-manager
As a second valuable scenario it turned out, that management and handling of defects
gained so much interest, that also for this scenario potential end-users were willing to
provide their expertise.
It is one of the natures of building projects that unfortunately a lot of defects are
caused during the design and construction work. The bandwidth of defects is starting
from small scratches and is ending in totally wrongly constructed or wrongly designed
parts of a building. In case of big buildings the number of defects are summing up to
thousands of issues (e.g. in the case of the new Reichstag-building in Berlin, the seat of
the German Parliament, over 50.000 defects had to handled).
In the workflow of defect management, each issue has to be detected, rated, localized,
documented, related to a specific trade, fixed, controlled and its resolution finally
accepted. It turned out, that many contractors and controllers already are using database
applications for the management of defects, but that the current practice of
documentation and localization on the site has a lot of shortcomings, and that data-quality
issues caused by media gaps and manually data-reentry, are day-to-day challenges. In the
recent time already some mobile defect management application front-ends had been
offered, but they were not accepted, because they were too complicated to use. In practice
a defect inspector has only some seconds per defect as an average.
3
Progress-Manager is developed by Nemetschek Technology GmbH.
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Therefore the goal is to find a mobile solution, the so called mobile Defectmanager4 (DM), which is accepted due to easy usability and which gets rid of data-gaps
and manually data-reentry in the further workflow.
The concept, which is widely welcomed by future potential end-users, is to develop a
mobile client, which can import the topology of buildings and a catalogue of defect-types
ordered by ontology. This front-end has to have an open export-interface, so that the
collected defects easily can be sent to the already existing database defect management
applications. The mobile client itself allows localizing a defect on the basis of the
topology and space-structure of a building. The entry of documentation has to be simple
and has to be supported by the catalogue of defect types, so that defects can be described
clearly without ambiguity and without using synonyms for the same issue. The building
topology and space structure can be imported through XML-data coming e.g. from stateof-the-art building-component-oriented CAD applications.
2.3 Audit manager5
The mobile client application developed for this scenario in MOBIKO is the audit
manager6, which represents the mobile client application for construction
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site acceptance. The next figure highlights the realized within the audit manager.
Construction site acceptance generally is about comparing and documenting the progress
of construction projects with the standard conditions and contracts. Because various types
of construction acceptance are recognized within the project, different actors are involved
according to the type of acceptance.
In the audit manager, a mobile collaborative scenario is performed by highlighting the
Final Construction Acceptance. The Final Construction Acceptance officially concludes
any construction project and is significant for the initiation of the guarantee phase when
completed successfully.
At the beginning of the process, a wireless connection to the collaboration platform
via wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) is established. Due to the personalized information of
the project manager stored in an LDAP directory on the collaboration platform, a project
milestone (generated by the project management client application Progress-Manager) is
imported into the audit manager. The project milestone indicates that the construction
site. Final Acceptance is due, and additionally has an XML reference to the standard
conditions and contract. This information is required by the audit manager in order to
automatically generate an electronic acceptance template. The template consists of
questions regarding the quality and the dimensions of certain objects within the building.
These questions are to be answered by the actors during the acceptance procedure.
Eventual insufficiencies are commented and documented electronically by the project
manager. The result of the acceptance is an acceptance protocol, list of insufficiencies
and (multimedia) documentation.
It is quite common for the owner of the building and the project manager have
different opinions about the status of a certain object. In such a case, it is likely that a
neutral expert or construction authority must be consulted wirelessly per video
conference in order to discuss the subject and find a solution. This is a good
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Defect-Manager is developed by Nemetschek Technology GmbH.

Hribernik, Kirisci, Hunecke/BIBA/Mobile Applications for Collaboration in the Construction
Industry, Conference Paper for Mobile Summit 2004.
6
Audit manager is a product developed by BIBA and PRODUTEC Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH &
Co KG.
5
example for where mobile collaboration can have a time- and money-saving impact.
3 THE WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE7
The wireless infrastructure employed in MOBIKO consists of three servers fulfilling
specific roles as well as the mobile terminals used by the workers in the field (next
Figure).
Individually, the servers are:
Central (Mobiko) Server
Construction Site Server
Security Server
The Central Server is situated at the headquarters, and hosts the Collaboration Platform as
well as the main data storage for the audit manager and Progress Manager. It acts as the
central data repository and exchange server for the entire infrastructure.
The Security Server may also be located at the headquarters, and hosts the so called
Governikus Intermediar8 security application, which is used to facilitate the digital
signing of important documents generated by the system, such as Final Acceptance
Reports.
The Construction Site Server is connected to the Central Server either by a fixed wire
(e.g. DSL), GPRS or UMTS connection, depending on the construction sites location.
The Construction Site Server forms the heart of actual operations on the construction site,
as it provides the basis for the WLAN positioning of mobile terminals on-site by hosting
a Positioning Engine, and furthermore represents the major communication node by
means of which the majority of information exchange is carried out.
The MOBIKO architecture provides a Communication Layer (next figure) consisting
of a Web Service9 API covering a wide range of low-level functionality shared by all of
the applications contributing to the software suite. It furthermore offers the opportunity
for future applications to be quickly and efficiently added to the MOBIKO systems by
simply integrating them with the CL. As the CL adheres to the Web Service XML SOAP
standard, a wide variety of applications developed under diverse platforms can be
coupled to the system.
881
882
The CL supports the following functionality:

Authentication (Single sign-on)
User management
Project management
Session management
IP-Roaming
Encryption/Digital Signature
In order to provide each user with a unique identity across the MOBIKO system, as well
as to effect security
7
Kirisci, Hnecke, Hribernik, Dikici/BIBA/ A wireless solution for Mobile Collaboration on

Construction Sites, Paper on IWWAN (International Workshop on Wireless ad-hoc Networks)
2004.
8
A product of bremen online services Entwicklungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.
9
Reichmayr, Christian, 2003, Collaboration und Web Services, Architekturen, Portale, Techniken
und Beispiele, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York, ISBN 3-540-44291-X.
and user roles and rights management in a user-friendly manner detached from the
individual application, these issues are handled by the CL. On the basis of an LDAP
directory, both users and projects as well as user roles and rights are stored, managed and
replicated across the individual servers and terminals participation in a collaboration by
the CL. E.g. if a new user is added to the system in the collaboration platform and a new
project initiated on the Central Server, the CL stores the respective data into the LDAP
directory which is replicated across the system when the respective devices are next
connected. Likewise, the login of a user on a specific mobile terminal is registered and a
session established which is recognized system-wide due to the replication mechanism.
When considering mobile applications, network roaming is a primary requirement,
depending on network availability or individual applications QoS needs. The MOBIKO
CL fulfils these requirements by providing an open Web Service API for the applicationside control of IP network roaming based on existing IP-roaming products. The basic
functionality replaces the terminals network layer with an IP-roaming layer which
presents the applications with an always on situation regardless of the true network
status. If the real network status is offline, or the required QoS is not fulfilled by the
current network connection, network transmissions are cached until the requirements are
met and only then sent. This procedure is invisible to the running applications, which
continue to function normally. The user is thus not affected in his work by network status
or roaming operations. Finally, the CL also provides all MOBIKO applications with a
common, Web Service interface to the digital signature functionality of Governikus
(which is located on the Security Server as described above).
4 PROJECT STATUS
The project, which started in 2002, is currently in the state of finishing and demonstrating
functional models. Big contractors expressed already their deep interest in the results of
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this project and offered to provide their requirements in the beginning, and test fields
during and at the end of the project. The project will end in 2005.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to express his gratitude towards the German Federal Ministry of
Trade and Labour and the associated MobilMedia initiative for supporting and enabling
the research underlying this paper. Furthermore, the author would like to thank the
MOBIKO consortium as well as its subcontracting parties for their excellent cooperation
during the course of the project.
Knowledge management
Support for requirement traceability in design

computing: an integrated approach with
building data modeling
I.zkaya & .Akin
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA USA
ABSTRACT: In building design computing, there are significant number
of applications that provide organization, creation, and storage of
requirement information; however, there are few which address the
continuity of the information created through requirement traceability.
The continuity of information in the context of requirement traceability
includes carryover of the information to different design stages, change
propagation, update and history tracking. Commercial CAD applications
do not provide traceability functionalities and mechanisms for conducting
design with a design life cycle approach, spanning from early design
phases till post-construction evaluation. Tools that incorporate a data
model centered system design have the potential of subsuming advanced
design tracking capabilities; however, building data models are often
incomplete for handling requirement information and do not provide
mechanisms for behavioral operations, like traceability. In this paper, we
will present our approach of computational hybrid assistance for
requirement management in integrating requirement traceability with
design life cycle information management by utilizing building
information modeling.
1 INTRODUCTION
Requirement traceability refers to the sets of relationships that exist between
requirements, design solutions and other products of the design process. Current design
computing practice makes only limited use these sets of relationships. There are
commendable approaches to structuring the requirement information management
process (Kamara et al. 2002, Erhan & Flemming 2004), but their manual approach and
lack of overall integration with building models make them expensive and time
consuming to use. Most of the existing methods of computational requirement
traceability rely on sequential or ad hoc processes. Such processes force the designers to
either juggle the requirement information among many applications, or customize generic
applications, such as databases or spreadsheets, to fit their needs. The consequences are
not only inefficient use of the requirement information, but also bottlenecks in change
management, consistency checking and design compliance verification. Introducing
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requirement traceability tasks to computer aided architectural design environments offers

opportunities to overcome these drawbacks (Ozkaya & Akin 2003).
In this paper, we present a framework for computational hybrid assistance for
requirement management (CHARM) to integrate requirement traceability with a building
product data model for design exploration during the early phases of design. CHARM is
a process framework which supports designers both in requirement and design spaces,
creating a hybrid design exploration space (Fig. 1). The ease of switching between
requirement and design spaces is achieved by requirement-design-coupling (RDC). RDC
introduces a design space in which requirements and designs interact continuously,
augmenting the requirement specification space with the implicit requirements imposed
by design solutions. This approach aims to facilitate establishing bridges between
requirement and design information, representation and propagation of requirement
decisions in design, extraction of information from the building product data model as
requirements, and mapping of requirement decisions into and out of parallel design
decision domains.
Figure 1. CHARM framework

components.
In this paper, our objectives are to illustrate requirement relationships which can be
utilized for populating building product data models for design information traceability
and a flexible system architecture for requirement information management in
architectural design computing.
2 REQUIREMENT DATA IN BUILDING INFORMATION MODELS
A fundamental problem for requirement management is data representation. A significant
amount of research concentrates on building computational data models to solve design
Support for requirement traceability in design computing
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data and information management issues (Eastman 1999). Many of the data modeling
studies target problems of information exchange and design collaboration (Amor et al.
1995, 1999, Bjork 1991, Clayton et al. 1999, Ekholm & Fridqvist 2000, Eastman & Jeng
1999). A building data model is a product model and describes a solution instance. The
completeness of the information represented is crucial; however the format of the
information is not necessarily in the form of requirements. In a building data model, the
product-specific information is specified by design values. While building data models
bring uniformity and provide a milieu where building information can be shared, they
focus on solution aspects of the building design process. The modeled relationships
match closer to design representations, i.e. they are mostly geometric, where as
requirements do not always come as geometric constructs. For example, requirements
may denote how many stories or rooms a building has, but not necessarily how high it is
or its form. Similarly, requirements may specify the purpose of a space, but not
necessarily how large it will be. All such correlations require information mapping from
requirements to designs.
Design information exchange systems with a building product data model enforce the
participating applications to commit to a common data model. The common data model
makes it possible for the applications to share the information since they use the same
input-output mechanisms that are made possible through the data model. There are many
advantages of this system design. One is that data exchange and sharing are no longer
problems. Moreover, such a scenario structures the domain of the applications that share
the data model around a consensus which enforces communication between the
fragmented parties. The users do not have to know anything about the structure of the
data model. The whole responsibility lies on the application to format the information
created during the session in the acceptable structures described by the model.
On the other hand, there are some limitations too: a) the successful application of a
building data model requires a priori agreement on the domain objects to be used by,
including their properties and behaviors, and b) the applications that read and write the
data are predefined for successful data exchange. Referred to as the fully integrated
approach (Rolland & Cauvet 1992), this approach in which all the subsystems have to
conform to the shared model also has integration drawbacks. The data output of other
applications are hard to decompose into acceptable formats by specific applications, the
model cannot track and coordinate applications that have been applied to the model and
most importantly for our purposes, the model cannot carry the historical data and
incremental updates (Eastman 1999).
These drawbacks also have direct impact on the implementation of information
traceability. The inability to trace the applications manipulating the data and the lack of
incremental updates break the data dependencies, hence make traceability harder to
implement. These limitations are currently circumvented by employing one central model
in one phase of building to a central model used in the succeeding phase, for example
from design to construction, referred to as the federated approach (Rolland & Cauvet
1992). The federated approach supports using one central model in one phase of building
to a central model used in the succeeding phase, for example from design to construction.
This approach puts the responsibility of controlling the information to be shared to the
specific applications, each of which is responsible of managing its own interactions with
the rest of the information sources and targets in the system.
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Snyder and Flemming (1999) also list robustness of information exchange,

semantically correct concept mapping and variable rate of information changes as critical
criteria that current building product information models do not address. Snyder and
Flemmings SPROUT approach, which has been employed in the SEED project
(Flemming & Woodbury 1995), promotes an information integration environment
founded around a schema specification language. In this scenario the subsystems that
participate in a collaborative scenario specify their information using the schema
specification language constructs. By agreeing beforehand to the subsets of the
information that needs to be shared, the subsystems gain flexibility in the remaining of
their local functionalities since the schema specification language allows them to
augment their local data models without affecting the shared model (Snyder & Flemming
1999). A modeling language based approach allows handling changes to objects over
time while maintaining historical records and the specification of behavioral properties
like constraints. However, it still needs to operate under a linear scenario where
information tracking is not an outcome of the modeling environment, but it is a
functionality that the users need to enforce through convoluted and possibly error prone
steps.
The biggest challenge of building data modelsincluding the most widely used
building product data model both in industry and academia lately, the Industry
Foundation Classes (IFC) by International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI)for
information traceability is the lack of repeatable and computable protocols to model and
trace the information back and forth different stages of design. In the next section, we
will exemplify common structural requirement relationships and their modeling
counterparts to demonstrate the concepts of repeatable and computable protocols.
3 STRUCTURING THE REQUIREMENT INFORMATION
Structuring of requirements is the phase of CHARM in which the relationships between
specific requirements of the given design project are formed (Fig. 1). Since designers
cannot refer to a complete list of requirements at each instance of the solution path, the
tendency is to try to think of general relationships between them. Which requirements can
be derived from another? Which are directly affected by a change in the other? Which are
independent from the rest? Hierarchy, indexing, classification, association, dependency,
and implication relationships aid in building a well-formed structure to capture complex
relationships to help address these questions. These relationships also form the paths for
tracking the information in the requirement space providing pointers to design instances.
3.1 Examples of requirement relationships
The examples we present in this section are selected from the requirements that we
elicited during the Carnegie Mellon University, Intercultural Communication Center
(ICC) case study. The design problem was to analyze whether the current space
allocation of ICC meets the requirements of the services that the center provides. The
total area of the four rooms that ICC owns in Warner Hall of Carnegie Mellon University,
an office building, is 848 sf. The approximate total area of Warner Hall is 51, 120 sf.
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There are a total of six floors, each of which houses about 25 rooms plus service areas.
Scale wise the ICC space corresponds to 1.6% of the total building area; hence is a small
scale problem.
3.1.1 Forming hierarchies
Forming hierarchies refers to the process of establishing parent-child relationships, which
also is commonly known as is-a relationship.
Requirement A: Classrooms shall have an area between 144 sf. to 400 sf.
Requirement B: Tutoring rooms can have the smallest area.
Structural Relationship: Requirement B is a requirement A; both specify spatial
requirements.
The generality of the parent requirement is in defining plausible areas of classrooms.
This is further specified by the child requirement for tutoring rooms. They share spatial
requirement specifications as their inherited trade. Notice though the parents and children
do not need to be both specified quantitatively. Numeric versus string, fixed versus
ranges, ordinal versus coordinal values are possible to model when the overarching
definition encapsulates the hierarchy semantics, in this case the fact that they are both
spatial requirements.
The depth of the inheritance tree can grow as much as needed, i.e. the children can
also have children in this structure. A hierarchical treatment of requirements, as the
example demonstrates, supports the requirement-to-requirement, requirement-to-design
and design-to-design relationships to be explored. Consequently, lateral relationships, i.e.
relationships on the same level of the hierarchy tree are also possible for requirements.
3.1.2 Indexing
In the context of CHARM, indexing refers to metadata about requirements in general
such as date created, priority, creator, deadline and the like. It is important to note that
these are not simply attributes of a requirement, they may change across prqjects and the
user may need to alter their definition.
Requirement A: Teaching staff office spaces shall have area between 30 sf. to 144 sf.
Requirement A.Priority: Medium
Requirement A.Source: ANSI Standards on schools
Requirement A.Created by: Ozkaya
Structural Relationship: Priority, source and created-by are example metadata
categories.
The indexes can be user defined. A metadata based approach allows project
organization capabilities. For example a decision as assign all requirements from ANSI
standards high priority can be propagated easily. The priority then can be used in
constraint satisfaction. Moreover, the indexes also aid in filtering the information.
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3.1.3 Classification
A class is a defined grouping of entities in which the members fulfill the definition of the
class and can be listed. Classification is the process of associating a requirement with one
or more requirement classes.
Requirement A: In class activities require the students to practice out loud. The
neighboring spaces of classrooms should be allocated accordingly.
Structural Relationship: Acoustic requirement, privacy requirement, adjacency
requirement are possible classes for Requirement A.
Classification of requirements enforce a type based structure on the data, hence
facilitates the treatment of commonalities between several requirements. A hierarchy of
categories can also be constructed. Multiple categories can be assigned to requirements.
While classification relationship can be a lower level, application programming decision
where classes are predefined, it can also be a run-time functionality to offer flexibility to
the users.
3.1.4 Association
An association is a simple relationship between two or more entities. When one
requirement has, uses, knows about, or is acquainted with another requirement there is an
association between these two. This concept is widely used in object-oriented
programming.
Requirement A: The staff needs a separate working space.
Requirement B: Certain activities can share spaces provided that sharing a common
space does not degrade the service capacity of ICC for that activity.
Structural Relationship: Requirement A is associated with Requirement B; association
type: uses.
3.1.5 Dependency
Dependencies cover the relationships that may not necessarily be represented by a
hierarchy. In conventional requirement management tools, like those used in systems
engineering Rational Requisite Pro by IBM, Doors by Telelogic, Caliber by Borland are
typical examples, dependency structures are represented as traced-to and traced-from
tuples. Further information on how we evaluate requirement management and traceability
methods in close disciplines can be found in other publications (Ozkaya et al. 2004).
While these provide a mechanism to navigate through the requirement space, they are not
always cognitively clear for users. Dependencies that can potentially denote the direction
of change are easier to structure; hence make the application more usable.
Requirement A: All the teaching spaces should be in close proximity to each other.
Requirement B: In class activities require the students to practice out loud. The
Structural Relationship: Requirement A depends on Requirement B; the level of
proximity can be defined as a function of the characteristics of the activities.
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The structure referenced here should not be mixed with a building product data model.
The dependencies on a building product data model span constructability relationships.
Relationships like part-of, is-a, has-a, and associations are the main relationships in this
context. These relationships do not always include requirement dependencies which
expand on associations as multiple types of associations. Moreover, inverse relationships,
e.g. as day light increases artificial lighting should decrease, are not covered directly, but
most of the time these are embedded in procedures. These forms of relationships surface
more in requirement information structures, which are not necessarily required in
building product data models.
3.1.6 Implication
Implication is a special form of dependency relationship. Implications are requirements
that are not stated explicitly, but emerge as a result of the other conditions imposed on the
problem. Implications are very easy to confuse with parent-child relationships. Parentchild relationships involve commonalities to exist in between requirements. Dealing with
implications requires active user participation.
Requirement A: There is a need for a reception/ waiting area where the students can
sign up without interfering with the rest of the activities.
RequirementB: Reception, sign up and waiting activities shall be supported.
Structural Relationship: Requirement A implies Requirement B (note that
Requirement B is not initially given).
Another example is:
Requirement A: All the teaching spaces should be in close proximity to each other.
RequirementB: In class activities require the students to practice out loud. The
Requirement C: The acoustic performance is a function of the proximity of the spaces.
Structural Relationship: Requirement A and Requirement B imply Requirement C.
Implications also emerge as design progresses and affect the rest of the requirements.
All structural component decisions are loaded with implied requirements that the
designers not only have to be aware of, but also trace to the rest of the design.
3.2 Modeling implications
Forming hierarchies and classification can be modeled as is-a, and categorization of
metadata can be covered by has-a relationships. Dependencies are more challenging, they
require more input from the designer, therefore, tools to assist dependencies need to build
on top of a requirement navigation strategy and associations can be left to the designer to
decide. Traceability paths also form during requirement generation tasks. The structural
relationships assist in formulating the traceability paths.
Table 1 presents these relationships using requirements for an individual language
tutoring room as an example. Wherever applicable the relationships are further explained
by the commonly known is-a, has-a, part-of relationships. An association covers both
part-of and has-a relationships. The both sides of the relationship are not always of the
same nature, i.e. in some relationships two requirements are related, in others
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requirements are related to higher level concepts. This further exemplifies the complex
nature of requirements structuring problem.
In order to observe the conformity issues of building information models to
requirements data we also modeled our example relationships using IFCs. IFCs are
incomplete for requirement data modeling; however in our exercise we observed a more
compelling outcome in terms of modeling requirements. The requirement information is
dispersed into a building information model. While it is possible to package requirements
information into a sub-model domain, providing traceability links to other design phases
inevitably enforces a dispersed approach where requirements information is represented
in conjunction with design information. The user interactions which will facilitate the
population of the information model and utilization of this information are critical due to
the nature of the situated semantic reasoning involved in modeling requirements.
Table 1. Examples of requirement structuring

relationships.
Relationship Form
Example
Association
A (part-of) B
Tutoring room is part-of the education wing
Association
A (has-a) B
Tutoring room has-a PC
Hierarchy
A (is-a) B
Tutoring room is-a classroom, a classroom is-a room, a room

is-an enclosed space
Classification A (is-a) B
Tutoring room is-a spatial requirement
Dependency
A (depends-on) B
Number of tutoring rooms depend-on number of students
Implication
A (implies) B
Tutoring room implies video-conferencing equipment
Indexing
A (is-referencedby)B
Tutoring room is-referenced-by high priority requirements
4 HIGH-LEVEL SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

In order to support traceability a requirement needs to allow multiple relationships to be
represented. This approach combines a data centric representation suggested by the
structuring phase of the CHARM framework, with an object-oriented one. Objectoriented modeling does not meet all the needs of the information management problem in
architectural design (Amor & Faraj 2001). A hybrid approach where the building data
model can be used with more complex data representation schemes provides a richer
representation for providing tracing between requirement and design spaces.
One of the core challenges of CHARM is the proposed links to design structures using
the structural relationships discussed in Section 3.1. Establishing these links requires a
flexible, extendible, formal and derivable information structure in order for the designer
to build the traceability links with ease. There are parallel information structures to
handle the RDC for information traceability within the requirement space, as well as
between requirements and designs. One of these data structures is a building product data
model, while the other is the requirement data structure. The other components in the
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high-level contextual system description of the CHARM system are a drafting

environment, the RDC process integration sub-system, and the requirement manipulation
tasks sub-system (Fig. 2).
In CHARM, traceability between requirements and designs is achieved by linking a
local requirement structure of a project to a corresponding design solution represented in
a building product data model. CHARM handles the requirement data within a cyclic
graph which can be extended to support user defined relationships. By maintaining
parallel data structures, namely the requirement structure and the building product data
model, each design solution representation is augmented by its corresponding
requirement model. The links between these two data structures are bi-directional; the
requirements know about the design instances and design instances know by which
requirement structure it was instantiated. The hybrid approach pursued by CHARM
where a building product data model can be used with more complex data representation
schemes provides a rich information representation domain. This approach has the
following advantages:
Figure 2. CHARM high-level system

design.
The selection of the building product data model is not dependent on how well it
represents requirements; therefore it brings flexibility to the design environment.
Handling implied requirements no longer depends only on a component based view of
the built environment.
The populated building product data model can be referenced based on the requirement
information. This approach facilitates increased usability of the data model as design
progresses.
Many-to-many relationships can be generated between requirements and design
solutions.
The designer can interact with the various components of the system such as
requirements and CAD domains, or she can interact with the CHARM system as a whole.
The purpose of the parallel structures (requirements graph in the requirement data
structure and the building product data model) is not to check the compliance of one data
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structure over the other. On the contrary, the goal is to use them together to ease the shifts
from requirements to designs. In fact, this scenario represents a very realistic situation in
CAD where not all parties always can agree on a feasible communication model.
Similarly, populating a data model is not always the solution needed. Most often, the
needs of the users are not limited with data sharing, but also involve the ability to use
complex operations during design. Augmenting an existing model with requirement
information does not provide the complex tasks to be carried out during requirement
traceability. Creating a data model for information exchange solves only part of the
problem. It is necessary to use the information that resides in the model in order to test
the viability of this information for computational design exploration during early phases
of design.
Most exemplary commercial applications that use a product data model claim objectorientation to be their governing principles. However, most are in fact object-based.
That is abstractions to object level representations from the domain of the user are
supported, such as wall, door, etc. CAD applications like AutoCAD Architectural
Desktop, Microstation Triforma, ArchiCAD and the like are object-based systems (Amor
& Faraj 2001). Any data model compliance is an export operation. The users can only
benefit from the dependencies supported in the data model during the design sessions if
the underlying information framework of the application uses the same logic as that of
the product data model. This paradigm is significantly different in truly object-oriented
prototypes, where reuse, ftmctionality and inheritance are supported. The designer can
utilize the advantages of the underlying data structures for design support. In the
CHARM system the RDC, requirement manipulation tasks and the requirement structure
are demonstrated using an object-oriented paradigm.
The prototype CHARM system needs to interact with multiple components. To
demonstrate the interaction of requirements with design, the drawing capabilities of an
existing CAD tool can be used. The system design approach can assume a CAD tool to
utilize its application programming interface (API) for design components. The core
requirements on the CAD tool selection are a flexible API with an object-oriented
structure and product data model compliance. Among the CAD tools surveyed the
capabilities of Revit is the most suitable for experimenting with parametric design and
requirement information, however Revit does not have an API for third party application
developers. MicroStation recently switched to a C# based API and is integrating research
based efforts, but does not support a core product data model. ArchiCAD is the most
compliant CAD tool with IFCs, the most widely used building product data model
standard. Its API kit uses the C language, which is not an object-oriented language. The
lack of an object-oriented API introduces bottlenecks such as labor intensive mapping
modules between different languages, inability to define complex relationships using
object-oriented constructs, and being too dependent on the CAD tool of choice. In order
to address these challenges and changing CAD scenarios, CHARM system design
implements the possibility of integration with a possible prototype design environment as
well.
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4.1 Charm prototype system

For the prototype implementation, we use a hybrid system architecture, comprising
layered and model-view-controller system design styles.
A layer is a set of subsystems that share the same degree of generality and interface
volatility. Lower levels are general to several applications and must have more stable
interfaces, while higher levels are more application specific. The idea is to facilitate those
working on higher levels to build on top of the more stable lower levels (Nagbhushan et
al. 1999, Shaw & Garlan 1996). In layered systems there is a hierarchical organization
where each layer provides service to the layer above it and serves as a client to the layer
below. The advantage of layered systems is the high levels of abstraction which allow
partitioning a complex problem into incremental steps. Each layer can be composed of
multiple sub-systems, which gives an added flexibility to the system. The layered
architecture will aid in minimizing the risks of CAD tool dependency.
Figure 3. The layered system design.

CHARM system has a five layer system design (Fig. 3). Requirement manipulation,
requirement navigation, drafting environment and the building product data model make
up these layers. Each of the layers are further structured depending on the functionalities
the layer should carry. In strictly layered systems the communication is limited between
two adjacent layers; however there can be variations depending on the application
domain. In the case of the CHARM system the drafting environment is one of the layers
where the strict hierarchical communication schema of a layered system needs to be
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broken and the CAD application can communicate with the building product data model
as well as the requirement manipulation layer.
4.1.1 Requirement manipulation layer
The purpose of the requirement manipulation layer is to encapsulate the functionalities
for managing requirements information. Requirement manipulation layer is further subdivided into requirement manipulation tasks and utilities layers.
The requirement manipulation tasks layer accesses the utilities layer for any
realization mechanisms such as consistency checking, traceability path generation, and
visualization, to aid information traceability. An important advantage of the layered
system design is leveraged in this layer. During low level design new tasks may arise to
assist the predefined requirement manipulation tasks (constraint management, tracking,
propagation, relationship building, and verification as represented in Figure 1). Or as
stated earlier, each task may require multiple sub-tasks, which may share realization
mechanisms. For example constraint management and propagation, which are
requirement manipulation ftmctionalities in CHARM, both will need to use consistency
checking, a realization mechanism which other tasks may also access. The requirement
manipulation tasks provide the logic of the requirement manipulation functionalities,
while the utilities layer provides the utility services to be used.
Figure 4. Internal logic of CAD

application specific layer.
Utilities layer contains the algorithmic solutions to achieve the outlined goals for the
prototype CHARM application. The services provided in the utilities layer used may be
needed to implement several process tasks. New tasks may need to enter the scenario. In
addition, alternative routines may need to be employed depending on the devised
requirement structure.
4.1.2 Requirement navigation layer
The navigation structure layer, the resulting structure of the requirements, serves as the
map to move along for the higher level systems. This layer is responsible for the
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requirement graph as well as the process integration through RDC. Similar to the
requirement manipulation layer the requirement structure is separated from the RDC
implementation to allow flexibility and extendibility.
4.1.3 Drafting environment layer
The drafting environment layer is the CAD application-specific layer. This layer is the
most unstable layer because there are not true object-oriented CAD systems and they do
not integrate information management capabilities. This layer places the integration
responsibility on the CAD suite should the CHARM system become a useful extension to
CAD applications. There may be multiple possible candidate applications for this layer,
each with its own interpreter. The internal logic of this layer would then be as shown in
Figure 4. This structure minimizes the integration with any necessary mapping engines
and interpreters. The challenges that lie here are mostly CAD application specific issues,
which will change with application of choice. While this is not a desirable overhead, it is
necessary to test the viability of integrating information management with design.
In this design, the CHARM tool will not need to be aware of the CAD tool. This will
increase the integrability of the tool with multiple CAD applications. It will also allow
the tool to be used as a stand alone requirement manager only relying on the structuring
on the explicit requirements, not considering the requirements that emerge during design.
This implies that the application could be operated in two modes, one as a stand alone
requirement manager, and one as a component of CAD. Such a dual mode operation will
increase the usability of the prototype system. When running as a stand alone application
the CHARM system can serve as an information management tool.
4.1.4 Building product data model layer
The lowest layer, the data model will supply the design information. In the CHARM
system an existing product data model will be used because the objective of the project is
not to demonstrate a feasible data model, but the goal is to prototype connectivity of
requirement and design spaces. Due to its wide acceptance and support in commercial
CAD tools we are using IFCs with CHARM.
4.2 Implications of the system design
In the hybrid system, each layer needs to provide the view to its neighboring layers, the
control for layer specific operations and model for the domain representation of the layer.
Hence an internal layer will have two views, one for its server, the layer below, one for
its client the layer above. Through these strict separations we aim to facilitate the use of a
complex behavior such as traceability over the existing requirement information.
5 CONCLUSION
In this paper, we presented our approach to integrate requirement traceability with design
computing environments. After briefly presenting the process framework, CHARM, we
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mainly focused on the requirement relationships that form the core of the traceability
functionalities we envision. We described the high-level system architecture we use. We
pointed out in our system design the design decisions to facilitate integration of
requirement information with existing building information models for achieving
traceability functionalities as a behavioral aspect of building information models.
Traceability functionalities are centered on the ability to track the decisions both back
and forth. When changes occur, traceability allows the notification of the designer,
automated propagation of changed values when possible and automated checking for
inconsistencies. We envision that the requirement relationship structures suggested by the
CHARM framework will provide a structure where tool based requirement traceability
can be studied and integrated with CAD environments.
We consider the possibility of augmenting computational design with a robust
requirement tracing functionality most promising for improving design computation. A
sound requirement structure which has design awareness using relationship building,
constraint management, propagation, tracking and verification tasks has several
immediate contributions to the computational design process. These can take different
guises: as a design assistant, as a change manager, as an intent tracker, as a stakeholder
communication enhancer, as an error tracker, and as an information navigator. Our future
work involves completing the prototype implementation and testing it for viable design
scenarios.
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Interlinking unstructured text information

with model-based project data: an approach to
product model based information mining
S.-E.Schapke & R.J.Scherer
Institute for Construction Informatics, TU Dresden, Germany
ABSTRACT: Even with an increasing integration of model-based systems
with project information spaces, a large percentage of the business and
engineering knowledge in AEC/FM is still captured implicitly in isolated
and often poorly structured text documents. In this paper we propose a
Bayesian Network based mining framework utilising product model data
as a primary source of engineering knowledge to support domain-specific
information retrieval as well as re-organisation and re-contextualisation of
document information. Central to the framework is a four layer Bayesian
Network enabling to combine methods for analysing text documents and
filtering product models in an evidential reasoning process. Capturing,
combining and visualising available analyses results as well as the current
mining context, the network allows for explicitly representing the
knowledge on document repositories in semantic content networks
according to a users task and information needs. Furthermore, we expect
the mining network, explicitly interlinking document and product model
information, to support the understanding of the interrelations among the
two domains as well as the exploration of new retrieval, mining and
integration approaches.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the construction industry most business and engineering knowledge is still captured
implicitly, in large project and corporate document repositories. Even with an increasing
integration of model-based systems with project information spaces, a large percentage of
the information exchange will still rely on isolated and often little structured text
documents. Current product model standards such as the IFCs provide classes to
reference documents, but the efficient interlinking among the numerous documents and
related modelling objects remains an unsolved task. To be able to integrate document
information with operational model based information systems there is a need to
automatically externalise and track information from common text documents.
Numerous standardised document schemata have been developed for exchanging
machine and at the same time human readable information e.g. for bidding, tendering and
controlling. Furthermore, AEC/FM specific ontologies providing for more detailed
content tagging based on common semantics have been explored to more flexibly access
Interlinking unstructured text information with model-based project data
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document information from applications not directly related to a source document (cf.
e.g. Lima et al. 2002, Tolman et al. 2001). Within related domains we expect these
structure based approaches to quite successfully allow for exchanging and versioning
information among intelligent or smart documents and corresponding modelbased
systems. However, developing expressive and consistent ontologies spanning multiple
disciplines as well as monitoring the numerous relations among documents and
information models remains a challenging (if at all possible) task.
For a flexible and sustainable reuse of information supporting ad-hoc location of
information in documents for operations as well as knowledge management, it is
necessary to utilise additional context information and appropriate background
knowledge. A more detailed analysis of the document content is required in the absence
of suitable structure and semantics. Information needs of diverse disciplines, different
types of information requests and various mental models need to be considered to
effectively retrieve and re-contextualise information from the heterogeneous document
repositories in AEC/FM.
In recent years several studies have demonstrated the applicability of respective Text
Mining techniques in selected fields of AEC/FM e.g. for information and keyword
extraction and document classification (cf. e.g. Kosovac et al. 2000, Caldas et al. 2002).
However, most of these approaches assume widely harmonised repositories and/or
require a great amount of background knowledge and training for single, domain-specific
analysis tasks.
To externalise document information in AEC/FM practice a flexible framework is
required that allows for recognising available context and domain knowledge as well as
for combining results of structure as well as context based document analyses at the same
time. For information integration with semantic product models both numerical and
statistical methods for language processing and knowledge discovery as well as model or
even logic based methods for model integration should be supported.
This paper presents a probabilistic information mining framework proposed by the
authors that first of all allows for recognising product model information as a source of
background knowledge in information retrieval. Using a Bayesian Network approach it
provides for modelling related probabilistic retrieval, mining and reasoning processes.
The framework is not intended to replace existing models optimised for common retrieval
and mining tasks, but to represent a common basis to rapidly explore alternative
combinations of the available information on the document and its content as well as to
integrate additional methods for their analysis.
Central to the framework is a four layer Bayesian Network adapted from probabilistic
Information Retrieval models developed during the 90s. Capturing, combining and
visualising the results of various text and model analyses as well as representing aspects
of the current mining context, the network allows for explicitly representing the
knowledge on the repository in personalisable semantic content networks. The network
first of all provides for retrieving and mining information from documents repositories.
However, we expect the explicit interlinking of the document and the product model
domain to also support the understanding of the available interrelations and the
exploration of new retrieval, mining and integration strategies.
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2 BAYESIAN NETWORK MODELS FOR INFORMATION

RETRIEVAL
Bayesian Network based Information Retrieval models provide a theoretically sound and
at the same time very flexible framework that allows for recognising different sources of
evidence as well as several representation and weighing schemes in Information Retrieval
(cf. Turtle & Croft 1991, Baeza-Yates & Ribeiro-Neto 1999, Indrawan et al. 1994, de
Campos et al. 2002).
Bayesian Networks are directed acyclic graphs, the nodes being random variables of a
problem to be solved (here finding relevant information) and the arcs the causal
relationships among them (Pearl 1988). The graphs represent knowledge qualitatively,
showing the (in)dependencies among variables, and quantitatively, expressing the
strength of these dependencies by means of conditional probability distributions. For each
node, the parents of that node reflect all its direct causes given by a respective set of
conditional probability distributions. From these conditional distributions we can recover
a downsized decomposition of the joint probability distribution over all nodes, due to the
independencies encoded in the graph.
Bayesian Network based Information Retrieval models associate index terms,
documents, user queries and users information needs with random variables to model the
retrieval task as an evidential reasoning process. In this context, the observation of a
document, index or query term is considered to be the cause for an increased belief in the
respective variable that can be further propagated throughout the network.
The first network retrieval model called Inference Network Model was suggested by
Turtle & Croft (1991). It is depicted on the left in Figure 1. The static knowledge on the
document collection is obtained in a classical indexing process and represented in a
document sub-network composed of document nodes dj, text nodes fk and concept nodes
ti. On three layers these nodes represent binary variables corresponding to the events of
having observed respective documents, text fragments or content elements contained
therein as well as descriptive concept representations such as index terms or keywords
assigned to the text. The arcs are going from the document to the fragment and from the
fragment to the concept nodes, wherever a fragment (or concept) has been observed
within the document (or fragment respectively).
Correspondingly, binary random variables are used to model the users information
needs in a one-time query sub-network on two layers. Interconnecting the two subnetworks an information node Ix is depended on query nodes qy expressing the
information need and indirectly on the relevance of the corresponding concept nodes. The
variables on each of the layers are considered to be independent given the probabilities of
the nodes on the preceding layer. In the retrieval process the documents are ranked
determining the posterior probabilities at the information node for each single document
node having been assigned the status relevant.
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Figure 1. Models of Bayesian Network

based information retrieval.
Most later network models assume the opposite causal ordering. Firstly, it is more
intuitive to speak of a probability of a document being relevant given the evidences
represented in the network than vice versa and secondly only one propagation step is
required to propagate the probabilities triggered by a new query throughout the whole
network (Indrawan et al. 1994, Baeza-Yates & Ribeiro-Neto 1999, de Campos et al.
2002).
One of these latter suggestions is the Bayesian Network Retrieval Model developed by
De Campos, Fernandez-Luna and Huete (de Campos et al. 2001, de Campos et al. 2002)
and illustrated on the right in Figure 1. In contrast to the preceding network this model
does not explicitly represent query nodes. It simulates a query by instantiating the
respective concept representation nodes. Several extensions to the basic network model
(illustrated by the nodes and arcs rendered in continuous lines in Figure 1) have been
proposed by the authors to account for users relevance feedback and interdependencies
among terms and documents (see items rendered in dashed lines in Figure 1 and cf. de
Campos et al. 2001, de Campos et al. 2002) as well as to provide for structured document
retrieval (Crestiani et al. 2003).
Adapting the nodes probability distributions, Turtle & Croft (1991) have
demonstrated that respective retrieval networks can represent different Boolean as well as
probabilistic retrieval models using classical Bayesian inference. However, due to the
typically great number of interdependent document and term nodes most retrieval
systems substitute parts of the propagation process. Equal results are obtained employing
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a single probability function considering pre-computed index and/or term weights that is
called during the propagation process.
The concept nodes are typically used to represent classical index terms extracted from
the text. However, the concept nodes can also indicate other concept representations such
as manually assigned keywords, document type features, related metadata or differently
weighed index terms. Conceptually this is a major advantage to the traditional
Information Retrieval models in that it allows for considering multiple document
representation and weighing schemes in parallel.
The above brief discussion shows that Bayesian Network based retrieval models
enable flexible storing and interrelating various information and evidences used in
Information Retrieval processes. The explicit visualisation of the diverse variables and
their influence on the retrieval results supports the understanding of the relations among
the text and document as well as the users information domain. For these reasons the
Bayesian Network Retrieval Model has been chosen as basis for the suggested mining
framework described in the following.
3 THE DOKMOSIS MINING NETWORK
Central to the suggested mining framework is the four layer Bayesian inference network
shown on Figure 2.
Figure 2. Four layer mining network.

On each layer a respective sub-network describes the knowledge on a certain domain by a
distinctive set of binary variables. The combined network is used, in an evidential
reasoning process, to re-configure the collected information to most effectively support
various retrieval or mining approaches, i.e. the available structure and context
information is canonized and weighted for a combined analysis. The network layers
represent the following domains:
1 The product model layer represents knowledge on the product domain acquired from
general or project specific product data models.
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2 The concept layer represents knowledge on the engineering and mining context e.g.
acquired through user interaction or provided by AEC/FM specific ontologies and
context services.
3 The descriptor layer represents knowledge on the content of AEC/FM documents e.g.
their structure, language and elements. It can be built from general thesauri and
content schemata as well as from indices of the collection.
4 The document layer represents the knowledge on the specific document collection to be
searched for information, which can again be obtained through an analysis of the
collection itself.
To evaluate the suggested mining network a document and knowledge modelling suite
(dokmosis) is being implemented, that integrates several analysis modules to build the
respective sub-networks. A first basic network configuration utilising selected text and
model analyses is described in the following subsections, discussing the networks
variables and functionalities in more detail.
3.1 Building the repository network
The repository (sub)network is comprised of the document and the descriptor layer. In the
basic version of the network it mainly implements the pure Bayesian Network Retrieval
Model discussed in section 2. It represents the knowledge on the document collection
using document nodes dj and fragment nodes fk on the document layer as well as
descriptor nodes ti on the descriptor layer. The two layers are built using three text related
analysis modules of the dokmosis suite.
Firstly, a document collection module provides for importing documents and
converting them to a common format based on a small subset of the DocBook
specification (http://www.oasis-open.org/). The intention is to preserve basic structural
information on sections, headers and figures for subsequent analyses.
Secondly, a heuristic fragmentation algorithm is used to compile text paragraphs into
equally large, self-contained text fragments to allow for more focused information
retrieval. The resulting part-of relations are represented by arcs connecting the
corresponding fragment and document nodes.
Thirdly, the fragments text content is pre-processed, performing tokenisation,
morphological analysis as well as stop-word removal.
Indexing the pre-processed fragments a vector space model considering raw term
frequencies is built. Using Boolean, natural, logarithmic or augmented term weighing, the
conditional probability distributions of fragment nodes are configured for exact Bayesian
inference as follows.
Considering all index terms to be equally important we can assume a marginal
probability distribution of p(ti=true)=1/M and p(ti=false)=11/M with M being the
number of index terms for each concept node. For the possible value combinations of all
the conditional probabilities p(fk|t1, ti) are computed by the sum of the
respective normalized term weights. Thus, using exact Bayesian inference, for each
fragment we obtain the following posterior probability given a query Q and e.g. natural
term weighing:
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(1)
with: wik=(1+log tfi, k) log idfi

tfi, k: frequency of term ti in fragment fk
idf: inverse document frequency of term ti
It is notable that in eq. (1) also the fragment terms not included in the query contribute
to p(fk|Q) with their prior probability. Thus the resulting relevahce for a given fragment
only qualitatively matches the respective scalar product calculation used in classical
vector model based information retrieval.
Considering only Boolean dependencies among the descriptor and the adjacent
concept nodes on the left, the marginal distributions can be adopted straightforward when
later conditioning on the variables of the concept layer.
3.2 Building the knowledge model network
The product model and the concept model layer together represent the configurable
knowledge model used to trigger and control Information Retrieval and mining processes.
In the basic version, the knowledge model network represents the users knowledge by
product model classes denoted pm and engineering concepts cx similar to the one-time
query network introduced in section 2. The two layers are generated in the following
consecutive analysis steps.
Firstly, the product model data to be considered is imported, transformed and
represented on the product model layer. In the basic version the underlying knowledge
model is restricted to a set of classes obtained from a product model server. For this
purpose the dokmosis suite integrates a client to the iCSS product model server (iCSS
2002) that has been complemented with methods to identify both the classes defined in an
EXPRESS schema as well as those used in corresponding instantiated product models.
For each class in the returned set, an independent node is added to the product model
layer.
Secondly, ontological information is used to derive a discipline specific concept model
from the available product model information. For this purpose the dokmosis suite uses
an adapted version of the ontology interpreter developed in the EU ISTforCE project that
enables translating of model information based on respective engineering ontologies
(Katranuschkov et al. 2003). To achieve an easy to process discipline-specific flattened
network, the ontological mapping specifications are confined to mappings that filter or
aggregate classes from the original set. Thus, for the time being, only Boolean relations
interlinking corresponding model and concept variables are represented in the knowledge
model network while independence is assumed among all nodes on the same layer.
Finally, the specifications have been complemented with lexical descriptors to label each
engineering concept with suitable terms. Thus, in the basic network, the concepts
essentially represent the names of selected product model classes.
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3.3 Querying the network

To provide for reasoning on the overall mining network the knowledge model and the
repository network are interconnected, mapping the concept labels to the descriptor
nodes. Again, only Boolean dependencies are considered in the basic network
configuration.
However, even in this basic version, the presented mining network provides for new
possibilities to formulate queries and to express information needs. In parallel to
initiating a full text search on the descriptor layer, discipline specific concepts or model
classes can be instantiated. Exemplary data models as well as common engineering
classification schemes can be used to visualise the indices on the three top layers.
Furthermore, the interlinking of the document and the model domain should already
supports collecting information elements such as punch list items documenting errors and
omissions corresponding to certain building elements for subsequent information analysis
and combination.
4 EXTENDING THE MINING NETWORK
The described basic mining network can be beneficially extended in several ways. On
each layer reasonable representation schemes and typical interdependencies among the
variables can be identified to increase the expressiveness of the mining network. Selected
extensions, currently under development, are described in the following subsections and
shown on Figure 3.
4.1 Extensions to the repository network
All three extensions to the repository network target the descriptor layer with the aim to
allow for considering additional evidences in the retrieval process.
4.1.1 Considering term interdependencies
The first extension to the mining network accounts for term interdependencies in natural
language text. The goal is to increase the influence of the comparably few labelled
concept nodes and, respectively, the recall of network-based information retrieval.
The descriptor nodes ti in Figure 3 illustrate the consideration of undirected
dependencies such as term similarities and synonyms in the network. To ensure a directed
acyclic graph, the descriptor nodes are duplicated and interconnected one-to-one.
Inserting additional arcs and probability distributions the term similarities obtained from
thesauri or a term similarity analysis of the collection can be modelled. Directed links for
e.g. sub-terms are neglected in this network graph.
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4.1.2 Considering structural meta-information

To be able to account for available structural information on the documents content, we
propose to consider a second representation scheme on the descriptor layer depicted by
the nodes sk.
Bayesian Networks (or respective extensions) for structured based document retrieval
have been proposed e.g. by Piwowarski et al. (2002) and Crestiani et al. (2003), both
representing the complete hierarchical structure of the document schema in the network.
However, due to the rather diverse schemata used in AEC/FM as well as to limit the
complexity of the network the relations among the schema concepts are not explicitly
modelled in this representation scheme (in contrast to the previously described term subnetwork). If necessary, indirect relations among fragments and structural concepts can be
considered by differently weighted relational arcs.
The content meta information provides additional context information on the users
domain of interest. Moreover, AEC/FM specific content schemata of e.g. specifications,
punch lists or protocols can provide for strong evidences that the content obeys certain
syntax and semantics to support further information identification and extraction.
4.1.3 Considering entity representations
A third representation schema denoted eg is used to represent named entities and content
objects embedded
Figure 3. Extended mining network.
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within the fragments. The entities can be identified through previously assigned labels as
well as further content analysis. Due to the limited semantics of most AEC/FM
documents, the dokmosis suite implements the following two analyses to recognise
entities within the text content. All other content objects such as tables, figures, graphs,
etc. are omitted in the current dokmosis version.
Firstly, the text analysis module provides for direct, regular expression based entity
recognition of persons, organisations, addresses, codes and regulations, scales, formulas.
For a given collection this expressions-base can be supplemented with additional
expressions as well as lexica of e.g. building systems, product names or construction
equipment.
Secondly, an information extraction module based on the SpecEx Extractor (Grimme
2003) is implemented, that identifies information elements such as actors, tasks and
responsibilities within fimctional, full-text work specifications. Supporting the
information extractor the text pre-processing of the work specifications includes sentence
identification and part of speech tagging as well as the above described entity
recognition. Manually labelled work specifications are used to train instance-based
classifiers for different named entity types providing for automatic identification of
respective information in new documents. This exemplary implementation will provide a
first indication of the potentials of respective extractors.
4.2 Extensions to the knowledge network
The extensions to the knowledge network aim at providing additional background
knowledge as well as for an individual configuration of this knowledge.
4.2.1 Considering instantiated product models
Corresponding to the entity representation scheme an object representation scheme is
introduced on the product model layer. Differentiating between model classes and
instantiated model objects, denoted by the nodes pm and on, respectively, more detailed
background knowledge on a given project as well as additional retrieval paths can be
provided. It seems reasonable to first limit the extension to instance-of relations as
depicted in Figure 3. To also consider the various object relations embedded in product
models multinomial variables or additional representation schemes would have to be
used. Furthermore, comprehensive analyses and information deductions are required to
obtain meaningful relations from the product model information, to truly provide for
enhancing common Information Retrieval and mining tasks.
4.2.2 Extending the concept layer
The main idea of the concept layer is to allow for personalised configurations of the
applied background knowledge, without having to change the original model-based
information. Thus, distinctive concept nodes are added to the concept model layer for
every class and object node, their interrelations being recognised via the corresponding
product model root node.
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As previously discussed, the concept model sub-network is first generated on the basis
of pre-defined ontologies, filtering/sortmg/unifying certain levels of abstraction or
aggregating classes into more meaningful concepts. However, additional context and user
information can also be utilised to re-label classes or alter the discipline-specific concept
view. Furthermore, to also consider the influence of discipline-specific aspects without
having to rebuild the concept model network, mental models nodes denoted ml may be
used as depicted in Figure 3. Duplicating the concept nodes the relevance of each concept
node can be conditioned on distinctive mental models representing specific e.g.
architectural, managerial or engineering domain views. To reduce the number of
conditional dependencies to be considered, only Boolean filters deselecting (or selecting
in the case of fewer relevant concepts) inappropriate nodes given a certain mental model
will be explored.
Again, introducing yet another representation scheme or multinomial variables on the
concept layer this approach would also allow for modelling thesaurus-like concept
relations such as belonging to the same craft or made of the same material. However,
unless such relations are vitally important for a certain mining task, the modeling costs do
not seem to be justifiable.
4.3 Querying the extended networks
The additional representation schemes provide for numerous new ways to interconnect
the variables of adjacent network layers. However, to limit the complexity of the network
topology, we first of all focus on two separated retrieval paths as illustrated in Figure 3.
Thus, the network based Information Retrieval of the basic mining network using product
model classes is separated from the propagation of beliefs on respective instantiated
product model objects. Furthermore, we assume the variables of different representation
schemes on a layer to be independent among each other given the information of the
preceding layers.
The explicit representation of modeling objects and text entities very well
demonstrates the possibilities but also the challenges of directly interlinking product
model and text information. Via the concept nodes product information can be explicitly
connected with corresponding text elements to be automatically retrieved from the
repository. However, according to the various types of possible objects and entities, a set
of similarity measures needs to be established to determine the probability that c-e node
pairs really represent the same aspect. Furthermore, the previously applied ontology
based transformation to group, abstract or generalize product model objects to more
meaningful concepts will greatly affect the possibilities to identify the best matches
among the concept and descriptor nodes.
Even using only binary variables the conditional probability distributions can be used
to model different logical operation (mainly and, or, sum) for nodes with multiple
parents. Furthermore, the weighing schemes and probability distributions could be
optimised to more effectively support subsequent reasoning and mining approaches. Both
aspects will have to be further examined when a first mining network for testing has been
established.
Despite the computational costs of exact propagation we are planning to first of all
adopt classical Bayesian inference algorithm to most flexibly explore different mining
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methods on a small test collection, replacing them with computationally more efficient
algorithms when the mining methods are sufficiently tested.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Bayesian Network based Information Retrieval Models have been identified to be very
flexible technology that allows for representing various information resources and
evidences to retrieve relevant Information from documents repositories. We argue that it
provides a good basis to utilize appropriate background knowledge and additional context
information in the processes of externalising information from respective AEC/FM
documents.
Extending the query side of the Bayesian Network Retrieval Models to information
models of AEC/FM the illustration of respective aspects and concepts supports the
domain specific specification of queries and information needs. Capturing, combining
and visualising the results of various text and model analyses as well as representing
aspects of the current mining context, the network allows for explicitly representing the
knowledge on the repository in personalisable semantic content networks.
Due to the possibilities to encode the knowledge on the variables in terms of causal
relations as well as conditional probabilities the network can be configured to support
logic operations as well as numerical mining techniques. This is an essential capacity of
the networks enabling to interrelate the rigid world of model based systems with the
rather fuzzy world of text and language processing.
Explicitly interlinking product models and documents we expect the mining network
to also support the understanding of the available interrelations among the two domains
and to explore new retrieval, mining and integration strategies.
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Live capture and reuse of project knowledge

in construction: a proposed strategy
C.E.Udeaja1, J.M.Kamara1, P.M.Carrillo2, C.J.Anumba2, N.Bouchlaghem2
& H.Tan2
1
School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, University of Newcastle
Upon Tyne, UK
2
Department of Civil & Building Engineering, Loughborough University,
UK
ABSTRACT: Construction projects have intricate supply chains with
constantly changing members. Communication of vital knowledge and
information between stages in complex projects and across disparate
groups involved in these projects offers a significant challenge. As a
result, many construction companies have found it very difficult to
capture, retain and reuse knowledge efficiently and to then exploit that
knowledge in a way that enhances the corporate understanding and
experience. Knowledge Management (KM) approach seem to offer real
opportunities for improving understanding and knowledge capture and
reuse in an effective manner. It provides an infrastructure that enables
knowledge to be captured/created, stored, organised and disseminated.
The basic purpose in Knowledge Management is to empower the
knowledge workers with information/knowledge that allows them to make
decision based on a foundation of fact.
This paper describes a proposed strategy for the live capture of reusable
project knowledge. It is based on research forming part of an on-going
project whose primary objective is to develop a methodology for the live
capture of reusable knowledge on construction projects (CAPRIKON).
The paper starts with a brief review of knowledge management and its
application in construction. The ways in which knowledge is captured and
reused in real live construction projects is then examined to provide the
basis of a conceptual approach for the live capture of reusable project
knowledge reflecting both organisational and human dimensions.
Managing knowledge will provide considerable benefits in construction
projects, but appropriate techniques and technologies are required to
promote knowledge capture and reuse. The paper concludes that the
capture and reuse of knowledge, will not only prevent the re-invention of
the wheel, but could be the basis for innovation, increased agility, better
teamwork, supply chain integration, and improved performance in project
delivery.
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1 INTRODUCTION
The management of knowledge is becoming a distinct and critical branch of strategic
thinking. As organizations seek new ways to attain and maintain competitive advantage,
they are looking to exploit to the full their intellectual capital as well as their tangible
assets (Elhag et al., 2000). In construction, the knowledge required to deliver
construction projects are fragmented; it is held by different professionals who are based
in separate organisations. This reflects the nature of the project organisation, which is
essentially a temporary multi-disciplinary organisation. Because of these disparate
repositories of knowledge, a key aspect of project KM in construction is therefore the
capture and reuse of knowledge for the common good of the project at different levels
and subsequent projects. Knowledge capture and reuse are key elements in project
development. Developing a strategy for knowledge capture and reuse is particularly
challenging because of the number of special characteristics of the construction project
procurement. Amongst these are, particularly, the uniqueness of the projects, its
temporary nature, and its complex interrelated activities required to achieve the overall
goal (Kamara et al., 2003).
This paper describes the proposed strategy for the live capture and reuse of
construction project knowledge, doing so by addressing the technological issues. The
paper is based on research forming part of an on-going project (CAPRIKON) whose
primary objective is to establish a methodology for the live capture of reusable project
knowledge in the construction industry that will reflect both the organizational and
human dimension of knowledge capture and reuse, as well as exploit the benefits of
technology such as Project Extranets (CIRIA, 2002), agent-based systems (Nwana et al.,
1997), Case Based Reasoning (CBR) (Aamodt and Plaza, 1994), Data/text mining (Chou
and Chou, 1999) etc. In providing a topology of the proposed strategy, this paper explains
what project knowledge is and how it is exploited in the construction industry. In
addition, it will discuss the key imperatives for KM. This paper presents a proposed
strategy of managing project knowledge within the context of capture and reuse. The
strategy is based on a project knowledge file (PKF), an integrated workflow system
(IWS), and a project knowledge manager (PKM) that can be manual or automated.
2 CONSTRUCTION PROJECT KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is a vital resource in project-based industries and has been described as the
product learning, which is personal to individual or organization (Orange et al., 2000). In
construction project, it also includes data and information required to conceive, develop,
realize and terminate a project. This definition shows that knowledge is a component of a
task performing systemthat is, a state of the system which warrants task completion
and future repetition of this task. Within the construction domain, project knowledge is
interconnected and includes knowledge about the end product, the processes involved in
its creation and the resources needed. Knowledge requirements therefore includes
915
knowledge of participants within a communities of interest that come together to share

knowledge that affect the project performance (Ramaprasad and Prakash, 2003).
As depicted in Figure 1, it can be explicit or tacit knowledge depending on what
circumstances the knowledge is considered or used. This knowledge as identified by
Tiwana and Ramesh (2001) can be categorized into three sub-heading. General
knowledge is knowledge that people gain through everyday experience and apply it
without regard to any specific or direct relation with any task domain. The second is
Figure 1. Tacit and explicit knowledge

(Modified from Kidwell et al., 2000).
domain specific knowledge, which is gained through study and experience (Court, 1997).
In project undertaken, each member of the multi-disciplinary team has domain
knowledge that help the organization carry out specific task assigned to them. The third
kind of project knowledge is the procedural or process knowledge, this is gained from
experience of undertaking a task within the domain. In another context, Tiwana and
Remesh (2001) argued that this is a combination of both the general and domain
knowledge. Knowledge Management (KM) is becoming increasingly recognized as a
critical source of competitive advantage. The way organizations use knowledge is
increasingly being recognized as central to performance improvement and construction is
no exception. In construction, the management of project knowledge is mostly informal
and people-centered, although there is a growing trend towards the development of
formal KM strategies within construction firms (Kamara et al., 2002). However, what
constitutes knowledge is not particularly well understood.
3 CHALLENGES IN MANAGING CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
KNOWLEDGE
Several researchers have described project development as a knowledge-intensive
activity (Ramaprasad and Prakash, 2003). Project development often involves cross-
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fimctional linkages, where different participants join a team with different viewpoints.
Such teams are often characterized according to the risk and synergy resulting from their
interaction with other team members (Huang and Newell, 2003). This interaction brings
in the need to organize, integrate, filter, condense and annotate the collaborative data and
other relevant information that these team members contribute (Fong, 2003).
Creating new knowledge and perspectives is fundamental to project development
(Huang and Newell, 2003). A project as discussed above can be considered as a package
of features and benefits, each of which must be conceived, articulated, designed,
constructed and maintained (Hamilton, 2001). The development of this constructed
facility can be viewed as a new product development, with customers or end-users
purchasing or using the facility (Fong, 2003). Fong (2003) argues that the development of
a new product entails the application of knowledge to new problem-oriented situations,
thus requiring uncertainty reduction. The same applies to a construction projects, with
each project unique in itself in term of design and construction, and the many constraints,
the construction industry faces (due to limited space, increasing project complexity,
limited budgets, tight programmes and constant demand for facility innovation). Prqject
teams are also faced with the challenges to utilize diverse knowledge and create new
knowledge in order to meet stringent requirements and fulfill ever-changing needs.
Project team members have to incorporate new information into their understanding in
order to solve the technical challenges they face. Thus, learning and knowledge capture is
inherent in the work they do (project development).
In a project based environment, such as construction industry, the need for KM is
fuelled by the need for innovation, improved business performance and client satisfaction
within the dynamic and changing environment (Kamara et al., 2002). Project based
organizations ought to benefit from the inherently innovative nature of project tasks.
Since projects characteristically involve the development of new products and new
processes, there are obvious opportunities for novel ideas to emerge and for crossfunctional learning to occur, thereby enhancing the organisations innovative capacity
and potential (Ramaprasad and Prakash, 2003). If this project based activities is managed
effectively, knowledge can be used to reduce project time, improve quality and client
satisfaction (Love, 2003).
Kamara et al (2002) in discussing the CLEVER project identified that among the
various initiatives for addressing the challenges facing the construction industry, it is now
recognized that the management of project and organization knowledge is necessary if
construction businesses are to remain competitive, and adequately respond to the needs of
their client. They went on to say that failure to capture and transfer project knowledge,
especially within the context of temporary virtual organizations, will lead to reinventing
the wheel, which will amount to wasted activity and impaired project performance.
The proliferation of research project demonstrates the increasing interest of
researchers in both academia and industry in the problems of project knowledge capture.
However, the construction industry still has a significant gap to bridge to reach best
practice in its use of KM tools. Fundamental changes are required to address the issues
evolving from the previous research and applications. The proposed strategy goes a long
way to address how the emerging KM techniques and technologies can be deployed to
improve knowledge live capture and reuse in construction projects. The next section will
917
describe and discuss the proposed strategy, briefly narrating how this strategy will be
used to capture knowledge.
4 DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE CAPTURE AND REUSE
STRATEGY
The concept of KM has undoubtedly become a major force in business thinking in recent
years. Many large organisations are embracing KM and claiming significant benefits.
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) and Davenport and Prusak (1998) demonstrated this with
multiple examples and claimed that many of the worlds most successful organisations are
best at managing their knowledge. However, what is driving this success is how
effectively and efficiently various organisations have applied KM tools in their KM
strategies. Organisations use a number of methods and tools to support their knowledge.
Most of these tools have been developed as part of structured and unstructured
technological thrust. Hence a successful knowledge management approach requires
correct and effective strategy for it to enhance project performance. The strategy
proposed here will enhance collaboration between various distributed project participants
and thereby improving live project knowledge capture and re-use. The main focus of this
section is to present the proposed KM strategy that will enable live capture and re-use of
project knowledge.
4.1 Proposed strategy for live capture and re-use of project knowledge
The development of an appropriate strategy for the live capture of construction project
will combines both the KM technologies and techniques concepts and tools. The reason
for this is that research identifies that there are four main types of knowledge capture as
identified in Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), and it will be impossible to capture project
knowledge based on only one approach. The discussion put forward by Nonaka and
Takeuchi on knowledge creation shows that project knowledge can be captured as shown
in Figure 2. Starting with socialisation, which is the process of converting tacit
knowledge into new tacit knowledge through shared experiences in day-to-day social
interaction. This can be triggered off within an organisation or external with other team
members in a formal or informal manner. In case of externalisation, tacit knowledge is
made explicit so that it can be shared by others to become the basis of new knowledge. In
a project, this is apparent in informal and formal modes, such as minutes of meetings,
workshops presentations, etc. In the combination approach, explicit knowledge is
captured from within the organisation or external and then combined, edited, or processed
to form more complex and systematic explicit knowledge. This new explicit knowledge
is then disseminated among members of the project. The internalisation approach
happens when explicit knowledge is captured and shared throughout an organisation or
among project participants is then converted into tacit knowledge. This is apparent in
project, when knowledge is applied and used in practical situations and becomes the base
for new routines. For example, training programs can help team members to understand
the project process even better.
Figure 2. Knowledge capture model

(Modified from Nonaka and Takeuchi,
1995).
Figure 3. Proposed strategy for

knowledge capture & reuse.
Figure 4. Overview of knowledge

capture system.
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919
Hence what this research is proposing is KM strategy that view the project knowledge
from generic perspective that has all the various types of knowledge capture present and
that allow the prqject participant to determine which KM tool that is most appropriate to
capture the type of knowledge required. Figure 3 shows a generic view of our proposed
environment that will be able to capture any type of knowledge present in a project, be it
site knowledge or expert knowledge. The environment will be able to have a structured
approach on how this captured knowledge will be re-used.
In Knowledge Management environment the realtime capture of project knowledge
can be effected through the following: a project knowledge file, an integrated workflow
system, and a project knowledge manager. Figure 4 shows an overview of the knowledge
capture procedure. During the course of a construction project, learning occurs not only
from many critical events but also from the normal day-to-day operations. This learning
can be about the facility being constructed, the project process or participants involved in
its execution. Within the knowledge capture procedure, the structure of how learning is
captured is determined beforehand in the project knowledge file. When a learning event
occurs, the integration workflow system is triggered and is sets in motion a flow of
actions to capture the learning at a particular point in time. The learning is compiled and
edited for reuse within the current project, or in subsequent projects.
The learning events can be captured using collaborative learning (Digenti, 1999),
Learning Histories (Kliener and Roth, 1996) or CBR. This is quite appropriate to the
context of construction projects, where network of organisations is involved in delivering
projects. These concepts can therefore be adapted to facilitate the transfer and reuse of
collective learning to the individual firms involved in implementing it.
Project Knowledge File (PKF)The PKF will contain information relating to the
project knowledge, but will focus on knowledge that can be reused both during the
execution (e.g. in subsequent phases), and after the completion of the project The kind of
knowledge to be captured and the format and contents of the PKF will be determined
through detailed research into reusable project knowledge, but the goal will be to develop
an ongoing learning history for the project within a collaborative environment. The PKF
will be agreed on by the project participants and they would be required to make
contribution to this at a later stage.
Integrated Workflow System (IWS)The role of the integrated workflow system is to
implement the PKF in real-time. That is, to facilitate the compilation of the learning
history for the project during its execution, in accordance with the parameters set out in
the PKF. A generic model will be developed following research into the format and
contents of the PKF, but it should be customisable to take into account variations in the
PKF. The integrated workflow system is triggered when a learning event takes place.
This can be, for example, problems and how they were solved, innovations,
breakthroughs or the normal day-to-day operations of a project. When such events occur,
the integrated workflow system will request the relevant participants to contribute their
views on how various issues were dealt with. A compilation of these different
perspectives will form part of the learning history at particular stages of a project, which
can either be reused at subsequent phases, or at the end of a project. The trigger for the
integrated workflow system can either be automated, done manually by a project
knowledge manager, or a combination of both manual and automated systems. An
automated trigger requires data and text mining capabilities or other means of detecting,
920
say within a project extranet, when certain events occur. In both automated and manual
triggers, server push technologies will be utilised to ensure that the required prompt is
pushed to relevant participants. The integrated workflow system should also have
filtering capabilities to ensure that only the relevant learning is captured to prevent
knowledge/information overload. The integrated workflow system can be integrated with
existing project extranets or can be developed as a separate application that is compatible
with extranets.
Project Knowledge Manager (PKM)This is a role that will be charged with
developing and managing the PKF and the integrated workflow system. Again this can be
automated using an agent system or manually conducted using a person or persons that
will be familiar with the principle of learning histories and how they are developed.
5 POTENTIAL BENEFITS
The live knowledge capture system, through ensuring the currency and relevance of the
knowledge captured, will have a significant impact on the overall construction project:
1. Construction project team will benefit through the shared experiences that are captured
as part of the learning on key events, which can have both short and long term values.
2. Other project teams in an organization can use the learning captured from
previous/similar projects to deal with problems they encounter in another project.
3. In the longer term, client will benefit from the increased certainty with which
construction organizations can predict project outcomes.
4. Improved project management, as supply chain members would work more
collaboratively and share lessons learnt on construction projects.
5. Arguably, construction industry will benefit from an enhanced knowledge base as
much learning that is presently not documented can be captured and reused.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The work presented in this report shows that there are two main type of knowledge: tacit
and explicit knowledge of which all construction project knowledge fall under. In
addition, the work presented has divided this project knowledge into three categories:
general, specific and process knowledge. The importance of identifying this project
knowledge is necessary because this will help capture the relevant knowledge and
identify the ones that can be re-used within the project or subsequent project. As KM
approach develops and the construction industry moves towards developing knowledge
management, as is the trend now, we believe the industry will see an increase in
efficiency, quality, and the use of project knowledge.
This strategy proposed here, views the whole project knowledge from a generic
perspective. It argues that the proposed strategy for the live capture of project knowledge
addresses a key problem in the construction industry which had hitherto not been
adequately considered. This was due to the absence of support technologies to facilitate
the real-time capture of project knowledge, hence the emphasis on post-project reviews
and reliance on people. However, with the increasing use of web-hosted project extranets,
921
there is now the possibility to make use of this, and other related technologies (such as
agent, Collaborative learning and Learning histories) to develop a suitable medium for
the live capture and reuse of project knowledge. This proposed strategy will also be a
timely addition to current efforts to improve the functionality of extranets (which are
mainly document repositories) by incorporating features from tools such as workflow,
agents and collaborative learning. However, further work is required to determine
precisely the nature and content of the particular kind of knowledge to be captured and
what available tools are best suited to capture reusable knowledge.
Knowledge Management (KM) is already delivering major economic benefits to
businesses as diverse as computer manufacturing, retailers, and construction firms, etc.
Properly implemented KM strategy should be implemented across the entire enterprise or
project organisation, from initial conceptualisation and design to the maintenance stage.
It will become more pervasive in organisations in the coming years, especially as the
need for knowledge capture heightens as relevant personnel leave an organisation or
move to other projects. It can enhance the project teams activities by being better able to
leverage knowledge internally and externally through improved knowledge capturing and
reusing techniques. Ultimately, improvements in the project procurement as a result of
KM can reduce the construction period and reduce the cost of projects. However,
fundamental changes are required to address the issues affecting efficient knowledge
capture and re-use. These issues will be addressed through the on-going CAPRIKON
project, exploring how existing KM tools can be used to harness knowledge capture and
re-use in a construction project environment.
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Development of product family structure for

high-rise residential buildings using industry
foundation classes
Toste Wallmark & Mitchell M.Tseng
Advanced Manufacturing Institute, Hong Kong University of Science &
Technology, Hong Kong, China
ABSTRACT: This paper presents an approach of specifying building
design through a set of common platforms with defined variations. Both
platforms and variations are expressed in terms of product family
structures which include modules and components described with
parameterized attributes. Furthermore, inter-relationships and constraints
among modules and their components are explicitly represented in the
taxonomy of the product family structure framework. The motivation of
this new approach is not only to develop a concise descriptor of buildings
but also to accentuate designer knowledge about product variety and
product commonality. To avoid disparity in module definitions, Industry
Foundation Classes, has been adapted to represent modules. The
ramification of this new approach includes promoting commonality for
enhancing economies of scales and offering customized building units
through simplified reconfiguration of building modules. The approach is
demonstrated by using a high-rise residential building example with
adaptation to pre-fabricated construction modules, and its economic
benefits are discussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Building design involves translating client requirements to a detailed design specification
for construction. Typically, building designers follow an integrated process where
architectural designs are detailed and refined gradually with considerations such as
structural integrity, safety, and others. This approach is well accepted and widely used in
practice, however, there are three emerging trends affecting building design that
motivates a reconsideration of different approaches.
Firstly, the productivity of building industry has been lagging behind the
manufacturing and service industry sectors (Filos 2000). One of the main reasons is that
prevailing design practices in the building industry are not conducive to take advantage
of repetitions and adapt to economies of scale. For instance, emerging industrialized
building methods, particularly prefabrication, have been recognized by several authors
with its potential to greatly improve economies of scale and productivity of building
systems (Warsawski 1999). However, when using current design approaches, it is
924
difficult to consider modules and commonality in building systems. Hence, the adoption
of prefabrication and other industrialized building methods has been sluggish.
Secondly, several studies have found that customers are willing to pay more for
personalized and customized design of products that are designed to fit their needs,
indicating an opportunity for building designers to increase end customer satisfaction by
adapting the designs to diverse needs of building users by offering variety options to
customers. For example, Filos (2002) argued that buildings should be made to suit people
e.g. relevant to the market and adaptable across sectors.
Last but not the least, there is a trend in the building design profession, CAD/CAE
software industry and related community indicating a strong demand for information and
knowledge sharing and reuse. Such reuse can reduce errors, improve design quality and
shorten the design time. The development of IFC, Industry Foundation Classes, (Wix &
Liebich 2001) is an important contribution supporting designer collaboration through
standardized model-based exchange of building design data across applications. Still,
knowledge reuse often fails in practice due to a lack of technical and organizational
mechanisms (Fruchter 2002).
Considered jointly, these trends reflect a growing need for a new building design
approach that includes commonality, modularity and variety inherently in its
methodology, process, tools and information systems. In essence, the commonality,
modularity and variety of customers needs, designs, tools, materials, tools, equipment
and knowledge needs to be captured, shared and re-used. The foundation for this new
approach lies in the development of proper design descriptors that can represent common
structures and variety options within a coherent product family structure for the building
industry.
2 PROPOSED FRAMEWORK
The proposed framework originated from results of research and development projects in
the manufacturing industry where management of product variety has been considered an
important driver for productivity improvements. (Jiao et al. 1998 and Du et al. 2002).
Particularly, development of product platforms (Ulrich & Eppinger 2004) and product
families (Meyer et al. 1997) has been well accepted in product design as means of
systematizing management of product variety. Simpson et al. (2001) provides an
overview of approaches to product platform design. Meanwhile, approaches of
developing rigorous representations of product platforms and product families for the
building industry have not been reported.
We focus our approach on the development of product family structure to represent
physical design across building projects by highlighting the product variety The emphasis
is thus on the physical domain of design, as described by Suh (2001). In essence,
buildings will be described in terms of a specific base product and associated variant
modules. Both of them are derived from a physical building family framework which
represents the share commonality to accentuate the product variants aspects. In the
following sections, details of frameworks and approaches will be discussed. An
application in high-rise residential buildings will be presented as an illustration.
Development of product family structure for high-rise residential buildings
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2.1 Development of framework

Issues of characterizing and representing a product family has been addressed by Du et
al. (2000, 2001) using the concept of Architecture of Product Family, APF. In order to
develop the framework for representing physical design variety of the building product
family, the engineering view of the APF is applied. This adaptation of the APF
framework allows us to depict building designs through a set of expressions describing a
base product and its allowable variants for building product families. Based on this
adaptation, the fundamental aspects of the building family can be developed.
Furthermore, we assert that the base products and variants can be expressed in terms
of a set of well defined modules. In order to unify the definition of modules to avoid
dispersions of different decompositions, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard
was chosen in this approach. IFC has been recognized as the major initiative in modeling
building structures with clear definitions of components and interrelationships. IFC has
been adopted by several CAD/ CAE vendors, further reinforcing the support of IFC in
industry.
Table 1. Terminology of product family structure

inbuilding.
Product family construct
Building family structure
Base product
Common building modules
Modular variants
Distinctive building modules with adjustable design parameters
Variety taxonomy
Module inter-relationships
Combination constraints
Include conditions parameter constraints
After the building family structure is characterized, an object-oriented model

representing the constructs of the family is proposed.
2.2 Characterization of building family structure
When the product family structure is applied to the building domain, it is referred to as
Building Family Structure. In order to develop a model of the Building Family Structure,
the required constructs are first identified. Based on the engineering view of APF, the
product family structure captures design knowledge of modular variety using four
constructs as shown in Tablel.
By applying the constructs of product family structure, variety aspects of the product
design, building product variety in this case, can be made noticeable. In building
construction, the visibility of product of variety and commonality could lend itself to
many applications such as bill of materials aggregations, design reuse and other
applications. To incorporate this information, several knowledge sources have to be
surveyed, with respect to the content classification of the building family structure. Table
2 provides examples of such knowledge sources for building product family.
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The base product of the building family captures the concept of shared designs across
variants of the building family. It often can be expressed as a collection of modules with
common relationships. Modular Variants are characterized as parts of the design that can
be combined into unique buildings with the base product. The interrelationships between
the base product and its modular variants are termed variety taxonomy. Details of the
allowable combinations modular variants with respect to the base product are classified
as combination constraints under the framework.
Table 2. Knowledge sources for building family

structure.
Building family
structure
Examples of knowledge sources
Common building
modules
Frequently used physical building structure modules e.g. repetitive

prefab. elements
Distinctive building
modules
One-of-a-kind/rarely used physical building modules
Module inter-relationships Overall organization of physical building modules

Adjustable design
parameters
Physical design freedom within developers configurable modules
Include conditions
Technical criteria for allowing use of a distinctive module
Parameter constraints
Physical limitation of parameters
In the application of product family constructs in building, the following terminologies

and concepts are proposed. Building Modules are defined as a separate design structure
with its own integrated building model which is defined using the IFC specification.
Building modules thus have their own separate physical representation, independent of
other modules.
Common building modules are modules that are always included in every variant of
the building product family. These modules thus give the building systems economies of
scale across projects through re-use of components and process repetitions. Common
modules will thus be included whenever technically necessary and when developer needs
are similar across projects i.e. to provide common features. The ability to re-use common
modules contributes to lowering the construction cost when economies of scale apply. In
contrast to common building modules, distinctive building modules are defined as
modules that are not necessarily included in particular variants derived from the building
family, typically used on a one-off basis, such as for a particular project or developer.
Common and distinctive building modules are related using module interrelationships, based on definitions of module boundaries. Using these relationships,
distinctive building modules are combined with common modules to create unique
designs. Modules are configured through their adjustable design parameters. These
parameters allow changing the design without affecting the integrity of the overall
product structure.
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To achieve integrity of building product family designs, knowledge of include

conditions for building modules that constrains the usage of particular modules
Figure 1. Relationships between the

building family structure modules, IFC
models and the internal IFC objects.
and parameter constraints should be included. For instance, include conditions would be
required to enforce inclusion of a distinctive module under certain conditions to ensure
that constraints such as structural engineering considerations and building regulations are
complied with on the modular level of the building family design.
2.3 Buildingfamily module representation
Classifying the IFC model as a specification of components, particularly classes under
lfcBuilding Element e.g. Column, Wall and Ramp. Combinations of such
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components are here defined as building modules as illustrated in Figure 1. This and
subsequent family representations are based on object-oriented modeling represented
using Unified Modeling Language (UML) notation (Rumbaugh et al. 1999). With the
structure presented in Figure 1, IFC models are defined separately from building modules
so that they can be handled more independently. The collection of IFC objects i.e. any
object with IFCRoot as super class is aggregated under an IFCModel. The IFCModel thus
holds the representation of all physical details of each module through its internal IFC
data structure.
Adjustable design parameters of a building module are exposed by the
BuildingModule and maintained internally by IFCmodel that implements the constraint
relationships from the parameters to its IFC objects.
Figure 2. Representation of modular

structure of the building product
family.
2.4 Building family representation
For building, Sarja (1998), refers to an open modular system as one where modular parts
at different hierarchical levels can be used to produce different interchangeable products
and designs that can be joined together according to connection rules to form a functional
whole. In order to describe the building module system and the structural relationships
for the distinctive building modules, the overall modular system for the building module
family can be represented as a hierarchical structure, based on the Generic Product
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Structure, GPS, described by Du et al. (2001). GPS compound modules can be

decomposed into either compound or primitive modules. Inclusion of modules can either
be enforced or optional, and for primitive modules, XOR inclusion can be enforced e.g.
one an only one out of a set of options must be chosen.
Figure 2 shows an object-oriented representation of the GPS applied to represent the
module family concept of building. The building family structure is identified through its
top module, which is a compound module. XOR-optional modules can be specified under
primitive modules by using inheritance and defining the primitive module as an abstract
class. Hierarchical decomposition is implied by the use of recursive aggregation of
compound modules. The constraint governing compound/primitive module combinations
is given in Figure 3.
2.5 The modulus aspect in modular building family
The representation of modularity for a building family above resembles the
characterization of modularity by Ulrich & Eppinger (2004) under their first two
modularity types; slot-modular and bus-modular. In slot-modular architectures, modules
are attached to
Figure 3. Modularity structure

constraint on multiplicity.
slots, where all bus slots are different. In bus-modular architectures, all slots are of the
same type. The third category, sectional-modular, refers to architectures where modules
can be attached if their sections have an identical interface e.g. contour or dimension.
Sectional modularity refers to a commonly used notion of building system modularity,
namely the modulus aspect e.g. the modular dimension of building elements,
characterized by Hop (1988) as a coordinate system that makes use of standardized
material units without waste. It should be noted that there is no inherent conflict between
these modularity types, and all can be combined favorably in the same building system.
In particular, in the representation of the building module family developed above,
dimensional aspects of modules are considered as details within modules. Under the
building family structure, the modulus metric of a module can be exposed as a module
parameter, which allows catering for this dimensional aspect of building design
modularity.
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2.6 Building family constraints representation

Product modeling with respect to design constraints has been discussed in building
research by several authors, e.g. Santos et al. (2002) and Liebich et al. (2002). In our
approach, the focus is to represent design variety constraints on building modules to
accurately model variety. Object Constraint Language, (Warmer & Kleppe 1999) is
adopted here to perform this specification. OCL Constraints can be specified for any
module for their attributes as well as internal IFC models, and OCL thus serves to map
parameters across model layers.
As an example of a specific constraint on a generic module, consider Figure 4.
CompoundModule represents any compound module for which a parameter
moduleDoorWidth is defined using the IFC type PositiveLengthMeasure. This exposed
parameter is mapped to the internal IFCModel through the topmost OCL constraint in the
figure. For the internal IFC model, all IFC objects that are instances of IFCDoor must
then conform to this measure in their internal structure.
The expressive power of the constraints is only limited by the capabilities developed
under the OCL specification.
Figure 4. Example of the application of

OCL to represent building family
constraints for the internal module
structure.
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932
OCL can also be used to describe constraints that apply on parameter values between
modules in the product family, similarly as above. These constraints may also apply to
internal structures of the module, if values of those structures are exposed externally. In
this case, the constraints are defined on the module parameter, based on the IFC model
value, which in turn is constrained by internal IFC structure values, all by using OCL as
the definition language. A combination of these constraints can serve to further refine the
variety design of the modular building product family structure.
3 PRODUCT FAMILY STRUCTURE FOR HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL
BUILDING
High-rise residential building is a building type where possibilities to achieve economies
of scale through re-use of modules exist, particularly when modules are re-used across
projects. Developers typically seek to adapt the composition of flat units of the building
to the expected market conditions by requesting design changes throughout the project. In
order to cater more efficiently for such changes, as well as modular construction
techniques and principles, the concepts of a product family structure is proposed and
exemplified in this project. Table 3 outlines the major aspects of the building family
structure in high-rise residential building and relevant knowledge sources.
Table 3. Building family structure applied to highrise residential building.

Building family structure
Examples of knowledge sources
Common modules
Core, pre-cast faades and staircases
Distinctive modules
Apartment assemblies
Modular relationships
Core-apartment relationships
Adjustable parameters
Core section dimensioning
Include conditions
Structural engineering requirements
Parameter constraints
Building regulations
933
Figure 5. Typical floor plan of Fu Tei

high-rise residential development
project. (Wong (proprietor), Patent No.
1021475).
For high-rise buildings, locating the core in the middle of the ground plan is
advantageous from a structural reinforcement point of view (Eisele & Kloft 2002). This
principle is one of the aspects that have lead to the development of modular designs used
in a current housing development project in Fu Tei in Hong Kong. The Fu Tei project
design illustrated in Figure 5 thus features a number of modularity for high-rise building
with extensive use of pre-cast methods. Around a cast-in-place core, pre-cast concrete
modules are used in the apartment wings, thus forming the basis of a modular system of
core, apartments and pre-cast modules for each storey. This geometrical repetitiveness of
the apartment modules is evident in Figure 5. An exterior view of the actual building
being erected with the floor plan in Figure 5 is shown in Figure 6. In the application of
the developed framework, the above facets of modular residential high-rise building
designs used in the Fu Tei project are considered as follows.
934
Figure 6. External fagade view of Fu

Tei project high-rise residential
building in Hong Kong.
Figure 7 illustrates the application of building family structure for high-rise residential
building. Here, common modules include pre-cast components used for all cores and
apartments within the building family. The top module represents the whole building,
consisting of two compound modules, the nonresidential structure and the storeys.
Multiplicities indicate which and how many modules that will be included in the base
product.
Major modules are core and flat modules, which form the storey module. For each
project, distinctive compound core and apartment modules can be chosen. The only free
variety parameter in this case is the multiplicity of the apartment storey class under the
overall storey module. For particular choices of compound modules, different uses of
primitive modules, particularly pre-cast ones can be determined. In this example,
different choices of core and apartment imply different usage of staircase and faade precast modules.
In this family structure, one option is to select how many fire and apartment storeys as
well as which core and flat types to be used. While each apartment storey only has one
core module, there are eight flat units per storey, and for each such flat, two different
types can be selected.
Based on this family approach, selections of a particular core and flat determine
repetition of different pre-cast modules. In the family in Figure 7, selection of a particular
core and flat mix will influence the
Figure 7. Building family structure for

high-rise residential building.
compoundModule and
primitiveModule are left out on
lower levels for brevity.
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936
number of pre-cast staircase and pre-cast faade modules that will be included, as
expressed by the multiplicities of the pre-cast modules for various options of core and
flat.
Table 4 summarizes a set of example constraints enforced on the model of the product
family structure, which are applied as follows. An inclusion constraint for the building
family is enforced for fire safety storeys. Fire safety storeys are used in residential highrises for shelter in case of fire. Assuming that there must be one fire safety storey for
every 20 apartment storeys to accommodate residents safely, the constraint on the fire
safety storey inclusion can be defined in the context of Storeys as storeys.fire>size=(storeys.apartment->size).div(20)+1. The lowercase initial indicates the
association name of the class with the same name starting with uppercase to be navigated
to in the constraint e.g. apartment navigates to Apartment from the Storeys context.
Table 4. Summary of constraints enforced on the

high-rise product family structure on Storeys
context.
No. OCL invariant constraint expression
1
self.fire->size=(storeys.apartment->size). div(20)+1
if self.coreType=Athen apartment.core->forAll (oclIsKindOf(CoreA))
if ((apartment.flat.select->(self.oclIsKindOf (FlatB))->size)>120 then apartmentcore.forAll

(self.isKindOf(CoreA))
Under the building family structure in Figure 7, it is also possible to change between
Core A and Core B. Typically, this should not be allowed, as the core is generally
designed as a repetitive structure intended to be the same for all floors. To enforce a such
constraint, the core type could be defined as an primitive module of attribute of Storeys
and constraints could be added, e.g. for the context of Storeys, if
Storeys.coreType=A then apartment.core->forAll (oclIsKindOf(CoreA)).
For instance, if we determine that the use of more than 120 type B flat requires usage
of Core A due to structural engineering requirements, this can be enforced in the
Storeys context using if ((apartment.flat.select->(self.oclIsKindOf(FlatB))->size) >120
then apartment.core.forAll(self. isKindOf (CoreA)).
4 DISCUSSION
The developed framework of building family structure presents several cost- and timesaving benefits. Firstly, it can help to reduce building design time and improve design
quality through re-use of design modules. With development of industrialized building
and prefabrication, this allows benefits of prefabrication such as higher quality and
shorter construction cycles to be realized with better economies of scale. The ability to
re-use and improve modules within the building family in the design function serves to
enable sharing of the knowledge about product variety and commonality, not only
937
between different designers but also to developers and building users. By representing
these structures design data, members of the design team can make more informed
decisions regarding the design variety and define which structures that should be re-used
across building projects which can help to sustain productivity improvements.
Furthermore, the ability to represent variety information facilitates automation of tasks
such as determining bills of material/bills of quantities for different variants of the
building as well as simplifying plan checking on a family level of building design, which
can further shorten the design time and improve estimation accuracy. This can also help
designers to generate better design alternatives which can bring savings in material usage,
and improve sales by quickly adapting the design to changing market requirements.
Figure 8. Use cases of implemented

building family structure design
system.
938
To implement the framework, a set of proposed use cases for an implemented system
for the building family structure is given in Figure 8.
These use cases could be implemented as an integrated extension to CAD
environments using its Application Programming Interfaces, for example the
ObjectARX for AutoCAD series (Kramer 2000).
The object instance of the building product family can be used to generate a complete
representation of the building, which can be viewed as a single IFC representation if fully
integrated. This final specification is then to be used in the downstream construction
process.
To facilitate information sharing, IFC models can be managed using IFC model
servers or other means for repository functionality. IFC models can be edited using
building CAD tools or other design software. To facilitate systematic consideration of
customer needs in the product family, a framework which represents ftmctional
requirement of a building should be mapped to the building product family as constraints
to indicate how customer requirements are translated to a modular building structure.
Although the full implementation of the software has not been completed, we expect
additional benefits to be realized through further development and refinement of the
design framework and incorporation of more industrial design knowledge into the
building family model.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is jointly funded by the Innovation Technology Commission Project
UIM/119 of the Hong Kong SAR Government and Tecton Ltd., a subsidiary of P.K. Ng
& Associates, Hong Kong. The authors are grateful for the support of Calvin Wong and
Elvis Li of Tecton Ltd. In addition, the authors wish to thank the members of the
Advanced Manufacturing Institute at HKUST for their feedback, particularly Pow Wa
Siu.
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Sarja, A. (ed.). 1998. Open and Industrialized Building, London: E & FN Spon
Simpson, T.W., Jonathan R.A. M., Mistree, F. 2001. Product Platform Design: method and
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Classification: B04B, B04H
Construction site and project

management
Assistance to building construction

coordination by images
Kubicki Sylvain, Halin Gilles & Bignon Jean-Claude
MAP-CRAI, (Research Centre in Architecture and Engineering, Nancy,
France)
ABSTRACT: This communication describes a research theme about new
tools to assist architectural design and building construction focus on the
use of imagery. The article focuses on specificities of architectural design
and building construction stage as collaborative activities. We suggest
here two different potentialities of building site imagery. The first consists
in a use to assist coordination between actors during construction stage,
while the other one describes specificities of a knowledge management
tool (pathology prevention assisted by images). We present finally the
prototype set up to illustrate meeting reports and diffuse information to
the operations actors.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, many changes have happened in the AEC sector concerning concurrent
engineering work methods. Many studies attempt to characterize specificities of prqject
and design in architecture, in order to introduce new tools.
This article is part of the concurrent engineering research works of CRAI (Nancy
School of Architecture). We present here a research theme, which is an extension of
works on tools propositions for architectural design concurrent activity. These works also
studied the role of images in architectural design. Our communication focuses on the use
of building construction digital imagery.
We will describe the specificities of architectural design activity and particularly the
differences between initial and technical design in architecture and the building
construction stage. These first statements will allow us to describe how the image can
assist these activities in which many actors are involved.
We will suggest a method to build and use a building construction image base,
describing relevant information needs. We will talk about image collection problems
(sources, index methods) and about possible uses of these images in coordination (or
communication) and in knowledge management.
We will present in the next part the experiment being developed at the moment, which
will illustrate the meeting reports. Our goal is to use the images as a communication tool
(around the meeting report) and to manage technical information thinking of future uses
(building site image based system to prevent construction anomalies).
Finally, we will talk about recent evolutions and conclude on these works.
942
2 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

ACTIVITIES
The architectural design is the object of many works aiming at appreciating its
specificities as design activity [Simon 1990, Al Hassan 2002]. Building works
construction develops specific problems too that we will attempt to characterise here.
Our general research goal is to suggest new tools to assist these activities. We are
particularly interested in collaboration around design and construction stages. We will
now describe particularities of these two activities of the architectural project and used
tools.
2.1 Architectural and technical design stage
Architectural design is the place where a creative activity encounters an engineering
activity (technical or user constraints). Design is generally supervised by the architect,
first project designer, commissioned by the client. The architect surrounds himself with
other specialist actors to resolve and anticipate project aspects that he cant master such
as technical design (structure, fluids).
Architectural design activity consists of a mechanism of proposition-validation of
solutions between actors, in order to find a satisfying solution to the building project.
Exchange documents are principally plans, technical notes or schemes. This stage can be
assisted by specific profession tools (e.g. CAD tool for architects). Groupware tools
can assist collaboration between designer teams. These tools allow users to group
documents or to manage the tasks of each participant During the first stage of the project,
actor coordination is very often implicit because there are not many actors and those who
exist know each other well. Work mode is coupled and actors work principally in a
synchronous way.
2.2 Building construction stage
This first stage of the project described above in is followed by the building contractors
consultation. Then comes the building construction stage.
During this stage, the three actor groups described before stay stable. The client role is
resumed in a building work progress validation task. The design team often engaged a
coordinator, responsible for task realisation progress. The work group expands and
includes every building contractor. Actor relations become more hierarchical and distant
because of the aim of respecting deadlines and costs. Work and data exchange is made
sequentially and actor meetings are based on validation of an asynchronous work. The
principal tool for assisting this stage is the building construction meeting report, great
link and communication tool between actors. It contains textual information and progress
charts which help everybody in task realisation comprehension. There are not many
computer-based tools employed to assist this stage in the AEC domain. But we think that
the sequential character of activity during building construction is propitious for the
integration of workflow tools (task management, materials supply).
This work mode is the result of a gap existing between different actors: there is no
durable link between them. This is due to the re-composition of teams at each project and
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to the coordination mode based on contracts. This characteristic penalizes the group
because actors use specific tools!
2.3 Design assistance tools
Characteristics of architectural project collaborative activity described here have been
analysed in works developed in the MAP-CRAI [Malcurat 2001, Hanser 2003]. A model
representing the variety of these exchanges has been proposed following a logic guided
by the representation of relations between actors, activities and documents during the
project [Hanser 2003].
More other, we are at present seeing the development of quality charts: designers and
architecture studios need methods and tools to assist them
In this context, reflexions about new tools are based on two principles:
Architectural design assistance to increase project quality,
Assistance to the collaborative work between design/ construction teams based on
appropriate tools (communication and project management quality).
In part IV, our propositions are developed on these two basic principles.
3 THE IMAGE
The image is, nowadays, a support largely used to carry information. The reasons for the
efficiency of the image are well known and numerous. We are particularly interested in
the following characteristics:
Considerable physiological sensibility of the person whose perception is predominated
by visual images,
Great aptitude to memorization of images,
Great capacity of image encoding,
Instant global message,
Proof effect,
Iconic seduction.
[Bignon 2002]
3.1 The image in architectural design
Image plays an important role in architectural design mechanisms. Its both the first
material of creation and a tool to comprehend a problem. Its also the principal media
used to transmit architectural doctrines. This visual culture of architects leads them to
develop a specific meaning called visuo-spatial [Gardner 1992]. In this specific work
practice, meaning mechanisms are very often built by image.
Research works have been developed in MAPCRAI around this theme. Their
objective is to study the possible uses if images to access information during the
architectural design process: from idea emergence to project realisation.
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According to the moments of design, the image can play different roles. We are
interested here in two major functions: the image as reference (in the early stage of
design) and the analogous image (the designer will search for and identify possible
solutions by making correspondence between the image of an object or a work and the
imagined solution to a project.) [Halin et al. 2003].
A study of the use of image as information search support has been developed to
access building product information [Nakapan 2003].
The information search by image uses image search for user needs formulation. The
user formulates his request by choosing or rejecting images. This request is analysed to
permit products selection. This process needs to use a common ontology for image index
and product index.
We introduce here a particular work issue based around building construction images.
3.2 Building construction images benefits
The particularity of building construction image is that it shows an object being
fabricated.
We must distinguish between two different uses: Image illustrates the building
constructions general progress, or particular works under construction. (Note: We
called work under construction a basic part of the building being built). In this case,
image plays aproof role.
Image can transmit information contained or be a tool to access other related
information (illustrated by images). It therefore enables the user to capitalise on
knowledge of the terrain.
3.2.1 Works realisation proof
Generally, the photo taken of the building construction site at a precise moment is a
building construction progress statement. Image is proof of this progress and can be used
in different cases (actor communication, archiving).
We introduce here a relation between particularities of images taken on building site
and the building construction meeting report. This document is the basis of the
coordination in the building construction stage. A brief analyse of its content permits us
to find the same notions: particular work progress statement, building work or actor
interface details.
Nowadays photos sometimes illustrate meeting reports. Architects largely accept the
role of image to increase communication quality but not everyone agrees on its regular
use in the meeting report. There is some opposition to these propositions, such as some
architect wish to produce short meeting reports.
We characterise this particular use of building construction images as a vector
enabling a project realisation context. We can note too that a particular objective of the
setting up of quality charts is the necessity for each actor to globally understand the
context of its intervention. Taking into account this environment (global work progress,
actor interfaces) lead to the auto coordination of actors.
Now we will see how these building construction images can serve knowledge
management tools.
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3.2.2 Capitalisation of a terrain knowledge

An image base built and used in the building construction stage must be completed by
semantic information. Every future use is conditioned by the development of an index
ontology (based on coordination).
We suggest two different levels: knowledge comprehension assistance (e.g. image as
representation of a specific problem) and image as a guide to link the user to other
information.
Using the image to represent a phenomenon or an object is not innovative. We would
say here that such practices are current among architects, who take photos of their
realisation or building site. Their goal is to capitalise knowledge and skill. The use of an
index method will allow future search in the image base (e.g. precise operation or
particular work image search).
Based on these propositions, we suggest using image in order to formulate a request,
and so assisting the designer when he is not able to formulate a design problem (vague
need) for himself. The interest of search by image in architectural design activity and
particularly of assisting a vague problem formulation has been developed in a PhD work
[Nakapan 2003]. The request formulation assisted by image could guide the user to other
information (the content of this information is to define in relation to image specificities).
4 PROPOSITION OF A METHOD AROUND THE MEETING REPORT
A tool has been developed to experiment the use of image in a construction operation.
4.1 Objectives
We have set up a tool allowing users to illustrate the meeting report by images of the
construction operation.
A study of the meeting report general structure has been developed in order to define
exactly the experimental context. We have made fundamental hypotheses. Independently
of the form of the document, we can target in its structure two types of information that
interest us directly: the progress notion and the particular points. General construction
progress relates to tasks or particular work realisation. Particular points refer to details or
comments about a specific work. The model presented (Fig. 2) explains the constitution
of the document and the different parts that comprise it. Our proposition consists of
illustrating the information of progress points and particular points.
The textual information illustrated by the image becomes our index source. The
content of the text is linked to the concepts of task (activity), actor and document (a point
concerning a specific document, e.g. plan). The specificity of the AEC domain implies
the notion of built work which is present in all information on the meeting report.
Figure 1 is a general scheme of the method developed. It represents the two different
spaces of image uses: coordination and capitalisation.
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Figure 1. Experiment principle.

Figure 2 presents the conceptual data model of the meeting report document. We will
describe the prototype developed based on this model.
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4.2 Experiment description through model description

First, the model represents the structure generally observed of the meeting report
document: actors presence table, general observations, particular points and progress
points (or table). We suggest illustrating particular and progress points with an image that
will be indexed in relation to the point content.
The implementation of this model in a database has allowed the development of a
meeting report tool interface. At present, the index stage is manual, the user must
choose index terms in two categories: build work and actor. In the future, we
envisage text analysis functions to allow a direct concept extraction from the meeting
report text. In the context of this experiment we are doing the data capture but we are
developing too a user-friendly interface in order to define a meeting report assistance tool
for building construction coordinators.
4.3 Scenarios of use by building construction actors
We have set up a web server to diffuse our parallel meeting report to each participant.
Users can consult the basis of the meeting reports related to their intervention.
For each point in the meeting report, an image can be visualised (small view or big
image download). A contextual menu on the image sends users to other images by
proximity criteria that we will now describe:
Work under construction statement proximity. The tool suggests displaying images of
the same building work on previous progress states (e.g. week before).
The geographical proximity of built work. With such a function, the user can identify
other works in the same area at a specific time (e.g. before, at the same time or coming
later). For example it allows the identification of interfaces between actors and risks.
Actors proximity. Who works in the same area? What building works are concerned?
etc. We think that such information will develop the consciousness of a common work
and increase communication between actors.
Our hypothesis is that these dynamic navigation functions will allow the user to obtain
contextual information about the building project and better situate his own intervention.
In our experiment, this function of proximity search around images will allow us to
better evaluate the potential of images such as a project context visualisation help tool.
How can image serve building progress while allowing or increasing the actors auto
coordination?
Figure 3 shows a view of the web user interface developed (the visualisation of a
meeting report).
4.4 First assessment
The research work presented here has been approached in different ways. An
investigation among architects has allowed us to analyse their needs and their attempts
concerning new tools.
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This investigation has shown a real interest in the use of photography, and everybody
agrees with its technical character. On the other hand, we have noted the existing needs
and the interest in new computerbased tools to assist design and realisation teams.
The tool developed is in an initial statement (prototype). At the present it only allows
users to manage particular points and progress points in the meeting report. In the
present version, the user can only insert one image and we notice that its too limited in
some cases. In fact, for some details two photos could increase the comprehension: a
large view of the building work and a closed view of the detail.
Figure 2. Meeting report data model.
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Figure 3. Web user interface.

Concerning the web user, the interface is in its first version. We simply display
information of a point as a table containing a text, a photo and other information
(geographical area and progress) (Fig. 3). We note some limits of the interface. First in
the comprehension of areas: a classification by areas would be clearer. Secondly, we
envisage graphically signaling the progress statement of a building work, particularly to
show the works behind schedule Finally, we will develop the proximity links
described above in to increase the dynamic use of the tool.
5 RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES
Focusing on coordination around the meeting report we can imagine other methods. The
image could be set in relation to a theoretical progress statement (such as a Gantt diagram
or digital mock-up) in order to show possible problems in construction progress.
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Beyond this proposition of an everyday use of the photo, we immediately notice the
bringing-in of this media into the building life cycle. Many ways of thinking are open too
in the patrimony management. For example, illustration of building work sequences
enables us to keep a trace of what has been made and how it was made Thus, building
works construction information can be reused later, particularly when building works
are hidden by other works in the final state of the building (e.g. pipes passages). We
underlined too the interest in image in knowledge management. We are at present setting
up the structure of a construction risks prevention tool (called here pathology
prevention). The search by image described in part 3.1 seems to be adapted here to
allow the user to access information. The designer could navigate without a precise
request and be informed about possible pathologies (function of materials used, build
works or actors).
Technically the search engine could answer the requests (formulated by the image)
making the link between two ontologies: one indexing image and the other one indexing
a pathology case.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Introductive parts of this article show that the study described here follows other research
works which allow us to characterise cooperative activity of design and realisation
stages in the architectural project [Halin, Hanser]. These studies allowed us too to
demonstrate the major role of image in architectural design activity as an information
vector adapted to the architect cognitive reasoning. [Bignon et al.].
This article presents a research work focused on construction coordination and
knowledge management. Our propositions are based on the building construction image
or photography as information vector and navigation tool.
We want to demonstrate here the place of image as an accessibility vector to a
particular work environment: the building construction. The sequential tasks of building
construction, precisely described in many documents (progress charts) are important
characteristics to give sense to images. This temporal aspect is very important for every
future use. The information content in the meeting report particular points is very
interesting too because it introduces the particularity linked to the works building stage:
e.g. pathology, risks and defects.
The proposed functionalities of assistance tools follow these two particular properties
of images: general progress and particular points. A first proposition consists of tools
oriented building construction coordination (workflow), and a second type of tool
focuses on assisting designers during the initial design stage bringing terrain knowledge
(e.g. pathology risks information).
The prototype developed is at present tested on two building sites and will allow us to
verify hypotheses described in this article concerning the assistance to the actor
coordination by image. A parallel functionality will be developed and available for users
concerning the pathology information tool (described in part V).
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Photo-Net II: a computer-based monitoring system applied to project management.in
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[Al Hassan 2002] AL HASSAN (E), TRUM (H.) and RUTTEN (P.)Strategic Briefing. A
Conceptual Process Model for Building Design.In proceedings of DDSSO2, 6th Conference,
Ellecom, Netherlands, pp: 168185.2002.
[Bignon 2002] BIGNON (J.C.)Modelisation, simulation et assistance a la conceptionconstruction en ArchitectureHabilitation a diriger les recherches, Nancy2002.
[Gardner 1992] GARDNER (H.)Multiple Intelligence: The Theory in Practice.New York,
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[Grezes 1994] GREZES (Denis), HENRY (Eric), MIC-QUIAUX (Dominique), FORGUE
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[Halin et al. 2003] HALIN (G.), BIGNON (Jean-Claude), SCALETSKY (Celso), NAKAPAN
(Walaiporn) and KACHER (Sabrina)Three approaches of the use of image to assist
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adaptive vision of architectural projects. Conference eCAADe, Education in Computer Aided
Architecture and Design, p.238245,Varsovieseptembre 2002.
[McCready 1992] McCready (S.)There is more than one kind of workflow software.
Computerworld,November 1992.
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Dunod1990.
Gesprecons: eSafety and risk prevention in the

construction sector
J.M.Molina, M.Martnez & I.Garca
AIDICO, Volencia, Spain
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of Gesprecons: a platform
for collaborative work on safety and risk prevention in the construction
sector. Gesprecons system provides support in the generation and
application of the Health and Safety Plan. It provides the integration of
on-site availability of the documents, activity plans, test data, inspections
and results, that may have any relation with safety assurance in building
and construction companies. For that, pre-structured context-focused
quantity and quality test data, simple access to technical knowledge
(standards, codes for practice, text books, co-operate company knowledge,
contract specification and of course agreed alterations kept in multi-media
notes, etc.) have to be provided in order to enable comparison according
to best practice and state-of-the-art.
1 INTRODUCTION
The high rate of misfortune accidents within the workplace is one of the main challenges
faced by the construction sector. This is caused by three fundamental elements: The need
of specific organisation activity, the lack of information related to industrial health and
safety received by contractors and other employees responsible for safety procedures, as
well as related legislation regarding to risk prevention and finally the simultaneity of
different activities with numerous companies at every stage of work.
This situation joined to the intermittent participation of all the agents involved in each
construction site creates a very complex situation to guarantee that labour risks
information at every specific phase of the work site is enforced by the safety coordinator.
On the other hand, in nowadays competitive industry, it is a matter of fact that
differentiation can give the companies the key to get the leadership. Safety assurance in
the working environment in the construction industry is an issue that can help the
companies to get that differentiation.
Safety on construction sites demands the close interaction of the construction-site
players and public authorities, laboratories and project surveyors. Codes, standards,
regulations as well as guidelines have to be quickly at hand, interpreted and understood in
a common sense in order to ensure safety continuously. The right decision taken at the
right moment can avoid serious accidents thus preventing from damages and even deaths.
Gesprecons defines a cooperation model among the different work construction
representatives from the safety perspective: facultative guidelines, safety coordinator
during building phase, constructors, sub-contractors, personnel delegates, personnel
953
designated by the companies in security matters (according to the prevention law), and
the employees. This approach provides personnel dedicated to the control of health and
safety and risk prevention at the construction site with a tool that allows decreasing the
number of labour accidents existing within this sector. Therefore, it could guarantee the
application and fulfilment of the current safety normative by the personnel in charge of
assuring the achievement of the Health and Safety Plans (HASP).
In order to reach each subcontractor and agents involved in the work construction, the
model is based on the use of mobile and static Internet technology, as well as
communication through SMS to facilitate contact with autonomous personnel. The
system transmits information regarding labour risk prevention and safety alerts detected
by the integration of data capture sensors in the construction site. In a higher level, the
system is able to react to possible consults that the user might encompass at the
workplace. This is accomplished by linking the consults to a Safety Plan database and a
risk prevention database specific for building work activities.
In order to provide the different stakeholders with the updated information at every
moment, a huge effort has been done in the part of the documentation for the information
systems for Gesprecons. The information has been structured in two categories:
construction labour and risk prevention. In both cases, current way of working,
documentation, bibliography and experienced people have been consulted in order to
provide the final users with the most useful information and as well structured as
possible.
2 OBJECTIVES
The main objective in the development of Gesprecons platform is to offer a remotely
accessible collaborative tool for the creation and subsequent application of the HASP.
This main target can be detailed in the items described below.
In a general point of view it aims at decreasing the current high level of misfortune
accidents between the workers within the construction site thus decreasing the level of
deaths and serious injuries.
It intends to promote the Health and Safety law fulfilment in two aspects: the creation
of HASPs and its correct execution. This is done by means of facilitating the
knowledge of the contents of the law. Currently the preparation of most HASPs
consists of copying a previous project and slightly adapting it to the new environment.
Later on, the application of the preventive measures imposed by this HASP is very
low and difficult to control. Gesprecons facilitates the creation of the plans and
supports the responsible agents for its application.
As a positive side effect, the use of Gesprecons increases the construction companies
competitiveness. Most of them are SMEs, thus having difficult access to the research
on new technologies. Gesprecons facilitates them the advantages provided by
technology.
One major issue is the exoneration from responsibilities. This is a very important point,
because the responsible agent for the application of the risk prevention measures
(Safety Coordinator) has to demonstrate his part of the work in case of accidents.
Gesprecons, by keeping register of all the transactions, contributions, warnings, alerts,
954
etc. will provide a legal framework to demonstrate his part of the work was
accomplished.
In a naturally collaborative environment as the construction sites, where a rather high
number of different companies have to share their work space in a short period of
time, it is very important to ease the coordination amongst the different stakeholders.
This is usually called eColaborative work and Gesprecons provides the framework for
it.
In line with the previous point, it is also an important issue to ease the communication
flow amongst all the participants at the construction site. Gesprecons provides a
common panel to exchange information, either related to HASP or to any other matter
in the construction site.
The general Labour Risk Coordinator usually works in several construction sites at a
time. This tool provides him with a tool to concentrate the management of all the
different construction sites he is working on in one only location.
Gesprecons intends to provide a tool to establish and control work flows in the building
work amongst the participating stakeholders. Thus allowing to define the flow of
documents, alerts, hierarchical relations, etc.
One major concern is to get an application likely to use. It is a difficult environment
and the barriers to apply new technologies are very high, as the working people are not
very well prepared. In order to get people using it the application must be very
friendly and provide real help in the daily work.
Promote the eWork in the construction industry. It is an industry naturally distributed,
each company is working in several sites at a moment. Thus it is an ideal scenario for
the application of eWork. Gesprecons platform will extend the office to the
construction site, giving seamless connection to the workers.
Furthermore, and apart from all the previous objectives, Gesprecons is only the first
step towards the development of a platform for the collaborative work in the whole
life cycle of building. Thus including work plan scheduling, quality control, risk
prevention control, eProcurement, facility management, etc.
3 METHODOLOGY
In order to reach the ambitious objectives stated in the previous section, the application
has been carefully designed and developed according to the following steps:
Information compilation. Firstly a hard task of research in the building problem was
performed. This research was mainly focused on the Health and Security field.
Process modelling. Then the processes included in the application were modelled using
standard representation languages.
Data modelling. Thirdly a data model was deployed to cover the information needs
within the problem.
Web tool development. Finally, the tool was developed as a web tool.
In the following subsections these four steps are described giving more detail of the
actual procedures of development.
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3.1 Information compilation

The information compilation task is a major issue within this kind of project. The group
needed to
Figure 1. Gesprecons data model.

gather all the key information. For the final outcome to be an useful tool it must improve
and ease the current way of working and at the same time take into account all the legal
compulsory issues.
In order to reach these objectives, it is crucial to have all the relevant information. In
the project this information has been acquired from all the different involved sources:
Firstly all the legal information [1,2,3], including normative, laws, procedures, have been
analysed; then the main current software applications used in the sector with similar aims
have been tested; also the most updated bibliography related to Health and Safety has
been consulted [4,5,6,7] and finally and probably the most important, the potential users
have been contacted and questioned about their expectations of such a system.
The Spanish Law Ley 31/1995 for Labour Risk Prevention, which transposes the
European Framework Directive 89/391/CEE, established the obligation for the
constructor: To plan the preventive action from an initial risks evaluation, and to evaluate
956
the risks inherent in the selected work tools, substances, and work places conditioning.
This obligation has been developed in the chapter II, articles 3 to 7 of the Real Decreto
39/1997, Regulations for the Prevention Services.
3.2 Process and data modelling
In order to develop an application that covers the Risk Prevention Tasks the actual
processes have been modelled. To this end, all the compiled information has been
analysed. Special attention has been paid to the comments from the potential users. This
being so because they provide the real taste of the current processes.
By analysing the information managed within the processes, a data model has been
defined. This data model consists of the data structures needed to perform all the
operations in the Risk Prevention. It is shown in Figure 1.
3.3 Web tool development
The platform has been developed in the form of a web accessible application. The
objective was to maximize the accessibility to the application. By developing a web
application the users will access through any device equipped with an Internet browser.
Furthermore, updates in the application will not affect the users, as it needs not be
reinstalled in their PCs, thus producing a dynamic system.
The application development has been done following the criteria of technology
independence and cost minimization, always keeping the level of performance. This way,
the programming has been done with JAVA, the database system is MS SQL Server, and
the applications server is Apache Tomcat which allows for encrypted connections
through https.
One important issue to be commented is the use of web services in the development of
the alerts service. In order to provide independence between the communication module
and the rest of the application, they have been implemented as separated parts which
communicate through web services. This way changes in mobile technology (as the very
close use of UMTS) will not affect the application validity.
4 DEVELOPMENTS
In this section the main functionalities offered by the application are described. It is
important to highlight that one of the main issues taken into account has been the
usability. For this reason the design of the user interface has been specially studied. The
main criteria for the design have been:
To offer access to most important functionalities in every screen.
To reduce the number of steps to reach a determined function.
To show the user the path he has followed to reach a function.
To make the functionalities easy to use.
Allow different profiles.
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The development of the platform has comprised two main parts: The database generation
and the application implementation. In the following subsections these developments are
detailed.
4.1 Information database
As previously introduced, there has been a hard work in the side of the database contents
preparation. Not only in the selection of that information, but also in its structuring.
The information is divided into two types: construction labour, and construction risks.
The former is composed of the elements that describe a construction process: phase,
activity, materials, machinery, and tools. The latter is composed of the concepts related to
safety issues: risk, prevention measure. Of course both types of information are
interrelated, in fact any of the construction elements may have several risks and each risk
several preventive measures.
Figure 2. Information system structure.

Table 1. Database figures.
Concept
Phase
Number
Relations
16
20 activities
250
7 materials
8 machinery
45 risks
Machinery
74
12 risks
Materials
36
7 risks
130
14 measures
1200
Activity
Risk
Measure
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Figure 2 shows the structure of the information database. The concept is that a
construction work is divided into phases. Each phase consists of a set of activities. In
each activity a set of materials and machinery are used. All of the construction elements
(phase, activity, materials,) can trigger a set of risks. And finally a set of preventive
measures must be applied in order to remove or at least reduce the risk.
All the information related to construction labour and risk management has been
studied and fitted into the scheme shown above. The database is accessible and the
system administrator can easily do changes, such as adding new items, deleting others or
modifying the existing ones. So, once this structuring was agreed, the next step was to
organise all the compiled information according to it.
Table 1 shows some representative figures about the database.
This shows the huge amount of work dedicated to the information system in the
application. The first column of the Table 1 shows the different types of elements
contained in the database. The second column shows the number of elements contained in
the database for each type. And finally, the third column shows the average of relations
that each element has with each of the other elements.
Figure 3. Gesprecons login screen.
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4.2 Application
The main objective of the application is to offer support to a user in the generation of the
HASP for a construction site. Furthermore, the aim is to allow for the collaborative
participation of several users in the creation and later treatment of the HASP.
Figure 3 shows the login screen for the application. Depending on the user
identification the application addresses the user to a different interface, one is addressed
to the system administrator, and another one to the normal user.
By means of the first view, the system administrator can maintain the system. This
includes two main operations: Administrative management, the administrator can sign up,
delete or modify the data of the user companies; and information database maintenance,
here the administrator can update the contents of the database including new elements or
modifying the current ones.
The second view is the user interface and provides access to the main functionalities
of the system. The contents shown in the different screens depend on the user profile. The
system allows for the users to access to different construction works with different
profiles. This way a user can be the main safety coordinator in one construction and only
a participant in the HASP creation in another one.
The list of functionalities offered to the user is the following:
Make the HASP in a collaborative way. The platform main aim is to allow the
preparation of the Health & Safety Plan in a collaborative way. To this end, the system
allows the users to define the hierarchy they want to follow amongst the different
companies participating in the preparation.
Gesprecons platform assists in the HASP execution. It can automatically send alerts
notifying the affected workers of a hazardous situation at the construction site. It can
send notifications about beginning or ending of phases, risks, etc.
Gesprecons allows for a coordinated management of the construction schedule. This
way several companies can work in a construction in a collaborative way using the
system as a communications tool.
One usual task for the H&S coordinator is to check the actual fulfilment of the
preventive measures in the construction site. This task is performed by means of the
preparation and fulfilment of the appropriate checklists. A checklist contains the set of
conditions that each preventive measure must accomplish. Gesprecons assists in the
preparation and later fulfilment of such checklists. Furthermore, it allows the user to
access from the construction sites through mobile devices.
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Figure 4. User main page.

The web accessibility provided by Gesprecons allows user to access remotely to the
system databases so disposing at every moment and place of information about
regulations in Safety and Risk prevention.
Both figures below show the look of the user interface. Figure 4 is the main screen that
the user finds when he logs into the system. This screen provides the user with the most
important information (pendant measures, recent alerts,) and facilitates the access to
the main functionalities.
Figure 5 shows the graphical visualization for the HASP schedule. It is a nice tool for
the user to get a fast overview of the global planning. Besides it also provides access to
the screen for modifying the elements just clicking on the bar. It shows each type of
element in different colour.
5 BUSINESS BENEFITS
The use of the platform Gesprecons in the construction industry offers a list of benefits
for all of the participant stakeholders. On the one hand it provides the implicit benefits of
an eWork application, namely distributed, collaborative and remote work. On the other
hand, it provides some specific benefits related to the particular sector it is aimed at.
Following these benefits are explained, detailing which are the main aspects for each
of the main groups of agents participating in the health and safety assurance in the
construction sector.
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Firstly for the construction companies, which must accomplish the Health and
Security Law. They are the main actors in this scenario. They have the strength to force
the other participants to perform a complete and detailed monitoring of the HASR The
benefits that apply directly for them are:
It allows them easily generate and execute the Health and Safety Plan.
The expertise needed to prepare the plans is lower because the tool provides advice,
knowledge management and reusability of previous work.
Collaboration workflow with their subcontractors can be defined.
The invested money on the application of the HASP can be reduced. One of the main
benefits in this line is the automatic detection of overlapping preventive measures,
thus reducing the costs.
Figure 5. Gantt diagram view.

Secondly, another big benefited from the system is the Safety Coordinator, whose main
advantages are stated below:
He can exonerate his responsibilities because the system keeps registry of his actions,
mainly the communications and actions requests to the other participants in the
construction work.
He can consult and modify the HASP at any moment and anywhere with an Internet
connection.
He can easily know at every moment who is the person responsible for any activity,
thus facilitating his communication tasks.
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Finally, the system provides high safety improvements for the workers on the
construction site:
They have a safest working environment.
They have an easily accessible channel to throw an alert in case of any emergency.

The application of these new work methods provides the involved companies with a
significant improvement in their internal management, documentation, and resource
management.
More specifically, this tool eases the interaction amongst different agents and
facilitates a common environment for health and safety management at the construction
sites, thus reducing substantially labour accidents.
Currently the application is at a first trial period. The initial feedback from the users
has been very positive and some constructive suggestions have been reported. In the next
months, after taking into account the suggestions from the test users, the platform will
start its exploitation phase.
Apart from the modifications suggested by the test users, there is a set of
improvements already planned. These improvements are focused on the openness of the
system. For instance to allow the application to import data from standard formats, to
allow the calculations of budgets, etc.
Another improvement will be focused on the connectivity. This way the system will
be done more accessible, i.e. through advanced mobile devices. To this end the
application will be configurable, and the contents will be displayed depending on the
connected device. The target devices will be mainly pocket PCs and third generation
advanced mobile phones.
The final aim of the group is to develop a multidiscipline platform for collaborative
work in the construction sector. Gesprecons is the first step. Following steps will add new
functionalities to the platform, for instance to assure the Quality procedures fulfilment.
Furthermore, the next steps are addressed to the improvement of the application.
Indeed the work is already under development in different work lines. On the one hand to
add mobility to the system in order to make it accessible from the construction site. On
the other hand, to provide the system with capabilities for workers situation detection in
order to perform selective actions depending on the presence of workers in a given area.
REFERENCES
[1] Ley 1627/1997, Disposiciones minimas de seguridad y salud en los lugares de trabajo.
[2] RD 39/1997 de 17 de enero. Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevencin.
[3] Ley 31/1.995, de 8 de noviembre, de Prevencin de Riesgos Laborales.
[4] Manual Bsico de Prevencin de Riesgos Laborales. Cuadernos Cinco Das. Centros de
Estudios Financieros. 1999.
[5] Guia prctica para la prevencin de riesgos laborales en obras de edificacin. Generalitat
Valenciana. Conselleria de Economia, Hacienda y Trabajo. 2003.
963
[6] Manual de Seguridad y Salud en la Construcin. Pedro-Antonio Beguera Latorre. Colegio de

Aparejadores y Arquitectos Tcnicos de Gerona. 1998.
[7] Manual de seguridad y de riesgos laborales y de la proteccin del medio ambiente. Mutua
Universal. CIE. Dossat2000. 1999.
Intelligent Construction Sites (ICSs)

T.Mills, Y.Jung & W.Thabet
Department of Building Construction, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
ABSTRACT: This paper introduces and explores the concept of
Intelligent Construction Sites (ICSs) supported by current technical tools
grouped within an Information Technology (IT) Toolbox. An ICS is more
than intelligent site utilization; it is a concept similar to Intelligent
Buildings, i.e., active electronic processes and information systems that
contribute to the overall operation of the construction plant for its
intended purposes. ICSs are designated construction sites that use
advanced IT tools to the maximum extent possible. Informational
intelligence that contributes to the identification of an ICS is categorized
into four broad domains: Digital Imagery Processing, Electronic Data
Interchange, Process Modeling and Visualization, and Virtual
Collaboration. Tools that support these domains are identified and their
contributions within these domains for supporting construction operations
are addressed. The nature and extent of these domains is discussed and the
associated digital tools that make up an ICS toolbox are profiled. An
example that maps Intelligent Tool utilization among the four domains of
intelligence and each tools contribution toward optimizing a solution to a
specific field problem is initiated. The paper concludes by identifying ICS
transfer mechanisms and challenges that can be encountered as efforts are
made to determine a site intelligence quotient (IQ) or site IQ.
1 INTRODUCTION
The lack of accurate, reliable, and timely information exchanges between parties, due to
industry fragmentation has historically created inefficiencies, cost overruns, and interparty disputes that too often characterize the construction process. The perceived fact that
many actors in the construction process consider each project a customized one-off
activity, designed and built by different parties who then go their separate ways, reaffirms
the opportunity and need for standardized and repeatable procedures for information
exchange. Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) both express industry beliefs that information
technology (IT) should have a positive influence on direct field performance.
The owner communicates to the designer, who in turn communicates to the
constructor, who then communicates instructions to field trades, workers and suppliers.
The work that is produced is then inspected and results are relayed back to the
constructor who may then be required to affect any corrective work. The dynamic nature
of this information exchange frequently results in the inability to predict necessary
actions. The resultant inactions that may occur reduce on-site performance. The outcome
Intelligent construction sites (Icss)
965
of this fragmentation on overall on-site performance is manifested in problematic and

productivity reducing activities such as untimely changes, non-productive labor tasks due
to wrong or absent information, disputed change orders, accidents, double handling of
material, incorrect material availability, and so on. Of all these problem areas, changes
have the most profound effect on altering performance. In addition, many parties can
initiate a change in the process, and therefore, it is essential to incorporate uniquely
intelligent IT tools to affect a positive outcome on performance, particularly from a
productivity position. Egans 2002 follow up report Accelerating Change recognizes
that IT and the Internet are important enablers toward this end (Sun and Howard 2004).
For purposes of this discussion, the term performance follows Oglesby (1989)
definition as encompassing productivity, safety, timeliness, and quality. Changes are a
standard part of the building process and are based on informational exchanges and
accurate and timely communication among the engaged parties, but they cannot be
predicted. Although the construction industry is increasingly adopting IT tools to improve
performance, construction is still struggling with inefficiencies and reduced productivity
due to ineffective information exchanges.
In an effort to utilize IT to improve performance, it becomes necessary to identify and
define an IT toolbox that can be developed and used to improve on-site performance. The
objective of this paper is to identify and investigate existing information technology
tools, categorize them within specified domains and demonstrate how they may be
integrated and utilized as on-site problem solvers, thus creating an intelligent construction
site (ICS). By identifying the intelligent tools and their transfer mechanisms, an ICS can
be defined and designated intelligent. The concept of a site intelligence quotient (IQ) or
site IQ is also presented.
2 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) IN CONSTRUCTION
IT is a term that encompasses all forms of information technology and is commonly
understood as software applications, computer enhanced operational methods and
techniques used to create, store, exchange, use and archive information in its various
forms including data, voice, images, multimedia content, and other informational forms,
including those not yet conceived. In the latter 1990s the Internet has been intensively
explored as a 24/7 platform that allows push/pull information exchanges between
architects, engineers, construction managers, and construction companies regardless of
site location. These project specific websites (PSW) or automated communication sites
are only one of many IT tools (Unger 2002, Dawood 2002). There are many other IT
tools used to simplify and solve some of the complexities of informational exchange
within construction. Sun and Howard (2004) have compiled an extensive inventory of IT
strategies and tools, all revolving around shared project databases, which are available to
the construction industry as enterprise process enhancers.
Among the on-site tools referenced are: 3D representations, bar coding for material
handling, laser positioning system for field measurements, videoconferencing, mobile
computing processes, etc. With the advent of virtual sites, the limitation of tools for use at
a specific location, office or field, is being mitigated. What once may have been an office
966
function can now often be handled from a remote location. IT has reduced the
time/distance dimension and resulted in opportunities for ICS.
3 INTELLIGENT CONSTRUCTION SITES (ICSs)
Traditionally an intelligent building is defined by the latest software applications and
IT hardware within telecommunications, electronics, security, automation, and building
energy control systems (Stein and Reynolds 2000). Similar to an intelligent building,
an ICS is a designated project site, Figure 1, which
Figure 1. Intelligent Construction Site

(ICS) diagram.
Table 1. ICS tool domains.
Digital Imagery Processing
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Dynamic Scheduling
Decision Support System
Electronic Forms
Electronic Inventory
Positioning Systems
Process Modeling and Visualization
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Virtual Collaboration
Web-based project management
3D Visualization
Interactive virtual walk-throughs and virtual construction
Electronic document management

Electronic plan rooms
4D Scheduling
uses an accessible collection of IT tools in meaningful support of on-site operations. In its

most advanced forms the ICS optimizes a diversity of cost effective IT tools to provide a
proactive performance enhancing project site, in effect an intelligent construction site. To
allow for extended on-site IT integration, and create a more intelligent construction site,
it is important for users to identify and understand these intelligent tools.
Denotation of these tools into categorical domains provides an outline for tool
accessibility and future usage. Therefore to aid in their understanding an operational
hierarchy of intelligent tools and their task utilization opportunities are presented. These
tools, as shown in Table 1, have been synthesized within four domains that comprise ten
operative functions within on-site construction management. Table 1 presents the four
domains as; 1) Digital Imagery Processing; 2) Electronic Data Interchange; 3) Process
Modeling and Visualization; and 4) Virtual Collaboration. Within each of these domains
are broad operational functions and technical tools. As stated earlier, the diversity and
effectively integrated use of these tools provides for increasing levels of site intelligence.
3.1 Digital Imagery Processing (DIP)
In its simplest form, DIP can be characterized by capturing field images using digital
cameras for later user processing. Several techniques, each with increasing knowledge
sophistication and intelligence levels are available for on-site usage.
An example of these intelligent tools/techniques that are operative within a DIP
domain are; 1) dynamic scheduling using real time web cams or time-lapse video
recording/playback; 2) digital still/motion capture and Internet image distribution and
database archiving for subsequent knowledge management.
3.2 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
This domain is uniquely defined as electronic data acquisition and exchange using
automatic data collection instruments/devices and field-placed data sensors, and
archiving the data on permanent storage media. Among the intelligent tools that perform
various tasks within this domain are; bar coding devices for material control; web-cams
linked to project specific websites; pocket-PCs with electronic forms for automated data
entry and reporting; and wireless networks that incorporate RFID devices.
968
3.3 Process modeling and visualization

Process modeling and visualization provide affordable IT tools that quickly and
realistically depict data in a visual format. The strength of these tools is their capability of
transforming voluminous amount of construction related spatial data into a graphical and
visual manner that instantly improves comprehension. Significant on-site performance
gains can be expected as a result of increased field accuracy and process clarity. There is
considerable work being done in areas of 3D visualization, virtual construction
environments, and 4D scheduling. Although there are some aspects of this domain to
performance enhancements true process modeling is weak and lacks the integration with
visualization due to constrains brought about by the absence of common process
vocabularies. Therefore the strengths of this domain are in product sequence animations,
and virtual environments.
3.4 Virtual collaboration
Virtual collaboration allows the project team to share a 24/7 virtual site available to all
actors on any construction project. The capabilities of virtual collaboration tools include
shared documents linked to a project database accessible through a PSW; teleconstruction
capabilities using web-cams; and shared process and product models developed from
VRML or 3D animations. The concepts of online web-chats and web conferencing have
become more integrated into peoples work-lives and more and more people are using
simple web technologies to communicate in text, sound, and visual methods. Among the
ICS collaboration functions and tools are: Web-based Project Management, Electronic
Document Management, and Electronic Plan Rooms.
4 THE INTELLIGENT CONSTRUCTION TOOLBOX OR IT
TOOLBOX
The construction industry is communication dependent and currently comprises a diverse
mixture of electronic and paper based information exchanges. Unlike manufacturing,
construction is a collaborative activity in all phases including not only assembly work but
work that occurs prior to and after the assembly processes. The authors define an
Intelligent Construction Toolbox, or IC Toolbox, comprised of a collection of current
available IT tools that would allow for performing different tasks and processes under the
four domains described above. The authors consider a baseline ICS IT toolbox to include
a telephone, a fax machine, and a personal computer linked to the Internet with a basic
email account. Anything beyond this baseline is a smarter and more ICS. Figure 2 shows
a collection of available intelligent technical tools, and the linkages between the tools and
the defined domains based on the different levels of integration that exists for problem
solving using these tools.
As depicted in Figure 2, the four domains contained within the ICS are connected to
the avialble technical tools using one-to-many relationships. The technical tools support
multiple domains. Each domain contained within the IT Toolbox are interrelated with
969
other domain tools. For example, digital prototyping is a tool that has primary capabilities
for use within the domains of Digital Imagery Processing and Process Modeling and
Visualization. The objective of an ICS is to have access to IT tools and for the user to
select the right tool for the right task at the right time.
Notwithstanding improvement in e-communication, information delivery and field
processing, construction remains a traditionally paper-bound enterprise. Communication
among field office participants is done electronically yet the actual presence of
information within in the field environment is predominately paper-based. No one is
constructing by looking at the actual electronic object. Paper drawings are used to extract
information for construction, assembly, and placement. Due to changing stakeholders, the
construction process requires a set of unique, yet standardized electronic tools for on-site
information exchanges and performance improvements. An identifiable set
Figure 2. Intelligent Tool Box showing

domain, function, and tool structure.
970
of standard, yet customizable tools is available within the defined domains of the ICSs IT
toolbox.
5 PROBLEM SOLVING USING THE IT TOOLBOX ON AN ICS
Adrian (2002) notes that approximately seventy-two percent (72%) of the construction
workforces nonproductive time can be attributed to the lack of information or due to
information that is not available when needed to allow work to continue without delay,
disruption or error. Forty percent (40%) of this lost time can be characterized as waiting
for either instructions or resources, while twenty-two percent (22%) of lost productivity
is the result of late, inaccurate or poor information exchanges. The other ten percent
(10%) is a result of rework or defects list corrections. The absent of efficient and accurate
information exchanges are consistently generating non-productive field activities. Table 2
shows a matrix of opportunity for solving many of these performance deficiencies
through the avocation and implementation of ICSs domain intelligent tools.
The primary benefit of an ICS using tools from the IT toolbox are the reductions in
communication times and the costs associate with using a paper based documentation,
which has an inherent delivery and accessibility time lags. The potential problem of the
construction site is an ineificient communication flow through a paper-based system that
relies on a baseline ICS.
Table 2. ICS Task/Tool selection matrix.

Domains
Non-productive tasks
Waiting on instructions
Rework
Late or inaccurate
information
Multiple material handling
Punch list work
DIP EDI Process modeling &

visualization
Virtual
collaboration
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Figure 3. Multiple material handling

task solution using Intelligent Tools.
The IT toolbox can assist managers by producing a more ICS through the prevalence
of using domain specific IT tools for resolving on-site problems. It is conceivable that an
effective ICS can reduce on-site errors, minimize rework, improve safety and security,
and provide a highly efficient supply of materials and products to the site.
Figure 3 outlines an example strategy for an ICSs IT tool selection to solve an
information flow problem that is resulting in multiple material handling. A specific
inquiry is required to determine what tools are available and what tools can be used to
assist in solving the problem. In this example the material is bar coded and identified
upon receipt and installation through a mobile computer equipped with a bar code reader.
The inventory data is linked to an e-form to a custom database accessible through an
internet based PSW.
Another task may require different tools to solve the specific operational concerns. For
instance, many stakeholders initiated changes during the process and a simple change that
is not relayed to the appropriate field personnel in a timely fashion can result in more
extensive costs by having to do rework without compensation. Thus poorly
communicated changes that lack accurate and timely information exchanges will accrue
addition non-productive activities. The availability of IT tools can have the potential to
quickly provide the needed information in a usable format at the right time.
The primary goal of the IT toolbox is to provide an ICS with the ability to correct
informational exchange problems in a manner that improves performance.
972
6 SITE INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ)

To achieve an Intelligent Construction Site with a relative high IQ requires an extensive
array of IT tools and the ability to effectively deploy these tools in a manner that benefits
on-site performance in areas of productivity, safety, quality, and timeliness. The more
extensive the IT toolbox and the more cross domain capable, the higher the Site IQ. One
should be careful to not equate an ICS with a higher IQ to an ICS that has higher
performance due to a higher degree of IT tool utilization. This is equivalent to having
book sense but no common sense. One must always remember a tool is designed to
improve not hinder performance. Care must be taken to select the right tools and prevent
the accumulation of too many tools as a smart toolbox may make a dumb site.
Thus to create an intelligent ICS, several tasks must be addressed and successfully
implemented. Among these task implementation requirements are:
An analysis of project complexities and operational uncertainties,
Identification of on-site operational strategies,
The examination and valuation of systematic ICS IT domains,
The determination of needed internal ICS functional techniques,
The identification of needed on-site IT tools to meet the defined IT needs,
The stocking of an ICS IT toolbox that meets the on-site operational strategies,
The deployment of these tools in appropriate combinations to enhance on-site
performance.
A successful ICS uses collaborative and systematic efforts to identify and evaluate on-site
shortcomings and fills its IT toolbox accordingly By careful understanding of the IT
toolbox domain/ftmction/tool structure a user should be able to effectively select the right
tool for the right task. As several IT tools may successful operate within the four interdependent domains, an ICS needs to understand its on-site/off-site information needs, its
operational concepts, information exchange parameters, tool technology, and deployment
strategies to create an ICS thats truly intelligent.
7 CONCLUSION
The Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry has adopted and considered a
wide array of useful, meaningful, and accessible information tools in support of
construction operations. To understand the operational benefits from these tools, their
informational contributions in making an ICS are explored. The breadth and depth of
intelligent tool usage yields the site IQ.
973
REFERENCES
Abeid, J. and Arditi, J. (2002). Linking Time-Lapse Digital Photography and Dynamic Scheduling
of Construction Operations. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, Vol. 16, No. 4, 269
279.
Adrian, J. (2000). Ten New Themes for Productivity Improvement, Construction Productivity
Newsletter. Vol. 18, No. 6.
Dawood, N., Akinsola, A. and Hobbs, B. (2002). Development of automated communication of
system for managing site information using internet technology. Automation in Construction 11
(2002)557572.
Egan, J. (1998). Rethinking Construction. London, HMSO.
Latham, M. (1994). Constructing the Team. London, HSMO.
Olgesby, C., Parker, H. and Howell, G. (1989). Productivity Improvement in Construction. New
York, McGraw-Hill.
Stein, B. and Reynolds, J. (2000). Mechanical and electrical equipment for buildings. New York,
Wiley.
Sun, M. and Howard, R. (2004). Understanding I.T. in Construction. London, Sporn Press.
Unger, S. (2002). The trend towards an Internet-based communication standard in the A/E/C
industry. A Construct-ware White Paper, Atlanta, Constructw@re.
Organizational point of view for the use of

information technology in construction
projects
P.Praper
Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Maribor, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: Not one project is carried out as whole by only one
company. The companies may have different roles in projects: they could
be investor, main contractor or subcontractor. Setting up the
organizational schema of the project is a hard and responsible task of the
main project system. The communication and responsibilities must be set
up simultaneously with the setting up of the organizational schema. The
IT technology used on the side of the main project system has open
enough that other participant in process can be incorporated into it and on
the other side the IT technology used should be flexible enough that in can
adapt to the defined role. In this paper the conclusions and guidelines are
made on the data and characteristics of the projects, phases of the projects
and organizational schemes. The data was gathered in a relation database
by project manager during the project lifecycle.
1 INTRODUCTION
In this paper, the business model is construction SMEs, where the project manager
usually works on several projects at the same time.
It is well known, that the construction industry is fragmented and construction projects
include diverse enterprises ranging from engineering to construction, to material
production, to several pre and post construction services.
There are many different points of view on the project and at least as many
organizational approaches: from pure project organization to matrix and functional
approaches (Litke H. 2002). When we take into consideration the whole project life cycle
it is essential to clarify the roles of the participants. The definitions of roles in particular
project is especially important because the construction companies are in different roles;
from investors on the market to main contractor to subcontractor. Also the term project
manager is often confusing while as on the same project the designers have a project
manager, the building company has a project manager and the investor also has a
project manager. When we talk about IT in project management it is wrong to isolate
only some activities or phases. IT support must in the first place take into consideration
the whole project cycle, although it is possible support only for required areas. On the
other hand it is essential to classify and standardize the project management process. At
Organizational point of view for the use of information technology
975
present there are no sufficient standards for important tasks in planning and management.
(Kuhne C. & C.Leistner 2002)
The purpose of this paper is based on case studies to open some dilemmas and reasons
and to clarify the relations important in this process.
2 PHASES AND ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY
Construction projects have many different and independent people or institutions
involved within a particular phase or in several phases of the project. There are several
classifications of the investment project phases and relations among them. The most
overall division of the whole project life cycle includes the concept of the project, design,
building and exploitation.
When we talk about a construction project, often only the Design planning, Cost
estimating and scheduling, Technical design, Invitation to bid, Building, Project billing
and controlling are mentioned (Kuhne C. & C.Leistner 2002). But when we consider the
project managers point of view towards the whole life cycle of the project it is obvious
that the real estate procedures such as acquiring real estate, breaking up an estate and
geological research play important roles in time, cost and quality estimation. The
relations among them are usually much more complex than they look on the first sight.
On the basis of the different professions involved, legislation and stages of the
construction project, the following supporting processes have to be added into whole life
cycle of the project:
Initiative, Start up
Real estate procedures
Spatial plan procedures
Evaluations of all activities
Agreements
Supervision
Exploitation, maintenance.
All of the above phases require collaboration and the exchange of documentation, and all
of them produce documentation of the project When we talk about successful realization
of the cost, quality and time plan, all the phases have to be managed and IT is the tool of
optimization.
According to Hauc the project includes the project and all systems included in the
project. (Hauc A. 2002) The project system consists of: main system, managing system
and execution system.
The main system, that is usually investor or beneficiary, develops a vision for the
project, copes with operational and strategic chance on the project and sets the general
direction of the project.
Managing system has the task of coping with the complexity of developing and
implementing a management system for the project, maintaining oversight of the efficient
and effective use of resources designing and developing the management functions,
organizing, motivating, directing and controlling, the project, ensuring the
976
communication process involved in the project works effectively. The project manager is
part of managing system and must both: lead and manage.
The execution of the activities is the task of external executants and internal
executantssubcontractors. They are chosen from inside the company or on the market
according to the rules of tender.
On a project as a whole we can define a project system, but executants of a particular
task see only their subscriber and supervisor.
3 CASE STUDY
With aim of optimizing the management process we have started to collect project
management data from the projects.
The basis were MS Excel tables that every project manager have had on their
computer and later also on networks. The upgrade to a relation database was logical
progress, where all employees registered every event and document to form, that was
related to the database.
For this purpose we have developed a simple and practical project management tool
called ITvPR, developed simultaneously with the progress of the project. Microsoft
Access has been chosen for Database engine. Even thought it is not considered a real
database engine, it has several advantages: like Excel it is part of MS Office, easy to use,
widespread all over the world and it can be exported to more powerful database engines
such as SQL Server. The database consists of several entities: companies, prqjects,
persons involved in the process, send and received post, offers, traveling costs, cash flow,
contracts, and invoices.
Over three years time in database there were about 100 project managed by 6 project
managers.
Projects have been deeply analyzed from the inside, i.e. from project managers side.
Comparison of them all would exceed this paper, so here are descriptions and
organizational schema of two of them. First is the investment in new shopping, second is
the reconstruction and adaptation of a castle into a library. Both projects have similar
budgets and useful business area, but other characteristics such as complexity, speed,
repetition and organizational approach are quite different.
The shopping center is a new building for known users in as short a time as possible
(less than a year from initiation to the realization). The project management spent
approximately 1790 hours; there were 15 contracts with direct subcontractors and they
made out 55 invoices.
Reconstruction of the castle into a library started in 2001 and it is scheduled to finish
in October 2004. The project is financed by the Ministry for culture and 4 municipalities.
Until now the project management has spent approximately 2825 hours; there were 64
contracts with direct subcontractors and they made out 158 invoices.
977
4 ORGANIZATIONAL SCHEME
Figures 1 and 2 show the relationships, main phases, participants and deciding levels of
the described projects.
At the top of each figure there the authorities and legislation that give the principle
rules and framework for the specific location. Under them are the diversified levels of the
participants in the process. The connections among them show who commissioned
whom. Some link cross, which means conflicts. The collision of interest is especially
problematic when the commission is given across two or more levels as is the case in the
first project. Contractors who subscribe to different decision levels are also quite
problematic. In such cases one usually subscribes quality while the other one is the
financier.
Another problem of the project pointed out in Figure 2, is that the role of project
management is not well defined. The investor in this case is a public institution, so all
commissions are contracted with this public institution, so the external project
management have only a consultants role and cannot give effect to commissions.
Figure 1. Shopping center project.
978
Figure 2. Renovation of castle into

library project.
When we view the figures from left to right we can see the time component of the
project. From both figures it is evident that at beginning of the project, the project
manager was already in contact with the authorities and the beneficiary and so was well
introduced to their wishes and constraints.
The orders, documentation and payments use the same connections as the deciding
and commission connections and this is why they are so important.
5CONCLUSIONS
The collaboration on the project involves multiple groups and departments inside and
outside the company.
The type and size of organizations taking part in the construction projects can be very
different.
When the company buys or develops IT support for project management it has to
consider their own role in the projects life cycle and in the organization concept because
the collaboration with other participants is essential.
The beginning of the project is however the most important phase and has a major
impact on the results of the project, although it represents only a minor financial part. The
task of the project management is to define, on the basis of experience and knowledge,
the organization of the project and IT support.
At a beginning of the project the main concept of information and communication
technology have to be already defined and contractors who enter into a particular phase
just have to accept rules.
That is why it is so important that the main investors such as Ministries,
Municipalities, financial institutions, residential ftmds and construction companies are
aware of the benefits of good organization and together with project managers and
979
consulting engineers should understand the importance of the standardization of project

management and organizational levels that can then be IT supported. However the
responsibility and control of the project is up to the project manager who has an interest
for IT support while it means good results in cost, quality and time sense. He must define
the organizational scheme so that it has fewer and fewer crossings and commissions over
diiferent decision levels.
REFERENCES
Bennett J. 1985. Construction project management, UK: Butterworths.
Litke H. 2002. Projektmanagement. Freiburg im Breisgau: Haufe.
Hauc A. 2002. Projektni management.
Kuhne C. & C.Leistner2002. Benefits of using product and process model data in project
management. Proceeding of ECPPM 2002. Netherlands: Balkema.
Psunder I. 1998. Strategy of quality in building projects. Proceedings/14th World Congress on
Project Management. Ljubljana: Slovenian Project management organization.
Virtual reality at the building site:

investigating how the VR model is
experienced and its practical applicability
S.Woksepp
NCC Construction Sverige AB and eByggCenter for Information
Technology in Construction,
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Lule University of
Technology, Sweden
O.Tullberg
Department of Structural Mechanics, Chalmers University of Technology,
Sweden
T.Olofsson
eByggCenter for Information Technology in Construction, Department
of Civil & Environmental
Engineering, Lule University of Technology, Sweden
ABSTRACT: The paper presents an investigating on how a visualised
Virtual Reality (VR) model is experienced and assessed by the workforce
at a building site. It also provides insight of the basic information flow
requirements. The questionnaire involved a total of 93 participants, all of
whom were involved in the building project. The VR model in question
was realistic, as the majority of the participants were positive about using
it in their profession. The participants also felt that the information flow at
the building site was insufficient today and that a VR model can have a
beneficial effect on information transfer and co-operation. Further studies
using VR modeling in construction is necessary to provide knowledge for
practical implementation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Designing all but the simplest of products and artifacts on paper has now had its day.
Moving to VR affords greater clarity and understanding, facilitates simulations and
testing, and as a result, great savings. Cochrane(1997)
The most common way of distributing technical information at a building site is by
means of 2D CAD drawings. It is often necessary to consult more than one drawing to
perform a single task on a site. There is a clear need for ready access to these drawings in
updated, correct form. In addition, the information should be easy to understand in order
to avoid misunderstandings and costly mistakes. The use of Virtual Reality (VR) offers
one possible solution. However, there has been little empirical investigation of VR
Virtual reality at the building site
981
technologies by companies in the construction sector (Whyte 2001). To determine

whether VR can provide a useful complement to traditional building techniques and to
2D CAD, the requirements for the practical use on daily basis have to be determined. In
addition, the design of a VR model also needs to consider the specific needs from
different groups of the users, i.e. construction workers, site managers, designers and other
persons or groups involved.
Even if VR has been shown to be effective for visualising information in many other
contexts, its broadbased use within the construction industry is yet to come. However,
many research centers and government laboratories have provided the opportunity for
construction companies to make use of their VR facilities.
An example of VR system used by the construction companies is Bechtels
WALKTHRU (WALKTHRU 1991) available since 1980s, which uses real-time
animated images and links together three-dimensional graphics packages and engineering
databases (Retik & Shapira 1999).
Roup et al. (2001) examined how users experienced a detailed VR model of an office
building. Although their study targeted users of office premises and thereby related to the
building design, it provided indications of how individuals who are not accustomed to
VR technology experienced a VR model. The results suggested that the tested VR model
was perceived as being realistic. Calderon et al. (2000) studied communication between
members of design and construction teams, their clients and other, indirect stakeholders.
However, there is a lack of adequate research on the use of VR during the construction
phase and that VR so far has relatively few practical applications in this area.
The result presented in this paper is a part of the project Applied Virtual Reality for
Large and Complex Buildings (VR/lcb), (Woksepp 2001, Woksepp & Tullberg 2001). It
is an effort to quantify the attitudes of using VR at the construction site with statistical
analysis.
The questionnaire was designed with funnel technique, which involves starting with
general questions, or statements to which the participant is to respond, followed by indepth questions or statements designed to study the respondents attitudes toward specific
issues (Dahlstrm 1970). All the statements and questions have a set of reply alternatives.
The framing of the statements and questions used in the questionnaire accounts for the
standard of attainment in this type of context (Lantz 1993).
2 VR SYSTEM AND VR MODEL
The software and hardware used in the study are commercial and available on the market.
The investment can be described as reasonable, i.e. suitable not only for large but also for
small and medium-sized enterprises.
The VR model used was a prototype of Centralhuseta hotel and office block
completed in Gothenburg, Sweden, in November 2003. The model was produced by
including a number of different 3D modelling tools, such as 3D Studio (Autodesk),
SolidWorks (SolidWorks), AutoCAD (Autodesk) and Xsteel (Tekla). The VR
model, visualised in Division MockUp (PTC), describes the construction of
Centralhuset, in particular its steel structure, foundations, adjacent surroundings,
frontage, beams and floor components and the incoming rail tracks.
982
For the VR demonstrations, two PCs were employed: a 256 Mb RAM/18 Gb HD 1

GHz SGI Zx 10 with a Wildcat II 5110 graphics card and a 256Mb RAM/18Gb HD 866
MHz Compaq SP750 with a Wildcat Pro 4110 graphics card. The VR visualisation can
be described as desktop immersive. A Proxima UltraLight X350 projects the VR model
on a screen, while a Magellan Space mouse is used to navigate in the Virtual
Environment. The VR equipment was chosen for its functionality, price, flexibility and
full compatibility with CAD. Division MockUp (PTC) was used for the VR
visualisation.
Approximately 10,000 objects were used to produce the VR model of Centralhuset.
The VR model in the study included the following environments:
the adjacent surroundings,
the excavation, the piles and foundation,
the steel structure and the prefabricated floors,
parts of the facade,
the railway station,
the site office, the crane and
a proposal for office space.
Figure 1. The steel structure.
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Figure 2. Foundations and piles.
Figure 3. A proposal for office space.

Figure 13 shows some of the included environments in the VR model.
The input to the VR model came from 2D CAD drawings and some 3D CAD model of
the steel structure. Although the model is extensive, the size of the resulting VR files is
only 85MB. To date, approximately 350 man-hours have been spent to create the virtual
prototype, at a cost of approximately EUR 35,000.
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3 RESEARCH AIM
The questionnaire was designed to study how the visualised VR model of Centralhuset
in Gothenburg, Sweden, was experienced and assaessed by users and the extent to which
a model of this kind could complement the 2D CAD drawings that are generally
employed in this kind of context. The operational use of VR at the building site was the
primary concern. By studying people who had little or no experience of 3D CAD or of
VR, we hoped to reveal the attitudes of the average person working at a construction site
rather than those of a 3D CAD or VR expert.
4 METHOD
4.1 Design
The questionnaire consisted of 20/21 questions or statements (21 directed at the building
owner representatives, NCC Property Development). To obtain a general view of the
participants as individuals, the questionnaire started with three questions pertaining to
individual characteristics (age, profession and computer skills). Then, statements for
investigating participants attitudes towards the use of the VR model were presented.
Subsequently, various statements relating to the information flow at the building site
were presented. The questionnaire closed with a section containing general statements
concerning the use of a VR model in the respondents own profession. The statements in
the questionnaire as a whole have the same formulation for all participants, except in this
final section. Here, statements about customer relations were presented for the
representatives for the building owners. All statements were expressed as assertions
rather than negations.
Although leading questions or statements should be avoided in a questionnaire, (as
they could reflect the position the researcher, Ekholm & Fransson 1994), we nevertheless
decided that an approach of this sort was best for investigating the main questions of the
study:
1 How will the VR prototype be envisaged, experienced and assessed by the users, and
2 To what extent can a VR model complement the use of 2D CAD drawings.
The questionnaire comprised of nine pages, including a description of its aims, a
statement regarding the confidentiality of the results, the questions and statements and
space for the participants to write in any additional comments they wished to make.
A Likert scale was employed to convert the participants responses into numerical
data. The Likert technique involves various statements being presented and participants
being asked to express agreement or disagreement on a five-point scale: Strongly agree
(5), Agree (4), Undecided (3), Disagree (2) or Strongly disagree (1). A seven
point-scale can also be applied using the Likert technique (Trost 2001). Since numerical
values represent the participants attitudes expressed in points, different values represent
different attitudes (Patel & Davidson 1994). The Likert scale was used for all the
985
questions in the questionnaire, with the exception of questions relating to personal

characteristics, first contact with VR, information flow and the final questions directed at
the building owner representatives. The collected results were and converted into
numerical values. The mean and the standard deviation for the participant group as a
whole were calculated for each statement. The standard deviation indicates how the
obtained scores from the participants vary around the mean value (cf. Niles 2002).
The results were stored in a database and the statistical analysis was made in Matlab, a
numerical software package from MathWorks.
4.2 Procedure and participants
The procedure was to deliver questionnaire to the participants at the building site
Centralhuset in groups of 120 individuals at a time. The fact that the building was halfcompleted made it particularly easy for participants to compare the VR model with the
erected construction, thereby facilitating comparisons of the expressions Virtual
Reality and Reality.
The project leader started a test session giving a short introduction of the research
project and handing out the questionnaires. The participants began by answering the
introductory part concerning the personal details and characteristics. Then, the concept of
VR was presented followed by a demonstration of the VR model. The participants
continued by answering the remaining questions and statements in the questionnaire. The
project leader was present throughout the session to provide support for the participants if
any of the questions or statements were difficult to understand. It took approximately 20
minutes for the participants to complete the questionnaire; including the time taken by the
VR demonstration. The majority of the people involved in the construction of
Centralhuset participated in the study. Figures 4 and 5 shows the distributions in
occupation and age of the 93 respondents.
The construction workers were the most heavily represented category. The age ranged
from 20 to 62 years. Differences due to gender could not be investigated, since too few
women took part in the study. The majority (53 of 93) of the participants agreed with the
statement I consider that I have good computer skills. To the statement This is my first
contact with Virtual Reality, 67 people agreed and 26 disagreed. The majority of the
participants that previously had experience with 3D modelling and/or with VR were
designers.
Figure 4. The participants

occupations.
Figure 5. The age of participants.
986
987
5 RESULTS
5.1 The questionnaire
The main goal of the study was to establish whether a VR model could be a practical and
reliable information tool at the building site. We also wanted to investigate the
possibilities of the VR technology in improving the flow of information and co-operation
between the people participating in the construction work at the building site. The result
is not conclusive, but can serve as guidance rather than definite due to the limitations of
the study. The main results from the study are summarized in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
The final part of the questionnaire was the section that generated the most intense
discussions. Comments such as This is great, but how do we implement it in our
everyday work? or Interesting, but can we save any money by using a VR model at the
building site?. Further research is needed in order to provide answers to these questions.
However, the majority of the respondents were positive about using VR models at the
building site, as shown in Table 3. Some concerns regarding the financial benefits and of
how well they could manage a VR model was expressed. Despite their positive attitude to
using VR models, most of participants still felt the need for further investigation of the
benefits of VR.
Table 1. Participants attitudes towards VR

regarding impressions, navigation and co-operation.
Virtual Reality (VR)
Mean
value
Standard
deviation
First impressions at the VR demonstration

The VR model provides a better overview of Centralhuset than 2D
CAD drawings do.
4.57/5
0.54
The Virtual Reality model of Centralhuset has an appearance that

inspires confidence in it.
4.30/5
0.69
Details show up better in VR than in 2D CAD drawings.
4.12/5
0.68
It is easier for me to explain the details I am involved with

professionally using a VR model than using 2D CAD drawings.
4.16/5
0.80
Having the ability to navigate within the VR environment and thus being
able to scrutinise the model involved from different angles helps me to
understand details.
4.50/5
0.70
The co-operation I have with my colleagues within the same

occupational group is facilitated by using a VR model.
4.01/5
0.73
The co-operation I have with colleagues from other occupational groups
4.20/5
0.72
Help of navigation in the handling of details
Co-operation by use of a virtual environment
988
is facilitated by using a VR model.

Details in areas outside my areas of professional expertise are easier for
me to understand with the aid of a VR m odel.
4.30/5
0.73
5.2 Additional comments

In addition to answering questions and responding to statements, the participants could
also add comments in the questionnaire. Most of the comments related to the degree of
detailing and the cost of using the VR model. Other comments related to when the VR
model was likely to be feasible. The highest potential of the
Table 2. The participants present and desired

future access to information.
Information handling
Mean
value
Standard
deviation
I already receive enough information in my job without the help of

VR models.
3.55/5
0.77
Im satisfied with the way information is distributed to me now,

without the help of VR models.
3.40/5
0.75
Personal situation
In my occupation, I receive information primarily from the following sources (several alternatives
can be selected):
1.
2D CAD drawings
2.
3D CAD drawings
3.
Personal contacts
4.
By telephone
989
5.
By fax
6.
Through the internet
7.
LAN (Local Area Network)
8.
From literature, brochures

etc.
9.
From other sources
In my future job situation, I would like to receive information mainly from the following sources
(several alternatives can be selected):
1.
2D CAD drawings
2.
3D CAD drawings
3.
Personal contacts
4.
By telephone
5.
By fax
6.
Through the internet
7.
LAN (Local Area Network)
8.
From literature, brochures

etc.
9.
From other sources
10.
From Virtual Reality models
Table 3. Summary of the participants' attitudes

towards using the VR model in their work.
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Final section*
Using VR models in ones own work
I think I would benefit from using VR models in my work.
4.30/5
0.68
I could imagine using VR models in my work.
4.28/5
0.75
Convincing me of the benefits of Virtual Reality would require: (several alternatives can be
selected):
1.
Nothing, I am already convinced
2.
Successful pilot projects
3.
Economic analysis
4.
VR presentations at the
workplace
5.
Better technical knowledge
6.
Other factors
*Two additional questions for the representatives of the building owner are presented in Section
4.2. In addition, all the participants apart from the representatives of the building owner answered
the first statement in the Final section.
VR model was believed to be when a new task was about to be performed rather than
using it all the time. The rest of the comments related to problems associated with
keeping the VR model updated and the need for adaptation to the conditions on the
building site.
The representatives of the building owner responded to two additional statements:
I believe that using VR models can give me a more favourable position in relation to
my customers.
991
I believe that by using VR, I can reduce the costs of errors sufficiently to cover the
costs of the modeling work. According to Josephson (1990) the reduction of errors is
estimated to 10% of the total construction. The estimated cost of the VR model is
2%o.
The last question is clearly speculative; however, the statement could give some
indication on costs assessment.
The first of these two statements yielded a more positive response, as all the
participants selected Strongly agree or Agree (Mean4.5, Standard deviation
0.58). The second statement received a response that, albeit it pointed slightly in the
direction of agreement (Mean3.25, Standard deviation0.63), has to be considered
Undecided. However, since only four building owner representatives participated, the
response is only indicative. A much larger number of participants is needed to ensure
reliable responses.
6 DISCUSSION
The aim of the questionnaire was to investigate the way work force involved in
constructing the Centralhuset building in the city of Gothenburg, experienced and
assessed the VR model as well as the intended use for information purposes. The VR
model focused primarily on the supporting structure, the foundations and the
prefabricated floor components of the building. We expected that some of the
occupational groups could have more use for the model than other groups. Therefore, we
endeavored to perfect the original version of the VR model to make it as suitable as
possible for all the occupational groups involved.
In the questionnaire, three objective personal characteristics of the participants; age,
occupation and computer skills, were determined. No relationship between these
characteristics and the views or attitudes that the participants expressed in their responses
could be found.
Although we did not perform any significance tests, the reasonably high mean values
combined with low standard deviations obtained for most of the test items relating to the
participants attitudes and assessments, indicates a high degree of consensus. This gives a
strong indication of the conclusions drawn.
7 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
The results of the study suggest that there is a genuine need to improve the information
flow at building sites. The usefulness of technical aids such as VR, appears to be obvious,
especially as a complement to the 2D CAD drawings. Indications that can inhibit
integration of VR into the building process was also found in limited technical
knowledge and financial considerations. The present procedure of distributing
information by means of 2D CAD drawings is ineffective. Moreover, planning in 2D
rather than directly in 3D considerably increases the cost of producing a VR model.
The views of the respondents on the different issues in the questionnaire varied very
little, between different ages, occupations and computer skills. Although the construction
992
workers were the group whose computer skills were most limited, they were particularly
positive in their assessment of the advantages of using VR in the construction process.
The fact that they receive information largely from 2D CAD drawings and personal
communication may well have contributed to the positive attitude to new and richer
forms of communication media.
This type of VR model needs to be carefully developed to complement to the
information given in 2D, especially in the sections and in details that are difficult to grasp
with 2D drawings. Therefore, we recommend that specialists on VR are used to produce
and maintain the model of the construction process. It is also important to inspire and
give confidence in the technology to people who are going to use the VR model.
Otherwise, the model will not be used in practice.
The developers of VR system have to adapt their systems to the needs in order to be
useful for the construction industry. Further studies regarding the planning and
performance of the construction work using VR modeling are therefore necessary to
provide the necessary facts for implementation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study received financial support from IT Construction & Real Estate 2002, NCC AB
and Chalmers University of Technology. We are grateful to everyone who took the time
to participate in the study and to provide the necessary feedback. Special thanks are also
due to the companies at the building site; specifically NCC AB and its sub-contractors,
for allowing us to interrupt their work so as to administer the questionnaire.
REFERENCES
Calderon, C.P., van Schaik, P. & Hobbs, B. 2000. Is VR an effective communication medium for
building design? Proceedings of the Virtual Reality International Conference, Laval, France,
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Cochrane, P. 1997. 108 tips for the time travelers. London: Orion Business Paperbacks.
Dahlstrm, E. 1970. Interview and survey techniques. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. (In Swedish).
Ekholm, M. & Fransson, A. 1994. Practical interview techniques. Stockholm: Norstedts Publishing
House AB. (In Swedish).
Josephson, P-E. 1990. Quality in buildinga discussion about quality error costs, Report 25.
Department of Building Economics and Management, Chalmers University of Technology,
Gothenburg. (In Swedish).
Lantz, A. 1993. Interview methodology: To carry out an interview. Stockholm: Studentlitteratur.
(In Swedish).
Niles, R. Statistics every writer should know: A journalists guide to using basic math to
understand data and statistical research. http://www.robertniles.com/ (accessed 10/7/2002).
Patel, R. & Davidson, B. 1994. The basics of research methodology: To plan, perform and report
an inquiry (2nd edition), Stockholm: Studentlitteratur. (In Swedish).
Retik, A. & Shapira, A. 1999. VR-based planning of construction site activities, Journal of
Automation in Construction 8: pp 671680.
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Roup, M., Sunesson, K., Wernemyr, C., Westerdahl, B. & Allwood, C.M. 2001. Perceived
meaning in Virtual Reality architectural models. Proceedings of AVR II & CONVR 2001.
Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 45 October.
Trost, J. 2001. Enktboken (2nd edition), Stockholm: Studentlitteratur. (In Swedish).
WALKTHRU PC Version 1.0, 3D Simulation, Users Manual, Bechtels Software, 1991.
Whyte, J. 2001. Business drivers for the use of Virtual Reality in the construction sector.
Proceedings of AVR II & CONVR 2001. Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 45
October.
Woksepp, S. 2001. Virtual Reality in Constructiona state of the art report. Internal publication
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Proceedings of AVR II & CONVR 2001. Chalmers University of Technology, Gorthenburg, 45
October.
Evaluating competitiveness in construction

industry: an alternative frame
A.Y.Toprakli, A.Dikba & Y.Sey
Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Competition is defined as the core concept in nonmonopolistic markets and competitive strategy and competitiveness of
firms become an important area of interest among researchers.
Accordingly, various frameworks and tools for analyzing competitiveness
have been suggested mainly for manufacturing industries. Some
colleagues also applied these frameworks for construction industry.
However, there are some vague points emerged while analyzing
competitiveness associated with scale and environment differences of
construction industry. This paper analyzes appropriate categorization of
construction environments for competitiveness tools application and aims
at providing an alternative outline about examining competitiveness.
1 INTRODUCTION
The start of the new century has brought new challenges for firms, industries and
countries. Throughout its long history, competitiveness is highlighted once more as a
crucial concern for enterprises to survive. Accordingly, numerous studies evolved for
analyzing competitiveness issues. However, most of these studies aimed mainly for
manufacturing industries and produce frameworks for analyzing different aspects of the
term. These frameworks are usually employed for construction industry in second hand
and scholars commonly apply these models to construction to see the immediate results
of these tools. However it is obvious that there are major differences between the
manufacturing industries and construction industry. So, application of these
manufacturing industry oriented tools makes these analyses weak and suspect regarding
construction industry environments. Competitiveness issue is important since it would
provide different points of view to construction management studies and related
applications.
It is seen that despite growing concerns and research conducted about
competitiveness in construction, it is still a diffuse concept, and subject to many
interpretations. These varying interpretations also make the term difficult to define
properly and apply fittingly. Moreover, the actual scene about construction industry is
usually distorted by these varying competitiveness models and tools and their
applications. For this point this paper issues applicability, scope, strengths and
weaknesses of some well-known competitiveness models and tools in construction
industry and aims at bringing a categorization to business environments of construction
industry for the changing characteristics of the competitiveness term.
995
2 DEFINITIONS
In following subsections, characteristics, environment of construction industry and
competitiveness related issues are highlighted.
2.1 Characteristics of the construction industry
In literature there are various definitions for the characteristics of the construction
industry. The classification made by Sugimoto (1990) provides a more theoretical and
fundamental one and the following list is formed to address some well-known and
provisional characteristics of construction which diversify it from manufacturing
industries.
Experience-Good and Customization Characteristics: Customization of construction
activities makes the output of construction production an experience good and
compared to a manufacturing good, whose quality is evident on inspection before
purchase, the quality is understood only by using it after purchase.
Specialization and Vertical Integration in Functions: The distinction between different
types of firms is defined by Sugimoto (1990) as often blurred through vertical integration
in functions. To illustrate, an engineering firm, which is basically considered as a design
firm could vertically integrate with all sorts of pre-construction activities and engage in
project management and contractor branches.
Unique bidding basis: According to Ball (1988) speculative construction can be seen as
an extension of manufacturing in construction industry but bidding arrangements are
special for construction for that every project is priced separately and distinctly in the
form of a bid for that particular project.
Relative subcontracting system: The subcontracting system is special in the construction
industry since it permits the kind of flexibility required whereby various mixes of
contractors and crafts must be mobilized to suit the unique requirements of a project.
Ambiguity of goods and service production of construction firms: Particular to the
specialization of functions of construction firms, there is a difficulty in defining their
production: Although the construction industry is usually categorized as a service
industry, firms in the construction industry produce both goods and services.
International Involvement of Construction Firms: Manufacturing firms usually supply
foreign markets in three primary modes: export, foreign direct investment (FDI)
including equity-base joint venture etc. However, in construction industry, the ways of
serving a foreign market is defined to be less straightforward because of the unique
production process and subsequent industrial structure of the industry.
Finally construction industry differs from manufacturing industry in referred points.
According to Sugimoto (1990), theoretical treatment of construction production has not
been sufficient enough to address these ambiguities in a systematic way and if
construction industry and its productions are unique, it is theoretically misleading to
apply ideas established for other industries to the construction industry and its firms.
996
2.2 The environment of construction industry

The structure and the environment of an industry directly influence the nature of
competition between firms and accordingly the competitive strategies available to them
(Porter, 1980). Construction is often reported as being a fragmented industry which is
defined as one in which no company has a significant market share and is able to
influence considerable outcomes within the industry. Furthermore, it is also defined as a
geographically dispersed projectbased industry with markets that operate from local to
the international level. Within this frame, the industry can be characterized as first,
geographically dispersed and over-lapping market structures and second, is hierarchically
structured in terms of company size (Langford, 2001).
3 COMPETITIVENESS
Competitiveness, which is usually handled at three different levels, country, industry and
firm level in literature, is a multi dimensional notion and originates from the Latin word
competer which means involvement in business rivalry for business markets (Momaya,
2004). Currently, institutions and academicians have been very prolific in proposing a
definition for competitiveness (IMD, 2003) and this diversity can be seen as an indicator
of the popularity of the subject but also of its complex nature.
To draw upon the common elements of various approaches Lall (2001) defined
competitiveness in industrial activities as a means of developing relative efficiency along
with sustainable growth and should be understood more like a process than an absolute
state, assessed in a relative sense as well.
3.1 Firm to national level competitiveness
The fimdamental principle, which allows the distinction between concept of
competitiveness of nations, industries and enterprises, concentrates on where the creation
of economic value takes place. In current literature it is assumed that economic value is
only created within the context of an enterprise and a nations environment hinders or
supports this process through its policies (Lall, 2001).
Momaya (2004) also states that understanding the competitiveness dynamics at the
firm level is crucial for competitiveness.
3.2 Competitiveness related frameworks and models
There are various competitiveness related frameworks exist in literature. Porters (1990)
Diamond Model, National Competitiveness Indices and Lalls (2001)
Competitiveness Triangle are apparent ones in national level competitiveness issues.
Five competitive forces model, value chain, segmentation matrix and three generic
competitive strategies of Porter (1980, 1985) provide a base for industry and firm level
competitiveness concepts.
997
Most of these models are criticized for being weak or some improvement possibilities
such as linked diamond models (Rugman, DCruz, 1993). In general, these models are
also criticized for having business school or power school approaches (Lall, 2001); static/
dynamic characteristics, and analysis/deterministic point of views. Their scope of
application is also varying from one model to another. Toprakli (2004) provides the
scope, strengths and weaknesses of some models (Table 1), it is concluded that, qualities
depending on microeconomics, five competitive forces model and value chain provide
a backbone for all level of competitiveness studies.
Table 1. Strengths and weaknesses of

competitiveness models and concepts (Toprakli,
2004).
Scope of
application
Strengths
Weaknesses
Diamond
framework (Porter,
1990)
National
industries
Provides an analytical
point of view
Supposed to be
dynamic
Business school approach

Culture and government
impacts are lacking for
construction
Multiple diamonds can
provide a more realistic
framework
Five competitive
forces model
(Porter, 1985)
Industry and firm Provides an analytical

level
point of view
Depends mainly on
microeconomics
Can be used in all
levels
Presents a static
understanding
Provides an analytical point
of view rather than a
deterministic one
Value chain
Industry, firm
and national
level
Provides an analytical
point of view
Have a generic quality
and applicable to all
levels
Usually there is a complex

procedure to apply
APP model
(Momaya, 2004)
Generic
application
Can be used in all

levels
Meaningful to
practitioners
Have qualitative
features
Presents a static
understanding
Entrepreneurship and
product issues are not
identified.
KPI model (CBP,

1998)
Firm level
Meaningfiil to
practitioners
Can also be used
among industries and
nations
Systematic
questionnaire and
presentation
Presents a static
understanding
Based on indicators rather
than theory
TCV model (Shen

et al. 2003)
Firm level
Dynamic methodology
through changing
weights
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Lacks theoretical link

Depends solely on indicators
No qualitative side is
identified
3.3 Applications of competitiveness frameworks in construction

Several authors used theoretical frameworks to analyze construction industry. To
illustrate, Betts and Ofori (1992) used Porters diamond model (1990) to provide a
framework for strategic planning by construction enterprises and Oz (2001) applied it for
Turkish Construction Industry. Yates et al. (1991) compare the US national construction
industry by using Porter's (1980) five forces model. Huovinen and Kiiras (1994) build up
spearhead strategy by analyzing several frameworks such as the product-market matrix
proposed by Ansoff (1965) and the five competitive forces framework of Porter (1980).
Seymour (1987) reviews multi-national enterprise (MNE) theory and general theories
such as Dunnings (1977) eclectic approach which is criticized by Sugimoto (1990) as
having a straightforward application of such modes unsuccessful for providing an
appropriate interpretation for construction (Ofori, 2003). Lastly, Pheng and Hongbin
(2004) extend Dunnings eclectic approach with specialty advantages and developed
OLI+S model to estimate international construction performance.
There are also numerous models developed without particular reference to existing
theoretical frameworks (Ofori, 2003). To exemplify, Momaya and Selby (1998)
developed APP model for quantifying international competitiveness of the Canadian
construction industry. The model is also used for firm level competitiveness
understanding by Momaya (2004) for a different industry. There are also indicator based
quantifying models exist for competitiveness. Accordingly, Hatush and Skitmore (1997)
assembled a systematic multi-criteria decision analysis technique for contractor selection.
Lai and Guan (2001) developed a model to assess a large contractors competitiveness by
using several parameters (Shen et al., 2003). The last example of a similar study is
conducted by Shen et al. (2003). Their study covers an assessment of contractors
competitiveness by an examination of multiple parameters which is named as Total
Competitiveness Value. Also, starting from 1998, Construction Best Practice (CBP)
initiative in UK has developed Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as a comparative
benchmark tool for construction industry.
Finally, it can be concluded in parallel with Ofori (2003) that there is no perfect
framework for analyzing competitiveness for construction and not any one in itself is
sufficient for all sectors. Similarly, Segev and Gray (1994) found out that there is no
single appropriate model exists for constmction firms and advised to evaluate individual
business units in terms of two or three typologies.
It is seen that in one side there is a high use of theory in applied competitiveness
frameworks for construction industry and on the other side, a gap between the indicator
based models and theory. However indicator base and generic models are more
meaningful to practitioners. So, there is a need to define a base to categorize relevant
competitiveness studies, application areas and their interrelations for construction
industry point of view. Furthermore, if Sugimotos (1990) conclusion about theoretical
999
treatment of construction industry mentioned before considered, defining a new

competitiveness framework for construction industry can be argued.
Table 2. Combined environment types: a frame for

analyzing competitiveness in construction.
Environmental types
(Lansley, 1979 &
Flanagan, 1994)
Characteristics
Useful models and tools for

Competitiveness issues
Firm level characteristics dominate

competitiveness
Suppliers/Buyers (global level)
highly important
Financial packages crucial
Importance of configuration and
coordination (Porter, 1986)
Impact of global and multidomestic competition (Porter, 1986)
Firm level competitiveness

models can be applied
Supra-national level
Global environment
Multinational environment Importance of firm level

characteristics increase in
competition
Alliance-specific advantages,
system-based advantages and culturebased advantages highly important
Suppliers/Buyers (multinational
level)
Financial packages important
Government support can be seen
National level competitiveness

models can be partly applied.
Firm level competitiveness
models can be applied
Industry and national level

International environment
National and firm level

characteristics dominate (Seymour,
1987)
International and national level
suppliers are important
Government supports highly
important
Culture, location is highly
important
Diamond framework (Porter,

1990)
Common industry/
National environment
Common to all firms in the

industry/national environment
Affects firms both directly and
indirectly
Affected by demographics,
technological and societal changes
The industrys eisting and potential
clients effective
Diamond framework (Porter,

1990) Five competitive forces
model
1000
Suppliers (national level) are

important
Central and local government
departments
Firm level
Competitive environment
Localized to the firm

Value chain (Porter, 1980)
Dealing with industries and markets Five competitive forces model
Structure of demand
(Porter, 1985)
Procurement forms used by clients
Suppliers (local), competitors
Availability of materials
Labor and subcontractors
Sub firm level

Operational environment
Unique to each firm

Subcontractors, human resources
Technology
Value chain
3.4 Key findings and suggestion

Ofori (2003) stated most of the authors in construction did not critically examine, or
suggest refinements to, the frameworks they applied which also brings out another
question; when they are modified according to the objectives of the construction industry
whether it would cause any vital change in the models or not, remaining unanswered.
Having analyzed the outcomes of Ofori (2003), and Momaya (2004), authors believe
that a competitiveness understanding for construction industry could only be achieved by
bringing a classification to the application areas of these models. Though having
analyzed firm level competitiveness of software industry in India, Momaya (2004) also
noticed that 'Many questions about competitiveness remain unanswered despite rich
literature about concept. Some of the key questions such as: how can frameworks and
models be adapted for a particular firm in a particular stage of developmentremain
unanswered (p. 53) and proposed a simple graphical matrix of firms survival and
growth stages for the applicability of competitiveness models corresponding to
capability. He adds that There are many frameworks, models, theories on
competitiveness; (however) integrated frameworks that can help practitioners to take key
decisions on competitiveness are few. There is need for frameworks that can help select
right tools from the industry perspective.
Accordingly, authors suggest for construction industry extending Lansley et al.s
(1979) environment classification (Operational/Competitive/Common-National) by
Flanagans (1994) three stage construction environment, i.e., international, multinational,
global and to obtain a final base to evaluate competitiveness issues in construction (Table
2) which is also presented to take comment by the wider research community.
1001
4 CONCLUSION
Having the main objective as providing an alternative frame about evaluating
competitiveness, which has been the growing concern in construction industry and a
crucial field of interest among researchers; appropriate categorization of construction
environments for competitiveness tools application is suggested in the paper.
As understood from the stated vertical classification, better frameworks could be
developed for future use in construction industry for researchers and practitioners.
Another important point to be emphasized in the suggested categorization is it would help
in determining hierarchical weightings for quantitative evaluations in a more systematic
way. Considering the chaotic environment of competitiveness related terms and their
applications, a process model could also be offered to guide practitioners about
competitiveness issues in eonstruction industry. Besides, IT based applications could also
be employed related with the developed process models.
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Ball, M. 1988. Rebuilding Construction. Economic Change and the Construction Industry.
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Flanagan, R. 1994. The features of successful construction companies in the international
construction market. In Warzawski, A. and Navon, R. (eds), Strategic Planning in Construction:
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Construction Companies, Haifa, Israel, 89 June, pp. 42143.
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Building Science Research of Sichuan 27, Sichuan Institute of Construction Science, China, pp.
7375. (In Chinese).
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Lansley, P., Quince, T. and Lea, E. 1979. Flexibility and Efficiency in Construction Management,
Final Report. Building Industry Group, Ashridge Management Collage, Amersham, Bucks.
Momaya, K. 2004. Competitiveness of Firms: Review of Theory, Frameworks, and Models.
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Momaya, K. and Selby, K. 1998. International competitiveness of the Canadian construction

industry: a comparison with Japan and the United States. Canadian Journal of Civil
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Seismic risk and

environmental management
Analyses of Izmit earthquake by means of

remotely sensed data: a case study, Yalova
city
S.Kaya, F.Bektas, C.Goksel & E.Saroglu
ITU Civil Engineering Faculty, Remote Sensing Division, Maslak-Istanbul
ABSTRACT: On 17 August 1999 at 3:02 a.m. local time, the Izmit
earthquake occurred on the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) in the
northwest Turkey. The surface rupture caused by the 1999 earthquake
(Mw: 7.4) comprised four segments: the Glck, Izmit-Sapanca and
Arifiye-Akyazi segments in the west (about 90km long) and the Glyaka
segment in the east (about 30 km long). The death toll in city centres was
15,851 and reported injuries 43,953 in greater urban areas the death toll
was approximately 18,000 in total and reported injuries approximately
48,000. In this study, SPOT HRV (XI and Pan) images obtained before
and after the earthquake were used to estimate the area of collapse
buildings in Yalova city. The pre-earthquake and post-earthquake images
were geometrically corrected and classified separately. Image differences
between on 06 June 1993 and 9 September 1999 SPOT HRV Pan images
were used to determine changes due to earthquake damage. In addition to
this, urban spatial growth of Yalova city analyzed using SPOT HRV
images between 1993 and 1999. Results, which were obtained by
processing satellite sensor images, compared with government office and
ground data.
1 INTRODUCTION
The North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) is one of the most important active strike-slip
faults in the world and the most important active fault in Turkey. During the 20th
century, many destructive earthquakes occurred along this fault resulting in the collapse
of 450,000 buildings and the death of over 80,000 people. In this period twenty-five
destructive earthquakes (M>6.5) occurred and 7 of these earthquakes originated in the
Marmara Sea region (Barka and Nalbant 1998). Between 1939 and 1967, six large fault
ruptures formed a westward-migrating sequence of events along a 900-km-long near
continuous portion of the NAFZ (Barka 1996). According to recent studies, most of the
historical earthquakes in the Marmara sea region occurred on the northern strand of the
NAFZ (Ambraseys and Finkel 1991, Barka 1991). Izmit (Kocaeli) earthquake occurred
on the NAFZ in the northwestern part of Turkey. The earthquake started at the west,
lasted for 12 seconds, paused for 18 seconds and was followed by rupture in the east for 7
seconds. The maximum offset along the surface break was measured near Arifiye, east of
Analyses of Izmit earthquake by means of remotely sensed data
1005
Sapanca (between Arifiye and Adapazari), where the fault displaced a road horizontally
by about 5 m. This earthquake caused heavy damage in a density populated and
industrialised region. Some cities affected were Izmit, Adapazari, Yalova, Golcuk,
Istanbul, Bolu. The earthquakes epicentre was located at latitude 41.8 and longitude
29.9. The heaviest damaged area was around the Gulf of Izmit and the city of Yalova.
The dead and injured located approximately 18,000 and 48,000 respectively in city
centres (Barka, 1999). The distribution of those who died in city centres was: Golciik
(5,025), Izmit (also known as Kocaeli) (4,093), Adapazan (also known as Sakarya)
(2,629), Yalova (2,502), Istanbul (981), Bolu (264), Bursa (268), Eskiehir (86),
Zonguldak (3) (Sahin and Tari, 2000).
Monitoring and mapping change detection of urban area with time were the main
objectives of remote sensing study. In addition to this, satellite sensor images can be used
for many different application, such as land cover change (Yang 2002, Foody and Boyd
1999, Kaya and Curran 2003), mapping of earthquake damage (Lin et al. 2002, Fu and
Lin 2003), earthquake displacement (Massonet et al. 1993), volcano deformation
(Massonet et al. 1995), glacier dynamics (Mohr et al. 1998). Also land subsidence
monitoring can be evaluated by means of differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
interferometry (Strozzi et al. 2000, Strozzi et al. 2001). More specifically SPOT HRV
data have been applied successfully to the assessment of earthquake damage due to the
1999 event in Golcuk (Turker and San 2003, Kaya et al. 2003, Kaya et al. 2004). Remote
sensing techniques provide a rapid and powerful tool to detect natural disasters in the
remote, inaccessible and large areas.
Figure 1. Ground photographs of the

earthquake
(http://www.yalova.gov.tr/).
1006
The main objectives in this study are (i) to examine land cover change in Yalova city
between 1993 and 1999 using SPOT HRV data (ii) to determine heavy damaged areas in
1999 earthquake using these data (iii) to investigate the utilization of SPOT HRV data for
determination of earthquake damages in urban area.
2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Study area (Yalova city)
Yalova city is located in the northwest of Turkey and southeast of the Marmara Sea. Its
geographic boundaries are between 39 and 40 S in latitude and between 29 and 31 E
in longitude. The area of the region is approximately 839 km2. According to census data
taken from State Institute of Statistics (SIS), the population of the city centre was 87032
in 1990, and 98.661 in 2000. Increase in rate of population in the year of 2000 was
12.54% in city centre. Yalova has become city since 6 June 1996. Altitude of Yalova is
2m and the highest point of the city is 926m. 17 August 1999 earthquake caused
considerable damage and deaths in Yalova city. The number of collapsed and heavy
damaged buildings in the city centre was 517 and 7606 respectively. The death toll in the
city centre was 1449 and reported injuries were 2543. Approximately 50% of buildings
and a great percent of the local roads were damaged in 17 August earthquake. Postearthquake ground photographs were shown in f igure 1. After the earthquake
immigration has occurred to other cities. The earthquake caused to damage to agriculture
such as 30% of the flower and plant greenhouses were destroyed. In order to mitigate
effects of the earthquake damages, 17777 tents were pitched up in a total of 10 different
areas.
2.2 Classification
The overall objective of classification is to automatically categorize all pixels in an image
into land cover classes or themes (Lillesand and Kiefer, 2001). Image classification is the
process used to produce thematic maps from imagery. Classification can be performed
either supervised or unsupervised. For unsupervised classification, the analyst employs a
computer algorithm that locates concentrations of feature vectors within a heterogeneous
sample of pixels. These so-called clusters are then assumed to represent classes in the
image and are used to calculate class signatures (Schowengerdt, 1997). In this study, an
unsupervised classification algorithm called ISODATA clustering was used. 50 clusters
were selected for ISODATA algorithm. After performing ISODATA clustering, these 50
clusters were merged and five classes (water, sand, urban, agricultural area and forest)
were formed (Figure 2).
1007
Figure 2. Classified SPOT HRV

images of 1993 and 1999.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Land cover/use change
Yalova which is very important city for agricultural production also has been used as
touristic purposes during the summer time for two decades. After becoming city on 6
June 1995, the population of the city has been increasing and this caused expansion of
urban areas. In addition, in order to provide increasing accommodation demand, various
kinds of structures were constructed and new housing complex were built.
1993 SPOT HRV XS and 1999 SPOT HRV XI data were classified in order to obtain
land cover/use classes in the study region. Areal changes in land cover/use were
determine using classification results. Classification results of 1993 SPOT HRV XS data
showed that the areas of water, sand, urban, agricultural area and green area & forest
were 3863.9ha, 18.9ha, 393.2 ha, 2519.2 ha and 2027.9 ha respectively. The results of
classified post earthquake image illustrated that the areas of water, sand, urban,
agricultural area and green area & forest were calculated as 3867.7ha, 19.2 ha, 487.6 ha,
2448.8 ha and 1999.8 ha, respectively (Table 1). According to these results significant
changes had occurred in urban, agricultural, and green & forest categories. Especially,
change in urban area was determined as 24%. On the other hand, change in agricultural
area was found approximately2.79% and change in green & forest area was found
1.39%.
Table 1. Land cover changes between 19931999.

Classes
Water
Sand area
Date
1993
Area
(ha)
Date
1999
Area
(ha)
3863.9
3867.7
18.9
19.2
Urban area
1008
393.2
487.6
Agricultural area
2519.2
2448.8
Green area & forest
2027.9
1999.8
3.2 Determination of earthquake-induced heavy damage areas

In order to delineate heavy damage areas, two methods were used. In the first method,
1999 SPOT Pan
Figure 3. Merged SPOT HRV

Panchromatic and SPOT HRV XI
image 1999.
and XI images were merged using Brovey algorithm and visual interpretation of the new
merged image was performed. In the second method, the difference image was produced
by subtracting the pre- and post-earthquake images and heavy damage class was
determined by applying level slicing algorithm to the difference image.
Wald (2002) describes fusion as a formal frame work in which are expressed means
and tools for the alliance of data originating from different sources. It aims at obtaining
information of greater quality; the exact definition of greater quality will depend upon
application. SPOT HRV Panchromatic data which has better spatial resolution was
merged with SPOT HRV XI which has better spectral resolution to discriminate
characteristic features of Yalova city after the earthquake. The merged image is shown in
figure 3.
1009
According to figure 3, A1, A2, and A3 are the unchanged urban areas in Yalova city
after earthquake. B1 and B2 are prefabricated houses which were done to provide
accommodation demand for after the earthquake. C1, C2 and C3 are the regions that
debris were filled. D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8 and D9 regions which were located
in the inner city, south and east of the study area demonstrate heavy damaged and
collapsed buildings.
Level slicing is an enhancement technique whereby the DNs distributed along the x
axis of an image histogram are divided into a series of analyst-specified intervals or
slices. It involves the grouping of image regions with similar DN (Lillesand and Kiefer).
Examination of level sliced difference image demonstrated spectral mixtures between
some land cover/use classes. Spectral mixture occurred between heavy damaged areas,
new constructed prefabricated houses, earthquake induced ruin roads and debris field.
Therefore, prefabricated houses, ruin roads and debris field were digitized from level
sliced difference image to determine the area of heavy damaged buildings in figure 4.
The area obtained by digitizing was subtracted from total changed area derived by level
slicing and earthquake-induced heavy damaged area found 76, 47 ha.
3.3 Usability of SPOT HRV data
Both panchromatic and multi spectral SPOT HRV data in conjunction with ground data
were used in a variety of applications such as disaster management, risk analysis and
regional catastrophes. SPOT HRV data with repetitive acquisition of the synoptic view
images are used to provide immediate and rapid access to disastrous regions. The location
and size of the regions which are severely affected in a disaster can be determined using
SPOT HRV data. In the study, results obtained from processed image were compared
with ground data obtained from www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/. The comparison results were
Figure 4. Superimposed image of level

sliced difference image and digitized
categories.
1010
Figure 5. Ground data of the study area

(http://www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/).
consistent with each other. Ground data of study area acquired on 20 August 1999 is
shown in figure 5.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Remote sensing technology can be used to provide advance warning for specific
hazardous events in the case of natural disasters, to monitor the area of concern or
quickly evaluate the damage in order to support the decision-making process in the
rescue operations. In this study, collapsed and heavy damaged buildings in the Yalova
inner city affected by 1999 (Mw: 7.4) Izmit Earthquake were determined by means of
SPOT HRV data. Land cover/use changes before and after earthquake were derived from
classification of SPOT HRV XI and XS data. Moreover, heavy damaged areas in the
inner city were obtained level sliced difference image of 1993 and 1999 SPOT
Panchromatic data.
Between the year of 1993 and 1999, urban areas increased 24%; also, the population
of the inner city was increased from 87032 to 98661 between 1990 and 2000. However,
the population of study area increases mainly at summer time.
Rapidly changed areas in the Yalova were determined using panchromatic difference
image. One disadvantage of the SPOT HRV data is spectral mixture problem. Heavy
damage areas, debris areas and prefabricate houses have similar spectral reflectance;
therefore, this caused obtaining similar digital numbers for these categories. The mixture
problem in these categories was solved with digitization. As a result, heavy damage areas
were found as 76.47 ha.
SPOT HRV data were useful for regional scale disaster studies. However, SPOT HRV
data has drawbacks while studying local scale disasters. High resolution satellite imagery
in conjuction with field surveys should be used in order to investigate earthquake-induced
damages in detail.
1011
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Strozzi, T. Dammert, P. Wegmuller, U. Martinez, J.M. Askne, J. Beaudoin, A. & Hallikainen M.

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Do phased Environmental Management

Systems actually benefit SMEs?
L.L.Hopkinson
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United
Kingdom
C.Snow
Mandix*, Cardiff, UnitedKingdom
ABSTRACT: Many larger businesses have seen benefits from
implementing Environmental Management Systems. These larger
businesses have put pressure onto their smaller suppliers to consider
similar systems, which for a Small to Medium Sized Enterprise (SME)
can prove inappropriate. However, the arrival of new phased approaches
hopes to bridge the gap between a full EMS and nothing at all, to provide
business benefits to SMEs. But do these systems actually provide any
benefits?
This study uses case studies and follows the implementation of phased
approach EMSs (BS 8555, Green Dragon, and Easy Access for
Environmental Management). The case studies show what benefits are
seen by adopting environmental management, even to a low level, and
highlights the benefits of phased approaches to SMEs.
1 BACKGROUND
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a management tool for understanding,
identifying and controlling environmental impacts of a businesses activities, products and
services. The first formalized approach was introduced in 1992 with the introduction of
British Standard BS 7750 (ENDS 1992). This was then followed by the introduction of
the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which was adopted within
the UK in 1995 (ENDS 1995). Following the arrival of EMAS, the European Standards
body (CEN) was provided with a briefing to devise an environmental management
standard that offered firms a practical alternative to registration under EMAS (ENDS
1995). The resulting draft was formally issued in 1996 and called ISO 14001. This
International Standard replaced BS 7750, which was formally withdrawn in 1997.
Following the publication of ISO 14001, an entire family of ISO 14000 standards were
published, each relating to EMS and related environmental management tools (ISO
1998).
Uptake of these formalized systems has gathered pace in the years following their
introduction. By 1999, nearly 3,000 sites across the EC had registered to under EMAS,
but more than three times as many had been certified under ISO 14001 (ENDS 2000).
1014
For many companies, however, there can be problems with implementing a system,
despite all the potential benefits (such as cost savings, increased awareness and
compliance with legislation). Major problem areas include a lack of senior level
commitment to undertaking such work, a struggle to make all employees aware of the
implications of the EMS and resistance to change in working practices (Institute of
Environmental Management 1998). Within Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs),
there is also the problem of limited financial, technical and manpower capabilities to
implement adequate enviromnental measures (Chiu et al 1999), as well as external
barriers including difficulties in obtaining useful and consistent advice, the high costs of
certification to a standard and the lack of drivers to obtain a system (Hillary 1999). SMEs
find formal systems such as ISO 14001 too rigid, and as such prefer a system that can be
broken down into elements to suit their individual needs (Hopkinson & Jones 2002). For
these reasons, phased approaches were suggested.
A phased approach of implementation was described in 1995 (Heijdra 1995). Here, the
EMS was broken down into six steps to show a simple project approach to implementing
such a system. Another approach was the Business Environment Association (BEA)
Environmental Healthcheck, which provided 5 levels
*Mandix is a private management consultancy company based in Cardiff.
of accreditation, with certificates provided for each completed level. Despite winning
funding from the European ADAPT programme, this initiative folded in 1999. The ISO
TC 207 working party (subcommittee 1) did consider adapting ISO 14001 to encompass
special issues of SMEs, but decided that no new standards of other documents would be
issued. Following this, in 2000, Project Acorn was launched by the British Standards
Institution. This project provided a five level approach to implementing an EMS
compatible with ISO 14001, with a sixth level providing compatibility with EMAS
(ENDS 2001). This project resulted in the creation of the first phased Environmental
Management Standard BS 8555, launched in April 2003. On a regional level, the Welsh
Green Dragon standard was launched in 2002, again providing a five level approach to
implementing an EMS compatible with ISO 14001. With both of these initiatives, SMEs
can obtain certificates to show achievement of a particular level of environmental
management.
A recent report by the European Commissions Enterprise Directorate indicated that
few SMEs have adopted EMSs. This report recommended the promotion of SMEfriendly implementation of EMS, especially using staged approaches (European
Commission 2004).
Phased EMS approaches have therefore been designed with SMEs in mind, and the
European Commission recommends these approaches for encouraging uptake of EMS.
However, there has not yet been any reported research on the effectiveness of these
systems within SMEs.
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2 PROJECT BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY

2.1 Project background
The work presented in this paper is from a two-year European Regional Development
Funded project, based in a South Wales Unitary Authority. The work is carried out by
Cardiff University in partnership with Mandix. The aim is to assist 40 SME companies in
the study area to implement a phased EMS, based upon their specific needs. The project
assists in working towards the Welsh assembly Governments target of 500 companies
implementing an EMS (Welsh Assembly Government 2002), and recommends the most
appropriate EMS to the company concerned; BS 8555 if the company predominantly has
clients within the UK; Green Dragon if the company only works with local Welsh clients
or ISO 14001 if the company works internationally.
The phased approaches used are based upon formalized systems; hence the
methodology is already set. Both BS 8555 and Green Dragon are similar in methodology
and are based upon ISO 14001 for ease of upgrade.
2.2 Project methodology
The project was designed to run as simply as possible, as follows:
Company recruitment
Initial survey to identify needs
Recommendation by project team of appropriate phased EMS and level
Assistance provided to achieve recommendation
Exit survey at end of project to highlight benefits of the work.
Participation in the project was voluntary; therefore the project team could not predict
which industrial sectors would participate. To date, the project has enrolled companies
from the tourism, construction, manufacturing and commercial sectors of industry.
3 RESULTS
It is noted that the results obtained are based upon the projects first year of operation.
Full project results will be published after completion of the project in 2005.
3.1 Initial survey results
All project participants were asked to complete an initial survey. This initial survey
questioned the companys motivation for participation, current levels of knowledge on
environmental management issues within the company, location of major clients and
what initiatives the company has already undertaken. This allowed the project team to
recommend an appropriate system and level (based upon information provided upon
1016
location of major clients), as well as assess the current level of knowledge within the
company of EMS.
The results presented are based on initial surveys administered to 25 companies during
the first year of the project, and represents responses to perceived benefits of
implementing an EMS. These surveys were administered to the key contact point
established within the company, and were therefore highly placed personnel (i.e. a
Managing Director, Proprietor or Quality Manager).
3.1.1 Reasons for implementing the system
Participants were questioned on their motivation for implementing an EMS against seven
key criteria, based upon experience from previous work (Hopkinson & Jones 2002).
Table 1 lists the responses in terms of percentage responses for each criterion.
The results of this question show that the SMEs involved were highly motivated
towards improving business management, then achieving legal compliance and
improving their marketing through such a system. To a lesser extent, the SMEs were not
as concerned with improving relations with regulators as many of the companies enrolled
reported that they did not have much contact with regulators.
Table 1. Responses to motivation for implementing

an EMS.
Criteria
Percentage
Management issues
To increase efficiency
84
To increase profits and reduce costs
76
To increase benefits to employees
72
Marketing issues
To enhance public image
80
To increase benefits to customers
76
Legal issues
To improve compliance with legislation
80
To improve relations with regulators
64
Table 2. Percentage responses of the top three

ranked criteria.
Percentage for rank
Criteria
Customer pressure
Marketing reasons
16
Cost cutting reasons: general
1017
20
12
12
Material & inventory reduction
12
Setting targets
Job creation
Reducing energy usage
20
Reducing water usage
12
Revealing opportunities
16
Management efficiency
16
12
Pollution prevention
Ensuring legal compliance
3.1.2 What enrolled companies hoped to achieve

Participants were asked to give their reasons for implementing an EMS through the
project by indicating what they hoped to achieve through the process. Twelve criteria
were listed (again based upon previous experience); respondents were asked to rank their
top 3 criteria in terms of importance to them. On occasions, some respondents identified
5 key criteria, and ranked these accordingly. Table 2 lists the percentage responses
received in terms of the top three ranked criteria.
Compared to the results above, there is a slight deviance in issues that motivate
companies to participate and what they would hope to achieve from such work. The
prevention of pollution is ranked highest on the agenda for SMEs, along with ensuring
legal compliance and gaining a marketing edge over competitors. Ranked second highest
is the reduction of energy use (an issue which can save SMEs money as well as provide
environmental benefits) and revealing other opportunities (entrance into new markets or
other benefits). Ranked joint third includes issues such as material and inventory
reduction (reducing the amount and variety of raw materials and components that are
stored for future use by the company) and reducing water usage (again, an issue which
can save money as well as provide environmental benefit), as well as pollution prevention
and legal compliance.
3.2 Benefits from implementation
These initial results provided the project team with a clear indication of what individual
SMEs wished to achieve through the implementation of their phased EMS. An
assessment of the work in progress was carried out, using details from initial surveys and
baseline reviews, as well as face-to-face assessments from the enrolled companies,
carried out on a regular monthly basis. This assessment shows that the following ten key
benefits were identified:
1018
Increased awarenessall participants agreed that, by undertaking such a process, they

were made more aware of what environmental impacts their processes/ activities/services
made. Only by increasing this awareness can any environmental improvement hope to be
sustained within a company.
Legal compliancethe large majority of the SMEs participating recognized that they
were not aware of environmental legal obligations, and therefore agreed that even a basic
EMS process assisted with this respect. All companies participating will be creating a
legal register. None of the participants reported any regulatory pressure towards
compliance e.g. regular visits by the Environment Agency or other enforcement bodies.
Reduction of waste costs through the linkage to free recycling schemes96% of all
participants were able to make use of free of charge recycling schemes e.g. for paper
waste, used inkjet and toner cartridges and some glass waste, therefore reducing the
amounts of waste sent to landfill and therefore paid for. With the Landfill Tax in the UK
set to increase, this aspect can ensure cost savings are realized year after year.
Production of electronic tools to reduce paper use dependency4 companies are set
to trade electronically through the creation of company websites and use of email, to help
reduce dependency on paper use. This aspect also assisted towards competitiveness
within the individual business sector. Wherever possible, archiving and obtaining
technical information by electronic means was also suggested, again to reduce paper use
dependency and physical storage space.
Reduction in energy use through the simplest of meansall participants reported
awareness of how to reduce energy use by advising on simple measures such as the
purchase of energy efficient alternatives (e.g. lighting, computing, insulation and other
relevant equipment).
Reduction in water use, even for low water users-all participants also reported
awareness of how to reduce water usage, even those who were not heavy users of water
for business purposes. This benefit will be reflected more in reduction of costs (or
potential reduction in service charges); although all participants did also understand the
environmental benefits (especially as drier weather in the study area was more prevalent).
Marketing and tendering opportunitiesof most benefit to those participants whose
major clients were in the public sector. 24% reported this benefit, especially as the Welsh
Assembly Government has a Statutory Duty to make a scheme for Sustainable
Development, which affects their and other bodies procurement practices.
Improvement in house keeping activities to reduce degradation of usable raw
materialsall participants reported improvements in housekeeping activities, by being
advised on what to improve. Many had found that simply moving certain items away
from water ingress or other potential weather conditions reduced the amount of spoilage
seen onsite.
Signposting to academic expertstwo companies were able to link to academic
experts in order to refine processes and make improvements.
Introduction of alternative technologies to make use of problem wastesone
company was made aware of waste-to-energy schemes, which provided additional
benefits of ensuring waste was dealt with in a legally compliant manner, and the
provision of space heating in a factory where none existed.
1019
4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

From the results seen to date, this project shows that implementing a phased EMS can
provide a variety of business benefits through environmental improvement to individual
SMEs. The phased approach is better suited to SMEs as they are able to work towards
achieving actual improvements, without the cumbersome documentation required in a
full ISO system.
These results are based upon participants who agreed voluntarily to take part in the
projectit can therefore be argued that these companies could already foresee some
business benefits in making environmental improvements. However, only one company
indicated that there was any external pressure on them to implement such a systemin
this case, it was group management pressure. None of the other companies indicated any
external pressure (group or regulatory) forcing them to implement such a system. There
was also little reported customer pressure towards implementing such a system, although
5 companies did indicate that questions relating to company environmental policy had
been asked of them during tendering processes.
The results clearly show that the majority of the participants were most interested in
increasing their efficiency as a business, and upholding their legal and environmental
responsibilities. The voluntary participation highlights that SMEs are able to make their
business decisions based upon awareness of the issues.
Further work in this area is recommended. Effectiveness of phased EMSs in the longterm has not been identified. It is therefore important to identify if companies keep the
initiative in operation as integral part of their business. The second year of this project
hopes to look into this aspect in further detail.
SMEs need to be made aware of the benefits of such an approach, especially in the
situation where there is neither regulatory push nor customer pull to force change. A
possible initiative to assist in this aspect could be awareness raising through the
Government. For example, the Welsh Assembly Government has set targets for this type
of work; investigation into if this target has been achieved is required to assess the
effectiveness of such initiatives.
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Chiu, S., Huang, J.H., Lin, C., Tang, Y., Chon, W. & Su, S.C. 1999. Applications of a corporate
synergy system to promote cleaner production in small and medium enterprises. Journal of
Cleaner Production7(5)p351358
ENDS. 1992. BS7750 sets environmental standardization bandwagon rolling. ENDS Report (207)
p2021
ENDS. 1995. Weak ISO draft threatens Europes environmental management standards. ENDS
Report (240) p2527
ENDS. 1995. EMAS slow off the starting blocks. ENDS Report (243) p67
ENDS. 2000. Japan & UK lead growth in ISO 14001 uptake. ENDS Report (301) p78
ENDS. 2001. Late spring for DTIs Acorn supply chain project for smaller firms. ENDS Report
(320) p33
European Commission. 2004. Public policy initiatives to promote the uptake of Environmental
Management Systems in Small & Medium sized Enterprises: Final report of the Best Project
Expert Group. Brussels, European Commission
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Heijdra, G.1995. Implementing Environmental Management Systems: A project management

method. ERP Environmental 1995 Eco-Management and Auditing Conference proceedings,
University of Leeds, UK, July 1995, p117126
Hillary, R. 1999. Evaluation of study reports on the barriers, opportunities and drivers for small
and medium-sized enterprises in the adoption of Environmental Management Systems. DTI,
London, p158
Hopkinson, L. & Jones, P.2002. Innovating ISO 14001 to suit the needs of an SME: A case study.
Stimulating Excellence in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMESME) 2002 conf. proc., Essex,
UK, May 2002, p166172
IEM. 1998. Survey 1998: ISO 14001 and EMAS. Institute of Environmental Management Journal
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Wales p5859
Software based knowledge integration for

seismic risk management
R.Pellegrini
Enel HydroIsmes, Seriate (BG), Italy
P.Salvaneschi
University of Bergamo, Faculty of Engineering
ABSTRACT: The paper describes the knowledge integration approaches
followed during the development of the software package
SEISMOCARE. The tool (the result of the evolution of a number of
projects funded by E.U. and Italian National Research Bodies) supports
users of different technical background active in seismic risk analysis and
strengthening strategy definition and requires the integration of
knowledge sources coming from various disciplines. The following
knowledge integration issues are discussed: types of knowledge; how the
knowledge integration requirement affected the software engineering
process; technical solutions at specification, design and implementation
level. The key solutions are the specification of an explicit knowledge
model, a two-layer architecture (knowledge model implementation and
functions exploiting the model capabilities) and the use of a GIS as
implementation environment.
1 INTRODUCTION
The evaluation of seismic vulnerability and seismic risk reduction by means of
retrofitting of existing building heritage is a significant problem in many countries.
Suitable software tools may support the evaluation process, providing environments
for data and models integration and scenarios simulation.
The development of this type of tools requires diverse types of knowledge, coming
from seismology, geotechnical engineering, seismic engineering and risk management.
From the information technology point of view, a supporting tool requires the integration
of databases and computational components in a GIS based environment.
The paper describes the capabilities of SEISMOCARE, a software package developed
to support users of different technical background (e.g. experts as well as civil protection
authorities), active in seismic risk analysis and strengthening strategy definition. The tool
is the evolution of a number of projects funded by E.U. and Italian National Research
Bodies.
Chapter 2 provides a general overview of the system capabilities. The remaining
chapters discuss the knowledge integration issues: what knowledge was integrated; how
the knowledge integration requirement and the evolutionary approach of the system
1022
development affected the software engineering process; how the knowledge was codified
and how was the unification of the knowledge accomplished through suitable
architectural and implementation choices.
2 SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The objective of the system development is to produce a software package for reliable
predictions of losses due to earthquakes in a city or region.
The software package is essentially a simulator with which the effects of damaging
earthquakes in an urban area may be simulated and the losses estimated. It can be used to
provide information useful for formulating seismic risk mitigation policies, planning and
taking measures, effective both in the long term as well as for emergency response.
The forecasted final users are people directly involved in the result of software
simulations at various levels of expertise, depending on the type of simulation (adopted
models, computing parameters and interpretation of the results). The basic planned
features of the system allow its use even by persons not highly specialized.
The simulator is composed by the following three basic inter-linked sets of modules:
The seismic hazard set
The vulnerability set
The loss estimation set
Each set is a toolbox, including various types of data and models, which may be used
according to specific goals and constraints (e.g. available data, costs).
A number of functions exploit the simulation capabilities linking together the basic
modules for defined purposes (global simulation, emergency preparedness support,
planning support). Through them, the user can explore possible scenarios following the
earthquake and simulate the effects of actions on the urban nucleus.
The person/machine interface supports:
The detailed control of the simulation step by step (seismic source definition,
propagation to the bedrock, site effects modeling, damage computation, losses
computation);
A recording functions allowing to execute a sequence of simulations steps in the
recording mode, to generate a scenario simulation to be re-executed;
The ability to re-use specific predefined scenarios (e.g. for civil protection support) that
were generated through the recording facility;
Special functions to exploit the scenarios for a specific use. A comprehensive set of
functions allows supporting the planning activities through the simulation of
strengthening actions for seismic reinforcement of buildings. Another set of functions
allows supporting emergency preparedness for civil protection.
The Seismic Hazard component is used to assist in selecting the scenario earthquake(s)
and to generate expected motion parameters at a grid of points on the surface, covering
the area of interest for the scenario quake. The module includes the following
components:
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SEISMIC INPUT. It includes the seismicity data (earthquake history catalogues and
related parameters (date, magnitude, location, depth, etc) and information related to
active faults (type of fault if known, length, activity rate, maximum possible event,
etc) as well as the attenuation models estimating the seismic input at bedrock. The
result of the computation is the seismic input in terms of bedrock acceleration and/or
intensities at the site under investigation (seismic hazard or seismicity measures). The
computation of the seismic input at the bedrock may be done in two ways by direct
specification of a scenario PGA or by specification of a scenario earthquake(s) at any
of the specified potential seismic sources and a subsequent attenuation to the sites of
interest.
SITE EFFECTS. This component computes the effects of bedrock motion on the soil
deposits at the area of interest and provides estimates of the ground motion at the
surface.
The vulnerability assessment component assists in defining the elements at risk and
producing the vulnerability and damage measures, required for estimating losses. The
module includes the following components:
INVENTORY: each catalogued structural object is described through a suitable
classification (General buildings, special buildings with high concentration of people,
critical facilities, utility buildings, lifelines). For each classified structure, a set of data
is included (e.g. exposure occupation density). Each object has to be geo-referenced.
VULNERABILITY: it includes data and models at various levels of detail (e.g.
GNDT1 model adapted to compute vulnerability and GNDT2 model) to compute the
vulnerability of buildings (masonry and reinforced concrete), lifelines and special
structures. The component allows managing all the data coming from the surveys,
which are needed by the vulnerability models. It is possible to run the vulnerability
models associated to each structural object and use the data to compute the
vulnerability indexes. Note that the systems may host models at various level of
accuracy, according with the available data. This feature allows the use of the software
in real situations according with different possible survey strategies. Moreover, it is
allowed to store data about possible strengthening techniques. The system manages
rules that modify the vulnerability indexes according to the application of each
strengthening technique. In such a way, it is possible to simulate the effects of a
strengthening strategy on an urban nucleus.
DAMAGE: it includes data, models and functions for estimating damage as follows:
Direct estimation of building damage without prior computation of vulnerabilities
(e.g. by means of the PSI model);
Estimation of damage from seismic input and vulnerability indexes (computed
through vulnerability models);
Conversion of damage indexes produced by various models or methods into a
uniform damage scale so that the user can compare them.
Moreover it is included the module INTENSITY MAPS which is able to manage the
computation of damage following a process which takes as input an intensity map and
transforms it through amplification at bedrock models and soil effect models. This is
1024
another way of simulate the structural damage (with no use of acceleration information
and Vulnerability/ Damage models).
The loss estimation component includes functions related to the management of data
that are needed to activate losses models and compute losses through losses models. It
also includes types of models, which may take as input the data of damage, intensity and
seismic input described using accelerations. The loss estimation module quantifies the
loss estimates in terms of:
Built environment damage;
Human losses;
Displaced people;
Direct and indirect economic losses.
The software package also includes functions needed to manage the simulator and exploit
it. This kind of functions may be added to the simulator without changing the structure of
the simulator itself. This is the way to specialise the product and improve its value for the
users.
An example is the module for EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SUPPORT, which
provides specific functions useful to support the preparedness to deal with emergencies.
It may produce additional maps with the following information:
Expected number of safe buildings;
Expected number of safe buildings appropriate for temporary shelters;
Post-earthquake conditions of critical facilities;
Post earthquake conditions of lifelines;
Accessibility/evacuation routes of the urban system (related both to urban and suburban
roads and their connection points);
Gathering areas/structures and aid services (locations, availability and accessibility for
present conditions).
Another example is a module able to use the simulator to generate global scenarios for
PLANNING and LOSS REDUCTION SUPPORT.
It provides specific functions useful to support the urban planning and loss reduction
activities, allowing modifying the existing situation of the urban area and simulating the
earthquake effects in the new scenario.
It may produce additional maps with the following information:
Effects on the urban area after extensive buildings strengthening actions;
Effects on the urban area in case of removal of dangerous structures.
Simulated scenarios in case of new expansions of the urban area.
The system is based on a set of data layers stored into a Geographic Information System
(GIS) software needed to give information to the user about the simulation theatre (e.g.
administrative borders, active faults, lakes, main roads, motorways, railways, lifelines,
seismo-genetic zones).
This set of layers and the GIS capabilities act as integration environment. They allow
hosting the specific sets of data required by the simulator. The GIS software act also as
environment for the person/ machine interface.
1025
3 TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
The development of the system requires the cooperation of experts, coming from diverse
disciplines: seismology, geotechnical engineering, seismic engineering, and risk analysis.
Each discipline makes available a large amount of knowledge. Knowledge modules (data
and models) have to be selected to cooperate according with the aims of the system (the
forecasted users).
The knowledge is embodied into three diverse containers: data, models and
combination rules. Examples of data are an earthquake catalogue and the related
parameters (date, magnitude, location, depth, etc) or a set of data coming from a seismic
vulnerability survey of an urban nucleus or again a map of roads at regional scale.
A set of seismic vulnerability/damage models may be a models example. The set may
include models at various levels of detail to compute the vulnerability and the damage of
buildings (masonry and reinforced concrete), lifelines and special structures. Another
example is a set of acceleration propagation/ attenuation models to propagate the effects
of diverse types of seismic sources.
Combination rules describe input/output relations and constraints. The overall
functionality of the system is obtained linking together (through input/output relations) a
number of data and models. The simulation of the effects of an earthquake starts from a
seismic source (e.g. an active fault), propagates through a geographical region, takes into
account the contribution of the local soil under the urban nucleus and finally cause the
damage status of each building. Many modules may be available to solve a specific
simulation step for a defined purpose. The system hosts models at various level of
accuracy, according with the available data. E.g., the building damage may be evaluated
through a simple damage model based on a building classification. More detailed models
are based on data coming from a standard street surveys or a deeper evaluation of the
structural properties of the building.
The availability of diverse possible chains of data and models requires the definition
of constraints. E.g. a specific chain of data and models may be suitable for the simulation
of the earthquake effects at regional scale and not at urban nucleus scale and may be
appropriate for a shallow earthquake seismic source. The constraints may arise not only
from technical problems (the best solution for a given simulation problem) but also from
economical ones. E.g. the simulation goal could be a first level, low cost damage ranking
of an urban nucleus, given the data coming from a street survey.
4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
PROCESS
What does it mean knowledge integration? Are there specific requirements to be
satisfied to integrate the knowledge?
The first requirement, at the beginning of the project, in the specification phase, is to
define the goals for the integration. The integration is goal oriented and depends on the
intended uses of the system.
A second requirement, during the specification phase, is to develop an accurate model
of the interesting set of knowledge modules and their relationships.
1026
The model is the core of the specification. It is used as a co-operation blackboard

between the experts of the various areas. Each expert should understand the linguistic
tool used to express it.
Finally, the knowledge integration issue means to design and implement a system
where data, models ad constraints may be chained together to compose in a safe and easy
way a useful procedure for a defined goal.
The conclusion is that we have to integrate the knowledge through a software
engineering process and we have to manage the integration issue during each phase of the
process. In the following, we describe how the requirement has been considered during
the specification and the design and implementation phases.
An additional requirement is that a system of this type cannot be developed through a
linear process, but arises from an evolutionary one.
A key consideration is that evolution requires some stability point, to allow the
convergence and the growth of the system. In our case the stability points are:
The knowledge model at the specification level;
A two level architecture (a simulator implementing the knowledge model and a level of
added functions to exploit the model).
5 INTEGRATION AT SPECIFICATION LEVEL

INTEGRATION AT SPECIFICATION LEVEL
The specification document includes two main contents.
The first content describes the intended users and the general scenarios of use. This
part sets the general framework of the system, defining the scope of the possible
application. It is of great relevance a clear identification of the goals because it affects the
types of knowledge we need and the characteristics of the overall system. E.g., in our
system there is a requirement to support multiple levels of modeling accuracy for the
seismic vulnerability evaluation, according to multiple cost levels for the associated data
survey.
The second part of the specification (the core part) is not a list of functions or use
cases but a model, defining the knowledge modules, the flow of information between
them and the associated constraints.
1027
Figure 1. A fragment of the knowledge

model.
Fig. 1 shows a fragment of the knowledge model. Rectangles represent the following
computational models:
1 A set of vulnerability models;
2 A set of damage models;
3 A model computing the damage, given the vulnerability and a seismic input;
4 A procedure for the conversion to a uniform damage scale.
The grey circle represents a persistent data structure. In the example it is a
vulnerability/damage data set. White circles represent flows of data. From left to right in
the figure: seismic input with site effects, vulnerability and damage.
The modeling language is an interpreted Petri net, composed of activities, resources
and relations between them. A computational module is an activity; a data module is a
resource; activities may have input and output relations with resources and may exchange
messages; an activity may have an associated annotation defining constraints.
The model is used to interact with the experts, identify the modules to be integrated
and link them to other modules. The model is also used to discover problems (e.g. the
need of a new module to generate a common scale of the damage score coming from a
number of vulnerability/damage models).
The model is also the place where to add and integrate new fragments of knowledge as
far as the system evolves.
6 INTEGRATION AT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION LEVEL
The integration issue is managed at design and implementation level through the
following main technical choices:
A two-layer architecture.
The implementation of the person/machine interface in a GIS environment.
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Figure 2. System architecture.

The system architecture implements the well-known approach of the separation between
the model and the functions exploiting the model (see the Model View Controller pattern
or the Jackson System Design approach).
The architecture (Fig. 2) is based on two layers:
A simulator
A layer of functions (the tools layer) to exploit the simulation capabilities according to
specific goals and contexts.
During the evolution steps of the system, the simulator is the more stable part
implementing the knowledge model. The tools may be added or modified on top of the
simulator, exploiting the simulation capabilities for specialized purposes. The evolution
at tools levels may be managed with minor modifications at simulator level.
The simulator implements the knowledge model through a relational database (the
alphanumeric data modules), a set of GIS layers (the geo-referenced data layers) and a set
of procedural modules (the models). The combination rules are encoded procedurally.
The simulator in composed by three groups of interlinked sets of modules modelling
the seismic hazard, the vulnerability and damage and the loss estimation.
The tools layer includes the person/machine interface and a number of specialized
tools.
The person/machine interface is based on a GIS environment. Through the interface,
the user can define a seismic source on a map of a region, propagate the effects and see
the results on a coloured map at regional scale. Then the user can focus on an urban
nucleus, apply the local soil effects, choose a set of survey data for the assessment of the
vulnerability of buildings, choose a suitable model, compute a damage map and visualize
a map of losses.
The basic capability of the person/machine interface is to allow a step-by-step
simulation, choosing among alternative models (with the associated constraints).
An additional capability is the execution of a step-by-step simulation in the recording
mode. The scenarios simulation may include steps of both the simulation scales
1029
(regional level and urban nucleus). At each simulation scale, it is possible to use all the
implemented functions, such as hazard, damage and losses. The sequence of steps may be
stored, classified and re-executed later. The recorded scenarios can be used for nonspecialist final users (e.g. for civil protection preparedness).
Finally, the tools level may be extended adding new applications that exploit the
simulation capabilities. The current implementation makes available a tool for emergency
preparedness support and another one for planning and loss reduction support.
The hardware/software platform is the following:
Personal computer with a Windows operating system;
Microsoft Access Data Base Management System;
Mapinfo Geographical Information System.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The tool is the evolution of a number of projects funded by E.U. and Italian National
Research Bodies:
CNR (Italian National Research Council)Progetto Finalizzato Edilizia, Expert
systems and mobile laboratory for seismic risk assessment of buildings (Cadei 1992);
TOSQAEarthquake Protection for Historic Town Centers (EV5V-CT93-0305)
(TOSQA Report 1 and 2, 1996);
SCENARIO: Time dependent seismic hazard estimate based on multi-parameter
geophysical observatory system (PL931989) (Salvaneschi 1996 and SCENARIO
1998);
SEISMOCARE (ENV4-CT97-0588) (Anagnostopoulos 1998 and SEISMOCARE
2001).
The tool, during the evolution steps, has been used for seismic risk assessment in a
number of situations. Among them: the urban nucleus of the Alfama district in Lisbon,
the area of Quartieri spagnoli in Naples, the region and the city of Chania, a Greek city
on the island of Crete and the town of Genova, Department of Quindo, Colombia.
REFERENCES
Anagnostopoulos S.A., Bonacina G., Gavarini C., Nistic N., Providakis C., Salvaneschi P.,
Sotiropoulos D., Woo G., 1998. Computer aided Reduction of Seismic Risk with Application to
existing Cities, Town planning and Construction (SEISMOCARE) SISM-98 Seismic Impact on
Structures and Monuments, Cambridge, UK.
Cadei, M., Panzeri, P., Peano, A., Salvaneschi, R., 1992. A mobile laboratory with an expert system
for seismic assessment of buildings. Proc. of the Tenth World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, A.A.Balkema, Rotterdam, 63116316.
Salvaneschi R., Mucciarelli M., Spinelli A., Console R., Valensise G., Stavrakakis G.N., 1996.
Time Dependent Hazard Estimate based on a Multi-parameter Geophysical Observatory System
XXV General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission (ESC), Reykjavik.
SCENARIO Final report, 1998. Environment project PL931989, Time dependent seismic hazard
estimate based on multi-parameter geophysical observatory system (SCENARIO).
1030
SEISMOCARE Final report, 2001. Environment project EV5V-CT97-0588, Computer aided

Reduction of Seismic Risk with Application to existing Cities, Town planning and Construction
(SEISMOCARE).
TOSQA Report 1, 1996. Environment project EV5V-CT93-0305, Eartquake Protection for Historic
Town Centres (TOSQA), Task 2: Case studies. Task Report: Survey Data Analysis and
Comparative Assessment.
TOSQA Report 2, 1996. Environment project EV5V-CT93-0305, Earthquake Protection for
Historic Town Centres (TOSQA), Task 5: Develop Vulnerability Methods and propose
Strategies for Retrofitting. Task Report: Adapt Vulnerability Methods examined by IGOR to
incorporate Retrofit.
Real-time earthquake prediction algorithms

S.Radeva
University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofla,
Bulgaria
R.J.Scherer
Dresden University of Technology, Germany, EU
D.Radev
University of Rousse, Rousse, Bulgaria
ABSTRACT: The paper is devoted on the problem of real-time
earthquake prediction. Different kinds of stages of earthquake prediction
are observed, and for each of this stages are discussed implementation of
existing algorithms M8 and MSc for intermediate-term middle-range
prediction. An approach for real-time prognoses, based on classification
algorithm of strong motion waves with neural network and fuzzy logic
models is suggesting. As input information for the neural network are
given the parameters of recorded part of accelerogram, principle axis
transform and spectral characteristics of the wave. With the help of
stochastic long-range dependence time series analyses is determined the
beginning of destructive phase of strong motion acceleration. Developed
seismic waves classification gives possibility to determine the method for
real time prognoses. For different king of classified waves we suggest
different kind prognoses models. The prognoses are realized with the help
of neural network, build on the principle of vector quantization.
1 INTRODUCTION
A very promising method in earthquake engineering for protection of heightrisk and
very important structures against destructive influence of seismic waves is anti-seismic
structural control. One of the critical problems there is the problem of forecasting in realtime of the behavior of seismic waves. Prognoses for further development of the waves
can be made from recorded in real-time data for certain part of destructive seismic waves
registrated in three directions. These prognoses are based on general, tectonic, seismic
and site parameters. During these prognoses is supposed that waves can be classified as
destructive or non-destructive and can be taken decision for switching on the devices for
structural control.
For making prognoses it is necessary to develop different kind of models. Modeling
gives possibility to study the behavior of seismic waves and relationships between their
parameters during their spread in soil layers, where for each point the parameters of her
displacement are presented with three components in three directions of the orthogonal
1032
axes. For practical purposes of possible records for displacements, velocities and
accelerations as time history, most often accelerograms are used, which are characterized
with certain duration, frequency and peak ground acceleration. They are involved in
models and systems for estimation of elasticity response spectrum. The most practical
usage in structural engineering and design has their peak values, independently of their
sign and direction. Thats why the modeling of the behavior of seismic waves is used as
input information in the process of calculation of the structural response spectrum.
The prognoses of earthquake occurrence can be classified according to the prognoses
time duration. The most popular is their dividing into long-term (for next ten years),
intermediate-term (for next few years), short-term (for next months-weeks) and real-time.
Other kind of prognoses is prognoses of the area of occurrence of earthquake excitation
of certain magnitude. Both approaches for prognoses are connected with difficult
problems, when are applied the traditional stochastic time series analyses instead of
applying methods for crash prognoses, where is dealing with reaching of certain critical
threshold, (Kossobokov et al, 2000). Concerning the gap stretch of expected earthquake
GLe it is necessary to take the space localization in more wide diapasons. The
classification of kind of earthquake prognoses is presented on Table 1.
Table 1. Classification of earthquake prognoses

according to time and place determination.
Temporal in years
Spatial in sources zone GLe
Long-term
10
Long duration up to
100
Intermediate-term
Middle duration
510
Short-term
0.010.1
Short duration
23
Real-time
0.0001
Exact
In this paper we fix our attention on real-time prognoses of earthquake excitation, which
is very important, because we have to receive very precise estimation of the development
of the process. The method for classification is developed for fast estimation of strong
motion seismic waves on the base of their main characteristics. The fast estimation of
seismic waves is implementing for real-time prognoses, which is based on belonging of
prognoses waves to certain class and subclass.
2 INTERMEDIATE-TERM MIDDLE-RANGE PREDICTION
An earthquake prediction must specify the expected magnitude range, the geographical
area within which it will occur, and the time interval within which it will happen with
sufficient precision so that the ultimate success or failure of the prediction can readily be
judged. The two basic intermediate-term algorithms M8 and MSc are comparing in this
section.
Real-time earthquake prediction algorithms Real-time earthquake prediction algorithms
1033
2.1 Algorithm M8
This prediction method was designed by retroactive analysis of dynamics of seismic
activity preceding the greatest, magnitude 8.0 or more earthquakes. Its original version
(Keilis-Borok & Kosobokov, 1990) were tested retroactively at 143 points, of which 132
are recorded epicenters of earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or greater from 18571983.
The catalog of main shocks canbe described by {ti, mi, hi, bi(e)}, i=1, 2,, where ti is
the origin time, hi is the focal depth, mi is the magnitude and bi(e) is the number of
aftershocks with magnitude Maft or more during the first e days. On Figure 1 are shown
dependences between two main approaches for earthquake prediction with M8 provided
by Keilis-Borok (1) and Gardner-Knopoff (2).
According to M8, the prediction is aimed at earthquake of magnitude M0 and larger
from the range M0+= [M0, M0+DM], where DM<1. The magnitude scale should reflect
the size of earthquake sources. The algorithm is realizing via calculating overlapping
circles, with diameter D(M0)=(exp(M05.6)+1) in degrees of the Earth meridian, scanned
seismic region under study. The received sequence of overlapping circles is normalized
being the standard value of the
by the lower magnitude cutoff
average annual number of earthquakes in the sequence. Several running averages are
computed for this sequence in the trailing time window (ts, t) and magnitude
range
. They depict different measures of intensity in earthquake flow, its
deviation from the long-term trend and clustering the earthquake. The averages determine
range and acceleration of activity.
1034
Figure 1. Dependences between

magnitude and distance from epicenter
(up), and magnitude and time in days
(down).
Let the rate of activity (number of events of certain size per unit time) is given by the
number of earthquakes N(t1/2m, s) with magnitude Mm in time interval from (ts) to t.
The differential of the rate of activity is denoted by L(t|m, s, t0), which is deviation of
activity from a longer-term trend over the period from (ts) to t. this deviation is
calculating according to (1).
1035
(1)
After determining the rate and acceleration of activity is determining linear concentration
of main shocks {i}Z(t) according to (2),
(2)
where magnitude range is mMi<M and the interval tsti<t is estimated as the ratio of
, when =0.46 to the average
the average diameter of the source
distance between them. For clustering characteristic is calculating the maximum over the
main shocks with magnitude mMi<M' and time interval (ts, t) as shown in (3).
B(t|m, M', s, maft, e)=max bi(e, maft)
(3)
Each
of
functions
N,
L,
is
calculated
twice
for
m,
where
. As a result, the earthquake sequence

is given a robust averaged description by seven functions: N, L, Z (twice each) and BN1,
N2, L1, L2, Z1, Z2, B.
The algorithm M8 uses traditional description of a dynamic system adding to a
common phase space of rate Z and rate differential L, dimensionless concentration Z and
a characteristic measure of clustering B. The algorithm recognizes criteria, defined by
extreme values of the phase space coordinates, as a vicinity of the system singularity.
When a trajectory enters the criteria, probability of extreme event increases to the level
sufficient for its effective provision, as shown on Figure 2.
Effective prediction with M8 is reached in 16% of predictions. Modified version for
lower seismic activities prediction has reached 42% of predictions.
2.2 Algorithm MSc
This algorithm for reducing area of alarm was designed by retroactive analysis of the
Eureka earthquake (1980, M=7.2) near Cape Mendocino in California, thats why its
name abbreviated to MSc. The algorithm outlines such an area of the territory of alarm
where the activity, from the beginning of seismic inverse cascade recognized by the first
approximation prediction algorithm is continuously high and infrequently drops for a
short time. The phenomenon, which is used in MSc might reflect on second stage
(possibly shorter term, narrow range).
In this second stage seismic activity may rise near the incipient source of main shock.
Let given a TIP diagnoses for a certain territory U at the moment T, the algorithm attempt
to find within U a smaller area V, where the predicted earthquake can be expected. The
algorithm requires a reasonably complete catalog of earthquakes with magnitudes
M=3(4), which is lower than the minimal threshold used by M8.
1036
The territory U is coarse-grained into small squares (ss) and determines the centers
of the squares (i, j). Within each square the number of earthquakes and aftershocks is
calculated for consecutive, short time windows and k is the sequence number of a trailing
time window. Finally, the time-space considered is divided into small boxes (i, j, k) of the
size
Figure 2. Algorithm M8 criteria in the

phase space.
(s, s, u). Quiet boxes are singled out of each small square with coordinates of it centre
(i, j) and clusters of q or more quiet boxes connected in space or in time are identified.
Area V territorial projection of these clusters.
The prediction is localized to a spatial projection of all recent sufficiently large
clusters of squares being in state of anomalous quiescence. The standard values of
1037
parameters are u=2 months, q=4 and s=3D/16, where D is diameter of the circle used in
algorithm A8.
The algorithm MSc outscores simple alternatives of narrowing down the area of first
approximation alarm, in which are included nonempty cells and most active cells that
contain a part of recent seismic activity. At second approximation is improving accuracy
by more detailed determination of the weight centers of the squares. Effective
prediction with MSc is reached in 18% of predictions.
3 REAL-TIME PROGNOSES WITH VECTOR QUANTIZATION
The suggested method for real-time prognoses is developed for fast estimation of strong
motion seismic waves on the base of their main characteristics. The fast estimation of
seismic waves is based on belonging of prognoses waves to certain class and subclass.
The proposed real-time classification and prognoses are realized with neuro model, which
is based on Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ). The classification helps to select
proper prognoses stochastic model for each of selected classes or subclasses. The
principle of it functionality is presented on Figure 3, where is shown an example for
prognoses model for destructive S-phase of class1classic. On the base of the registrated
input part of time series {xk,pn,, xkp} are made prognoses of the next values {xk,p+1,,
xk} of time series {xk}. The neural network has two layers: a first competitive and a
second linear. The competitive layer learns to classify the input vector. It learns all
subclasses that belongs to the linear target layer SM=SM1, SM2,, SMM. The module of
vector quantization (VQ) gives density distribution between classes in such a manner that
in each class we have the same number of target values. The linear layer transforms the
competitive layers classes into target classifications defined by the user. The competitive
neurons of the vector i will have weights of 1 to one neuron in the linear layer, and
weights of 0 to all other linear neurons.
Figure 3. Real-time neuro modelling of

destructive phase of strong-motion
seismic waves.
1038
1039
LVQ learning in the competitive layer is based on a set of input/target pairs. Each
target vector has a single 1 and the rest of its elements are 0. The 1 tells the proper
classification of the associated input. With LVQ we determine the fimction of density
distribution with amplitudes, received from the real accelerograms. The vector
quantization gives density distribution for each class and redistributes the target values in
such a manner to have the same number of target values in each class (Radeva et al,
2004). The density distribution of the values of time series was received via
approximation of the linear target layer SM of the vector quantization. For the proper
determining of the function of density distribution is necessary to optimize the
approximation of the target layer. The network was trained to classify the input space
according to parameters of scene-oriented model. It is a modification of simple Markov
chain model, where the time series {xt} was transformed into discrete states {yt}, where
the number of states , is the same as the number of target classes, and the size of the
model yi for each state is determined.
With the help of LVQ is determining the optimal number of target classes and
prognoses is realizing with this number.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Real-time and intermediate-time earthquake prognoses are discussed. The two basic
algorithms for prognoses of intermediate-term and short-term prognoses are discussed.
Real-time prognoses algorithm for prognoses of destructive phase of strong motion
seismic waves is suggested the algorithm is realized with the help of stochastic models
and neural network, build on the principle of learning vector quantization. In real time are
generating the statistical function of density distribution of recorded data from
accelerogram. The received prognoses values are comparing with real ones for
continuous updating of the model. Received results can be used in system for structural
control and in process and product modelling
This work is a part of the International NATO research project No: PST.CLG.979333.
REFERENCES
Keilis-Borok, V.I. & Kossobokov, V.G.1990. Premonitory activation of earthquake flow: algorithm
M8. Phys. Earth Planet. International 61: pp. 7383.
Kossobokov, V., Keilis-Borok, V., Turcotte, D. & Malamud, B. 2000. Implications of a statistical
physics approach for earthquake hazard assessment and forecasting. Pure Applied Geophysics
157: pp 23232349
Radeva, s., schere, R., Radev D. & Yakov, V. Real-time estimation of strong motion seismic
waves, Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica, Vol. 39 (23), 2004, pp. 297308.
IT supported architectural
design
Hybrid approach to solve space planning

problems in building services
G.Bi & B.Medjdoub
School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham,
UK
ABSTRACT: In this paper an object-based CAD programming is used to
take advantage of standardization to handle the schematic design, sizing,
layout for services in a building ceiling void. From the specification of the
building 3D model, our software proceeds through different steps; from
the determination of the standard number and size of the fan coils to the
generation of 3D solutions. In order to deal with more complex geometry
and larger problems, we have used a hybrid approach: Case Based
Reasoning (CBR) within Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP)
approaches. In practice, engineers in building services use previous
solutions and adapt them to new problems. CBR mirrors this practical
approach and does help us to deal with increasingly complex geometry
effectively, and meanwhile CSP has been used for layout adaptation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Standardization is widely recognized as a key element in reducing design time, cutting
construction costs and ensuring efficient design solutions. The previous project Building
Services Standard Solutions implemented in CAD (Medjdoub et al. 2003) has shown
that it is possible to define and implement standard solutions to produce designs
comparable with the practice. The previous project dealt with middle size problems
within simple geometry using constraint-programming technique to implement the design
rules and the solution generation algorithms.
In this project, our approach uses standard solutions in conjunction with IT and
extends the work of the previous one for fan coils to make the solutions useable for more
complex geometry. This will bring the benefits in terms of increasing the range of
applications for which the solutions can be used (with consequent reductions in design
time etc.) and to improve its usability. The extension to deal with more complex
geometry will be based on Case Based Reasoning (CBR) (Dave et al. 1994) (Sqalli et al.
1999) (Aamodt & Plaza 2000) as well as Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP)
approach. Very often, design engineers retrieve similar solutions from the case based and
adapt them to new problems. CBR mirrors this practical approach and will help us to deal
with increasingly complex geometry effectively. In this paper we do not deal with pipe
routing.
The objectives of the project are:
1043
Implement the standard solutions in an industry standard CAD system using advanced
techniques in Artificial Intelligence combining CBR with CSP.
Develop an interactive and friendly user interface, simply to use with a high-level
modification of the 2D and 3D solutions.
Test and evaluate the standard solutions against conventional ones in a benchmarking
exercise with our industrial partners.
2 FAN COIL STANDARD SOLUTIONS

The standard solutions were developed in consultation with practicing engineers. They
are essentially a collection of rules that address the selection, sizing and the location of
services equipment in the ceiling void. The rules are in a number of different forms
including:
Schematics
Written rules
Geometric layouts
The ceiling void solution is based on a four-pipe-fan-coil system. Fresh air is provided by
a central air-handling unit. Air supply to the space is via slot diffusers in the perimeter
zones and the square diffusers internally. Whereas with plant rooms, the main integration
issues are between different services elements, for ceiling voids the emphasis is more on
integration with non-services elements including beams, ceiling tiles and core areas. It is
firstly necessary to define these before the suited services solution can be generated.
In practice, once the non-services elements have been defined, the services are located
approximately in order from the most to least geometrically constrained. For the
structural solution illustrated in Figure 1, the distribution runs are located next as these
are constrained to pass through the beam holes. These are then followed in sequence by;
diffusers selected to provide the required air flow and located to integrate with the
lighting; fan coils selected to meet the zone load requirements and located to ensure
maintenance access from below; ductwork from fan coils to diffusers; distribution
ductwork (for air flow) and pipe work (for cooling water) to the fan coil units (where not
routed through beams and columns); condensate runs from the fan coils to column
droppers.
1044
Table 1. Four-pipe ceiling mounted fan coil system

as the HVCA standard.
Ceiling
voids
Type
General
Locations The equipment location sequence is generally as follows:

Luminaries
Diffusers
Fan coil units
Pipework
Ductwork
Equipment (i.e. diffusers and lights) should not be located in adjacent tiles
unless there is a reasonable margin around equipment.
Fan coil
units
Selection Units selected from manufacturer standard range using chilled water for
cooling and LPHW for heating as required.
Diffusers
Rules
Sizing
Following variables defined for selecting size of fan coil units:

Total air volume
Fresh air volume
Cooling required
Heating required
External pressure drop
Noise level
If largest unit not big enough to serve zone, then treat with 2 of the same
type, then 3 of the same type, and so on.
Location
Heating and cooling pipe work connections staggered to assist

coordination. Locate fan coils on riser side of zone to minimize condensate
and other pipe work runs and air flow direction changes from the risers
through unit to the diffusers (see Figure 2). Locate 50100 mm below slab
to allow for slab inconsistencies and slope towards drain exit. Limit
distance to diffusers to keep pressure drop down.
Selection Perimeter zonesslot diffusers selected from manufacture standard range.

Internal zonessquare diffusers selected from manufacture standard range.
Sizing
Use manufacturers sizing algorithms to meet throw, pressure drop and

noise requirements.
Location
Located square diffusers to nearest possible location to suit lighting layout.

Locate slot diffusers along perimeter.
Ductwork Selection Local ductwork from fan coils to diffusers circular. Distribution ductwork
circular up to 200 mm, flat oval above to limit depth requirement.
Use standard ISO/DW144 ranges (DW144 1998). Use fittings as defined by
BSRIA (1995) Standard Details project.
Sizing
Use CIBSE Guide (2001). Local ductwork from fan coils to diffusers sized
as plenum spigot connection subject to a maximum velocity of 3 m/s. 5 m/s
maximum velocity limit for ductwork distribution to fan coils.
Location
1045
Run duct and pipe work headers out from riser and tap off to fan coil units.
Route ductwork through cellular beams if possible, otherwise run below
beams. Route ductwork down centre of area to be served. Branch supply
ductwork local to risers to facilitate crossovers.
Pipe work Selection Use fittings as defined by BSRIA Standard Details project.
Sizing
For LPHW and CHW pipe work use CIBSE Guide C steel pipe bigger
and higher k factors). Base sizing on 200Pa/m and never exceed 250
Pa/m.Size condensate at 20mm from units, 40 mm for 2 or more units, and
50 mm in risers.
Location
Try to run in pairs (side by side) for F & R but not essential. Reverse return
arrangements preferred where possible. Share commissioning sets if
adjacent units similar (cost and commissioning benefits) running pipe work
with a self-balancing T. Route through cellular beams if possible,
otherwise run below beams.
The rules and solutions documented in the table (Table 1) are for a four pipe ceiling
mounted fan coil system as the HVCA (DW144 1998) standard solution.
Figure 1. 2D ceiling voids layouts.
1046
Figure 2. Ceiling void layoutsfan

coils.
3 OBJECT MODELS OF CEILING VOIDS SOLUTION
The object model holds three main classes of objects representing the ceiling voids space
geometry, equipment and pipe work. Each class is characterized by attributes and
constraints.
3.1 Space
The space class contains two sub-classes: the zone class and the structural element class
(e.g. column and beam). The zone geometry can vary from a simple rectangle to an
ellipse or a curved shape with known obstructions, doors and external walls. The
attributes of a zone depends on its shape, if the zone is a polygon it will be defined by a
set of points (X[n], Y[n], Z[n]) which represent the polygon vertexes, where n equals to
the number of all vertexes. The internal structure is characterized by a reference point, its
length and its width.
3.2 Equipment
The equipment class includes the fan coil and the diffuser classes. These classes are
characterized by a reference point (X, Y, Z), a length, a width, a height and an orientation
attribute defined as a constraint discrete variable defined over the domain {0, 90} (see
Figure 3, Top-Left).
1047
Figure 3. (Top-Left) the size and

distance attributes of fan coils and
diffusers. (Bottom-Right) geometrical
representation of pipe with set of 4
points (P1P4) corresponding to 3
segments, 2 bends.
3.3 Pipe
The pipe class is defined by a set of points (X[n], Y[n], Z[n]) and a radius R. Each pair of
successive points defines a segment of the pipe, each segment has an orientation variable
defined over the domain {0, 90, 180, 270}. A class constraint is defined to ensure that
two successive segments have different orientations. We consider the number of bends
equal to the number of pipe segments minus one (see Figure 3, Bottom-Right).
4 CEILING VOID SPACE ALLOCATION PROCESS
The generation of a solution will follow four main steps:
1. Definition of the fan coil number and type
2. Floorzoning
1048
3. Case retrieving
4. Constraint-based case adaptation
4.1 Definition of the fan coil number and type
Buildings have different functions like offices, shopping malls, hospitals, restaurants etc,
and each one need a particular cooling and heating loads to serve the indoor
environments. So only after defining the floor ftmction, we could deduce the fan coil
number and
Figure 4. The floor is divided into 4

zones, which includes triangle,
rectangle and elliptic zones.
type. For example, if the floor is for an office use, the perimeter (window side) cooling
load is 100 w/m2, and the setting is 64.5 m2 per fan coil. For the internal area (area far
from the perimeter), the cooling load is 50 w/m2, and the setting is 50 m2 per fan coil1. To
find out the appropriate fan coil type, we also need the necessary environment data like
air density, specify heat capacity, cool temperature difference etc. All these data are
saved in the application database, thus through the user interface the engineers have just
to choose the floor function to generate automatically the appropriate fan coil type and
the number.
4.2 Floor zoning
In the case of a building within a complex shape, the user will through the user interface
divide the building floors in zones. As indicated in Figure 4 the zones are simple
geometric primitives (e.g. circle, rectangle, triangle, trapezoid and ellipse).
We use the floor zoning in the case of complex building shape which will be divided
in simple geometrical primitives. These zones are linked together with the joint sides, and
1049
the unlinked sides are perimeter sides. The fan coils and the diffusers can be set within
the perimeter (window) sides and the internal areas of different zones; finally the pipes
will pass through the joint sides to connect them. Meanwhile, engineers are required to
define the locations of columns, beams and internal structures (i.e. store rooms, lifts, stair
rooms etc) where the pipes and the fan coils should not overlap (non-overlapping layout).
For the locations of columns and beams definition, engineers are required to select all
reference lines (the row and column base lines) which cross the columns.
4.3 Case retrieving
After having defined the zones and their attributes, the next step consists on retrieving the
most similar
Table 2. Key information to retrieve the case.

Key information
Explanation
Shape type
Rectangle, trapezoid, triangle, ellipse, circle, arc or bspline curve.
Side number
In the case of a polygon
Horizontal side number
Vertical side number
Top vertex number
How many top vertexes with same Y value the shape has if it is a
polygon.
Bottom vertex number
Vertexes with the same Y value, in the case of a polygon
Primary & second Radius Check whether the primary radius equal to the second radius when the
shape is an elliptical curve.
Joint side number &
position
In the case of an elliptical arc, the joint side should be at the line
perimeter.
Window side number &

position
In the case of an elliptical curve, the window positions should be on the

curve.
Fan coil arrangement
Type of the arrangement (i.e. horizontal or vertical).
1050
Figure 5. (a) Incomplete solution

generated by the case retrieving, one
fan coil overlap with a column, (b)
solution after local adaptation within
the use of a non-overlapping constraint
between the fan coil and the column.
case from the case library. The solutions of fan coil systems for the basic geometrical
floor shapes (rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, circle and ellipse etc) are stored in the case
library, where the match between the floor zones and the retrieved similar cases is based
on a descriptive index of the shape, which approach is called Case Based Reasoning
(CBR).
The matching information we need to know includes the zone shape (i.e. rectangle,
triangle, ellipse etc), the side number of polygon, the position of joint and the window
side etc. The table (Table 2) has listed the key information to retrieve the case. Then,
from the case retrieving a first incomplete solution (see Figure 5a) is generated and will
need further adaptation to make it usable.
1
Data provided by Faber and Maunsell.
4.4 Constraint-based case adaptation

The adaptation process is based on the constraint programming techniques. The method
used is by substitution, where we replace some parts of the old solution that do not fit the
current situation requirements. Thus from the incomplete solution from the case
retrieving step, the system will identify the incoherent parts of the solution, as indicated
in Figure 5a, where one fan coil overlap with a column. Next this incoherency is solved
using simple constraints (e.g. inclusion constraint, non-overlapping constraint, dimension
constraint) to make it coherent. The advantage of this approach is that each incoherency
is solved separately, which decrease drastically the complexity of the problem.
To generate the new position of the fan coil (see Figure 5b) we use an heuristic based
on a orthogonal grid which will help the enumeration process to instantiate the new
coordinates (x, y, z) of the fan coil to be on this grid.
4.4.1 Dimension constraints
Dimension constraints assign a minimal or a maximal value to the object constrained
variables. This constraint is expressed by equality or inequality.
4.4.2 Inclusion constraints
Inclusion constraints represent the object must be within the space. These types of
constraints are especially important for finding the locations of fan coils and diffusers,
where they must be located within their local grid areas.
1051
4.4.3 Non-overlapping constraints

Non-overlapping constraints represent the fact that two objects cannot overlap each other;
it is automatically applied to all pairs of objects in our application (i.e. fan coil to
structures, fan coil to fan coil etc). For objects with regular and irregular shapes, there are
different non-overlapping solutions.
For rectangular shapes (i.e. it could be applied for a L-shape or T-shape), nonoverlapping constraints introduce a new non-overlapping variable with 4 elements
{North, East, South, & West}. These orientation variables are represented in order to
avoid making two objects overlapped.
5 IMPLEMENTATION & BENCHMARKING
This application is developed in JMDL (Java Modelling Language) as embedded in
Microstation/J and JSolver the constraint programming system. Microsoft Access, the
relational database application is used for the case library. Finally we use Microstation/J
to layout the object model and the 3D rendering.
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Figure 6. User interface panels to fan

coil layout.
The implementation includes the user interface, the CBR library as well as the constraint
library within the algorithms for the case adaptation and the solution enumeration. The
user interface is composed of several panels (see Figure 6), which include the data input,
the zoning process and the equipments (fan coils and diffusers) generation. The main
information that the user need to input are:
The floor information which includes floor drawing unit (i.e. millimeter or meter); floor
type (i.e. office, shop, hospital etc); floor noise requirement NR; floor height, ceiling
voids height. The system will then generate automatically the type of fan coils based
on the rules of thumb.
The diffuser information which includes the diffuser size, the interval sizes of diffusers,
the minimum distance from the diffuser to wall and to window. The user can modify
1053
these parameters (i.e. perimeter and internal area sizes, area load rate, air density, etc.),
which are already saved in the database.
The building structure grid (i.e. indicating the location and the size of columns and
beams).
The zone, by selecting the shape and the system will automatically generate the zone
information (i.e. zone area and zone position). The user needs to define the window
and joint sides of the zone by selecting the appropriate sides.
The internal structure and the riser, lifts, stair cases, and function rooms. The location
of the riser which gives the starting position of the pipe routing.
The results have shown that it is possible to define and implement standard solutions to
produce designs comparable with current practice. This benchmarking exercise has
underlined many advantages and made some suggestions for further development.
The main advantages are:
1. The system deals with complex floor shapes.
2. The retrieving of the similar case is done in reasonable time.
3. The constraint-based adaptation approach is done sequentially which decrease the
complexity of the problem.
4. The output from the solutions such as the 3D data model is beneficial to other parties
in the supply chain.
The main improvements needed:
1. To deal with curved shapes.
2. To enrich the case library.
3. To develop a retain solution mechanism.
4. To develop further more the interactivity of the system.
6 CONCLUSION
This approach has shown the potential to significantly reduce design costs by reducing
design time, improve the quality of the solution and produce additional benefits
elsewhere in the supply chain. On the computational part, the integration of CBR and
CSP approaches did achieve a synergy, which produces the results that could not be
obtained if each mode were operating individually. Further developments are being done
and concern mainly the case library enrichment and the complex problem of pipe routing.
The idea to have a compromise between full automation and interactivity gives to the
designer full control of the design while assisting him to solve complex problems
automatically. This compromise is the main difference with the a forementioned
approaches in facilities layout and pipe routing. In our application, several aspects were
discussed which include case based reasoning approach, constraint satisfaction approach,
algorithm and rules of layout solution enumeration.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project is funded by the EPSRC2 in the UK. There are three industrial partners
including Faber and Maunsell, Bentley Systems and Biddle Air Systems. The authors
would like to thank Mr Nick Barnard from Faber and Maunsell and Mr Mike Price from
Biddle Air Systems for their valuable help and comments about various aspects of this
research project.
REFERENCES
Aamodt, A. & Plaza, E. 1999. Case-Based Reasoning: Foundational Issues, Methodological
Variations, and System Approaches, AI ComArtiflcial Intelligence Communications, Vol. 7,
No. 1.
BSRIA report 2001. Rules of thumb, Technical Note TN15/01, BSRIA.
CIBSE Guide C, Reference Data. 2001. Section C4 Flow of Fluids in Pipes and Ducts.
Dave, B. Schmitt, G. Faltings, B. & Smith, I. 1994. Case based design in architecture, Artificial
Intelligence in Design -AID94, Kluwer Academic, p. 145162.
DW 144. 1998. Specification for sheet metal duct work-Low, medium and high pressure/velocity
air systems, HVCA.
Medjdoub, B. & Yannou, B. 2000. Separating topology and geometry in space planning, Computer
Aided Design, 32(1), p. 3961.
Medjdoub, B. & Yannou, B. 2001, Dynamic space ordering at a topological level in space
planning, Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 15(2001), Elsevier Science Ltd, p. 4760.
Medjdoub, B. Richens, P. & Barnard, N. 2003. Generation of Variational Standard Plant Room
Solutions, Automation in Construction, 12(2), Elsevier Science Ltd, p. 155166.
Sqalli, M.H. Purvis, L. & Freuder, E.C. 1999. Survey of Applications Integrating Constraint
Satisfaction and Case-Based Reasoning, PACLP99: International Conference and Exhibition on
the Practical Application of Constraint Technologies and Logical Programming.
2
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
A computational architectural design

approach based on fractals at early design
phases
zgr & Glen ada
Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: In this paper, a three-dimensional form generator based on
fractal dimension will be presented. Fractal dimension is used as a means
of capturing the pattern appropriate at the compositional configuration of
a historical architectural language and generating new forms which will
ensure the continuity of this language. The formal compositions are
represented by generative algorithms in this approach. The generative
algorithms are coded in the C++ computer programming language. An
animation algorithm is also developed by using DirectX software. The
generation process describes how to derive a compositional configuration
from other forms with different dimensions which can be generated by
changing fractal dimensions.
1 INTRODUCTION
Digital design technologies have an important role in supporting the designer at the
conceptual architectural design phase. Computer supported design systems can generate
different images during the early design process and can provide useful inputs when
searching for alternative forms of architectural design products.
In the literature, there are different computational architectural design approaches.
Some researchers consider the design problem as a problem-solving process based on the
information-processing theory of Newel and Simon. HeGel-II (Akin and Sen, 1994),
SEED (Flemming, Aygen, Coyne and Snyder, 1997), WRIGHT (Baykan and Fox, 1997)
APSIS (Kisacikolu and ada, 2004) models are the examples that support the early
design phases by generating the alternative layouts.
Another computational design approach is the shape grammar formalism stated by
Stiny (1980). Queen Anne Houses (Flemming, 1987), Bungalows of Buffalo (Downing
and Flemming, 1981), the Prairie Houses of F.L.Wright (Koning and Eizenberg, 1981),
Row Houses ( ada, 1996a), Traditional Turkish Houses (ada, 1996b), Gedit
(Tapia, 1999), Coffee-maker (Agarval and Cagan, 1998), Alvaro Sizas Houses (Duarte,
1998) are some of the examples of the shape grammars. Most of these works generate
two-dimensional models of design products.
In this paper, a three-dimensional form generator based on fractal dimension will be
presented. Fractal geometry has begun to be used with the aim of supporting a new
approach in generative architectural design. Images based on fractal geometry can be
1056
generated by algorithms and are used in the formation of surfaces, structures and forms.
Shape grammars are applications in which shapes are represented as design descriptions
and transformed according to a rule-based formalism. Generation processes can be
modeled on the transformations of shapes. A shape grammar contains a vocabulary, a set
of shape rules and an initial shape. Form alternatives can be generated by applying the
shape rules recursively to the initial shape.
Fractals are a subset of shape grammars. In fractal approach, the number of rules are
small, the number of recursions high and self similarity is guaranteed in comparing shape
grammars (Schmitt and Chen, 1991).
In this study, fractal dimension is used as a means of capturing the pattern appropriate
at the compositional configuration of a historical architectural language and generating
new forms which will ensure the continuity of this language.
The aims of this study are:
To support the creativity of designers at the early design phases;
To generate and give a preliminary ranking to the form alternatives;
To explore the potential of digital design technologies in the computational architectural
design process.
2 GENERATION OF FORM ALTERNATIVES

The computer is a powerful medium that generates complex spatial compositions in the
architectural design process. For producing designs, two major computer-based strategies
are used. These approaches have been characterised by Coyne as generation and
abduction (Coyne et al., 1990). The generative approach involves the use of knowledge in
the form of grammar rules or generative algorithms, for producing designs conforming to
an architectural language. In the abductive approach, use is made of knowledge to reason
directly from design requirements (Yoon and Coyne, 1992). In other words, abductive
reasoning is to consider knowledge that relates explicitly to the manipulation of design
constraints.
The starting point of the theory behind computing in architectural design is based on
Aristotles concept of a generative system that can provide a variety of potential solutions
to a problem (Mitchell, 1977). Systematic use of generative systems in architectural
design was applied by Leonardo Da Vinci who generated central plan churches. Durand
used this systematic approach for the generation of plans and elevations from different
combinations of building elements.
The computer application of this principle is the approach of shape grammar or design
grammar. It is based on generation of shapes according to parametric shape rule
schemata. Applications of shape grammars and other grammatical formalisms in
architectural and engineering design have been growing steadily and impressively
(Knight, 1998).
After defining the grammar of an architectural language, a computer can be used to
generate forms in the context of parametric and innovative architectural design. This
approach also supports the creative architectural design process. Similar to this approach,
forms based on fractal geometry can be generated at the early design phase.
A computational architectural design approach based on fractals
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In this study, a generative design approach supporting creativity in the production of

new forms by using the fractal dimension of a certain architectural language is presented.
In the development of this approach, the following stages have been carried out:
Using the Curdling Method, an algorithm has been developed which is formed from
selected units and with the intention of forming different settlement patterns showing
fractal features.
A generative algorithm has been developed which creates different forms by applying
different fractal values to an initial shape.
With the aim of producing data for the application of the algorithms developed, an
existing architectural pattern has been selected. By examining the Fethiye/Kayaky
settlement, chosen for its characteristic architectural pattern, its fractal dimensions
have been calculated in its settlement, street and dwelling scales. In calculating the
fractal values, the box-counting method of Bovill (Bovill, 1996) has been used.
By using the fractal value of the Kayaky settlement and of a selected street pattern,
alternative solutions have been produced which will ensure the continuity of the
pattern in new design projects, by applying the typological and fractal dimension of
the dwellings to the algorithms developed.
In order to apply the suggested approach, the fractal values of first of all the settlement,
then one of the streets of this settlement and finally the dwellings in this street possessing
a different plan concept have been calculated. The values, obtained by means of the box
counting method, have been interpreted on the settlement, street and dwelling levels. As a
result of this evaluation, the existence of the continuity of the pattern has been
investigated, and the relationship between dwelling and topography has been examined.
The values obtained with the calculation of fractal value have been used as data for the
new pattern to be created.
The algorithm developed for generating forms presents different alternatives
depending on different fractal dimensions. For this algorithm, alternative forms have
been created which, by the application of fractal values belonging to the existing
architectural pattern, will be able to reflect the continuity of the pattern in fractal
concepts.
The creation of algorithms aimed at generative architectural design was begun first of
all with the collection of plans obtained in an architectural shape grammar library. The
finding of separate typological features of each room in every dwelling and of the other
units was assisted by the formation of the shape library. These libraries have been used as
input in the algorithms developed for the formation of generative fractal settlements.
With the aim of forming architectural blocks showing fractal features, various
algorithms have been developed using the C++ computer programming language. The
algorithm formulating the generation process operates top-down. Fractal approach was
formed by means of Archimedes Midpoint Displacement Method. The developed
program, by using the Direct X (code) for every fractal dimension, creates an animation
which is formed by the revolving of the blocks around themselves. With the aim of
increasing the effect of the blocks, which forms the solution alternatives, various colours
have been highlighted in order to form contrast, light and shade. In this way it is possible
with the animation to observe more clearly the emergence of the fractal concept. The
1058
developed algorithms, as in the algorithms for the generation of the settlement, have been
executed by applying the fractal value obtained from the Kayakoy or different values.
As an initial form a cube has been used. The generation process begins by locating the
cube and proceeds by applying the fractal dimension to it. By way of forming 125
(555) groups of these cubes, block formations having fractal values from 1.0 to 1.9
have been created. In Table 1, it can be seen that as fractal value increases, the cubes
create a more complex form, but as fractal value decreases, the cube group, by being less
broken up, creates forms which can be defined by Euclidean geometry.
With the aim of applying the fractal value belonging to the existing architectural
pattern, the form of a unit was examined, and by means of changing fractal dimension,
different alternatives were produced. The original spatial configuration of this unit was
examined in the context of the forms which would appear, by means of changes in fractal
value from 1.0 up to 1.9. At a fractal value of 1.0, the unit preserves its original block
effect. As fractal value is increased, so the block activity of the unit increases (Table 2),
(Table 3).
The generation process describes how to derive one compositional configuration from
other forms with different dimensions which can be generated by changing fractal
dimensions. In the generation of three-dimensional forms, the number of cubes on the x,
y and z axes can be defined parametrically. These parameters have been selected as 3, 5
and 7, and by applying these values to the x, y and z combinations, the forms shown in
Table 4 have been generated. In this approach, fractal dimension is constant. The forms
generated by changing the fractal dimension at each application from 1.1 to 1.9 are
shown in Table 5.
Table 1. Form alternatives based on fractal

dimensions.
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
Table 2. Generating form alternatives by changing

fractal dimension belonging to the existing
architectural pattern.
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1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
Table 3. Animation snap-shots based on fractal

dimension 1.4.
Table 4. Fractal dimension 1.7.
357
537
735
Table 5. Fractal dimensions 1.11.9 for 357.
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.6
1.7
1.8
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1.9
Table 6. Animation snap-shots for 357 based on

Fractal dimension 1.9.
Figure 1. The structure of the

CADaFED.
The animation snap-shots of the form for a fractal value of 1.9 can be seen in Table 6.
3 STRUCTURE OF THE CADaFED MODEL
The CADaFED (Computational Architectural Design approach based on Fractals at the
Early Design) model consists of five main units:
1061
Input unit,
Shape library unit,
Generation unit,
Settlement output unit,
Animation unit.
The parameters are:
Dimensions of the initial shape/number of the cubes
Fractal dimension that will be used in the generation process
Topographic data.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The fractal geometry and fractal concepts which have appeared through chaos theory
affect contemporary architectural understanding from different aspects. Fractal concepts,
have come to be used in many ways, both consciously and unconsciously, in the field of
architecture.
Spatial configurations, which have been represented by constraints or rules in the
abductive approach, have been represented by generative algorithms in the generative
approach.
In this study, by relying on the fractal dimension of an existing architectural pattern,
and at the early design phase, a generative design approach has been suggested which can
be used in the direction of supporting creativity in the creation of new forms. By using
the fractal dimensions of elements found in a shape library belonging to the relevant
architectural language, this approach may show the way to the creation of architectural
forms which will ensure the continuity of the pattern. Different form alternatives can be
generated by changing fractal dimension. But it is necessary to apply the functional
features to the generated forms by uniting them with the context and to develop them as
an architectural design product by evaluating them according to their performance
requirements.
The generative algorithm developed provides the possibility for the generation of a
new pattern and new architectural form, by being connected with a definite architectural
pattern, either dependent on or independentof it.
Using digital technologies when searching for alternative forms in the conceptual
design phase is a new approach based on the development of new technologies. Using
digital media as design media gives the designer the opportunity to extend his/her
imagination and innovations.
In further research, by placing the three-dimensional form alternatives at the
settlement model, harmony can be tested with the existing architectural language.
REFERENCES
Agarval, M., Cagan, J., 1998. A Blend of Different Tastes: The Language of Coffee Makers,
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol: 25, no: 2, 205226.
1062
Akm, ., Sen, R., 1994. HeGeL-II: Heuristics and Optimization Based Search in Early Design, 7th
International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics, Advances in
Computer-Based Building Design Systems, Ed: J.Pohl, 127136, Baden-Baden.
Baykan, C.A. & Fox, M.S. 1997. Spatial Synthesis by Disjunctive Constraint Satisfaction, Artificial
Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, vol: 11, 245262, USA:
Cambridge University Press.
Bovill, C., 1996. Fractal Geometry In Architecture and Design, Boston: Birkhauser.
Chase, S., 1999. Grammar Based design Issues for User Interaction, ACADIA99, 198210.
Coyne, R.D., M.A.Rosenman, A.D.Radford, M.Balachandran, J.S.Gero, 1990. Knowledge-Based
Design Systems, U.S.A.: Addison-Wesley.
ada, G., (1996a). A Shape Grammar Model for Designing Row-houses, Design Studies, vol: 17,
no: 1, 3551.
ada, G., (1996b), A Shape Grammar: The Language of Traditional Turkish Houses,
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol: 23, no: 5, 443464.
Downing, E., Flemming, U., 1981. The Bungalows of Buffalo, Environment and Planning B, vol:
8, 269293.
Duarte, J.P., 1998. Using Grammars to Customize Mass Housing: the Case of Sizas Houses at
Malagueira, IAHS World Congress on Housing, Lisbon, Portugal.
Flemming, U., 1987. More than the sum of parts: the grammar of Queen Anne houses, Environment
and Planning B, Planning and Design, cilt: 14, 323350.
Flemming U, Aygen Z, Coyne R and Snyder J: 1997. Case-Based Design in a Software that
Supports the Early Phases in Building Design in Mary Lou Maher and Pearl Pu (eds), Issues
and Applications of Case-Based Reasoning in Design, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, USA, 61
85.
Kisacikolu, B., ada, G., 2004. Architectural Plan Layout Generatorby Exhaustive Search:
APSIS, (it will be presented ECPPM 2004), stanbul.
Knight, T., 1998. Designing a shape Grammar, Artificial Intelligence in Design 98, J.Gero,
F.Sudweeks, (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publ., The Netherlands, pp: 499.
Koning, H., Eizenberg, J., 1981. The language of the prairie: Frank Lloyd Wrights prairie houses,
Environment and Planning B, vol: 8, sf: 295323.
Mitchell, W.J., 1977. Computer-Aided Architectural Design, NewYork: Petrocelli/Charter.
Stiny, G., 1980. Introduction to Shape and Shape Grammars, Environment and Planning B, vol: 7,
343351.
Schmitt, G., Chen C.C., 1991. Classes of DesignClasses of MethodsClasses of Tools, Design
Studies, 12, No: 4, 246251.
Tapia, M., 1999. A visual implementation of a shape grammar system, Environment and Planning
B, Planning and Design, vol: 26, no: 1, 5973.
Yoon, R.Coyne, 1992. Reasoning about spatial constraints, Environment and Planning: Planning
and Design, 19, 243266.
APSIS architectural plan layout generator by

exhaustive search
B.Kisacikoglu
Istanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology,
Graduate Program of Architectural
Design Computing, Istanbul, Turkey
G.ada
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: In this paper we deal with space planning in architectural
design. APSIS (Architectural Plan layout generator by exhaustive Search
of constraint conformity In the design Space) that we have developed is
an automated system that exhaustively searches grid scaled architectural
plan layouts conforming to given constraints that specify layout problems
at one floor level. The search organization that dimensional layout
possibilities are enumerated firstly and layout topology is searched
secondly, is different than known methods in literature. This has become a
test subject in our research to explore the disadvantages or advantages by
experimenting and to discuss the validity of this method. An interactive
layout design model that the problem specification is gradually under
control of the designer is proposed for APSIS considering the complex
aspects of space planning as a design problem that will be described in
this paper. In each phase of this gradual process, the task of APSIS is to
automate layout generation and form a feedback report to let the designer
make decisions by revising the constraints.
1 INTRODUCTION
It is well known that most design problems are characterized as ill specified and building
computer programs that deal with such domains is a tough challenge. The most common
approach to make effective computer systems in design is building programs to support
the designers in various sub problems that algorithmic search or case matching is
possible. In this study, space planning in architectural design is determined as a sub
problem that can be facilitated with an automated system that performs an exhaustive
algorithmic search.
The layout design model that we will propose here involves an interactive and gradual
process considering the need of user guidance in problem specification. In each phase of
this process, the user tries to specify the problem in terms of constraints and APSIS
(Architectural Plan layout generator by exhaustive Search of constraint conformity In the
1064
design Space) that we have developed automates the layout generation and supplies
feedback to the user.
The exhaustive search of APSIS generates all grid plan layouts that satisiy all
constraints specifying layout problems at one floor level. The search organization is
different than known methods in literature. Since the search is performed on a grid
system, we found out that it is also possible to start with dimensioning and considering
the topology later. Designing this algorithm with such a search organization, which is
logically less efficient, was one of the goals of our research to reach a design space of
layout design by approaching the problem from a different point of view. Another goal
was to experiment the use of this search in layout design to explore the advantages or
disadvantages. We will describe briefly how this is achieved and validity of this method
will be discussed as a result. This paper will also report an ongoing research of forming a
feedback report by a heuristic based reasoning.
2 SPACE PLANNING IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
2.1 Space planning as a design problem
In this paper, space planning in architectural design is understood as the arrangements of
rooms in a building. These arrangements may involve determination of rooms
topological relations and dimensions in 2D or 3D.
Space planning cannot be defined as an independent problem in the whole
architectural design process. All design criterions about building functions, relations of
these functions, circulation, environment, form of the building, cost, structural system,
site constraints, isolation, acoustic etc. are considered with an optimizing approach in the
design process and the requirements of space planning may arise from any of these
criteria. These requirements that the designer puts forward may be lacking, uncertain and
contradictory at the start of the design process. Space planning is also a highly
combinatorial problem. The solution space may differ greatly with a simple change in the
problem specification. While designers optimize the satisfaction of design requirements
to find layout solutions, they obliquely eliminate unsatisfied requirements and may also
explore new requirements. The designers priorities are often subjective so they may be
satisfied with different solutions.
As described above, space planning process involves a progression in problem
specification as satisfying solutions are reached so the problem specification needs to be
interactive and under the guidance of the designer in a computer model. An automated
system to be used in this process should be formulated to give adequate feedback to let
the designer understand what is happening and why (Baykan 2003).
2.2 Space planning in literature
Several computer models have been developed to solve space planning problem in
architectural design. When these models are examined, a common approach will be
noticed that the systems start with searching layout topology. Some of these models are
presented below.
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Mitchell, Steadman & Ligget (1976) introduced using generate and test strategy to
produce topological layouts. Dimensioning was a secondary operation in this model and
it is interpreted as an optimization problem. In this model, the generative algorithm
developed by Steadman (1973) that can reach exhaustively all possible and distinct
dissections of rectangles was coupled with a testing procedure of constraints.
LOOS also could exhaustively generate topological layouts that are represented
similarly to rectangular dissections by using a hierarchical generate and test method in
which the hierarchy was defined by heuristics and constraints. (Flemming et al. 1992)
Yoon & Coyne (1992) introduced reasoning with constraint propagation method that a
topological layout is derived through the direct manipulation of constraints. This method
involves a constraint directed heuristic search.
HeGeL also automated the generate and test cycle of topological search and the
problem structuring cycle was simulated with user input (Akin et al. 1992). With HeGeLII, an optimization module is coupled with HeGeLs generate and test cycle to select best
solutions according to cost as an optimization criteria (Akin & Sen 1994).
In WRIGHT, the problem was formulated as a constrained optimization problem and
it used disjunctive constraint satisfaction method that is a form of constraint directed
heuristic search (Baykan & Fox 1997).
ARCHiPLAN also could reach the solutions at a topological level by using topological
enumeration heuristics. The perspective was to select best layout solutions with the help
of an optimization module that the user can specify an optimization criterion (Medjdoub
& Yannou 1998).
SEED project that is developed in CMU to provide computational support for the early
phases in building design has a layout module that generates schematic layouts for an
architectural design brief that the user forms with the help of an elaborate user interface
(Flemming et al. 1997).
3 THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM APSIS
3.1 The system
The components that form the system of APSIS are shown in Figure 1. These
components and the usage process of the system will be described briefly in this section.
3.2 The design process
Considering the complex aspects of space planning in architectural design that are
described in section 2.1, we decided that this problem could be achieved with computer
support in an interactive process that the problem specification is gradually under control
of the designer. In each phase of this process, the computers task is to automate layout
generation and obtain adequate feedback to help the designer to make decisions. APSIS is
developed to support such a design process as shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 1. The system schema of

APSIS.
In the usage process, the user specifies the problem initially and starts the generation.
The system supplies some feedback to the user during and after the generation. The user
also obtains some feedback by examining the generated layouts. Then the user revises the
problem specification according to these feedbacks and starts another generation. Such
phases repeat until the most satisfying solution set is generated and the most convenient
problem specification is formed. And the final layout design is selected from the last
solution set.
3.3 Representation of layouts
APSIS generates the layouts on a grid coordinate system. Grid system is preferred in
order to ease the representations and manipulations of the constraints in computer
environment. Grid system is also helpful for designing the structural system but it highly
bounds the form of the layouts. The distance between grids is set as 0.6 m, which is a
modular length in architecture concerning furniture design or human dimensions.
A rooms location is represented with upper left (x1, y1) and lower right (x2, y2)
coordinates as shown in Figure 3 and a layout or partial layout is represented with the
locations of the rooms on the coordinate system. The rooms never share a used space in
the layouts that are generated by APSIS. In other words, overlapping is restricted.
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Figure 2. The design process by using

APSIS.
Figure 3. Locating a room on the grid

coordinate system of APSIS.
3.4 Problem specification

In APSIS, an architectural design brief is defined by entering the rooms and after this, the
layout problem is specified in terms of dimensional and topological constraints. In this
first version of the system problem specification is not widely optional, e.g. construction
site is restricted with rectangle shape, logical relations such as or, and can not be
defined between constraints and there is no priority option to let the algorithm make an
optimization of constraint satisfaction.
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3.4.1 Dimensional constraints

One can define dimensional constraints of the rooms and the construction space in a
rectangular format in APSIS.
The inputs for the rooms are minimum area, maximum area and minimum side length.
These inputs are considered in a minimized format to define the whole set of rectangular
dimensional possibilities on a grid system. As soon as these inputs are entered,
dimensional possibilities of the room are calculated. An example of this calculation for
0.6m grid system is shown in Table 1.
The inputs for the construction site are x and y lengths. In order to satisfy this
constraint, the generated layouts or partial layouts x and y lengths must be up to the
construction sites x and y lengths.
3.4.2 Topological constraints
One can define adjacencies, connections and orientations of rooms as topological
constraints in APSIS.
If access is required between two rooms with related functions then these rooms are
specified as connected. Two rooms with related functions can also be specified as
adjacent when access is not required.
Table 1. An example of a rooms dimensional

possibilities.
Minimum area
12 m2
Maximum area
16 m2
Minimum side length
3m
Possibility no.
x length (m)
y length (m)
Area (m2)
3.0
4.2
12.60
4.2
3.0
12.60
3.6
3.6
12.96
3.0
4.8
14.40
4.8
3.0
14.40
3.6
4.2
15.12
4.2
3.6
15.12
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Figure 4. Adjacency or connection

possibilities between two rectangle
rooms.
Figure 5. Full side connection

possibilities between two rectangle
rooms.
In Figure 4, adjacency or connection possibilities for two rectangle rooms are shown.
A special connection specification of APSIS is full side connection, which means that
two rooms are connected enables formation of L, T, U shaped rooms or any other shaped
rooms that are composed of rectangles. Possible full side connections between two
rectangle rooms are shown in Figure 5.
A rooms orientation generally defines that transparency or access is required to a
certain direction so the user selects the directions to specify orientations of rooms. If
more than one direction are selected then the system sets or logical relation
automatically between them. The system will check if the room is located on required
side of the layout in order to satisfy the orientation constraint.
3.5 The algorithm
The method used in the algorithm of APSIS can be named as exhaustive search of
constraint conformity in the design space. With this search method, APSIS finds the
whole solution set of the specified layout problem, which is a part of the design space
bounded by the constraints.
Different than referenced computer models in Section 2.2, dimensioning of layouts
comes before the search of layout topology in the algorithm of APSIS. In order to
perform an exhaustive search with this method, dimensioning of the layout is done by a
procedure that can reach all combinations of the rooms dimensional possibilities to
enumerate dimensional layout possibilities. In Figure 6, forming the dimensional layout
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possibilities of an example with four rooms is shown in which 150 (5325)

possibilities can be formed.
This operation is done in a cycle with layout generation (Fig. 1). Layout topology is
searched after forming each dimensional layout possibility. So dimensioned rooms take
place in the topological search and as a result, layouts that are in the form of scaled
architectural plans are generated.
Figure 6. Forming dimensional layout

possibilities of an example with four
rooms.
Generate and test strategy is used in the development of this topological search of
APSIS that is similar in few aspects and dissimilar in others to human designers
sketching. First of all, considering dimensions while searching layout topology is similar
but the way that it is handled is dissimilar, because human designers do not consider all
dimensional layout possibilities while sketching. Sketching involves an experimental
process of optimizing the satisfaction of requirements to reach satisfying solutions. While
making layout sketches, designers try different topological arrangements and evaluate the
satisfaction of requirements according to their subjective priorities. In these trials,
designers follow an intuitive order that comes from their logic and experience.
In Figure 7, the flow diagram of topological search algorithm of APSIS is shown. This
search can also be defined as the process of generating layouts and collecting feedbacks
(Fig. 1).
Similarly to sketching, the topological search of APSIS also tries and evaluates but
dissimilarly, the evaluation criterion is satisfaction of all constraints. The system
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generates the layouts by placing the rooms sequentially in an order that is determined by
heuristic rules. While determining this placement order, a base room is selected for all the
rooms except the room that will be placed first. A room must be connected with its base
room and the base room must be one of the rooms that will be placed beforehand. Base
rooms function is to determine the location of the rooms that will be placed. Candidate
locations of a room are possible locations that a connection can be made with its base
room and these locations follow a clock wise direction around the base room as shown in
Figure 8.
Figure 7. The flow diagram of

topological search algorithm.
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Figure 8. Candidate placement

locations of a room.
The generation steps coordinator (GSC) determines the generation steps considering all
possible candidate locations of rooms following the placement order. In each generation
step, coordinates of a candidate location of the room that will be placed are found and the
last state of the layout is sent to the testing unit (TU). TU tests all constraints concerning
the placed rooms in the layout with a successive strategy that saves the search time by
skipping the rest of the tests whenever one fails. If all tests are passed and all rooms are
placed, the layout is sent to the solution set.
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Figure 9. The search tree of GSC.

In cases of unsuccessful generation steps, GSC backtracks and skips the rest of its sub
steps in the search tree that is shown in Figure 9 and the search continues until all
placement possibilities are exhausted. So, the order of generation steps that is determined
by heuristic rules and probability calculations is also dissimilar to designers intuitive
trial order in sketching.
In Figure 9, the numbers in parenthesis represent the candidate location ids of placed
rooms until that step. Two examples of unsuccessful steps are shown with arrows and the
sub steps that are skipped are shown in dashed bubbles.
The topological search algorithm of APSIS has the potential to determine the
constraints that bound the design space most and to form a feedback report including
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advices to enlarge the solution set. This potential came within the different search
organization that APSIS uses, because a deeper exhaustive search is made in a larger
design space. Collecting feedbacks and forming a feedback report is not yet implemented
in APSIS v.1 so this method is not experimentally proven.
Theoretically, the system can derive the advices through the type and specifications of
the unsatisfied constraints by using heuristic rules that can be formed logically or
experimentally. In Table 2, a possible logical heuristic rule table is shown.
Collecting the feedbacks operation is simply logging the number of unsuccessful
generation steps caused by each constraint separately during the whole exhaustive search.
With a shallow reasoning a heuristic rule can state that constraints that cause more
unsuccessful generation steps bound the design space more but this cannot be a fair
comparison. Some type of tests may naturally fail more than others considering the
search organization so the constraints must be compared separately according to the type
of test. Also, some constraints concerning some of the rooms will be tested more than
others considering the room placement order and backtracking (Fig. 9), so the feedbacks
must be manipulated by heuristic functions in order to make a fair comparison. The
formulation of these heuristic functions involves an experimental process.
3.6 The user interface
There are many necessary user interactions in the layout design model that we propose.
The user interface of APSIS v.1 is developed in a minimized format and these necessary
interactions are handled through three interface modules. These are constraints interface,
generation interface and a graphical interface.
Constraints interface is composed of menus that a layout problem can be specified.
The room constraints menu is shown in Figure 10. The user can add, change or erase the
constraints and rooms through this interface while making an initial problem
specification or revision. This interface also warns the user in situations that immediate
assistance is necessary, e.g. if the minimum side length is long for the area range or if the
aspect ratio is smaller than 1/30 while dimensional constraints of a room are being
entered.
Table 2. Heuristic rule table for systems advices.

Type of test
Constraint specification
Advice
Overlapping
Room1: The room that overlaps Increase the area of room1s base room
C. Site overflow Parallel to x axis

1
Increase x length of c. site
Parallel to y axis
Increase y length of c. site
C. Site overflow Room1: The room that

2
overflows
Decrease the area of room1 Reconsider the

relation of room1 with its base room
Rooms
relations
Room1 and Room2: Related

rooms
Reconsider the relation of room1 and room2
Rooms
Room1 : The room that
Reconsider room1s orientations
orientations
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orientation is specified
Generation process is controlled through the generation interface, such as start/stop

controls or on/oif toggles of animation mode. This interface also transmits the numerical
progression data to the user as the generation proceeds. There is a generation report menu
within this interface that the user can view all constraint specifications together in charts
before starting the generation (Fig. 11). Also, this will be the interface that the feedback
report can be reached.
The plan layouts that are generated can be viewed with zoom and pan toggles in the
graphical interface. The generation process can also be animated through this interface to
increase the feedback to the user (Fig. 12).
Figure 10. The room constraints menu.
Figure 11. The generation reports

menu.
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Figure 12. Animation of a generation.

4 IMPLEMENTATION
The automated system APSIS v.1 is coded as a console application in Dev-Pascal v.1.9
(using Free Pascal compiler v.1.0, Dev-Pascal is a trademark of Bloodshed Software).
In this section, implementation of the system will be presented with an example that a
one-floor house will be designed. Two phases of its gradual process will be demonstrated
in detail.
The constraints seen in Table 3 are entered as initial problem specification of the one
floor house.
The whole generation process lasted in 10 seconds with an Intel Celeron 1200MHz.
processor. 1079 layouts were generated while searching 1536 dimensional layout
possibilities. Some of these layouts are shown in Figure 13.
Table 3. Constraints of the one-floor house.

Dimensional Constr.
min A
1Entrance
2Living R.
3Kitchen
4WC
max A
2
7m
28 m
9m
2m
min L
Topological Constr.
con
adj
or
2m 2347
5m 13
3m 12
1m 1
8m
30 m
12 m
3m
5Parent R.
6Child R.
7Room Hall
8Bathroom
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14 m2
16 m2
3m 7
3m 7
1m 1568
2m 7
10 m
2m
7m
12 m
3m
8m
Figure 13. Some of the layouts that

APSIS generated with the input data in
Table 3.
After several revisions in the problem specification another set of constraints is formed as
shown in Table 4. These revisions are summarized below:
One bathroom is split into two separate private bathrooms for the child and the parent
room. A dining room that is full side connected to the living room is added. The room
halls function is changed to a bigger hall that is used for main circulation and WCs
adjacency with the kitchen is changed to bathroom adjacency.
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The generation after the revisions in Table 4 lasted in 60 seconds and 301 layouts were
generated while searching 4608 dimensional layout possibilities. Some of these layouts
are shown in Figure 14.
Table 4. Constraints of the one-floor house after

revisions.
Dimensional Constr.
min A
1Hall
2Living R.
3Kitchen
4WC
max A
2
min L
2
Topological Constr.
con
adj
7m
8m
28 m2
30 m2
5 m 7-fs 10
3m 17
1m 1
9m
2m
12 m
3m
2 m 3 4 5 6 10
or
5Parent R.
14 m
16 m
3m 18
6Child R.
10 m2
12 m2
3m 19
1 m 2-fs. 3
2m 5
49
2m 6
2m 12
7Dining R.
8P.Bathr.
9C.Bathr.
10Entrance
9m
6m
4m
4m
10 m
7m
5m
5m
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Figure 14. Some of the layouts that

APSIS generated with the input data in
Table 4.
From the last solution set, we selected the plan at the top left corner as the most satisfying
alternative. The holes that took shape in this plan can be used as very functional
wardrobes and overall shape of the plan also looks better because of the symmetry.
5 CONCLUSION
It is proven with examples that reaching a layout solution is possible with the design
model proposed for APSIS. The advantage of using an automated system that generates
layouts exhaustively is that the designer can consider much more alternatives than
conventional sketching method because space planning is highly combinatorial and it is
often impossible to produce all possible layout designs with human search capacities.
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Another good part of the developed algorithm is that the automated system generates
dimensioned plan layouts, in other words it generates almost finished architectural plans.
The purpose of this is to leave least correction to the designer. But with the exhaustive
search mechanism that reaches all possibilities, many of the generated layouts in a
solution set can be dimensional variations of each other and some of the layouts can be
very similar with very small changes in dimensions. Also, some layouts can contain
unspecified spaces that are called as holes. These can be obstructing matters for the user
while examining the solution set of a generation. This problem can be solved by filters
that will help the user to sort or group the solutions according to some criterions such as
shapes, areas, topology etc.
One disadvantage of the algorithm is the length of search time when there is a huge
number of dimensional layout possibilities. This number may be more than 1010 in a
layout problem that is specified with 10 rooms that entered area ranges bring out more
than 10 dimensional possibilities for each. Essentially, the algorithm of APSIS is
designed to handle infinite numbers of dimensional layout possibilities without any
memory overflows but it takes too much time to finish the exhaustive generation
although it is very efficiently programmed to make the fastest topological search. As a
result, the search organization that dimensioning comes before considering topology is
less efficient because a deeper exhaustive search is made in a larger design space to find
solutions that quality is not much superior to other systems. Despite this fact, the ongoing
research of collecting feedback data during the whole search and forming a feedback
report as a result can be seen as a potential that came within this search organization.
REFERENCES
Akin, ., Dave, B. & Pithavadian, S. 1992. Heuristic Generation of Layouts (HeGeL) Based on a
Paradigm for Problem Structuring, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design: 3359.
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Akin, . & Sen, R. 1994. HeGeL-II: Heuristic and Optimization Based Search in Early Design,
Preconference Proceedings of Advances in Computer Based Building Design Systems: 127
136. Symposium of the 7th International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and
Cybernetics, August 1521, Baden-Baden, Germany.
Baykan, C.A. & Fox, M.S. 1997. Spatial Synthesis by Disjunctive Constraint Satisfaction, Artificial
Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing: 245262. Vol. 11, USA:
Cambridge University Press.
Baykan, C.A. 2003. Spatial Relations and Architectural Plans, In Bige Tuncer, Saban Suat
Ozsariyildiz & Sevil Sariyildiz (eds), E-Activities in Design and Design Education: 137146.
Paris, France: Europia.
Flemming, U., Baykan, C.A., Coyne, R. & Fox, M.S. 1992. Hierarchical Generate-And-Test vs.
Constraint-Directed Search, Artificial Intelligence in Design`92:817838. Boston, USA: Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
Flemming, U., Aygen, Z. Coyne, R. & Snyder, J. 1997. Case-Based Design in a Software that
Supports the Early Phases in Building Design, In Mary Lou Maher & Pearl Pu (eds), Issues and
Applications of Case-Based Reasoning in Design: 6185. USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Medjdoub, B. & Yannou, B. 1998. Topological Enumeration Heuristics in Constraint-Based Space
Layout Planning, Artificial Intelligence in Design`98: 271290. The Netherlands: Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
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Mitchell, W.J., Steadman, J.P & Liggett, R.S. 1976. Synthesis and Optimization of Small
Rectangular Plans, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design: 3770. Vol. 3.
Steadman, J.P. 1973. Graph theoretic representation of architectural arrangement, Architectural
Research and Training: 161172. Vol. 2.
Yoon, K.B. & Coyne, R.D. 1992. Reasoning about Spatial Constraints, Environment and Planning
B: Planning and Design: 3359. Vol. 19.
Architectural parametric design and mass

customization
Sander Boer & Kas Oosterhuis
ONL architecture, Rotterdam, Netherlands
ABSTRACT: One building, one detail. The particular detail is the
invention that makes the innovation possible, being purposely parametric.
We call this File-to-Factory; it is part of an intentionally imploded
information stream that connects the virtual 3d model with the actual
building. By means of a process description of our design of the web of
North Holland we argue that not only it is possible to build a construction
that describes a double curved shape, but it is possible to do it with regular
construction means and regular 3d programs with regular building
budgets.
1 DESIGN CONCEPTION
For the dutch province of North Holland we designed a pavilion for the world
horticultural exhibition floriade 2002. The pavilion is a spaceship, a closed autonomous
object tha t landed on the floriade. Architecturally there is no distinguishable difference
between wall, floor nor ceiling. The design was based on a topological surface that
governs the logical esthetic continuity of the shape.
The specific shape of the surface came about in a design process which combined
milled physical models of the computer model with again computer modelling of
adaptations to the milled models to attain a good space for its programme as well as
introducing our own rigorous styling requirements. During this process a clear vision
arose of the concave/ convex dynamics and the the shaping lines, the folding lines that
fade in and fade out of the shape. We described the styling requirements in a number of
shaping rules of the design. It was important to describe the design not in mass, but in a
number of design rules and guidelines since its internal programme was still to change.
For this flexibility in a single autonomous shape the construction needs to follow the
shape in a non-hierarchical way, adapting its local performance to local stresses.
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2 TOPOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION GRID

To control the shape and the look of the design a NURBS surface was created.
NURBS is an acronym for Non-Uniform Rational Bezier Splines, a container for a
number of polynomial algorhithms. Its use is widespread in the design and character
animation industry. In architecture the use of these techniques involves a genuine
paradigm shift away from the use of two dimensional plans and sections. Simply put, one
cannot build a double curved surface using plans and sections, because every plan and
every section is different at different section planes. The logical reaction is to use the
NURBS surface as the plan by having it govern the integrity of the construction.
Expanding on the conventional paradigm of a construction grid we mapped a triangular
grid with the internal inegrity of an icosahedron on the NURBS surface. We chose the
icosahedron system for a number of reasons, but mainly because like the design, it is a
closed system.
An icosahedron is a 20-faced polyhedron. Each point connects to either five or six
other points. This grid can be refined by subdividing each of the main twenty faces into
smaller triangles. After a number of excercises we decided that subdividing each main
triangle into 36 smaller triangles (i.e. subdivide each edge into six edges) was the most
efficient in terms of number of details and the maximum dimensions for each triangle for
the cladding.
Illustratration 1. NURBS surface of the

design.
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Illustration 2. Mapping of a
constructive grid based on an
icosahedron
In hindsight one can argue that the choice for a 3d construction grid based on an
icosahedron is purely arbitrary, since there exist a number of tesselating algorithms that
can take into account the curvature of the surface and look very intelligent in doing so,
but these algorithms are focused solely on approximating double curved surfaces into
triangular meshes for rendering purposes only. As of yet there exist no NURBS
tesselating algorithms that base their distribution of the triangles not only on curvature
but also incorporate meta data like strength of a given profile and incorporates
environmental conditions like gravity, wind-direction and other load bearing conditions.
Therefore we invented a tesselating system of our own and found that the icosahedron
provided us crude but efficient means for fine-tuning cost-efficiency and regularity in the
details. Cost-efficiency can be controlled by the degree of subdivision of the main twenty
faces and because of the internal integrity of the icosahedron, each point connects either
five or six other points.
3 INVENTING A DOUBLE CURVED CONSTRUCTION
In architecture irregular surfaces proved to be bother-some to build and strategies to build
them were often based on layers. For example a crude approximation of the shape is
constructed for instance in steel and with a number of cladding layers this crude
approximation would be smoothened. Obviously this approach lacks control over the
shape and it is costly for it needs multiple layers of construction, secondary construction
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and cladding. A more precise method is the creation of customized molds for every
segment of the building, however, this concentrates its efforts primarily on the cladding, a
construction is still needed.
Another strategy is projecting one or more regular grids over the shape, like one would
slice a loaf of bread, although this approach results in perfectly manageable constructive
ribs that can be manufactured relatively easily, it is only viable for tube-like
constructions. Projection is inherently flawed for closed irregular surfaces because in its
projection vector it introduces a form of anisotropy in its construction, this means the
building construction favors a certain direction over others.
We decided that we wanted to build the building only once, meaning that creating
molds was out of the question, the shape we wanted to end up with needed to be present
in the main construction. With the introduction of the construction grid based on an
icosahedron we already dedicated ourselves to an approach that is linked directly to a
NURBS surface, we decided to create a construction that is capable of describing this
irregular surface directly and be isotropic.
To do this we added vectors to the construction grid that are oriented perpendicular to
the surface called normal-lines. These lines are used to orient the construction detail.
However, a challenge was presented when creating a constructive connection between
two non-parallel lines. Using a tubular construction was considered, but soon proved too
costly. However, during a meeting with Henk Meijers of Meijers staalbouw b.v., a novel
idea struck home when we realised that one could use folded plates. The idea is simple,
when one needs to connect two points with a construction, one could use a simple flat
plate, but when one also needs to make a transition from one initial orientation to the
next, one can fold the plate over a diagonal. The innovation of this idea might not be
immediately apparent, but this simple idea allows us to create a construction that
describes a truly double curved surface.
First, when connecting two points and their respective orientations, one folds the plate.
In doing so one effectively creates two triangles each in their respective planes, joined at
the diagonal. The top triangle is described by the diagonal, one of the two orientations
and a line connecting the two points of the point-grid on the surface. This line can be
straight, creating a construction that is polygonal, but, since it connects two points that
are positioned on a surface, this connecting line can also follow the surface one to one.
Illustration 3. Double-curved surface

with a point grid mapped.
Illustration 4. Point grid with their

respective normal-lines.
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The same is true for the bottom triangle, but this triangle doesnt connect two points
on the surface, but an offset (in our case an offset inward) of the two surface points over
their respective orientations. This line could also follow a second surface that was
ofsetted from the main surface, but in case of the web of North Holland pavilion we
chose to keep things as simple as possible and draw this line as a straight connection.
Thus the resulting construction is exactly following a double curved surface on the
outside, while being polygonal on the inside.
To illustrate the above I reconstructed the system on an arbitrary irregular double
curved surface:
Subsequently this system was modelled using the NURBS surface of the design whilst
following the construction grid that was mapped on it. The result is a construction that
with its outer fiber precisely describes an irregular double curved surface, effectively
being a double curved construction.
Illustration 5. Folded plate connecting

two grid points, notice the surface
curve of the top triangle.
Illustration 6. Three folded plates

connect into a constructive triangle.
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Illustration 7. 3d model of the entire

construction of the design (including
two small interior volumes).
4 CONSTRUCTION PARAMETERS
As a construction this system allows for a number of variables to change as it needs to
adapt for local stresses.
The concept of the construction is that it is nonhierarchical, which means that in
essence there is no intrinsical difference between any of the construction elements like
the ones found in a standard construction of girders, beams and floor-joists. Every
element is only differentiated in terms of strength, this is accomplished in differentiating
the parameters that account for its strength.
A number of parameters account for the strength of the construction:
1. Point distribution: the distribution of the point-grid can be adapted to concentrate more
points in an area that receives more stress, resulting in less span for a single plate and
more mass per square meter.
2. Thickness: each plate can vary its thickness, even though its has been argued that
applying flanges reinforces the plate more in relation to the resulting weight,
application of the flanges involves manual labour and in the end these relatively
dumb kilos of steel proved to be more cost-efficient.
3. Offset: every point of the surface point-grid is offsetted a certain distance, this can be
varied resulting in larger plates.
Unfortunately we were unable to find a constructor willing to vary all three respective
parameters on a short notice, mostly this was because an approach like this -varying
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dimensions and distributions- calls for an interating calculation that converges towards a
solution as opposed to a construction hierarchy that calculates from the top down. After
much deliberation we found the constructor willing to vary one parameter; the thickness.
Illustration 8. Example construction

with offset parameters highlited.
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Illustration 9. Close up of example

construction with changed interior
offset parameter dialog.
5 MASS CUSTOMIZATION
The main concept behind a construction based on folded plates is that plates can be cut
exactly and can be folded exactly in one simple workflow. Any measure taken to disrupt
the simplicity of the workflow like the flanges mentioned earlier has serious implications
for the cost-effectiveness. The bulk of the intelligence needs to be concentrated in the
pre-manufacturing phase to eliminate details. We avoided solving problems by adding
solutions and invested in creating one detail that solves all problems.
Illustration 10. Isometric view of the

3d construction model with all the
elements coded and indexed by the
autolisp routine.
Illustration 11. Close up of an element

indexed by the autolisp routine. In red
is its final line for the cutting machine,
its unique code is D2H6, its folding
degree is 176 degree (i.e. 4 degrees), in
the lower left corner is a textbox with
the real life coordinates of each of the
four corners of the plate.
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We visited the workshop of the steel manufacturer and we found that the machines
that cuts the steel is fed a closed line that can be created with any drawing program. Also,
the fold of the plate is but a single parameter; a degree.
As mentioned earlier we already invested a lot of thought in simplifying the workflow
by sublimating the performance of the construction into parameters without changing the
integrity of the solution. With this, what needed to be done is index these parameters and
feed them to the workflow.
Specifically this meant taking the 3d model of the construction, decide on how the
plates are connected, measure the fold of each plate and create an outline of each plate in
its unfolded state.
Illustration 12. The cutting machine in

action, it just finished the plate of
illustration 11.
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Illustration 13. Primary assembly

occurred in the workshop of the steel
manufacturer.
We decided on a simple bolted connection with welded connection plates. At every point
five or six plates are joined, the 3d model is created with zero thickness, but when a plate
is given thickness it is impossible to join six of them in the same point. To tackle this we
decided on an arbitrary distance of five centimeters that every plate stops before a point.
This distance proved to be enough for every point to give way for the connecting plates
and the bolts.
This distance is also incorporated in the 3d model by creating a cutting line in every
platte in 3d so now there exists a 3d model of every element with the real dimensions in
the real location.
At this stage one could say the building already exists, all that needs to be done is
build it.
And that is what we did.
I wrote an autoslip routine that takes every folded plate in the 3d model, assigns a
unique code to it, unfolds it, measures its degree of folding and the coordinates of every
point relative to a common orthogonal system in real life units.
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Illustration 14. final assembly on the

site.
The unique code is necessary because every plate is different.
The unfolding is necessary for the generation of a closed line that is fed directly to the
cutting machine, this is the core of what we popularly tend to refer to as File-to-Factory.
The folding degree is obviously needed for folding the plate; every plate has a unique
folding degree. The coordinates are necessary to be able to monitor and measure the
assembly of the plates in real life with for instance a laser measuring apparatus like total
station.
6 CLADDING
This pavilion was designed to be open-air, meaning that in essence the construction is
open and that rain would essentially fall through it. In respect to cladding this building,
things were pretty simple in terms of insulation and waterproofing.
However, we invested in creating a construction that already describes the shape
exactly, therefore the cladding must be able to follow this shape with a minimum of
processing.
I stated earlier that we wanted to build this building only once, this statement was born
when we attendended a lecture on exploforming, a process that uses a controlled
explosion to force a sheet of metal into a mold. We realised that with creating a mold,
one is building the building more than once and throwing half of it away.
Prior to the design of this pavilion we conducted a small study of the material hylite,
an aluminium laminate produced by the corus group that consists of aluminium and
polycarbonate. It has the look of aluminium, but the flexibility and pliability of a
polymere.
Illustration 15. A triangle of hylite

fitted on a construction triangle of
three independent curves.
Illustration 16. 3D model of the hylite

panels with the construction showing.
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Illustration 17. Hylite panels as fixed

to the construction.
We found the a flexible material will let itself be fitted on a triangle of three spatial
curves in a form of pseudo double curvedness.
Illustration 18. Specific view to

illustrate the effectiveness of the
application of the hylite.
1098
Although outside the scope of this paper, what happens is that the triangle will ply itself
into a subdivision of triangles.
Again, for quick assembly on the site we modelled every hylite triangle and unrolled it
so a waterjet cutter could cut the individual plates. It is interesting to note that no one was
capable of unrolling essentially real double curved triangles into a cutting line and to
some extend account for the difference of the real double curvedness of the 3d model and
the pseudo double curvedness of the hylite panel. Except for a company that specialises
in tensile structures of cloth. They have software that is able to stretch, unstretch and
unroll flexible materials.
7 CONCLUSION
With the pavilion for the web of North Holland we reaffirmed our strong beliefs acquired
by previous projects that one can gain a maximum design freedom and keep the budget in
check by gaining control over a system of similar, but different elements.
A number of techniques can be determined that make this possible:
1. File to Factory: A construction process is greatly simplified by concentrating
intelligence in the design of the construction so it solves all problems instead of just
one (and agregating complexity).
2. Mass customization: An irregular shape can only exist by the grace of irregular
elements, therefore control over mass-customization greatly increases design freedom.
3. Parametrization: Ideally, in a mass-customized solution more parameters can be found
than those that account for shape alone. These can be utilized to optimise the design.
We mentioned earlier that an iterating construction calculation program can converge
towards a construction that doesnt only have variable thicknesses, but also variable
heights and an optimal point distribution. Similarly, in a design process parameters
can change in accordance to design requirements and iterative scripts can be written to
accommodate very specific demands. For instance a script can be written to create a
web of North Holland pavilion with the exact volume of 1000 m3.
Illustration 19. Screengrab of the

soundbarrier/cockpit 3d model, the
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cockpit building is the bulge in the

middle.
Illustration 20. Rendering of the

cockpit building, notice the fluid
transition between the acoustic barrier
(dark) and the building itself.
4. Design control hierarchy: In this specific pavilion the shape is described in a single
NURBS surface, essentially all that follows will refer to this surface. A NURBS
surface is created using NURBS lines, keeping this creation link intact yields control
on a higher level, by changing the line, the surface changes and the entire system
changes. Primarily for designers this notion is paramount, especially when
incorporating an interior design in this system, a hierarchy of control over the design is
necessary.
In the meantime we now have two projects in initial realisation phase that have been
designed with the above in mind: the cockpit building and the sound barrier.
1100
Illustration 21. Screengrab of the

soundbarrier construction, this
construction is generated by the steel
constructor (meijers staalbouw bv.)
based on geometry we provided.
The Cockpit building is part of a fluid design of the sound barrier, to accommodate the
transition from the one to the other the design control hierarchy proved to be essential,
both projects share the same outlines, but differ in construction principle.
Construction is based on a streamlined File-to-Factory process described earlier. This
is partly because the construction is polygonal, although the design is curved, but this
greatly improves our choice in building materials and construction principles.
We are proud to mention that even though the cockpit is designed to be a showroom
for cars of the most exclusive sector, its price is below $$ 750 per square meter, which is
the equivalent of regular everyday showroom.
Prof. Kas oosterhuis M.Sc is professor at the faculty of architecture University of
Technology Delft, director of the Hyperbody Research Group and principal of ONL
[oosterhuis_lenard] office for architecture, arts and research, Rotterdam.
e-mail: oosterhuis@oosterhuis.nl
http://www.oosterhuis.nl/
http://www.hyperbody.nl/
Sander Boer M.Sc. is currently employed at ONL as an architect and programmer.
e-mail: boer@oosterhuis.nl
http://www.oosterhuis.nl/
All images are coprighted by ONL, except for illustrations 13 and 14; courtesy of
Berry van Heeren, Meijers Staalbouw bv.
A model for hierarchical floorplan geometries

based on shape functions
G.Zimmermann
Department of Computer Science, University of Kaiserslautern,
Kaiserslautern, Germany
G.Suter
Department of Building Physics, Vienna University of Technology
ABSTRACT: We introduce a model for hierarchical floor planning that
uses shape functions for rapid and flexible solution of space aspect ratio
and area constraints under discrete and continuous modifications. The
shape function approach is extended to allow for certain non-orthogonal
shapes as well.
1 INTRODUCTION
Computational support for the generation and modification of floor plans has been an
important research focus in the architectural and VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated
circuits) design domains. Design environments have been developed that support a
variety of design styles for layout generation, ranging from automated appraisal of
manually generated layouts, incremental generation and selection of partial solutions, to
the exhaustive, automatic generation of layout alternatives for a given set of constraints
(see, for example, Pfefferkorn 1971, Eastman 1973). The theoretical aspects of layout
generators in the latter system category are well-understood (Flemming 1978). Typical
layout systems have a modular structure and use a generate-and-test search paradigm.
Generators usually implement a floor plan representation based on the concept of
dissection. Such a representation for spaces or chip cells tends to be restricted to
rectangular shapes and ensures that these do not overlap. Furthermore, dissection-based
representations for floor planning facilitate adjacency checks. Topological as well as
geometric constraints on dimensions, areas, or aspect ratios of rectangles play an
important role in filtering the number of possible solutions down to a number that is
manageable for human designers. In recent years, however, attention in floor planning
research has shifted from generators to the development of testers that effectively and
transparently support the filtering and design navigation steps.
Despite considerable efforts, computer-assisted generation of floor plans have had
mixed success. While indispensable in chip design, floor planners in architectural design
have not advanced beyond prototype implementations. Whereas the restriction of shapes
to rectangles is probably the most important limitation, as few buildings have an
exclusively rectangular or orthogonal geometry, another one concerns the potentially
large number of constraints that need be entered by designers and maintained during
various design stages. As the architectural design process if often highly dynamic, both
design solutions as well as the constraints guiding the design process might change often
and at times radically. Particularly changes that occur in successive design phases, e.g.
1102
conceptual design and design documentation, are often difficult to maintain because
different representations are used.
In this paper, we address two limitations of floor planning systems in architectural
design. We introduce the concept of shape functions. These are well-established in VSLI
design and are particularly useful in top-down design when there is uncertainty as to the
required wiring space and cell dimensions. We believe that in architectural design a
similar problem exists regarding the sizing of circulation spaces, space enclosure
thicknesses, and space dimensions, respectively. Secondly, we extend the applicability of
shape functions to certain types of non-rectangular configurations using top-down
decomposition techniques that are based on the subregion representation.
2 PREVIOUS WORK
Several floor planning programs use optimization techniques to evaluate and determine
geometric parameters for candidate solutions that have successfully passed tests for
topological relations among spaces. Harada et al. (1995), for example, use numerical
continuous constraint solution to determine exact locations, aspect ratios and areas of
space rectangles. This approach may be computationally expensive, particularly in large,
hierarchical layouts, where analytical area calculations need to be aggregated from leaf
nodes upwards toward a root node. The computational effort for the derivation of such
analytical equation systems thus appears realistic only in small problems or in situations
where search is limited locally In contrast, shape functions could be particularly useful
for more complex layout problems because their derivation and solution is more scalable.
In the context of VSLI design, a shape function has been defined as the lower area
bound of all possible rectangles of the cell (Otten 1983, Zimmermann 1988). A more
detailed definition of shape functions and a discussion of different types of shape
functions is given in the next section. Shape functions have been implemented and used
successfully in VSLI design environments (Zimmermann 1988, Schurmann et al., 1992).
In systems such as PLAYOUT, chip planning proceeds top-down. This is facilitated by a
binary tree representation of cell configurations. Shape functions are used from the outset
for area estimation, which is propagated bottom-up from terminal cell nodes to a root
node. As chip planning is a highly iterative process and involves various stages to arrive
at a final layout, reliable estimates for cell aspect ratios and dimensions are important to
achieve an efficient design process. Wiring spaces required to connect cells, for example,
are a major source of uncertainty, as a such requirements are not known explicitly until
the later design stages.
Similar uncertainties exist in the architectural design process regarding the allocation
of circulation spaces and thicknesses of space enclosures. Both factors affect the aspect
ratios and areas of the principal spaces but are usually not known at the outset of the
design process. Flemming has introduced the notion of loosely-packed rectangles, which
provide designers with the flexibility to introduce circulation spaces into a configuration
while preserving topological relations among the principal spaces. This ensures that
automated space allocation can occur independent of circulation spaces (Flermning 1986,
1989). Circulation spaces thus do not need to be specified explicitly in an architectural
program but may be introduced by a designer anytime as the design matures. The
1103
propagation of such discrete changes in a layout requires either a partial or complete

refresh of a floorplan geometry while simultaneously satisfying geometric constraints
such as space aspect ratios or areas. Again, shape functions can be used to guide this
process and provide rapid feedback to designers.
3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
3.1 Illustrative example
To simplify the explanation of our approach, we will start with simple rectangular
floorplans for one level of a building with single-level floors and constant ceiling heights.
We will later show how this class can be extended. As a coordinate system we use x and
y for the drawing plane, x pointing in the horizontal and, y in the vertical direction, z is
the height.
Let us assume the task of designing a rectangular floorplan for a given space program
for eight rooms, as shown in Figure 1. Let us further assume that an initial topology is
given. There are several possible ways to reach this goal.
One approach starts with adding up all floor areas, multiplied with a factor for wall
and circulation areas, decide on the length of one side of the total floorplan, and start with
drawing the outer walls first and then try to place inner walls according to the space
program and the planned topology. This will result in an iterative process in which walls
have to be moved and also the topology may have to be changed to find a solution.
A different approach starts with creating a floor-plan for the net areas of the space
program according to the topology first and adding wall and circulation areas afterwards.
This addition will increase the floor-plan size. To be able to fix the length of one side of
the floorplan, a transformation from topology to geometry is required. Topological
changes are possible before this transformation is made. This approach should be
supported by tools.
Our approach supports this under the condition that the topology can be created by
dissection. We will show how circulation areas can be introduced into a topology and
how the transformation from topology to geometry including wall thicknesses can be
automatically performed for a given overall dimension or aspect ratio.
1104
Figure 1. Floorplan with 8 rooms and a

hallway. Numbers represent net floor
areas in m2.
3.2 Dissection approach

Let us continue with our example. As a first step we add up all net areas from the space
program to 150 m2. With a chosen x-dimension of 15m and a height of 2.5 m we get a
rectangular total floor area, shown as the enclosing wire frame in Figure 2. By successive
dissection a topology is achieved, represented geometrically in Figure 2. This step needs
some planning to determine the order, orientation, and position of the dissection planes. It
has to be mentioned that this geometry does not have to have correct dimensions, it only
gives the designer an impression of the proportions.
Without changing the outer dimensions, we split circulation areas off the rooms. This
step distorts the shown geometry, but does not change the intended room floor areas.
Figure 3 shows the resulting topology. The choice of rooms which we split to
accommodate circulation area is ambiguous and does not matter for the final result.
Alternatively, circulation areas can be introduced in the same way as the spaces, leading
to a somewhat different dissection, but to the same principal topology.
1105
Figure 2. 3-dimensional floorplan

topology without circulation areas.
Figure 3. 2-dimensional floorplan

topology with circulation areas.
For the transformation into a consistent geometry we have to provide values for net area
of all rooms, the width of all hallways, and the thickness of all walls. Also, one of the
outer dimensions of the final floorplan has to be fixed. We could actually fix a dimension
at any level in the partitioning tree, which would involve a slightly more elaborate but
analogous procedure. In the example we chose x=15 m. This results in the floorplan in
Figure 4. We can observe that the outer walls are completely assigned to one space, inner
walls are split between two spaces. We also observe that the y-dimension has increased
because of the additional wall and circulation areas. The reduction of this overhead can
be a goal of experiments with changes in the topology, layout of circulation areas, or the
overall aspect ratio. Also, the dimensions of individual rooms can be changed
1106
experimentally. Rooms can also be added or deleted by additional dissections or

removals.
3.3 Dissection tree
One important advantage of dissection is the possible representation of the topology as a
tree. This tree is the key for the proposed automatic topology to geometry transformation.
Since we can generate all dissections by always dissecting one space into two spaces at
one step, a binary tree results. As a root node, the undissected total volume is chosen for
the sake of simplicity. If more complex assemblies of floors, outdoor areas or buildings
are envisioned, the site can be chosen as a root node as well.
Figure 5 shows the resulting dissection tree for the example floorplan. The nodes are
represented by the numbering scheme as shown in the floorplan geometry in Figure 4 for
the leaf nodes. A represents the total floorplan volume. A.1 and A.2 are the subvolumes
after the first dissection. Therefore, A also represents
Figure 4. Final floorplan geometry.

Numbers in the rooms are a uniquely
created space identity and the net floor
area.
1107
Figure 5. Dissection tree for the

floorplan in Figure 4 as indented list.
the first dissection plane. All nodes that are not leaf nodes have this twofold meaning.
In Figure 5 internal nodes have either a v (vertical) or an h (horizontal) as parameter,
showing the orientation of the dissection in the floor plane. The order from top to bottom
has a meaning as well. If the dissection plane is horizontal, the top line also means top in
the floorplan topology, bottom accordingly. If the dissection plane is vertical, the top line
means left, the bottom line right. Because of these meanings the tree is called an ordered,
oriented dissection tree.
1108
4 THE TRANSFORMATION
4.1 Definitions and basic formulas
Before we go any further we have to introduce further definitions. Since we have
restricted ourselves to planar floors with constant ceiling heights, we will only consider
floor areas a and not volumes. We distinguish two types of floor areas:
an net floor area
at total floor area
Figure 6 defines the floor dimensions in a similar way. We can now derive the basic
formulas:
(1)
Figure 6. Vertical (1) and horizontal

(2) addition of two sibling nodes i and
j, parent node k.
an=xn.yn at=xt.yt
(2)
4.2 Shape functions
With the above definitions we define a shape function to be the y-dimension as a function
of the x-dimension:
yt=at/xt
(3)
yt=an/(xtxw)yw
or
xt=an/(ytyw)xw
1109
(4)
Equation 4 shows an interesting behavior. With the typical constraint for rooms that the
net floor area an remains constant, the y-dimension is no longer the reciprocal of the xdimension, as Equation 3 would suggest. This behavior results in variations of at as a
function of the shape of the total floor rectangle. Therefore, the name shape function is
used.
In the case of hallways as a realization of circulation areas, the width is a constant. In
the case of a hallway in vertical direction, xn=const and because of Equation 1 also xt.yt
takes the length of the adjacent space. Thus at can take any value.
These two examples show the shape functions we will use in the following procedure.
But other shape functions can be defined and used, as long as yt is a monotonous function
of xt. Shape functions do not have to be analytically expressed, but can also exist in table
form.
4.3 Shape function calculation
Shape functions can be easily created for all leaf cells of the dissection tree. Here we will
show how shape functions of internal nodes can be derived.
Figure 6 shows the two cases of spaces on top of each other (vertical add, horizontal
dissection plane) and besides each other (horizontal add, vertical dissection plane). It
clearly shows that in the first case, the x-dimensions of both nodes have to match, if
unused space has to be avoided. The y-dimensions have to added.
xt,k=max (xt, i, xt,j)
v-add
(5)
yt,k=yt,i+yt,j
xt,k=xt,i+xt,j
h-add
(6)
yt,k=max(yt, i, yt,j)
We use the max-function for the case that the matching dimensions are not exactly equal.
In practice this means that the smaller dimension is extended to match the longer one. We
also have to observe that the result dimensions only exist in ranges for which valid
component dimension values exist. Such ranges are limited by setting reasonable aspect
ratio for spaces and especially in the case of the fixed dimension of hallways.
In principal, we can express the results in analytical form, using analytical shape
functions of the components if they exist. These function are of increasing order as we
apply the add-functions recursivly. We also need the inverse functions as we can see in
Equation 5 and Equation 6. Therefore, we represent the x and y-dimensions of all nodes
as tables of x-y pairs for the range of valid values.
As a result of applying the add-functions recursively, according to the orientations of
the tree nodes, we finally compute the shape ftmction for the root node.
1110
4.4 Sizing
After this bottom-up process of calculating all shape functions, we can now derive the
final geometry of a floorplan alternative for a given x- or y-dimension for the root
volume. This is a simple table-lookup process with some interpolation if the values are
not listed.
Let us use the example. The dissection tree in Figure 5 shows a v for the root node
(index k). This means that the shape ftinction was calculated using the h-add function.
For the floorplan in Figure 4 we chose xt,k=15 m. Therefore, we select the corresponding
yt,k value from the root shape function, if it exists. Otherwise, we have to choose a
different xt,k value. We now have the outer dimensions of the floorplan volume.
In the next step we find the position of the corresponding dissection plane. This can be
found by looking up the shape function of one of the children (index i) of the node yt,k,
because of
yt,i=yt,j=yt,k oientation=v
xt,i=xt,j=xt,k orientation=h
(7)
we find the corresponding xt,i value in the shape function table of node i and have the
position of the dissection plane. In the case of a horizontal orientation we exchange x and
y. By looking up the wall dimensions we get floorplans as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 7. L-shaped configuration.

This process is applied recursively for all children until all leaf nodes are reached. This
results in a floor-plan geometry as for example in Figure 4. With a different choice of an
x- or y-dimension for the root, we can achieve many different geometries with the same
topology.
It has to be observed that hallways do not have to be handled differently during shape
function calculations and sizing. The information about constant width is captured in the
1111
shape function of a hallway. Only during the dissection phase we have to guarantee that
hallways match in the constant dimension with appropriate volumes so that a solution for
a geometry can be found.
4.5 Shape functions for non-rectangular configurations
One problem of dissection based floorplans concerns the limitation to rectangular shapes.
We briefly outline how shape ftmctions can be applied to certain nonorthogonal shapes.
Consider the floorplan in Figure 7, which includes two L-shaped spaces. Each is a superspace, that is, it is decomposed into two rectangular sub-spaces. No wall is assigned on
either side of the partition that separates these sub-spaces, that is, the partition can be
viewed as a virtual wall with zero thickness. Also note that the internal wall which
separates sub-space A.1 and sub-space A.2.1 is completely assigned to the latter.
We can define shape functions for the sub-spaces that make up a super-space and
compute its total or net regular nodes in our dissection tree, additional nodes area by
adding respective sub-space areas. Besides the representing super-spaces are introduced.
A super-space node includes references to two or more constituent sub-spaces and holds
the super-space area or volume, and possibly, a polygon or polyhedron that is obtained by
merging the rectangular sub-space geometries. A shape function for the super-space itself
is not required. A floorplan with super-spaces would be redrawn as follows. In a first
pass, all nodes of the dissection tree would be visited and evaluated top-down, as
described earlier. The shapes of the sub-spaces would be determined according to their
shape functions. In a second pass, super-space nodes would be evaluated, that is, area and
geometry information would need to be gathered from sub-spaces and processed
accordingly. Furthermore, the modification of sub-space area requirements would also
trigger the re-computation of the super-space area.
5 TOOL SUPPORT
For experimental purposes we have implemented a simple panel and wireframe drawing
tool with the necessary data structures for the dissection tree and the calculations for
shape function calculations and sizing in the MATLAB toolbox (MATLAB). Most
figures in this paper have been produced with this tool.
As a further user support we have also created a library of standard floorplan
topologies and of standard wall types. Especially for office buildings, typical floorplan
types exist can be provided as basic topologies in a library and be refined by further
dissection. A typical type is a long rectangular floorplan with one center hallway and two
staircase at the ends.
Such floorplans can be imported into the tool, further dissected as necessary, and
refined by entering net floor areas according to the space program and wall types as far as
known. Otherwise, standard wall types as provided by the library can be used in early
design stages.
1112
6 DISCUSSION
We have shown how floorplan topologies that are the result of dissections, can be
automatically translated into valid geometries, including wall dimensions and circulation
areas. The approach is based in shape functions that can reflect different geometric
constaints. By simple calculations shape functions for all nodes of the dissection tree can
be derived. A unique and valid floorplan geometry can be drawn with one additional
dimension. The data structures and algorithms have been implemented in the MATLAB
environment as a prototype. Experiments have shown that the support provided by the
tool for layout planning tasks is straightforward, rapid and that many variations in
topologies and parameter settings can be explored in a short time. Interactive floorplan
optimizations are the result.
We have also shown that simple extensions to non-rectangular shapes can be
introduced. Although this is possible with the existing algorithm, further research is
necessary to better integrate and support such modification in the design process. Also,
nonorthogonal shapes have to be included. One limitation of our approach for orthogonal
shapes is that area requirements are presently defined only at the sub-space level. This is
because the continuous modification of non-orthogonal shapes is ambiguous. Userdefined geometry constraints could conceivably guide such modifications.
Another extension that requires different constraints is the transformation in the zdimension. During the dissection phase, the splitting of a volume into several floors is no
problem while creating the topology, even with split levels. The problem arises when
wall dimensions and circulation areas are added. The additional constraint that the outer
walls of different floors have to match can only be fulfilled by changing the net areas of
rooms or by introducing unused area. This problem is also known as stacking and
blocking. Other constraints describe the need to place load bearing walls, chimneys or
other vertical shafts exactly on top of each other. In principle this can be achieved by
iteratively modifying the individual floorplans, but an algorithmic approach should be
derived.
As a conclusion we have demonstrated the usefulness of a floorplanning approach
based on dissection and shape functions and have shown directions of further research.
REFERENCES
Eastman, C. Automated space planning. Artificial Intelligence 4: 4164.
Flemming, U. 1978. Wall representations of rectangular dissections and their use in automated
space allocation. Environment and Planning B: 215232.
Flemming, U. 1986. On the representation and generation of loosely-packed arrangements of
rectangles. Environment and Planning B(13): 189205.
Flemming, U. 1989. More on the representation and generation of loosely packed arrangements of
rectangles. Environment and Planning B(16): 327359.
Harada, M., Witkin, A., and Baraff, D. 1995. Interactive physically-based manipulation of
discrete/continuous models. In Computer Graphics Proceedings, Annual Conference Series
199208.
1113
MATLAB, http://www.mathworks.com/
Otten, R. 1983. Efficient floorplan optimization. In Proc. Int. Conference on Computer Aided
Design (ICCAD): 499502.
Pfefferkorn, C. 1971. Computer design of equipment layout using the design problem solver. PhD
Thesis, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Schrmann, B. and Altmeyer, J. and Zimmermann, G. 1992. Three-Phase Chip PlanningAn
Improved Top-Down Chip Planning Strategy. In Proc. Int. Conference on Computer Aided
Design (ICCAD), Santa Clara, USA.
Zimmermann, G. 1988. A New Area Shape Function Estimation Technique for VLSI Layouts. In
Proc. 25th Design Automation Conference (DAC), Anaheim, USA: 6065.
E-learning and education
Parametric representation of functional

building elements with reference to
architectural education
M.Aygn & .etiner
Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul,
Turkey
ABSTRACT: Conventional formal education methods for construction
the introduction of customary functional building elements. Students are
presented with the option of either designing or selecting the elements
enclosing their spatial arrangement. At this juncture a relational database
application is proposed for the purpose of providing support to students in
their endeavors to develop satisfactory building elements. The proposed
method guides students through the hierarchical levels of element
subsystems to achieve coherent functional assemblies.
1 INTRODUCTION
Constructive design is an intrinsic part of architectural education augmenting spatial
design for obtaining satisfactory overall performance of a building project. Conventional
formal education methods for construction the introduction of customary functional
building elements, e.g. floors. Various familiar types of these elements are discussed and
compared during lectures and tutorials. The implementation of this theoretical knowledge
to project work even after supplemented by practical training remains a vague and
random process to a considerable extent. Almost invariably students are presented with
the option of either designing or selecting the elements enclosing their spatial
arrangement. The selection process involves reviewing and maybe modifying the element
alternatives which the students have become familiar with during education and practical
training. These alternatives are mostly tried-and-tested, thus their performance can be
predicted with some accuracy. However in the case of element design a substantial
amount of technical knowledge and experience are predicated which are largely notions
pertaining to the post-graduate stage. Any stipulation for innovative design sets
premature analytical and heuristic demands on graduate students. Hence most of the latter
advisedly prefer to adopt or adapt a solution amongst the predetermined set of
alternatives. Regardless of which path students are inclined to take, the availability of an
educational tool for element development would improve students performance as well
as their self-confidence in this field which is a cause for much anxiety prior to their
professional career. At this juncture a relational database application is proposed for the
purpose of providing support to students in their endeavor to develop satisfactory
1116
building elements. The proposed method guides students through the hierarchical levels
of element subsystems to achieve coherent functional assemblies.
An overview of pertinent publications follows. ISO 120062 sets a framework for
building classification and hierarchies. Uniclass provides unified classification
(Hutchison 2000). Ekholm (1996) applies fundamental semantic and ontological theories
to define some basic concepts within classification and to build a conceptual framework
for construction works. Mahdavi (1996) describes an object-oriented building
representation environment where a class inheritance hierarchy is adopted with which
relationships between elements are established. Aygn (2003) also proposes an analytical
approach for expressing performance requirements of elements in parametric form in
order to provide a basis for comparative evaluation. Aygn & etiner (2003) demonstrate
the generation of element alternatives by means of a conceptual model.
2 ELEMENT MODEL
The proposed ontology for building elements observes the rules of inheritance and
encapsulation as the precepts of object-oriented modeling. The orders of hierarchy and
inheritance along the entities concerned are accomplished in opposite directions, i.e.
hierarchical inheritance. While hierarchy is deductive (top-down), inheritance is
inductive (bottom-up).
By definition an element must have at least one component which can be connected to
another of the same element and also shared by an adjacent element. The branching
extends laterally to include all elements in the building system. Hence a physical entity as
part of a building is defined as indexed to and also is a function of all its descendant
instances, i.e. higher-level entities as embedded objects, in a hierarchical order.
The object hierarchy allows any sub-types (descendants) derived from the main types
(ancestors) to inherit the accrued attributes while retaining their embedded as well as
congenial attributes. Instances of these objects are obtained when actual values are
assigned to these attributes as independent design variables of the functional element
concept. The synopsis of the element model is presented below:
Element
Location (External (Below-, Above ground), Internal, Semi-enclosed)
Inclination (Horizontal, Vertical, Inclined)
Component
Type (External finish, Cavity, Protective Layers, Core, Carrier, Supplementary Layer)
Geometry (Form, Dimension, Position)
Texture and Colour
Material Joints (Intra-/Inter-component; Unifying/ separating)
3 APPLICATION
Students commence with the element configuration task at the highest, i.e. the most
abstract, level of element subsystem in the building system hierarchy. They select at each
level the most appropriate value among the alternative values for that element attribute
Parametric representation of functional building elements
1117
offered to them in a context-sensitive form. The alternatives of the subsequent attribute

change according to the previous selection. Accordingly students proceed by traversing
the element model downwards from the general attributes to the more specific ones.
Ultimately the parametric representation of that element is deemed as complete when all
the pertinent attributes are specified to which students are directed.
The model is transferred to a relational database environment, namely Microsoft
Access. The element and component entities are represented as separate data tables with
attributes as record fields. The tables are connected by the type of many-to many
relationship since an element usually contains more than one component which in turn
can be repeated in many elements.
In order to validate the model in education, a pilot assignment is carried out for the 4th
year students of the Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, asking
them to configure the elements of their last building design by means of this model. In
comparison to previous 4th year students significant improvements are observed in their
ability to define and describe functional elements and components in conjunction with
design requirements.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The model suggested above enables students to configure coherent functional building
elements enclosing architectural spaces by specifying the attributes of the former in a
relational database. Hence parametric representation of elements is achieved for students
to describe the elements of their building design. Element alternatives can be configured
for the purpose of comparative analysis of their performance. Further benefits that may
be derived from the implementation of this parametric representation include generation
of configurations for plausible alternatives and their appraisal in terms of performance
criteria as well as efficient exchange and repository of information for the purposes of
performance specification and product development. Thus streamlined retrieval and
dissemination of notional and factual information related to buildings and their parts are
facilitated acting as a tool initially for students and in turn for all concerned involved in
the design or selection process of products related to buildings at various scales. In the
prospective phase of this model, other types of elements such as structural and service
elements will be included, extending to all other sub- and supersystems eventually
enshrining the entire building system.
REFERENCES
ISO 120062:2001. Building constructionOrganization of information about construction
worksPart 2: Framework for classification of information, International Standards
Organization.
Aygn, M. 2003. Generation and Evaluation of Building Element Alternatives, Building and
Environment, Elsevier Science, Vol.38/5, 707712.
Aygn, M. & Qetiner, L 2003. Conceptual Modeling of Generic Building Elements, E-Activities
and Intelligent Support in Design and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology
and Istanbul Technical University, 810 October 2003, 8589.
1118
Ekholm, A. 1996. A Conceptual Framework for Classification of Construction Works, ITcon Vol.1,
2550, http://www.itcon.org/996/2.
Hutchison, A. 2000. BRE Classification Tool: Uniclass, http://cig.bre.co.uk/connet/classifications.
Mahdavi, A. 1996. Semper: A New Computational Environment for Simulation-based Building
Design Assistance, International Symposium of CIB W67 on Energy and Mass Flow in the Life
Cycle of Buildings, 46772, Vienna.
Life long learning for improved product and

process modeling support
P.Christiansson
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
ABSTRACT: The paper focuses on knowledge transfer and learning
based on experiences from developing and carrying through master
courses in Industrial IT (MII) and civil engineering at Aalborg University
and 25 years of teaching experiences within the field. In the MII the
students are recruited from industry to follow a 31/2 years time national
open education with most learaing and project work done in an Internet
supported distributed environment. The pedagogic method follows a
project-based problem oriented learning paradigm (PPBL). The courses
cover areas such as; object oriented programming and relational database
design, human computer interface and user environment design, computer
supported collaborative working, knowledge management, virtual
buildings, intelligent buildings, and building systems simulation.
Experiences are reported from use of distributed physical and virtual
learning spaces, improved learning styles and learning/teaching methods,
properties and functionality of digital learning material, improved and
adapted pedagogic, tutoring and teacher-student interaction, distributed
project collaboration methodology, and industry collaboration. Findings
and experiences are illustrated with examples from MII course contents
and student project works.
1 INTRODUCTION
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) supported learning has come more
and more in focus during the last 23 decades. The wide spread introduction during 1993
of the World Wide Web (WWW) was a catalyst for deepened interest and extended
implementation of learning and knowledge transfer systems. We phase a multitude of
challenges in introducing efficient ICT support in the building process from change of
working methods, project organisation and improved building product descriptions to
increased demand on life-long learning within the fast developing building informatics.
The paper focuses on knowledge transfer and learning based on experiences from
developing and carrying through master courses in Industrial IT (MII) and civil
engineering at Aalborg University and 25 years of teaching experiences within the field.
In the MII the students are recruited from industry to follow a 31/2 years time national
open education with most learning and project work done in an Internet supported
distributed environment. The pedagogic method follows a project-based problem oriented
learning paradigm (PPBL). The courses cover areas such as; object oriented
1120
programming and relational database design, human computer interface and user
environment design, computer supported collaborative working, knowledge management,
virtual buildings, intelligent buildings, and building systems simulation.
Courses given within Building Informatics at Aalborg University incorporate results
from the teachers involvement in ongoing research such as knowledge management and
collaboration support using semantic web, IT Support at the Building Site and
involvement in the newly started Danish National Digital construction Program (clients
demands on building modelling and visualisation, project web support and facility
management), see also http://it.civil.auc.dk/it/projects/index.html.
2 THE CHANGE PROCESS
The learning process has not changed to any considerable degree during the latest
centuries. A big shift came when the art of printing was introduced during the middle
1400 (Guthenberg) and it become practical and less expensive to pack and distribute
information to a large audience. Today we phase a reality where we (teachers, students)
have the freedom to immediately publish, give feed-basck and pack information adapted
for different needs and users on the World Wide Web (WWW). We have passed
development stages from art of writing (2500 b.b.) via art of printing (1450 a.c.) to
art of communication (2000 a.c.) with changed demands on information quality
assurance methods, and highly adaptable access media to distributed digital information
containers.
The most important changes due to introduction of ICT in the learning process are
Higher emphasis on learning (and learning to learn) than teaching.
The teacher becomes more of a tutor (coach, facilitator) than information
disseminator.
Greater opportunities for distant learning in virtual environments.
Life long learning becomes an important issue (time and place independent
learning).
Globalization with cultural diversity and global market place development with
greater possibilities to combine courses from different universities (virtual
universities).
Increased modularization of information containers with dynamic formation of
higher level containers and inclusion of time marked data. The semantic web
provides a first generation tools to relate disperse web based information
containers, (Christiansson 2003).
Possibilities to adapt and/or develop new pedagogical methods/learning styles
with respect to learning material, learning modes (exploration, discovery, problem
based learning etc.), student competence and intelligence profile, improved
collaboration, new teacher roles, and social contexts bearing in mind that IT in
itself does not improve pedagogy and learning method.
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3 IT IN CONSTRUCTION LEARNING DOMAINS

Computer tools were introduced in the education during the mid 1960s. Our IT education
experiences are based on course and education systems development as well as teaching
from around 1970,
1972 course in Computer Controlled Measurements and data manipulation and
presentation at Lund University, Sweden,
1983 courses in Cad, and 3D- and database modeling using Medusa,
(Christiansson and Herrera 1985). Workstations were expensive (25.000 US$),
1986 post graduate course in Knowledge Based System,
1992 New tools for knowledge transferdevelopment of hypermedia
systems,
1995 To use and evaluate MultiMedia, and Make your own MultiMedia
Application.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a cross disciplinary domain with
strong relations to a number of established sciences such as computer science, cognitive
psychology, mathematics, artificial intelligence, social sciences, and informatics. The
Construction ICT is by nature also tightly connected to theoretical and practical building
sciences.
Figure 1. IT in construction learning

domains.
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Parts of the learning domains are well supported by learning material e.g. relational
database and relation algebra based representations. On the other hand many areas are
still under formalization and learning material and courses must be dynamically
composed leading to continuous update and development of courses. Figure 1 outlines
building informatics related knowledge domains.
4 LEARNING PARADIGM
Our possibilities to provide tools that suite different learning styles should be taken into
account as we develop ICT supported learning material. The user models are explicitly or
more often implicitly hidden in the computer system providing different pedagogical
approach and human computer interaction. Learning theories are multitude and research
related to many science domains such as psychology, cognition, social sciences,
philosophy, and medicine. Here we will focus on some explanations with certain
relevance to ICT supported learning, see also (Montgomery 1995), (Gardner 2003), and
(Kolb et al. 2004).
The learning environment should as far as possible support different learning styles
involving concrete experiences, reflective observations, abstract conceptualization, and
active experimentation (Kolb et al. 2003) also taking into account that students have
different preferences on the way information is accessed. Today you often see reference
to
four
(three)
learning
styles
namely,
see
also
http://www.metamath.com/Isweb/fourls.htm,
Visual/Verbal,
Visual/Nonverbal,
Tactile/Kinesthetic, and Auditory/Verbal.
1123
Figure 2. The dynamic model of the

relationships between practice,
research, and education. From
(Kjrsdam & Enemark).
4.1 PPBL
The PPBL, Project Organized Problem Based Learning, methodology was introduced
1974 at Aalborg University. From (Kjrsdam and Enemark 1994): The curriculum in
engineering as well as in the natural science is project-organized from the day the
freshmen arrive until their graduation. The first year the freshmen learn to work in
project-groups. The next two years in the undergraduate programs the project work is
mainly design-oriented. The last two years in the graduate programs the project work is
mainly problem-oriented (Problem Based Learning). The duration of each project is
one semester. In the program half of the time is distributed to the project work, 25% to
courses related to the project and 25% to courses related to the curriculum.
We give two types of courses, SU (study unit) courses covering 25% of available time
and PU (project unit) courses covering 25%. The rest of the time is devoted to project
work in groups of size 35 students. The PU courses are evaluated through the project
exams (typically for the assembled group, 1 hour project presentation and an additional
1.5 hours maximum per student) with external censor present. SU courses exams may
take several forms as traditional paper based, and/or oral.
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The learning paradigm follows the Aalborg PPBL, Project Organized Problem Based
Learning, model. The project is problem oriented and not tied to a specific discipline but
requires a cross-disciplinary approach. The projects most often involve industry
collaboration and offer opportunity to apply theories in new contexts or to develop new
theories. There are not only one-way to solve formulated problems.
We normally plan a 4 hours session in the SU courses as,
2*45 minutes lecture including 10 minutes exercises presentation
Student group work with exercise work
Student group exercise presentation in front of all groups followed by discussion,
questions and critique.
The students are during the group work forced to articulate and express their ideas and
solution propo sals to their colleagues and free to choose presentation format at their
wish.
5 LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
5.1 Physical and virtual workspaces
In the Master of Industrial IT, MII, education students are situated at different places in
Denmark and meet in person at Aalborg University every six week at a weekend seminar
for deeper social contacts, personal contact with course tutors, collective questions
answering, guest lectures, group works (especially brainstorming and planning), and final
examines. New learning IT tools to support self-study, project work, self-assessments,
project delivery, communication and course administration are also introduced at those
occasions.
From (Christiansson 1999) Distributed learning takes place in a virtual learning space
that expands the conventional study chamber and classroom in time and room with regard
to learning style and interaction modes as well as learning material and learning
methods.
5.2 Tools and infrastructure
The ICT tools broadly falls within the following categories
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) with multimodal access to dynamically composed
information containers and applications
Communication and collaboration support (human-human, human-artifact, artifactartifact)
Digital information containers with modularised content and separation between
storage and access media.
The students have at their convenience, access to course administrated servers for their
project programming work, see figure 3. The student project results as well as learning
material are stored on (or referenced from) a education web.
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Asynchronous collaboration tools are provided on the education web. Student groups
also use tools like Groove, http://www.groove.net/, Yahoo Messenger
http://messenger.yahoo.com/,
and
MSN
Messenger
(former
Netmeeting)
http://www.microsoft.com/ messanger, for synchronous collaboration and application
sharing. Teacher/tutors are often on student group wishes on stand-by at student email
conversation and available for advice.
Figure 3. Students main education

access is through the Education Node,
EN. If all traffic is channelled through
EN it is easier to create administrative
data as who-is-on and when, and
who has accessed what. This is
though in conflict with direct student
access to teacher produced locally
stored material. From (Christiansson
2000).
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It is important to ensure that learning material is stored under a format that is valid on
many computer platforms. For example should PDF or RTF formats be used for
documents, web pages be cleared from platform specific non-standard script contents,
and standard video sound formats be used. This may not always be possible if specific
applications still only are available on some platforms. Students should also be
encouraged to avoid fancy non-necessary solutions when reporting or delivering
computer based project/exercises solutions.
5.3 Learning material
The lecture material is contained in a course web site with all learning material directly
available except for books and documents not available in digital formats. Slides and
other lecture support material are organized according to figure 4, with a left slide
navigation column.
The course material is accessed from the education web, EN in figure 3, that also gives
access to student project work and administrative courses information.
Figure 4. Lecture material is contained

in the course web with graphic/textual
navigation frame to left.
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6 COURSE CONTENT
6.1 Master of industrial IT courses
Courses given to the Civil engineering students within Building Informatics as well as the
Master and Industrial IT (MII) courses, http://www.mii.aau.dk/, covers the domains
depicted in figure 1. The Civil engineering courses will not be described here but can be
found at http://it.bt.aau.dk/it/education/index. html#civil as well as student projects and
student own developed project webs. Three courses are given at the Civil Engineering
track (1) IT in the Building Process, (2) Virtual Buildings, and (3) Computer Supported
Collaboration and User Environment Design.
The MII education spans 31/2 years time (from autumn 2004 compressed to 2 years)
and is open for students with a Bachelor Engineering degree and at least 3 years of
industry employment. The first year theme is Distributed Information systems and is
followed by all students in the three specializations,
IT in Construction
IT in Distributed Real-time Systems
IT in Industrial Production
IT in Process control
IT in System Administration.
First year courses are
Object Oriented System development, (2 ECTS, PU course)
Human Computer Interaction (1 ECTS, PU)
Databases (2 ECTS, PU)
Fundamental Datanets, Models and Architecture (1 ECTS, SU)
Client/server technology and introduction to Distributed Systems (2 ECTS, PU)
WWW tools (1 ECTS, PU)
Programming (2.5 ECTS, PU) (optional for IT in Construction)
The Virtual workplace (1 ECTS, PU).
The second year IT in Construction theme is Models and Communication and the
special building related courses
Multimedia interface design, usability engineering and Computer Supported
Collaborative Work (2 ECTS, PU)
Knowledge Management within Companies and Projects (2 ECTS, SU)
Virtual Buildings 1 (1 ECTS, PU).
The third year IT in Construction theme is Integrated ICT in the Building Process and
the special building related courses
Intelligent Buildings and Digital Cities (2 ECTS, SU)
Virtual Buildings 2 (2 ECTS, PU)
Building Simulations (2 ECTS, PU).
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The students will also, according to their personal course portfolio, follow other
specializations courses during the second and third year for example
Global Information Networks
Company Management
Process engineering
Organisation theory
Distributed systems
Automatic control
Real-time communication systems
Fault tolerant systems
Coding and Security.
The IT in Construction specialization gives insight into the role of ICT in the total
building process. The participants will gain understanding of and competence in using
ICT tools within all phases of the existing and future building process.
The participants will be able to formulate requirements and actively participate in
analyses, design and development of ICT systems and tools in the construction process as
well as practical experiences in use of advanced IT tools.
The theme for the 2nd year is Models and Communication. The aim is to convey
theoretical knowledge and deep understanding of some important fundamental domains
and ICT-tools that will influence the future development e.g. computer supported
collaboration, different types of knowledge representations, analyses and modeling of the
building process and building products, and knowledge management.
High emphasis is on user needs, requirements formulation and usability engineering
i.e. user environment design in relation to the parallel technical system implementation.
Figure 5. Java applet-servlet based

web-database connection (student
project).
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The theme for the 3rd year is Integrated IT in the Building Process. The aim is to
convey analyses, experiences and examples on advanced present and future use of IT in
the different parts of the building process. In this connection the students e.g. work with
and analyses building product model exchange using IFC and model checker tools. Also
the properties and practical design issues in connection with intelligent buildings and
services in the digital cities are investigated.
6.2 Student project examples
The student project work always to some degree involves industry collaboration. In many
cases the students own company is highly involved in problem and requirements
formulations.
Examples
on
students
group
projects
are,
see
also
http://it.bt.aau.dk/it/education/index.html#mii.
Local history Web, 2001, involving Java based web-database connection for inquires
of historic subjects. (Figure 5)
Data Warehousing and Knowledge Management, 2001, involving theory, technology
and implementation in business.
Models and communication to support type house catalogues, 2002, involving
Contextual Design of User environment, information analyses, relational database and
user interface design, web 3D models, and database web integration solutions. (Figure
6)
Use of digital building models, 2004, involving process analyses and representation,
classifications, model access tools, building product model representations, model
integration, potential/barriers, and scenarios.
Figure 6. Contextual Design work flow

model used for type house catalogue
application (student project).
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1131
Figure 7. Digital cities intelligent and

responsive building investigation
domains (student project).
Future digital cities and intelligent buildings, 2003, involving global networks, digital
city networks and services, intelligent buildings, ICT solutions, scenarios and the
future. (Figure 7)
ICT tools for building design, 2004, involving analyses of architectural design tools
in use. Requirements formulations on tools, education and design process
organization.
7 CONCLUSIONS
We are only in the beginning of development of cross-disciplinary university courses in
open environments with highly communicative IT tools in contrast to traditional
classroom teaching. IT supported distributed learning provides us with excellent
possibilities to advance the learning methodologies suitable for life long learning and to
render existing courses more effective.
1132
There is a great need to raise the IT competence of the teachers to meet the needs for
and carrying through of the changes in education in connection with specification of
distributed learning system and tools.
ICT tools and learning material knowledge representations and properties must be (at
least implicitly) explained to the learners (and teachers/tutors).
ICT tools to support collaboration in virtual environments and use of virtual worlds
and augmented reality must be further developed in close collaboration with the end
users.
We will in the future see a closer natural collaboration between universities in course
development, and experience exchange.
REFERENCES
Christiansson P. 2003 Next Generation Knowledge Management Systems for the Construction
Industry. In CIB W78 Proceedings Construction IT Bridging the Distance, Auckland, New
Zealand, April 2325, ISBN 0908689713. CIB Publication 284. (494 pages). (pp. 8087)
http://it.civil.auc.dk/it/reports/w78_new_zealand_2003.pdf
Christiansson P. 2000. IT in Distributed Open Learning Environments. In Construction Information
Technology 2000Taking the Construction Industry into the 21st century. G.Gudnason (ed.).
Icelandic Building Research Institute. ISBN 9979917431. Reykjavik, Iceland in June 2630,
2000. (pp. 197208). http://it.civil.auc.dk/it/reports/r_iceland_6_2000.pdf
Christiansson P. 1999. Experiences from Design and Use of IT Supported Distributed Learning
Environment. In Civil Engineering Learning Technology in Cardiff. R.M.Lloyd & C.J.Moore
(eds). Thomas Telford Ltd. London. ISBN: 0727728393. (pp. 2942).
http://it.bt.aau.dk/it/reports/r_cardiff_edu_1999.pdf
Christiansson P., Herrera A. 1985. Datorstd i Byggprocessen. Computer Aided Design. (Computer
Aids in the Building Process. Cad Systems, Relational Databases, Knowledge Based Systems).
Brande Konstruktioner, und Unioversity. February 1985. (192 pp.).
Gardner H. 2003. Intelligence in Seven Steps. in New Horizons for learning.
http://www.newhorizons.org/future/Creating_the_Future/crfut_gardner.html
Kjersdam, F., Enemark S. 1994. The Aalborg experiment. Aalborg. Project Innovation in
University Education. Aalborg Universitets Press. http://www.auc.dk/fak-tekn/aalborg/engelsk
Kolb D., Boyatzis R.E., Mainemelis C. 1999. Experimental Learning Theory: Previous Research
and New Directions. Prepared for Perspectives on cognitive learning, and thinking styles.
Sternberg R.J. & Zhang L.F. (eds). Case Western Reserve University (40 pp.)
http://www.learningfromexperience.convelt_review_paper.pdf/
Montgomery S.M. 1995. Addressing Diverse Learning Styles Through the Use of Multimedia. In
The 1995 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education 95 Conference. University of Michigan.

C-J Lin & S-C Chen
National Chiao Tung University
T-W Chang & L-C Yang
National Yunlin University of Science & Technology
ABSTRACT: Design learning as a game play. Therefore, such as playful
design and design games have become current issues of research in design
domain. Game play, especially server-based network game, with the
availability of high-bandwidth network environment has evolved to be
important social phenomena in the digital era. A framework called design
puzzles (Chang 2004) that combines the design as puzzle-making
metaphor (Archea 1987) and puzzle games (Bates 2002) provides a match
between design exploration and game play. Design puzzle is used in this
research as one realization of design exploration. Furthermore, this
research investigates the feasibility and computability of a computational
model called puzzle-server for describing the design behaviors within the
scope of server-based.
1 INTRODUCTION
Design learning is similar to playing the games. No matter invoked by playful
characteristics (Chang 2002) or the design/game itself (Chien 2002), more and more
researches, such as (Klugman and Smilansky 1999, Radford 1997, Woodbury, et al.
2001) are mapping the behavior of playing games as a vehicle to learn design. While
most of those researches provide affective inspiration for our research, we adapt the
mechanism as well as the metaphor role-play game for design learning design (Chang
2002) as the base of this research. Briefly, by developing an on-line game environment,
students can explore potential design proposal and stimulate each other using the
mechanism of playing games.
1.1 Design learning as a game play
With the availability of broad bandwidth network, Internet not only encourage
information exchange but also improve productivity in learning and somehow
entertainment. For example, playing games, especially online games on the Internet,
becomes more important both in educational and social factors in the modern society.
Within networked visual space, online-game players complete assigned missions
either alone or by cooperation, sharing with other players in order to win the game. The
main characteristic of playing online games is full of interaction, exploration and goaloriented activities.
1134
Four main characteristics of online games are role-playing, process records,

information sharing, and hierarchical organizations. How to take advantages of these
elements for learning design is the main purpose of this research.
1.2 Exploration design for learning
For the interactive learning mechanism with strong game play metaphors, a model called
as design space exploration (Woodbury 1991) is used. Design space exploration uses
exploration as a metaphor to search design through large number of design alternatives
called design spaces. Thus, the design learning is equivalent to design exploring. The
consequence of playing a game form different design alternatives in the design spaces.
Design space exploration provides the mechanism for an interactive and intrinsic
process that is useful for realizing the four characteristics of online game described
above. With the ability to explore possible design solutions, the strategies as well as the
process is thus an inspiring design learning process.
1.3 Design puzzle
Another fundamental concept of this research called design puzzle is based on the
similarity relation between puzzle game and design exploration. Further mapping the
exploring behaviors of design learning onto puzzle exploration behaviors including
puzzle-making and puzzle-solving, design puzzles provide a way to explore the design
goals without actual specifying them at the very beginning.
This interactive cooperation among participated designers provides insight as well as
supporting design decisions during the interactive exploration process. Such cooperation
must be related back to the participated designers within the same online game
environment. Therefore, with these three backgrounds, this research explores an online
game-like environment through the four characteristics of on-line game server: roleplaying, process records, information sharing and hierarchical organizations.
2 ON-LINE GAME SERVER
On-line games are not just games but also network services. Online game with clientserver structure can allow a lot of gamers cooperate or compete with each other in a
sustainable world. This type of game environment is relatively complex and still in its
developing stage in the relative short games history. The development of on-line games
doesnt have a clear solution in its own problems. Moreover, the implementation and
usage problems created by online games have not been full explored. Most of current
available online games are still in the try-and-test stage. In the following, we discuss
several common on-line game processes to find out the four characteristics of puzzle
server: role-playing, process record, information sharing, and hierarchical organization.
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2.1 Connection structure

A common network topology used by the on-line game connection structure is
client/server oriented. In other words, a game server controls the access of each game,
and gamers accessing a game sever act as a client. Therefore, a game server becomes the
important control center in the whole on-line game. Therefore, the server for the learning
exploration process will be the first step in our research.
2.2 On-line game interactive process
Secondly, interaction status of computer games is the interaction between computer and
gamers and gamers and gamers in on-line games. There are three interactive behaviors in
common on-line games, self-interaction, two-way asynchronous interaction, and two-way
synchronous interaction. Since this research is based on mutual communicative learning
between learners, self-interaction will not be discussed in this research.
2.3 Internet visual space
The greatest character of visual space is that it strides over time and space limit.
Computer operation simply becomes the interface for users to enter in this world. On-line
games in this visual world follow the rules of game with convenience and ease to
exchange and share information among gamers.
2.4 Database management
All games processing and missions are saved in a database connected with game servers
or called backend in on-line games. Game information constantly transmits to database to
have complete game procession and records.
2.5 Role play
On-line gamers explore on net and work out game missions. In order to give these
movements, role-play is a common practice for implementing the identities and behaviors
of on-line games. Gamers with different roles and different abilities can also have
different behaviors towards their interaction.
3 ANALYSIS OF PUZZLE SERVER
With the description of common process characteristics of on-line games, we then map
them onto our corresponded server implementationpuzzle server.
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3.1 Role in puzzle server

The users on puzzle server are designers. Designers on the puzzle server influent design
puzzle exploration process by interactive behaviors. Interactive behaviors in design
puzzle include puzzle making and puzzle solving (Chang 2004). As a result of it, puzzle
design have different missions in different interactive behaviors. Puzzle making serves to
develop puzzle and puzzle solving serves to explore existing puzzles. Therefore, puzzle
server need to separate these two user interactions.
Consequently, following puzzle making and puzzle solving, puzzle server develops
two different roles, puzzle maker and puzzle solver. Puzzle server through role
management assigns mission and individually gives mission to develop puzzle and
explore puzzle. And then, puzzle server records and shares information through database.
3.2 Process record in puzzle server
The exploration process of design puzzle is to search for answers constantly. Therefore,
design exploration needs to record the exploration process of design puzzle. Through
records, it can display the exploration procedure again and share exploration procedure
with others. Design puzzle can then continue to explore information and provide followup design reference on the basis of records. Through records, it can also show the design
procedure for the design being re-used.
By recording design puzzle exploration process, relevant data of exploration process is
collected and then classified. Using design puzzle exploration space records an
exploration node in a design space can then record some design puzzle exploration
process. Furthermore, process record in puzzle server must record the information
situation as clear as possible, and include every state node, connection links and
transmission process. Dealing with database can help the realization of process record
required.
3.3 Information share inpuzzle server
Information sharing in puzzle server can let users share exploration information and
experiences of others, and stimulate each other as a learning strategy. From the part of
design puzzle exploration; a visual space also can be through similar sharing machinery.
It can let designers work out their own design puzzle creation and exploration in the
visual net world and share the design exploration process with other designers to help
them integrate relevant knowledge. In speaking of design puzzle, it is the direct help and
stimulation.
Puzzle server used asynchronous mode, so the interactive sharing contents have to be
shared by information recording. By recording process information into database, Puzzle
server can then provide information sharing for other users.
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3.4 Organization in puzzle server

The exploration process contains information of design puzzles that is complex and has
no common organization rules. A hierarchical organization is needed for users to be
understood and control.
Puzzle server uses database to do information record and sharing. As a result of it,
puzzle server not only provides computational information organization but also
combines database organization. After dealing with design puzzle information, puzzle
server displays different and helpful feedbacks back to users for further exploration. This
interactive way can record data through data conversion and organization and display in
different style just like sharing information. Operation method in this trend is to record
database saving and withdraw and data organization before sharing.
4 PUZZLE SERVER MODEL
After understanding both the requirements of puzzle server and the characteristics of online game server, we then develop a system for realizing these concepts.
Through the contrast between design puzzle and exploration behavior, four layers
according to the four characteristics of online game server are developed as the system
layers of puzzle server. First layer is user information, second one is puzzle
representation, third one is puzzle transition and fourth one is exploration process. The
model is based on these four layers to construct design puzzle interactive behaviors.
Every layer covers different information transmission, data management or mathematical
calculation and different visualization result. Each layer is described as following
sessions.
4.1 Four layers of puzzle server
4.1.1 Layer 1: user information
User information layer serves mainly for users to deal with information on puzzle server.
Design puzzle users give users roles, puzzle maker or puzzle solver and behaviors, puzzle
making or puzzle solving. And then it connects with puzzle representation layer to
display the relation between roles and puzzles. The operation transition is shown in
Figure 2.
Figure 1. Puzzle server model

operation.
Figure 2. User information layer

operation situation.
Figure 3. Puzzle representation layer

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Figure 4. Puzzle transition layer

4.1.2 Layer 2: puzzle representation
Puzzle representation layer mainly serves to display puzzle in puzzle server. Producing
puzzle includes puzzle information developed by puzzle maker and puzzle hint converted
from design concepts to knowledge structure meaning by symbols and puzzle rule. These
three elements converted by puzzle transition layer display puzzle (shown in Figure 3).
4.1.3 Layer 3: puzzle transition
Puzzle transition layer mainly serves to transit puzzle in puzzle server. According to
existing facts of puzzle and puzzle rule made by inference engine (Yang 2004), puzzle is
converted as the result of puzzle transition. Puzzle transition will then be recorded by
exploration process layer and displayed by puzzle representation (Figure 4).
4.1.4 Layer 4: exploration process
Exploration process layer mainly serves to record and display puzzle in the process of
exploration of puzzle server. After puzzle transition layer, puzzle produces new puzzle.
This procedure is recorded by exploration process layer and then organizes new structure.
This organization will then be displayed by user information (shown in Figure 5).
5 PUZZLE SERVER SYSTEM
With four layers and their transition relation described above, we then describe the
implementation based on one realizationpuzzle collage.
1140
Figure 5. Puzzle transmission layer

5.1 Design consideration
For the implementation consideration, one type of design puzzle called puzzle collage is
applied as the domain problem. Puzzle collage combined by several small pictures of
certain meanings or relation produces a piece of collaged picture according to different
combination. While pictures display different meaning, is regarded as different
information from original pictures. Pictures can stimulate designers to have ideas in their
learning exploration stage. Therefore, designers use pictures to search design inspiration
in learning design. Such behavior is similar as operating puzzle gathering and pasting to
search a certain picture. Consequently, this system uses and operates puzzle gathering
and pasting as the example of this research.
From server point of views, the stability and efficiency is important consideration in
system environment and technology consideration. Linux operating system is used
according to its stabilities, development support, and efficiency. Therefore, whole
environment of puzzle server sets up mainly in Linux. It is good to deal with active
homepage, especially it has a complete function of PHP language in editing pictures.
MySQL system is used as system database, which serves to look up language. The
interface based on interactive operating software design provides many helpful tools.
Furthermore, through ActionScript wording control, we use Flash for its interactivity.
5.2 The system
According to consideration mentioned above, this system is Sset under Linux and takes
2D puzzle collage as an example for realizing the system model of puzzle server. The
system is based on an on-going research project called Design Puzzle Collage System
(DUCS). DUCS development (shown in Figure 6) is constructed on the website and using
web as display space for the puzzle server. Users can use it to explore existed ideas
proposed by themselves or others. All users can set it up on the basis of net saving and
withdrawing process.
1141
Figure 6. DUCS system organization.

There are four modules of the systemuser module, puzzle creation module, puzzle
operation and puzzle sharing.
User module is the first layer of puzzle server model. This module uses passwordverifying machinery to give users rules and constraints.
Puzzle creation module is mainly to establish puzzle and realizing puzzle
representation. Its main function serves to develop puzzle. Users can key in basic
concepts of puzzle design through system interface and transmit design sketches. The
information will be recorded in the system, puzzle database and produce puzzle hint by
setting keywords through design sketches. The main operation principle is puzzle
information and puzzle hint resources based on the second layer of puzzle server model,
puzzle representation.
The main function of Puzzle operator module serves to puzzle operating part, which
belongs to the second and third layer, puzzle representation and puzzle transition.
Through puzzle choice and design participating, design exploration can then be divided
into puzzle making and puzzle solving.
Puzzle sharing module mainly serves to display puzzle exploration structure and
according to the four layer of puzzle serverexploration process. The main function is
that users can choose and participate puzzle and display organization and branch of
whole puzzle by tree diagram. Users can select puzzle and insert it into design branch.
Users can then design or start another puzzle design process.
5.3 Operation result evaluation
After operating DUCS system, puzzle server clearly display whole design puzzle
exploration procedure in the system. While using design sketches as design concepts,
symbolic meaning of design concepts is labeled by keywords (shown in Figure 7) and its
topological structure is framed as the basic knowledge structure to produce puzzle
alternatives.
Under this organization, the conversion and transition of design alternative (the design
puzzle/collage) is displayed as the consequence of exploration outcome. Design
exploration constantly develops and grows up; as a result of it, the whole exploration
1142
Figure 7. Transition of design

concepts.
process actively becomes a dynamic graph diagram (in our case, we only implement the
outcome as a tree diagram as a simplified version). Through this diagram, the (self or
group shared) learning outcomes can be visual displayed as the consequence. Therefore,
the design exploration from server can then be clearly explained.
6 CONCLUSION
Computers make design be recorded and the Internet makes design be shared. Every
stage of design is the display by designers at that particular moment. Maybe one stage is
unused, but the idea at that moment can be a different thinking stimulation to other
people or other designs. Many great designs were often picked back from trashcan with
this learning situation. Furthermore, every procedure of design shall not be throwing
away. Instead, proposing this puzzle server organization can let design process complete
and make design knowledge be displayed again and reused to shorten the process of
design learning invention. Based on puzzle server concepts, it serves as design record and
design procedure sharing and provides a new potential way for future design learning
mode.
REFERENCES
Archea, J: 1987, Puzzle-Making: What Architects Do When No One is Looking. in YE Kalay,
(ed.), Computability of Design, Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp: 3752.
Bates, B: 2002, Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games, Premier Press.
Chang, T-W: 2002, Pedagogy or Andragogy: a role-interplaying approach for digital media
learning., in M Luther (ed.), ANZAScA (Australian and New Zealand Architectural Science
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6976.
Chang, T-W: 2004, Supporting Design Learning with Design PuzzlesSome Observations of Online Learning with Design Puzzles, in, 7th International Conference on Design & Decision
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Radford, A: 1997, Games and Learning about Form in Architecture, in, Challenges of the Future,
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Author Index
Adam O. 475
Ahmed V 29
Akin . 205, 529
Akinci B. 205
Amor R.W. 35
Antoniadis G. 409
Anumba C.J. 273,377, 491, 547
Aouad G. 29, 415
Arayici Y. 29, 415
Augenbroe G. 273, 377
Aygn M. 665
Babi N. . 515
Badinelli R. 281
Balaton E. 179
Balder R. 179
Barakat T.A.H. 215
Barrre G. 371
Barresi S. 319
Bazjanac V. 41
Beer D.G. 49
Bektas F. 603
Benjaoran V. 223
Berkhahn V. 257
Beucke K. 49, 149
Bi G. 629
Bignon J.C. 563
Blokpoel S. 423
Bocquet J.C. 155
Boer S. 649
Bouchlaghem N. 547
Bowden S.L. 491
Brandon P.S. 11
Bravo-Aranda G. 171
Bungartz H.J. 141
agda G. 635, 641
Author index
Cai Q.Y. 305
Carlsen M. 311
Carrillo P.M. 547
Carter C.D. 385
Casals M. 437
Cassel-Engqvist E. 231
Castro S. 237
etiner 665
Chang T-W. 675
Chen S-C. 675
Christiansson P. 667
Crawford J. 431
Dainty A.R.J. 215
Dawood N. 223, 237, 263
de Wit E. 355
Deshayes P. 155
Daz J. 483
Dikba A. 245, 297, 595
Dolenc M. 161, 179
Dorr A. 491
Drogemuller R. 431
Duhovnik J. 161
Durusoy S. 245
Ediz . 635
Edwards D.J. 215
Egan S. 431
Eir A. 59
Eisenbltter K. 505
Ekholm A. 67
El-Diraby T.E. 337
Emborg M. 109
Farinha F. 91, 171
Feltz F. 371
Ferreira da Silva C. 319
Fis B. 319
Firmenich B. 49, 77
Fischer M. 117
Flanagan R. 3
Forcada N. 437
Froese T.M. 19, 85
Garca I. 569
Garrett Jr J.H. 205
Gehre A. 445
Goksel C. 603
Goldfarb I. 453
Greb S. 291
1145
Author index
Grilo A. 349
Gursel I. 205
Halin G. 563
Hamilton A. 29
Hammer C. 475
Hannus M. 179
Hassan T.M. 273, 377, 385
Husler S. 363
Hernndez-Rodrguez F. 171
Hofer A. 475
Holtzhauer E. 97
Hopkinson L.L. 609
Huhn M. 461
Icoglu O. 103
Jardim-Gonalves R. 91, 349
Jerrentrup M. 475
Jessurun A.J. 355
Jongeling R.P.M. 109, 423
Jung Y. 577
Kamara J.M. 547
Katranuschkov P. 179, 187, 249, 445
Kaya S. 603
Keller M. 249, 505
Kernstock S. 363
Kisacikoglu B. 641
Kiviniemi A. 117
Klinger A. 257
Kondratova I.L. 453, 499
Knig M. 257
Kubicki S. 563
Lai Y-C. 311
Leinenbach S. 475
Lima C. 319
Lin C-H. 675
Magdi A. 515
Mahdavi A. 103, 127, 363
Mallasi Z. 263
Mal P 349
Mangini M. 273
Marasini R. 223
Martinez M. 135, 569
Medjdoub B. 629
Meissner U.F. 291
Menzel K. 249, 409, 505
1146
Author index
Metzger A. 195
Mills T. 577
Molina J.M. 135, 569
Mundani R.-P. 141
Naaranoja M. 371
Nabrzyski J. 179
Ng F.F. 305
Niggl A. 141
Nour M. 149
Olofsson T. 109, 231, 423, 587
Oosterhuis K. 649
Otjacques B. 371
Oumeziane H. 155
zkaya I. 529
Pazlar T. 161
Pellegrini R. 615
Perdomo J. 281
Praper P. 583
Radev D. 621
Radeva S. 621
Rank E. 141
Rebolj D. 515
Rees R.V 329
Ren Z. 273, 377
Richter T. 49
Roca X. 437
Romberg R. 141
Rueppel U 291
Ryoo B-Y. 393
Saal H. 97
Salmelin B. 25
Salvaneschi P. 615
Sanal A. 467
Santos I.A. 171
Saroglu E. 603
Schapke S.-E. 539
Scherer R.J. 187, 445, 539, 621
Sey Y. 595
Shelbourn M.A. 385
Skibniewski M.J. 393
Snow C. 609
Stehn L. 231
Steiger-Garcao A. 91
Steinmann R. 521
Suter G. 363, 657
1147
Author index
Tan H. 547
Tanaan L. 245, 297
Ta E. 245, 297
Tatari M.O. 393
Thabet W. 281, 577
Thorpe A. 491
Tolman F. 329
Toprakli A.Y. 595
Tseng M.M. 553
Tullberg O. 587
Turk . 179, 399
Turkaslan-Bulbul M.T. 205
Udeaja C.E. 547
van Leeuwen J.P. 355
Vegchel W.V 329
Wallmark T. 553
Wang H. 205
Weise M. 187
Woksepp S. 587
Yaman H. 245, 297
Yang L-C. 675
Zang S. 475
Zimmermann G. 195
1148

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eWORK AND eBUSINESS IN

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 5th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON PRODUCT AND

eWork and eBusiness in

A.A.BALKEMA PUBLISHERS LEIDEN/LONDON/NEW

Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

ISBN 04 1535 938 4 (Print Edition)

Product modelling technology

A novel modelling approach for the exchange of CAD information in civil

Embedded commissioning for building design

eWork and eBusiness

Virtual communities: design for collaboration and knowledge creation

Construction site and project management

Seismic risk and environmental management

IT supported architectural design

S.Boer & K.Oosterhuis

E-learning and education

process modelling to enhanced intelligent product modelling and information process

ECPPM 2004 Organization

Moore, L., University of Wales, EG-SEA-AI, UK

Skibniewski, M., University of Purdue, USA

The future forces of change for the

The future forces of change for the construction sector

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Figure 1. The growth of urbanisation

The future forces of change for the construction sector

2.1.1 Growth of cities

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Figure 2. Percentage of population

Figure 3. Percentage of population

The future forces of change for the construction sector

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

The future forces of change for the construction sector

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

The future forces of change for the construction sector

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Figure 4. The widening gap between

The future forces of change for the construction sector

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

The future forces of change for the construction sector

Vectors, visions and values

Vectors, visions and values

the improvements in process, whether design, manufacture, assembly or occupation can

Table 1. Comparison of Foresight issues from

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Vectors, visions and values

3 THE TIPPING POINT FORIT IN CONSTRUCTION

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Vectors, visions and values

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Vectors, visions and values

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

completely specified in magnitude and direction. Without measurement and direction

Table 2. Visions and themes for the Australian

Process & manufacture

Vectors, visions and values

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Vectors, visions and values

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

Help wanted: project information officer

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction

2 HELP WANTED: PROJECT INFORMATION OFFICER

Help wanted: project information officer

Figure 1. Elements of an information

eWork and eBusisness in architecture, engineering and construction