1

ProNIC integration in BIM environment

A model to work in collaborative environment

André Filipe Pereira Henriques

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Supervisors: Prof. Luís António de Castro Valadares Tavares

Prof. António Morais Aguiar da Costa

October 2012

2

1

1. Introduction

The construction industry in general is nomad, traditional and it is characterized by a high inertia

to the change, which production has a centralised nature. Therefore, the construction industry is

fragmented, heterogeneous and segmented (Afonso et al., 1998).

The Portuguese construction industry in particular, lacks of competitiveness in comparison with

the international construction industries. The lack of competitiveness is disclosed by the

deadlines extensions, cost slippages, insufficient safety, lack of quality. Understand the causes

for this lack of competitiveness is important for the industry decide to take the initiative and

looking for stave off this situation (Couto and Teixeira, 2005).

One of the main reasons is the lack of cooperation between the numerous stakeholders

throughout the life cycle of the projects (design, construction and facilities management), with

the combination of poor mechanisms of collaboration and contractual arrangements that don’t

help the creation of a collaborative environment, contribute for the appearance of the following

problems (Grilo and Tavares, 2008):

The existence of disconnected processes;

Communication errors;

Errors on the information exchanges;

Loss of relevant information;

Waste of recourses on the information re-entering and re-creation.

According to various authors (2008, AIPCC, 2011, Couto and Teixeira, 2005, Couto and

Teixeira, 2006), the following construction industry’s weaknesses and causes for the cost

slippages and deadlines extensions are worthy of mention:

Poor collaboration between stakeholders;

Numerous Requests for Information (RFIs);

Numerous changes made to design;

Contradiction on construction documents;

Conflicts between disciplines;

Bad planning and project management;

Lack of rigor and quality of tender documents;

Lack of information about construction materials (types, specifications, etc.);

Absence of technical documents about the construction works execution and the

materials associated with those;

2

Hard distribution of standards and technical texts and specifications;

Absence of widespread use contents for the production of tender and construction

documents.

The construction industry needs to cope effectively with this situation. One of the more

important steps to this direction is the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM), as an

integrated approach to carry out construction projects. BIM has the potential to address many of

the referred weaknesses. However, currently exists a system to address others weaknesses of

the construction industry, the “Protocol for the Normalization of Information in Construction”

(ProNIC). This system have the potential to become a reference in the Portuguese construction

industry, however, it does not cover the use of BIM throughout the development of projects.

Therefore, it is important to find a way to integrate the ProNIC on the BIM process, taking into

account all implications of that integration.

1.1. BIM

According to Lee et al. (2006), BIM is “the process of generating and managing building

information in an interoperable and reusable way”. The use of BIM enables the users to

integrate and reuse building information and domain knowledge through the lifecycle of a

building. It is important to note that BIM is not a thing or a type of software but a human activity

that ultimately involves broad process changes in design, construction and facility management

(Eastman et al., 2011). Thus, the acronym BIM is made of three components demonstrating its

scope (Figure 1), as follows (buildingSMART, 2012):

Building Information Modeling

The business process for generating and leveraging building data to design, construct

and operate the building during its lifecycle BIM allows all stakeholders to have access

to the same information at the same time through interoperability between technology

platforms;

Building Information Model

The digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such

it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility, forming a

reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle from inception onwards;

Building Information Management

The organization and control of the business process by utilizing the information in the

digital prototype to effect the sharing of information over the entire lifecycle of an asset.

3

The benefits include centralised and visual communication, early exploration of options,

sustainability, eficient design, integration of disciplines, site control, as built

documentation – effectively developing an asset lifecycle process and model from

Conception to final retirement.

BIM promotes a collaborative environment (ease and need for communication between the

various stakeholders), mainly using the concept of Cloud Computing thus enabling collaboration

and information exchange among all stakeholders via the internet and attenuating the lack of

cooperation between them.

With BIM can significantly increase the level of detail of the projects which, coupled with the

collaborative environment that provides, will mitigate the shortage of details on projects and

requests for information.

Figure 1 – The three components of BIM

4

Moreover, BIM can mitigate the impact of changes to projects and incompatibilities between

projects, as it allows viewing a priori, through the models, the final product, thus enabling the

project owner has a better perception of same. It also allows the clash detection and

coordination between projects.

The production of the drawings becomes more efficient due to the use of parametric modeling,

since changes in a given component model are automatically updated in all views thereof. This

feature combined with the aforementioned clash detection between specialties, increases the

accuracy of the drawings obtained directly from the models.

Some software allows, due to the possibility of simulating reality, examine the feasibility of

certain construction methods and create a bidirectional link between planning and model. This

improves the activity of planning and mitigation of conflicts at work.

1.2. ProNIC

This project is jointly developed by the Institute of Building, School of Engineering, University of

Porto (IC-FEUP), the Institute of Computer and Systems Engineering of Porto (INESC Porto)

and the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC). The main goal is the development of a

integrated and systematized set of credible technical contents, supported by a modern

informatics application (2008).

The ProNIC structure for information organization (Work Breakdown Structure - WBS) is based

on work results, with 25 chapters adapted to the Portuguese construction industry. So, it is a

important tool for the information management.

The ProNIC allows the generation of items that will be part of works and Quantities maps and

furthermore, associate sheets on the execution of works, materials and costs. These sheets

intended, above all, provide technical information on good construction practices, regulations,

standards and costs. These features allow ProNIC increase the rigor in producing measurement

charts and specifications and to provide important information on materials used in the works

(composition, application, testing, standards) and execution of works (preparatory work,

implementation process, standards, testing, measurement criteria, safety rules).

5

2. ProNIC integration on BIM process

2.1. Integration Perspectives

The ProNIC integration on BIM process must be taken according to three perspectives. The first

perspective is the creation of a collaboration environment on which all stakeholders cooperate.

A basic premise of BIM is collaboration by different stakeholders at different phases of the

lifecycle of a facility to insert, extract, update, or modify information in the BIM to support and

reflect the roles of that stakeholder (NIBS, 2007). A collaboration environment permits exactly

that, however, to make this a reality the following aspects should be borne in mind:

The use of Cloud Computing concept that, according to Mell and Grance (2011), is “a

model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool

of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and

services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort

or service provider interaction”. Cloud computing technology enables the rapid

development, deployment, and ongoing adaptation of proven, robust BIM processes. It

is the consistent, collaborative creation and ongoing use of facility life-cycle information

for both new and existing buildings, spanning design, procurement, construction,

renovation, repair, adaptation, and deconstruction that defines BIM (Cholakis, 2012);

Establishing contractual arrangements that encourage the collaboration between all

stakeholders, like the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). The IPD means bringing all of

the parties in a typical construction project — owner, architect, and builder — together

as early as possible in a more robust partnership than is traditionally seen in

construction (Ostanik, 2010);

Overtaking the cultural changes. Challenges with cultural changes typically far exceed

the task of creating new work (Fiatech, 2012).

6

The second perspective is the information delivery processes, that is, describe common process

maps, definitions, and views to align and communicate information exchanges and workflow

management (Fiatech, 2012). The Industry Foundation Class (IFC) developed by the

buildingSMART is an important project to improve the interoperability1 in the construction

industry. However, it is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving full interoperability

between building information tools. Unless each information exchange within construction

project workflows has its specific contents and level of detail defined, the breadth and flexibility

of the IFC schema leaves room for errors (Eastman et al., 2010). Here, the Information Delivery

Manuals (IDM) has an important role, which “specifies when certain types of information are

required during the construction of a project or the operation of a built asset” (BuildingSMART,

2011). It also provides detailed specification of the information that a particular user (architect or

building services engineer, for example) needs to provide at a point in time and groups together

information that is needed in associated activities: cost estimating, volume of materials and job

scheduling are natural partners (BuildingSMART, 2011).

Finally, the third perspective is the information management, which not only include documents,

messages and data but all mechanisms in information processing (Vickers, 1985). So, the

information management is “a means by which a centre maximizes the efficiency with which it

plans, collects, processes, controls, dissemination and uses its information and through which it

ensure that the value of that information is identified and exploited to the fullest extent” (Rao,

1999). Here, the classification is an important subject. According to Jørgensen (2011), the

classification is “an abstraction mechanism by which component classes can be arranged in a

1 According to Eastman et al. (2011), interoperability is “the ability to exchange data between

applications, which smoothes workflows and sometimes facilitates their automation”.

Figure 2 – Collaborative environment (Thomassen, 2011)

7

hierarchy, termed taxonomy”. To use this concept in the information management were created

classification systems for the construction industry like the Omniclass Construction

Classification System (Omniclass or OCCS) that utilize a type of classification named faceted.

That is, multiple hierarchies are used that can each describe an object from a different point of

view, and several may be applied to a single object to provide an enhanced classification. This

allows for user-directed exploration, where a large data set is progressively filtered through the

user’s various choices, until arriving at a manageable set that meet the user’s criteria (Davis

and Ceton, 2011). The Omniclass is made up of 15 tables and each one provides a different

point of view of the information. For example, the information can be classified by the element

into which it is inserted or by the type of product used on the construction.

In addition, the information in the construction industry is produced in a progressive fashion, so

it is necessary to take that in account. One example can be a simple wall in a building.

In the beginning, the information associated with that all can only be its function (belong to

exterior enclosure of a building, that is, an exterior wall). However, several informations need to

be produced and associated with that wall before we can assign and specify work results.

Throughout the development of the design, the material, typology and kind of properties will be

determinated and need to be integrated on the taxonomy of elements that will form the basis for

the information organization. When all necessary information are gathered, the work results can

be assigned and here the ProNIC have a important role.

Finally, most contracts require the handover of paper documents containing equipment lists,

product data sheets, warranties, spare part lists, preventive maintenance schedules, and other

information. This information is essential to support the operations, maintenance, and the

management of the facilities assets by the owner and/or property manager (East, 2012). The

information management needs to take this in account.

However, before all these perspectives can be implemented in the workflow according to the

methodology BIM, it is important to define a way to work in a collaborative environment. The

creation of that environment is an important step to provide numerous advantages to the

construction industry but is not enough. All stakeholders need to understand a fashion to work

on the same data.

8

2.2. ProNIC role in collaborative environment

The solution for that can be the process defined on the BS1192:2007, which defines the

collaborative working process for project collaboration and efficient data sharing (AEC (UK),

2012). This process in combination in the Cloud Computing provide a platform in which the

stakeholders can produce all kinds of information regarding the projects. This concept is called

Common Data Environment (CDE) and permit that all stakeholders work on the same data. This

process is make up of four areas, as shown in the Figure 3.

An important task to ensure that this process is carried out correctly is the elaboration of a

Project BIM Execution Plan, there are some guides to elaborate a BIM Execution Plano like the

“BIM Project Execution Planning Guide” (Guide PxP) developed at the Pennsylvania State

University. According to this guide, the BIM Execution Plan identify high value BIM uses during

project planning, design, construction and operational phases; design the BIM execution

process by creating process maps; define the BIM deliverables in the form of information

exchanges and develop the infrastructure in the form of contracts, communication procedures,

technology and quality control to support the implementation (CIC, 2010). Thus, throughout the

development of this guide are set the information delivery processes.

Figure 3 – Common Data Environment (CDE) (Based on: AEC (UK), 2009, AEC (UK), 2012)

9

All relevant information about the project is stored in a central information repository called

Project Integration Model (PIM). This concept appears because the Building Information Models

do not contain and should not contain all information regarding the projects. So, according to

Davies (2009), the PIM is “the source of all data exchange, co-ordination and drawing

production – using only signed off, correct, information”.

The ProNIC role in this process is to bridge the gap between the information in the PIM and the

tender documents, charts, specifications and other technical information.

In the PIM, the referred concepts regarding the information management have a significant

position, as will be argued later.

2.3. Information management within PIM

The functions of ProNIC were important to work in a collaborative environment, however, in the

information management perspective, the ProNIC WBS is a very useful tool to classify the

information. The Figure 4 shows the proposed model for the information organization within

PIM.

Figure 4 – Proposed model for the information organization within PIM

10

The first step is define a taxonomy of elements, whose classification criteria is the function of

the elements (Jørgensen, 2011). Examples are the level 3 of the UniFormat and the table 21

“Elements” of OmniClass. The information organization by elements is the most intuitive way.

According to Omniclass (2006), this provides “a useful way to organize and classify elements at

the early stages of a project, before particular or specific materials and methods (designed

elements) have been determined, and help to conceptualize the project without restrictions

imposed by any particular design solution”. This taxonomy will form the basis hierarchy in the

BIM.

Throughout the design development, as information starts to be created like the materials and

their properties. In the stage, the automation allowed by the BIM should be used. In the Building

Information Models, family types and instances represent the elements and have all their

informations. Thus, the information introduced in the Building Information Models can be

exported by three ways (some of the information can be classified already within the Building

Information Models):

Process identical to the NBIMS process (concept MVD);

Direct export from the BIM softwares in text format;

Manual input.

The IT platform must have the capacity to read the exported files, import the information and

introduce it onto BIM.. Once in the PIM, the remaning information can be classified in the the

families and/or instances that have the composition of the elements, properties and associated

products. For that, it is possible to use taxonomies like the tables 23 “Products”, 41 “Materials”

and 49 “Properties”.

At a certain phase, when all necessary information to specify the work results in the ProNIC is

gathered, the work results can be assigned to the family types or instances and to their

components, where applicable. For that, the ProNIC WBS must be made available as a Web

Service to facilitate its use. In addition, it is recommended the use of check boxes to explore the

ProNIC WBS and when the target level is reached, all the necessary properties must become

available. In this way, the users can introduce the information as this become available.

Here, the classification can be used to automate the filling of the required information. For

example, the typology of a wall is already determinated in the taxonomy by elements, so if the

IT platform support that functionality the typology can be automatically be selected in the

ProNIC WBS, at the time of the assignment of work results to the family types and/or instances.

Finally, all those informations can be exported in a XML schema to the ProNIC that, in turn,

utilize them to produce tender documents, materials charts, measurement charts.

11

3. Conclusions

The ProNIC integration in the BIM process is a very important step for the Portuguese

construction industry, by addressing many of their weaknesses and causes for the cost

slippages and deadlines extensions.

This integration will be challenging but it is possible. Apart from the creation of a collaborative

environment, it is necessary to understand the appropriate way of working in collaborative

environment and, as demonstrated, the CDE and PIM concepts can be the answer for that

subject. All stakeholders can work on the same data. In addition, the information delivery

processes must be defined at the level of the BIM Execution Plan

The use of an information central depository (the PIM) permits an efficient management of the

information, on which it is possible the use of classification and the information introduced in the

Building Information Models to make the use of the information in the projects much more

efficient. It is important to create a faceted classification system in the Portuguese construction

industry and, for that, the ProNIC notation must meet the notation of the others developed from

scratch or adapted from existing ones in other countries.

Finally, the development of a system like the COBie is recommended and the PIM is ideal for do

that.

12

4. References

2006. Omniclass [Online]. Available: http://www.omniclass.org [Accessed August 25, 2012]. 2008. ProNIC Generation and Management System of Technical Information for Contract

Documents (in Portuguese) [Online]. Available: http://www2.inescporto.pt/uesp/noticias-eventos/nos-na-imprensa/pronic-sistema-de-geracao-e-gestao-de-informacaotecnica-para-cadernos-de-encargos/ [Accessed September 2, 2012].

AEC (UK). 2009. AEC (UK) BIM Standard (Version 1.0). Available: http://aecuk.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/aecukbimstandard-v1-0.pdf [Accessed July 27, 2012].

AEC (UK). 2012. AEC (UK) BIM Protocol (Version 2.0). Available: http://aecuk.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/aecukbimprotocol-v2-0.pdf [Accessed September 18, 2012].

AFONSO, F. P., SEQUEIRA, A. M. D., MORAIS, J. M. D. & HILL, L. 1998. The construction sector - diagnosis and intervation axes (in Portuguese), Lisbon, IAPMEI (Institute of Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Innovation), Observatory of SMEs.

AIPCC. 2011. Comments on results obtained. Analysis of deadline extensions and cost slippages in construction (AIPCC) (in Portuguese) [Online]. Available: http://chbazar.wix.com/aipcc.

BUILDINGSMART. 2011. Process - Information Delivery Manual (IDM) [Online]. buildingSMART Website. Available: http://buildingsmart.com/standards/idm [Accessed August 17, 2012].

BUILDINGSMART 2012. The BIM Evolution Continues with OPEN BIM (Draft V8). CHOLAKIS, P. 2012. BIM and Cloud Computing – Get Beyond 3D Visualization and Focus Upon

the “I”. Efficient Construction Project Delivery Methods - Sustainability - High Performance Buildings - Knowledge-based Building Information Modeling Systems - BIM - 3D 4D 5D BIM [Online]. Available from: https://buildinginformationmanagement.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/bim-and-cloud-computing-get-beyond-3d-visualization-and-focus-upon-the-i/.

CIC 2010. BIM Project Execution Planning Guide, Version 2.0. University Park, PA: Computer Integrated Construction Research Program (Pennsylvania State University).

COUTO, J. P. & TEIXEIRA, J. M. C. 2005. The Consequences of the Deadline Extenssions in the Construction Industry's Competitiveness: Reasons for the Deadline Extensions (in Portuguese). 3rd Conference ENGENHARIA`2005. University of Beira Interior (UBI), Covilhã.

COUTO, J. P. & TEIXEIRA, J. M. C. 2006. The Quality in the Design Process: a Component for Construction Industry's Competitiveness in Portugal (in Portuguese). NUTAU`2006, Technological Innovation – Sustainability, VI Brazilian Seminar on design process management in the building construction. São Paulo, Brazil.

DAVIES, N. 2009. BIM: Fact or Fiction? Pt 3: Looking forward to a PIM. Available: http://www.eatyourcad.com/article.php?incat_id=2573 [AccessedJuly 28, 2012].

DAVIS, D. & CETON, G. 2011. OmniClass: Classifying the Built Environment. Journal of Building Information Modeling, pp. 25-26.

EAST, E. W. 2012. Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie). Available: http://www.wbdg.org/resources/cobie.php [Accessed September 1, 2012].

EASTMAN, C., TEICHOLZ, P., SACKS, R. & LISTON, K. 2011. BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors, John Wiley & Sons.

13

EASTMAN, C. M., JEONG, Y.-S., SACKS, R. & KANER, I. 2010. Exchange Model and Exchange Object Concepts for Implementation of National BIM Standards. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 24, pp. 25-34.

FIATECH. 2012. Advancing Interoperability for the Capital Projects Industry. Available: http://www.fiatech.org/images/stories/techprojects/project_deliverables/Updated_project_deliverables/Advancing%20Interoperability%20for%20the%20Capital%20Projects%20Industry.pdf [Accessed August 15, 2012].

GRILO, A. & TAVARES, L. V. 2008. Building Information Model e a Construction Sector's Competitiveness (in Portuguese), Lisbon, OPET - Engineering and Technology Prospective Observatory.

JØRGENSEN, K. A. R. 2011. Classification of Building Object Types: Misconceptions, challenges and opportunities. Available: http://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/63161433/ClassificationBuildingObjectTypes_PaperNo24.pdf.

LEE, G., SACKS, R. & EASTMAN, C. M. 2006. Specifying parametric building object behavior (BOB) for a building information modeling system. Automation in Construction, 15, 758-776.

MELL, P. & GRANCE, T. 2011. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing. NIBS 2007. United States - National Building Information Modeling Standard - Version 1.

Washington, DC, USA: National Institute of Building Sciences. OSTANIK, M. 2010. Integrated Project Collaboration... the missing link for IPD. Submittal

Exchange [Online]. Available from: http://submittalexchange.blogspot.pt/2010/06/integrated-project-collaboration.html.

RAO, I. K. R. 1999. Information Management: Scope, Definition, Challenges & Issues. DRTC Workshop on Information Management Including ISO 9000 QMS. Bangalore, India: Documentation Research and Training Centre.

THOMASSEN, M. 2011. BIM and Collaboration in the AEC Industry. Master of Science in Engineering in Management in the Building Industry, Aalborg University.

VICKERS, P. 1985. Information Management. Setting a concept. In: CRONIN, B. (ed.) Information management: from strategies to action. London: Aslib.