Communication is key

buildingSMART Middle east Communications Director, David Jellings.

buildingSMART Middle East communications director David Jellings discusses how Interoperability can help the construction industry.

Although the construction industry in the Middle East is still one of the most vibrant in the world, even here the global economic crisis is having a significant impact.

Inefficiencies in traditional construction processes, which have previously been masked by continually rising property values, can now make the difference between success and failure. One of the main causes of this inefficiency is poor communication between software.

Made possible by the availability of powerful software tools, activities in individual construction disciplines have been transformed.

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FEATURED COMMENT With rare exceptions, projects have been done using the now obsolete CAD technologies, with a lot of drafting and not enough design.   1 Comments Read more comments »

However, few of these activity specific tools can easily communicate with those used in other parts of the process. This is further complicated because the construction process itself is fragmented and projects have numerous stakeholders.

Until now the only real solution has been to develop bespoke processes and product configurations - maximising the efficiency of technologies for a particular project. Whilst this addresses the immediate need, the customisation does not benefit future projects or clients.

As the industry continues to strive for greater efficiency, it has to be possible to share data in common formats. In other words, software tools and business processes need to have interoperability.

How big is the problem?
The sheer size and complexity of modern day projects necessitates the frequent exchange and updating of data. Information from just one team member can have a massive impact on the process. If this is not communicated accurately and quickly, the resulting waste, in cost and time, can mean the difference between profit and loss.

The numbers are significant, for example, the global construction market spend for 2007 was US $4.7 trillion (AED17.2 trillion), of which the Middle East contributed $66 billion. With waste identified as running as high as 30% in some cases, the overall impact on profits is immense.

How much of the problem is down to the lack of interoperability?
In 2007 McGraw-Hill Construction produced a report titled ‘Interoperability in the Construction Industry’. Using data from a comprehensive sample of construction businesses, the following results were published:

• On average, 3.1% of project costs were related to the non-interoperability of software;
• Engineers reported the biggest impact with 4% of project cost, whilst owners estimated 2.5%;
• Manual re-entering of data ranked as the biggest single problem, with 69% of those surveyed reporting this activity as the main cost;

How can interoperability help?
From a purely technological perspective, interoperability can be defined as the ability to communicate electronic data effectively without the need for human input.

However, from a business perspective, interoperability is a cultural rather than a technological requirement. In this sense a more meaningful definition for interoperability is the ability to implement and manage collaboration between project team members.

Interoperability within disciplines is advancing. Multiple design data is shared and integrated into a single environment to improve collaboration. This eliminates most of the errors that traditional processes cannot even identify.

In a wider context, the ability to integrate multiple disciplines such as design, cost, planning and facilities management into a collaborative environment is the logical next step.

Who is David Jellings?
David Jellings is a professional engineer, with 30 years experience of business process re-engineering. He is currently working with buildingSMART ME to establish its internationally acclaimed standards for interoperability in the Middle East and North Africa region.