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Data Management In The Digital Twin Of The Building

Dear TeamCAD website visitors,

We continue to cover interesting topics related to the BIM workflow. As I announced in my previous article, "Digital Twins In The Construction Industry", in this article, I am going to cover an exciting topic about data management in digital twins.

In the previous two articles, "What are digital twins" and "Digital twins in the construction industry", I tried to explain in the best possible way what digital twins are in a broad sense, what is their potential, in what areas they can be used and make significant savings and finally - what digital twin represents and what its value is, whether it is about building project or the already constructed building. In this article, I have the intention to complete the story of digital twins and to give you an idea of how to manage data after the creation of a building digital twin in the best way.

Let's start with the assumption that the investor, owner, user of the facility, and / or facility manager is interested in creating a digital twin model of the building he is using, as well as interested in monitoring, forecasting and managing the facility's maintenance and life cycle costs. For such a thing he needs:

The contract and the BIM Execution Plan, which clearly defines the obligations of the investor and the legal entity that will create and maintain the digital twin model. I am going to give more details on this topic below;
BIM as built model, which reflects a perfect, as built copy of the constructed building and the equipment built into it (digital twin model);
A digital twin model containing parameters valuable for monitoring the life cycle of a building and the equipment built into it;
Permanent maintenance of the geometry and parameters of the digital twin model after each intervention on the building and the equipment built into it;
Generation and labeling of elements QR codes in a building or part of equipment over which an intervention is performed and labeling with an identical QR code of an identical element in a digital twin model to coordinate real-world building data and its digital twin model in the digital world.

The Building’s Digital Twin Creating and Maintenance Contract and BIM Execution Plan

The primary role of the building’s digital twin creating and maintenance contract is to clearly define the rights and obligations of the building user on the one hand and the company that will be engaged in the creation and maintenance of the digital twin on the other. It turned out very useful to include in the creating and maintenance contract a company that will provide maintenance services for the constructed facility and the equipment built into it, i.e., facility manager. This greatly minimizes the possibility of communication problems on the relation building user - facility manager - maintaining the digital twin of the building.

Namely, in contracts that clearly define the rights and obligations between the interested legal entities engaged in the maintenance of the existing building, it is crucial to define clearly and unambiguously the procedures from the appearance of the need for intervention on the building to noting it in the digital twin model, i.e., to update it.

Digital Twins Creation and Maintenance Contract

BIM Execution Plan, in addition to the building’s digital twin creating and maintenance contract, represents a document which has the power of the contract and it is written in the form of contract addition where it is defined:

Methodology for creating building digital twin model;
Level of Detail (LOD) i.e., the level of detail of the geometry of each type of graphic element within the digital twin model;
Elements of the building and equipment that will be subject to processing in the digital building twin model database;
The parameters in the digital twin model that will be assigned to the graphic elements of the model to track them in terms of maintenance costs and the life cycle of the facility and the equipment built into it;
The manner of issuing orders and labeling for intervention on the constructed facility;
A way to update the digital twin and the data itself in the building database after the intervention;
Documenting all changes made to the building and the equipment built into it in the digital twin model, not only by changing the geometry of the digital twin model, but also establishing a link between the element in the digital twin model that was the subject of the intervention and the attachments, invoice scans, textual description of the work and how to make changes, as well as other relevant documentation related to that element in the digital twin model.

BIM Execution Plan

In the end, it is essential to note in the contract that it is desirable to define the costs of maintaining a digital twin model. In most cases, the item in the maintenance contract involves paying by the facility user after an intervention order is issued, which is a less favorable option for the user. The second most common option is the annual subscription of the facility user to a company that is contractually obliged to update the model and document any changes to the digital twin model after each order and intervention.

Creating Of The Digital Twin Of The Building

To understand how digital twin data of the building is managed, I must indicate to you that the methodology for generating data is not the same for the digital twin that is the subject of the project and the digital twin that is generated based on data from the as built project if the owner or user of the building has it. Even more complicated is the situation where the owner or user of the building does not own the as built project, so before creating a digital twin, it is necessary to perform a building observation, which requires a lot of manual and not so intellectual work. Finally, there is the possibility of laser scanning of an existing object. Still, the purpose of the generated point-cloud 3D model of a digital twin of an existing building is highly questionable from a BIM point of view.

Digital Twin Model illustration

Let’s consider these four cases:

The digital twin model generated during the BIM workflow is essentially a model generated after the building construction and can be considered as an as built project. As I mentioned in the previous article, if the investor adequately hired his BIM manager, who constantly checked the coordination of the constructed building with the digital as built model, it can be said that with certain, not so large additional works on the digital as built model, the investor can easily have the digital twin model;
Digital twin model generated from the as built project using 2D drawings and additional project documentation is a far more complicated case since it requires a lot of BIM modeling, assigning adequate parameters to the elements in the digital twin and linking those parameters to a database that documents all future repairs and works on the facility. I must mention that the responsibility for the validity of the drawings, as well as possible disagreements between the drawings of the as built project and the real constructed building, is the responsibility of the facility’s owner or user and that he is obliged to document all differences to the company engaged in the development of a digital twin model of that facility. To put it simply, any discrepancy between the current state of the facility concerning the as built project is the sole responsibility of the facility’s owner or user. Unless the user of the facility has documented the difference between the constructed facility and the as built project, the digital twin model cannot be described as a mistake by the company engaged in the digital twin creation.
The digital twin model generated from the observation of the constructed building involves the engagement of a company or individuals who will record the complete facility and document that recording in a format acceptable to the company engaged in the creation of the digital twin model of the constructed building. The process itself places much responsibility on the company or individuals hired for observation of an as built facility. It should be borne in mind that such a scenario can only be imagined in buildings that were built in the distant past. Therefore, the propensity to malfunction and repairs is significantly higher than the recently constructed facilities whose owners or users own the as built project.
The digital twin model generated from laser scanning is a highly debatable digital twin model format. In my opinion, it cannot be considered an adequate model of a facility’s digital twin. It provides a visually acceptable model, where its elements can get some attributes through their labeling. The problem with the digital twin models thus generated is that the elements in that model are not intelligent and do not know whether they are a column, wall, or diffuser, so their systematization and data structuring in such models is challenging to achieve and very unreliable.

Issue an order for intervention using the digital twin model on the BIM 360 cloud platform

Does it seem too futuristic for you, as the facility’s owner or user, to order the maintenance technician of your facility to go to a specific location of your facility, identify the element on which to intervene, and then follow the instructions given to you by voice or text message to his smartphone, all from a digital twin model found on the BIM 360 cloud platform?

BIM 360 Cloud platform

This technology is possible and easily applicable. What is particularly fascinating is that when generating a ticket for a particular intervention, a QR Code or Unique ID number is automatically generated and assigned on the one hand to the element of the facility over which was intervened and, on the other, to an identical element in the digital twin model stored in the BIM 360. A once generated QR Code or Unique ID assigned to a specific element in a facility and an identical element in the facility's digital twin model allows you to track all interventions and history of all interventions on one or more elements in the facility and the facility's digital twin model.

BIM 360 and Digital Twin

More description of digital twin model maintenance in the BIM 360 cloud service, you can find on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmwEm0j9VgY

Issuing a Ticket Using the Digital Twin Model in BIM 360 and Database Related to the Digital Twin Model

If you have read the text in the previous subtitle and watched the BIM 360 Ops video, I believe you are fascinated with how easily any change made to a real-world facility and a digital twin model in the digital world can be documented. In a very similar way, it is possible to create a ticket and monitor its implementation using databases and specific procedures. What is very convenient about databases is that it is possible to look at all interventions that have happened in the past, but also to write tickets that will be executed in the future based on the life cycle data of a a particular element in an existing facility and a digital twin model of an existing facility. Tracking incoming and previous costs with the help of a database, whether it is regular work, renovations, repairs, upgrades, or adaptation of a building to new regulations, allows the facility user the opportunity to view all the life cycle costs of the building. Doing so will significantly enable him to optimize his finances and provide significant savings.

BIM 360

Which data should the digital twin model contain?

The most straightforward answer to this question is - the building's digital twin model should contain all of the data that is valuable to the facility user and the facility manager for the effective maintenance of the constructed facility and the equipment built into it. Practically, there are no restrictions on the parameters of the digital twin model, so it can be said that the user, the facility manager and the company in charge of creating and maintaining the digital twin model in the BIM Execution Plan define all the parameters that are valuable primarily to the facility user.

However, it proved to be that the data that are most often the default parameters in the digital twin model are related to the life cycle costs of certain elements of the facility and equipment, different parameters that can provide a quick response regarding the cost of any changes to the facility in terms of upgrading, adaptation or change of purpose of the facility or part thereof and finally, the parameters of the elements that will signal incoming regular construction work on the maintenance of the facility and the regular replacement of equipment or parts of equipment by the specifications of their manufacturers.

It should be added that it is possible to install different sensors in a facility, which continuously monitor and collect data during the life cycle and the facility exploitation, as well as the equipment built into it, but this requires the participation of machine learning and Internet of Things, for valid data processing, which is a vast topic and I am going to explain that workflow in one of the following articles.

Data That The Digital Twin Can Contain

At the very end, I would like to make a few observations and conclusions about digital twin technologies. The capabilities of modern technologies are increasing, and therefore the benefits that digital tools provide us with data processing, whether generated by human labor, automation tools or machine learning, are increasingly apparent. Essentially, any real-world flaws can be remedied in digital models, including the digital twin model of a building. The advantage of a digital model of a building is that its elements can be assigned much more readily available data than the elements of the building in the real world.

It should be borne in mind that the use of digital maintenance technologies for an existing facility, in addition to better communication between the facility manager and facility users, also improves communication and documentation within the facility management team. The result is transparency in the maintenance work of the constructed facility, as well as significant savings by reducing the number of participants in the process of issuing a ticket, during the intervention itself, and finally documenting the ticket execution for any intervention at the existing facility.

I hope you found the articles about digital twins interesting ("What Are The Digital Twins?" and "Digital Twins In The Construction Industry"). With this article, I would also conclude a series of articles on digital twin technology and announce the following text "What Is BEP And What Should It Contain".

I would also like to announce a webinar on digital twin technology, which you will be notified in a timely manner.

If you have any questions, comments, or want to know more about the topic I covered in "Data Management In The Digital Twin Of The Building", please contact TeamCAD, who will be happy to provide you with additional information.

Also, if you need any help in designing the process of how to get a digital twin model, or you need to create a digital twin model yourself, TeamCAD will be happy to support you.

Until next time,
Predrag Jovanović

Previous articles on the similar topic:

"Digital Twins In The Construction Industry"

"What Are The Digital Twins?"

"Small But Big Savings in The BIM Workflow - Examples"

"BIM Workflow Automation"

"Advanced BIM data management"

Digital Twins In The Construction Industry

Dear TeamCAD website visitors,

We continue to cover interesting topics related to the BIM workflow and Digital Twins. As I announced in my previous article, "What Are The Digital Twins", in this article, I am going to cover an exciting topic about digital twins in the construction industry.

For the beginning of the text, one interesting question - do you know when and how digital twinning technology was developed? I think the answer will amuse you - the technology of creating a digital twin model, in the format we know today, which is an existing or designed object and an identical copy of the object in digital format, was created in 2002 and was first used in astronomy by NASA for the production or procurement of various components and systems from different suppliers.

Digital twin models have been used primarily to calculate the life cycle of components, systems, and various assemblies and structures after installation, production, and construction. Primarily, digital twins were used to estimate the cost of maintaining different components, systems, circuits, and buildings by making various simulations of phenomena and processes that would occur on existing objects using their digital format replicas. I assume that you have concluded that by accessing a digital replica of an existing building, component or system and simulating the various real-world impacts on them we come to the information on all aspects and causes of the life cycle costs of a particular object, component, or systems in a real environment and in the real-world impacts of different phenomena that interact with an building, component, or system in a much cheaper way.

After having fun with the interesting facts in the introductory part of the article and also learning the meaning of digital twin models, I want to focus on the very topic of this article, which is the purpose of digital twin models in the construction industry.

For a start, we must bear in mind that we have more participants in the building construction, namely the designer, contractor, and investor. Depending on the role in the project process, I am sure that you have in mind that their interests may not be identical when it comes to designing a digital twin.

The interests of the designer and contractor in designing the digital twin in the design process are mainly related to the optimization of their own work. They have no primary interest in passing on the digital twin model of the constructed building to the investor after completing the project and building construction, i.e., something like that represents an additional cost to them.

On the other hand, the investor should be very interested in getting a digital twin model of the finished building for reasons that I will list below.

Digitalni blizanci ilustracija

Unfortunately, it often happens that the investor does not require the making of a digital twin model of the constructed building at the end of the design process. Most often, he does not realize its value and the potential savings in operating costs and life cycle costs of the built facility, which it will bring to the investor, the owner of the facility, the user of the building or facility manager. Also, a common cause for the absence of a digital twin model of a built facility is a certain skepticism with the investor, owner, or user of the facility or facility manager.

Inženjer na gradilištu

The most common questions I hear in discussions about the need to build digital twin models in the construction industry are:

Why do I need a digital twin model of a building, if I have a construction stage project?
Why do I need a digital twin model of a building, if I have an as built project?
What additional value does the digital twin model give me?
How to manage the project process so that the investor will eventually get a cheap but quality digital twin model?
Does it make sense to create a digital twin model if the building is already built?
What to do with a digital model of a digital twin after making and purchasing it?

Šta uraditi sa modelom digitalnog blizanca?

Before giving detailed answers to each of the questions asked by the investor, the owner, the user, or the facility manager, the basic question is asked - who should fund the creation of the digital twin model of the facility? It is not grateful to go into this dilemma from this position and to advise who should finance the digital twin model, as this may depend on the contractual obligations between the investor, the owner, the user, and the facility manager.

However, I am going to be free to suggest to the investor that, in the case of the construction of a brand new building, if it has a capable BIM manager who manages the BIM project process from the start of the project to the completion of the construction, it can have significant financial benefits if he gets the digital twin model at the end of the project. He can accomplish this by "refining" the BIM model of the construction stage project, which he could then hand over or sell to the owner, user, or facility manager. On the other hand, when it comes to creating a digital twin model of an existing building, it seems most logical to me that the costs of making the digital twin model should be taken over by the person who manages the life cycle and pays for the maintenance costs of the building and its equipment, which is usually the owner or user of a facility.

To simplify the terminology and relations between the investor, the owner of the building, the user of the building and the facility manager, below, I will look at the issue of the need to design a digital twin of the building through the prism of the user of the facility, since the user is the one who will pay the costs of operating the facility, it’s life cycle costs and the equipment in it, and the one should be most interested in the design and procurement of a digital twin model of the facility.

Troškovi operativnog korišćenja objekta i životnog ciklusa

Why Do I Need A Digital Twin Model Of A Building, If I Have A Construction Stage Project?

By definition, the construction stage project is a detailed design of the main design with all the necessary details defined for the project to be constructed. The problem with the construction stage project is that, in practice, the built facility is almost always significantly different from the solution given in the construction stage project for various justified or unjustified reasons, which the designer and contractor did not consider when designing the construction stage project.

Therefore, we can conclude that a construction stage project cannot give an entirely exact digital or paper 2D replica of the completed state of a newly constructed building.

When considering building structures that were built before the advent of digital twin model technology, this puts the facility user in a worse position, since from the 2D drawings on the paper sheets he is not able to grasp every detail of the building that he uses or in an orderly fashion track the changes, maintenance and life cycle costs of each element in the building. Also, it is almost impossible to imagine that the contractor was so conscientious during construction that everything, even the slightest deviation from the construction stage project, was documented by an additional graphic revision.

Why Do I Need A Digital Twin Model Of A Building, If I Have An As Built Project?

To better address this issue, it is best to look at the very definition of an as built project.
"The as built project is being made to obtain the use permit, use, and maintenance of the facility.
The as built project of a completed facility is a set of mutually synced projects showing all the details of the constructed facility necessary to determine its suitability for use.

https://www.paragraf.rs/propisi/pravilnik-o-sadrzini-nacinu-i-postupku-izrade-i-nacinu-vrsenja-kontrole-tehnicke-dokumentacije-prema-klasi-i-nameni-objekata.html

The as built project can be made for parts of the building which, in the opinion of the technical inspection committee, or following the technical documentation, represent the technical and technological unit and can be used as such independently, and for which the suitability for use is determined in accordance with the rulebook governing the technical inspection of facilities and for which a special use permit is issued. " (definition is taken from the site paragraf.rs from the Rulebook On The Content, Manner, and Procedure Of Preparation And Method Of Control Of Technical Documentation According To The Class And Purpose Of The Facility - Official Gazette RS number73/2019.

From the very definition, we can see that the as built project, whether in digital or paper format, somewhat considers the facility maintenance, but does not provide clear guidance on how to document the maintenance of the facility, how to assess the monthly, quarterly, annual life cycle costs of the facility and installed equipment. From a law point of view, it's enough to do an as built project that would document all deviations of the building from the construction stage project, which completely ignores the process of the complete life cycle of the building and the installed equipment.

What may be good about the overall story of an as built project is that in newly designed and constructed buildings and equipment, if the BIM workflow is implemented appropriately in all project stages, the BIM as built model can be taken as a starting model for development of a digital twin model of the building and the installed equipment. In simpler terms, adding attributes relevant to monitoring the operating life cycle cost of a facility to the BIM as built model is the most financially viable way to obtain a digital twin model of the construction facility and the equipment built into it. What precisely this means, I will explain in answer to the next question.

Najpovoljniji način za izradu modela digitalnog blizanca

What Additional Value Does The Digital Twin Model Give Me?

If we are talking about a BIM project, the simplest explanation for the difference between a BIM as built model and a digital twin model is that the BIM as built model provides static information about a built object, such as its geometry, equipment capacity, properties of used materials and equipment, etc. In contrast, the digital twin model contains dynamic data such as maintenance costs and the life cycle of all elements of a building and equipment installed, as well as elements that simulate various “real-world” impacts on them. The digital twin of a building and its built-in equipment enables the cost anticipation of each element during its life cycle. These costs can be predicted on a monthly, quarterly, yearly, or multi-year basis, which can provide valuable information to the investor or user of the facility to optimize and more effectively manage its own finance.

Zgrada digitalni blizanac

How To Manage The Project Process So That The Investor Will Eventually Get A Cheap But Quality Digital Twin Model?

Assuming we are talking about a BIM project, the most straightforward answer to the asked question is that the investor, during the preparation of all project phases, has in his team an experienced BIM manager (employed by the investor or hired as a BIM consultant), who will manage the BIM requirements in the interest of the investor during all stages of the BIM workflow. The starting document, which should also form part of the contract between the designer and the contractor with the investor, is called the "BIM Execution Plan", a BIM project execution plan, which manages the delivery of the BIM project at different stages of the project. This document, usually drafted by an investor, defines what BIM models need to contain at different stages of the BIM project process, protocols for names of varying BIM elements in discipline models to optimize and automate the BIM project process (naming convention), collision definitions for each of the stages of the BIM project process, the platform on which the BIM combined model will operate, the "level of detail" (LOD) of the discipline elements throughout all stages of the BIM project process and many other things.

I think it should be reiterated here that the process itself between the BIM as built model and the facility digital twin model should be an integral part of the BIM Execution Plan, since it is more than evident that something is in the investor's interest.

BIM Execution Plan

I am going to write about the BIM Execution Plan in detail in one of the following articles. The previous brief description of what the BIM Execution Plan should contain, I just wanted to give an idea of why the investor needed it. It seems logical that the ultimate goal of the investor should be to create a digital twin to use after the construction. An experienced BIM manager or BIM consultant can assist him greatly by developing a BIM Execution Plan and managing the complete BIM workflow.

Does It Make Sense To Create A Digital Twin Model If The Building Is Already Built?

I think there is much need for a digital twin model for an already built facility, and there are many reasons for this. The first and foremost reason is that as time goes on, every building and installation requires more money for maintenance, more frequent failures in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing installations. Also, every change in the building regulations involves specific works, and there are more of them as the building structure or equipment in it is older. With this in mind, it is almost impossible to see all the changes that have taken place over the years of using the building, and every user of the building is aware that there will be many more changes, alterations, replacements, and upgrades in the future.

The logical conclusion is that in order to consider the cost of maintaining a building, it is almost necessary to create a digital twin model of an existing building. Practically, there are no substantial differences in explaining why a digital twin model of an existing building is needed compared to the building being designed. In both cases, the essence of the digital twin model is to enable the facility user to view the life cycle costs of the facility and the installed equipment.

The only difference is that as time goes on, the cost of maintaining older buildings is increasing, so the digital twin model is very precious in assessing the cost-effectiveness of further investment in existing facilities and equipment built into it.

Da li ima smisla izgraditi model digitalnog blizanca?

What To Do With A Digital Model Of A Digital Twin After Making And Purchasing It?

The answer to the last question I am going to discuss in this article should be, at the same time, a recapitulation of everything we have learned about the need for digital twinning in the construction industry.

First and foremost, the purpose of developing a digital twin model in the construction industry is to obtain, in a digital format, and in a much cheaper way, a user of a facility about all aspects of the life cycle cost of a particular building, component or system in a real environment and the real effects of different phenomena that interact with a building, component, or system.

When a facility user purchases a digital twin model of a facility and built-in equipment, it would be best to do monthly, quarterly, annual, and multi-year cross-sections of building and equipment maintenance costs so that tenant can manage finances in the best possible way.

Any changes to the building itself or the equipment built into it must be updated in the digital twin model as well since future changes cannot be properly tracked nor can the costs of future maintenance work be monitored unless the digital twin model is a perfect digital copy of the building current state and the equipment built into it.

Upravljanje modelom digitalnog blizanca

And at the very end of the article, I will make a personal comment and my more free-standing view of the digital twin model in the construction industry. The digital twin model of a building and equipment built into it is essentially a BIM as built model, with added functionality that can be used for tracking the life cycle cost of the building and the equipment built into it. In order to maintain the status of a digital twin model of a facility, it is necessary that it is continuously updated and that all changes from the real - physical world - are transferred to the digital world, i.e., into the digital twin model of the existing building and the equipment built into it.

I would also like to conclude this article on digital twins in the construction industry and my view of how they can help the construction industry through cost optimization and better functionality, both for under construction facilities and already built facilities.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to announce my next article, "Data Management In The Digital Twin", in which, through the examples, I will try to show you the need to think for yourself about the need to design a digital twin of your building.

If you have any questions, comments, or want to know more about the topic I covered in "Digital Twins In The Construction Industry", please contact TeamCAD, who will be happy to provide you with additional information.