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Written by Andrew Stolworthy, Director of Product and Market Development in SFS Group Fastening Technology Ltd.
Could the modern construction industry function without data storage? It certainly couldn't function safely.
How would you choose construction products if you didn't know how they would perform? How would you communicate what you want from a building, and then how would you know whether it was delivering what you wanted?
Thankfully, the construction industry does have data. It's possible to know how construction products perform, and it's possible to specify and measure building performance characteristics. The industry therefore can function. But is it functioning as well as it could do?
What if the collection, processing and communication of data was better? What if all the data that we use ever day, was structured?
Part 3 of the Building a Safer Future final report, essentially asked this question as part of Dame Judith Hackitt's independent review of Building Regulations. It identified how product performance information is often available digitally, but cannot be processed electronically. Efforts to compare 'as designed' with 'as built', or to update project planning tools, are therefore hindered.
Data takes many forms in the course of manufacturing construction products, and designing, specifying and constructing buildings. All of the parties involved - from clients to architects to consultants to product manufacturers - communicate data in a variety of formats, and process to through different platforms.
When a manufacturer produces a construction product, they test its performance and record the results. They produce brochures and populate their website with details of the product. They might also pay to be listed in a product directory, in order to give specifiers another way to find them.
To comply with national and international standards, or simply to give the marketplace further assurances, the manufacturer might also work with independent third-parties. The third-parties carry out further testing of the product, formally assess the testing done by the manufacturer, then issue certification confirming the details of their assessment.
Designers, specifiers and consultants can interact with the product manufacturer's data at any and all of these junctures. They might see a product listing in a directory, download an independent certificate for further information, then reach out to the manufacturer directly for calculations or project support.
Design decisions and building performance parameters are founded on these interactions.
As proposals become more detailed and refined, consultants and engineers come on board to work on specialist areas of design. They take the information used by the designer/specifier to develop their own work or maybe they contact the manufacturer directly for further support.
We could cite countless other examples of how data is used throughout the construction industry. Just in this broad snapshot, you will recognise familiar situations - because everything we've described is perfectly normal. For the most part, it's how the construction industry operates everyday.
Another familiar aspect to everything we've just described is the digital nature of how data is presented and processed.
Brochures and certificates are downloaded rather than printed. Architectural practices no longer have dedicated libraries for product literature or copies of product directories on desks; Google searches are often the first port f call when looking for a product to solve a certain problem.
And of course, there are BIM objectives. Many product manufacturers have invested significant sums of money in having digital files created that give designers and specifiers a digital representation of their product, together with data about the product.
As normal as all of this sounds, there is a significant - but not necessarily very obvious - problem. Everything is digital, but it is not truly digitised. The construction industry has a real issues when it comes to genuine digitisation.
Everything links to everything else, but nothing is actually connected. Reread the examples described above, and you can start to see how, with each step away from the point of manufacture, you become further removed from the original data.
Manual processes usually underpin the translation of test data to datasheets, brochures, online directories and BIM object files. If something changes in the product's manufacture and subsequent performance, only the manufacturer's record changes. None of the other sources of that information change along with it.
As a result, different information sources updated at different times can easily present different data for the same product. That doesn't help designers and specifiers to make informed decisions about building performance and safety. How do they know what is the correct data to use?
The primary aim of structured data is to create a single information source with 'true' data. Other information sources then connect to this single source of truth, and can be updated in real time if and when declared product characteristics change.
If making such a system reality sounds too complex or far off, it's worth reflecting that people already routinely request data in structured formats, often without realising it. At SFS, subcontractors ask us to complete data templates with product information that a main contractor has requested. We're able to do this quickly, easily and accurately thanks to having structured data in place.
And wider implementation of structured data across the construction really isn't far off. It is coming, and construction product manufacturers need to be making preparations and looking at how they organise, manage and communicate the data about their products.
The next blog post, in this series, looks at why structured data is coming. Why is it so necessary to change the status quo, and what makes structured data so important to the construction industry?
This post has begun to suggest some of the benefits that structured data stands to offer. In addition, there will be uses for structured data that we don't yet know about or understand.
What if the way data is collected, processed and communicated was better? What if, indeed. Just begin to imagine what the construction industry could achieve.
Read the other posts in this series in the MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) section of the SFS Talks blog.
For construction product manufacturers to digitise their existing product data, means taking disconnected and analogue information sources and connecting them into a single useable digital resource. By contrast, digitalisation is the way the business goes n to use its data - for example, in an ecommerce platform.
Structured Data - Part 1:
What is structured data?
Could the modern construction industry function without data storage? It certainly couldn't function safely.
How would you choose construction products if you didn't know how they would perform? How would you communicate what you want from a building, and then how would you know whether it was delivering what you wanted?
Thankfully, the construction industry does have data. It's possible to know how construction products perform, and it's possible to specify and measure building performance characteristics. The industry therefore can function. But is it functioning as well as it could do?
What if the collection, processing and communication of data was better? What if all the data that we use ever day, was structured?
Key Takeaways
- Everyday construction industry activities are often hindered because data cannot be processed electronically, even though it is available digitally
- Sharing and downloading product data in different locations, via different formats, and with different parties, takes it further from the original manufacturer source
- Different information sources updated at different times can easily present different data for the same product - so what is the correct data to use?
How is data used in the construction industry?
Part 3 of the Building a Safer Future final report, essentially asked this question as part of Dame Judith Hackitt's independent review of Building Regulations. It identified how product performance information is often available digitally, but cannot be processed electronically. Efforts to compare 'as designed' with 'as built', or to update project planning tools, are therefore hindered.
Data takes many forms in the course of manufacturing construction products, and designing, specifying and constructing buildings. All of the parties involved - from clients to architects to consultants to product manufacturers - communicate data in a variety of formats, and process to through different platforms.
When a manufacturer produces a construction product, they test its performance and record the results. They produce brochures and populate their website with details of the product. They might also pay to be listed in a product directory, in order to give specifiers another way to find them.
To comply with national and international standards, or simply to give the marketplace further assurances, the manufacturer might also work with independent third-parties. The third-parties carry out further testing of the product, formally assess the testing done by the manufacturer, then issue certification confirming the details of their assessment.
Designers, specifiers and consultants can interact with the product manufacturer's data at any and all of these junctures. They might see a product listing in a directory, download an independent certificate for further information, then reach out to the manufacturer directly for calculations or project support.
Design decisions and building performance parameters are founded on these interactions.
As proposals become more detailed and refined, consultants and engineers come on board to work on specialist areas of design. They take the information used by the designer/specifier to develop their own work or maybe they contact the manufacturer directly for further support.
We could cite countless other examples of how data is used throughout the construction industry. Just in this broad snapshot, you will recognise familiar situations - because everything we've described is perfectly normal. For the most part, it's how the construction industry operates everyday.
What is the problem with product data in construction?
Another familiar aspect to everything we've just described is the digital nature of how data is presented and processed.
Brochures and certificates are downloaded rather than printed. Architectural practices no longer have dedicated libraries for product literature or copies of product directories on desks; Google searches are often the first port f call when looking for a product to solve a certain problem.
And of course, there are BIM objectives. Many product manufacturers have invested significant sums of money in having digital files created that give designers and specifiers a digital representation of their product, together with data about the product.
As normal as all of this sounds, there is a significant - but not necessarily very obvious - problem. Everything is digital, but it is not truly digitised. The construction industry has a real issues when it comes to genuine digitisation.
Everything links to everything else, but nothing is actually connected. Reread the examples described above, and you can start to see how, with each step away from the point of manufacture, you become further removed from the original data.
Manual processes usually underpin the translation of test data to datasheets, brochures, online directories and BIM object files. If something changes in the product's manufacture and subsequent performance, only the manufacturer's record changes. None of the other sources of that information change along with it.
As a result, different information sources updated at different times can easily present different data for the same product. That doesn't help designers and specifiers to make informed decisions about building performance and safety. How do they know what is the correct data to use?
Summary: Creating a 'single source of truth' using structured data
The primary aim of structured data is to create a single information source with 'true' data. Other information sources then connect to this single source of truth, and can be updated in real time if and when declared product characteristics change.
If making such a system reality sounds too complex or far off, it's worth reflecting that people already routinely request data in structured formats, often without realising it. At SFS, subcontractors ask us to complete data templates with product information that a main contractor has requested. We're able to do this quickly, easily and accurately thanks to having structured data in place.
And wider implementation of structured data across the construction really isn't far off. It is coming, and construction product manufacturers need to be making preparations and looking at how they organise, manage and communicate the data about their products.
The next blog post, in this series, looks at why structured data is coming. Why is it so necessary to change the status quo, and what makes structured data so important to the construction industry?
This post has begun to suggest some of the benefits that structured data stands to offer. In addition, there will be uses for structured data that we don't yet know about or understand.
What if the way data is collected, processed and communicated was better? What if, indeed. Just begin to imagine what the construction industry could achieve.
Read the other posts in this series in the MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) section of the SFS Talks blog.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How is digitisation of product data different from digitalisation?For construction product manufacturers to digitise their existing product data, means taking disconnected and analogue information sources and connecting them into a single useable digital resource. By contrast, digitalisation is the way the business goes n to use its data - for example, in an ecommerce platform.
