A CDE ECOSYSTEM FOR THE ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION (AECO) SECTOR

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) workflows are increasingly managed by multiple Common Data Environments (CDE) which effectively comprise distributed sources of truth. However, interoperability of the AECO ecosystem is constrained by normative contractual relationships and by technical incompatibilities between systems and applications. Our aim is to improve interoperability in the AECO sector by introducing a system of systems (SoS) approach - a CDE ecosystem that combines standards-based messaging services with API adapters to enable object-based exchanges of information. Our research design has evolved over the past five years through literature reviews, fieldwork with industry partners, and implementation of a proof-of-concept CDE ecosystem. Engagement with AECO industry partners GHD and DBM Vircon focused research design and helped refine the research question. This paper also leverages prior research by the authors to improve interoperability in the process industry. CDE ecosystem benefits which support the AECO sector’s complex interactions and distributed organisational workflows include: vendor-agnosticism, allowing organisations to choose their preferred or specialised software tools; fine-grained transactions, which anticipate IFC5 inter-sector (buildings and infrastructure) interoperability; connectivity across multiple systems; event-driven, timely and reliable, many-to-many messaging services.