CAD Standardisation in the Construction Industry - a Process View, Automation in Construction, Vol 19, No

PERSONAL VERSION This is a so-called personal version (author's manuscript as accepted for publishing after the review process but prior to final layout and copyediting) of the article Björk, Bo-Christer and Laakso, Mikael. 2010, CAD standardisation in the construction industry - a process view, Automation in Construction, Vol 19, No. 4, pp. 398-406 Readers are kindly asked to use the official publication in references CAD standardisation in the construction industry – a process view Bo-Christer Björk & Mikael Laakso Hanken School of Economics, Arkadiankatu 22, PO Box 479, 00101 Helsinki, Finland Abstract There has been a demand for uniform CAD standards in the construction industry ever since the large-scale introduction of computer aided design systems in the late 1980s. While some standards have been widely adopted without much formal effort, other standards have failed to gain support even though considerable resources have been allocated for the purpose. Establishing a standard concerning building information modeling has been one particularly active area of industry development and scientific interest within recent years. In this paper, four different standards are discussed as cases: the IGES and DXF/DWG standards for representing the graphics in 2D drawings, the ISO 13567 standard for the structuring of building information on layers, and the IFC standard for building product models. Based on a literature study combined with two qualitative interview studies with domain experts, a process model is proposed to describe and interpret the contrasting histories of past CAD standardisation processes. Keywords: standardisation process, computer aided design, building information modelling, industry foundation classes 1. Introduction enable the seamless communication Standards provide an essential ingredient between computers and software to the ubiquitous use of IT in everyday life applications in a world-wide network. and business. The fundamental Internet Standardisation processes have received and web protocols provide a good example relatively little attention within the of established interoperability standards. research community despite the Numerous formal and de facto standards tremendous importance of standards in modern society. Only recently has IT 1 PERSONAL VERSION standardisation started to emerge as a international standard for CAD layering, research field of its own [1,2]. the ISO 13567, was defined in 1997 to harmonise the incompatible policies that Standardisation has always played a crucial had developed locally over time [4,5]. The role in the construction industry. Examples IFC file format for transfer of complete include: technical standards which enable building information models has endured parts to fit together, classification one of the most lengthy standardisation standards which facilitate quantity takeoff, processes within construction IT, however, cost estimation, and the compilation of it has still not managed to establish its searchable information databases. place in industry practice outside small Classification of functional building pilot projects [6]. elements (e.g. doors, windows, slabs etc.) is a particularly interesting parallel because Previously published articles have mostly it illustrates the difficulty of international been narrow in scope, focusing primarily standardisation without even bringing IT on individual standards in-depth, or into the mix; when slightly different reporting individual cases of standard national implementations have emerged implementation [7,8,9]. This study they have ultimately resulted in lock-in attempts to build a process framework for situations when incompatible standards standardisation, based on standardisation have clashed. experiences within the construction industry by taking a closer look at the The recent widespread integration of IT in processes of several already established construction makes use of several already and emerging standards. Such a framework existing standards, as the ones described would probably be helpful for above, but has also created the need for standardisation work within construction, new types of standards. This particularly but also other communities heavily concerns the description of a building in dependent on standardisation of IT for digital form. Human experts and even lay increasing interoperability. people can read drawings and interpret them, despite minor ambiguities. However, 2. IT Standardisation if software applications attempt to access data created by other applications, the data 2.1 General theory and needs to be formatted according to concepts common specifications in order to be of Terms regarding standards and any use at all. For the transfer of graphical standardisation have been used with some elements between different CAD systems, ambiguity in past literature, however, a the neutral standard IGES was developed firmer typology has gradually started to around 1980 [3], but in practice DWG, take form [10], which will also be used which is the native format of leading CAD throughout this study. vendor Autodesk, has become the de facto transfer standard when exporting and The word ‘standard’ is defined as follows: importing data from other CAD systems. For earlier generations of building ”A standard is an approved specification descriptions, or more precisely 2D CAD of a limited set of solutions to actual or systems, the layering approach combined potential matching problems, prepared for with standards for how graphics are the benefits of the party or parties exchanged greatly facilitated data sharing. involved, balancing their needs, and During the late 1980s numerous layer intended and expected to be used standards evolved within CAD user groups, repeatedly or continuously, during a and in some cases, on national levels. An certain period, by a substantial number of 2 PERSONAL VERSION the parties for whom they are meant.” (De ISO standard long after gaining its de facto Vries, 1999, p. 15) [11] status, in July 2008 [12]. Some formal standards have become very successful, Compared to many other definitions to be but there are also numerous which have found in the literature, this definition had no impact on the market. De facto provides an appropriate level of freedom standards are by definition successful. The for what kind of standards can be defined labels for the different processes have by its description without making it non- therefore no relation to the actual success descriptive [10]. Regarding scope and of the standard, they merely make it easier focus, this study deals with compatibility to compare and analyze the different standards, which is often the case when IT means by which standards are developed standards are concerned. These types of and establish their position the marketplace. standards are sometimes also referred to as functional standards [10]. Perhaps Analysing the stages a standard goes implicitly implied but certainly good to through on its path to the marketplace is an clarify is that standards in this category are important part of the IT standardisation usually international standards with literature. There have been some variations network externalities. in the stages suggested so far, however, most of the stages are agreed upon by Standardisation, which is the process of a researchers [13]. Variations are mostly due specification becoming widely used and to differences in purpose, typology, and accepted for its purpose by its users, is properties of particular standards analysed. ultimately achieved either through a formal, Generic stages in the progression of a semi-formal, or de facto process [10]. standard have been identified, which Formal and semiformal standards are the include: requirements definition, result of committee work, often involving development, agreement, marketing, lengthy negotiations and compromises deployment by vendors, and acceptance by between the interests of different end users. If any of these stages would stakeholders. Examples of this type of happen to fail during the standardisation standards include the building element process, the whole process fails. classification systems in use in many Furthermore, a long incubation time for a countries and EDIFACT messages standard may have harmful consequences developed for electronic procurement of on the marketing and deployment stages construction materials. The degree of [14]. formality involved depends on the status of the organisation defining the standard, Some researchers have noted that ranging from the International Standards analysing standardisation as a linear Organisation through national process omits important stages which standardisation organisations to different heavily shape the final product. A linear sorts of industry consortia. De facto model is not representative of how most standards arise through a Darwinian standard setting organisations function due selection process between competing to the lack of a feedback and refinement standards on the market, gaining support mechanism. Through this development, by becoming the preferred choice of the different models for the life cycle of users. A good example of a de facto standards have emerged [13,14,15]. Eva standard is the widespread adoption of the Söderström (2004) [13] generalised seven PDF format for document exchange on the published standard life cycle models into web; the platform-independent portable one core model in a recent literature review, document format was launched by Adobe of which the main

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