I mentioned in my last blog post about the ThinkBIM #GreenBIM conference on April 1st that Janet Beckett led a very useful discussion round table about Product Data Templates (PDTs).
She also produced two comparison workflow charts which she had put together whilst trying to understand how the specification, construction and commissioning process for M&E Building Services Equipment happens, and how it might happen with PDTs. Janet has given me permission to reproduce these two charts here:
Without PDTs – what Janet does now
Click the image above for a larger version or Download a PDF of this workflow chart here.
With PDTs – what Janet could do
Click the image above for a larger version or Download a PDF of this workflow chart here.
Note: Some might ask why am I blogging about BIM on a website for a social media consultancy? Well BIM is about information and communication in the construction industry, and I help construction industry people use social media to share information and communicate… For some strange reason similar challenges face the implementation of both phenomena. Don’t you agree?
Where is the saving?
Of course its not just Janet who is saving time here. I can see on the ‘without’ diagram at least four separate data entry phases, which doesn’t include the original one the manufacturer could do. Each of those is a duplication, as well as being criminal. After all, data entry is mind-numbingly boring, but not as boring as wading through brochures and product information trying to find out things that any sane person would make easy to find.
I don’t think this is an issue of ‘Level of Detail’ (or even ‘Level of Definition’ which Casey Rutland mentions in his post about the BIM Toolkit here). Its about duplication of data entry, when all that data already exists.
So my questions are:
If the data is already there, why is anyone having to wade through brochures and documents several times during the process, instead of being able to see it all in a simple spreadsheet?
and
What’s your argument against Product Data Templates, and their outcome, Product Data Sheets? Janet said at the time that even if we didn’t bother with BIM, she can still see the case for them.
Fire away…
By the way, you can read Janet’s blog here and talk to her on Twitter here.
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