DELIVERY COORDINATION OF A SMART HOME

Onyema Udeze
Aug 31, 2018 · 11 min read

What differentiates the outcome of similar products is the set of back-end activities undertaken. There is a lot of parties involved in a typical building delivery process. This is no different for smart home delivery.
This edition summarizes the value chain of a smart home delivery company. The previous edition focused on the internal activities — Design Coordination. This edition focuses on the external activities — Delivery Coordination.

HOLISTIC

Recall that the delivery approach of a smart home is the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). This implies that the value chain is a unified process that integrates people, systems, business structures and practices. This optimizes project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency throughout the entire project life cycle.

DATA ANALYSES

Recall also that the Design Coordination of a smart home is a data generation process — via a single source of truth. The generated data guide the entire value chain of the smart home delivery company.
Deep analyses and insights from the data inform all the activities of the company. This is a direct benefit of the Integrated Approach.

EFFICIENCY

The bottom line of the IPD and the Analyses is for a more efficient process. During the BIM Planning and Facility Programming of the project, the peculiar goals for the project were defined. The entire activities of the value chain are channeled towards achieving those goals. The open information sharing and collaboration involved in the IPD improves efficiency.


THE KEY PLAYERS

The term Smart Home Delivery Company — as used here — implies that a company is responsible for the design/delivery of the smart homes. Nonetheless, there is a wide array of players that contribute to the eventual delivery. The company coordinates with these players through its value chain.
At the center is the Smart Home Delivery Company. On one side is the Manufacturers and Suppliers team. On the other side is the Client/Users team.

MANUFACTURERS/SUPPLIERS

The players at this end of the value chain fabricate and supply the Structural and Technological Components of the smart home. This also includes the product representatives and distributors. Coordination with these parties is started right from the design stage. This is to ensure that specifications and details are in synch.

DESIGN/DELIVERY COMPANY

The major activity of the smart home delivery company is Design Coordination. Thus, the core design team is comprised of Architects, Engineers (Structural, MEP), Programmers, Interior Designers, Cost Analysts, Project Managers and Specialty Consultants. Other members of the team include the Field Engineers, the Accounting/Inventory Staffs, and the Management Staffs.

CLENT/END USERS

This end of the value chain include the Owner, the Facility Manager, and the Occupants — if different from the owner. The entire coordination starts with the players here. This lasts through the life cycle of the smart home. The BIM Planning and Facility Programming is a discovery process of the players here. They are carried along through the entire design — to handover — process.


COMMON DATA ENVIRONMENT

A major feature of the Integrated Project Delivery approach is the open sharing of information. This is achieved through a single source of information — known as the CDE. This is the central repository of information, from which all parties collaboratively access information. This implies that the diverse tools involved in the IPD can access the right — up-to-date — information at all times. Defined rules determine the file naming convention, authors, and permissions.

CLOUD-BASED

A primary feature of a good CDE is being cloud-based. This is for diverse reasons. Firstly, a large amount of data is generated through the coordination activities. Thus, a cloud storage is both more secure and has more storage capacity. Secondly, cloud storage ensures accessibility to all parties at all times — without any downtime.
Typical examples are Viewpoint and Autodesk BIM 360 Design Suite.

CONTROLLED ACCESS

Not every information is needed by all parties. Some are sensitive, some others are unnecessary. To keep the process lean and to ensure security, a good CDE offers a folder-by-folder access/permissions definitions. When a party accesses the platform, s/he only gets to see the information s/he has access to. Permissions are defined by roles — can you view, edit, comment..?

UBIQUITOUS

A good CDE has multiple access interfaces. It can be viewed on the desktop, on mobile, tablet, web browser, dedicated apps etc.
Because the data are stored in the cloud, it saves small devices the processing challenges. This helps ensure that every party can access required information through the interface most convenient for them — at any time and anywhere.


PLANNING TOOLS

Every successful project begins with a plan. For smart home delivery, this begins with an execution plan. This was discussed in the previous two edition — The BIM Planning. Planning informs the later decisions in the entire value chain, as well as every other tool to be used. A core planning activity is Project Management. This entails such responsibilities as Cost, Time, Quality, Contract Administration, and Safety Management. There are dedicated tools for this; a good example is CoConstruct.

TIME, SCOPE & COST MANAGEMENT

For a successful planning and project management, the identified project goals must be defined — the scope. They must also be achieved within time and budget. A good planning/management tool helps to forecast the implications of any changes, on these primary disciplines. The timing is broken down into a Work Breakdown Structure spanning the entire execution timeline — in synch with the IE Worksheet.

RESOURCES

During BIM Planning, the supporting infrastructure to achieve the project gets defined. This includes the Facility Data Needs, the Technological Infrastructure Needs and the Human Resources. These resources span the entire length of the value chain. Thus, care must be taken to ensure every necessary resource is accounted for and integrated into the project plan.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

A very important element of the Execution Plan is the Quality Control strategy. Every party in the value chain is responsible for the quality control checks of their datasets. A confirmation document accompanies important deliverable submittals. This is then verified by the Quality Control team, mentioned in the previous edition — The Design Coordination


DESIGN TOOLS

Historically, building design has moved from the era of Documentation (CAD) to an era of Optimization (BIM), to an era of Connection (BIM+Cloud). Ultimately, this is leading us to the era of Generative Design. The impact on design tools is a web-based collaboration amongst all parties. The existing tools might not change but would add more generative/computational design features.
Examples of BIM-compliant design software include Autodesk Revit, Archicad, Navisworks, Infraworks, Robot Structural Analysis, Tekla Structures, Bentley MicroStation, Inventor Professional, CostX, Nastran, Synchro, Bluebeam etc.

WEB INTERFACE

Design tools started out as desktop-based. Over time, they leveraged the power of the cloud for more resource-intensive operations. Through the single source of truth residing in the CDE, the next-gen design tools would have a web interface. This is the aim of an ongoing project — Project Quantum by Autodesk. The aims are simple: Ubiquity, Accessibility, and Collaboration.

INTEROPERABLE

Information-sharing is a primary tenet of the IPD, and interoperability is the focus of the era of Connection mentioned earlier. Through the CDE, all the parties involved in the smart home design can access the information generated by other parties. This is because they are all synchronized to the single source of truth — the unified BIM Model.

GENERATIVE

Generative design is a reverse approach to design — begin with the end. This entails ‘scripting’ requirements into the design software, which in turn generates diverse options based on specified constraints. Thus, producing better designs, that might otherwise be inconceivable to the human mind — at a shorter period of time. This could as well be applied to just certain parts of the building, such as a complex facade.


FIELD MANAGEMENT TOOLS

The emergence of the connected BIM (the cloud) has narrowed the gap between a real building and the digital version — the design. The implication is that field management becomes a coordination and verification process — to ensure the upcoming building is at par with the design intents.
To ease information flow, field management tools have become mobile apps that have access to the CDE. An important element of field management is Reality Capture. These tools help report information in real-time.

AI ANALYSIS

A core feature of field management tools is Deep AI (Artificial Intelligence) Analyses. This gives actionable insights that otherwise could be expensive at a later stage. This usually comes in the form of visual reports. Analyses of field data go beyond field decisions to facility management and design decisions for future projects. A very great field management tool is onTarget.

MOBILE INTERFACE

Another important feature of a good field management tool is a mobile interface. Mobile apps leverage such features of the mobile phone as mobility, camera, internet etc. to synchronize with the CDE in real-time. Other notable field management apps are Smartvid.io, eSUB etc. These all integrate with BIM 360 Docs — which is referenced here as the Common Data Environment (CDE).

REALITY CAPTURE

There is no better way to validate field processes than using reality capture. Starting from existing conditions modeling at design conception to as-built documentation after construction. Reality capture has replaced traditional survey tools due to its improved efficiencies and ROI. Important field management tools that employ reality capture include SiteAware and HoloBuilder.


INVENTORY TOOLS

As mentioned earlier, the Manufacturer/Supply side of the value chain fabricate and supply the smart home components. By implication, the smart home delivery company operates a very lean inventory. The inventory tools synchronize with the design tools for quantity take-offs, specifications and estimates. These tools also help with requests management, order tracking, personnel management, record keeping etc.
Important tools here include Sigma Estimates, ManufactOn and Sage Timberline.

WORKS ORDER MANAGEMENT

A fundamental aspect of the inventory is order/requests management. This entails placing requests, assigning personnel and resources to the requests, tracking the request, and completing the request when done. For smart home delivery, this involves generating quantities and estimates from the design tools — via such tools as Sigma Estimates.

PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT

The next stage after successfully raising the works order is to make the purchase. For smart home delivery, this mostly entails coordination with the suppliers — whose data are synchronized via the inventory tools — e.g. ManufactOn. Just like the works order tool, these tools are synchronized with the CDE — e.g. BIM 360 Docs. Thus, a robust inventory tool performs all the tasks.

PARTS MANAGEMENT

On the supply of the smart home components — structural or technological — they have to be accounted for in the inventory. For an efficient and lean value chain, these components are supplied on an as-need basis. Thus, the inventory is just for record purposes and not for stocking — with such tools as Sage Timberline. More emphasis would be laid on this in the next edition.


BUSINESS MANAGEMENT TOOLS

The summary of this edition is that the value chain of a smart home delivery company can be broken down into five subsystems/units. Planning, Design, Field Management, Inventory and Administration.
It is obvious at this point that smart home delivery is design-oriented; hence, data-driven. Therefore, the business management tools cannot operate in isolation of the other subsystems discussed so far. It is only imperative — for a smooth value chain — to use all-in-one tools that integrate the entire processes together. A good example is CoConstruct.

THE BRAND

The intangible outcome of the entire value chain is the brand reputation. Thus, this goes beyond the logo, color theme, marketing and all. It is a direct outcome of the SHARED values and vision of the company. Nonetheless, there are popular branding tools out there such as Venngage, Canva etc. These tools help with storing and creating contents for the company — standard colors, fonts, pictures, logo etc.

THE TEAM

It takes the right team to coordinate the entire value chain — efficiently. However, recruiting and retaining the right skills go beyond tools. Smart home delivery is multi-disciplinary: Architects, Engineers, Programmers, Interior Designers, Cost Analysts, Project Managers, Specialty Consultants, Field Engineers, Accounting/Inventory Staffs, Management Staffs etc.

Thus, An Innovative Company Culture becomes the unifier.

THE INNOVATION

Technology evolves rapidly, and a smart home is founded on technology. See:

https://medium.com/blaze-academy/foundational-framework-of-smart-building-technology-9d1e298ec837

To stay up-to-date with the latest tools and technology takes an innovative team. Innovation goes beyond the final product to include the delivery processes, team management, business direction — to even birthing new ideas and products…


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Onyema Udeze

Written by

Co-Founder: Blaze Inc. || Author: Essentials of Smart Building Technology [The Future Smart Homes] https://www.blazethread.com dudeze@blazethread.com

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