Expert Interview: The HoloBuilder E.U. Server Option at the Max Bögl Group
What role does data security play in construction projects of the Max Bögl Group and why is the HoloBuilder E.U. Server Option the optimally adjusted solution for project documentation in 360 degrees?
Interviewees:
- Denise Gürteler, Technical BIM Manager, Max Bögl Group
- Harald März, Data Protection Officer, Max Bögl Group
Interviewer:
- Harry Handorf, Marketing Manager, HoloBuilder Inc.
The Max Bögl Group is one of the biggest privately owned construction companies in Germany. What role does digitalization play for the successful work in the accordingly big and numerous projects?
Denise Gürteler: Without digitalization, we don’t see the possibility of completing projects within budget and ensuring customer satisfaction in the future. We see the development of digitalization in every field of project completion as absolutely necessary. Currently, we are mainly benefiting from digital workflows in the planning phase and during project execution at construction site documentation. In the future, this will be the basis of our work on the projects with a consistent data structure across all phases and all applications.
What does “digitalization” mean for you in your everyday business life?
Denise Gürteler: To answer this question I have also asked my colleagues for their opinions and overall we came to the conclusion that it allows us to work more flexible. It all starts with the adoption of new technologies and devices in our everyday lives, like smartphone and tablets, and it continues with digital work processes. The keyword here is “work-life-balance”. I am no longer bound to spending 8 hours a day in an office but rather can work while on the move, at a construction site or even from home.
With that in mind, the issue of digitalization goes far beyond the project completed for customer satisfaction. It affects every single one of us. Currently, we are building up and expanding upon digitalization in our company, in every single subject, in every single area. With the final goal of having it flow into the personal everyday work environment.
In which areas of project execution do you see the main benefit of digital solutions?
Denise Gürteler: As I said earlier, currently we are mainly benefiting from digital workflows in the planning phase and during project execution at construction site documentation. We are currently preparing a comprehensive implementation, for example in the areas of calculation, budget planning or in controlling, and accounting. We have to build it up there with a bit of lead time and practice.
Talking about the execution of projects in the field, outside on the construction project, with HoloBuilder you are also already using digitalization. What’s the main benefit of such field and office connecting solutions for you?
Denise Gürteler: We always compare the usual workflow to the new, digitized workflow. There are already some areas, such as construction deficiency management, that have traditionally been guided with voice recordings and Excel lists. These are now managed in a system where every user has access to it and the workflow expands digitally and automatically informs someone about a flaw, for example. Or to document the tracking of the defect automatically instead of manually looking and pursuing the processing by email.
How are software solutions for construction projects selected at the Max Bögl Group? What criteria and processes are required?
Denise Gürteler: First, we always need a basic task or process that we would like to solve or improve in order to develop a requirement for such software. But also in the overall course of digitalization, general work processes are re-evaluated, checked, and improved. We are trying to find a software solution for these work processes and in this course, different tools are evaluated. There is also a strong focus on data security at the moment because most of the software systems are offered as cloud products.
Harald März: This is an important point. When we pick out a tool or when we are close to making a decision, it must fulfill several data security and data safety standards.
Digital project management and corresponding processes imply that a large amount of data must be processed. Which role do data privacy and security play at the Max Bögl Group?
Harald März: Changes in data security and privacy jurisdiction, as well as the company’s internal mission to protect all data at the highest levels, are what drives our focus on this topic. We think that the question we have to ask when it comes to data processing changes from “What includes personal data?” to “Where is NO personal data included?”. Because, due to digitalization, almost every project aspect can be assigned to a person in the end. Therefore we have involved the board and have adopted a guideline to establish group data protection. In addition, we are currently focusing the topic together with data protection coordinators, which means that it is valid throughout Europe. We will use so-called Data Privacy Coordinators, who will advance the topic in their native language or report the corresponding procedures to us. With that, we prepare ourselves as best as possible for the 25th of May when the General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect.
Who is the main driver behind this increased focus on data privacy and security? Is there also a growing demand from your customers?
Harald März: First of all, in all IT security laws and the basic data protection regulation, it is called “state of the art”. This “state of the art” is per sé demanded from our customers. Besides, many customers conclude non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with us, when it is only about sensitive technical data. Or they are also concluding a contract with us, the much praised “Data Processing Agreement in the Sense of Art. 11 BDSG”. Because of our customer’s requirements, we’re also able to meet these requirements. So, for a product that can not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation because it is hosted as a cloud solution in any country, we can not tell our customers that we can use this product, knowing it may be possible to access data from any country even though the customer previously stated that “data access is unacceptable on my part.” Because it is about building parts or the customer himself has obligations regarding certain data. He simply passes this on to the service provider and in that case, we are the service provider and then we have to ensure the same safety topics with our products that the customer has demanded from us.
What’s the biggest challenge, specific to the construction industry, in this regard?
Denise Gürteler: In the construction industry, we are a bit behind when it comes to digitalization. In contrast to the automobile industry for example, who are forerunners with that. And also especially in Germany, we are more of a latecomer. Many software products come from foreign countries, respectively from Europe or the United States. In Germany, we have a special focus on catching up with state of the art technologies from other industries.
Which role does the server location play for the use of cloud-based software solutions like HoloBuilder? Which certificates are essential?
Harald März: As introduced earlier, the common “state of the art” regulation is generally demanded in Germany by the BSI, the Federal Office for Information Security, in terms of IT or data security.
There are of course internationally recognized certificates such as the ISO 27001 certificate. It is already very helpful if you can get something like that. However, always under the premise that the appropriate applicability document includes which states and what has really been tested. The certificate alone does not make much sense, so you should always ask for this applicability document. And depending on how sensitive the data is that we would transmit to a cloud storage or cloud service, it may also require corresponding test report from independent third parties.
The second certificate that is also helpful is the concretization for the cloud service. That would be the ISO/IEC Certificate 27018. This is always applicable when it comes to cloud services that we want to commission.
Some further certificates may follow in the future in Europe, but at the moment it is not clear which companies are allowed to issue the certificates or check for compliance at those companies.
How does the Max Bögl Group prepare for the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into effect soon?
Harald März: One year ago, the Max Bögl Group had an on-site inspection by the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority. At that time, they already attested a high level of data protection. And after the test, we have started to dedicate ourselves to the General Data Protection Regulation. That’s why we’ve introduced a privacy management system that maps the “Plan, Do, Check, Act” process so that you do not just check it once but ask for it regularly. In addition, two full-time employees have been recruited to complete the existing procedures, because additional requirements have arisen from the GDPR. Work agreements are being redrafted in-house, as mentioned. Data protection coordinators are being established in the European branches who are proficient in German in addition to their native language, such as Dutch or Danish, in order to prevent any language barriers.
These coordinators visit us in Sengenthal two or three times a year. After training, completing paperwork and workshops, they are sent back to their home base to describe the processes and request a basic data protection regulation. In this regard, the law states that the data protection officer must always be quickly reachable and centrally located in order to deal with data protection coordination issues.
With the E.U. Server Option, HoloBuilder offers a solution for documenting construction projects in 360-degrees that is custom-tailored to the German market. What was the main reason for the Max Bögl Group to use this product?
Harald März: Back in January 2018, we were assured that the HoloBuilder E.U. Server Option was running on the German Microsoft Azure cloud as the central data storage point and thus, no personal data was transferred without a legal basis to insecure third countries. Together with the statement of the Bavarian supervisory authority that “in this respect, from our side currently nothing is standing in the way”. The legal uncertainty regarding the use of U.S. software products will always remain in place. This uncertainty does not relate to a single product, but to the issue of the uncertain legal basis. For example, the issue of privacy shield or E.U. standard contractual clauses can currently only be solved by the European Court of Justice. That does not only concern Max Bögl. It affects all companies here in Europe and must be solved on a European level.
In this regard, it is also important to highlight another aspect. It affects the relocation of servers to European territory, which is certainly not enough. Regardless of the server location, the European Data Protection Conference, which includes virtually all supervisory authorities here in Europe, sees solely by the possibility of access to personal data or sensitive data, the need to apply the General Data Protection Regulation for these cases. They refer to Article 4, number 2 of the General Data Protection Regulation, in which it is stated that if the company just has the option to possibly read, query or use the data, the GDPR has to be applied. I always think of remote maintenance, support and similar tasks, such as software development with experimental use of real data, for which the GDPR always has to be applied. If this development, testing or support work is spread throughout the globe, then a server location in Europe alone is no longer enough. The topic is not only about data transfer, but also about the visualization of data. The fact that the development work at HoloBuilder takes place in Aachen, Germany, and that a support center is also operating in Aachen played an important role in this regard in the decision process.
And how is HoloBuilder being used in your projects?
Denise Gürteler: For example, HoloBuilder is currently being used in a confidential project in Europe, in which over 2,000 rooms have to be documented. When we have to capture only one 360 image instead of dozens of regular photos for every room in a project of this size, this saves us a lot of time. Besides, the structured approach to data storage, accompanied by the offline HoloViewer for archiving and the TimeTravel feature are a tremendous help in later project stages.
How important is the integration with software from other manufacturers, like Autodesk® BIM 360™ for example, where you can create issues directly from within HoloBuilder?
Denise Gürteler: We use a variety of software solutions, including Autodesk BIM 360. It is not only important that the data can be linked and moved from system to system, but that the systems are open and that we can drag the data where it is needed. For example, construction reporting and time recording: The construction diary, for example, indicates what the HR department needs. I can then simply pass this on to the interface, without having to fill in any further details in order to pass this on to the human resources department. “Standardized interface” is the keyword regarding this topic.
To conclude, described by just one word: What is most important in a “state-of-the-art” digital-based executed construction project in 2018?
Denise Gürteler: I was looking for a single term and ended up with “Single Source of Truth”. The data is entered into the system only once and retrieved again and again. It can be updated and Excel files are no longer needed. Traditionally, Excel has been common in the construction industry and no-one knows exactly how up-to-date the data is. It’s about having a universal database where every user has access and can work. This means that each individual no longer has to be questioned whether the data is up to date, but that I know for certain: This record is valid!
Harald März: I have also thought about a sentence that is somewhat longer:
Transparent, secure and compliant data processing at the site of use, taking into account the practicability and constant cost pressure to avoid possible mistakes and waste in construction projects.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Max Bögl Group, especially Denise Gürteler and Harald März, for making this interview possible, for providing us with extremely valuable insights and also with consistent feedback related to their HoloBuilder usage, which helps us a lot at developing our product.
Are you interested in more information about the new E.U. Server Option? Just head over to our contact page and connect with our construction experts!
And in the case of you having any questions, comments, or a suggestion for something else that would make your life much easier, just drop us a line at support@holobuilder.com or leave a comment here.
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