BIM (Building Information Modeling), cloud computing, and social media are disruptive technologies which are altering the basic foundations of the AECOO sector (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owners, and Operations). Unproductive ad hoc processes traditionally associated with the design, construction and management of the built environment are being replaced by robust life-cycle management and efficient project delivery methods. While notoriously unproductive and somewhat technology adverse, the AECOO sector is undergoing a culture shift in response to the demands of increasingly altered global competitive and environment landscapes, and the empowerment of transparency and collaboration enabled by social media technologies.

BIM (Building Information Modeling), cloud computing, and social media are disruptive technologies which are
altering the basic foundations of the AECOO sector (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owners, and
Operations). Unproductive ad hoc processes traditionally associated with the design, construction and
management of the built environment are being replaced by robust life-cycle management and efficient project
delivery methods. While notoriously unproductive and somewhat technology adverse, the AECOO sector is
undergoing a culture shift in response to the demands of increasingly altered global competitive and environment
landscapes, and the empowerment of transparency and collaboration enabled by social media technologies.

CONVERGENCE – PROCESS, CLOUD COMPUTING/SOCIAL MEDIA, & BIM

There is a great deal of prior work addressing the shortfalls of the Architecture, Engineering,
Construction, Operations, and Owner sector (AECOO).  The adversarial aspects of the traditional design-bid-build
(DBB) and the lack of robust business process supported by digital technology have been especially
well documented.

The construction delivery method plays a significant role in setting the tone of any renovation,
repair, sustainability, or new construction project and its eventual success or failure.  The
latter being simply defined as the  Owner/Client/Building  User  getting  what  they  initial  had
anticipated  on-time  and  on-budget  and  the associated “constructors” successfully delivery the
project with a reasonable profit margin.    The importance of collaboration among all stakeholders
as a prerequisite to “success” is equally well documented.    Collaborative construction delivery
methods are not new, though are only recently beginning to enjoy accelerated usage.  Most notable
example of robust collaborative and efficient construction delivery methods include integrated
project delivery (IPD) for new construction, and job order contracting (JOC) for renovation,
repair, sustainability, and minor new construction.  Both methods have existing for decades and promise greater efficiencies, however, both are somewhat contrary to traditional DBB.   For comparison purposes let’s take a look at the
characteristics and/or components of JOC program in comparison to traditional methods. Job Order Contracting includes;

1.   Qualifications Based or Best Value Selection
2.   Some form of pricing transparency- Typically a Unit Price Book (UPB) containing preset unit
prices for construction tasks.  [Note: Most JOC programs leverage a standardized third party cost
book such as RS Means Cost Data.]
3.   Early and ongoing information-sharing among project stakeholders
4.   Performance-based structure – Some form of financial incentive to drive performance
5.   Appropriate distribution of risk
6.   A long term relationship (3-5 years) between Owner and Contractor/AE
7.   Standard specifications established in a master contract with a summary of work, also
including any specific or client-driven conditions.
8.   Facility owner issues a request for qualifications (RFQ), evaluating firms using best-value,
performance- based criteria, or an invitation to bid awarding to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.
9.  A guarantee of minimum amount of work for the contractor. This is usually a small amount for
consideration – a requirement in most states for contracts.
10. Issuance of contractor’s work orders based on owner’s requirements.
11. Costs for individual work orders are calculated by multiplying the preset unit prices by the
quantities multiplied by the contractor’s coefficient.
12. Open  communication  between  facilities  team  and  the  contracting/AE  team,  including  a
kick-off partnering session between everyone utilizing the contract.

Advantages typically associated with JOC – Job Order Contracting Program include;
1.   Fast and timely delivery of projects.
2.   Low overhead cost of construction procurement and delivery.
3.   Development of a partner relationship based on work performance.
4.   Virtual elimination of legal disputes.
5.   Reduction of change orders.
6.   Transparency – standard pricing and specification utilizing a published unit price book (UPB)

The following graphics demonstrates how the above varies from traditional construction delivery methods (Figure
1), and a typical JOC Process (Figure 2).

TECHNOLOGY/SOCIAL MEDIA

The historical of cloud computing upon social and business behaviors are demonstrated by instances
ranging from the recent politics in Egypt, to Amazon.com, Google, and FACEBOOK.   The rapid shift from Web 2.0
to Web 3.0 may catch many by surprise; however, the evolution of the Internet/WWW to virtually “free” and
unlimited ntelligent and automatic  computing resources  will transform the  fundamental way business is
done in the AECOO sector.

An AECOO technology timeline is shown in Figure 3.  Most construction cost estimating and project
delivery continues to rely primarily upon hardcopy documents and electronic spreadsheets such as
Microsoft ExcelTM, with relatively small percentage using dedicated commercial off the shelf (COTS)
or custom software programs and relational database technology. While both spreadsheets and
“traditional” software architectures have merit and are well suited for certain types of users they
are not optimal for multi-user and/or larger projects.  Non-trivial issues such as security, audit
trails, data hierarchy, and flexibility limited the cost effective deployment and use of truly
collaborative tools.

Let’s take a deeper looks at a specific cloud computing and associated innovations by way of an
example.
Spreadsheets have been in use for a considerable length of time within the AECOO sector.  With the
advent of microcomputers, spreadsheets became electronic and more user friendly than early paper
spreadsheets.  Electronic spreadsheets were an improvement over the first paper versions, in part, because of the ease of
making entries, revising entries, performing calculations, sorting, etc.  As a result, the time for the user was
reduced for using the spreadsheet.  Because calculations were performed by a computer, rather than
by hand, electronic spreadsheets also reduced errors, which were attributed to input errors rather
than calculation errors.  As a result, electronic spreadsheets became a powerful tool for cost
estimating, organizing data, and managing various AECOO tasks. As noted, spreadsheets remain the
number one tool used by cost estimators and construction project managers. However, spreadsheet
technology has not kept pace with the need to collaborate and share information.    As spreadsheets
became more complex is was equally more difficult and costly to manage changes within cells and
formulas.  Furthermore the concept of information hierarchy, the ability to automatically roll-up
data across multiple spreadsheets from multiple locations at will was simply not available.
Multiple users simultaneously working on copies of the same spreadsheet result in changes that are
at best difficult to track.   Users must manually keep track of, and merge, the changes themselves.
Web-based spreadsheets currently available (e.g., GOOGLE ® Docs Spreadsheet, MICROSOFT EXCEL ®)
offer limited multi-user capability, however, current web-based spreadsheets have, for the most
part, simply replaced the hard drive or network storage available to a traditional electronic
spreadsheet with internet based storage.  Connecting a spreadsheet to non-spreadsheet data and
enforcing a multi-level hierarchy with multiple access privileges is not currently available in
these products.

Thus,  larger,  multi-level  hierarchical  organizations  traditionally  adopt  one  of  two
methods  for  their organizational data needs.  They either develop or use traditional database tools.  Traditional
database tools have the advantage of being very fast for the collection and reporting of  information at all levels of the hierarchy; however, they have a disadvantage of lacking in flexibility.  Users at different levels cannot
customize and link outside data to the relevant portion of their data.   It is also very time consuming to make any
changes to the system and development, such that maintenance costs may be high.  Organizations that
use off-the-shelf solutions may have lower development costs, but then lack the same flexibility just mentioned and also have  the added difficulty in making any changes.  Other organizations opt for spreadsheets that are similar to the
conventional spreadsheet systems described above.  The advantage of conventional spreadsheets over
conventional database tools is that spreadsheets may be more flexible than database tools in both
the type of data and links to other data. However, conventional spreadsheets may introduce the
other problems described above.  For example, the quasi- manual process of collating spreadsheets
throughout the hierarchy may create an issue of data latency, meaning the required data at any
given point in the process is out-of-date and/or inaccurate.  Data latency is a factor of how many
collations are needed and how long it takes to do each one.  Using conventional spreadsheets can be
very slow, if not impossible, to quickly gather relevant and timely information.  By the time the
data is collated at any given level, there is a good chance the data is already out-of-date. Thus
we have a trade-off between the current systems. One is fast but not flexible and the other is flexible but not fast.

An embodiment cloud computing with a novel approach of managing a “spreadtree hierarchy” has been
developed and is currently being made available. This method comprises storing spreadsheet or spreadsheet like
formats in a network environment accessible to a plurality of users, and storing at least one data object in the
network responsive to an edit of the at least one spreadsheet-like structure, the at least one data object having a
unique ID and data associated with the edit. An associate spreadtree system comprises an application server
configured to operate within a network, and further configured to communicate with a plurality of clients and
manage a spreadtree hierarchy. The spreadtree hierarchy comprises a plurality of linked spreadsheets having
reference files stored within the network, and a plurality of data objects associated with the plurality of linked
spreadsheets. Each data object of the plurality includes a change to at least one cell in at least one linked
spreadsheet of the plurality. A method for operating a spreadtree hierarchy system is also included. The method
comprises updating a network-based reference file for a spreadsheet responsive to a user’s edit to the networkbased
reference file, and automatically updating another user’s local version of another spreadsheet linked to the
spreadsheet responsive to the user’s edit to the network-based reference file.
The following screen shots demonstrate a typical example of how a cloud computing application, leverage a
spreadtree approach can be used to enable secure, scalable collaboration.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Building  information  management,  in  its  simplest  definition,  is  the  life-cycle  management
of  the  built environment supported by digital technology.    Due to the multiple knowledge-domains,
competencies, and associated business processes required to achieve BIM, cost-effective methods of
collaboration and information sharing are needed.    Also needed is a culture shift.  A move from a
silo-based mentality and mistrust, to open discussions with shared goals and rewards. Cloud
computing allows users throughout the life cycle to share and collaborate on all aspects of the
Design/Build process without regard to their physical location.

The disruptive technologies of cloud computing, BIM, and innovations such as spreadtree hierarchy
systems, combined with efficient and collaborative project delivery methods stand to catalyst AECOO industry
change. Market drivers such as an altered global economic landscape and the need to address
environmental/sustainability issues will also help to push the AECOO sector to the tipping point.
An overall BIM framework is evolving and will like continuously change.   Nonetheless it is
expected that cloud computing, BIM, AECOO culture, and efficient project delivery methods will all evolve
together.