A case study based on an actual civil engineering project (road construction). Challenges and solutions for BIM tools, Revit, Quadri/Novapoint. Metrics for efficiency gains Author: Ketil Parow

1. RPA for engineering projects

2. Overall goals
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1.Minimize risk of mistakes in processes involving construction data
(BIM) synch and delivery
2.Rid engineers and document controllers of mundane work, freeing up
time to focus on actual construction.
3.Better communication with interested parties (clients, auditing, public
servants, politicians, news outlets, general public)

3. Challenges
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• Synchronizing a distributed BIM model requires full fledged client
workstations with graphic cards. Global coordinates are constantly
recalculated, and the whole model needs to be rendered by native
applications on the workstation. This makes opening and synching the
model a tedious and lengthy task.
• Poorly developed API support in BIM tools.
• Most integration processes require file handling (export/import) in multiple
formats.
• Cloud instances of BIM repositories feature only rudimentary support
for interoperability across tools and platforms.
• Different vendors compete for delivery of much the same functionality,
and seem to be reluctant to «open up» their repositories / functional
interfaces.

4. Why RPA?
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• Due to lack of reliable API’s and the need to recalculate the entire BIM
upon synchronization/update, traditional integration between service-
layer endpoints is barely viable.
• RPA provides the engineering departments with a way to add new
endpoints (applications, portals, file shares) to the system topology
and data flow as needed, without employing a team of developers.
• RPA should not compete with other integration technologies, but
seems to be unbeatable as a backbone for other integrations, as
access to running client apps is an absolute requirement.

5. Our topology
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• Engineering apps: Many engineers are working on (separate sections of)
the BIM simultaneously, in different departments and even organizations.
Applications are typically Novapoint and Revit.
• Property developer access: Clients (developers) demand real-time access
to an updated BIM, to be able to audit and follow up on the project.
• Contractor access: As building/planning commences, the contractors need
up-to-date BIMs, delivered continuously.
• Public access: Public infrastructure projects are of interest to the public,
and need to be generally available to media, politicians, public servants,
and others.
These parties and organizations live in separate IT ecosystems, and need
data delivery through web resources or other platforms that offer interaction
across organizations.

6. Features of the RPA solution
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Engineering app n
BIM processors, GIS sources,
and other related systems
Engineering app 1 RPA Process
Export/Import (sync)
1a: Open model in Novapoint
1b: Export to Revit (icf)
2a: Import segments in Revit (icf)
2b: Export from Revit
…
RPA Process
Publish
1a: Grab updated files from
process 1 and 2
1b: Publish to access point 1
1c: Publish to access point 2
…
Engineering / construction
Engineering app 2
Contractor(s) Developer(s)
Access point 1
Sharepoint
Access point 2
Fileshare
Access point 3
…
Access point 4
Project web
Access point 5
ESRI portal
(BIM/GIS)
Access point n
…

7. Features of the RPA solution
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• All BIM manipulation (lock, sync, release) is done by the client applications.
• Possible inconsistencies are detected and handled (reported) by the robot processes.
• Cloud APIs are used for both opening and writing BIM segments where applicable and
desirable (e.g. BIM 360)
• Next steps include:
• There are plans to add GIS data to the model (“publish” process) to capture parallel work on
area planning, regulatory changes, etc., further enriching viewable data in the “public” access
systems/portals.
• Parsing BIM data to automate parts of the document controller processes (model maturity,
versioning, segment info, geo tags, etc.).
• Automating reports that are now assembled manually, largely by document controllers and civil
engineering consultants.
• Expanding the automation down the “contractors” vertical. We know they perform manual
conversion processes where electronic “work orders” are exported from BIM data, and then
imported into assistive computer systems that run in their construction machinery/vehicles.

8. Features of the RPA solution
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• Scale / Users served:
• 50-80 engineers contributing on the BIM (engineering/construction), on behalf of two
engineering projects (railroad and road construction)
• Load / Schedule:
• Currently all robot runs are scheduled outside of working hours.
• Only one BP license is running as of yet.
• We still have 6-12 hours available execution time per day
• A new (road) construction project will be started in february, and one new process in
the existing (railroad) project will be developed and delivered this fall.
We will need one new license for these new deliveries.

9. Results
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• Parts of most processes have to be executed in the client applications, and these may
take a lot of time, and we are observing that for some BIMs/processes, the brunt of
execution time for the robot is spent waiting.
In spite of this, we are getting good efficiency numbers. The one licence currently running
is saving 1-1.5 man-hours per running hour.
• Apart from some stability issues with the applications and some glitches caused by
application updates, the automated processes are by and large stable.
• Gains shown in the next slide are measured after 6 months of service, but does not
include two processes that were delivered later.
• The qualitative gains are more important than quantitative wins (money) in this scenario,
as the potential costs of errors are quite staggering.

10. Metrics (Measured results)
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201837 201840 201842 201844 201846 201848 201850 201852 201902
Cumulative work, in FTEs
80.6 % 80.6 %
81.2 %
82.1 %
82.5 %
82.9 %
83.6 %
79.0 %
79.5 %
80.0 %
80.5 %
81.0 %
81.5 %
82.0 %
82.5 %
83.0 %
83.5 %
84.0 %
201837 201840 201842 201844 201846 201848 201902
Robotexecutionofselectedprocess
instances
Yr/Week
% Robot work of total work
Blue: All BIM work
Green: BIM work done by robot