The question of digital twin ownership on a construction project is an interesting one. To my mind, it makes sense that the digital twin accompanies the physical asset on handover, is updated during future development and transfer of ownership upon sale of the physical asset. In plain English, using a corporate owner as an example, a skyscraper might be sold to a different corporate owner. How is the digital twin transferred upon the sale?
In this discussion I will be playing the role of a multinational corporate owner in the possession of multiple skyscrapers and construction assets around the world. I will base my strategy on my extensive understanding of the Autodesk construction cloud as communicated to me by my BIM consultant. The discussion is around the construction of a new skyscraper and specifically the creation of the digital twin.
Firstly, I recognize that the Autodesk Construction Cloud creates the digital twin using cloud services. Cloud services result in real time data being recorded, traced and tracked. The creation of the databases that comprises the digital twin ensues when participants interact with the Autodesk construction cloud project and is also reliant upon some interaction with the hub on which the project resides. The security of the data is reinforced by the fact that this digital twin information model cannot be recreated. This is a benefit and not a weakness of the technology even if it does require a higher degree of planning up front.
A hub can be created by the contract manager for any contract with an Autodesk construction cloud subscription. This hub is associated with the account team under which the contract was purchased.
A project is created on a hub and cannot be transferred to another hub. Hence, even though I can store unlimited data on my hub (meaning that I can create as many projects on the hub as I please), I choose to create only one project on the hub in question.
As the corporate owner, I therefore purchase one subscription of Autodesk Collaborate Pro and Autodesk Build in a new contract listed under a new account team created exclusively for the skyscraper (I can reassign the licenses after creating the hub). The new hub and its single project are therefore in my sole possession. Should I wish to sell my skyscraper later, then I may ask Autodesk to process a transfer of assets and move the possession of the hub and its project to the new corporate owner. The penalty that I pay is that, to keep the digital twin active, I need to maintain the contract.
What makes my decision easier is the knowledge that I can scale down from an Autodesk Collaborate Pro and Autodesk Build license to an Autodesk Docs license without losing the databases that were created by Autodesk Collaborate Pro and Autodesk Build. While the Autodesk Docs license is active, I will not have the capability to interrogate the databases with the Collaborate Pro and Build interfaces, but should I choose to activate the project again, I would be able to purchase Collaborate Pro and Build subscriptions to interact with the databases again. In other words, I only need to keep an Autodesk Docs license active on the contract to keep the digital twin in play. As a side note, recognize that Revit cloud files can be upgraded yearly on the Docs platform with the click of a button.
Now we come to the question of the location of the data. There are currently three Amazon Web Servers that can host Autodesk Construction Cloud data: United States of America, European Union and Australia. Each one of these regions have differing laws governing the ownership of data, which may or may not be compatible with those of the country within which you operate. For instance, if you operated from within South Africa, you would most probably choose the European server to host your data on.
In the case of my hypothetical multinational corporate I would therefore create the hub for the skyscraper in question on the server and most suited to the laws governing the country within which the skyscraper is about to be constructed.
This brings us to the question of bridging teams across projects. If our supply chain is distributed across the globe, we would typically allow for multiple projects to be bridged (and their Collaborate Pro teams to be bridged). We do this to make administration of the distributed teams easier across time zones. There are other reasons why we would want to bridge, and this would include preservation of intellectual property rights and varying standards where we perform take offs according to company catalogs (specific to Autodesk takeoff). Unfortunately, it is not possible to bridge teams across servers in different locations and we must plan accordingly.
The planning and strategy of the hosting of data is best communicated to the supply chain through the exchange information request that is released by my multinational corporate entity. There may well be situations where participants in the supply chain would have to purchase new contracts to bridge their teams across to our project. The supply chain’s response in their initial BIM Execution Plan will inform us of their understanding and capacity to interact correctly with the project on our hub.
Now if I did not formulate a strategy around the common data environment I might have ended up in a situation where the sale of the physical assent could not be accompanied by the digital twin. This would cause complications with regards to manage the hub on behalf of multiple owners.
If you do not understand the building information modeling process, consider retaining a consultant in future. You are always welcome to contact micrographics should you have any questions around the BIM process and how the Autodesk solutions facilitate the creation of the digital twin.
If you need help adopting the AEC Collection or the Autodesk Construction Cloud in your practice or you are looking to invest in hardware, please contact Micrographics so that we may be of assistance.
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