Managing the AEC industry - A survey of technology applied to the management of projects, knowledge, and resources
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Managing the AEC industry
A survey of technology applied to the
management of projects, knowledge,
and resources
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE DesignEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In summary
In this survey of 429 leading AEC Project Management (pg. 4)
industry professionals we look • Most medium to large sized firms are using project management
at how technology is impacting software to organise and share documents both internally and with
project management, knowledge external clients and partners.
management, and enterprise • These systems are perhaps better termed document management
resource planning. systems since most currently lack the integration necessary for true
project management.
• Cloud based storage has seen new arrivals take significant marketshare
from incumbents. Firms should look closely at the new range of provider
options and be aware that the offerings are likely to change significantly
in the coming years.
Knowledge Management (pg. 6)
• Most firms with more than 50 employees are using intranets and other
tools to capture knowledge.
• Many firms are reporting that it is hard to get employees engaged and
as a result the data often goes stale. Furthermore, the lack of specialised
AEC integration means critical project data often isn’t captured.
• Be cautious when investing in these systems, the technology that gets
deployed is rarely used to the extent envisioned without proper executive
support, implementation consulting, and training. This remains a
major pain-point for the industry. KA Synthesis is the only AEC specific
knowledge management system with any meaningful traction.
Enterprise Resource Planning (pg. 8)
• Primarily used for accounting and time tracking, they generally integrate
poorly with other aspects of the AEC industry.
• Majority of firms use some form of Enterprise Resource Planning.
• While innovation is possible, there do not appear to be any firms taking
the lead in this area. Firms should expect the status quo to remain in
place for at least the next few years.
Software use at a glance
35% 54% 32% 59% 29% 67% Using
Considering
Not using
9%
11%
Project Management Knowledge Management Enterprise Resource
Planning
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE Design 1INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Where computation resides
I n recent years the AEC industry
has been saturated by images
of intricately curved geometry,
how it affords new opportunities for
collaboration and new workflows.
But this interest often overshadows
they are using – what they are using
it for, how they are using it, and
the challenges they face with it.
demonstrations of robotic how computation is impacting Our methodology is similar to the
construction, and diagrams of the less glamorous parts of the NBS National BIM Report and the
data flowing between design, AEC industry; the back-of-house Design Intelligence 2012 Technology
construction, and occupancy. functions like project management, & Innovation Survey but, unlike
Collectively this deluge forms a knowledge management, and these previous surveys, instead
declaration: computation is here, enterprise resource planning. of focusing on design tools we
and it is profoundly impacting have chosen to draw attention to
the AEC industry. Yet discussions In this report we investigate the the technological infrastructure
of technology tend to dwell on computational technology powering that underlies leading AEC
only the most readily apparent AEC firms. There are no images of firms. In doing so this report
instances of computation. To a complicated geometry, robots, or taps into a growing awareness
degree this makes sense, we are data flows. We instead examine that the computation celebrated
– after all – here to design, make, the technology used to manage for transforming contemporary
and manage buildings. We are projects, manage knowledge, architecture is similarly
interested in how computation and manage resources. We have transforming the management of
provides new tools for design and asked 429 leading AEC industry AEC firms.
construction, we are interested in professionals about the technology
About CASE About HP
CASE is a Building Information CASE and HP share a mutual HP creates new possibilities for
Modeling (BIM) consultancy based interest in how technology will technology to have a meaningful
in New York City. They provide shape the future of the architecture, impact on people, businesses,
strategic advising to building engineering and construction governments and society. With
design professionals, contractors industries. To gain further the broadest technology portfolio
and owners seeking to supplant insight into this future, CASE, in spanning printing, personal
traditional project delivery methods association with HP, conducted the systems, software, services and
through technology-driven process survey and subsequent analysis that IT infrastructure, HP delivers
innovation. forms the basis of this report. solutions for customers’ most
www.case-inc.com complex challenges in every region
of the world.
www.hp.com
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE Design 2INTRODUCTION
Method & In terms of technology adoption,
how would you rate your company
vs the AEC industry?
Limitations 50
40
This report is based on a survey
Percentage 30
of 429 AEC industry professionals
Own company
undertaken between June 3 and
AEC industry 20
June 13, 2013. The survey was
conducted online and respondents
10
were primarily recruited through
invitations in the CASE email
0
newsletter, a post on the Archdaily Leaders Laggards
website, and links in social media.
Considering that respondents Which of the following services
were recruited through digital does your company offer?
media, it is unsurprising that
they tend to self-identify as Architecture 69%
technological market leaders. This
report should therefore be read BIM Modelling / Consulting 46%
with the understanding that it is
not a representative survey of the Construction 20%
entire AEC industry, but rather a
glimpse at how leading firms are Design-build 26%
using technology. While the survey
was answered by respondents in Engineering, Civil 11%
thirty-seven countries, the majority
(69%) were from the United States Engineering, MEP 18%
of America. Despite increasing
globalization in the AEC industry, Engineering, Structural 17%
there are still regional preferences
towards particular software. Facilities Management 9%
The most salient instances are
highlighted in this report, but in Interior Design 41%
general this report offers American
perspective of the AEC industry. Landscape Architecture 20%
Planning and Urban Design 31%
0 69% 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of respondents
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE Design 3PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The technology
of project
management
Expect shifts towards Managing project documents on Does your company use Project
file servers – whether cloud based Management software?
the cloud and away from
or on-site – presents problems
pure file management when multiple users access files. It
can become difficult to track issues
P roject management software
helps firms plan, organize,
and manage projects. In the
such as: who has permission to
use particular files, who is using a
file, which version of a file is the
AEC industry, this software is most recent, and what has been 35% – No 54% – Yes
primarily used to manage project done on a project in relation to
deliverables, share files (both what needs to be done. These issues
internally and externally), and to tend to be amplified by BIM since
track issues pertaining to projects. it encourages data sharing between 11%
project stakeholders.
For the 46% of respondents who
No, but
do not use dedicated project Most AEC project management considering
management software, projects software attempts to address the
are typically organized using challenges associated with sharing
some combination of file storage data in a collaborative context.
and emails. In the extreme case 54% of the respondents use project
(13%) an individual will store files management software. This is
on their personal computer and correlated with firm size – firms Project Management software use
use email to send colleagues and typically begin considering project vs firm size
clients updates. The more typical management software when they
situation (58%) is that project files have roughly 10-30 employees, and
are stored on what one respondent most firms have adopted some form
called “a disorganized project of project management software
server” with coordination occurring by the time they have 50-60 49% 22% >20 empl.
through emails, phone calls, and employees.
excel spreadsheets. There is also
a contingent (29% – but likely to There are regional biases towards
grow fast) that use cloud-based particular project management
storage instead of an on-site server. software. The survey’s Australian
Dropbox is far and away the most respondents were more likely to use
6%
popular cloud storage service, with Aconex, while those in the United 23%PROJECT MANAGEMENT
differences with any statistical significance).
In general, the most commonly used project
management software in the sample was
Newforma (56%), followed by Autodesk360 Which of the following project
(27%), and Projectwise (18%). Autodesk360 management software does your
is a relative newcomer. Launched little over company use?
a year ago, its cloud
“There isn’t one piece based solution has Newforma 56%
of software that does picked up significant
everything.” market share Autodesk 360 27%
(largely through
“My biggest frustration Autodesk’s vertical ProjectWise 18%
is that actual project integration) where
management software other new cloud Aconex 9%
doesn’t thoughtfully based arrivals, like
integrate with BIM, GTeam, have failed Prolog 5%
at all.” to do so (only 4%
of firms were using GTeam 4%
GTeam, however 19% of those looking to
begin using project management software 4Projects 4%
were considering GTeam, which makes it the
third most considered [behind Newforma and Asite, CMiC, Conject, Enovia Below margin of error
Autodesk360] and perhaps signaling a change
of fortune for GTeam). 0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of respondents
Newforma, Autodesk360, and Projectwise,
all have a strong focus on organizing files
and models. Some of the survey respondents
noted that “document management is not Which of the following does your
the same as project management” and company use project management
felt hindered by the lack of integration to software for?
dedicated management software. Other
common challenges brought up included: Sharing files with project partners 77%
• The training required for individuals to use
the software. Sharing files with the Client 73%
• Software using a file based paradigm when
models are more appropriate. Managing project deliverables 73%
• Internet connection speeds.
• Interoperability, fragmentation, and Sharing files within the company 64%
compatibility with certain design software.
• The chunkiness of Newforma’s interface. Issue tracking 47%
These challenges signal that while project
organization is generally becoming more Version tracking 45%
sophisticated than simply files on servers,
the industry has a ways to go in the Model viewing 20%
management of projects. There have been a
number of new companies who have arisen 0 20 40 60 80 100
to take significant market share in only Percentage of respondents
couple of years, and we anticipate that there
will continue to be heated innovation in this
space over the next few years.
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE Design 5KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
The technology
of knowledge
management
With limited AEC specific options, Does your company use Knowledge
Management software?
knowledge management systems
often go stale once deployed
K nowledge management concerns how knowledge
is created, captured, and disseminated within an
organization.
32% – No 59% – Yes
The capturing and dissemination of knowledge
often occurs simply through emails, informal chats,
and meetings. For respondents at small firms, this
relatively informal, personal communication was the
9%
primary way knowledge was shared. For larger firms,
there comes a point where it is prudent to deliberately No, but
set out to capture aspects of the organization’s considering
knowledge. This point is clear in the survey data: most
firms with 10 or fewer employees
do not use knowledge management “No one wants to read
software, while almost every it. Everybody wants
firm has begun considering information but when it’s
using knowledge management convenient for them.” Knowledge Management software
software by the time they have use vs firm size
approximately 20-30 employees, “The biggest challenge is
and virtually every firm with getting people to contribute
more than 50 employees is using and then to actually use/
knowledge management software. read it.”
51% 15% >30 empl.
In total, 59% of respondents were using some form
of knowledge management software, 9% were
considering it, while the remaining 32% were not.
For those using knowledge management software,
65% are using SharePoint. This is a dominant portion
considering that the next most commonly used
knowledge management software is some form of 9%
24%KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Which of the following does extensive self-customized solutions.” Based
your company use knowledge on the survey, firms that do implement
management software for? a knowledge management system are
primarily choosing between SharePoint,
an in-house solution, or KA Synthesis. For
88% Sharing information resources the first two it is a somewhat dire choice;
SharePoint isn’t targeted at the AEC industry
54% Documenting expertise and requires significant customization,
meanwhile, an in-house solution is,
48% Collaborating according to one respondent, “slow to evolve
and takes enormous resources to create
39% Tracking project success and manage.” KA Synthesis is the only AEC
specific knowledge management system
34% Socialising with any sort of meaningful use, with 8% of
respondents using it. This is due primarily
33% Reviewing past projects with their market focus and integration with
other AEC-specific enterprise technologies:
22% Issue tracking Deltek Vision (enterprise resource planning,
pg 8), Newforma (project management,
0 20 40 60 80 100
pg 4) and Axomic OpenAsset (digital asset
Percentage of respondents
management).
Those adopting knowledge management
systems are primarily doing so to share
Which of the following knowledge information resources (75%), collaborate
management software does your (72%), document expertise (72%), and to
company use? review past projects (56%). But those using
knowledge management systems report that
they can be difficult to navigate, and that it
65% SharePoint is hard to get staff to participate. As a result,
the knowledge often goes stale, which further
19% In-house custom app dissuades users by reducing the utility of the
knowledge management system. The tone
8% KA Synthesis of many respondents was quite negative,
the consensus seeming to be that while
4% Mindtouch knowledge management software was a
good idea in theory, in practice people “get
4% Confluence frustrated and don’t use it.”
Jive, Open Atrium,
Below margin of error
Thought farmer, Yammer Knowledge produced on projects often
either gets forgotten or simply ‘walks out
0 20 40 60 80 100 the door’. While there is a clear benefit to
Percentage of respondents capturing project knowledge and sharing
it within an organization, very few AEC
firms appear to be doing this successfully.
The range of knowledge management
technology is limited, and the technology
that gets deployed is rarely used to the extent
envisioned without proper executive support,
implementation consulting, and training.
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE Design 7ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
The technology of
enterprise resource
planning
Does your company use Enterprise
Widely used, although rarely for anything Resource Planning software?
other than time tracking and accounting
E RP is TLA (Three Letter Acronym) for Enterprise Resource
Planning. Simply put, this is how firms budget for projects,
manage their accounting, pay employees, bill clients, and
manage their relationships with clients. 29% – No 67% – Yes
29% of respondents do not use dedicated ERP software. Of these,
the majority (25%) do not in any way formally plan or budget 4%
No, but
for projects. A typical respondent told us, “we just don’t do that considering
and that’s bad, very bad”. Another common solution (22%) was
to use Excel spreadsheets for planning, creating time-sheets,
and tracking costs. For the remaining 53% of respondents not
using dedicated ERP software, they were using a scattershot mix
of whiteboards, Microsoft Project, bespoke solutions, and “the
honor system”.
The majority of respondents (67%) use some form of dedicated
ERP software. Most use Deltek Vision (49%) while 17% use Enterprise Resource Planning
Quickbooks. There is no clear pattern to what remainder use, software use vs firm size
other than that in aggregate they use a large range of software.
There were over
twenty ERP solutions
“We keep data modes separated: one mentioned during the
for real time spent, other for billing survey, most of them
times, other for client database” only used by a couple
58% 12% >20 empl.
of firms. This reflects
“Users do not understand the benefit the diversity of ERP
and so they are not motivated to software available to
use; they want to be architects, not AECO firms who do
managers.” not require industry
specific software to do
“I don’t see the benefits of using it to basic tasks like paying
16% 15%ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
country (sometimes geographically mining the data for business
limiting its availability), in our intelligence. The most interesting While the majority of AEC firms
data the only discernible pattern example of this was a firm that had appear to be using some form of
based on location was that Deltek developed a custom application to ERP system, most have failed to
is more popular inside the US than track how sleeping and exercise leverage this data for anything
outside. It was also difficult to find impacted employee productivity. other than simple accounting and
associations between firm size Considering the richness of the time tracking. Integration remains
and ERP use. Virtually every firm data entered into these ERP a challenge due the wide variety
with more than 50 employees uses systems, very few firms are deriving of software firms are using, and
ERP software, but there seems to value from the data outside of due to the sensitivity of the data.
be no pattern to the use in small accounting and time tracking. There did not appear to be any firms
to medium sized firms – a sole Most respondents reported that taking the lead in this area, and
practitioner might use it, a firm due to the sensitivity of the data, it therefore seems likely that the
with a dozen employees may not. they were unable to access it. Often status quo will remain in place, at
employees only use ERP systems least for the near future.
Most firms are using ERP systems to enter data, with the aggregate
for accounting (81%) and time statistics available solely to those in
tracking (76%), with only a third upper management and accounting.
Which of the following does your
company use enterprise resource
planning software for?
Which of the following enterprise
resource planning software does
your company use?
81% Accounting
76% Time Tracking
45% Tracking Cost Overruns Deltek Vision 49%
39% Tracking Project Success Quickbooks 17%
35% Managing Client Relations Axium Ajera 6%
33% Business Intelligence Salesforce 4%
Over twenty
11% Regulatory Compliance Below margin of error
other softwares
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of respondents Percentage of respondents
CASE Design Inc. / 401 Broadway Suite 1600 / New York, New York 10013 / 212.255.5483 / www.case-inc.com / © 2013 CASE Design 9You can also read
