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Moving To Electronic Data Interchange

Geoff Harrod

The volume of paper used in offices is staggering, and the rapid spread of computer usage has done little to usher in the much talked-about "paperless office" – rather to the contrary. 

At last some projects are moving to rely on electronic data and minimize paper. This is especially useful in constructional and engineering projects that typically involve CAD and the use by all members of the team of data produced by other members of the team. Previously there has been much re-drawing from paper prints.

This topic is being brought to notice at present by the methods being used in the National Museum project in Canberra, which are being explained to construction industry people in all cities through presentations conducted by a body called The Construction Research Alliance. That is a joint effort by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), RMIT University Melbourne, and CSIRO to improve the effectiveness of the construction industry through technology, and they have guided the Museum project. Many of its methods are world’s first applications of rather radical ideas.

The obvious productive utility of electronic data sharing has often been frustrated by conflicting data format standards in software products used by the various members of a project team, especially those of different companies and specializations. Yet it is between the specialist consultants and project leaders that the value of electronic data interchange would be greatest. In practice, the problems have often been so obstructive that teams have had to fall back on paper data transfer and the waste of effort involved in reading paper prints and re-entering data manually.

Now that the World Wide Web on the Internet has become so common-place and widely used, the same technology that supports the Web are starting to be used for internal communications within companies, under the name of ‘Intranets’. This use of the universal Web data formats and access technologies is replacing various proprietary interfaces or reliance on ordinary computer file searching facilities. Intranets are especially good for companies that are spread over several towns or countries, as the internal information systems on each location’s Local Area Network can quite seamlessly integrate with the same type of system on the Internet to access the remote sites of the company.

Now, as well as using Web technology for a company’s internal information system on a local computer network, the same technology is being applied to providing a data exchange and sharing resource for particular project work groups. These are set up as a separate Web Server, connected to the internet in the usual way, so that all parties to the project work, whether within the main company’s local network or outside it, can communicate directly and share data easily.

These ‘Project Webs’ are in effect normal public Web Sites but with a high degree of access verification and control to keep them private to those who belong to the project work group. Sometimes, a section of the Project Web may be made publicly accessible to serve as a public relations or news source for the project, or to provide the ‘open access’ to the project progress and issues that may be required or desired.

The major problem for publishing design data on the Web is selecting data formats to use and the availability of web-browser plug-ins to allow callers to see the data files. For public information sites there are some very effective data formats that trade-off accuracy and editing usability for speed of viewing with resolution that is adequate for viewing the design data. These are the now well-known VRML interactive 3D format, and the CGM, SVF, VML or DWF CAD vector formats. For some of these there are now Java-based viewers that avoid the need for callers to download and install special plug-ins.

But for Project Webs, where the essence of the data availability is to share its use for editing as the design work progresses, those compact, reduced quality formats are not suitable. The data must be in a full and proper CAD format. For a purely Intranet system, where the company has a single standard CAD system, obviously that CAD system’s normal Save format will serve well. For a Project Web that serves all parties to the project including all contractors and specialist consultants, there can be serious problems in exchanging CAD and other data, since there really needs to be a single format on the web, but it is very likely that some of the parties will use differing systems.

This increased level of electronic data sharing is pushing the demand for better data exchange formats. So far there are no clear and straightforward choices for the most part, although there is much work going on toward that goal. At present, it is usually necessary for all the parties to a particular project to discus and decide at the outset on formats to use, and for each to set up whatever data translation facilities they may need, and to test the conversions before the work gets under way seriously. Even with formats that are supposed to be good interchange systems, such as IGES, preliminary testing and proving with typical types of data is essential.

The data exchange process needs to be sorted out between the parties before the work gets under way, so that reliable mechanisms are in place for routine use, even if those mechanisms are not themselves as technically ‘elegant’ or academically correct as may be desired. All that matters, until some standard universal exchange systems emerge from development, is that they work reliably for the parties involved for the duration of the project.

We tend to focus on the problems of CAD data exchange, which is certainly rather complex. But there are many other types of data involved in projects, and there are exchange issues with all of those too, even the apparently simple text data, and they also need to be addressed to ensure smooth working of a Project Web data resource. Again, a universal standard is not needed – just a standard that those parties can handle. The issues are different on a public Web, where the formats must be the most universally usable. The main types are word-processor data, which may include tabulated information and possible images, spreadsheets and databases. There may also be Desktop Publisher data, for which there are no viable exchange formats.

For public access sites, all these need to be restricted to the HTML web page format or Adobe Acrobat PDF format. The use of any proprietary document format should be avoided. Acrobat PDF files need to be viewed or printed with the Adobe Acrobat reader program or plug-in, but that is made available free from the Adobe web site.

Acrobat is a great way to exchange all kinds of data but is not so good if the recipient needs to use the data in an editing program. You can generate PDF files from any type of document provided you have the full Acrobat program with Distiller, which is not free. There is also a simple and low cost method that takes the form of a Windows printer driver. Acrobat files are not purely read-only, as both text and image data can be copied and pasted into editing programs, but the process can be awkward and restricted.

The emerging XML and aecXML formats are likely to make a big impact on project data exchange. See my previous article on XML for details. For CAD data the old standard DXF is quickly becoming out-classed as CAD data becomes more complex, although it still serves well enough for basic mainly 2D data. The more universal IGES format handles all 3D and complex shapes well, but is poorly supported in many CAD systems. The new and still developing CAD formats for 3D object-based design methods, STEP and IFC, should provide a complete answer eventually but are at present limited in applicability.

The advantages of passing design data between team partners electronically is so great that it is worth the effort needed at present for setting up systems that will work effectively between the parties in any particular project group. The projects currently being handled this way are providing models for methods to use while the new standards come to fruition. The National Museum project is also using radically new methods of project management, and the presentations being made to members of the construction industries are proving to be of great interest. From a CAD viewpoint, it is notable that the architectural design reference source is in the form of a complete 3D model on the project Web. This project and its presentations show the way forward in the use of technology for data sharing and cooperation in all aspects of a project’s planning and management.

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