All the above are included, but SaaS is aimed at a particular business function or functions.
The SaaS environment must be attractive enough to many customers with similar
requirements. For example, the cost of writing and maintaining accounting software is very expensive for large companies, so the SaaS vendor provides a generalised accounting package that each individual cloud customer can use.
This has been just a short and relatively superficial skirmish into the world of cloud computing. The general benefits are meant to be:
• Scalability and/or elasticity of supply and demand.
• A managed but outsourced IT capability.
• Reduced capital and revenue expenditures.
• Faster development and/or deployment of software applications.
• Better business agility.
This is a significant and fast growing industry. There are many variations offered and the distinctions between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS become blurred. Nevertheless, there is a significant trend developing which will inevitably impact on architecture and construction.
It may be some time before mainstream practice sees advantage in such facilities. Costs and ease of use have to meet before the prospect looks attractive for relatively small businesses in architecture and construction. But it probably will happen that practices buy their computing power from the web rather like buying electricity or gas from a provider.
Standards
No examination of BIM would be complete without considering information standards, after all it is the ’Information’ in BIM that is the most powerful factor. The topic of standards is wide but unfortunately it is not given the prominence it deserves. Adopting standards leads to creating, using and maintaining information in a far more effective way – and is a necessary platform for BIM. Once again we find that a powerful tool for managing information is available at little investment cost. What’s stopping you?
What is meant by standards in this context? A simple working concept is to think of any personal or business computer, laptop or desktop, it makes no difference. There are two overall structuring concepts that tell the story of how information is managed at this level:
files and folders. Everyone is familiar with folders and files, but they are not used to their full potential as a powerful means of structuring information. Given some basic conventions they can provide an extremely useful means of structuring information.
FIGURE 3.6 Industry information standards.
BS 1192 (2007)
BS 1192 (2007) is the latest in a long line of British Standards that have tried to help the production of information in an architectural world. From the earliest days of simple drawing board procedures to today’s world of sophisticated object technology this standard has evolved to give professionals a helping hand on how they can manage the information that passes through their hands or computers on a daily basis.
The standard has been developed with the use of public money through the British Standards Institution. What remains a mystery is that most companies in architecture and construction spend significant sums and a great deal of time in some cases making a case for why this standard does not meet their needs and so develop one of their own. The standard gives guidance on how to produce a communal pool of information and shows how information can flow through a private working area, a shared public repository, an issued area and onto being archived. Additional codes can be attached to information to give further clarity on its reliability status.
CI/SfB
The CI/SfB Construction Indexing Manual first published in 1962 provides a means of classifying and structuring information in the BIM environment. It was specifically devised to provide a structure for project information and is as relevant today as it was back in the sixties.
The standard consists of five tables that cover:
Table 0 Physical Environment Wide range of building typologies
Table 1 Elements Standard classification of building elements Table 2 Construction Forms Classifies main construction forms
Table 3 Materials Classifies materials that form a product Table 4 Activities, requirements Functional activities and product characteristics
FIGURE 3.7 An example of a CI/SfB classification.
Almost every product catalogue or piece of literature discreetly carries a portion of this classification system. When requesting product information from the web you will spot that the cover page of the .pdf has the distinctive combination of characters which tells the story of what it is. This is a very succinct language for classifying information that can be used directly in software platforms for naming layers, levels or object libraries for example.
The figure above shows part of the front cover of the .pdf download for clay interlocking tiles from Marley Eternit Interlocking roof systems:
• (47) is from Table 1, the elemental classification, telling us it is a ’Roof finish’
• ’N’ is from Table 2, telling us it is ’Rigid sheet overlap work’
• ’g2’ is from Table 3, telling us it is ’Fired clay, vitrified clay or ceramics’.
UNICLASS
UNICLASS or Unified Classification for the Construction Industry is a similar system. It was first published in 1997 and is based on ISO TR 14177. It has fifteen tables giving a wider classification range, covering for example forms of information, spaces, construction elements, work sections and more besides:
A Form of Information J Work Sections for Buildings
B Subject Disciplines K Work Section for Civil Engineering Works
C Management L Construction Products
D Facilities M Construction Aids
E Construction Entities N Properties and Characteristics
F Spaces P Materials
G Elements for Buildings Q Universal Decimal Classification H Elements for Civil Engineering Works
FIGURE 3.8: UNICLASS tables for classifying information
The following extract from the UNICLASS document gives an insight into what is covered by the system, but it and the table above belie the incredibly comprehensive tool this
classification system provides for managing information. ‘UNICLASS is a classification scheme for organising library materials and for structuring product literature and project information. It incorporates both CAWS (Common Arrangement of Works Sections for Building Works) and EPIC (Electronic Product Information Co-operation), a new system for structuring product data and product literature.’