Catch up on our latest webinar! See what customers asked in the Q&A

[jessica_smith]

Thank you to everyone who attended our February 7 webinar with guest speakers from the University of Birmingham. Please find the Q&A from the webinar below, and listen to the recording here, to hear the questions answered live. 

Keep an eye out for the invite to our next webinar to stay up to date on all things Autodesk Tandem, and for those interested, click here to join the Tandem Connect beta to be the first to know when it is released. 

See you at the next one! 

Asset Data 

• Did you establish specific data requirements or modeling and model organization requirements? If model organization requirements, how did you manage the pushback by the industry, saying it would cost more if you wanted them to alter their management practices for your specific project? 
  We have a strict BIM Requirements document designed to ensure the university gets what it needs (we are paying for it, after all!). We work with the contractors and consultants to ensure they are capable of meeting the requirements. 
• What LOD for each building is supposed to be in such a macro model? 
  For the macro model, you can use LOD 200 models with basic details. You can even use mass models if you are aggregating data at the building level. 
• Is it possible to integrate a Business Intelligence System like Microsoft Power BI? 
  Today, we have a built-in dashboard for parameter data and charts for the IoT. A dashboard for FM data is coming soon. There is an API available for Tandem, and some users have used it to connect it with PowerBi. 
• How do you ensure data quality? What measures do you take for its validation? 
  Have you seen our Data Dashboards? Resources below on this feature. 
  • https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/tandem-forum/new-feature-alert-data-dashboards-now-in-production/td-p... 
  • https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/tandem-forum/data-dashboards-interactions-visualizations-amp-filters/... 
  • https://help.autodesk.com/view/TANDEM/ENU/?guid=tandem-dashboard-overview 

• Can you use the twin only in the envelope of a building? Can it process information without the other components of the building? 
  Absolutely. It all depends on the outcomes you have specified. Tandem has been built to be very flexible with data management, device connectivity, and visualization. If you are wanting to connect broader data sets to the envelope of multiple buildings, this would give you some visualization similar to what U of B just demoed. 
• How important is building envelope data when analyzing through Tandem? 
  Generally, the building content beyond the managed assets and streams gives you the context of the building. Multiple workflows are supported by understanding the relationship between the building envelope, space breakdown, and individual assets. 

Building a Twin 

• What are the types of efficiencies you can gain through better space management and via the twin? 
  Determine underused spaces, we can look at repurposing them to avoid new builds and build up a bank of vacant space to meet future needs as they arise. This means we can react to the university's ever-changing space needs. 
• Have you developed your University of Birmingham BIM digital twins to the point where they incorporate all utility services, primary systems, and main plant components as a digital database and O&M manual, which I always believed to be the original intent? 
  Yes, Matt showed a small amount of the utilities we have for the demo, and we are actively (automatically) converting 2D to 3D of all of the utilities across our sites currently. we are feeding these models in as they are developed (Drainage, Gas, and water are currently added) 
• How feasibly could digital twins be implemented for wastewater treatment facilities? Also, can 3D scan models (i.e. from Autodesk Recap) be incorporated into Tandem/digital twin? 
  BIM is a requirement for Tandem, but we have customers successfully using partners like Pointfuse to generate a reasonable quality BIM model from a point cloud. 
• I assume each of the buildings are modeled separately using shared coordinates? 
  Yes, we have two scales, the Macro Twin at the campus level with building "blocks" and then many full BIM models, which are also linked in on the Shared Coordinates, allowing us to view both "levels of Detail" all in the one model. 
• How do you deal with changes that happen after the mode has been incorporated in the model? Let's say a remodel happens in a portion of a building. 
  Tandem has model version management capabilities where only the changed model components are incorporated on the updates. This does still require the source model to be updated. 

Facility Management 

• Will we be able to design or create our own warning or alert panels to notify the users in case some thresholds were crossed by any of the sensors? Are thresholds, warnings, or alerts part of any development plans? 
  Yes, thresholds are being developed. Users will be able to set and monitor thresholds for all the streams/sensor connections. Alerts and notifications are still being explored, and a decision has yet to be made. 
• Can we do design reviews using Autodesk Tandem? Version comparison? 
  You can do visual checks and parameter data completion checks. More advanced features, such as version comparison, are available in Autodesk Construction Cloud. Tandem is mainly for Owners/ Operators and Facility Managers to maintain and manage a facility. 
• I'm curious how other institutions are defining their As-Built Models at project handover. Are they requiring these to be the Design models updated throughout OR construction models? 
  I would check out this forum post > https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/tandem-forum/guidance-on-modeling-practices/td-p/12249148 
• For facility management, does Tandem offer a notification system that alerts users when a device requires its yearly maintenance or treatment? Assuming there is a matching parameter for the device. 
  Tandem is not intended to be a ticketing system. However, feeding information from a ticketing system into Tandem is a workflow on which we have received lots of feedback. Submit feedback directly to the product team from this site >  https://intandem.autodesk.com/our-product-roadmap/ 
  
  Watch our December 2023 webinar to see what FM features we have been working on > https://intandem.autodesk.com/resource/december-2023-webinar/ 

File Types 

• Does the Viewer support Revit, Civil 3D, and Microstation? Which file formats does the viewer support? 
  Today, we support Revit and IFC. We are using Forge for data ingestion, so over time, Autodesk Tandem will support other Autodesk formats, open formats, and other authoring solutions. Specific formats and timing will be driven by customer input; we have not yet decided what we will target next. 
• Is any particular software used to generate BIM models from the point cloud data for existing water/wastewater facilities? 
  At the moment, we support Revit. We also have BETA for .dwg and Navisworks format. Click here to join the DWG/NWD beta. 
• How have you been able to integrate laser-scanned data into Tandem? 
  In terms of file formats today, Tandem supports Revit, and there is a BETA program for dwg and Navisworks. So, the laser-scanned data will need to be converted to some of those formats. 
• Can Tandem directly bring in Pipe and pressure networks from c3d without converting it? 
  Tandem is currently focused on buildings and vertical assets. In the future, we will extend the support to Infra projects. Today, if you want to bring in C3D data, you need to convert it to RVT format. Alternately, we have support for other formats, such as Navisworks in beta. However, it is still mainly aimed at vertical assets. 
• What author systems have been used to get the geometry and models? Revit for Buildings, Inventor for machines, equipment...? 
  Revit for all of them. We are very strict about ensuring all geometry is in the same platform. 

Streams/IoT 

• Will it be available in the future to control the building or the asset, such as by changing the temperature, for example, or turning off some pumps in case of emergency? 
  In a future webinar, you'll see a new addition to Tandem that we are launching in beta soon: "Tandem Connect." That will give us bidirectional access to building systems, enabling control. I want to be clear that this is a future planned capability, though. 
• How about computational services? Is there any plan to integrate those services with Tandem, like AI services or machine learning? 
  That is part of what we'll be building out as part of Tandem starting this year. We see this as a platform play. We can't develop every kind of analytic a customer may want, so an open platform is at the core of our plans. 
• Can we visualize effects like moving particles for Temperature or smoke or whatever in the future to make the model alive for regular users and non-experts? 
  Great suggestion, and it's one we've seen before. We do have a public roadmap to which you can contribute ideas and upvote features. You can find it here: https://intandem.autodesk.com/our-product-roadmap/ 
• Could you please suggest a few sensors that can be used for occupancy and environmental purposes? 
  You can use any sensor that supports POSTing data to a webhook. Alternatively, you can use Azure IOT hub or Tandem API to connect to sensors that do not support POSTing data to webhooks. Soon, we will release Tandem Connect, which should make the integration process even easier. 
• Can we integrate One-Click LCA sustainability tools with Autodesk Tandem? 
  We have an upcoming beta of a solution called Tandem Connect that will allow integration of many types of solutions with Autodesk Tandem using a low-code middleware solution. 
• How do you link sensor data with assets from a 3D model simultaneously? How are you connecting two separate datasets? 
  
  We have some great resources on our Autodesk Knowledge Network page that explain this process > https://help.autodesk.com/view/TANDEM/ENU/?guid=tandem-streams-overview
  
  If you have any questions after reviewing this site, we encourage users to post them to our public forums: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/tandem-forum/bd-p/tandem. 

• Can we connect to third-party simulation engines like Energy+ to carry out the interventions? 
  Potentially, yes, if they support rest API. 
• Are there capabilities for Tandem to recognize infrastructure degradation in addition to monitoring space, such as HVAC units starting to fail and needing to be replaced? 
  We will be releasing a new feature soon that will allow you to set thresholds on your streamed data - that way you can see visually what assets are operating outside of your desired parameters.  We demoed this feature in the last webinar, this will provide a better deep dive of the proposed feature: https://intandem.autodesk.com/resource/december-2023-webinar/ 

Other 

• Is the viewer built on Autodesk Forge? 
  Yes. 
• When handing over a digital twin to the client, what are you actually giving them, and what software do they need to access it? 
  The twin is built with Tandem, and the client accesses it with their own Tandem instance. 
• Can the Tandem integrate with BIM 360? 
  Tandem is integrated with both BIM 360 and the Autodesk Construction Cloud. 

• What are the main differences between Bentley iTwin and Autodesk Tandem? 
  There are similarities and differences. From what we have seen iTwin is more of a platform, you have to integrate many things to create a twin. With Tandem we are attempting to build both an easy-to-use solution on top of an open platform. I know that's not a complete answer, but I hope it explains the philosophical difference as we see it. 
• What stages of the life cycle does Autodesk tandem support? 
  Great question; we see a variety of use cases throughout the building life cycle. The majority of that value falls in the building operations. However, we also see contractors using Tandem throughout construction to track IoT sensors for data that’s requested as part of their contractual obligations.
  
  Alternatively, we have seen architecture firms using their twins to improve their workplace design: https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/article/how-to-improve-any-workspace-quickly-with-digit... 

• Are there any plans to include predictive AI within Tandem? 
  Yes, we are investing in ML/AI for building analytics. Nothing we can share yet, but it's a significant investment for us.