See what attendees asked during our May 2024 webinar! - Q&A is here!

[jessica_smith]

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for the webinar with Dura Vermeer’s Mart Morsinkhof. We had an exciting time interacting with all of you, and, as we’re sure you did too, we enjoyed Mart’s presentation on Autodesk Tandem and how it harnesses various forms of asset data to create a digital twin.

In case you missed it, we have provided the complete list of Q&A from the webinar - watch the recording here.

Enjoy, and we will see you at the next one!

Asset Data

• How was the tag data entered into the Revit model? Manually, family by family, an export/import process, Dynamo?
  Tandem allows for the creation of parameters and adding data directly in Tandem or by leveraging the data already in the Revit files. The user can also use a Revit add-in and an Excel add-in.
• There was an ISO standard referenced earlier by Tim Kelly. Can you please provide that again?
  ISO19650 - Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modeling (BIM).
• Are there standards for the tag naming and subcomponents/sensors?
  Any sort of naming standard is best determined by the stakeholders who will be managing or utilizing the twin most day-to-day. Every facility, project, and operations team have its own process for successfully managing a building. The flexibility that Tandem offers allows users from all personas to customize their experience so that they are successful in their role of managing the facility.
• Can you explain which data parameters are visible now? CO2 levels, RH, temp, etc.?
  We’ve got CO2, humidity, some pressure levels, and temperature. We have also got the lighting that is on the sensors, the airflow rate for the flow of VAVs and for the 6,000 valves, and the liters an hour for the water.
• Who owns the data? Who is responsible for its accuracy?
  From Tandem: The data ownership really belongs to the owner of the building. That's really who owns the data. It is their data; it's no one else's data. The key question is how to provide the right level of access to that data to the people that need it the most, recognizing that the responsibility of the data rests with the owners.. It is their data.
  
  Sometimes, they may want to grant access to their service providers. If it's an AEC firm like Dura Vermeer that may be working with that owner over a number of years and may want to use that for life cycle improvements to that building. [The owner] may want to grant Dura Vermeer access to that data to help them analyze the best solutions for future retrofit or future builds for that customer.
  
  Holistically, we do reference international standard ISO nineteen six fifty division three (ISO 19650). It is focused on asset information requirements and how the delivery team, architects, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors can collaborate with the owner and ultimately define the process for capturing and validating that information. Our guidance, aligned with that specification, would be that you capture that deliverable as part of your contract and as part of what exists there today, and the amendments tied to BIM deliverables.
  
  Response from Dura Vermeer: I will add one more thing quickly. It’s that we are starting to see an evolution in contract deliverables where today, there are many contracts that require specific values or information to be populated in the BIM deliverables. So, whether that's part of a Revit requirement or a Navisworks requirement or otherwise, we do see a lot of that in the industry today, and we're starting to see a shift to start including digital twin requirements.

• Tandem from/to Revit/ACC -> 2-way sync or just 1-way only?

With Autodesk Construction Cloud, let's talk specifically about Docs first. Access to Docs is read only meaning we can pull files from Docs; however, we cannot push data back into Docs.. So, from Docs to Tandem. There is no bidirectional sync now, but we consume models and documentation. From a model perspective, when users publish a model into Tandem from Docs, anytime there are subsequent updates, you will get a notification in Tandem that there is a new version available. So, we do have revision management as things change in your Docs environment. We will see that in Tandem and consume the updates. We do a change analysis on those updates so it's not bringing in a whole new model, but it's bringing in what's changed.

On the document side, if I define a set of parameters for an asset, say a pump, that includes a warranty document, product data sheet, and other documentation, I can leverage Docs as a repository and consume documents from there that are going to be PDFs, Excel files, images, and that sort of thing.

In terms of other product capabilities inside of the Construction Cloud, we have had a long-standing conversation about when we are going to prioritize a connection with the Build Assets module. So, ACC build has a component called Assets, which is for field data capture of equipment and management as you progress through the delivery phase. We are working on how we want to define that integration in a bidirectional way where we can exchange data about the specifications and the required data set and when data is captured. There's also a handover capability there we're working on with that product team.

Adam asked a little bit about the Revit integration as well. We can consume Revit files directly from an upload. We do have a plug-in, which is available for Revit to interact with the Tandem data within the Revit environment that is bidirectional. So, I can edit and contribute data to Tandem from the Revit application. If I update Revit parameters in Tandem, I can synchronize those back to my Revit file.

Facility Management/Handover

• Do facility operators' interface through Tandem to analyze and control the SCADA system?
  Right now, our focus is on contextualizing, visualizing, and analyzing data, such as SCADA, BMS, maintenance, etc. Control might be a future item, but that requires quite a bit of thought to ensure we do that in a highly secure manner.
• Is OpenBIM a consideration? How is what was presented future proof for building owners who want to maintain facilities for many decades?
  In terms of OpenBIM, Tandem supports IFC today. For any collection of source models, a re-import only brings in changes from one version to the next. So, if future modifications are based on previous design models, Tandem will update the twin based on the remodel/retrofit models.

• When a firm is tasked with creating digital twins for the operational and maintenance phases of clients' diverse existing building portfolios, challenges arise when there is no existing as-built BIM model. Given the significant time and cost investments typically associated with developing such models, alternative strategies become crucial. How might one navigate past the need for a BIM model and still craft effective digital twins for these buildings?
  For existing buildings, a strategy from some of our clients has been to scan the building and then create a BIM model out of that. Then, complete the data needed in Tandem. This webinar from May 2023 talks a bit about those workflows and approaches. https://inTandem.autodesk.com/resource/may-2023-webinar/
• Could we talk about FM side - schedule of maintenance and capital planning? Also, the record/data keeping of this maintenance?
  I'll kick off with two things on the maintenance side. One of the things that we're working towards with Tandem Connect is the ability to integrate with various maintenance management solutions so that we can review and contain a normalized history of all maintenance that's happened on a particular facility. That is super useful as we look at future predictive maintenance.
  
  The second thing that we are looking to do is, in March, we showed a great example of building temperature being warm  on the weekend. You do not really want to have somebody sitting and watching a heatmap or a chart on the weekend. What you really want to happen there is that you want a threshold to be exceeded. If that is exceeded for a period of time, you want to be able to kick off a work order so someone can go and inspect that issue. That is another thing that we are actively working towards is the idea of being able to have webhook fired when that threshold is exceeded, to end up connecting, be able to respond to that, and automatically create a work order in the system of record. So, creating some of that automation back into, the maintenance management systems.

File Types

• How accurate does the Revit model need to be in order to function in Tandem? Can the model been pulled from Tandem for further renovation projects then push back to Tandem?
  Files can be hosted in Docs, connected to Revit, and updated as the project evolves. The ideal workflow is to start data input in Tandem once the model is designed. You always need to have the file, as it cannot be downloaded directly from Tandem.
  
  We also recommend reading this fantastic forum post from Arundhati Ghosh- Guidance on Modeling Practices.

IoT/Connections

• Is the data real-time to Azure and from Azure to Autodesk [Tandem]?
  Data from Azure or any IoT device is near real-time. The streams panel has a refresh button that will update to the latest data.
• I assume you can have flood/water damage detection
  We have a few different clients that are actively monitoring potential leaks to mitigate flooding with sensors. One of those is the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, Michigan. They had flooding in the past, and in order to protect their artifacts they have installed small humidity sensors strategically to find issues as they occur to prevent future flooding again. You can find the story here > https://inTandem.autodesk.com/resource/the-charles-h-wright-museums-digital-transformation-to-becomi...
• What is the service life of sensors? How often do they have to be serviced or verified that information is reliable?
  This is going to be dependent on the type of sensor and manufacturer. The Autodesk Tandem team does not endorse or recommend any specific brand of IoT devices, we recommend you do your own research.
• How do users integrate with APS?
  We have an API available through the APS site. These two links might be useful:
  • https://inTandem.autodesk.com/Tandem-as-a-platform/
  • https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/Tandem/v1/developers_guide/overview/
• how to integrate w/ ACC?
  Tandem directly connects to the data stored in ACC Docs out of the box. No custom integration required.
• What happens if the site loses their internet connection? (i.e., Is there any offline redundancy?)
  Many solutions, like Azure IoT Hub, have the option to queue data, so there is no loss if the building's internet goes offline.
• I am familiar with the time series data for connections/streams but is there a more databased or tabular way to export or ingest the data over time?
  Via the Tandem API or Tandem Connect, you have full access to both ingest and export ANY data in Tandem.
• Do we have any standard workflow available for integrating Tandem with other data?
  With Tandem Connect, we are building a library of reusable solutions for connecting Tandem to many different types of operational systems, including BMS systems, Maximo, SAP, SCADA, etc.
• Can you provide links to descriptions of all of these plug-in connectors and Tandem Connect?
  This can be found on our Insider Lounge by joining the Tandem Connect beta here.
• Do we need to use the Azure platform or would some other website work as well?
  From Mart: We were looking into the Azure event because that is where the data was stored. But I think this solution will work on every platform if it is in the cloud.
  
  From Tandem: Tandem will work with pretty much any platform. We do have a direct integration with Azure, which is pretty automated today through our new wizard approach to connecting to an Azure IoT hub. But we can connect to pretty much any platform and any sensor type, both on-premises and in the building and cloud-based sensors. We just needed the hyperlinks to send data to so that is the only thing we needed.
• How frequently is the data monitored? I am curious about the current duration of the entire process. I'm just trying to gauge the freshness of the data that will be examined in Autodesk; how many minutes old is it?
  So, every time something changes in the building, the data gets sent to the Azure event hub, and our IT team made a tool that pushes every event through Tandem. So, it is [near] real-time data. So, no fifteen minutes, but well, well, if something does not change for an hour or for two or three days, then you will not have any data. Then it just says, three days ago. But most of the time, it's just, like, one minute ago or two minutes ago. So, its event driven.
  
  Imagine that the sensor itself dictates that. In your case, your sensors are event-related, but Tandem can certainly handle a regular cadence if the device dictates it.

Modeling

• What exactly is the link between Revit and Tandem? A plugin, a specific export file format, an export workflow?
  Users can upload Revit files to Tandem from their local drive or ACC Docs. From Docs, information can be updated as the model updates. The Revit file is the main 3D interface in the viewer and displays all the data. There is also a Revit Add-In that allows the exchange of data Revit<>Tandem.
• What are the chances that selected information can be pushed back into the Revit model?
  We can update Revit via a Tandem plugin for Revit bi-directionally.
• What was the most difficult step in the overall workflow of using Tandem based on the Revit model and building systems' data?
  Communication with the IT team was one difficult thing. So, how can we leverage the data from the Azure event up to the Tandem site in a good way? They said, “We could push every data into Tandem, and then I have to do a mapping table inside Tandem.
  
  [Bob] said something about coding. Well, when I was busy with it, Tandem Connect was not available yet, and I just had to have a lot of information from the API on the Tandem side. It was not a hard code, but I think it is one hundred lines of coding in C Sharp. But it was finding out how we can do it, and that's where Shiva helped me a lot to make this happen.
• Do people change their environment manually at the Dura Vermeer Inspiration Center, and How does the BIM model in Tandem process the data or handle it?
  We're working with the Design Collaboration. So, the model is on Docs, and we can open it just like a worksheet model. Every time we update the things in Revit, well, we update the Docs. We must publish the model, and if it is published, we can just update it in Tandem. So, it is just an easy connection between the workshare model and Tandem. So, I think that is the answer to how we are doing that.

Other

• I have a client who has developed a BMS solution for their HVAC equipment and other controls. They are exploring Digital Twin. Is this something that could be embedded into their branded BMS and Controls solution?
  We are finding that architects are using Tandem as project handover. Others as an extra service for their practices. This link might be useful, it is a presentation from an architecture practice: https://inTandem.autodesk.com/resource/the-digital-thread-episode-1-mandated-digital-twins-and-cobie...
• Who is the single person at Autodesk to contact if I want to buy Autodesk for my project with the primary wish to launch my project of 200 townhomes?
  https://www.autodesk.com/buying/overview
• How does Tandem deal with cyber security?
  In terms of cyber security, Tandem follows all of Autodesk's security policies as outlined here: https://www.autodesk.com/trust/overview.
• Can Tandem be used out of a web browser, or is a client required?
  Tandem is cloud-hosted, and the client is your web browser.
• Are heatmap visualizations possible/useful?
  Yes, heatmap visualizations are possible and very useful for contextualizing data! Heatmaps can be applied to both spaces and systems, colors can be changed to your preference, and you can adjust data ranges. We have a great example of how the University of Birmingham used heatmaps for decision-making and communication that saved them up to £400,000 on their electricity bill annually. You can find that here: https://inTandem.autodesk.com/resource/february-2024-webinar/
• Do you need to know coding?
  We introduced Tandem Connect in our last webinar, and it is in beta right now. It is very much an integration platform that is based on a very low code approach to system and data integration and also workflow automation. As we go forward, we will make that easier and easier for the nonprogrammer to use. It is diagrammatic. Think, for the AEC folks in the room, a dynamo-like way of creating connections to various maintenance management solutions. It might be building management systems. It might be other types of systems that are running to allow for creating that connectivity in a low-code approach. So, the whole goal there is to really have repeatable patterns and solutions in a library, in Tandem Connect that can be deployed for use with a little bit of configuration.
  
  We've been able to connect to building management systems in a relatively repeatable way with a very simple pipeline in Tandem Connect. With a little bit of configuration, we can connect to pretty much any BMS that is BACnet-based and bring that data into Tandem, automatically creating the streams in Tandem, which is pretty cool.