Systems - Understanding the Benefits

[jessica_smith]

Systems in Autodesk Tandem is for Digital Twin Managers and Owners. Systems, defined in the source model, brings ease of access of a building’s internal parts straight to users of all technical abilities. 

What do we mean by “internal parts”? This is the infrastructure that brings a building to life. This includes the lighting and electrical components so occupants can see, the mechanical systems and the ductwork that directs heating and cooling, it’s the cabling that gives us Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to those special AV systems, and so much more.

These systems are what occupants see at the façade of the building and its spaces, but it’s what they don’t see that can all too often lead to trying to find a needle in a haystack. Have you ever received a preventive maintenance ticket to replace a filter, but you could not find the asset? I have, and it took quite a while to find it because it was lost in the maze of a piping system of a 100-year-old multi-use, multi-tenant building. Finding the filter took about three to five techs, a loss in water pressure, and several hours to find in a shared mechanical room that we didn’t even know our utilities fed from. The filter itself was mounted to the wall, blocked by an air-handling unit that we had to walk around even to see.

It is situations like these that service technicians and owner/operators find themselves in all too often, and where Tandem’s Systems feature brings huge benefits. Rather than try and follow the web of conduit, piping, and ductwork through drop ceilings and walls, Tandem can isolate model elements for the system in the viewer to only what we need to see. Making only the required assets and their associated data readily available. This alone could have saved me and the other techs several hours of searching for what would be considered a small office space. Imagine trying to do that for a manufacturing space or a treatment facility that is hundreds of thousands of square feet.

Now imagine someone trying to find a shutoff valve when there’s a leak, but it’s not mapped anywhere. That’s the type of emergency where taking hours to find something is going to cause more and bigger problems. Especially when a vendor is on site, and it’s their first time at the facility. 

Locating important pieces of infrastructure is key to resolving problems and completing preventative maintenance efficiently, saving time not just in repair costs but potentially billable hours. Tandem’s System feature makes finding assets, locating them, and viewing their rich data accessible to all AEC-O personas and service techs by providing a full picture of a building’s inner systems. 

To learn more about Systems, visit Tandem’s Systems page on AKN here, and follow us on LinkedIn for the most recent updates.

About the Author 
Before joining Autodesk Tandem, Jessica spent six years in facilities as a Facility Coordinator and Global BIM 360 Ops Coordinator at Autodesk. During that time, she coordinated onsite vendors, was heavily involved in the multi-phase buildout of Autodesk’s Boston Office, and helped with some space planning to name a few of her responsibilities. Connect on LinkedIn here to see more of what she’s done and to keep up with what she’s doing.