The Q&A from our December 2023 Webinar

[jessica_smith]

Thanks to everyone who joined our last webinar for 2023. The comments, feedback, and questions! Oh, so many great ones!!! If you missed the December 13, 2023, webinar, watch the recording here and read the Q&A below, which includes the answers to questions answered live during the webinar.

*Indicates questions answered during the webinar

Alerts & Notifications

• Will this system alert building operators to high CO₂ levels during conference or meeting events?
  In the future, you will have thresholds as was demoed, allowing you to define hard and soft alert levels for different streams. So, for example, if the CO₂ level were above the hard or soft alert level defined, you would see that reflected as an “alert” in the chart panel and through the pin color in the viewer. You can also see that today with heatmaps visually.
• Do you have any thoughts about alert push notifications from Tandem?
  This is functionality that is being looked at and considered. If you have feedback on what this could look like, please submit it through our website: https://intandem.autodesk.com/our-product-roadmap/
• *We would like to have a notification/message capability so that when we expose our digital twin to our studio, anyone can select an asset and trigger a notification (via an email, which would go into our ticket system), capturing the maintenance need.
  So today, it is just visual. As we talked about the Tandem Connect experience, we've had several conversations with customers where we don't directly expect an alert in Tandem, where that might be more appropriate in your work, order management system, or CMMS. The idea of connecting to those external systems is that it would exist in the appropriate environment anytime users trigger something like that. We do have some visual alerting today, and we would expect some additional kind of notification and a history review of that in the future.
  
  Part of the thresholds' work is that users can now see Streams grouped by status. For instance, the Connection list in the Streams panel can now be toggled by Status, and users can see where things are outside of that threshold. So, just as demonstrated in the webinar, users can drill into those specific areas that are outside the threshold today. That is very visual. It is user-driven, and your interaction drives the investigation rather than us.
• Can the system be used to alert an Owner of a scheduled need for preventive corrosion control inspections?
  At this time, those types of notifications are not available. As discussed, additional notifications are being considered, as our work with threshold demonstrated.
• *could that be used as a sort of CMMS replacement with external (SMS or Email) alerting and historical tracking?
  Our goal is to enable better insights and analytics by giving you a centralized, cohesive view of data that would typically be siloed in different systems. Generally, this means working in conjunction with any CMMS systems you already use and enabling actions via APIs. However, if users don’t have an existing CMMS, we could envision providing some lightweight alerting capabilities in the future.
  
  

API & Streams

• Are there APIs for Streams to connect to IoT monitoring platforms?
  For more information on Autodesk Tandems API, visit our forum space here to read up on Stream Resources.
• How 'real-time' is the data?  How often is it pulling information?
  The data is “near real-time.” Tandem can currently ingest data from BMS (Building Mgt System) and IoT sensors and log it once per minute. To see the most recent data in Tandem, you can either hit the refresh button for your browser or the “reset” time range button in the chart’s module.
• Will we be able to filter Streams by zone/floor so that we don't see them all at once? Will we be able to use color codes?
  Yes, in the next year, we will be working on being able to focus on the Streams in a specific space/room or floor. Today, you can use coloring in spaces or the various elements.
• Is the platform capable of collecting data on industrial plant assets?
  Tandem currently can ingest numerical data only, so if the data is numeric, I don't see why that wouldn't be possible. Expanding what data types Tandem can receive and read will be based on customer feedback, which can be sent directly to the product team at this link.
• Related to the Streams and IoT data, is there potential to develop a feature to create a mock sensor? I have tried recently but have no previous coding experience, so the use of Python for a new user is difficult. I hope it could be used in presentations of Twins to showcase advantages to clients.
  There is a good thread on this topic in the forums > https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/tandem-forum/creating-virtual-fictional-sensors/m-p/12301025

Asset Data

• How is this data obtained? How can a manufacturer get standards and requirements for this technology?
  The owner establishes the data requirements. The data for the various 3D elements, like manufactured names, warranties, or serial numbers, is provided in the project by the specialist working on installation or in the O&M manuals. Finally, the IoT data is connected to Tandem by creating links with the Connections and Streams.
• Will you be discussing future integration with SAP asset/building data?
  Yes, SAP data integration will be a part of our Tandem Connect integration. It would provide the capability to connect and bidirectionally share data. Tandem Connect is from our Reekoh acquisition. We are onboarding customers to our Beta community, and you will hear more about this next year. Join the beta here to be one of the first to know when it becomes available.

Excel Plugin – Join the beta here and be among the first to receive updates.

• Any updates on the Excel add-in? I would like to see a solution to create a parameter via Excel like we can do classifications.
  We are working on it, and a new update will come next year. Just before AU, we released an update on the Revit add-in.
• Does Tandem currently offer the ability to link directly with Excel documents or Power BI? If not, is it something that is being considered?
  Today, there is an Excel add-in that allows for data exchange between Excel and Tandem. Power BI is possible through the Tandem API.

Model Management

• How are you finding your customers keep this information updated once implemented? Fitups, equipment replacements, or sensors would need updates. Have you incorporated anything into the software that can speed up or simplify this? How are these changes shown in the historical view to highlight the change?
  We have heard this a lot. Currently, users can update the asset data in Tandem, and the geometry needs to be updated in the authoring file and then updated/reuploaded to Tandem. All this is shown in our history panel, and you can track every change in Tandem regarding data or geometry. In the future, we might allow for small modifications, but big design updates will need the authoring file geometry to be updated. We recommend reading our forum post, Modeling Practices.
• If you don’t already have a digital replica of a facility, how can one be created to utilize Tandem? 3D scanning?
  We see many scan-to-BIM-to-[digital] twin workflows to create a digital twin of a preexisting facility. We have a great past webinar on the subject: https://intandem.autodesk.com/resource/may-2023-webinar/
• Who is expected to populate Tandem?  I get who you want to use this in the end, but how are we addressing the issue of this falling on the people who must create this twin?
  Who does this, will vary from project to project, and where a facility is in its life cycle. Ideally, this should be specified at the beginning of any project, with considerations from the owner/operator and the project team.

Systems

• *Could a grocery store refrigeration system be part of the Distribution networks?
  It depends on what it is, but the idea is that with our systems capability, we provide automation for defining connections across systems. So, automation does leverage geometry today and properties in the future. What you're able to do is see and then trace through those connections that are made. So, users can step through it this way or select via a right-click and enable system tracing. Once those connections are made, users can select points of interest along the route. The idea with this is it could be for any system today, keeping in mind that this feature focuses on systems with ductwork, piping, or conduit where they are connected systems of components.

Other

• "Today, you can use coloring in spaces or the various elements." Do you mean using the spaces of the model and applying colors inside Tandem?
  To color the spaces in Tandem, open the Filter panel, and under the Revit categories, select Rooms as pictured below.
  

  From there, turn on the color filtering to view the rooms by color in the viewer.
  If you have any specific questions about this workflow, please post them to our public forum space here.

• Why can't we collaborate on the Plant 3d format?
  We can import the DWG format in beta today, so it is possible. With the SQL database in Plant 3D, it's simply a matter of us working out what data should get mapped/pulled into Tandem on import.
• Automated Level View, for example, if I wanted to see all elements on a certain level.
  This can be done utilizing filters. In the filter panel for a facility, there should be a section called "levels." Select the level for which you wish to see assets. You can filter the model further if there are specific assets for a level you want to see.
• Any plan to allow for attachments on individual assets or spaces? For example, 360-degree photos for a space or essential documentation for a specific asset.
  This can be done, but functionality and supported file type are limited. We currently do not support attaching 360 photos. However, if the 360 photos are stored in the cloud, users can create a custom hyperlink parameter and copy/paste the link from the cloud storage solution into that parameter for an asset. Learn more at the links below:
  • Docs Page on Tandem’s AKN Page
  • Parameters Page on Tandem’s AKN Page
  • Attaching Documents in Autodesk Tandem forum post
• Is location-based positioning available for "in-the-field" applications? I'm thinking of what little I've seen from BIM360 Ops functionality.
  We currently don't have a mobile app like BIM360 Ops.
• Will this concept be filtered down to residential single-family homes?
  To build your digital twin, you need a 3D model, create a facility template, and then associate data with it. It can be parameter data from BIM or connected sensors.
• *Are you planning on having (OEE) Overall Equipment Effectiveness charts?
  We've had several conversations with customers looking at that area of interest where we might count or provide a status value against how many work orders or tickets have been created against a component or how often it's outside that threshold value.
• *Where do you see AI and blockchain technology impacting the digital twin anatomy and tandem process cycles?
  As we get into more analytics and simulation capabilities, it's valid that we think about vast information being analyzed. So, we do see AI and machine learning, in some cases, contributing to what we might be able to do there. As you know, we've talked about some natural language stuff with the emergence of ChatGPT. If I want to, for example, provide an additional data set with these fan units. I might provide that as a search criterion or an instruction to interact with the digital twins. So, I could certainly envision that being something we do in the future.
• Can you tag maintenance issues utilizing Tandem? Such as creating a ticket for a wall needing paint or a wobbly handrail that should be inspected?
  Not at this time, but this is something that we have heard feedback about from many customers.
• With the acquisition of FlexSim, will there be a future integration with discrete event simulation, and what would that look like?
  At this time, there are no current plans to integrate with FlexSim. Development of Integrations with other Autodesk products or external products is driven by customer feedback, which can be provided directly to the product team on intandem.autodesk.com.
• Can the Tandem be used as a concept design stage to tell the client how efficient climate control is?
  This is a long-term goal for Tandem.

[Chad-Smith]

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@jessica_smith wrote:

Alerts & Notifications

• Do you have any thoughts about alert push notifications from Tandem?
  This is functionality that is being looked at and considered. If you have feedback on what this could look like, please submit it through our website: https://intandem.autodesk.com/our-product-roadmap/

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If you decide to add push notifications, I would like it to be flexible enough to be conditional. Preferrably, I would like the Thresholds to be conditional, rather than the notification.

The use case here is more IoT orientated, and most likely conditional upon building presence or operational hours.

e.g. Has a room temp gone above a max threshold while the building/room is occupied. During business hours this is important, while on a weekend it is not.

The reason why I said it should be integrated into the Threshold is so the Streams panel will show the Thresholds only when they are in effect.

[jessica_smith]

Hi @Chad-Smith !

Thresholds are being examined in the context of notifications (email, push, etc). We have had conversations with several owners/operators, and this feature was discussed heavily. So, it is being examined and prioritized more.

As someone who used to work in facilities, I know controlling the timing of notifications is invaluable. FMs only want to know when the worst of the worst happens on weekends. 😄

I have sent your feedback and use case to the product team. As always, great insight; thanks!