Connecting BIM and BI with VCAD

In every area, digitization of processes and procedures is now an integral part of daily work at all levels. Virtually every day we witness the emergence of new software and tools, many of which quickly become essential for companies that decide to adopt them.

In this scenario of continuous search for innovation more and more importance is being given to the BIM/BI combination, particularly, but not only, in the construction industry. There is a strong focus today on these types of solutions, and companies are increasingly aware of the importance of having them available and integrating them into their working processes.

BIM has become central to the totality of the design, construction, and maintenance processes of every modern project, and of great importance is the ability to make the most of the data it contains. Business intelligence comes to our aid. Having tools to easily analyze the data contained in BIM files can make a difference in work processes, especially but not only in terms of cost and time savings.

In this article we will describe a software that has been conceived and developed from the ground up to meet this need: Vcad.

WHAT IS VCAD?

Vcad was first released in April 2020 and is developed by Blogic s.r.l., a software development company based in Rome Italy, and it’s currently being used 62 countries around the world by companies working in eight different business sectors.

Vcad is a simple to use solution that aims to connect the worlds of BIM and BI. It does so by making BIM data more accessible to professional figures that don’t usually manage BIM as well as offer companies an easy way to enhance their business intelligence with BIM.

There are two main aspects of the Vcad solution that make this all possible: automatic data extraction and model rendering.

Vcad automatically extracts all data contained in BIM models (e.g., a list of all objects and spaces in the model, all properties and attributes defined, and the relationships between everything), this data is then structured in standardized datasets, which are easy to connect to other data sources and to use in BI reports.

Vcad offers an interactive rendering of the BIM model that can be navigated and connected with the extracted data for simple selections and object highlighting, but it can also be further configured to offer more advanced tools like object theming, and tooltip and icon rendering. These features make the Vcad viewer a great tool for understanding and communicating complex data.

The first implementation of Vcad allowed the use of BIM models and data in Power BI reports, Power BI is one of the leading business intelligence tools and is developed by Microsoft.

With its ease of use and great connectivity features, Power BI was a natural pick for the Vcad development team, but now, having addressed the market’s needs and proven the usefulness of this kind of solution, Blogic is working on developing an integration with Tableau (another top player in the Business Intelligence space), then and integration with Salesforce (leading CRM software on the market), and finally will be offering a more general-purpose version designed to be easily integrated in any thirdparty system.

Philosophy And Usage

Vcad grew out of a need that until recently was not being met: Blogic developed a complex architecture that bridges the gap between BIM management software and BI tools, allowing its users to create in seconds fully functional reports, that contain all the data coming from the BIM files and an interactive model rendering connected to the extracted data.

In addition, external data sources can be added to the reports and connected to the report. That allows the user to represent KPIs from any business area inside of the model itself. Such as material costs, construction progress, IoT data from sensors, and so on.

With a simple setup and access to the model data, the reporting possibilities are really only tied to specific business needs and one’s imagination.

WHO IS VCAD SUITED FOR?

We can safely say that Vcad finds its greatest use in companies dealing with design, architecture and construction and that it can be exploited in every work process, from design to maintenance. The business professionals that can most benefit from the functionality that Vcad offers are therefore all those figures who work daily with BIM files: BIM managers, BIM specialists and BIM coordinators.

This broadens the usefulness of this solution to all those companies that are not involved in design or construction but still use BIM methodology in their work processes. For this reason, Vcad easily finds application in a variety of work areas: retail, oil and gas, software development, real estate, environmental services, government agencies, and even integrated as a viewer and data extractor into existing systems.

WHAT VCAD CAN BE USED FOR?

Thanks to its flexibility, there are many different applications of Vcad, which are often identified and proposed by the professional figures using the tool rather than the development team. Here are some of them:

• 4D REPORTING. Monitoring the progress of the construction phases of a project. Combining work completion data with model elements and perhaps even using colors to visually highlight different statuses. This type of report can be easily shared between planners and on-site workers to give essential information and keep management up to date with the progress.

• 5D REPORTING. 5D Vcad reports link cost and estimation processes directly to 3D models; by incorporating cost estimation, the design phase of a building and subsequent phases can be accelerated and optimized to gain insight into the economic aspects.

• QUANTITIES. Vcad makes it easy to extract quantities from BIM files. Areas, surfaces, perimeters, heights, can all be aggregated by floor or searched by individual room. Such a report is very useful in facility management scenarios.

• MAINTENANCE. Follow scheduled and predictive maintenance. Review equipment for which maintenance is planned and link model elements to data from the field. With the use of colors and alerts, the report is even more intuitive and visually immediate to consult.

• SPACE MANAGEMENT. Thanks to Vcad, it is possible to use both BIM files and CAD files to create a report that ties the spaces in a building to their use, occupancy, or any other external data, perhaps combining this data with quantities for space management purposes.

• CLASH DETECTION. In the implementation phase of a BIM model, it is necessary to work to avoid errors and clashes as much as possible. Vcad allows the creation reports for clash analysis by combining the clash detection functionality of Navisworks with Power BI. The user will then be able to review clash data (e.g., assignment, status, date of detection, etc.) directly in the report.

• DIGITAL TWIN SCENARIOS. Vcad is particularly well suited for use in Digital Twin environments, precisely because of its ability to connect external data with model elements. Digital Twin reports allow the user to review complex IoT data directly in the model rather than have to scroll though infinite datapoint lists.

The versatility of the solution enables the review of both historical and near-real-time IoT data.

Conclusion

This type of flexible architecture that leverages industry-standard tools enables end users to create the best solution to meet their specific needs, improve interoperability, and obtain better insights.

In addition, with the direct visual data-model connection, decisions can be made quickly and shared externally, allowing other project participants to plan their work accordingly. This is the vision of Vcad, to increase accessibility to data leveraging a growing list of technologies.

As of today, leveraging the Autodesk Forge Viewer, Vcad offers support for some of the most popular BIM file formats, including IFC, Revit, Navisworks, DGW as well as OBJs and STLs. However, following user suggestions, the Vcad team is always adding to the list of supported formats, and has planned to add two new formats during the 2023 development cycle.

All versions of Vcad can be tested free of charge for a specified period having access to all the tool’s features and with any of the supported file formats.

For more information about Vcad just write to support@bimservices.it or visit the portal www.bimservices.it

In future editions of AUGIWorld magazine we will publish a series of articles where we will go into more detail about some of the use cases described in this article. We will talk about how to create these kinds of reports and how easy and especially fast it is to achieve similar results using Vcad.

Francesco Necciari has worked at Blogic for about 16 years as a software developer and consultant. He currently occupies the role of Account Manager and oversees the development of Vcad. He is also responsible for technical support and training of Blogic solutions for clients.