D3.3: Functional Program of Requirements for planning and cost
Summary
In an ever digitalizing environment the role of software becomes more and more important. Software is used on PC’s
and laptops but also many other devices contain software, of course phones and other smart devices but almost any
modern device from vacuum cleaner till bread toaster contains software. The development of software therefore is a
large and mature business with well-defined processes and development methods.
Concerning software development the first thing many people think about is the software coding itself. Although this is of
course an essential part it is not the only part in the process. During the past 30 years and after many wonderful
software products able of offering great functionality but totally useless for the client it was developed for it was
understood requirements management is at least as important as the actual software coding itself.
The software development will be executed according to the widely acknowledged Waterfall model. This model exists of
a set of process steps that are executed in a sequential order as is shown in the scheme below.
Note that the requirements collection and analysis is part of D3.3 and also a global idea of the functional design is part of
D3.3. The actual functional design will be worked out in D3.4.
This deliverable focusses on the requirements for building quality and energy assessments; the document will even go a
few steps further by translating these requirements in early functional design documents. We take as much as possible
advantage of the already existing software brought in by the consortium partners and enhance it in order to fulfil the
needs. This will not only prevent additional costs but it is also easier to make the required enhancements to the software.
The deliverable is created in conjunction with the deliverable D3.1 which handles the cost-estimation and planning
aspects. The body of knowledge in this report is structured as follows:
- Following the Introduction chapter, the definition and elaboration of INSITER requirements for software
development are described in Chapter 2. The requirements are directly addressing INSITER self-instruction and
self-inspection processes as well as practical user aspects of the software.
- In Chapter 3, the requirements are clustered in 2 categories: functional, technical and interoperability requirements.
The clustered requirements are further analysed and extended with references.
- Chapter 4 describes the software functionalities of the components relevant for INSITER and developed and/or
used in Task 3.2 / D3.4. Over here a details description can be found from the ‘Defect and quality issue registration
tool’ and the new process to use modern stat-of-the-art BIM based energy calculation tools for improving
understanding of consequences of deviations found during the inspection process.
- As certain software components can be derived from existing software –either open-source, prototype or
commercial packages–, a critical review of state-of-the-art software is presented in Chapter 5. For each
functionality, conclusions and decisions have been drawn to set a direction for INSITER software development.
- Software architecture topology and related databases figures are added in chapter 6 to show which functionalities
are needed and in what context they will be applied in order to fulfil these requirements. The stakeholders are on
one hand the assembly/construction worker that carries out the self-inspections supported with self-instructions,
Augmented Reality (AR) and registration facilities for defects and quality issues. On the other hand the project
manager monitoring the projects efficiency and risk’s via a KPI dashboard.
- The software proof-of-concept is subsequently presented in Chapter 7, and the technical plan for the follow-up
development in the upcoming deliverable is presented in Chapter 8.
The analysed and consolidated software requirements can be summarized as follows:
| | Functional requirements | Technical requirements | Interoperability
requirements |
1. Requirements
related to selfinstruction
processes | Workers start their daily work by
following project planning and
executing assigned activities (as
discussed in previous section).
Workers benefit from information
about construction/assembly
activities when to perform
(process), how to perform
(guidelines and know-how) but
also what to perform (product
and building specifications). | The toolset should be able: - to show relevant
instructions and information
related to the assigned
activities. This can be done
by web-based application
which can be used device
independent;
- to show available
documents on a web page
and to offer the possibility to
download documents,
images and movies that are
related to a certain part of
the BIM model via the
Internet.
| The toolset should be
able to import product
specification
(database or BIM),
building & design
specification (BIM) and
related guidelines
(database). The tools
should also be able to
import documents and
checklists (mostly
related to standard
processes). |
2. Requirements
related to selfinspection
processes | As described in the Section 2.3
workers use the INSITER toolset
to perform inspections by
themselves. The toolset will act
as a connecting platform for the
several elements (instruments,
sensors) involved in the several
stages (do, check and act). In
inspection processes, workers
use the toolset to register
defects and insert/import
readings or measurements.
They use the toolset to perform
model check and clash
detections. In some cases,
workers use the toolset to export
readings to calculation
simulation software to decide on
the impact of found deviations
on KPIs. The export process
may vary from automatically
(connection though IT solutions)
to manually (self-entry) data
export. For this reason, we
discuss the evaluation and
decision making process
separately in Section 2.7. | The toolset should be able to: - provide workers with the
ability to register defects
and quality issues;
- provide the
assembly/construction with
the ability to repetitively
verify the construction
during realization against
the design model;
- visualize the design model
on-site including
HAVC/MEP systems;
- provide augmented reality
(web-based application)
overlaying the reality on site
with (parts of) the design
model;
- provide workers with
drawings and other
documents;
- provide click features to
jump from the design model
to the referenced relevant
information for a specific
part;
- provide BIM import facilities
for thermal/imaging,
acoustic/vibration, 3D laser
scanning measurement
data enhanced with 3D
geometry (overlays for the
BIM model) and energy
performance data. The
measurement instruments
have their own native
software which is able to
provide export files
containing the
measurement data in a
native format;
- provide software for model
checking and clash
detection for models stored
on the BIM server.
| Regarding technical
and functional
requirements, the
toolset should support
converting and
importing files from the
applied measurement
tools to a database to
enhance the elements
of the BIM. The toolset
should also be able to
connect several
databases and to
provide functionality to
set up a dashboard
with indicators |
3. General
requirements
related to the
practical use of
the tool | Workers use the toolset to be
informed about daily activities
and relevant related information.
By doing this, workers can
efficiently start and finish their
work. | The toolset should be able to
visualize planning information.
Information may be related to
activities to do, their duration,
involved workers/managers,
work conditions and required
instruments. The toolset should
also be able to apply
authorization (user and user
groups). | The toolset should be
able to import planning
data from an ERP
software (enterprise
resource planning). |
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