Insight Structure

The key feature of the Insight Production Management approach is the Building Component Database at the centre of the system, as shown in the Insight Structure diagram below. This database contains the details of every component in the building: its classification code and description, its location, its quantity or size, and a reference to a drawing on which it is shown.

Figure 3.2. Conceptual Structure of the Insight System

The components are identified or taken off from the design documents in very much the same way as a traditional Bill of Quantities (BoQ) is prepared. This requires that the design of the building - or of the elements making up a particular contract package - is more or less complete before the take-off is carried out.

The crucial difference between this approach and the conventional BoQ lies in the way the detail of the take-off is handled. In preparing a BoQ the surveyor generally follows the rules of a Standard Method of Measurement to summarise the detail of many individual items into aggregate line items like: "Concrete in columns: 2,500m²". Almost all of the detail of the building is discarded.

The Insight database retains all of the identifiable detail about the building, in a very flexible, usable form. This has many significant advantages:

• First, it's efficient. Instead of being useful only for bidding and pricing a single contract as a BoQ is, this database can be used for many different purposes by many different firms: procurement, materials control, logistics, estimating, planning and scheduling, progress measurement, cost control, change control, snagging, by all the different firms, contractors and sub-contractors working on the project.
• Secondly, the Insight approach creates a single definitive statement of the scope of the project and of its constituent contract packages. This eliminates a great deal of dispute and wasted effort. It can also greatly reduce the opportunity for unscrupulous bidders to win work with unrealistically low prices, depending on subsequent claims for their profit.
• Thirdly, everything in the database is verifiable. So, if someone wishes to check whether a component in the database exists in the building he need only refer to the drawing on which the item is referenced. This helps resolve disagreements and, more importantly, it helps stop them happening in the first place.

Classification Issues

The most important starting point in any information management exercise is the specification of a system for classifying and structuring the data. The C3 classification system focuses on Components built into the finished building. A building Component is basically something that one can buy from a recognised trade outlet, the fundamental entity used in most contractors' estimating norms and price books.

A key feature of almost all building components is that they are standard things, in the sense that they are all described by British or ISO standard specifications. In our system, an L20.18.30B standard hardwood exterior casement and panel door; 44 mm thick; 838 x 1981 mm; as it occurs in one building is by definition (almost by law) comparable with any other L20.18.30B, in any other location in the building in question, or in any other building. This is the Insight equivalent of the Unique Product Code used in retail EPOS systems.

The structure of the classification system is as follows:

• Element
• System
•  Class
•  Sub-class
• Component

For example, a steel column would be classified as follows:

Element	G	Structural & Carcassing
System	G10	Structural Steel Framing
Class	G10.11	Columns
Sub-class	G10.11.11	Universal columns, BS4360, shot blasted & primed
Component	G10.11.11A	356x406mm x 634 Kg/m

In this example, all one needs know in order to buy the component G10.11.11A, a universal column, BS 4360 etc., is the length required. A length of copper pipe would be classified as follows:  

Element	S	Piped Supply Systems
System	S12	Hot & Cold Water
Class	S12.10	Copper pipework & fittings
Sub-class	S12.10.01	Copper pipework; capillary joints BS2871 Part 1, Table X
Component	S12.10.01B	10mm

Similarly with other components classified in this manner, all that's needed to buy the item is the relevant unit of measure and the quantity required.

We may seem to be making a bit of a meal of this Classification thing. But in reality, there's not much that can be done in the area of information management without a system for classifying and structuring the data. The C3 approach focuses on outputs, components built into the finished building. To reflect this, we take the Common Arrangement (as used in the current version of the Standard Method of Measurement - SMM 7) and extend it by two levels of detail, essentially by adding discrete Elements and Components to the Common Arrangement structure.

It's important to note that this approach to construction classification is based directly, entirely pragmatically, on conventional practice in construction estimating and procurement. No new concepts are introduced, we simply apply structured numbers to the existing, descriptive, text based methods of identifying components. This is all that's required for our purposes, but as the basis of the Insight building data model, it provides the basis for a dramatically improved approach to the management of production information in construction; to repeat: EPOS for construction.

In the C3 approach a specific component is identified by combining its generic component classification (the code for a particular type of door, for example) with its location in the building. This is the underlying and enduring piece of information about the door in question. Everything that happens to this specific door over the remainder of its life - during the project, and afterwards - can be traced using its classification code and locator.

In the C3 Classification system we define a Deliverable as being the result of a particular operation carried out on a specific component. So, manufacture and delivery of the door in question might be one deliverable, installation another and painting another. For each of these operations we know - or rather, we can estimate - the plant and materials costs and the manhours required together with their associated costs. A Process is similar to a high level, summary planning Activity and may comprise one or many Deliverables. A Work Package is defined as encompassing the scope of work of a single trade or discipline on the project and comprises a number of Processes - usually between five and twenty.

This approach is illustrated in the diagram below.

Figure 3.2. Insight Scope Classification

Conventional classification systems in the construction industry combine together the components of buildings and the trades that carry out operations on them. This is convenient for traditional paper based bills of quantities and the like. However, it's of no value to the owner or end user of the building. The C3 classification system, on the other hand, keeps these two aspects separate: a component is a component and an operation is an operation; together they give rise to deliverables, but alone they are discrete. This approach greatly increases the flexibility and usefulness of the C3 Scope data. It enables the quantity surveyor / taker off to create an extremely valuable data model of the building. In addition to the many different systems owned by different firms on the project, asset management systems, FM systems, ERP systems - all downstream of the construction project - can continue to make good use of this data model, long after the project has been completed.