Use case Management
Position Paper
Construction sector is digitizing its primary processes fast to address various challenges and support informed decision making. To implement digital processes in a project, company, a trade, common shared process definitions and exchange req. specification are needed. Digital use cases describe one or more specific activities according to defined requirements to support the fulfillment of one or more business objectives over the life cycle of an Asset using digital methods. Within the construction industry, use cases are the basis for implementing digital processes in a project, a company, a trade.
However, due to the lack of fundamental common definitions of how these use cases are named, structured, and described, there is no common understanding in the market. Without this common understanding of the digital processes shared in the construction sector before starting a project, it becomes an individual effort for every project to achieve this. Lack of these definitions at the start of projects lead to less digitalization over the project life cycle, interrupted information flows and technical opportunities are missed. Per project roles and responsibilities regarding reliable data are re-defined and continuous improvements cross projects is hard to achieve.
Construction industry is responsible for more than 90% of all costs and processes in the planning and building phase, and furthermore the data handover to enable maintenance, circular economy and environmental use cases. Due to that responsibility we, as European construction industry, will contribute to define this common use case definitions. Our engagement is clearly focused on digital production processes connected to development, planning and the usage phases.
Uncoordinated
Inter-/National use case definitions
The following status quo / trends can be identified in companies, countries and sectors. Construction companies and Clients are working internally on digital use case "menu list" to organize deployment on construction projects and to coordinate digital transformation programs. Use cases are categorized by type and by phases over the lifecycle of assets. Attempts are made to make dependencies and maturity levels clear to various target groups. Training programs, implementation dashboards, internal/external exchange requirements, software overviews etc. etc. are set up per company and structured according to these internal “lists”.
Various national programs (NL DigiGo, DE Bauen 4.0, AU... Fr MinD, ES..., Fi CoBim) work on use case descriptions for different purposes and with different abstraction levels to achieve goals (Quality demonstrable, Circular / sustainable, construction logistics, Digital Asset management, Energy transition). There is a lack of use case strategy in the single country markets and their linkage to operational level. Additionally, there is no single market spanning coordination on a European level.
In the Building construction sector, we observe a bottom-up trends while top-down initiatives can be identified in the Infra structure sector. In countless R&D projects, specific but similar cases are elaborated and exchanged without specification rules. Between these activities, this valuable work is hardly exchanged or reused, even though use cases, unlike solutions, are market-based frameworks
Benefits
of Use Case Definitions
Detailed processes, deliverables, responsibilities, exchange requirements, dataflows and tools amongst partners
Plug and play automation of
internal processes & systems
IT and cyber architecture improvement
(stability, reliability, security)
Ability to accelerate digital adoption
programs on various levels
Without
uniform & generic use cases in place.....
· Epic waste per project to make agreements and configure processes and tools will continue
· Digital transformation projects, on all levels will remain inefficient and fragmented
· Other stakeholders will set use case standards for the construction sector
Call to Action
National & EU Level
As common use cases are essential for the digitisation of the construction sector, which are coordinated both nationally and at the European level, we want to actively support a joint effort by representatives of construction sector stakeholders, European standardisation institutions and European and national authorities.
This ENCORD position on "Use case Management" is currently supported by the following members:
