Overview

As part of the Productization approach, we promote the adoption of Virtual Construction Bricks (VCB) to increase the capitalization of the knowledge in the AEC Industry. VCBs combine the modelling of construction know-how and knowledge of construction elements into generative, parametric, associative templates which can be adaptively reused across projects. It is important to understand this approach in the context of this technical best practice where we discuss managing both the information relating to the Brick and the Brick itself and ensure an holistic development approach by project phases.

This Best Practice emphasizes that a VCB is much more than the generation of desired construction or fabrication information. The Brick is a considered outcome of collective project experience. It is important to document and organise this process so it can be evolved to build towards ever more effective projects. Dassault's tools provide an array of powerful features that we showcase here.

Productization describes how VCBs are developed and applied across projects through two fundamental users of Brick content: Creators and Implementers - those who build, test and document Bricks and those that instantiate the Brick on projects, respectively. Technically, these roles determine ownership and access to information as we'll see below. 

Content Management Types

As 3DExperience is a cloud platform, the following tools are pointers to content that exists within Tenants and Collaborative Spaces--they do not host the content directly. This current Best Practices recommends Bookmarks as the most comprehensive tool for managing VCB content. The tools available are described here:

Content Storage Types

Type	Advantages	Challenges	Common Application
Bookmark	Viewable and editable to anyone with a license of "Collaborative Industry Innovator" (CSV). Can be used to filter objects in Search through 6W tags.	You can export a bookmark with the content in 3DXML and you can export a 3DXML of a Bookmark folder structure (from CATIA).	Default repository for links to all types of documents (3D and 2D)
Library	Custom attributes can be applied to classified objects. Classification can be used to filter objects in Search through 6W tags.	Requires additional role to create, "Classification Manager" (CCM). Cannot be transferred to a different tenant.	Used to store families of objects and content that requires classification attributes (ex: complete set of screws for a supplier classified by size)
Catalog	Can be used to import all related content into a different 3DX Cloud Tenant and relationships will all be maintained.	Content within a Catalogue cannot be viewed in a web dashboard.	All content with linked data within a CATIA can be export together as 3Dxml. A Virtual Maker of Bricks can use this

Bookmarks - A standard universal tool for content organization. 

Bookmarks have the ability to transfer Bookmark structures between tenants while maintaining connections with the content transferred. One can also link to Bookmarks from another tenant as Reference meaning content is not editable but will always show the latest version of the source material.

Library - Content organization with the ability to create custom attributes on content.

For example, Standard Parts (transformable and non-transformable parts) can be managed in a Bookmark, however, Libraries allow the addition of non-geometrical additional attributes like cost, production time, manufacturer, etc. Below is an example of a typical Library structure.

Catalog - Legacy storage type whose function can now be replaced by Bookmarks.

Typical Brick Content Elements

For the purpose of illustrating this Best Practice, we will use this mechanical riser as a demonstrator. The riser is assembled off-site composed of a Unistrut mechanical frame with a waste pipe connecting to a toilet with a standard pipe T. The pipe is fixed to the Unistrut with conduit clamps. Depending on the size of the riser, the Unistrut will automatically adapt with a new structure, positioning the Pipe T and inserting conduit clamps as required.

Below are examples of information relating to the VCB that a VCB Creator would want to prepare and maintain alongside the development of the Brick. Not all of these items are relevant to each Brick--we are providing them as Best Practice recommendation.

Bricks Specification Documentation - business process

Technical Sheets : these describe the information required to create the Brick, they are a set of information extracted from design rules, regulations, production know-how, manufacturing constraints and corporate IP that become parameters and metadata in the virtual construction brick.

This set of information is produced by a Business Assessment referenced in the Virtual Construction Brick Wiki Page.

• Standard Components
  • Non-Transformable (conduit clamp and pipe T)
  • Transformable (pipe and Unistrut profiles)
     
• Brick Products
  • Overall Brick Product (Contains Declarative Brick and Detailed Brick Object Specifications linked to each other ready for automated instantiation.)
  • Declarative Brick Product (Contains feature-level content and template definition.)
    • Quantity Take-off (QTO) as ENOVIA Document 
      To make quantity take-offs viewable on the web in a dashboard:
      Preferences -> Design Tables : 
      "Document type while creating Design Table" ->  select "Document", not "Engineering Document".
    • Layout Drawings as Drawing
  • Detailed Brick Product (Contains full Product Breakdown Structure for manufacturing)
    • Bill of Materials as Knowledge Report
    • Fabrication Drawings as Drawing
       
• Brick Templates

  • Complete Brick (Declarative + Detailed) specifications all set up(Starting point for Brick instantiation.)
    No separate element for the Declarative Brick Template because it is contained within the Declarative Brick Product as a feature-level template.

  • Detailed Brick Template (Linked to Declarative Brick through Object Specifications.)

• Brick Object Types
  • Declarative Brick Object Type
  • Detailed Brick Object Type
• Drawing Components
  • Title block Templates
  • ASD Annotations
  • Drawing Templates 
  • Knowledge Reports
• Simulations
  • DELMIA : 3D Work Instructions and Assembly Simulations

  • Structural Simulations

     

Brick Content Relationships

The following diagram gives an overview of the Overall Brick Product structure that encompasses the Declarative and Detailed Products described above. The Overall Brick Product can be instantiated into a Virtual Construction Twin as part of a customer's workflow. 

Organisation - Enterprise Bookmark Structure

Below is a recommended cohesive Bookmark structure for VCBs. As we will see, not all users require access (or visibility) to every sub-bookmark. 

When initiating a new Brick, consider using the sample Bookmark structure below that shows how a Brick--and it's related content-- fits within a Company's collection of Bricks. You can either create the Bookmarks individually within Bookmark Editor or create a Windows folder structure and drag them into Bookmark Editor. This second method is illustrated here. 

Virtual Construction Bricks

 Brick Instantiation (Engineering Templates referencing Brick Product.)

 Brick Content

 Standard Components (Both industry and company standard components of non-transformable and transformable parts.)

 Non-Transformable

 Transformable

 Documentation

  Content

 Brick Specification Content 
         Brick Technical Sheets

 Brick Development Content

These sub chapter reflect the development of the brick. They can be very specific to a company's internal processes. We suggest developing a process for the development and include references to the WIP that may reflect the incorporation of construction know-how over time. 

 00 - Requirements - Requirement folder of the brick

 01 - Working - Brick instantiation tests on Architecture or Engineering models. Development tests of the Brick product, template and components for different users.

 02 - First Run - First test on an active construction project. Results of the instantiation of the Brick (3D model, deliverables).

03 - Package - The production content relating to the Brick (product, engineering template, report, document, standard components, user guide). This package can be exported in another tenant.

04 - Documentation - Useful documentation for the Brick developer (general good practices document, standards, business rules, prerequisites). It usually contains a description of the global application of the Brick from its instantiation, quantification, production of deliverables and the installation on site.

Controlling Access

Collaborative Spaces

One of the main purposes of Collaborative Spaces is for controlling access to content. This keeps the latest models safe from accidental updates and manages company best practice material. 

Project	Templates	Sandbox	Resources & Documentation
Project context Working and final project design	All final Brick content (Products, Templates, Object Types, etc.)	Various early prototypes of Bricks.	Basis for Brick development information Reports Standard Components Drawing Standards

Stakeholder Categories

In order to maintain a library of content, it is often necessary to control access to the latest Brick content and documentation information. This also allows users to have ownership of the material to ensure updates are assigned and actioned according to project and company needs. In addition to (1) Creators and (2) Implimentors, the management of each respective role are Product Managers and Project Managers track VCBs and Projects according to deliverables. 

Creators : Brick Developers / Product Managers

These roles relate to the Brick and Brick management material. They are not necessarily project-based but will need to engage with use-cases to inform and improve Bricks.

• Virtual Construction Experience Modelling 
  • Product Engineer, BIM Coordinator, VDC Author, Architect, Structural Designer, Façade Engineer, Computational Designer.
• Virtual Construction Experience Portfolio Management 

  • Head of Engineering, Head of Product, Product Manager, Configuration Engineer.

     

Implimenters : Project-based Users / Project Managers

Implimenters are project-based and apply Bricks built by Creators.

• Virtual Construction Project Composition 
  • BIM Coordinator, VDC Author, Architect, Structural Designer, Façade Engineer, Computational Designer.
• Built Environment Referential 
  • IT Admin, Virtual Twin Manager, Collaborative Reviewer, BIM Manager.
• Construction Model Management 
  • Construction Work Manager, Method Engineer, Superintendent, Team Leader.

Stakeholder Content Access

Collaborative Spaces are containers of data with individual users access control. The following table recommends access control the Stakeholders should have (Leader or Contributor) to the respective Collaborative Spaces as well as the location of content relevant to managing Bricks. 

Access to Content in Collaborative Spaces

Creator : The VCB Creator is directly assigned to the Project Collaborative Space to review how a Brick has been implemented so only needs Contributor access. Whereas the Implimentor is doing the instantiation and is therefore has Leader control.

Implimenter : An Implimenter wouldn't use the Sandbox content because they're working on active projects and only uses the Templates and Resources & Documentation Collaborate Spaces to retrieve information. 

The user access to different collaborative spaces for these 2 roles are specified in the tables below:

Content Location

The Bookmarks themselves should be assigned to the Collaborative Space to align visibility with user access. In the table below, the ✔ relates to the Collaboration Space of the content in the Bookmark.

Demo on How to Manage Content

The video walk-through shows a recommended way to organise your VCB content.

This video covers:

• VCB Components: Examples of Transformable/Non-transformable contents
• VCB Content: VCB Specification (inputs, variability) + VCB Development (Requirements, Working, First run, Package & Documentation)
• Development Content: Product > Component Specification (Object Type) > Brick Template; Knowledge Report Definition

References

• Common Data Environment | Quick Startup Content