IFC-based process mining for design authoring

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is defined as the process of creation and management of digital replica for building products in a collaborative design set-up. On this basis, BIM as a digital collaboration platform in AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operation) industry, can be upgraded to assist monitoring, control and improvement of the business processes related to planning, design, construction and operation of building facilities. The main problem in this regard, is the wastage of data related to activities completed by different actors during the project; and subsequently, the lack of analytics to discover latent patterns in collaboration and execution of such processes. The present study aims to enable BIM to capture digital footprints of project actors and create event logs for design authoring phase of building projects. This is done using files in IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) format, archived during the design process. We have developed algorithms to create event logs from such archives, and analyzed the event logs using process mining (i.e. process discovery, conformance checking and bottleneck analysis), to identify measures derived from as-happened processes. BIM managers can implement such measures in monitoring, controlling and re-engineering work processes related to design authoring. Two case studies were completed to validate and verify the products and findings of the research. Our results show that process models discovered/fine-tuned at various resolutions and from different perspectives (including ‘actor-centric’ and ‘phase-centric’ views) can provide a realistic view of the BIM project execution. This includes understanding the structure of collaboration and hand-over of work; evaluation of compliance with the BIM execution plan; and detection of bottlenecks and re-works. While the scope of the study has been limited to design authoring processes, this mindset can be extended to other BIM uses, and other phases (such as construction and operation) of building projects. Given the growing efforts on upgrading BIM to capture and formalize the lifecycle data on the products, processes and actors, this study can strongly support BIM managers with documentation and evaluation of the business processes and workflows in their project teams.