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Digital Construction (electrical)
Industry 4.0 in AEC, means to me a decentralized connection between the physical space and the cyberspace through global connectivity.
Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) term introduced by BS EN 19650 replace the PAS 1192 term Employer Information Requirements (EIR) on all projects where BS EN ISO 19650 compliance is required.
The term introduced by ISO 19650 typically describes the Tier 1 Main Contractor.
breakdown structure to help plan the production of information
schedule of information containers and delivery dates, for a specific task team
An MPDT its old PAS 1192 term, the MPDT defines who produces what, when and to what level of detail.
Quality Management and Standards
Most articles start with a definition of quality management and then dive deep into Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA).
In here I concentrate on the quality, value and correlation of quality management within ISO 19650 framework and other standards.
Quality and Value
Quality forms a part of our daily life.
Quality has two aspects when we evaluate things or describe an experience.
For example, quality can be represented by seeing the beauty of 11,000-year-old Sphinx at Giza or, appreciation of the functional quality of excellent engineering of 5000-year-old Great Pyramid, still standing.[1]
In quality management, the aim is to capture the two facets of experience and function that add the perceived value and then add a measurement functionality against defined requirements.
According to Kemp, it is essential to realise the importance and meaning of quality and value before QC & QA, which should be broken down into five processes, namely
- Quality Definition (QD) – referred to as requirements specification
- Quality Planning (QP)
- Quality Control (QC)
- Quality Assurance (QA)
- Quality Delivery (QD) – referred to as customer satisfaction
The first process (QA) is vital because without a clear definition of client’s requirements, for example, Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) it is not possible to deliver quality and value which is the last step of the process, quality delivery (QD)
Regardless of what solution is being implemented, such as Six Sigma or Zero Defects Initiative, a system will work well if all steps are completed satisfactorily.
Kemp (2005), suggests that well-implemented system follow Deming’s key points of Total Quality Management (TQM) depicted in Figure 1
Figure 1 – Deming’s key points of Total Quality Management (TQM)[2]
In summary, Quality Management is a scheme where all key points need to be covered to achieve customer satisfaction at the end.
Correlation of ISO 19650 framework and other standards
I selected a set of standards related to quality management shown in Table 1. Using Voyant Tools a web-based text reading and analysis environment[3] I analysed quality management’s correlation within the standards. For further analysis, the Voyant Tools database corpus can be accessed via a link.
My choice of the specific standards is based on the references contained in ISO 19650 framework.
Table 1 – Quality Management related standards [4]–[16]
| Information Management | References to other areas of management |
|---|---|
| Standards | |
| BS EN ISO 19650 1:2018 | quality, risk, asset, project and risk management and data quality |
| BS EN ISO 19650 2:2018 | quality assurance and project reference |
| BS EN ISO 19650 3:2020 | asset & facility management and quality assurance |
| BS EN ISO 19650 3:2020 | asset & facility management and quality assurance |
| BS EN ISO 19650 5:2020 | information security |
| Quality Management | References to other areas of management |
|---|---|
| Standards | |
| BS EN ISO 9001-2015 | quality management and risk management |
| BS EN ISO 27000:2020 | security |
| Project Management | References to other areas of management |
|---|---|
| Standards | |
| BS ISO 21500-2012 | quality assurance and risk management |
| Asset Management Facility management | References to other areas of management |
|---|---|
| Standards | |
| BS ISO 55000:2014 | project and quality management |
| BS ISO 55002:2018 | risk management |
| BS EN ISO 41001:2018 | |
| BS EN ISO 41011:2018 | |
| BS ISO 31000:2018 |
| Data Quality | References to other areas of management |
|---|---|
| Standards | |
| BS ISO 8000 2:2020 |
My research confirms a lack of cross-reference between any of the standards depicted in Table 1 and the ISO 19650 framework or Building Information Modelling (BIM).
Except where single BIM reference in BS ISO 55002:2018 is made to point out the rising significance of BIM in information exchange between organisations at any asset lifecycle stage.
After checking for standards to standards links I proceeded with further text analysis to confirm connections between discipline specific management and standards, Figure 2 portrays the management fields related to quality included within the evaluated corpus of standards
Figure 2 – Management areas covered by the standards
The coloured circles of searched terms illustrated at the bottom of Figure 2 indicate the management domain type with its significance within the standard indicated by the number of occurrences defined by the corresponding circle size.
Quality Assurance terminology and standards
Next, I’ve examined quality assurance terminology used withing the corpus of standards from Table 1, the text analysis result of QA related terminology is shown in Figure 3
Figure 3 – Terms related to Quality Assurance
Correlation of Quality Assurance within the standards
Utilizing the Voyant Tools[3] I carried out further analysis of the correlation of quality management workflows included within the corpus of standards, the interrelation of terminology is shown in Figure 4
Figure 4 – Correlation of Quality Assurance within the standards
The analysis results demonstrated in Figure 4 expose association of quality management within the standards signifying the importance of information requirements sitting in the centre of the diagram needed for management of asset and information related to asset management.
Moreover, the research yields clear association contained within the standards between quality management and the necessity of planning, purpose, reviews and control of the process
In summary
ISO 19650 framework is dedicated to information management, which can be applied for an asset’s complete lifecycle. It has been published after the associated standards discussed above.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that there is a minimal cross-reference between ISO 19650 and its associated predecessors.
ISO 19650 framework is not dedicated as a single reference for organizations who wish to improve their performance.
A significant extent of international standards has been published so far, offering guidance to help organizations rich their full potential.
Nevertheless, it is worth to mention one of the key points made by Dr Masaaki Imai, the founder of the Kaizen Institute. Who suggested that focusing on meeting the standards is the worst possible way of doing any job. If the effort is concentrated on continuous improvement, then working to standard becomes a habit, making the standards even better. [1]
Dr Masaaki’s message seems to resonate with the guidance included in the evaluated standards. In simplified form, it means that to achieve a goal or improve product or service and the ultimate client’s satisfaction the organizations must have purpose, clearly defined organizational and project-related requirements, and a system in place where progress can be measured.
[1] S. Kemp, Quality Management Demystified. McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, 2005.
[2] “Deming’s 14 Points: Total Quality Management Principles | ASQ.” (accessed Jan. 07, 2021).
[3] “Voyant Tools.” (accessed Jan. 07, 2021).
[4] British Standards Institution., BS ISO 55002-2018 Asset management Management systems, Guidelines for the application of ISO 55001. BSI Standards Ltd, 2014.
[5] British Standards Institution, PD ISO IWA 31-2020 Risk management. Guidelines on using ISO 31000 in management systems. 2020.
[6] British Standards Institution., BS ISO 55000-2014 Asset management Overview, principles and terminology. BSI Standards Ltd, 2014.
[7] British Standards Institution, BS ISO 21500-2012 guidance on project management. BRITISH STANDARD, 2012.
[8] British Standards Institution., BS ISO 31000-2018 Risk management Guidelines. 2018.
[9] British Standards Institution., BS EN ISO 9001-2015 Quality management systems: requirements. BSI Group, 2015.
[10] British Standards Institution, BS EN ISO 41001-2018 Facility management, Management systems, Requirements with guidance for use. 2018.
[11] British Standards Institution, “BS EN ISO 41011-2018 Facility management – Vocabulary,” 2018.
[12] British Standards Institution, BS ISO 8000-2-2020 Data quality – Vocabulary. 2020.
[13] British Standards Institution, BS EN ISO 19650-1:2018 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) – Information management using building information modelling Part 1: Concepts and principles. 2018.
[14] British Standards Institution, BS EN ISO 19650-2:2018 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) – Information management using building information modelling Part 2: Delivery phase of the assets. 2018.
[15] British Standards Institution, BS EN ISO 19650-3:2020 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling Part 3: Operational phase of the assets. 2020.
[16] British Standards Institution, BS EN ISO 19650-5:2020 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling Part 5: Security-minded approach to information management. 2020.
