Digital collaboration and automized tracing of information (D-CAT) : final report
Publication details: Karlskrona : Blekinge Institute of Technology, 2022Description: 56 sSubject(s): Online resources: Summary: Client organizations in the infrastructure industry are transitioning from formulating constructive design requirements to functional requirements for the design and implementation of a facility. The idea of this paradigm shift is to allow for the flexibility to develop an optimal facility by placing requirements on the dimensioning of infrastructure facilities, building components and essential properties instead of pre-emptying solutions with a constructive design. The functional requirements for the facility must be traceable to enable their procurement, validation and verification. Knowledge of methods for describing, procuring, validating and following up the infrastructure’s functionality needs to be developed. This research project investigates methods that can improve the traceability of functional requirements in different stages of infrastructure projects. Functional requirements must be linked to a digital copy of the facility so that it can then be followed up on the physical facility. By researching working methods that make it easier for the industry to cooperate in the exchange of digital information, methods must be developed that can facilitate the coordination of functional requirements. For the project, three aims have been defined: (i). Study existing work processes for requirements management at various actors in the infrastructure industry through the life cycle of a project. (ii). Identify opportunities for automation of activities (reduce manual handling) for verification and validation of requirements and to investigate opportunities for implementing these methods in established work processes. (iii) Demonstrate developed methods in a practical context. The work in the nine work packages was distributed between representatives from academia (Blekinge Institute of Technology, BTH) and the construction industry (HOCHTIEF ViCon GmbH). The Swedish Transport Administration acted as a supervisor in the research work and contributed with reference material.Client organizations in the infrastructure industry are transitioning from formulating constructive design requirements to functional requirements for the design and implementation of a facility. The idea of this paradigm shift is to allow for the flexibility to develop an optimal facility by placing requirements on the dimensioning of infrastructure facilities, building components and essential properties instead of pre-emptying solutions with a constructive design. The functional requirements for the facility must be traceable to enable their procurement, validation and verification. Knowledge of methods for describing, procuring, validating and following up the infrastructure’s functionality needs to be developed. This research project investigates methods that can improve the traceability of functional requirements in different stages of infrastructure projects. Functional requirements must be linked to a digital copy of the facility so that it can then be followed up on the physical facility. By researching working methods that make it easier for the industry to cooperate in the exchange of digital information, methods must be developed that can facilitate the coordination of functional requirements. For the project, three aims have been defined: (i). Study existing work processes for requirements management at various actors in the infrastructure industry through the life cycle of a project. (ii). Identify opportunities for automation of activities (reduce manual handling) for verification and validation of requirements and to investigate opportunities for implementing these methods in established work processes. (iii) Demonstrate developed methods in a practical context. The work in the nine work packages was distributed between representatives from academia (Blekinge Institute of Technology, BTH) and the construction industry (HOCHTIEF ViCon GmbH). The Swedish Transport Administration acted as a supervisor in the research work and contributed with reference material.