Prairie Sky Consulting|COBie|BIM|NBIMS|IFC

E. William (Bill) East, PhD, PE, F. ASCE

To find out more, click on a panel of interest. To search, open all panels, then CTRL+F.

Section 1. Summary

In 1985, after being licensed as a Professional Engineer, my Area Engineer told me something that continues to be true to this day -- "there will always be a need for someone who can understand both the engineering required to design and build a building, and who can understand how to apply technology to organizations to make that job easier." As my career has grown from construction project engineer, to research program manager, to Government Civil Engineer of the Year, to national industry office holder, to Founder Prairie Sky Consulting in 2014, this down-to-earth perspective is never far from my thoughts.

Throughout my career, I have focused on the need to standardize, streamline and improve the quality of the design and construction process. Starting with leading projects focused on reducing the cost of public facilities during each of the design, construction, and claims phases by leveraging technology, to recognizing the need to increase data efficiency and leading development of the open standards for Building Information Modeling, I am inspired by dedication of those in the field and the progress we've made, and at the same time, still motivated to continue my efforts in light of the scope and complexity of emerging challenges. While these challenges are daunting, I am confident that they can be overcome by collaborative and concerted effort.

Section 2. Experience 6

Listed in reverse chronological order

Owner, Prairie Sky Consulting, 2014 – Present: Providing Lean Handover™ consulting and production support to owners and contractors seeking to create and meet COBie contract requirements. Emphasizing the objective testing of technologies and approaches, including open-source technologies, to automatically capture and merge building asset information during the project life-cycle. Using the COBieScoreCard™ methodology to creating change management support companies in their transition from document-based to information-based organizations.
Director, The COBie Academy, University of Florida, 2015 – Present: Course content developer, instructor, and international licensing point of contact for the premier on-line COBie training program that helps students meet COBie contract requirements and understand the implication of emerging information technology on their company’s future.
Adjunct Professor of Building Informatics, Technical University Dublin, 2017 – Present: Assisting the School of Surveying and Construction Management with the formulation of research policy, developing potential research projects, and supporting student engagement strategies.
Research Project/Program Manager, Engineer Research and Development Center, 1986 - 2014: Responsible to imagine, lead, and conduct teams and project that identify that solve problems resulting in reductions in cost and time, and improvements in quality, of public facility acquisitions and operations. The concise definition of such problems demands the application of scientific research technique to the daily activities of facility planners, designers, builders, and operators. The solution to such problems result in the development of standards and/or standard business processes required by contract and implemented in commercial, not-for- profit, and open-source software. To impact public projects many solutions, require implementation across the design and construction industries at a national or international scale.
Adjunct Lecturer, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995 - 2000: In addition to a full-time job at ERDC, I taught the Critical Path Method (CPM) Scheduling portion of an undergraduate construction survey course. As a side-project, I developed computer-based training that assisted students to more quickly understand dummy activities and float.
Project Engineer, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, 1980 - 1986: Following a rotational training assignment, I worked as an office and project engineer on a wide range of projects in the Washington, DC Area. Responsible for ensuring contractor compliance with plans and specifications. Negotiated change orders and developed cost-sharing value engineering proposals. As a side-project, I developed a suite of construction management software on mini-computers deployed over a five-state region. Trained end-users and information technology staff in use of software and hardware.

Section 3. Education 4

Listed in reverse chronological order.

PhD Civil Engineering, 2006: Disseration "Facility/Infrastructure Resource Scheduling," Construction Management Specialization, Civil Engineering & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
MS Civil Engineering, 1991: Construction Management Specialization, Civil Engineering & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
BS Civil Engineering, 1980: Civil Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Additional Coursework and Training includes:: Office of Personnel Management, National Leadership Development Training (National competitive selection); US Army, National Leadership Development Training; Object-Oriented Analysis and Design; Knowledge-Worker Productivity; Estimating, Tracking and Controlling Costs of Environmental Remediation Projects; Simulation Modeling for System Design and Analysis; Applied Machine Learning; Construction Contract Administration; Construction Quality Control.

Section 4. Professional Licenses 1

Professional Engineer License, 1985 - Present: State of Virginia, License Number 0402015726

Section 5. International/National Recognition 12

Listed in reverse chronological order

Open Technology Application, Honorable Mention, buildingSMART international, October 2017.: Development and delivery of the East Dormitory test files used to demonstrate compliance with the COBie MVD.
Research and Development Achievement Award, Engineer Research and Development Center, April 2013: Development of technology to transition the construction industry to a digital building information management model. This suite of Web-based computing tools is expected to save the military, government, and private sectors billions of dollars in facility design, construction, and management labor.
Celebration of Engineering & Technology Innovation (CETI), FIATECH, March 2013: Recognized contribution of the Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) to the design and construction industry.
Outstanding Researcher of the Year, Celebration of Engineering & Technology Innovation (CETI) FIATECH, March 2013: Recognized contribution of the Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) to the design and construction industry.
Institute Member Award, National Institute of Building Sciences, January 2012: The Institute Member Award goes to a member of the Institute or affiliate council who has made a substantial contribution in support of the mission, goals and objectives of the Institute
Fellow Grade, American Society of Civil Engineers, October 2010: Fellows are practitioners, educators, mentors, and most of all leaders. They have distinguished careers that have contributed significantly to the Civil Engineering profession. The accomplishments of Fellows have left their marks on their communities, society, and future engineering professionals. It is an honor held by fewer than 5% of ASCE members.
Excellence in Construction Information, Construction Specification Institute, September 2009: Awarded jointly to Mr. Mark Kalin and myself for efforts on the Specifiers' Properties information exchange (SPie) project. "There is no doubt that the expression of object properties is necessary for full realization of the BIM promise."
Government Civil Engineer of the Year, American Society of Civil Engineers, October 2008: This award was established by the Government Engineers Division to recognize distinguished civil engineers employed in public service for significant engineering contributions as a professional in public service.
Bronze Order of the deFleury Medal, U.S. Army Engineer Regiment, June 2008: The U.S. Army Engineer Association (AEA) awards the de Fleury Medal to Engineers for excellence and outstanding service to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Established during the Revolutionary war, this was the first Congressionally established engineer medal awarded for courage and boldness under fire.
Best Peer Reviewed Paper of the Year, American Society of Civil Engineers, October 2004: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE. Conferred at awards banquet for the 2004 Annual ASCE Convention for the scientific analysis of the impact of Web-collaboration on the cost of conducting design reviews.
W.E. O’Neil Innovation in Construction Management Award, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, May 2004: This award is occasionally conferred for significant contribution to research in the field of Construction Management during the Departments’ annual alumni banquets.
Business Solutions in the Public Interest, Government Executive Magazine, August 2003: "Runner-Up". Conferred for projects from all government branches demonstrating creative achievement of critical mission. ProjNet was selected a finalist from a field of 70 submissions. The winners of this award were the Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the Central Intelligence Agencies’ In-Q-Tel technology transfer consortium.

Section 6. Professional Service 10

Significant organzations only. Listed in reverse chronological order

Chair, COBie Certification Subcommitee, 2018 - Present: Leading development of the COBie Certified Professional(TM) Program for United States Institute of Building Documentation (USIBD).
Moderator, LinkedIn COBie Forum, 2014 - Present: The leading international COBie technical forum.
Member, buildingSMART alliance, 2013 - Present: Currently Information Standards and COBie Task Group member.
Various, Journal of Computing in Civil, 1995 - Present: Positions including Peer Reviewer, Specialty Editor, and Annual Best Paper Award Referee.
Chair, National Standard Technical Committee, 2013 - 2014: United States National BIM Standard Version 3, National Institute of Building Sciences, buildingSMART alliance.
Chair, Accelerating BIM Research Workshop, 2009, 2010, 2014: International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, Working Group 078, Information Technology in Construction.
Founder and Chair, Government-to-Business Process Committee, 2005-2014: National Institute of Building Sciences.
Peer Reviewer, 2005 - 2014: International Journal of Automation in Construction.
Member and Chair, Constructability Committee 2003-2008: American Society of Civil Engineers.
Member, Computing in Construction Committee, 1990 - 2000: American Society of Civil Engineers.

Section 7.1 Publications - Peer-Reviewed Journals 18 total. 10 as first author.

Some available free of charge. Listed in reverse chronological order.

Information Model Purposes in Building and Facility Design, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 31(6), November 2017. Authors: Timo Hartmann, Robert Amor, E. William East: This paper introduces three quality indicators—degree of semantic representation, conceptual completeness, and ease of implementation and querying—for different purposes for building information (BI). Based on a synthesis of theoretical purposes for information models in general, the paper describes the differences between these possible information model purposes and suggests that there is a conflicting tension between the three purposes. The purposes and the tension is illustrated by analyzing three existing information models used within the architecture, engineering, and construction industries: a widely used standard to support software interoperability, as an example of a model designed to support information exchange; a widely used information exchange standard to provide information for facility management, as an example of direct information exchange; and a specifically developed information model to support tunnel safety assessment as an example of a bespoke information model to support a very specific engineering decision-making task.
A Domain-Independent Facility Control Framework, in "Building Information Modeling: Applications and Practices," ed. Issa, R., Olbina, S., American Society of Civil Engineers, Chapter 12, June 2015. Authors: Bill East, Chris Bogen: The purpose of our built environment is to provide spaces in which human-designed activities may comfortably occur. An ever-increasing set of technical disciplines, economics, and societal norms place dynamic requirements on those who plan, design, construct, maintain, operate and manage our built environment. In this paper, a domain-independent framework to capture design requirements and then compare those requirements to the actual performance of a facility is presented. The foundations of this framework are five related Industry Foundation Class Model View Definitions that are partially implemented within commercial software and are contained in the United States National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS-US V3). The application of this framework was tested using an algorithm that compares expected data with as-operated sensor telemetry. This algorithm was verified against simulated data and validated against sensor data. The sample models and tool kit developed for this project’s experimental test bed has been adopted by industry and academia to support their missions of streamlining design and construction processes and educating future design and construction professionals. In addition, the initial application of this framework to support wider sustainability, engineering economics, and business process analysis goals is introduced. These applications demonstrate how small additions to structured building information deliverables may quantitatively address current and future requirements placed on our engineered environment.
Evaluating A Data Clustering Approach for Life-Cycle Facility Control, Journal of Information Technology in Construction, Vol. 18, pp. 99-118 April 2013. Authors: Chris Bogen, Mahbubar Rashid, Bill East, James Ross: Data reported by sensors in building automation and control systems is critical for evaluating the asoperated performance of a facility. Typically these systems are designed to support specific control domains, but facility performance analysis requires the fusion of data across these domains. Since a facility may have several disparate, closed-loop systems, resolution of data interoperability issues is a prerequisite to cross-domain data fusion. In previous publications, the authors have proposed an experimental platform for building information fusion where the sensors are reconciled to building information model elements and ultimately to an expected resource utilization schedule. The motivation for this integration is to provide a framework for comparing the asoperated facility with its intended usage patterns. While the authors’ data integration framework provides representational tools for integrating BIM and raw sensor data, appropriate computational approaches for normalization, filtering, and pattern extraction methods must be developed to provide a mathematical basis for anomaly detection and “plan” versus “actual” comparisons of resource use. This article presents a computational workflow for categorizing daily resource usage according to a resolution typical of human-specified schedules. Simulated datasets and real datasets are used as the basis for experimental analysis of the authors’ approach, and results indicate that the algorithm can produce 90% matching accuracy with noise/variations up to 55%.
Facility Management Handover Model View, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 27(1), 61-67. January 2013. Authors: Bill East, Nick Nisbet, Thomas Liebich: Current specifications for facility handover information require contractors to produce and deliver a set of documents that provide little practical value to the facility manager. Facility managers begin their duties by rekeying the information found in these handover documents. This paper describes the facility management handover (FM) model view definition (MVD), an open-standard information exchange format that may replace current construction handover document requirements. The work was accomplished in conjunction with three buildingSMART chapters to ensure the widest possible international acceptance. The specification of the underlying industry foundation class (IFC) model with required business rules for use in the United States is called the construction-operations building information exchange (COBie) format. Procedures used to test software production and consumption of COBie were developed. Use of COBie has now been documented in several case studies.
Analysis of Three Indoor Localization Technologies for Supporting Operations and Maintenance Field Tasks, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers November 2012 Authors: Saurabh Taneja, Asli Akcamete, Burcu Akinci, James H. Garrett, Lucio Soibelman, Bill East: Locating building components that need to be worked on during maintenance tasks is critical for timely repair of the component and mitigation of the damage. The process of locating a component or a person in a facility is called indoor localization. The objective of this research study is to analyze the feasibility of three indoor localization technologies for supporting operations and maintenance (O&M) field tasks; namely, wireless local area network (WLAN), radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, and inertial measurement units (IMU). These technologies have been selected on the basis of the requirements of the localization needed for supporting O&M field activities. A previous work has been extended, which tested RFID-based locations in an indoor environment, by testing the three selected technologies in the same test bed and using the same hypothesis and fingerprinting approach developed in the previous work. The two main motivations behind using the same test bed and same approach are to have the same baseline to evaluate the performance of the three technologies and to evaluate the performance of RFID-based localization over longer periods. The results in the present study show that RFID-based localization suffers from a decrease in signal strength levels over several years, and that WLAN-based localization suffers from variations in signal strength. They also show that IMU-based localization suffers from drift in the sensors of IMU. Prior knowledge of the layout of a facility can improve the performance of WLAN, RFID, and IMU-based localization.
Value-added Analysis of the Construction Submittal Process, Automation in Construction, 20(2011), pp. 1070–1078 December 2011 Authors: Bill East, Danielle Love: Construction contracts require builders to reproduce and certify paper documents that attest to the quality and or functionality of the systems, equipment, products, and materials planned for inclusion in a finished facility. Once submitted these documents are approved or acknowledged as part of a quality control process prior to placing purchase or fabrication orders. Despite widespread advances in other areas of information technology, the submittal process remains mired in paper-based procedures that add unnecessary cost to construction projects. This paper describes current practice and then highlights lessons-learned from selected interviews with those adopting innovative technology to streamline that process. The authors discuss their submittal process simulation model. Construction teams may adapt this model to reflect their specific context to justify and monitor the application of new technologies aimed at eliminating submittal transmission, routing, and handling costs within the context of existing contracting processes.
Challenges for Integrated Design and Delivery Solutions, Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 6(4), pp. 232-240. January 2010 Authors: Bob Owen, Robert Amor, Mark Palmer, Matthijs Prins, Arto Kiviniemi, Bill East: A new approach of integrated design and delivery solutions (IDDS) aims to radically improve the performance of the construction industries. IDDS builds upon recent trends in the construction industries that have seen the widespread adoption of technologies such as building information modelling (BIM) and innovative processes such as integrated project delivery. However, these innovations are seen to develop in isolation, with little consideration of the overarching interactions between people, process and technology. The IDDS approach is holistic in that it recognizes that it is only through a combination of initiatives such as skill development, process re-engineering, responsive information technology, enhanced interoperability and integrating knowledge management, among others, that radical change can be achieved. To implement IDDS requires step changes in many project aspects, and this gap between current performance and that required for IDDS is highlighted. The research required to bridge the gaps is identified in four major aspects of collaborative processes, workforce skills, integrated information and knowledge management.
Discrete-event simulation based performance quantification of web-based and traditional bidder inquiry processes, Automation in Construction, 18(2), pp. 109-117. March 2009 Authors: Bill East, Julio C. Martinez, Jeffrey G. Kirby: This paper describes an innovative application of discrete-event simulation to model and evaluate differences in business processes following the introduction of new information technologies. Validated models can be used by offices considering the new technology to calibrate existing work loads and then to predict the expected impact of new information technology on measurable business metrics. Following the introduction of the technology, this model may assist in the real-time verification of user paths incorporated in software support tools. This paper will be of interest to those evaluating the impact of information technology and public construction contract administration.
Verification and validation of a project collaboration tool, Automation in Construction 17.2 (2008): 201-214. January 2008 Authors: Bill East, Jeffrey G. Kirby, Liang Y. Liu: Given that a significant amount of research and development efforts go into the creation of software tools, it is important that the most effective verification and validation methods be applied. Traditional methods for evaluating the accuracy and benefits of collaborative business process platforms created by East and Kirby, to date, do not constitute a sufficient proof that these tools are actually operating as designed or provide maximum possible value to all users. Verification through user interviews and surveys demonstrates that the software is performing as expected under test conditions, but is insufficient to identify off-purpose uses. Validation efforts performed at discrete points in time, such as economic analysis, describe specific cases and require assumptions of generality. Subjective continuous evaluations, such as user-submitted Call Center tickets, provide a continuous but incomplete measure of users' experience. This paper provides a new taxonomy that can help researchers and developers to frame future verification and validation efforts. The four dimensions of this taxonomy are Objectivity, Sample Size, Frequency, and Purpose. Software users can also apply the taxonomy to evaluate the extent to which products have been evaluated beyond the standard case studies typically found in software vendor literature.
Tracking Components and Maintenance History within a Facility Utilizing Radio Frequency Identification Technology, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 21(1), pp. 11–20. January 2007. Authors: Esin Ergin, Burcu Akinc, Bill East, Jeff Kirby: Limitations in data transfer between maintenance workers and a central facility management (FM) system result in lower data quality, longer service process times, and ineffective capturing of component maintenance history. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology provides an opportunity to meet the current needs for uniquely identifying facility components, storing some maintenance history information on the component, and accessing this information on-demand within a facility. There have not been any research studies that tested the performance of active ultrahigh frequency RFID technology on facility components during operations and maintenance phase repetitively over an extended period of time. The objectives of this study were to identify how RFID technology can improve current FM processes and to determine technological feasibility of using RFID within a facility repetitively on a daily basis. The writers tagged fire valves in a facility with RFID tags and conducted a longevity test for sixty consecutive days by simulating tag identification, data access, and entry in real-life conditions. The results demonstrate that current commercially available active RFID technology performs well in a building environment where metallic objects and different obstructions are present. The observed reading distances were approximately half of the reading range expected in open air provided that there are not any massive obstructions between the reader and the tag.
Multiproject Planning and Resource Controls for Facility Management, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, American Society of Civil Engineers, 132(12), 1294–1305. December 2006. Authors: Bill East, Liang Y. Liu: Facility managers face the challenges of managing many different types of small, geographically dispersed construction projects. Depending on the complexity and distribution of projects, the time required to prepare for production consumes a large percentage of the total time required to complete the job. Increasing crews’ productive hours is a key objective when planning multiproject schedules. Existing methods, however, lack the effective means to explicitly model, analyze, and optimize resource utilization for these multiple concurrent projects. As a result, few facility managers fully exploit the potential to better manage their often limited budget and resources. This paper presents an explicit model of the mobilization requirements of multiple crews performing a variety of different activities over a geographic space. The model allows the facility manager to explicitly investigate the impact of crew composition, crew specialization, and depot locations. Using work rule decisions regarding alternative crew allocations, facility managers may dynamically allocate resources to optimize resources and to complete projects in a minimum amount of time. To verify and validate this new model, a computerized system, called FIRS (Facility/Infrastructure Resource Scheduler), was created to analyze the multiproject resource plans with data from two military organizations and a university campus. FIRS utilizes a new genetic algorithm that was developed specifically to work with multiproject scheduling. Using FIRS, facility managers can develop and test alternative crew allocations based on the qualifications of the crews available and the type of operation being performed. - See more at: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2006)132%3A12(1294)#sthash.X66jQ4Aa.dpuf
Improved Design Review through Web Collaboration, Journal of Management in Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 20(2), 51–55. April 2004 Authors: Bill East, Jeffrey G. Kirby, Gonzalo Perez: An in-depth analysis of the impact of Web collaboration has shown that it is a very effective medium for conducting design reviews and offers many benefits over traditional manual methods of comment collection and resolution. Findings from two federal agencies have shown a significant reduction in both the time required to conduct a design review and the number of required participating parties. An economic analysis of the impact of Web collaboration on the design review process done for U.S. Corps of Engineers projects indicates that using the Web for design review collaboration provides a 73% savings in meeting time and travel cost. - See more at: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2004)20%3A2(51)#sthash.Olqyqr4y.dpuf
Design Review Checking System with Corporate Lessons Learned, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, American Society of Civil Engineers, 129(5), pp. 475–484.October 2003. Authors: Lucio Soibelman, Liang Y. Liu, Jeffrey G. Kirby, Bill East, Carlos H. Caldas, Ken-Yu Lin: Design reviews are critical to the success of a construction project. They eliminate costly rework and conflicts, and promote creative and innovative design and construction. This paper discusses a unique way to improve design reviews by gathering and including direct corporate experience that can be used company- and industry-wide. The Design Review Checking System (DrChecks) and the system called Corporate Lessons Learned (CLL) were developed by the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory to collect personal experiences and lessons learned on projects and incorporate these data into corporate knowledge, expressly for the design review process. DrChecks provides a framework for a standardized review process. Typically, exchanges of personal experience and knowledge have occurred informally by word of mouth. With DrChecks and CLL, direct personal experience can be collected into a database while the design review process is on-going. Lessons learned, success stories, and good work practices, which can be identified easily by experienced staff members, can then be shared throughout the organization. DrChecks and CLL both take advantage of the Internet and facilitate the management of design review process and the collection and reuse of corporate lessons learned asynchronously and remotely.
SEDAR - Expert Critiquing System for Flat and Low-Slope Roof Design, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 11(1), pp. 60-68. January 1997. Authors: Michael C. Fu, Caroline C. Hayes, Bill East: The Support Environment for Design And Review (SEDAR) is a flexible, graphical expert critiquing system for use by both designers and reviewers during the design of flat and low-slope structure roof systems. SEDAR provides assistance during the design and review phases of the design process through the use of its error prevention, error detection, and design review critics, and a design suggestion critic. The primary contribution of SEDAR to the field of expert critiquing systems is a method for focusing its critiques through the use of a task model of the design domain. The task model, called the Designer's Task Model (DTM), was created from observing how roof designers decompose the roof-design task into interdependent subtasks associated with the layout of roof subsystems. SEDAR uses DTM to flexibly track the progress of roof designers so that its critics can provide the most relevant advice at appropriate times in the design process. Evaluation of a SEDAR prototype demonstrated that the system reduces the number of errors for roof designers and outlined directions for future research.
Abstracting Lessons Learned from Design Reviews, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 10(4), pp. 267-275 October 1996. Authors: Bill East, Michael C. Fu: The application of lessons learned during construction to future designs is a goal of many construction organizations. This paper presents the current status of design review systems within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and describes a new computer program, the Lessons-Learned Generator, that abstracts frequently used design review comments. Frequently used comments in the Reviewer's Assistant system are evaluated based on usefulness, generality, and content stability. Well-formed comments are then abstracted and included in a new Reviewer's Assistant project. The abstraction process keeps the growth of the database at a reasonable level and allows users to identify and distribute sets of repetitive comments. Difficulties associated with the automated abstraction of lessons learned are discussed. Since the Lessons-Learned Generator identifies lessons learned as part of a reviewer's daily business practice, then makes the lessons-learned immediately accessible within the Reviewer's Assistant system, this approach may be more effective than paper checklists or stand-alone automation approaches for applying lessons learned.
Improving the Design Review Process: The Reviewer's Assistant, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 9(4), pp. 229-235. October 1995. Authors: Bill East, Tim Roessler, Mark Lustig: Organizations using architect/engineer (A/E) services typically require reviews of partially completed designs prior to submission of the final design. Many A/E firms also conduct internal quality-control reviews. The objective of these reviews is to increase the cost-effectiveness, timeliness, and overall quality of the completed construction project. Including all project stakeholders in these design reviews is crucial. This paper reports the results of an analysis of the design-review process and the development of a tool to assist design reviewers. The tool, called the Reviewer's Assistant, assists reviewers by capturing, storing, and retrieving design-review comments, and compiling lessons learned. The storage of comments and compilation of lessons learned enable future reviewers to benefit from the experience gained on past reviews of similar projects.
Standardizing Scheduling Data Exchange, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, American Society of Civil Engineers, 119(2), pp. 215-225. June 1993. Authors: Bill East, Simon Kim: One of the major inefficiencies in the use of the critical path method (CPM) in the construction industry is the large number of proprietary and commercially available software scheduling systems. This inefficiency is due, in part, to the amount of data reentry required when progress data is exchanged between members of a project team. To solve this problem, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coordinated the development of a data‐exchange standard with eight vendors, several construction managers, and Corps of Engineer fieldoffice representatives. The standard was tested on a limited basis and has been officially required by the Corps of Engineers since March of 1990. To use the data exchange features currently provided by software vendors, it is necessary for all participants in the data exchange to spend considerable time anticipating inconsistencies between software systems. A revised version of the format is expected to be released to vendors in early 1993. The revised version is expected to considerably reduce the time required by users to implement the exchange of project scheduling data.
Framework for Design-Quality Review Database System, Journal of Management in Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 6(3), pp. 296-312. July 1990 Authors: James Lutz, Donald Hancher, Bill East: Even though design reviews are often performed by one or more parties, design deficiencies continue to be a costly problem for both public and private owners. Design deficiencies are responsible for approximately half of all construction contract modifications and have the potential for resulting in defects during the operational life of a project. Owner design‐review manuals and professional society design‐quality handbooks are evaluated to assess current design‐review practices and to identify frequently encountered design deficiencies. Based on findings, a framework for a design‐quality‐review data‐base system is developed to aid the reviewer in the early detection and correction of design deficiencies. The proposed PC‐based system will allow the reviewer quickly to retrieve design‐review standards by discipline, system, and product classifications. An example application of the proposed data‐base system applied to earthwork design‐quality‐review standards is presented. Potential system features including the utilization of hyper‐text cross‐referencing, integration with an existing review management system, and the application of expert‐system technology are discussed.

Section 7.2 Publications - Peer Reviewed Proceedings 16

Some available free of charge. Listed in reverse chronological order.

The COBie Academy, in Proceedings of the 12th BIM Academic Symposium, Orlando, Florida, March 2018. Authors: Bill East, Raymond Issa: The transformation of the design, construction, and facility management industry is managed in different ways worldwide. In the United States, there are three major forces driving industry transformation. First, software vendors are vertically integrating by adding features aimed at solving design and construction information exchange problems. Second, owners are requiring a variety of building information deliverables often based on proprietary technological choices. Third, groups of stakeholders are developing multiple, possibly incompatible, approaches to standardizing the exchange of electronic building information. To support the establishment of objectively testable and contractable open Building Information Modeling (BIM) requirements, the authors have developed a program of continuing education courses for the National BIM Standard - United States (NBIMS-US) Version 3.0, Chapter 4.2, Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) standard. This paper describes the context, content, and lessons learned from creating and operating three university-hosted COBie courses during their first year of operation.
"Transferring practitioner knowledge: Open standards projects lessons learned", in Proceedings PMIA 2017, Melbourne, Australia, May 2017.: Significant Project Management knowledge is generated by practitioners, usually presented as ‘practitioner lessons learned’. However, the role of the academic as only project management sense-maker, excluding practitioner knowledge-creator, is questioned. An alternative view is that some academics are also important members of the project management community of practitioners because their project management skills are necessary to do collaborative industry research. This dual role of academics informs reporting the outcomes of ICT projects developing open standards for construction management systems. The ‘practitioner lessons learned’, success or failure, stories of three USA National Institute of Building Sciences ICT development projects are interpreted through academic sense-making. In addition, identification of the importance of transferring this knowledge within the academic project management community of practice is reported. These lessons should incorporated into the design of new open standards projects to gain construction industry acceptance, implementation and adoption. In this case, an academic project, CONie (Construction to Operations for Network information exchange) is proposed as an open standard for Road Network Asset Management in Australia and New Zealand
The United States National Building Information Modeling Standard: The First Decade, in Proceedings of the 2016 CIB W078 Conference, Brisbane, Australia, October 2016. October 31, 2016 Authors: Bill East, Dana Kennish "Deke" Smith: This case study examines the process, development, and challenges faced by the leadership of the United States Building Information Modeling Standard® (NBIMS-US) over its first decade. While it began as a purely aspirational document, NBIMS-US-based deliverables are now required in contracts in many countries. Drawing from internal working documents, published consensus documents, and personal interviews, the paper presents a first-hand account of the development of NBIMS-US and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the resulting products. Lessons-learned identified in this paper may be of interest to those participating in the ongoing development of the US standard, and those developing, or aspiring to create, national BIM standards in their own countries.
Life-Cycle Building Control, in Proceedings of the European Conference on Product and Process Modelling 2012, Reykjavik, Iceland, CRC Press LLC, June 2012. Authors: Bill East, Chris Bogen: Efforts to develop and implement open standard information exchange specifications such as the Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) have begun to illustrate how collaborative business processes can be contractually decomposed into discrete information exchanges. Based on the mapping of required information exchanges and the enforcement of specific classes of building information the authors have developed a domain-independent approach for building control. This paper will provide an outline of the life-cycle building control framework and describe a series of projects undertaken by the Engineer Research and Development Center to demonstrate the feasibility of this concept.
An Experimental Platform for Building Information Research, in Proceedings of the 2012 Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 301-308 June 2012. Authors: Bill East, Chris Bogen: The authors' efforts to improve the quality of Industry Foundation Class (IFC) building information exchanges has highlighted needed for defensible verification methods. The tools and techniques needed to meet these efforts requirements would also improve research that requires building information. This paper announces the open publication of a series of models and tools produced and used by the authors for their research. Widespread use of common models and shared tools are expected to improve the quality of research that requires building information.
A Framework for Building Information Fusion, in Proceedings of the CIB W78-W102 2011: International Conference –Sophia Antipolis, France, 26-28 October October 2011. Authors: Chris Bogen, Mubar Rashid, Bill Eas: Data reported by supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems is critical for evaluating the as-operated performance of a facility. Typically these systems are designed to support specific control domains, but facility performance analysis requires the fusion of data across these domains. Since a facility may have several disparate, closed-loop SCADA systems, resolution of data interoperability issues (heterogeneities) is a prerequisite to cross-domain data fusion. There are no general methods for resolving these heterogeneities in the context of a nonproprietary core building information model (BIM) format. This article describes how these standard data models are applied to a general framework for the integration of building information models and building sensor telemetry. Given the number of very large corporations, each with its own research agendas and proprietary products, and the large number of installed buildings, each with its own control systems, yet another control scheme or technology will not make an impact on improving this market. The authors propose solutions to these underlying data heterogeneities by adopting existing data standards and introducing new data schemas (only when necessary) based on consensus between industry, government, and academic stakeholders. The Industry Foundation Class (IFC) 2X4 controls domain is the foundation of the authors’ decomposition of SCADA systems as components, assemblies, and connections that relate to other objects in the facility. The Open Building Information eXchange (oBIX) provides the basis for the authors’ representation of raw telemetry streams that map to the underlying IFC model. The system concept described in this article is part of an effort that is expected to produce an Industry Foundation Class Model View Definition (MVD) for building SCADA systems, product type templates for building SCADA products, the architectural design of an integration platform, and the specification of common predictive and analytical functions for deriving usable intelligence from the integration framework
Using IFC Models for User-Directed Visualization, in Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 470-477, June 2011. Authors: Chris Bogen, Bill East: Deriving virtual design walkthroughs from building information models is a specialization of more general interoperability issues encountered in the architect, engineer, construction domain (AECO) where data exchanges are made throughout the facility life cycle between diverse stakeholder groups and software applications. This paper describes a repeatable process for efficiently transforming design coordination view Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) models to multi-user visualization for Radiant, a popular 3D game engine. The adopted transformation process overcomes the inherent difficulties of compiling native geometry in the target visualization platform while supporting two-way traceability of design elements transformed by the underlying data exchanges. The intended audience for this paper includes readers interested in design visualization as well as in AECO data maintenance, integration, and BIM interoperability.
Transforming an IFC-based Building Layout Information into a Geometric Topology Network for Indoor Navigation Assistance, in Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 315-322. June 2011. Authors: Saraub Taneja, Burcu Akinci, James Garrett, Lucio Soibelman, Bill East: Automated navigation assistance in indoor environments requires the existence of spatial models with the ability to represent navigational knowledge of these environments. In this paper, we have built upon network-based navigation and the vector representation of road networks in GIS to create a spatial model that can be utilized for navigation guidance and erroneous positioning data correction in indoor environments. We name this spatial model the Geometric Topology Network (GTN) and have identified the requirements and developed a process for its automated creation. We have compared the strengths and weaknesses of two algorithms, namely, the Straight Medial Axis Transformation algorithm and a modified form of the Medial Axis Transform algorithm for automated creation of the GTN. The developed process for GTN creation transforms the building spaces and spatial connections represented in an IFC file into a graph network. We have also created a proof-of-concept prototype to demonstrate the automated creation of a GTN.
Developing Common Product Property Sets, in Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 421-429. June 2011. Authors: Bill East, David T. McKay, Chris Bogen, Mark Kalin: Even when commercial software is effectively used, sharing building information model (BIM) data is unlikely to provide satisfactory results due to differences in properties, aggregations, and organization of the information contained in the various software systems used at different stages of the project life-cycle. The approach taken by the authors is to develop open specifications for information exchanges that are included in contract specifications. A critical subset of the life-cycle BIM data set is that information pertaining to project requirements, specification, review, installation, and maintenance of the materials, products, and equipment used to create our engineered environment. The Engineer Research and Development Center, in conjunction with the National Institute of Building Sciences' buildingSMART alliance, the Speciation's Consultants in Independent Practice, and the Construction Specifications Institute, is currently leading a project to deliver open BIM information about manufactured materials, products, and equipment. The goal of the Specifiers' Properties information exchange (SPie) project is to mobilize the United States building product manufacturing sector to develop open-standard consensus building product information models. In this paper, the authors' report on the progress of the Specifier's Properties information exchange (SPie) project.
A Life-Cycle Model for Contracted Information Exchange, in Proceedings of the CIB W78 2010: 27th International Conference –Cairo, Egypt, 16-18 November November 2010. Authors: Bill East, Nick Nisbet: This paper will introduce a process-based building data model that tracks key building information through the facility's life cycle. The specification of batch and transactional exchanges, upon which this process model is based, uses the buildingSMART's Facility Management Handover Model View Definition (FM MVD) as the foundation for transforming paper-based deliverables into usable building information. The FM MVD is the first internationally recognized MVD for the exchange of non-geometric building information.
Analysis of Life-Cycle Information Exchange, in Proceedings of the 2010 International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Nottingham University Press June 2010, Authors: Bill East, Nick Nisbet: Although it is well known that construction project stakeholders pay for wasteful process inefficiencies due to the lack of interoperable software, there have been relatively few attempts to eliminate this waste through implementation of open information exchange protocols and processes. This paper presents preliminary results obtained using a first-order economic model to evaluate the life-cycle cost and benefit of adopting such an open standard. This cost model, called the COBie Calculator, enables managers to compare traditional information exchange processes with ones using open data standards
Impact of eGoverment on Federal Facility Delivery, in Proceedings of the 25th International Workshop on Computer Integrated Construction, CIB W078 September 2008. Authors: Bill East: This paper provides a justification for the use of e-Government applications for public facility delivery projects. The costs and benefits from one such system used in public practice in the United States are described. The emerging impacts of e-Government systems on the facility acquisition community are also identified.
An Overview of the US National BIM Standard, in Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers July 2007. Authors: Bill East: Recent efforts of National Institute of Building Science (NIBS) members have moved the goal of interoperable, life-cycle exchange of building information closer to fruition in the United States. This has been accomplished through the specification of individual information exchange packages, based on the requirements of well defined business processes, using the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) model. There are many opportunities for direct participation in the development of the National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS).
Constructability State of Practice Survey, in Proceedings of the Specialty Conference on Management and Leadership in Construction, American Society of Civil Engineers March 2004. Authors: James Pocock, John Gambatese, Bill East, Jeffery G. Kirby: Approximately 100 owners, architects, engineers, consultants, contractors and construction managers answered the survey’s ten questions and provided written comments. The results provide a picture of current constructability practices in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry. These include: The definition of constructability, Project phases at which constructability efforts usually begin, Constructability methods used during design and construction, Who requires constructability and who performs it, The major benefits of constructability and problems it could prevent, The major obstacles to implementing constructability.The paper compares current constructability practice with that described in past ASCE and CII studies and traces progress made in the meantime. For example, current constructability efforts seem to begin in earlier project phases and formal constructability mechanisms are often built into project processes. The survey is one of the Constructability Committee’s first steps toward producing a set of constructability guidelines for industry endorsed by ASCE
Infrastructure Work Order Planning Using Genetic Algorithms, in Procedings of the International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers July 1999, Authors: Bill East: Infrastructure management offices plan and complete several thousand small construction projects annually. Effective planning is vital if the public and private sectors are to maintain valuable infrastructure investments at the least cost to the taxpayer or shareholder. This paper presents the results an application of Genetic Algorithms (GA) in multi-project resource allocation to minimize the total cost of work order execution on realistically sized infrastructure management problems. In addition to direct crew costs indirect costs for set- up, idle time, and travel are included in this model. Results of test cases demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach when compared to several standard heuristics.
A Proposed Virtual Design Review Environment, in Proceedings of Construction Congress V: Managing Engineered Construction in Expanding Global Markets, American Society of Civil Engineers October 1997. Authors: Bill East, Michael C. Fu: Current design review procedures and systems rely almost exclusively on the transmission of written design review comments. The amount of information that needs to be transmitted during the design review goes well beyond this text-based “conversation.” A virtual review environment is needed to allow project stakeholders to fully converse about the project. The virtual design review allows a group of reviewers to work simultaneously on a three-dimensional representation of an incomplete building model. This approach improves the way that design review information is stored, viewed and retrieved and (2) expands the interaction between reviewers and designers.

Section 7.3 Publications - Technical Reports 30

Most available free of charge. Listed in reverse chronological order.

Assessment of Life Cycle Information Exchanges (LCie): Understanding the Value-Added Benefit of a COBie Process, Engineer Research and Development Center, Contractor Report, ERDC/CERL CR-13-6 October 2013. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Omobolawa Fadojutimi, Gregory Williams, Naila Crawford, Danielle Gran, Bill East: The Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) standard defines a minimum set of information needed to capture electronic construction handover information. COBie, however, does not define the specific processes used to create such information. Some designers and contractors may choose to capture the data by mirroring current document-based processes, transcribing information from required paper documents into a COBie-formatted file following beneficial occupancy. Other designers and contractors may choose to capture this information as data, as the work progresses, using COBie-centered project extranets. This report examines the costs and benefits of each approach, and compares them by analyzing differences in each business process that uses COBie information. The results indicate that a significant benefit may be achieved through the elimination of the non-value-added activities related to the handling, routing, transforming, checking, copying, and transmitting documents containing COBie data.
Ontology for Life-Cycle Modeling of Elecrical Distribution Systems - Model View Definition, ERDC/CERL ; CR-13-2 June 2013. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Robert Feldman, Gregory Williams, Omobolawa Fadojutimi, Tim Chipman, Bill East: Previous efforts by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) to develop a life-cycle building model have resulted in the definition of a core building information model that contains general information describing facility assets such as spaces and equipment. To describe how facility assets (i.e., components) function together, information about assemblies of assets and their connections must also be defined. The defini-tions of assets, assemblies, and connections for the various building-information domains are discipline-specific. The work documented here addresses the process flow and data exchange requirements for the design of electrical distribution systems in typical Army facilities. This ontology advances the state of the art by defining an Industry Foundation Class (IFC) Model View for electrical system design supporting end users in developing compliant BIM models suggesting potential areas of automation in electrical system design.
Ontology For Life-Cycle Modeling of Electrical Distribution Systems - Example Application, ERDC/CERL CR-13-3 June 2013. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Robert Feldman, Gregory Williams, Tim Chipman, Omobolawa Fadojutimi, Bill East: Previous efforts by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) to develop a life-cycle building model have resulted in the definition of a core building information model that contains general information describing facility assets such as spaces and equipment. To describe how facility assets (i.e., components) function together, information about assemblies of assets and their connections must also be defined. The definitions of assets, assemblies, and connections for the various building-information domains are discipline-specific. Work documented in ERDC/CERL CR-13-2 identified the processes and tasks specifically associated with the design of building electrical systems and the information exchange requirements for every participant in the design. The findings were used to develop an information-exchange Model View Definition (MVD) for building electrical systems. The objective of the current work was to document the steps needed to identify the electrical MVD attributes in three experimental building information models representing typical low-rise Army facilities, and to update the models. This work also validated the International Foundation Class (IFC) export function from the experimental models against the electrical MVD, and studied the requirements for creating computable open building models that can be utilized for the automated information exchanges.
Ontology for Life-Cycle Modeling of Water Distribution Systems - Model View Definition, ERDC/CERL ; CR-13-4 June 2013. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Robert Feldman, Gregory Williams, Omobolawa Fadojutimi, Tim Chipman, Bill East: Previous efforts by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) to develop a life-cycle building model have resulted in the definition of a core building information model that contains general information describing facility assets such as spaces and equipment. To describe how facility assets (i.e., components) function together, information about assemblies of assets and their connections must also be defined. The definitions of assets, assemblies, and connections for the various building-information domains are discipline-specific. The work documented here addresses the process flow and data exchange requirements for the design of water distribution systems in typical Army facilities. This ontology advances the state of the art by defining an Industry Foundation Class (IFC) Model View for water system design, supporting end users in developing compliant BIM models, and suggesting potential areas of automation in water system design.
Ontology for Life-Cycle Modeling of Water Distribution Systems - Example Application, ERDC/CERL CR-13-5 June 2013. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Robert Feldman, Gregory Williams, Omobolawa Fadojutimi, Tim Chipman, Bill East: Previous efforts by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) to develop a life-cycle building model have resulted in the definition of a core building information model that contains general information describing facility assets such as spaces and equipment. To describe how facility assets (i.e., components) function together, information about assemblies of assets and their connections must also be defined. The definitions of assets, assemblies, and connections for the various building-information domains are discipline-specific. Work documented in ERDC/CERL CR-13-4 identified the processes and tasks specifically associated with the design of interior plumbing systems and the information exchange requirements for every participant in the design. The findings were used to develop an information-exchange Model View Definition (MVD) for building water systems. The objective of the current work was to document the steps needed to identify the plumbing MVD attributes in three experimental building information models representing typical low-rise Army facilities, and to update those models. This work also validated the International Foundation Class (IFC) export function from the experimental models against the water system MVD, and studied the requirements for creating computable open building models that can be utilized for the automated information exchanges.
Sustainability Product Properties in Building Information Models Engineer Research and Development Center, Contractor Report, ERDC/CERL CR-12-6 September 2012. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Robert Feldman, Julia Greenberger, Gregory Williams, Holly Genc, Lourdes Gonzalez, Josh Greenfield, Bill East: There are currently several competing efforts to define and measure sustainability. To date, no single concept of facility sustainability is widely accepted as being definitive because the term is often loosely used to define the particular environmental and social goals of any given sustainability proponent. This work looks beyond an abstract definition of facility sustainability and proposes a set of product properties that can be measured to represent the natural resources consumed to produce and operate facility assets. Development of this set of sustainability properties included a review of prominent tools and systems for assessing facility sustainability, including contributions by industry experts. The project also included analysis of how sustainability product properties may be integrated with Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology to improve US Army facilities. The report includes sustainability properties for 56 building elements, which have been incorporated into building property templates for use in BIM models.
Common Object Library Description, Engineer Research and Development Center, Contractor Report, ERDC/CERL CR-12-5 August 2012. Authors: Kristine Fallon, Mark Johnson, Bill East: For Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology to be successful, it must be consistently applied across many projects, by many teams. The National Building Information Model Standard United States (NBIMS-US) has begun to deliver standards that allow teams to consistently deliver open-standard building information. The contents of this standard describe the format and quality of information to be delivered. Software configuration guides and object templates can assist users of BIM technology to more easily meet both the format and quality requirement of NBIMS-US. The purpose of this report is to define the requirements for and document the creation of a library of building components. The components included in this report reflect the contents of common BIM models for a duplex apartment, office building, and medical clinic building that have been previously published. This common object library description may serve as a reference for those implementing national BIM standards and for future research projects.
Life-Cycle Model of Mission-Ready and Sustainable Facilities: Planning Space Resource Utilization, Engineer Research and Development Center, Contractor Report, ERDC/CERL CR-12-3 May 2012 Authors: Allan D. Chasey, Avi Weizel, Harvey Bryan, Bill East: This report documents work performed under contract for the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center by researchers at Arizona State University to support the development of technology that can describe the use of a building’s space resources. The specific purpose of this work was to create schedules of building space attributes, in the form of tables; and the requirements for different types and combinations of facilities constructed for the Army. Such information can be used to compare real-world facility user behavior with predicted facility resource consumption as part of a methodology for optimizing building space utilization to improve mission readiness and sustainability.The research addressed the process of using the existing structure of the Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) data specification to add information relevant to planning space resource utilization. The example provided was for a standard family housing duplex unit. In addition, the use of COBie as a tool for testing enhancements to the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) schema has been demonstrated.
Ontology for Life-Cycle Modeling of HVAC Systems - Model View Definition, Engineer Research and Development Center, Contractor Report, ERDC/CERL CR-12-2 March 2012. Authors: Rob Hitchcock, Nick Nisbet, Christopher Wilkins, Matthew Tanis, Reijo Hänninen, Tuomas Laine, Bill East: Previous efforts by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) to develop a life-cycle building model have resulted in the definition of a core building information model that contains general information describing facility assets such as spaces and equipment. To describe how facility assets (i.e., components) function together, information about assemblies of assets and their connections must also be defined. The definitions of assets, assemblies, and connections for the various building-information domains are discipline-specific. Work documented in ERDC/CERL CR-13-2 identified the processes and tasks specifically associated with the design of building electrical systems and the information exchange requirements for every participant in the design. The findings were used to develop an information-exchange Model View Definition (MVD) for building electrical systems. The objective of the current work was to document the steps needed to identify the electrical MVD attributes in three experimental building information models representing typical low-rise Army facilities, and to update the models. This work also validated the International Foundation Class (IFC) export function from the experimental models against the electrical MVD, and studied the requirements for creating computable open building models that can be utilized for the automated information exchanges.
Ontology for Life-Cycle Modeling of HVAC Systems - Example Application, Engineer Research and Development Center, Contractor Report, ERDC/CERL CR-12-4 March 2012. Authors: Rob Hitchcock, Nick Nisbet, Christopher Wilkins, Matthew Tanis, Reijo Hänninen, Tuomas Laine, Bill East: The development of an open ontology for the design phase of typical heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems was documented in ERDC-CERL Contract Report CR-12-2 (March 2012). It was developed following Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and Model View Definition (MVD) procedures defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the buildingSMART Alliance. The purpose of the work was to promote consistency and quality of content created for Building Information Models (BIMs) across various disciplines. The HVAC MVD was tested in a separate task, as documented in this report, through its implementation in three example BIMs based on experimental architectural models provided by ERDC-CERL. HVAC equipment and systems were added to those architectural models using a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) modeling package. Industry Foundation Class (IFC) models were then generated using the software s IFC export function and reviewed for compliance with the reference HVAC MVD.
Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBIE) Requirements Definition and Pilot Implementation Standard, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, TR 07/30. June 2007 Authors: Bill East: The Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBIE) specification denotes how information may be captured during design and construction and provided to facility operators. COBIE eliminates the current process of transferring massive amounts of paper documents to facility operators after construction has been completed. COBIE eliminates the need for post-hoc as-built data capture and helps to reduce operational costs. This report describes the background and process used to create and implement COBIE. An international panel of experts, facility operators, construction managers, and asset managers participated in this project under the auspices of the Development Team of the National Building Information Modeling Standard (NBIMS). This report documents the requirements analysis that led to a pilot implementation standard, specifications for the pilot implementation standard, and the creation of an Information Delivery Manual with process maps used to link user requirements into the Industry Foundation Class model.
Building Information Modeling: A Road Map for Implementation To Support MILCON Transformation and Civil Works Projects within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center October 2006. Authors: Bill East, Beth A. Brucker, Michael P. Case, Brian K. Huston, Susan D. Nachtigall, Johnette C. Shockley, Steve C. Spangler, James T. Wilson: Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a technology that is rapidly gaining acceptance throughout the planning, architecture, engineering, construction, operations, and maintenance industries. The challenge to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is to proactively prepare for BIM, use it to drive down costs and delivery time, and maintain or even improve quality at the same time. This document outlines the strategic and implementation plans for using BIM technology to improve USACE planning, design, and construction processes. It describes how USACE will meet or exceed the vision of its customers, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Army, and the Air Force. The scope of this plan is to focus on the implementation of BIM in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's civil works and military construction business processes, including the process for working with the USACE Architectural Engineering Construction (AEC) industry partners and software vendors.
Design Review and Checking System (DrChecks), U.S. Army, Engineer Research and Development Center, SR 01/20 September 2001 Authors: Bill East, Jeffery G. Kirby, Jana Kelly: Design Review and Checking System (DrChecks), developed by the Engineer Research and Development Center's Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), is Government-Off-the-Shelf software that supports the capture and use of organizational experience in the context of the design review process. DrChecks and its companion, Corporate Lessons Learned (CLL), are being used to turn personal experience, lessons learned, success stories, and good work practices identified by experienced staff members into corporate knowledge that can be shared throughout the organization.
Providing Technology Information, Products, and Services (TIPS) Through the World Wide Web, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 99/80 September 1999, Authors: Bill East, Sara E. Ort, William D. Goran: The Technology Information, Products, and Services (TIPS) system is an effective tool for the capture and transfer of information about the CERL campus of the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) assets. In TIPS these assets include people, capabilities, products, and publications. Relevant information is captured as part of the daily business practices of ERDC researchers, supervisors, managers, and staff. Once approved, appropriate information is provided to potential internal and external ERDC customers. This work builds upon the prototype Conservation Technology web site. Based on technical support feedback and a formal survey of users of the initial prototype, requirements for the TIPS were developed. This report documents the system design, business processes, and database structures of TIPS. Initial requirements for implementation of TIPS at all ERDC campuses are also addressed. Draft Corps of Engineers' Life-Cycle Management Information System (LCMIS) documentation was prepared to document system requirements.
Construction Technology Transfer Center, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Laboratory, TR 99/11 December 1998 Authors: Bill East, Jeffrey G. Kirby, Bruce D. Dallman: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is one of the world's largest engineering and construction organizations. As such, it must use new and existing technologies in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Also, as a Federally funded activity, USACE is mandated by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 to transfer commercially viable technologies into the public marketplace. With this mandate in mind, a pilot project was initiated between the U.S. Army, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USACERL) and the Indiana State University (ISU). Under this project, USACERL worked with ISU's School of Technology to establish the Construction Technology Transfer Center (CTTC) and to develop mechanisms to transfer the results of Corps construction-related research to small- and medium-sized construction companies throughout the Wabash Valley Region. The goals of the effort have been defined by three phases: Phase I, survey the needs of small- and medium-sized construction firms in the region in terms of both automation skills and technology opportunities; Phase II, development of technology transfer activities based on the results of the survey findings and an analysis of Corps technologies; Phase III, delivery of Corps technologies to the target contractor population.
The Use of Organizational Knowledge Within Public Works Engineering Construction and Maintenance Agencies, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, SR 89/64 April 1998 Authors: Bill East, Jorge Venengas, Tuan Nguyen: When providing engineering services, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must comply with certain public laws and regulations by using the traditional project delivery process. This process is a fragmented set of sequential phases, each with its own requirements, creating a lack of integration and coordination among project participants, both within a project and across many projects. Consequently, knowledge and experience gained from one phase or project in a civil works organization, are usually inadequately transferred, or not transferred at all, to other phases or other projects. Another problem that many civil works organizations are facing is the loss of many veteran personnel who have a vast amount of knowledge and experience in the civil works organization. The implementation of an automated system that can capture, store, and share the knowledge and experience of all project participants, throughout all phases of the project life cycle, will help reduce the problem caused by a fragmented delivery process. This system can also capture the experiential knowledge of veteran personnel before they leave the organization. This report describes the development and implementation of such a system, the Organizational Knowledge Bank (OKBank). The OKBank system takes the advantages of the world wide web and other relational software programs in effectively capturing, processing, and disseminating organizational knowledge. The knowledge base in the OKBank contains not only organizational experiences such as lessons learned, good work practices, and success stories, but also include geographically oriented project information.
Automated Importing and Evaluation of Construction Schedules, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Unpublished Manuscript September 1997. Authors: Bill East: This project provided the complete design for a automated constructions schedule analysis tool.
Design Review and Related Lessons-Learned Systems in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Proceedings of the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers Conference on Lessons Learned Systems, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, 97/71 April 1997. Authors: Bill East: These proceedings document a workshop held in January 1996 to identify requirements for design review and related lessons learned systems in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Individual papers, written by workshop participants, document the experience of the Corps in the creation and use of processes and systems to support design review and related lessons-learned systems. A summary paper abstracts the reports of individual participants and documents conclusions reached at the workshop.
Evaluation of Pen-Based Systems for Use at Construction Offices, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 97/08 October 1996 Authors: Bill East, Glenn Rasmussen: The construction industry uses many small computer systems with pen-based user interfaces for a variety of inspection, inventory control, scheduling, and forms processing tasks. Improvement in size, capacity, cost, and reliability of handheld computer equipment has made these tools practical for construction office use. These tools are considered to be very promising platforms for the transfer of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers technology through a cooperative project between USACERL and Indiana State University called the Construction Technology Transfer Center. For this phase of research, a survey of private industry was conducted using a Sources Sought Notice published in the Commerce Business Daily. Following the survey, an evaluation matrix was developed and the respondents were evaluated. This report presents the results of the evaluation of commercial pen-based computing equipment for use at construction offices.
The Support Environment for Design and Review (SEDAR) for Flat and Low-Slope Roofs, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 96/99 September 1996 Authors: Bill East, Michael C. Fu: his report describes an expert critiquing system, the Support Environment for Design And Review (SEDAR), that uses a task-based model of design for flexible control of its multi-strategy critiquing abilities. SEDAR has been developed for the flat and low-slope roofing domain, a subfield of the building design domain. It is designed to support the existing design/review protocol for roof design for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. SEDAR offers three critiquing strategies. The incremental error prevention strategy is intended to help users avoid errors by visually displaying 'off-limits' areas before errors can be made. The incremental error correction strategy's intent is to give immediate feedback to the user during the design process, so that the errors may he corrected before their effects are propagated to subsequent parts of the design. The hatch-processing design review strategy is intended to allow the user to conduct reviews on a design after particular roof subsystems are completed, as some errors can not be detected until this stage.
An Evaluation of Scheduling Requirements on Federal Fixed-Price Construction Projects, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 96/71 June 1996 Authors: Bill East, Glenn Rasmussen: Thirty-two agencies have jurisdiction over Federally funded construction projects. Variation among agency requirements for project planning and scheduling has been thought by members of the construction industry to be a barrier for small and medium sized contractors who wish to bid on Federal construction projects. Regulatory variation was also thought to raise the cost of Federal construction projects. The results of an evaluation of Federal scheduling specifications and follow-up survey of Federal agencies participating in the Federal Facilities Council's Project Management Committee indicate that general scheduling requirements are similar across all agencies. Agencies appear to limit the use of complex scheduling and planning methods to larger projects. The low cost bar charting technique is consistently used on construction contracts under $1 million. For smaller projects, and projects that do not fit well into traditional scheduling methods, few offices cited the use of the fenced-bar chart or line-of-balance techniques. For projects, over $1 million, virtually all offices used commercial Critical Path Method scheduling software. A significant number of survey respondents, however, appeared not to address many scheduling issues that affect the usefulness of the scheduling system output. Survey respondents also pointed to another troubling issue proprietary requirements for scheduling software.
The Standard Data Exchange Format for Critical Path Method Scheduling, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 95/40 September 1995 Authors: Bill East: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces a dilemma in seeking to automate construction project scheduling with Critical Path Method (CPM) software systems, because each vendor uses its own proprietary data format. To purchase and learn eaqh system used by various contractors would be expensive and time consuming. Yet specifying a system leaves the Corps open to charges of giving unfair advantage to contractors using that particular system. Requiring contractors to provide hardware, software, and training for any CPM scheduling system differing from the one specified by the Corps can keep a contractor from being able to submit a competitive bid on a smaller project. The U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USACERL) has been working on a solution: establishing a standard data format that provides a common ground between proprietary systems. This report chronicles the development of this format, named the Standard Data Exchange Format (SDEF). Appendix A to this report is a draft of the SDEF specifications. Additionally, this report evaluates how well the following commercially available systems conform to the SDEF: AlderGraf (AlderGraf Systems, Inc.); OpenPlan (Welcom Software Technology Corporation); PMS-80 (Pinnell-Busch, Inc.); PPMS 30,000 Version 4.02 (Advanced Project Approach, Inc.), and Primavera (Primavera Systems, Inc.). (MM)
The Reviewer's Assistant System: System Design Analysis and Description, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory April 1995 Authors: Bill East, Timothy L. Roessler, Mark D. Lustig, Michael Chin-Ming Fu: The objective of the research leading to this report was to identify ways to improve design quality through enhancement of the Biddability, Constructibility, and Operability compliance review process. The system that resulted from this project, the Reviewer's Assistant, allows reviewers with any organizational or professional affiliation to capture, apply, and transmit their expertise to designers. The Architect/Engineer or consulting firm(s) may then modify designs to avoid problems that might cause costly construction contract modifications or increase building operation and maintenance costs. There are three benefits of using the Reviewer's Assistant. First, the Reviewer's Assistant can help users conduct high quality design reviews in less time. Second, users can apply past experience from previous design reviews. Finally, the design reviews will be saved for future benefit. This report discusses the design decisions that were made during the system development process and how they were implemented in Version 0.9 of the Reviewer's Assistant. It also describes possible future enhancements to the system. An unattached Appendix B contains the list of a roofing review analysis used in the system development.
Site Design Applications for the Theater Construction Management System,U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 94/14 October 1993 Authors: Bill East: The Theater Construction Management System (TCMS) is a collection of construction management and engineering software packages integrated by data links that allow data sharing between functional areas of the construction management process. The philosophy of TCMS development is to use commercially available software wherever possible, thereby allowing the Army to use the best software available without directly absorbing the costs associated with software development. This study investigated the possibility of using a commercial computer-assisted design and drafting (CADD) program in conjunction with geographical information systems (GISs) to automate the process of site design. Current (and most commonly used) site design practices were reviewed; the requirements and conceptual basis for such a software integration were developed; and two potential advanced technology site design applications were outlined.
Evaluating Factors that Affect Construction Project Duration, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory September 1992 Authors: Bill East, Amr Hassanein, John Melin: The actual duration of both military and civil works construction projects often differs substantially from the estimates made before construction begins. In fiscal year (FY) 1988, actual duration of military construction projects took an average of 17 percent longer than estimated. Similarly, actual duration of civil construction projects averaged 19 percent longer than estimated. Automatically generated construction schedules may help to quickly produce more accurate estimates of construction duration. Such schedules will require improved activity duration estimates before the start of construction. Recent research has used flexible critical path method (CPM) schedules contained in an artificial intelligence (AI) based programming environment to create or update construction schedules. Durations for individual activities in these networks are based on material quantities, crew formations, and productivity rates, and on other types of building characteristics. When realistic activity durations have been developed, flexible logic between activities provides the basis for the CPM calculation of construction completion. This study incorporates three additional factors that can unexpectedly extend construction activities: (1) work delays, (2) weather delays, and (3) productivity delays. The approach presented in this report may reduce the time required to produce preliminary schedules since the templates used here already contain a significant amount of scheduling knowledge.... Construction scheduling, Critical path method (CPM), Artificial intelligence, Construction duration estimating system (CODES), Control estimate generator (CEG), Computerized cost estimating system (CACES).
Scheduling for Cost-Plus Construction Projects, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 90/31 September 1990 Authors: Bill East: In cost-plus fixed fee contracts, the contractor is paid based on the actual costs incurred plus some graded incentive fee, rather than on a fixed bid. The larger the project, the more critical it becomes to ensure that the impact of all schedule changes be efficiently analyzed, so that the contractor can complete intermediate milestones as well as the entire project on time. Commercially available scheduling software does perform many of the necessary analyses, but cannot filter data in ways that are useful to schedule reviewers. In planning large projects, there is an acute need for supplemental software that can process scheduling data to make it immediately useful to schedule reviewers. The PROMAN (PROject MANagement) microcomputer-based schedule analysis software was developed by the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory to provide several tools to help evaluate progress of the construction project, to assess the impact of schedule changes upon the project, and to provide other assistance instruction schedule management. In this study, PROMAN was employed on a large cost-plus project undertaken by the Corps of Engineers in the construction of the National Test Facility (NTF) in Colorado Springs, CO. (KR)
A Knowledge-Engineering Approach to the Evaluation of Construction Schedules, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Lab, TR P-90/07 February 1990, Authors: Bill East, Jesus M. de la Garza: A deeper understanding is needed of how owners and contractors evaluate the quality and reasonableness of construction schedules. The research described in this report contributes to this understanding by articulating a subset of scheduling principles, thus enabling models of the construction schedule evaluation process to be created for subsequent automation. This research recommends that construction schedule criticism be assigned a high project management task priority. Recognizing the importance of this task may induce large, medium, and small firms to perform formal schedule criticism, which is now done by only a few large corporations. This report provides guidelines on performing schedule criticism. Another aspect of this research is the development of prototype applications systems. These prototypes show that knowledge-based systems technology offers programming techniques that facilitate the representation and manipulation of scheduling knowledge. The infrastructure of knowledge representation schemes provided by these prototype systems will be of value during future development of an operational system. Keywords: Construction scheduling, Knowledge based system.
Automated Cost and Scheduling for Military Construction, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 89/16 August 1989 Authors: Bill East, Amr Hassanein, John Melin, Niz-Jia Yau: This report presents the results of an investigation to determine the feasibility of producing trial design algorithms for building components. This work is part of a project to develop an automated, integrated cost and scheduling system. Two functional building systems were investigated: the reinforced concrete framing system and the sprinkler system. The components of each of these systems were studied, designers were interviewed, and trial design rules were elicited and analyzed. Results showed that designers use a general algorithm if they are required to design an element at the early feasibility stage of a project, especially when information about the project is lacking. This general algorithm was illustrated and analyzed, and when it was tested on an existing facility the results were satisfactory. Keywords: Construction; Cost estimates; Scheduling; Algorithms; Sprinklers; Reinforced concrete.
Using Project Management Systems at the Construction Field Office, U.S. Army, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 89/12 March 1989 Authors: Bill East, Jeffrey G Kirby: Automated construction scheduling is required for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction contracts over $500,000. Because of the more than 200 widely varied automated systems available, engineers at the construction field office (or resident office) are faced with the over-whelming task of choosing which software to purchase to help them analyze contractor schedules. To gain information to help with this decision, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (USACERL) talked with schedulers at field offices, served as scheduling consultants, and conducted comparisons of several systems to identify outstanding features and potential problems. The Project Management System (PMS) features that allow easy implementation include sophisticated user interfaces, simple report production and analysis, and ease in posting cost progress and defining constraints. Several systems allow data to be input from a floppy disk and provide a method of allocating resources. Potential problems that may occur while using the schedules (5- or 7-day workweeks), accepting system default dates, and out-of-sequence progress as the result of routine changes. Keywords: Microcomputers, Critical path methods.
Opportunities for Design Quality Improvement through Architect/Engineer (A/E) Liability Management, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, TR 88/13 September 1988 Authors: Bill East: This report identifies opportunities for improving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Architect/Engineer (A/E) Liability Program. To establish which areas need improvement, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (USA-CERL) surveyed the literature and analyzed the results in terms of applicability to USACE. Next, the A/E Liability Research Steering Committee was formed to provide feedback for the study. USA-CERL initially identified three general areas as having potential impact on the A/E Liability Program. These areas were presented to the steering committee, which focused these three categories into four specific areas of opportunity. (1) design synthesis, (2) design criteria, (3) pursuit of A/E liability cases, and (4) identification of negligence. Based on an analysis of these opportunities for improvement, this study recommends the following actions: (1) develop technical design quality assurance guidelines, (2) require that A/E firms develop quality control programs based on the complexity of particular projects, and (3) develop an automated system to train new employees in the application of A/E liability procedures.

Section 7.4 Publications - Trade/Press Articles 11

listed in reverse chronological order.

COBie - The Contractor's Requirements: BIM+, October 2017 Authors: Bill East
COBie - The Designer's Requirements: BIM+, September 2017 Authors: Bill East
COBie Bible Is Now Available: Architecture, BIM & Conceptual Design by Autodesk, Author: Emmanuel Di Giacomo
COBie - Getting Down to Basics: BIM+, September 2017 Authors: Bill East
COBie Developer Developes Open Source Improvements: BIM+, August 2017 Author: BIM+ Staff
Stop the Ride, I Want to Get Off! (P1) (P2) (P3): Three articles in a series, published in Automated Buildings, April 2015 Authors: Bill East, Ken Sinclair
Delivering Product Information: Journal of Building Information Modeling, National Institute of Building Sciences April 2010 Authors: Bill East
Delivering Usable Building Information: Public Works Digest, U.S. Army, 21(5) November 2009 Authors: Bill East
BIM for Construction Handover: Journal of Building Information Modeling (2007): 28-35. January 2007 Authors: Bill East, William (Bill) Brodt

Section 7.5 Publications - Conferences and Keynotes 20

Major events and presentations only. Listed in reverse chronological order.

Irish National BIM Innovation Awards, CiTA, Dublin, Ireland, November 9, 2016: Chair, international judging panel for the inaugural Irish National BIM Innovation Awards. Award Ceremony co-host.
Delivering Usable Building Information, CiTA, Dublin, Ireland, November 2015: This keynote address simply asked,"Why we are still talking about the need to capture the most basic information, information about scheduled products and equipment, when the technology needed to do so has been available to everyone on the planet since 1983?"
Key Performance Indicators for COBie Implementation, Campus Technology Facility Association, East Lansing, MI, August 2015: Current approaches to assess building information modeling technology implementation emphasize self- reporting surveys comparing against backward-facing criteria. In this presentation, the COBieScoreCard(SM) is presented for the first time. The COBieScoreCard(TM) identifies Key Performance Indicators that assess the readiness for adopting COBie and provide the step-by-step process and tools needed to change a company's culture, contracts, and technology beyond the first pilot project.
Accelerating BIM Research, CIB W078 Information Technology in Construction, Eindhoven, NL, November 2014: The objectives of this workshop were: Improve coordination between members of CIB and buildingSMART, Reduce new researcher start-up time by providing common repositories and references, Share common building information and tools to improve repeatability of research using building information. Also judged Netherlands first AEC Hackathon.
Overcoming Innovation Barriers - The COBie Example, BIC 2014, Lisbon, Portugal, October 2014: This keynote presentation outlines what is required to make the vision of life-cycle building information a reality. It turns out that the technology is the easy part. The presentation describes how this new approach let to defining the criteria to evaluate submissions for the upcoming US National BIM Standard version 3.
COBie for Designers, American Institute of Architects, November 2013: This presentation describes how an investment in COBie can result in reduced overhead costs and the delivery of an improved product for the owner. This presentation will also cover the requirements of the new Corps of Engineers’ Unified Facility Guide Specification 01 79 00 that requires the delivery of COBie on design-build and construction contracts starting October 2014.
Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) for Contractors, Associated Builders and Contractors, October 2013: This presentation describes how an investment in COBie can result in reduced overhead costs and the delivery of an improved product for the owner. This presentation will also cover the requirements of the new Corps of Engineers’ Unified Facility Guide Specification 01 79 00 that requires the delivery of COBie on design-build and construction contracts starting October 2014.
IFCs and COBie, Engineering News Record National Webinar, August 2013: Owners, designers, contractors, facility managers and vendors who have dreamed of working with interoperable data that accumulates through the lifecycle into an encyclopedia of facility knowledge, are achieving their goal. Many years of work to develop the Industry Foundation Class—a standard open format for tagging building architectural and structural component data—and similar labor to create the Construction Operations Building information exchange -- a system for tagging the locations of those components and many others, as well as their associated data, within building information models – are bearing fruit as software producing COBie files in either IFC and spreadsheet formats becomes increasingly common. The payoff is that information about facility assets and elements is captured once, and is accessible, searchable, shareable and updatable forever through any COBie-compliant interface. The industry is paying attention and projects leveraging COBie are quickly proliferating.
buildingSMART alliance January 2013 Challenge, National Institute of Building Sciences, January 2013: Information exchange standards developed by buildingSMART chapters are intended to streamline the delivery of building information through the life of capital projects. buildingSMART alliance Challenge events allow software companies to demonstrate their ability to meet these standards. Challenge criteria requires that software companies produce and or consume the required information exchanges consistent with both the format and content required to meet the stated business objective. An independent quality control process is also conducted to verify software claims. Software vendors are required to demonstrate their products and provide sufficient configuration information to allow users to repeat this process on their own projects. This page reports on the progress of software vendors to produce and consume open-standard building information as demonstrated at the 10 January 2013 bSa Challenge.
Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) Case Studies, National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C, December 2012: This one-day track focused on the experience of COBie early adopters.
"My Jerry McGuire Moment, and What I Did About it", 9th European Conference on Product and Process Modeling, Reykjavik, Iceland, July 2012: This keynote presentation described the need for the application of the objective, scientific method in the conduct of building informatics research.
COBie 2011 Challenge for CMMS/CAFM Software National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, D.C, December 2011: December 2011 COBie Challenge event to evaluate the consumption of COBie data by Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Computerized Asset and Facility Management (CAFM) system.
Accelerating BIM Research, CIB W078 Information Technology in Construction, Orlando, FL October 2011: The objectives of this workshop were: Improve coordination between members of CIB and buildingSMART, Reduce new researcher start-up time by providing common repositories and references, Share common building information and tools to improve repeatability of research using building information.
Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) Case Studies, Construction Owners Association of America, Baltimore, MD, May 2011: The Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) in conjunction with the buildingSMART alliance, and the Engineer Research and Development Center are engaged in a program of case studies on real projects to provide that proof. Case studies identified below are required to (1) map current design and construction processes targeted for waste reduction, (2) design and specify the improved process based using COBie, (3) predict the expected impact of these changes, and (4) follow these changes through an entire project to determine the actual impacts achieved. Because all information from these case studies will be publicly published in a clear, consistent, and rigorous format those considering eliminating wasteful exchange of document-based deliverables will have a road map to follow and adapt to their own businesses.
March 2011 COBie Help Desk, National Facility Maintenance and Technologies Tradeshow, Baltimore, MD, March 2011: This page provides access to presentations delivered during the March 2011 COBie event held in conjunction with the National Facility Maintenance and Technologies (NFM&T) trade show. This event was called a "COBie HelpDesk" since the objective is to provide more concrete examples and direct assistance to audience members working to implement COBie-based processes on their own projects.
March 2010 COBie Challenge, National Facility Maintenance and Technology Tradeshow, Baltimore, MD, March 2010: The March 2010 Challenge differs from the three previous COBie events because the nature of the discussion about COBie has begun to change. Previous COBie events focused on the ability of software companies to produce COBie compatible building information deliverables. Now that this ability of software to produce and/or consume COBie information has been well established, the March 2010 Challenge focused on the flow of information from start of a project to the operations and management.
Plenary Speaker, Construction Industry Institute, Annual Conference, August 2010: "The Benefits of Collaborative Platforms"
COBie: Case Studies and Innovations, National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, DC, December 2010: The presentations in this session not only identified several projects where COBie is being used, but also identified how companies are using COBie as a strategic tool to transform their businesses from document- centric to information-centric basis.
Accelerating BIM Research Workshop, CIB W078 Information Technology in Construction. Nice, France, November 2010: The objectives of this workshop were: Improve coordination between members of CIB and buildingSMART, Reduce new researcher start-up time by providing common repositories and references, Share common building information and tools to improve repeatability of research using building information.
The COBie2 Challenge, National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington, DC, December 2009: The Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie2) format facilitates the delivery of building information during planning, design, construction, and commissioning for delivery to facility owners and operators. The COBie2 format is an internationally harmonized version of the original COBie format. The 2009 AEC-EcoBuild Conference was the venue for the demonstration of software systems' compliance with COBie2.
The COBIE Challenge, National Facility Maintenance and Technology Tradeshow, Baltimore, MD, March 2009: The Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange (COBIE) format facilitates the delivery of building information during planning, design, construction, and commissioning for delivery to facility owners and operators. The National Facilities Maintenance and Technology Trade Show held in March 2009 was the site of the 2nd demonstration of software systems' compliance with COBIE. Three new vendors, ArchiCAD, TOKMO, and MicroMain participated in the challenge. For two of the vendors, Onuma Planning System, and TMA Systems, it was their second COBIE Challenge. The Challenge was held during the July 2008 BIM Information Exchange Demonstration.
BIM Information Exchange Demonstration, National Acadmy of Science, Washington, DC, July 2008.: The main purpose of this meeting was to demonstrate the results of an emerging requirements-based process that allows subject matter experts define contracted information exchanges. These contracted information exchanges are draft construction specifications that specifically define “who” is responsible to provide “what” data “when” during the project. The buildingSMART Alliance team including all stakeholders have taken these requirements and answered the “how” question through the use of an open standards (the Industry Foundation Class Model) and widely used computer information formats such as spreadsheets.

Section 7.6 Publications - Books and Book Chapters 7

Listed in reverse chronological order.

Delivering Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) in Autodesk Revit, Prairie Sky Consulting, 2017, ISBN: 978-1-387-20091-7. Authors: E William East, O'Keeffe Shawn, Kenna Richard, Hooper Emma: Written by the inventor of COBie from the United States, BIM Technologists from England and Ireland, and MEP Engineers from Ireland. This book includes 151 pages with 125 figures and tables to show you how to transform what you already deliver - on every building project no matter how big or small - into a COBie deliverable. What did our reviewers say? "…an unparalleled guide, deliver COBie on any building, as easily as possible.” David Light, Autodesk Senior Customer Success Manager “…for new or experienced Revit to ensure successful COBie deliverable.” TJ Mehan, Revit Development Manager and Consultant, CADD MicroSystems “…delivers real-word insight… an essential read.” David Philp, Global BIM Director, AECOM “…benefits designers and owners… to implement COBie without this book would be folly.” Dana K. Smith, FAIA
Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) Quality Control, Prairie Sky Consulting, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-365-41018-5. Authors: E William East, Chris Bogen.: Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) Quality Control” shows you how to check - and fix - COBie data during design and construction. COBie File requirements for .xlsx and .ifc formats both are covered in this book. Learn to: - Install and use free COBie QC software (on PC and Mac) - Customize checks for client-specific requirements - Develop COBie batch files to streamline high-quality exports - Demonstrate the quality of your COBie files - Clearly explain the requirements for COBie - Justify decisions about COBie content included, and not included - Communicate COBie requirements with stakeholders and owners Written by the inventor of COBie, Bill East, and his programming partner, Chris Bogen, this book provides 75 large-format figure sand 34 sets of step-by-step instructions to help you download, install, configure, use, and customize the leading free and open-source COBie QC software available today.
Delivering Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) in GRAPHISOFT ARCHICAD, Prairie Sky Consulting, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-365-26840-3. Authors: E William East, Rob Jackson.: This book explains how to deliver and check quality COBie data during design. Readers will learn where to create ARCHICAD templates to streamline COBie production and coordinate the work of multiple designers. Improved understanding of COBie in ARCHICAD will allow readers to: - Provide COBie as an extension of existing design practice - Develop COBie templates to streamline high-quality exports - Respond to alternative client COBie requirements - Demonstrate the quality of your COBie files - Clearly explain the requirements for COBie - Justify decisions about COBie content included, and not included - Communicate COBie requirements with consultants The authors are the inventor of COBie, Bill East, and the world-known ARCHICAD expert and COBie enthusiast, Robert Jackson. The authors developed simulated contract drawings, models, and export files for a small college dormitory. Readers can download these files, free-of-charge, and compare their work with the examples provided.
Critical Path Method Tutor for Construction Planning and Scheduling, McGraw-Hill Education 2015, ISBN: 978-0071849234. Author: E William East: Critical Path Method (CPM) Tutor for Construction Planning and Scheduling explains the practical application of the CPM and guides you through each step of the process―from planning and communication to deciding payment and/or claims. The book focuses on the Arrow Diagram Method and the Precedence Diagram Method, the two most widely used scheduling methods. A sample project for planning a mid-rise building applies the concepts presented in the book. Hands-on exercises and discussions illustrate how to create schedules from activity lists. The effective and consistent use of the techniques introduced in this detailed guide will allow you to: Reduce progress payment disputes and speed progress payment, Plan resources for maximum productivity, Predict owner-caused and weather delays, Develop “get well” plans for projects that fall behind, Correctly update progress, including out-of-sequence activities, Meet contracts requiring CPM schedules, Evaluate change and claim impacts; develop admissible documentation.
Chapter 7, "Case-Study Interview with Bill East" in Data-Driven Design and Construction, Wiley and Sons, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-118-89870-3.: “In this comprehensive book, Professor Randy Deutsch has unlocked and laid bare the twenty-first century codice nascosto of architecture. It is data. Big data. Data as driver. . .This book offers us the chance to become informed and knowledgeable pursuers of data and the opportunities it offers to making architecture a wonderful, useful, and smart art form.
Chapter 5, "Using COBie" in BIM for Facility Managers, Wiley, International Facility Management Association, 2013, ISBN: 978-1118382813.: BIM for Facility Managers explains how BIM can be linked to facility management (FM) systems to achieve very significant life-cycle advantages. It presents guidelines for using BIM in FM that have been developed by public and private owners such as the GSA. There is an extensive discussion of the legal and contractual issues involved in BIM/FM integration. It describes how COBie can be used to name, capture, and communicate FM-related data to downstream systems. There is also extensive discussion of commercial software tools that can be used to facilitate this integration.
A Guide to Computerized Project Scheduling, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990, ISBN: 9780442238025. Authors: Bill East, Jeff Kirby: A review of the computerization of the Critical Path Method (CPM) algorithm at the start of the Personal Computer Revolution.

Section 8.1 - Projects and Products (in private pratice) 6

Listed in reverse chronological order.

Lean Handover™ Consultancy, 2015 - Present: Supporting project teams on signature projects to develop and implement strategies supporting the collection of construction handover information through the construction administration process. Integrating all contractors and subcontractors in this process allows teams to create real-time as-built information available throughout the project. Eliminating end-of-project site surveys and significant waste related to the traditional process of construction handover.
COBie Implementation Support, 2015 - Present: Supporting national and provincial governmental agencies develop requirements for performance-based delivery of building information. This is accomplished through application of the COBie ScoreCard™ methodology ensuring progress along the dimensions of People, Partners, Stakeholders, Process, and Technology can be objectively measured against organizational cost and performance goals.
East Dormitory Project, 2015 - Present: An international team has come together to simulate the design and handover of a small dormitory project. The resulting files, provided in native and open standard formats, are provided through Creative Commons Licenses to assist in the software testing for COBie compliance and for design process integration. This project won the National UK BIM Project of the Year award in 2016, recieved received an honorable mention by the buildingSMART international in 2017, and is the basis for COBie books ARCHICAD and Revit.
Infrastructure Network Information Exchange, 2016 Present: Supported a national government team to evaluate the requirements for and and current internationally recognized information standards used to support the operations and maintenance of national infrastructure grids.
COBieQCReporter & COBiePlugin, 2014 - Present: Objective testing is what separates a requirement for BIM from the actual delivery of useful building information. Prairie Sky Consulting develops and regularly updates tools for testing software that claims to delivery COBie data. These tools are provided free of charge to everyone, everwhere for the purpose of advancing the delivery of contracted information exchanges.
Quality Management Survey - Software Testing, 2015: Conducted a review of user satisfaction with United States government design review systems, policies, and procedures. Recommendations included implementation of continuous feedback processes that assess system performance.

Section 8.2 - Projects and Products (in public pratice) 8

Selected nationally-implmented/awarded projects. Listed in reverse chronological order.

Domain-Independent Framework for Facility Control, 2012 - 2014, with Chris Bogen: The purpose of our built environment is to provide spaces in which human-designed activities may comfortably occur. An ever-increasing set of technical disciplines, economics, and societal norms place dynamic requirements on those who plan, design, construct, maintain, operate and manage our built environment. To address these concerns Dr. Bogen and I have created a domain-independent framework to capture design requirements and then compare those requirements to the actual performance of a facility is presented. This framework is based on the information exchange standards for building systems, discussed below, and the Building Programming information exchange (BPie) and the Building Automation Management information exchange (BAMie) specifications. BPie provides the expected patterns of resource use within a facility. The building system standards deliver the way to get feedback from the building about the actual patterns of use. With the addition of an OBiX-based data server and a data clustering algorithm we have developed a platform that can identify and adapt to changes in building performance that is independent of any specific domain
Defining the COBie Business Case, 2013 - 2014, with Kristine Fallon, Chris Bogen: During course of several projects related to building information modeling there would always be one person in every room who asked the question "What is the business case for COBie?" To answer that question a value-added analysis was conducted based on the definition of over twenty specific exchanges of COBie-based information that occur during the life of a project.
Testing Information Exchange Standards, 2012 - 2014, with Chris Bogen: Consider what would happen at the construction trailer or owner's office if someone dropped of a BIM model and a staff member was told to "check it." Well, this is exactly what happens every day and most people are completely unprepared as to how to proceed. One of the hallmarks of anything that calls itself a "standard" should be the ability to independently verify the performance of a submission against a standard. An open-source engine to transform and check files of any size for compliance with COBie requirements has been developed. This engine has been used since 2012 as part of the buildingSMART alliance COBie-challenge.
Information Exchange Standards for Building Systems, 2012 - 2014, with Rob Hitchcock, Kristine Fallon, Nick Nisbet, Chris Bogen: The delivery of as-built information to facility managers requires not only the set of information about managed assets, found in COBie, but also information about (a) the assemblies of those products and (b) the connections between each of these components and assemblies. Assemblies are complex equipment that have sub-components requiring different maintenance schedules, such as chillers, or products that are engineered to order, such as electrical distribution panels. Connections among components and assemblies occur through flow transport elements such as pipes, ducts, and wires. Projects were undertaken to create information exchange standards for HVAC, Electrical, and Water System designs. These projects are called the HVACie, Sparkie, and Water System information exchange (WSie). As of January 2013 each specification is under consideration for inclusion in the United States National Building Information Modeling Standard (NBIMS-US V3)
Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie), 2007 - 2014, with Bill Brodt, Nick Nisbet, Chris Bogen.: In late 2006 my colleague, Bill Brodt at NASA, asked me to see if there was a way to streamline the delivery construction handover information. Within eight months I designed the Construction-Operations Building information exchange (COBie) specification. In July 2008 software vendors came to the National Academies of Engineering and demonstrated, for the first time, the delivery of information- based construction handover information. Today, over 30 software programs have implemented COBie. The COBie specification is key part of the United States National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS-US). In 2012 Dr. Chris Bogen and I have developed the COBie Tool Kit which is the open-source tool used to check COBie submittals. Chris has also been instrumental in mapping COBie data into IFC, SpreadsheeetML, and a NIEM-compliant XML Schema COBieLite. A key contribution of the COBieLite schema are sub-schema used to deliver transactional updates to a COBie data set, via web-services or other methods, without needing to exchange an entire building model.
Project Extranet (ProjNet), 2006 - 2014, with ProjNet Team.: In today's parlance ProjNet is a secure, cloud-based service supporting the design and construction industry. As of 2014 there were over 100,000 registered ProjNet users world-wide. ProjNet facilitates contractually required communications across and among all contracting and consulting tiers. If one makes a mental Venn diagram of all such contracting and organizational relationships on a given project, ProjNet supports exchanges across the intersections of these organizations. ProjNet's design objective is to quickly assist users to do what is needed without getting in the way.
Design Review and Checking System (DrChecks), 1991 - 2014, with Dana Kowalski, Gary House: DrChecks is a web-based project collaboration tool supporting the identification, evaluation, and resolution of issues. It is the original and most widely used of the ProjNet suite. The original plan was to develop a tool to decrease repetitive deficiencies through improved design review. The improvement would occur through (a) a more rapid update to underlying standards and specifications and (b) the capture and application of lessons learned like the issues that a reviewer may have already found. If new items were suggested, the item would automatically be routed to the designated domain expert (typically a spec writer) who would determine (a) if the spec should be updated or (b) if the item related to location- or customer-specific criteria not typically included in general contract language. To access these location- or customer-specific criteria one could search or have related topics suggested by the program. The approach was similar to that which is used by Tivo, "if you like this movie, you may also like this movie." The assumption was that repetitive deficiencies may be correlated. While this idea continues to be very appealing, for obvious reasons, the change management effort required to seamlessly capture, use, and permanently resolve repetitive deficiencies has proven beyond the capabilities of any DrChecks user to fully implement. At most the discussion of this topic has caused some to consider modifications to their manual single "stovepipe" approaches.
Standard Data Exchange Format, 1989 to 2014, with Stan Green: I created and lead the project which lead to the Standard Data Exchange Format (SDEF) for Critical Path Method scheduling. This data format, developed with direct participation by the leading scheduling software of that time, continues to allow owners to receive non-proprietary CPM scheduling information. The associated Unified Facility Guide Specification provides quality standards for the delivery of construction scheduling information. SDEF is mandated in virtually all Corps of Engineers projects and is a cornerstone of the Corps' Resident Management System.

Section 9 - Personal 3

Listed in order of importance.

Math and Literacy Tutor (2019-present), Project READ: Assisting English as Second Language Learners and students working toward High-School Equivalency reach their goals in basic math and English language literacy.
Engineer Mentor (2015-6), Engineer In The Classroom: An annual competition for 10 year old students to learn about engineering while building a 1 cubic meter Rube-Goldberg style-machine.
Member (2010-present), American Civil Liberties Union: For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

about > Cirriculum Vitae

E. William (Bill) East, PhD, PE, F. ASCE

Section 1. Summary

Section 2. Experience 6

Section 3. Education 4

Section 4. Professional Licenses 1

Section 5. International/National Recognition 12

Section 6. Professional Service 10

Section 7.1 Publications - Peer-Reviewed Journals 18 total. 10 as first author.

Section 7.2 Publications - Peer Reviewed Proceedings 16

Section 7.3 Publications - Technical Reports 30

Section 7.4 Publications - Trade/Press Articles 11

Section 7.5 Publications - Conferences and Keynotes 20

Section 7.6 Publications - Books and Book Chapters 7

Section 8.1 - Projects and Products (in private pratice) 6

Section 8.2 - Projects and Products (in public pratice) 8

Section 9 - Personal 3