Machine Learning is Reducing Risk on Construction Projects

Autodesk BIM 360 Construction IQ, tested over the last three years, is resulting in improved quality and reduced safety issues for construction contractors

BAM Ireland reviewing models in BIM 360.
BAM Ireland reviewing models in BIM 360.
BAM Ireland

With construction projects growing in complexity, teams are constantly challenged to find ways to minimize risk to people and projects, as well as to improve quality. Industry-wide digitization and growing use of mobile devices on jobsites means we’re generating unprecedented amounts of data, but the question remains: what do we do with it?

Construction IQ simplifies project oversight by analyzing your data and applying intelligence to surface the high-risk subcontractors or delays that need attention today.Construction IQ simplifies project oversight by analyzing your data and applying intelligence to surface the high-risk subcontractors or delays that need attention today.Autodesk is helping contractors capitalize on this data opportunity with a new set of capabilities on its Autodesk BIM 360 construction management platform that provides relevant and actionable data insights to project teams in the field, every day.

To improve project outcomes, increase margins, and most importantly to help to keep people safer, we are pleased to share the preview release of Construction IQ, a machine learning and AI-based capability that analyzes the quality and safety data of a customer’s projects using BIM 360. 

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Turning Data into Intelligence

As the foundational layer of the BIM 360’s prediction and analytics capabilities, Construction IQ is machine learning-based analytics that moves beyond the traditional concept of static data and takes prediction to the next level with assistive, action-based intelligence. Woven across the BIM 360 construction management platform, Construction IQ sifts through data points from issues, observations, checklists, subcontractor assignments, related metadata, and historical data to help analyze, identify and prioritize risk factors each day. It also provides broad insights into company-wide performance across projects.

Over the last three years, Construction IQ (previously piloted as Project IQ) models have learned from over 150 million construction issues and checklist observations across nearly 30,000 real projects to develop its algorithms, which analyze quality and safety risk.

When Autodesk talks about supporting a safer, simpler and smarter construction process with the support of technology, this is what we mean.

BAM Ireland (BAM) is a large general contractor and civil engineering firm based in Ireland and part of the global Royal BAM Group. With Construction IQ, they’ve seen improved oversight across multiple complex projects with no extra effort. Through the BIM 360 construction management platform, BAM was able to break down traditional construction data silos to automatically identify and understand high risk items using machine learning.

The result? “We saw a 20% reduction in quality and safety issues on projects,” said Michael Murphy, Digital Construction Operations Manager, BAM Ireland. “Consequently, our staff was able to spend 25% more time focusing on the high-risk issues for both quality and safety."

Enhanced analytics

We’re also introducing new BIM 360 capabilities that provide users with improved access to project data – partner cards, an interactive project design card, and easy customization of Project Home and all Dashboards. These features add to existing BIM 360 capabilities built to deliver actionable information to teams in the field and office through easy-to-use tools that synthesize real-time data across project functions:

BIM 360 Project Home aggregates all project data into a single view showing personalized dashboard cards including daily action items, an interactive project model, partner data such as site cameras and schedules, and high-risk items identified by Construction IQ.BIM 360 Project Home aggregates all project data into a single view showing personalized dashboard cards including daily action items, an interactive project model, partner data such as site cameras and schedules, and high-risk items identified by Construction IQ.

Project Home – A personalized home page that presents a real-time snapshot of “to do” items and may be customized to include interactive access to views of drawings and models, partner data, and daily risk analysis identified by Construction IQ.

Project Dashboards – Curated, summary-level views of quality, safety and project controls data to surface project trends over time. You can drag and drop cards from a growing card library including, quality and safety checklists and issues, design packages, RFIs and submittals.

Partner Cards – Data from integration partner applications populates in Project Home and dashboards in BIM 360, providing a holistic view of project data and key activity or status updates. You can now display data that you need from applications like site and 360-degree cameras, virtual reality, scheduling, and business intelligence tools to keep all your project information front and center.

Reports – Summary and detail-level reports that can be easily shared with any project stakeholder to keep the team accountable and up-to-date, while preventing and managing risk to avoid costly mistakes.

Availability

Construction IQ for quality and safety risk analysis is now available as a free preview release to current BIM 360 Build subscription customers. Project Home, dashboards, reports, and partner cards are improvements to the BIM 360 features and are available to all current BIM 360 subscription customers. Click here to learn more about prediction and analytics capabilities in BIM 360. 

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