CI-PM Project Homepage
Information, as long as it
is well structured, accessible and up-to-date, is a company's most valuable
asset. The advent of computer systems has allowed companies to control
information electronically, especially in areas such as accounting and
administration. However, engineering information has still tended to be
produced and exchanged as paper documents - especially in the construction
sector. The growth of computer aided design has resulted in increasing exchange
of drawings in digital format, existing data exchange formats are thus centred
on graphical information. However, radically changes in the domain of
engineering information exchange are being created by the development of an
international standard (ISO 10303 - colloquially known as STEP) based on the
use of "product models" to hold comprehensive engineering information
about the artefact through its life-cycle.
The CI-PM project has research
the technology and techniques needed to develop product models, including the
evaluation of both product model development and data exchange implementation
tools. The project STEP toolkit evaluation report (CIPM/LU/TP7) has been widely
circulated both within the UK and internationally.
The CI-PM study
concentrated on the first phase of product model development - activity
modelling - and developed a generic activity model for the design and
construction of structural building frames. This model has been specialised to
create an activity model for steelwork and the resulting model has become part
of the development of ISO/STEP standard Application Protocol 230 for structural
steelwork frameworks - likely to be the first STEP standard for construction concerning
engineering information. The generic activity model itself is under
consideration by the STEP Building and Construction sub-group as a basis for
developing an activity model for all future "Application Protocols"
in that sector.
The work of the CI-PM has
contributed to the identification by STEP of the additional information
exchange and sharing requirements of the project-centred Large Scale
Engineering industries (which are playing an increasingly influential role in
the future evolution of the standard). Inputs from the CI-PM project have
contributed to the definition of a common framework for future STEP Building
and Construction Application Protocols (WG3/T12/AEC N315), and have also
contributed significantly to the development of a Architecture and Methodology
Reference Manual (to be STEP Part 13).
Project
Publications and Outputs
Last updated 16th November
1995