ISO19650 naming standards & Autodesk construction cloud

With the increasing globalization, the Construction industry is becoming more complex and dynamic. It connects diverse stakeholders who are involved at different stages of the project. These projects run for a longer duration making it impossible to keep the information organized and available to all.

Information management that is the collection and distribution of information to different sources in the right order, in such a complex process is fundamental. In recent times where the construction industry has taken a shift from the traditional method of working to the digital platform (Building Information Modeling), information management has also taken a shift.

Standardization of formats for the collection and distribution of data amongst the stakeholders on the digital platform is stated in the concept itself, the Building Information Modelling (BIM).

In all of the above emphasis on information management, there is another fundamental aspect within it, the Naming Standards of documents.

Importance of Naming Standards

The information (drawings, reports, forms, bills, legal documents, etc.) is collected in different tools and formats which makes it unorganized and siloed. To organize and deliver a standard information documenting format, the ISO 19650 standards, supported by the BSI (British Standard Institution) talks about the naming convention of documents.

Documenting information in the right order is essential. While working on large-scale projects over a longer period where hundreds of drawings and documents are collected, naming the documents in a manner where the search becomes easy and time-efficient is critical.

ISO 19650 defines a set of rules where drawings should follow the attribute-based detailed naming format. The format includes the name of the project and organization, location, system-level, type, role, suitability, revision, etc. Through this system, the process of identifying accurate documents with updated status becomes less time-consuming and easy.

Autodesk Construction Cloud adopting ISO 19650 naming standards

Autodesk Construction cloud (ACC), a cloud-based tool, used from the design to the construction stage of the project, has recently adopted ISO 19650 Naming standards feature.

Here in Autodesk Docs, the document management is done on a single source of truth (Common Data Environment) for all the stakeholders involved in the project. The access to information from different folders is controlled with the help of permission level settings.

The new naming feature in ACC helps the project admins to set a standard format for all the project members to upload and read the documents in the assigned folder.

Applying naming standards

To control the formatting and standardization process in a project, only the project admins can define the rules.

In the Autodesk Docs files section, selecting naming standards for the first time will initially set the default ISO 19650 naming standards.

The default naming standards follow the default document attributes defined in ACC. These attributes are organized in the order that gives the preview of the format that will be followed in the project.

The default system can then be customized by the project admin according to the project or organizational standards. These rules should be defined at the beginning of the project itself as once the naming standards are applied to any folder and the information is shared in it, the rules cannot be customized then.

Customizing Naming Standards

While customizing the naming standards, attributes can be reordered or new attributes can also be added according to the need and complexity of the project. These attributes are controlled by the character type and range, either it is just alphabets, numeric, or it is alphanumeric characters with a range limit, for example – defining a residential project name as an attribute with alphanumeric type and with the range of two to four characters, R001 (R###) will be the naming convention.

Attributes Complying with ISO 19650

The attributes setting in ACC comply with the ISO 19650 set of standards. The attributes in the by-default applied naming convention include the detailed expansion too. For instance, when we add location as an attribute, the location value and its description adopted by the ISO 19650 are available with ACC as well. This detail provided by Autodesk Construction Cloud aids in saving time of referring and conforming to the original standards.

The information type and values in the attributes can be added, deleted, and modified according to the project requirements by the project admins. Only the project admins have full information settings control according to which all the stakeholders in the project perform.

When working on a complex project which runs for a longer duration there will be a lot of changes or updates in the design and while working on a common data environment, information about these changes should be updated parallel in the cloud.
In ACC, one can also add a status (suitability of the document) and revision code to the naming convention set out by ISO 19650. These codes will keep the user informed and make it easy for the user to filter files more efficiently.

Eliminating errors with holding area

Manual entry of information in the file name can lead to errors. Any wrong information uploaded in the folder might lead to a delay in delivering a successful project. To overcome the chances of any mistake and to maintain the standard leaving no scope of any error, Autodesk Construction Cloud comes with the feature of Holding Area while setting the naming standards of the project.

Here the pre-defined attribute settings and constraints when used while adopting the naming standards allow the project admin to hold the file in the holding area with the wrong naming convention. A holding area is a place where the incorrectly named file can be kept till the time it is corrected. Once the file name matches the set rules it can then be added to the folder by the project admin and will be ready for other project members to refer to.

Autodesk Construction Cloud has therefore adopted the ISO 19650 defined naming standards where all the documents (information) of the project are stored in an organized and controlled folder structure. When the naming convention is applied to a folder, the progress tracking and status update of the data for different stakeholders placed at different geographical locations at any point of time becomes accessible.

Therefore the naming standards not only help in organizing the data but also helps in keeping the track of the project progress.