Process Integration Platform (PIP)
is available at:
http://www.cafecollab.com
Register and send Reid Senescu an e-mail at rsenescu@stanford.edu
PIP requires Mozilla Firefox Version 3.5 or higher. Download Firefox at
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
The following paper describes PIP in more detail. It has been published at
the Modelling and Management of Engineering Processes Conference, July
19-20, 2010 in Cambridge, England.
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R.R. Senescu, J.R. Haymaker, and D.J. Anderson
Chapter 1
PIP: a process communication web tool
R.R. Senescu1, J.R. Haymaker, and D.J. Anderson
1.1 Need for process-based communication tools
The Process Integration Platform2 (PIP) is a process-based information
communication web tool. In PIP, design teams exchange digital informatoin by
organizing files according to information dependencies as opposed to folder
hierarchies. Organizational Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Process
Modeling research fields point to this need for a process-based information
communication environment. From this research, the authors conclude that the
environment should be computable, distributed, embedded, modular, personalized,
scalable, shared, social, transparent, and usable (Senescu and Haymaker, 2009).
The first author collected additional evidence for the need of such an environment
through professional experience addressing three challenges on a university
building design project (Senescu and Haymaker, 2008).
In the first challenge, mechanical engineers had to decide how to assign
multiple heating/cooling technologies to various building zones. Predicting how
heating/cooling options perform with respect to multiple goals required the design
team to synthesize information from multiple tools. Comprehending these complex
decisions is frequently difficult just within mechanical engineering, but the
decisions also impact and are impacted by other disciplines. The owners and
designers were not able to systematically consider the complex impacts of one
decision on multiple disciplines. Design teams also struggled to maintain
consistency between files. Design teams struggled to comprehend and manage their
information dependencies; they struggled to collaborate within the project team.
1
For correspondence, please e-mail rsenescu@stanford.edu.
David Anderson implemented PIP in Ruby on Rails 2.3.2 using MySQL 5.0
running on a Mongrel web application server. PIP's interface is rendered using
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an XML-based language for describing graphics
on web browsers. Within Mozilla Firefox, visit PIP at http://processes.stanford.edu.
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PIP: A process communication web tool
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In a second case, university stakeholders communicated the importance of
material responsibility when choosing structural systems. The structural engineer
created schematic structural models of steel and concrete options. Despite a 3d
object oriented model and a database of the environmental impacts of materials, the
structural engineer was unable to find a process for conducting an environmental
impact analysis. However, researchers in California and engineers from the same
company in Australia had already successfully performed this process (Tobias and
Haymaker, 2007). In this case, teams struggled to share processes across projects.
To inform the design of the louvers on the university building, daylighting
consultants created video simulations of sunlight moving across a space. The
consultants used the architect’s building information model. However, the process
for utilizing the model in the daylighting simulation was inefficient. Yet, no one
developed an improved process. Individual consultants are not incentivized to
invest time in process improvement. Their tools do not track their process (and the
resulting inefficiency), foster a community to improve the process, nor provide
transparent access to other processes on which to make improvements. Managers
lack a method for understanding process across the firm/industry and therefore, a
monetary justification for encouraging development of alternatives.
1.2 The PIP user experience
The mechanical engineering team on the university building project could have
used PIP to collaborate around their digital files. After logging in, the user sees
two personalized home page windows: a hierarchy view on the left third of the
screen and a graph view on the right two thirds (Figure 1.1). In this case, the
mechanical engineer wants to use a Revit Architecture model and a Daysim
daylighting analysis as input to an energy analysis. The engineer navigates through
folder hierarchies to the appropriate process level (via the hierarchy or graph view)
of the architecture and daylighting models. He double clicks on each file to open it
on his desktop. He imports the Revit model into his energy analysis tool. Looking
at the daylighting analysis results, he manually enters the energy required for
artificial lighting into the energy analysis tool. After completing the energy
analysis, he double clicks in the graph view to create a node and uploads the
energy analysis file to that node. As he used the architecture model and daylighting
analysis as input to the energy analysis, he also draws arrows from those two nodes
to the new energy analysis node to represent this dependency. Now that the energy
analysis is complete, he uses the results to create a decision matrix in Microsoft
Excel. He uploads the Excel file to a new node and draws an arrow to it. If anyone
then uploads a new energy analysis file, the decision matrix file is no longer up-todate (red highlight), because it was created based on an out dated energy analysis
file. Using PIP makes the mechanical design process transparent to the entire
project team, so they can comprehend information relationships, consider tradeoffs,
and make related information consistent.
In addition to facilitating collaboration, other teams can also share design
processes with the structural engineer on the university building project allowing
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R.R. Senescu, J.R. Haymaker, and D.J. Anderson
Figure 1.1. Navigate to the appropriate process level via the hierarchy view (left) or by
double clicking folder icons (right). Users create nodes, upload files to those nodes, and
draw arrows to show relationships between the nodes. Green highlights indicate the node is
up-to-date, and red indicates an upstream file has changed since the node was uploaded.
calculation of the environmental impact of materials. The structural engineer
searches for a process where the team started with input “arch .ifc” to denote an
architecture model with a Industry Foundation Class file format and output “LCA,”
life cycle assessment (Figure 1.2). The results display three projects and the
engineer browses to find the most relevant process. The engineer can copy the
process as a planning template to his new project and then populate the template
with new project-specific files.
With PIP, consultants and their managers better understand their processes, so
they can identify popular inefficient processes and invest in improvement. Also,
PIP offers a process-centric discussion forum for users to discuss and rate
processes (Figure 1.3). This community provides the opportunity to discuss where
the firm should invest in improvement. Though not yet implemented, a community
of daylighting consultants could decide to program a script to extract information
from a Revit file and convert it to a format that would be interoperable with the
daylighting analysis software. The consultants could then save that program in PIP
and drive information flows via PIP. Thus, the tool provides a platform for step-bystep development and distribution of modular interoperability solutions.
1.3 Conclusion
PIP promotes collaboration by making information relationships transparent, so
entire teams can better consider multi-disciplinary decision tradeoffs. PIP permits
process knowledge sharing with minimal process documentation effort and little
management. Finally, PIP provides a platform for firms and industries to
understand their processes and invest and distribute process improvements, such as
software interoperability solutions.
The 32 students on eight project teams in Stanford University’s
Multidisciplinary Modeling and Analysis class used PIP on their three month
PIP: A process communication web tool
5
student design projects. During the quarter, they uploaded 1222 files, downloaded
files 1939 times and drew arrows 2057 times. Future work will examine whether
students and professionals design more efficiently and effectively with PIP.
1.4 References
Senescu RR, Haymaker JR (2008) Requirements for a process integration platform. Social
Intelligence Design Workshop, December 3-5, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Senescu RR, Haymaker JR (2009) Specifications for a social and technical environment for
improving design process communication. In: Dikbas A, Giritli FH (eds.) 26th
International Conference, Managing IT in Construction. October 1-3, Istanbul, Turkey
Tobias J, Haymaker J (2007) A model-based LCA process on Stanford University’s Green
Dorm. International Life Cycle Assessment and Management Conference. October 2-4,
Portland, Oregon
Figure 1.2. Users search information dependency paths to find processes with the input
available and the output desired. Users can then copy processes to new projects.
Figure 1.3. PIP tracks some process metrics automatically, so users can evaluate the most
popular and time consuming processes. Discussion threads are associated with each node
(files and folders), so project teams can discuss individual files or entire processes.