The current common practice to support collaboration in building industry is based on electronic document exchange systems. Such systems are unaware of the contents of the documents and collaboration is only limited to exchange level. A higher level of collaboration can be achieved through using neutral data formats which is also still limited to exchange level. Sharing and exchanging design information in the aforementioned methods is not sufficient to support real-time collaboration.

The paper describes the logical structure of a product model developed to support collaboration. The product model was used as a part of a real-time collaborative building design system for multi-storey steel structure to facilitate collaboration among distributed designers. The model is a high-level representation of the domain knowledge which not only supports the integration of the engineering data but also integrates the design process and facilitates multi-user interaction.

The product model was based on a previous work [2]. The original model was developed to integrate the design process. It has been chosen as the starting point for developing this collaboration-aware product model.

The implemented product model has a clear hierarchical structure. The classes in this model can be divided into two categories. The first category is related to the data representation of the engineering design and the second to the management of the collaboration process.

The model also provides two important features needed to provide product model data management. These are access rights (i.e. read, write, delete privileges) and revision control mechanisms. Access control allows data protection from unauthorised users and the revision control provides the ability to return to any earlier state of the design.

The paper asserts that collaborative distributed design system must be underpinned by a dedicated product model to support collaboration.

1

Anumba C.J., Ugwu O.O., Newnham L., Thorpe A., "Collaborative design of structures using intelligent agents", Automation in Construction, v. 11, p. 89-103, 2002. doi:10.1016/S0926-5805(01)00055-3

2

Tizani W., Smith R.A., "Incremental Virtual Prototyping as an IT tool for CE projects", 4th Joint Symposium on Information Technology in Civil Engineering, Nashville, ASCE and EG-ICE. November 2003. doi:10.1061/40704(2003)21

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