Developing a strategy for tackling computational design can be quite the challenge. At BuroHappold Engineering, we strongly believe that every engineer has a contribution to make to computational design—not just the few with a deep understanding of coding. We’ve developed a global strategy based on this concept, and would like to share the outcomes and challenges that we faced along the way. During this session, we’ll review how we teach Dynamo to our engineers, via our robust Dynamo training program. We’ll also review ways to ingrain computational design in a company culture through hackathons and mentoring. Finally, we’ll review ways to organize scripts, and look at how to implement them in project work.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) can mean different things to different people, and that makes it difficult to benchmark any BIM project against any other. Taking inspiration from lean production principles, Arup has developed a discipline agnostic tool that seeks to measure just how much a project has used BIM and how successful this has been. We call it the 'BIM Dipstick.' This session will detail why we chose to develop the tool; how it is actually used within the business; and how the data from it is used to focus our research, training, and software investment. We originally created the tool itself in our London office, but it is now in the process of being rolled out more widely as part of Arup's global BIM strategy. We would like to take this opportunity to share our experience of using it to date, both the good and the bad, and we hope to give you a version to take away for yourselves.

BDP has moved from a practice with workflows solidly grounded in 2d to becoming the first BIM Level 2 business globally. As part of this transition it was recognized that the change required could only be achieved through ensuring staff had appropriate skills to successfully deliver technological change across the business. The class will describe the strategic decisions made by BDP and the influences on the direction the business took. It will further outline the structure put in place to support BIM adoption, the skills gaps identified and how these were addressed. A review will also be presented of the challenges encountered at each stage, from pilot project through to the current position with over 70% of technical staff regularly using BIM Software across some 620+ projects. Issues encountered at various project stages will be highlighted with solutions to overcome these also described. BDP's forward looking strategy will also be discussed with staff sit at it's heart.

How do you train your staff? How do you even know what to train? Do you test or retrain to ensure retention? Traditionally, training occurs in silos (based on discipline, function, or office location), often isn’t captured for future use (often through email or 1-on-1 conversation), and relies heavily on expert-level “gurus” as gatekeepers of knowledge. Design practice has evolved to keep pace with technology, mobile and geographically diverse employees, and the increasing speed of project schedules. To increase efficiency, organizations must pursue a culture of continual training, knowledge sharing, and skills assessment to break down the silos. This session will discuss ideas for Lifecycle User Training and methods to develop a knowledge-sharing culture that expects skills assessment. We will explore ideas on developing resources where corporate knowledge is retained, searchable, accessible, and inherently social.

The architecture, engineering, and construction industry is undergoing an evolution, and industry and mainstream media are looking to fill their pages with rich content—stories about innovative people, projects, and products. You see many of your competitors earning meaningful coverage for their successes, but what about you? This inaugural media-training class will help customers and partners tell their stories and understand the competitive media landscape.

Are you responsible for training your CAD users but feel overwhelmed by the task? Are you stymied by the problems associated with enforcing CAD standards? Does your management expect you to make your users more productive? In this class, we cover some strategies for combining standards development and enforcement with an in-house training program to solve all 3 problems at once while keeping your budget under control. We start by building your company training program via efficiency analysis, move into creating effective training materials, and then we give you some ideas for becoming a better instructor. Next, we talk about turning your training program into your standards program by using your own written and video files to build a virtual resource library. If you're responsible for creating a standards or training program, you can't afford to miss this class.

The rapid pace of technological developments and the emergence of disruptive technologies such as cloud and mobile computing mean that the opportunities in capitalizing on such advancements have never been greater. However, successfully implementing technology in your business is not just about purchasing software and getting some training. The biggest benefits come to those who step back and reevaluate how they do business, as well as take a strategic approach to changing management. This class will look at the art of business process re-engineering and change management.

This session will provide multiple tips on ReCap indexing, editing, collaboration, and project management workflow from an experienced ReCap developer's point of view. You will learn how to make the best use of ReCap to improve work efficiency on reality captured projects. Also, the ReCap development team will be happy to answer questions about and provide insights into the ReCap features.

Training shouldn't be an after-thought. Training is part of the business and thus should be run like a business. Learn the model that has been very successful at not only improving training organizations but transforming them.

The class will cover the Last Planner principles developed by the Lean Institute and how the software supports this principle. The benefits of adopting the Last Planner principles include increased reliability, greater savings in time and cost, less wastage of materials, and greater utilization of plant. The benefits are further enhanced by collaboration with the supply chain, where they can review their elements of a plan in line with main contractors, and feed into BIM 360 Plan web service, therefore streamlining interactions. The gains made through BIM 360 Plan in this process (such as staying in the field longer) reduce time spent compiling reports in the office and improve Planed Percentage Complete (PPC) with accountability for lost time weekly—enabling root-cause analysis to aid in targeted software and provide a platform for detailed whole project as-built data. Finally, the class will also briefly discuss the benefits of BIM 360 Plan supporting construction claims, and its use to minimize disputes. This session features BIM 360 Plan. AIA Approved

Mapping Workflows is like BIM. Everyone talks about it and agrees we should adopt it, but does nothing about it. We need to change our thinking. Learn how to effectively evaluate your workflows to continuously improve efficiencies and maximize the value of your Autodesk, Inc., technology utilizing the PRAXIS platform. This roundtable will discuss how to identify repetition, bottlenecks, industry best practices, and inefficiencies in your workflows. If you are managing a large team and having difficulty getting mired down in detail and not having time to get to tactical and strategic tasks, this is the roundtable for you. This is a unique opportunity to share your insights and industry experience with each other and learn how mapping of workflows can help identify measurable improvements utilizing Autodesk technology. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a workflow assessment and show how it might be documented/refined using the PRAXIS workflow platform.

See how the Forge platform was used to create a unique and interactive experience for US Olympic Museum’s Diamond Donor Program. The 60,000-square-foot museum is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, home of the United States Olympic Training Center. Opening in the fall of 2019, the museum will act as an anchor to the new City for Champions District. The museum’s facade has 10,000 unique, satin-anodized, aluminum panels, and appears to be stretched taut like an elastic fabric over the building’s twisting frame. Each diamond-shaped folded panel is unique, which offered the USOM the ability to let donors adopt and sponsor one of these unique panels and then virtually search for their assigned panels and see their digital inscriptions. See how MasterGraphics.aec and USOM came together to make the dream of the Diamond Donor Program a reality!

DPR Construction has kept a close eye on the development and implementation of the entire BIM 360 software suite of tools, including the highly anticipated release of BIM 360 Plan software. On the surface, it appears that all of the functionality and integration between BIM 360 software’s tools are now ready for prime time. This presentation will share real-world feedback, process workflows, success stories, and lessons learned from multiple projects located across the United States. The common theme across all projects is that the same core technology in BIM 360 software is implemented in different ways to varying degrees, and the recipe for success does not lie in the technology itself. Instead, it is how we gather the right people together at the right time to develop a process strategy that will support successful implementation. We will recommend a high-level implementation and training approach to help any company better plan for successful adoption of technology, including BIM 360 Glue software, BIM 360 Field software, and now BIM 360 Plan software.

On every project, Skanska aims to drive value for customers. Our national expertise in lean principles and methods encourages creative, collaborative thinking among employees, and promotes a continuous effort to eliminate waste throughout our operations. A founding member of the Lean Construction Institute, Skanska has applied lean approaches in many construction sectors focused on helping clients realize their visions. At the project level and specific to pull planning, Skanska continues to evolve from executing pull plans to fully implementing the Last Planner System. The intent of this session is to share some better practices for managing pull plans, and also to demonstrate how the firm is using BIM 360 Plan software to do so.

BIM 360 Plan software is a new cloud and mobile Solution that provides a visual collaborative way to manage short-interval project schedules. With support for the Last Planner System, BIM 360 Plan software helps you to take advantage of your team's expertise so you can deliver projects faster with fewer costly surprises. This class will introduce the key principles and benefits of lean construction and production planning, showing you how to use BIM 360 Plan software to build more-reliable project work plans, and help reduce waste associated with overproduction, excess inventory, and task rework. This is a hands-on lab that requires no previous training or knowledge of BIM 360 Plan software. You will leave this class fully trained in understanding the functional use of BIM 360 Plan software!

Years ago there were only 2 ways to become productive with Autodesk, Inc., software—you could go to a training class or hire a trainer to teach you. With cuts in companies' traditional training budgets, major corporations are shifting training resources away from costly, traditional, instructor-led training and choosing cost-effective solutions. We are in the middle of a significant shift in instructional methods and delivery vehicles. This round-table session will review the broad spectrum of training options that are available, from traditional books and instructor-led classroom training to flipped classrooms using interactive eBooks, web-based synchronous and asynchronous videos, discussion forums, and even social media. If you are an innovator, a corporate training manager, a trainer, an industry consultant, or simply an Autodesk product user, join us in discussing trends, directions, and successes, as well as the challenges of maintaining your competitive edge with diverse Learning and Training Solutions.

As a first step, we established 10 project performance indicators and asked people across 54 projects to give us their input. The performance indicators measured the BIM implementation maturity for the projects at a quarterly basis. These performance indicators were developed keeping the ISO19650 -1 and 2 standards, and the digital construction targets of Royal BAM Group in mind. A survey based on the performance indicators was sent out to each project team. The recipients included a mix of people from different departments. We surveyed people in different roles such as project and design managers, project superintendents, estimators, planners, site personnel and more, about their understanding on the level of BIM implementation with respect to each of the performance indicators. By doing this we were able to measure both hard and soft data. The hard data included items such as different BIM applications which were being used on a project, the project’s exchange information requirements, etc. and the soft data included areas such as training and knowledge requirements, and other items that influence the human performance on site.

In this class, you’ll learn how Autodesk uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power the Forge platform, and how you can use the same services for your own Forge applications. You’ll get hands-on experience showing you how easy it is to get started with Forge using our quick-start guide. We’ll start with a quick overview of the Forge platform and introduction to AWS. After that, we’ll dive deep into the specific steps and configurations used for both a Node.js application and a .NET application. We’ll discuss the architectures, microservices, development environments, and application deployment options, and help you identify the best practices for running a production Forge application on AWS. This class is best for attendees with some software development experience, and everyone must bring their own laptops. At the end of the class, you’ll have built and deployed a demo application to AWS using Forge.

Ask your programming questions to our panel of hardcore cloud and mobile experts from our Forge Platform development teams. If you are writing solutions that are based on these technologies or you are just about to start and want to know more, then this is the perfect forum to get to know the people who create the APIs and services you work with and your fellow programmers who use those APIs. Come and ask questions, add your expertise to the discussion, or just listen and learn. This session features Forge and A360.

This class will help you kick start and accelerate your development on the Forge platform by demonstrating best practice workflows and tips & tricks for managing REST API calls and consuming JSON data. Examples will include uses of the Model Derivative API, Data Management API (including accessing data in BIM 360 Docs), Authentication API and Design Automation API. Prior knowledge in Web and Cloud development is recommended.