Simulation as an enabling technology for cooperative working

The barriers to simulation deployment in design practice are well documented. They include: a steep learning curve, a lack of trained staff, hardware and software issues, lack of resources, the development of appropriate procedures for use in practice and communication and co-ordination issues. IBPSA Scotland is assisting its members to address these barriers by providing expert in-house support for the integration of the new simulation technologies into their existing work practices. To date, IBPSA Scotland has focused on identifying barriers to tool use in practice and developing procedures to assist practitioner users in addressing these. The Group has now reached a stage whereby, through ongoing industry interaction, the debate is taking a step forward, as practitioners begin to use simulation in earnest. First, the paper explores how, with the support of IBPSA Scotland, a medium-sized consulting engineering company is designing a bespoke in-house archiving and retrieval system known as 'gateway working' (GW) with a view to overcoming many of the perceived training and procedural barriers to tool use in practice. Specifically, the company is building upon its existing work practices and Q.A. procedures by building-in new Modelling Assessment Procedures (MAPs) that are being tested company-wide via an Intranet 'gateway'. It is envisaged that this will allow the deployment of simulation and the subsequent transfer of associated support material across a network linking many branch offices. The paper elaborates the requirement for, and development of a transparent documentation, referencing and archiving system to allow the same project model to be accessed and progressed by multiple users operating from different locations, with minimum risk of data transfer error.