AN INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS MANAGEMENT SOLUTION THAT CREATES A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS

Multiplied complexity

Major infrastructure construction projects – gigantic worksites with a budget of more than 1 billion euros, such as high-speed railways, immersed tunnels or nuclear power plants – present numerous technological, financial, organisational and/or environmental challenges for their sponsors and executors. During the project lifecycle (design, construction, delivery, and operation), multiple companies, service providers and subcontractors from different trades are involved. There is a natural rotation of personnel mobilised for the project over the years.

It is therefore easy to understand how difficult but essential it is for everyone to have access to all information at all times. It may be necessary to retrieve data from earlier phases of the project or from other stakeholders without being overwhelmed by the mass of accumulated documents.

And this is where new technologies – artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) – have a major role to play.

Unified access to information through different EDM (electronic document and records management systems)

OPPSCIENCE’s Bee4sense Intelligence Analysis Management (IAM) solution connects the various data sources used throughout the construction site: EDM (sometimes numerous), data warehouse, GIS (geographic information system), image database, plans, directories, catalogues, etc.

The goal is to centralise all the information in a single access point, whether it comes from internal (EDM, emails…) or external sources (public information, maps etc.).

An operator looking for information will no longer need to ask which tool, EDM or format the information was created in. With Bee4sense, operators will receive an intelligent link that will direct them to their documents of interest.

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Innovative NLP technologies make it possible to analyse, organise and enhance information in text format, which constitutes a large part of the available EDM corpus (meeting minutes, emails and attachments, scanned documents, etc.). Semantic analysis identifies important information scattered in a mass of documents and, more importantly, considers the different terminologies. It is common for subcontractors to use different vocabulary to designate the same element. Thanks to semantic analysis, the different names will be presented to the user regardless of the formulation of the request.

Simple and efficient navigation

On the Bee4sense platform, the user benefits from quick and direct access to the information: important business information is highlighted in the documents of the corpus. A graph visualisation highlights the relationships between the identified elements.

A cartographic representation is particularly useful for transportation projects,as it makes it possible to navigate spatially through the information. For example, on a high-speed rail line project, anomalies – in this case cracks – appeared during winter, three years into the project and before the delivery. Thanks to the cartographic visualisation, the team was able to optimise interventions on the various areas likely to be affected by the cracks.

Multi-EDM record file management

A record file is a contractual document that is given to the project owner upon completion. It lists all the work carried out, as well as all maintenance operations that will be necessary. For large-scale projects, the record file is made up of many documents that can be stored on several EDMs. Sometimes after delivery, it can be difficult for operators in charge of maintenance of an infrastructure to find old technical information.

The Bee4sense platform provides the right documents to the right people, while respecting the access rights of each. For example, maintenance operators in charge of air conditioners will receive a link to all useful documents. In one click, they will be able to access all historical data related to the air conditioners, such as specificities of installation, past problems and their resolution, and corresponding best practices.

In conclusion, IAM is a competitive advantage for companies, especially in a world where available information is growing exponentially. IAM facilitates knowledge sharing and improves efficiency at all levels by reducing the time it takes to access information. The intelligence provided by OPPSCIENCE’s IAM to enterprise solutions such as EDM improves the quality of data used to make the right decisions.