Digital data sheets based on data templates

The transfer of product information in the construction process needs standardized structures and formats for an efficient and secure flow of information. In the future, we handle this with standardized data templates in the form of jointly agreed and documented properties that are relevant to a product or design object.

The data template approach utilized should be able to describe both requirements and properties for the actually selected products. Standardized properties are a prerequisite for successful follow-up that requirements set and met by the product chosen. A well-functioning management of product properties will form the basis for stable data management system in the construction sector, but also provide major changes in how we work.

Several projects have been carried out in Sweden on digital product information flows. The already conducted trials in the project "4-steps-to-GTIN – Trace 4 value" and "Data Templates – Proof of Concept" have tested the technology and developed data templates for different product types that contain industry-wide documented
properties that are then entered into digital product sheets based on product data templates (PDT) and made searchable.

The proof-of-concept tests show that the classification of the object is not part of a product type's technical data sheet, but can be seen as an additional property when the data sheet is stored in a data environment to later be linked to a construction object. This is how classification should be included in this project. A link to the C oC lass classification of construction objects is sought.

The project intends to develop and test the technology for digital data templates for objects, and describe the information to be produced, structured on product types and then entered into the data templates and made searchable. A data template can be created for any construction object. A data template (DT) for a product is called a product data template (PDT). Each data template created it contributes with definitions of properties with the goal of forming part of a BIM word-wide data dictionary.

The transfer of product information in the construction process needs standardized structures and formats for an efficient and secure flow of information. They should be able to:

• Describe requirements and establish values for the products' properties at different stages
• Use generic and then vendor-specific values first.

Product information based on the data templates shows opportunities and a complex environment to realize:

• The standardisation of technology
• Industrial use
• Management and responsibility of manufacturers and suppliers

The standards that exist and testt s are mainly ISO 23386, ISO 23387 and ISO 12006-3 which define how data templates should be built. These standards are generic regarding the type of information to be handled.

There is also a standardized template developed for environmental data, ISO 22057, that handles EPD and LC A data.

The overall aim of the project is to establish the forms for industry-wide coordination of product information for construction products. The project also aims to build on the platforms that already exist such as BEAst, Resurshubben, National guidelines (Nationella riktlinjer) and GS1 by adding what is missing to realize a launch of communication of product properties based on data templates. Since the project is based on already ongoing initiatives and organizations that are driving the establishment and development of data templates, there are conditions that the project results will be put to practical use already during the project's implementation.

The project also includes implementation of those parts of the platform where this is possible. An intermediate goal is that the digital environmental declarations (EPD) – including technical product information based on data templates that are relevant to the Swedish construction market – should be searchable by companies providing the trade item information directly or via the platforms they use. In cases where technical (vertical) data templates are also available, the goal is that companies and/or trade associations can also make such product data sheets available via the information node. Similarly, an intermediate goal is that the EPDs that are machine-readable are made available via the information node's API, based on the material manufacturers' own work as part of the project's application tests and pilots.