Advanced Building Simulation

Glazing system?
Window area?
Monday 11:00 a.m.
Energy use?
Thermal comfort?
Figure 8.13 Start of the analysis process.
Employee starts analysis work
Audit trail
Tuesday 9:00 a.m.
Developments in interoperability 207
Monitoring
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The following section focuses on the scenario layer and describes its central role in
the workbench architecture.
8.3.3 The central role of the scenario layer
The workbench is deployed when a design interaction moment occurs and a design
analysis request is triggered. The analysis expert will use the scenario layer to define
the task logic of the analysis steps that respond to the request. As an example, the situation
can be envisioned where an architect contacts an expert consultant in the
selection of a glazing system in an office space. The expert consultant discusses the
actual analysis task with the architect, plans the steps needed to carry out the analysis,
and assigns one of the in-house simulation experts to carry out one or more of the
analysis tasks in the scenario, as depicted in Figure 8.13.
The scenario layer typically offers access to a commercial workflow process-modeling
tool to define the analysis scenarios. This type of software offers a graphical front end to
a variety of “workflow enactment engines”, that is, computer programs that automate
the dispatching of tasks to assigned task performers, transfer of documents, coordination
of dependencies between information, tasks, tools and actors in an organization etc. It
allows planning a scenario that covers all steps of the analysis process, that is, from the
initial design analysis request issued by the design team to the closeout of the consultancy
job. It details the actual execution of the analysis, anticipates potential mid-stream modification
of the analysis plan, and plans the feedback provided that is to be provided to
the designer/architect. It allows graphical representation of tasks in process flow diagrams
that can be constructed using drag-and-drop capabilities. It also allows easy decomposition
of complex processes. A screenshot of the process-modeling window is shown in
Figure 8.14, showing one of the tools available for this purpose (Cichocki et al. 1998).
One of the expected advantages of using a generic workflow engine is the easy integration
of the workbench in environments where workflow management is already
used to manage business processes. The integration of the simulation process with
internal business processes such as invoicing, reporting, and resource allocation
within the same (or across) collaborating firms is an exciting future prospect for the DAI
workbench. It would indeed add significantly to project management and quality
assurance and on the job training within the engineering enterprise.