Busy Bee Vee blog

Good day Dear readers :)

Introduction part ;D

Today I am ready to talk about very important event of my life while I had internship in Riga, Latvia. As a pre story to this I had a bad sight for a very long time. My encounter with glasses was in my 2nd grade and my eyesight didn't stop dropping. Almost every year I had -1 more and I was getting afraid and becoming less confident because I felt that my glasses weren't enough anymore and I couldn't see everything clearly. I was afraid that my teachers would ask me something that I cant see on the blackboard. I didn't want to accept that my eyesight was soo bad. I was in the point of deep despair. Eventually I met the lenses opportunity...

The moment I put the lenses on I couldn't believe how beautiful and detailed world is. I was walking and just watching all around me. I could see everything!!! However I think you know several disadvantages of them: no swimming in water with them, no ability to wear them for a long time and you really need to take care of because if something wrong it will damage your eyes. They aren't so big problems, but my eyesight got so bad that when I take the glasses or lenses off to swim in the pool I could see only the blurry shapes. No faces, no emotions I could see from my classmates, only hearing could assist with that. So you can understand a little bit how I felt. I was totally lost. I liked to swim but when it concerned going there I was restless. Further when I got accepted in University I understood that I got something like lenses addiction because I couldn't go to university without them. My break point was the moment when I put my lenses and eyes became red and irritated. As I said before I had addiction so it didn't stop me. I still went to University and in the end of the day my eyes were hurt and I couldn't wear any lenses anymore. At that time I didn't have ability to buy new lenses straight away and only in 1-2 months I could get them. I started to wear glasses again and decided to resign from lenses at all. I became less confident as my glasses weren't strong enough and everything returned as it was before. Oh and while I was wearing lenses my eyesight was still dropping. :( BUT BUT BUT!! Then I found out about eye surgery :D

The pre surgery story

I found out that operation can be done in Latvia (I'm from Estonia but there wasn't the right surgery center I could choose from) and it happened to be my internship there. I am truly thankful to my parents for doing it for me as it isn't the cheap deed. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! My friend from Riga advised to go for Dr. Solomatina center as it was one of the best there.

I have enrolled for first medical investigation. I costs quite much but it is totally worth it. They investigate all the corners of your eye ;D
First you get the drops in your eye and then wait for some time you can feel everything becomes even more blurry.
Then as I remember it was eye pressure, sight, cornea and etc. analysis. They measure in very precise way and everything is documented.
All staff members were very kind and friendly. I liked the atmosphere there.
After analysis I get enrolled in meeting with the doctor.
The doctor explains in detail the results of your analysis and offers you the opportunities for the eyesight improvement.
My case was too thin cornea so no laser surgery, and I had -10 Myopia. Therefor the only option was ICL surgery.

I wont talk about the advantages and disadvantages because if you are interested in that you can find the information anywhere. I am now sharing only my experience :) It is a very significant decision of your life and it is advised to revise everything about it,

The surgery itself

I was very happy when my mom came for my surgery and stayed with me the whole time. Her support was inevitable and necessary. The surgery was 1 eye operated separately each a week.

I ate light breakfast like banana.
Before the surgery itself the give you local anesthesia and I had a problem with that. I become so dizzy and felt so bad till the point of vomiting. The nurse kindly took care of me, I lied down and drunk some water. I got much better but then I advise to eat nothing before surgery as my second eye surgery passed more smoothly because of that.

In the room where I had surgery there was many doctors and the nurse because it is very delicate surgery. Then the most disturbing time began:

The doctors covered one of my eyes with something like blanket and another one was open. The fixed the eye lids not to close. It felt not very comfortable but you can take it ;D
Then they poured some yellow liquid over my eye as I think to disinfect. It didn't sting nor wasn't painful...just uncomfortable.
They also measured my blood pressure and seemed to check from time to time during surgery.
Then time seemed to slow down and the one of the doctor started to make micro cut for ICL lens. It wasn't painful again but you could totally feel it.
The light was so bright into my eye that I didn't see what was happening. As I remember the light was kind of unpleasant experience.
After the cut was made he tried to fit the ICL lens. This moment lasted like forever. It wasn't painful but very very uncomfortable. I cant describe in the details how it was but I really needed to endure this with all my will power.
I remember that the whole surgery didn't take a very long time.
Then the eye is covered and nurse gives you the medicine like drops and gel to use every 2-3 hours.

After surgery:

I didn't feel any pain and actually on the same day of the surgery I could take off the bandage at home and see the immediate result. While walking outside its better the eye to be covered with bandage as it protect from the dust outside.
In the beginning I felt the eye was a little bit dry but the drops and gel helped to cope with this.
Looking at the same thing with different eyesight eyes feels strange :D

Second eye operation was the same and I didn't have any problems with health or eyes. I am really glad to my parents for giving me this opportunity to get back my eyes :) Also I am grateful to all the staff members of Dr. Solomatina center who was participating in my operation and nurses who supported me when I got sick at some point and supported my mother as she was very very worried about me. I am now very happy, truthfully happy as I can remember all the details of my life, as I can see all the beauty of this world, as I can see all the friends faces and do whatever I want to do. I don't have anymore the uncomfortable feeling at the pool :D

Thank you everyone for sharing with me one part of my life :)

If you have any questions about the surgery, you are totally welcome to ask in the comments. I would gladly help you as much as I can.

ME AFTER

ME BEFORE

Hello Dear Readers,

I hope you all are doing well :) Today I decided to back up my table previous post about IPD and traditional process by presenting 2 tables and their description :) The illustrations help to visualize the information and then the information stays in our memory much longer :D Lets start!

What, How, Who and Realize

Difference between traditional and IPD processes by Autodesk whitepaper "Improving Building Industry Results through Integrated Project Delivery and Building Information Modeling"

It is very noticeable that the whole project duration in IPD is much shorter because of early buyout alias mobilization and shorter construction period.
Lines define what and how building will be built, who is going to realize the project.
What line: The major decisions on the design and structure are found much earlier in IPD. It is all because of early contractor participation in design of project. As a result of more thorough building design; the implementation of documents and buyout are shorter.
Who line: In the traditional method contractors are found in buyout phase, so the planning construction and revising the drawings takes more time rather than it is planned before construction itself.
How line: In the traditional process it shows a problem, because the decision of the way building will be built is intercept with construction period. It can lead to delays in the project as well as extra costs.
Realize line: Realization period is shorter in IPD because of used construction knowledge from contractor in early design stages.

“MacLeamy Curve”

The “MacLeamy Curve” illustrates the concept of making design decisions earlier in the project when opportunity to influence positive outcomes is maximized and the cost of changes minimized, especially as regards the designer and design consultant roles. (The figure was taken from Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide)

The main accent is on two lines which represent cost of design changes and ability to impact cost and functional capabilities.
As we can see from the diagram, the most effort is made in criteria and detailed design of IPD method, where the change of design costs less and impact on cost and functionality is high.
In contrast traditional method takes more effort where the changes are highly priced and opportunity for cost and functionality is low.
Therefor I can say that comparing to IPD, traditional project falls behind and the period of decision making is out of season.

Both of the charts are connected between each other. I think of it in a way that first chart plays role as a info foundation and transforms the affects of IPD into next chart. For example, the involvement of main project parties in early stages as we can see from 1st chart, reduces costs and unexpected changes as the most impact on project are in fact in conceptualization and criteria design shown in MacLeamy curve. Therefor in my opinion it will be most useful to analyze them together as one.

Well, thats it for today:) Have a good life and thanks for reading :)

In this post I briefly discuss about each phase and what the main goals of the project are. I will also include building information modeling toolset as most of IPD projects involve BIM and it helps to increase efficiency of collaboration in the integrated teams. You can see the interesting example of phases made by Autodesk using BIM. It is very easy to understand and well-illustrated.

Full-size picture here

And now I will describe each phase of Integrated project delivery. Be prepared, it will be quite long post :)

Conceptualization

The first phase is conceptualization. It begins with determination of what kind of building is to be built and how and who will build it. This phase involves all key participants in the programming process obtaining input from as many participants as possible. Compared to Danish phases and their objectives, it can relate to inception, brief and outline phases altogether. So now I will describe each responsibility in this phase.

General goals:

Cost is developed earlier and in greater detail than in traditional project methods. Costs may be linked to Building Information Model to allow adaptive cost assessment of design decisions.
Integrated team develop performance goals, agreements, key parameters and communication technologies.
Preliminary schedule is developed and linked to developing model.

Criteria design

During this phase, different options are evaluated and tested. In a project using Building Information Modelling, the model can be used to test “what if” scenarios and determine the team main decisions. This phase can relate to scheme design of Danish project.

General goals:

Design decisions are made on a “best for project” basis and project model is tied to cost model.
Scope is fixed, price is fixed, owner signs off on what will be built allowing the team to evolve and optimize the design.
Further develop preliminary schedule – schedule is better informed due to collaborative approach and responsibilities to schedule are stronger.
Agreement is reached on tolerances between trades to enable prefabrication.

Detailed design

The Detailed Design phase concludes the WHAT phase of the project. During this phase, all key design decisions are finalized. Detailed Design under IPD comprises much of what is left to the Construction Documents phase under traditional practice, thus the Detailed Design phase involves significantly more effort than the traditional Design Development phase.[1]

In other words, detailed phase of IPD includes part of finalizing agreements from detailed design 2 of traditional method.

General goals:

At the end of design development, the design intent is fully, unambiguously defined, coordinated and justified.
The integrated detailed design phase period is longer and more intense than traditional design development because more is accomplished.
All major building systems are defined, including furnishings, fixtures and equipment.
All building elements are coordinated and fully engineered. The team will collaborate to resolve any conflicts.
Subcontractor and vendor insight is integrated into design and used for coordination and conflict resolution.
Specifications are developed based on prescribed and agreed systems.

Implementation documentation

In this phase the goal is to complete the documentation of how the design will be realized.

The traditional drawing process is merged into this phase as constructors, trade contractors and suppliers document how systems and structure will be created. In addition, this phase generates the documents that third parties will use for permitting, financing and regulatory purposes. Because the Detailed Design phase concludes with the design and all building systems “fully and unambiguously defined, coordinated and validated,” the Implementation Documents phase comprises less effort than the traditional Construction Documents phase.[2]

So compared to Detailed Design 2 of Danish project phase, ID takes less efforts.

General goals:

At the beginning of Implementation Documents phase the entire project and all its systems are fully defined and coordinated.
Prefabrication of some systems can begin because the project model is sufficiently fixed (object sizes and positions are frozen) to allow prefabrication to start.
The specification provides description documentation of the design is set to wherever necessary.
Preparation of construction is enabled through 4D.
Cost is finalized through 5D.
Preparing Implementation Documents including information for procurement, assembly, layout, detailed schedule, procedural information, legal requirements.

Agency review

Agency Review starts in Criteria Design and becomes firmer during the final review. This early involvement minimizes required changes to the design when project is submitted for permit.

General goals:

The integrated process will require builders and trades to be involved in preliminary reviews of documents and responses to commentaries because they will have developed parts of the project model.
Acquiring all necessary permits and approvals.

Buyout

IPD assumes early involvement of key trade contractors and vendors, so buyout of work packages they provide occurs through development of prices throughout the design phases, culminating at the conclusion of Implementation Documents. Accelerated project definition during Criteria and Detailed Design allows early commitment for procurement of long lead, custom, or prefabricated items. The IPD Buyout phase is much shorter than under traditional delivery methods, since most work is already contracted for.[3]

General goals:

To be sure that everything is ready for project to be completed such as required work units, materials and equipment.

Construction

In the Construction phase, the benefits of the integrated process are realized. For architects under traditional delivery models, construction contract administration is considered the final stage of design—the last chance to address issues and achieve solutions. But in Integrated Project Delivery, the design and its implementation are finalized during the Detailed Design and Implementation Documents phases. Thus, construction contract administration is primarily a quality control and cost monitoring function. Because of the greater effort put into the design phases, construction under IPD will be much more efficient[4]

General goals:

Less on-site construction administration work needed because conflicts have been resolved virtually (means BIM).
Better understanding of design because coherent information and documentation will be available to all participants.
More pre-fabrication because the design was developed earlier and in collaboration with the contractor.
Less waste because more material are prefabricated.
A schedule tied to the model to allow visualization of deviations from planned sequences and durations.
Warranty operation and maintenance information may be added into the project model.
Some elements of current construction administration will remain similar to current practice:

Quality control, inspection and testing will be relatively unchanged.
Changes within the agreed project scope will be virtually eliminated, but owner-directed changes will need to be formally negotiated.
Scheduling and progress will be periodically reviewed.

Closeout

Closeout of an integrated project greatly depends upon the business terms agreed by the parties. For example, if the business structure contains compensation incentives or penalties, the closeout includes calculation of appropriate credits or deducts. Some issues, however, such as warranty obligations, occupancy, and completion notification, remain unchanged due to statutory and legal requirements. Other issues, such as punch list correction, are not significantly affected by integrated project delivery.[6]

General goals:

A more complete building information model will be provided to the owner for their long term use for building maintenance and up-keep.
Traditional guarantees will remain for installation quality and defective products.
The BIM model will be integrated into the building operation and maintenance phase. Also it can be used to compare actual to planned performance.

So thanks to this post now we know which phases we have in IPD and what we need to do. Then everything seems understandable and clear, however some of you can still have several doubts and can ask yourself very important question: Why? Well well not everything in one go my dear readers ;) I already have a post of Traditional project method vs IPD and I also will add some more, that you would check the IPD benefits. Eventually the most powerful team is the one who keeps together and by that I mean Integrated team:)

[1] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide by AIA p. 26

[2] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide by AIA p. 27
[3] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide p. 29

[4] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide p. 30

[5] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide p. 30

[6] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide p. 31

Team Building

So the integrated teams are assembled by the client in the beginning of the project, they are sharing the same goals for design and construction success. IPD process requires the team to work together when the problem arises. Therefore, the composition of the integrated team, the ability of team members to adapt to a new way of performing their services, and individual team members’ behavior within the team are critical. The integration team are bounded by the agreement which they made in the beginning.

Decision making

The successful way of handling the problems is to decided and agree on decision making body. Usually decision making body consists of primary participants of the project as they are constantly involved in the project.

Primary participants are core group of team members involved in and responsible for the project from inception through completion. [1]

Then reasonably to say, more often the decision making body meetings are held more adaptive it becomes to project circumstances. Also other supporting project participants can participate in advising through the phases depending on their professional knowledge. In case of disputes the decision making body resolves it without necessity of filing claims and adopting confrontational positions as it usually happens in traditional process.

Team communication

All successful teams put a priority on collaboration including fluid and open communication. The communication protocol and other communication tools are developed through joined discussions in which the project team discusses and decides how information will be used, managed and exchanged to ensure consistent and appropriate use of shared information. The decisions and communication protocol are documented and become the project’s information specification.

Eventually the most important part is to choose the best fitted participants that will be well cooperated in the team. And it is as hard as it sounds, It doesn't only concerns the professional side but also the character of the project participants. And I bet most of the client who didn't face it before can have a very difficult time.

[1] Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide p. 54

Definition

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a project delivery method distinguished by a contractual agreement between a minimum of the owner, design professional, and builder where risk and reward are shared and stakeholder success is dependent on project success. [1]

To explain it in simple words, IPD is project method where owner, design professional and builder are bound by a contract. All participants share risk and rewards, therefor the success is also are up to participants. This method bounds everyone in project to one major goal and shares each interest.

Overview

Most of all, IPD lets construction management and at least some key trade contractors to be involved in the project with the client and design team in early stages of design. Thus, these CMs/Construction managers and trade contractors are selected on the basis of qualifications and not on price. Far more common understanding is developed between participants because of early integration. The design moves forward with constructors contribution about cost, constructability and value, allowing designers to make better decisions with fewer and less negative drawbacks. Also the client plays quite active role in designing of the project, so he is assured that everything goes as he wants.

This collaborative approach allows informed decision making early in the project where the most value can be created. The close collaboration eliminates a great deal of waste in the design, and allows data sharing directly between the design and construction team eliminating a large barrier to increased productivity in construction.[2]

Concerning phases of IPD there are eight of them: conceptualization phase, criteria design phase, detailed design phase, implementation documents phase, agency review phase, buyout phase, construction phase, closeout phase and facilities management. I will talk through phases next time including team composition.

[1] Draft definition of IPD from version 2 of the AIA / AIACC Integrated Project Delivery Guide, anticipated in 2010

[2] Integrated Project Delivery: First Principles for Owners and Teams

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Busy Bee Vee blog

My Visian ICL eye surgery in Dr. Solomatina Center, Riga Latvia :)

Good day Dear readers :)

Introduction part ;D

The pre surgery story

The surgery itself

If you have any questions about the surgery, you are totally welcome to ask in the comments. I would gladly help you as much as I can.

I am back with more renewed power!

Hello dear readers!

Couple of charts for IPD vs traditional process

What, How, Who and Realize

“MacLeamy Curve”

The 20 key BIM terms you need to know

Project phases of IPD

Conceptualization

General goals:

Criteria design

General goals:

Detailed design

General goals:

Implementation documentation

General goals:

Agency review

General goals:

Buyout

General goals:

Construction

General goals:

Closeout

General goals:

Integrated teams

Team Building

Decision making

Team communication

What is Integrated Project Delivery?

Definition

Overview