agcXML
ORGANIZATION: Associated General Contractors of America
Chair
Michael Tardif
michaeltardif@grunley.com
(240) 399-0395
Fara Francis, Chief Information Officer / francisc@agc.org
(703) 837-5302
The agcXML Project, inaugurated and funded by The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), resulted in a set of XML schemas for the transactional data that is now commonly exchanged in paper documents such as owner/contractor agreements, schedules of values, requests for information (RFIs), requests for proposals (RFPs), architect/engineer supplemental instructions, change orders, change directives, submittals, applications for payment, and addenda, to name a few. To ensure compatibility with related efforts, the agcXML Project is being executed as part of the aecXML Domain framework under the auspices of buildingSMART alliance, the North American chapter of buildingSMART International. The project is one of several AGC efforts in the building information modeling (BIM) and interoperability arenas that include the recently published Contractor's Guide to Building Information Modeling.
Background
The agcXML Project is an industry-wide initiative funded and led by Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and managed, under a contract with AGC, by the National Institute of Building Sciences. The goal of the project is to enable the efficient and reliable exchange of electronic construction project information among all building design and construction professionals. While building information modeling (BIM) is designed to facilitate the electronic exchange and the effective use of information about a building facility throughout the life cycle of a building facility, the agcXML Project focuses on transactional data—which may or may not be "building information"—that architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and building owners typically exchange during the building design and construction process. Most of this information is still commonly exchanged in paper documents (or electronic equivalents of paper documents) such as owner/contractor agreements, schedules of values, requests for information (RFIs), requests for proposals (RFPs), architect/engineer supplemental instructions, change orders, change directives, submittals, applications for payment, and addenda, to name a few.
The project resulted in a set of extensible markup language (XML) schemas that will enable design and construction professionals to reliably exchange project information among dissimilar and proprietary software applications, without requiring the reengineering or redesign of those applications. The agcXML schemas establish a common, non-proprietary data format and classification system. Software developers will be able to modify their applications with minimal effort to import and export data in agcXML format, without having to change or even share their proprietary software code and data formats. The schemas will remain the property of AGC, will be made publicly available and will be licensed at no cost and in perpetuity to any party for any legitimate purpose in support of the exchange of agcXML data. The project is coordinated with other data format standards development efforts worldwide to ensure the compatibility of agcXML data with those efforts.
To ensure that the agcXML schemas serve the needs of the industry, NIBS and AGC are empaneled a Review and Validation Committee (RVC) of design and construction professionals in all disciplines—a cross-section of the industry that includes architects, building owners, contractors, engineers, material suppliers, software developers, and subcontractors nationwide. The RVC is a reflection of the industry not just by discipline but also by functional job description—owners of companies, project managers, job captains, construction site supervisors, clerks-of-the-works, and bookkeepers—anyone and everyone who currently uses construction contract documents and related paper forms to do their jobs every day. Representatives of software companies were also invited to serve on the RVC and to provide their technical specifications for agcXML.
The actual work of the project was conducted by a technical team of experts with substantial knowledge of XML and related building industry interoperability efforts worldwide.
Technical oversight of the project was provided by the agcXML Task Force, a panel of volunteer AGC members that will ensure that the deliverables of the project meet the project requirements.
As the first step of the project, research was conducted to see what other works might be relivant to the effort undertaken in this poject. The agcXML Technical Framework (PDF) is provided to give you a better understanding for the basis of the agcXML project.
One issue that should be understood is how the schemas were developed and one important aspect is the application of Cardinality. The document About Cardinality (PDF) will provide the user a better understanding of this important concept.
The agcXML Generic Document Distribution Use Case (PDF) was defined early in the project and is used throughout the schema. This is another important document to understand when dealing with the agcXML product.
A set of common definitions (PDF) was developed during the project and are used throughout the schemas.
