Welcome

The Stanford Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) and Strategic Project Solutions (SPS), Inc. offer a VDC (Virtual Design & Construction) Certificate Program which teaches Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) and Facility Management (FM) professionals how to use and obtain high value for their projects and businesses from effective use of Virtual Design and Construction.

The CIFE mission is to be the world's premier academic research center for Virtual Design and Construction of Architecture - Engineering - Construction (AEC) industry projects. SPS is a leading provider of innovative products and technical services for the improved delivery and management of capital assets. The company has extensive worldwide experience in helping organizations manage the complex process of project development.

The principal program focus is Professional Education - to enable participants to:

Understand basic theory and practice of VDC. Successful participants will understand concepts of VDC models, model-based analysis, collaborative model-based development and management of capital facility projects;
Develop awareness of trends, potential results and issues in using VDC;
Develop specific skills in collaborative use of VDC methods. They will immediately apply the VDC concepts and tools learned in the course and plan and manage at least one of their own projects using VDC methods and collaboratively report and discuss their successes and challenges in applying VDC methods.

While participants will use specific Product, Organization and Process modeling and analysis tools in laboratory exercises to help them establish familiarity with the value and limits of such tools, development of skills in tool use is NOT a course objective. Such skills, while worthwhile, are appropriately the focus of more specialized training.

VDC is the use of multi-disciplinary performance models of design-construction projects, including the Product (i.e., facilities), Work Processes and Organization of the design - construction - operation team in order to support business objectives.

Survey results find that the emergence of VDC is the greatest change in AEC in a generation or more. Owners, designers, contractors and subcontractors now have started to use it independently.

Program elements for VDC certification:

As explained in more detail in the Program Overview, the program includes the following elements

VDC Introduction: Five-days of class at Stanford, which include lectures, labs, workshops, collaborative design sessions and planning sessions.

VDC application: participants actively help design and manage a project for their organizations that uses VDC methods. For six months, they collect and report performance metrics related to VDC use on a project, share progress reports and participate in regular conference calls to discuss progress and issues.

VDC integration experience: two-days at Stanford, which include discussions of approaches taken, intermediate results, issues, results, surprises and insights, followed by planning sessions for the next stage of their VDC implementation work.

Normally, participants should complete all program elements within one year of starting the first element

Certification indicates that the recipient has won an intermediate-level brown belt in VDC theory and practice

Who should participate?

The Certificate Program will be of value to project, middle and senior management with an interest in the use of model-based methods and analyses for design, construction and operation of capital projects. Participants will represent project stakeholders such as:

Facility Owners
General contractors
Designers
Major subcontractors
Technology vendor organizations

The best way for a company to participate is to send a team of four or more that represents multiple skills and responsibilities. The team can then return and work as a coalition that collaboratively will advance VDC use more effectively than any enthusiastic individuals.

Benefits to participants

Specific benefits to participating individuals and organizations include:

Participate as a knowledgeable and active leader in a project, program or enterprise that uses VDC methods;
Use VDC methods t design the organization and process to maximize the project value in the specific context of the project opportunities and risks;
Define company VDC strategy and implementation methods, project performance metrics and effective processes that use model-based predictions and metrics in management;
Mentor other stakeholders from your and partner organizations to develop timely and appropriate information for VDC models and to use VDC predictions and performance metrics effectively at the project, program and enterprise levels.

Enrollment limitation

Enrollment in each 5-day Introduction class is limited to twenty.

Last updated: May 20, 2008