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 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.

Develop awareness of trends, potential results and issues in using VDC.

Develop specific skills in collaborative use of VDC methods. They will plan and manage at least one of their own projects using VDC methods and collaboratively report and discuss their successes and challenges.

A non-objective for participants is to develop skills in using specific Product, Organization or Process modeling or analysis tools. Such skills, while worthwhile, are appropriately the focus of more specialized training.

The program is jointly sponsored and delivered by CIFE and Strategic Project Solutions (SPS), Inc. 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.

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:

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 on a project that uses VDC, 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

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.

Program Sessions

The next scheduled sessions are::

	Introductory Course		Integration Experience
	December 14-18, 2009
	March 15-19, 2010		March 15-16, 2010
	June 14-18, 2010		June 14-15, 2010
	September 13-17, 2010		September 13-14, 2010

FAQ

• What is the program attendance limitation?
  • Registration for the 5-day Introduction is normally limited to 20.
• What are the prerequisites?
  • There are no formal prerequisites other than commitment to support design, construction or operation of physical facilities.
• What are the time commitments?
  • The introductory session of the Certificate Program includes five days on the Stanford campus. The application element involves 6-12 months to apply VDC methods and at participation in least six telephone sessions in which participants report and discuss their progress and challenges. The Integration experience involves two days on the Stanford campus.
• What is the approximate time involvement during the 6-12 months period of the VDC Application Element of the Program?
  • Many participants seem to spend 1-4 or 5 days/week in application of VDC methods, but we have had presidents of firms and principals in companies who spent only a few hours a month formally using VDC methods while they helped their teams to adopt VDC in practice.
    
• For our final project can we use projects that are in the design or construction phase?
  • Initial focus on the design phase is ideal; construction is good and operations can be valuable. The impact of VDC is normally greatest when the VDC process starts in design.
    
• What is the ideal number of program participants from a project?
  • We have had from one to nearly forty on the same project team. We recommend a team that includes at least four stakeholders including an owner/operator, designer, general contractor, engineer and sub-contractor/fabricator.

 

Last updated: November 24, 2008