avatarby Jeff LyonsLast updated February 7, 2021Category: Blog Post

What is MMCDA?

The MMCD Association is a non-profit society, founded in 1989 and supported by BC municipalities to create improved construction documents for roads, sidewalks, sewers, water, traffic signals and street lighting. The Province of British Columbia endorses the Master Municipal Construction Documents for the construction of municipal services.

The MMCDA originated with the BC Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association, the Consulting Engineers of B.C., and the Municipal Engineers Division of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C.

The MMCDA first addressed inconsistent tender documents used in British Columbia. The association produced a common document: the MMCD. Now, over 90 municipalities use the MMCD on a regular basis.

Continuing development of the MMCD includes new and expanded editions of the document, new publications, training for users and referees, and research into new aspects of construction contracts.

Volunteer sub-committees create, monitor and improve the documents. Volunteers are drawn from municipal staff, CEBC members, BCRHCA members and related industry representatives.

Using the MMCD reduces effort compared to creating and maintaining unique contract documents. The straightforward language used in MMCD front-end documents minimizes confusion and reduces disputes.

For more information about MMCDA go to www.mmcd.net

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Moving Data from Design to Asset Management

The MMCD Infrastructure Data Standards include the following components:

1. Municipal CAD Standard – Civil 3D DWT and Supporting Files

2. Drawing Production Standard – Consistency in Design/Construction Drawing Appearance

3. Construction Modeling Standard – Level of Detail for Construction Staking Data

4. Construction Administration Standard – Quantity Takeoffs and Bid Specifications

5. Asset Data Exchange Standard – Attributed IFT (Issued for Tender) and Post Construction Submissions

6. Asset Data Management Register – Infrastructure Data Schema

The MMCD Infrastructure Data Standards development strategy is shown in the following diagram:

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What is the Builterra Connection with MMCD?

In 2016, upon the release of Builterra into the Canadian Infrastructure design and construction market in Ontario, we proved that any standardized (and fully documented) construction contract administration system could be easily converted from paper into our digital, integrated construction contract administration solution very quickly. 

Firms like WSP, GHD, AECOM and others quickly adopted the system to deliver 100’s of millions in construction progress reporting to the City of Toronto and surrounding municipalities.

In 2017, the MMCD framework was introduced to us and we saw a good opportunity to standardize the same paper workflows into a proven mobile and web technology-based construction management solution for both owners and the consultants already using MMCD on projects.

In 2018, we released a Beta-version of the “MMCD” Items Catalog and Schedule of Quantities and Pricing Excel Export style for review and testing by selected MMCD members. WSP Canada in Kelowna, BC. joined early and fully tested and approved the mobile data collection functionality and reporting style to meet the needs of any MMCD styled inspection reporting.

Standardizing the MMCD Catalog

Our first step was to take the MMCD posted “Schedule of Quantities and Pricing” spreadsheet and add it to the Builterra Standard Catalog System. This was straight-forward enough as all items are organized into Divisions and Sub-Categories to help import the items.

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We applied a unique ItemCode to each item to assist in the cost estimating function of the product. Here was the syntax used to uniquely identify each item in the MMCD master list.

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The MMCD Project Bid Preparation

Since we already have a starting point in the MMCD Catalog, any Builterra user can create an online project and generate an empty tender or bid within minutes, ready for data entry. 

Adding standard MMCD items from the MMCD Catalog can be done in a variety of ways:

1. Drag n Drop from Catalog

2. Import from Excel or CSV

3. Connect to Design within Civil 3D

Once the Items are added, creation of the completed bid sheet or cost estimate is done with a click of the mouse.

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Real-Time Cost Estimating

As items are added to the tender, a cost estimate is being created using past project bids or historical pricing data.

Because MMCD Catalog has pre-assigned items with unique codes, we can perform basic cost estimate queries to determine average cost.

Should you want to enhance the item estimates with actual design data like class, depth, or any other attribute, you can add those parameters to the cost estimate query definition.

Example; what is the cost of this manhole based on diameter, material, class, and depth.

Unlike most every other system in the market, Builterra can be configured to include enhanced item attributes during cost estimating.

Other project related attributes can be added to the query as well to even further enhance the quality of the estimate.

Example; what is the cost of this manhole based on diameter, material, class, and depth, built in Kelowna with the last 2 years, by Contractor XYZ.

Exporting the MMCD Schedule of Quantities and Pricing

The goal during Bid Preparation using Builterra is to create a Schedule of Quantities and Values in Excel format for the Owner/Engineer. If you need a Cost Estimate, simply ask Builterra to add the estimated values to each line item.

Once the Contractor adds pricing to the spreadsheet, it’s ready for upload back into Builterra. This means you capture all the pricing for every contract from every bidder.

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Leveraging the MMCD Autodesk Civil 3D CAD Standards

One of the compelling reasons why we decided to create the MMCD Catalog and Tender Template for cost estimating and bid preparation was the fact that they had a maintained CAD Standard with a workflow to Asset Management already mapped out.

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What is Builterra Design Connect?

Design Connect for AutoCAD Civil 3D is an extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D that allows the designer to connect directly to the online Builterra Bid Sheet or Tender from within the CAD environment.

If you want to query any AutoCAD object from Pipe Networks to Polylines to Blocks with Attributes you can do this with Design Connect. Data is scraped from the drawing and added to specific Bid Sheet tables. Both Quantity Takeoff and Cost Estimating are performed when the data is submitted to the online Bid Sheet within Builterra.

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Data Capture vs Paper and PDF Form Fills

The Builterra mobile app was created with Data Capture in mind vs “simulating” paper-based workflows like PDF editors and other PDF Form Fill apps. The idea is to capture small amounts of data and photos throughout the day, submitted in small transactions. The data is stored in a pre-configured MMCD Daily Site Report that contains several “tables” which hold the submitted entries.

The tables specified for the MMCD Daily Site Diary are:

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• Project Details

• Weather, Location and Time all Automatic

• Labour

• Equipment

• Visitors

• Materials

• Delays and Problems

• Remarks and Special Instructions

• Progress Details (Contract Item Quantities)

• Photos and Markup

• Document View and Redline

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Contract Item Quantities

Unlike most mobile data collection systems, we connect directly to the awarded MMCD Bid Contract Items. This means the field inspector can log every quantity in the field as they happen and submit them for reporting.

The same quantity is used for weekly quantity reports and end of month progress payment certificate.

View PDF Report

At anytime you can “View PDF Report” on your mobile device in real-time. This provides a formatted view of what the report will look like with all the data submitted throughout the day.

The Builterra Inspection Portal

So what happens after you submit data and photos? Can this report be emailed to contractors for approval or others for review. The answer is YES!

Back on the Builterra Inspection Web Portal…

The MMCD Project now displays all the Site Visit Reports in a geo-referenced location, with all the attached data collected in the field. Reports and Photos are available for all users with access to view and download instantly.

This portal shows all inspection forms which are made available to the inspector, like change orders, extra work requests, and field memos.

Meta Data reports like Weekly Reports, Deficiencies and any other custom reports are also accessible in this portal.

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The MMCD Daily Site Report

Once data is collected and sent to the server, it’s ready for report viewing and distribution at any time. The formal of the MMCD Site Diary has been added to the MMCD Account as a sample report for those looking to use the MMCD solution.

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The Site Diary has 4 main components:

• Project Header info

• Progress Description (Quantities)

• Table Data

• Photo Report

As per the samples show here, any data collected using the mobile app or entered directly via the web portal will export directly to Word or PDF format as per the MMCD style sample.

A single mouse click will generate this complex report from mobile data submitted.

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Progress Tracking and Payment Certificates

The daily site reports are a great way to have consistent tracking of field activity, change orders and item quantities built each day. Contractors can digitally signoff on quantities using the email approval processes built into the Builterra inspection web portal. 

That same item quantity data is used to track progress in real-time on the Builterra Tendering Portal. Once the contract has been awarded to a bidder, the dashboard appears and starts showing the progress of construction from data submitted from the field.

Generating Payment Certificates, Change Order approvals, managing holdbacks and releases is all down through this single interface.

Within seconds, an Excel spreadsheet can be generated as the Payment certificate with summary tables and item progress payment details.

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Opportunity for Asbuilt Data Collection for Asset Management

Inspection can include all of the construction contract administration workflows and forms required for project delivery. Also added to the system could be asset as-built data entry forms, like services for sewer and water, invert and pipe size verification, deficiency reporting for contractor repair.

If item data is originally scraped from AutoCAD Civil 3D during the bid preparation stage of the project, there is a digital breadcrumb that can track asset object ID from estimating all the way through to payment and as-built data collection.

Summary

This document detailed the work completed on the MMCD Standardized Catalog, Schedule of Quantities and Values Bid Preparation, Cost Estimating, Field Inspection using Daily Diary, Contract Items Quantity Inspection, Site Diary Export to Word/PDF and finally the Progress Tracking and Payment process to end the construction contract admin part of the process.

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Contact Details

Call or email me anytime to discuss the current Builterra MMCD Package offering to design and construction professionals in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.

Jeff Lyons, Partner, Director of Platform Innovation at Builterra.com

Cell: 1-289-928-8676

Email: jlyons@builterra.com

Web: www.builterra.com

avatar

Jeff Lyons

With over 20 years of experience in the municipal and land development sector, Jeff Lyons is dedicated to creating innovative civil engineering software solutions. As a founding partner and Director of Platform Innovation at Builterra, Jeff is a sought-after instructor and guest speaker who regularly engages with clients and associations to share insights that drive the industry forward. Jeff received his diploma in mining engineering technology from the Haileybury School of Mines (Northern College), and his diploma in geological technology (geophysics) from Sir Sandford Fleming College.

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