A classification table describes each classification. Thus, it contains a consolidated list of all classes and subclasses. Traditional classification systems have considered this list to be complete and will not need to be updated. But today we know that this assumption is entirely unrealistic. Modern classification systems – and CCI is one of them – are therefore designed to eliminate this finality. There is no other class, but if new unique objects arise that cannot be included in existing tables, a new appropriate class/subclass is created. Thus, modern systems can continue to evolve as knowledge develops.
The path to this approach has been opened by the international standard ISO: 12006-2:2001 and its revision ISO 12006-2:2015, which outlines in its part two a classification framework for an internationally acceptable classification model for the built environment. The structure proposed by this standard then corresponds to the individual classification tables as used by the CCI international classification system. The building spaces from which the building units emerge are therefore the basis. Several building units then form a building complex. For greater detail, a building unit is composed of building elements. A building element is represented in ISO 81346 by three components that specify its function in the building ensemble – the functional, technical, and structural parts. The CCI, with its 6 tables (construction complex, building units , spaces , technical systems, functional systems and components), therefore fully corresponds to this standard. It thus allows us to move towards a step-by-step digital model of the built environment.
Using the tables of the CCI International Classification System, we can comprehensively describe all buildings from the whole, through their spatial structure and systems to the individual detailed components. This includes interrelationships, so that software tools can then provide us with intuitive navigation through large buildings to selectively work with only the dataset we need for the current activity or decision.
This approach also allows us to subsequently add the features required for comparative analysis but also search and sort for all parts of the buildings according to the necessary detail (e.g. descriptions of technical systems or spaces).
The built environment model described in ISO 12006-2:2015, equipped with the CCI classification, thus allows to capture and describe the content of all building units throughout their entire life cycle.
In Europe, there is a common economic area of the European Union, which means that more and more cross-border trade is taking place in all areas of life. People from different cultures, speaking different languages, but also governed by different legislations, meet there. Therefore, it makes sense to look for an international language that allows the whole and its parts to be described identically. The CCI International Classification System is – following ISO 12006-2:2015 – designed to contain both basic tables common to all users of the classification model across countries and national tables that respect the specific needs of the construction sector in each country.
What is CCI
Life Cycle Classification System
Although every construction profession uses some sort of classification system today, it doesn’t make sharing information any easier. Classification is always subjective from a certain perspective, which is why it is common today to find that each profession uses a classification system tailored to its exact needs. However, this also means that at each stage of the construction life cycle, classification must be carried out again. The view of the designer can be (and is) always slightly different from that of, for example, the construction manager. The need to re-sort everything can mean many extra hours of work during the construction lifecycle. This would, of course, mean additional costs, and so it is common for the relevant profession not to have the information to work easily and quickly with only an identified part of the information. For various reports or decisions, the user then has to look up the necessary information again and again “manually”. This causes unnecessary delays and wastes time, while at the same time creating opportunities for many errors. To eliminate this and to work efficiently with the information, we need a common thin classification system used by all actors, across the entire construction life cycle.
But we can only achieve this by finding the “lowest common denominator”. Too robust classification systems give a lot of room for different perspectives, and so it happens that different professions classify the same thing differently. And, above all, they do not find their own in too much detail. Misunderstandings then arise when information is shared. A common classification system must therefore be relatively subtle and use a general rather than a detailed description. This also significantly eliminates the degree of popular creativity or indecision about whether a particular element belongs in Class A or B. Thus, while there are several hundred classes for a window in the Omniclass classification system and several dozen in Uniclass, the CCI international classification system has only a single class. Properties are then used to specify the window more precisely.
It is the properties of the data templates that are the space that is intended to capture the various needs to specify the subdivision of a class in more detail. Creating these properties for clearly identified uses and actors leads to the unlimited variability we need for sharing by all professions. These properties can then be used for special processes, analyses, reports or other uses. Given the capabilities of current technologies, the properties listed in data templates can be almost limitless, yet still, be effectively handled and used in searches. But at the same time, we have a subtle classification system. Thanks to that is there a good chance that every building profession at any stage of the building lifecycle will classify a feature the same way because they agree on its basic definition.
International standards are a prerequisite for successful cooperation
Classification allows us to recognize, distinguish and understand the same things in the same way. If we use a single classification system for the entire construction lifecycle, it will help us to share information across all the professions involved. But digitalization also brings with it globalization, and the construction industry is already opening up to international cooperation. At this point, however, it is even more difficult to find common ground – suddenly not only the different perspectives of individual professions come into play, but also different languages and different national requirements and conditions. It is therefore significant that the classification system used is as close as possible to international technical standards. These form an important common basis – most international standards are used in all developed countries (and not only in these).
The CCI International Classification System has been designed from the outset to enable transnational cooperation. It is therefore very closely based on the international standards ISO: 12006-2:2001/2015 and ISO/IEC 81346 series, as well as aligned with ISO 82045 series for naming conventions for documents. These standards are implemented and used in a number of European and non-European countries. They guarantee that the CCI classification system is based on their principles and will meet the basic requirements of the construction sector in each country. And as the CCI classification system tables are progressively localized into the languages of the countries, the classification system can be one way to bridge the language barrier.
An important step is now to start implementing the CCI International Classification System in cooperation with the software vendors and providers and application suppliers into their tools. This will make it much more accessible to users of different professions and will allow it to be used in pilot projects. Getting concrete feedback is the only way the CCI classification can be fine-tuned and updated. Our experts can bring this input to the ISO organization, and we can bring further enhancements to existing standards as well. At the same time, we must remember that technical standards are not created from a green table. They are essentially a capture of best practices, that is, best and tested practices that are agreed upon by the relevant industry sector. In the case of international ISO and EN standards, it is a synthesis of experience across several countries. That is why we can say that the CCI international classification system is based on the best practices of the construction sector across Europe and also meets its requirements.
CCI is and will be free. For everyone, forever
Using a uniform classification system at the national – or even international – level has its undeniable advantages. It allows information to be shared much more effectively across the entire lifecycle. This is because it ensures that the information contained in the digital building model is always understood in the same way. Even if it is used by a company that joins the project afterwards. But to expect everyone to use the same classification system, no barriers must prevent this. Not even financial ones. The need to pay licensing or royalty fees is undoubtedly such a barrier. Each company then naturally chooses the classification system that is most advantageous to it. But this complicates information sharing.
The CCI International Classification System was developed as a freely available system for precisely these reasons. And it is available to construction contractors and applications, as well as to users of all types – public and commercial. The license does not restrict the use of the CCI classification system by project type either. Anyone can download the current version of the CCI classification system from the CCIC website. It is not decisive whether they want to use it on their project(s) or implement it in their commercial software. Free availability is the unassailable foundation on which CCI is built.
Likewise, no membership or other fees are incurred by joining the international CCIC organization. All members can benefit from the work of all others. The creation and development of the classification tables in English is a joint effort by all, while the localization into a national language is purely at the discretion of the country representative.
The CCI classification system can be the basis for an ontology vocabulary
A classification system helps us to ensure that we understand and interpret the same things in the same way. This is important not only in the context of collaboration between the different construction professions but also in the context of legislation. In each country, there are often several dozen pieces of construction-related legislation. Many of these have been developed over time, reflecting the evolution and change of the industry as a whole. This is also reflected in the fragmentation of terminology – the same things can be referred to in different ways (for example, fence and fencing). The legal language used in legislative documents does not always meet the needs of construction practice and often does not take into account the digitisation of the legal text into structured data with clearly defined technical terms.
However, the interconnection of the same terms across national (and not only national) legislation is crucial for the digital future of construction. The terms are important for understanding human beings, but to take advantage of machine processing of information we need to translate these terms into machine-understandable code. And because machines cannot import as humans can, we need to ensure that synonyms, i.e. the same terms, are translated into the same code. Or, conversely, to specifically identify the differences, which, however, always need to be supported by precise definitions in which the difference is apparent. This is where classification can be a major help because with its help we can identify synonyms or differences and link or separate them with a classification code.
But we do not have to stay at the national level. For international contracts, translations into national languages also come into play. In this respect, the international nature of the CCI classification system is in a very unique position – not only can it ensure that different-sounding terms in laws and decrees are linked, but it can also help ensure that terms are linked across classification tables in different languages.
Thus, the CCI classification system can serve as the basis for national ontology dictionaries that help map individual terms and concepts within legislation and link them together. The aim of ontological dictionaries is not to forcibly unify terms, which is not feasible in a short time due to a large number of continuities, but to clearly and unambiguously list terms, their definitions, their sources and above all their links (synonyms). It is the creation of an ontological dictionary that is the way to unblock the frequent bottleneck in which the digital transformation process of construction often gets stuck. Then, the expert debate can lead to whether the definitions of terms can be merged in some cases because they are the same “object” (part) of a building, or whether there is a need to maintain a difference in meaning.
All the facts which are described above can be done thanks to the design of CCI which is fully aligned with ISO 704 – terminology work. Whole CCI classes are built on its definition, preferred name and examples.