DT Toolkit Report
DT Toolkit Report
DT Toolkit Report
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Writing an effective business plan is important for several reasons, including gaining buy-in, generating enthusiasm, raising
capital, and sustaining support for a digital twin initiative. Whether the intention is to build a new digital twin from scratch,
expand an existing initiative, or collaborate with an established organisation, building a business plan provides an opportunity to
thoroughly evaluate your digital twin early on. A clear plan will also enable stakeholders – namely, investors, managers, and the
people who control vital resources that are needed to initiate a digital twin – to assess the feasibility of the initiative in-question.
As such, the CDBB’s Digital Twin Toolkit is an important resource that can be leveraged to build a business plan for a future-
proofed digital twin initiative. Whilst this toolkit will not generate a digital twin for you, it does provide a set of principles that, if
followed, can foster a foundational environment for the development of scalable, extensible, and interoperable digital twins.
Its value is also in its interdisciplinary perspective. Over the last six months, I have witnessed first-hand the coming together of
diverse thought leaders, academics, industry experts from across the UK’s built environment. Drawing from multiple disciplinary
backgrounds in this way has driven a continuous learning experience, enabling those at the bleeding edge of the UK’s digital
twin ecosystem to learn from each other and co-design creative solutions to complex, interconnected challenges.
Looking to the future, my hope is that this report will provide an accessible resource for a wide cross-section of society. People
should feel empowered to test this toolkit, improve it, and take it further. In doing so, they will undoubtedly face hard questions-
especially during the early phases of each unique digital twin journey- yet a brighter future awaits those who do pose these
critical questions and seek to provide answers.
Tom Henderson
Programme Manager, Smart Infrastructure & Systems (Digital Twins & Smart Cities), techUK
Table of
I. What is a Digital Twin? 5
Contents A.
B.
Strategy & Planning
Managing Assets
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10
C. Assurance 11
VII. Glossary 27
4
CDBB / Digital Twin Hub Digital Twin Toolkit Report
This toolkit was created by members of the DT Hub with the intention to aid you and your team as you consider
the need for a digital twin and what it can be used for. The toolkit demonstrates their collective experience
in developing digital twins as well as the expertise they bring from within their roles and organisations. The
report will take you through some of the key considerations and steps in developing your digital twin and the
accompanying business case template (appendix 2) can be used to help you formally articulate your business
case for one.
The DT Hub is a community built on learning through doing and progress, whether as an organisation or as a
collective, by sharing lessons and experiences. This edition of the toolkit is the beginning of collecting shared
learning for the benefit of the whole community and we want to develop it further with your feedback. With this
toolkit, we are supporting the growth of connected digital twins.
I.
What is a Digital Twin?
Digital twins still mean different things to different people, but they all
share a common characteristic: data is at their core. The purpose of this
toolkit is to help organisations put together the business case for a digital
twin. It is not to determine whether you have a digital twin or not.
A digital asset where the physical twin may exist or may not yet exist (e.g. a model of an unbuilt tunnel);
A dynamic data connection between the physical twin and the digital twin. How this data is updated between the physical and
the digital will vary (e.g. sensors on a bridge informing predictive maintenance). It should be at the ‘right’ time, focusing on the
use case sought, and therefore does not necessarily need to be real time.
Digital twins can vary greatly in how complex they are – it all depends on the purpose to which they are put. The complexity
then relates to the requirements, the level of data access, the physical situation and the business case. Algorithms and ultimately
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be applied to make digital twins more sophisticated, more automated and to provide further
insights.
The key purpose of a digital twin is to enable better decisions faster, creating benefits through financial, environmental
or socio-economic value. They are not a new fad; they are an inevitable step on your data journey.
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Digital twins rely on a base level of information management maturity and connectivity. Having the right information
management processes in place will enable you to securely connect your digital twin to others and reap the benefits
of data sharing.
The upfront costs required to acquire and manage your data can be a challenge to accurately estimate and will be dependent
on your organisation’s level of information management maturity and that of any third party you depend upon for data. The
Information Management Framework, being developed under the National Digital Twin programme, will help to reduce the
overall costs of connecting digital twins by using one framework rather than many, so that each organisation does not have to
reinvent the wheel.
You do not need a complete data set to benefit. This toolkit is intended to help organisations put together the business case for a
digital twin and get started on their journey, wherever they are at.
A clear purpose for the digital twin; a use case or use cases
The ability to use the digital twin to influence decisions and consequent interventions
A way of connecting your digital twin with other digital twins to generate added insights and benefits
(Optional) Imagination for what your digital twin could be developed to achieve in the future
The mission of the National Digital Twin programme is to enable the National Digital Twin, an ecosystem of connected digital
twins that will deliver better outcomes from the built environment for society. The Information Management Framework (IMF)
currently under development will be the underpinning structure of the National Digital Twin, defining a common means by
which digital twins of the built and natural environment can communicate securely and effectively to support improved decision
making by those operating, maintaining and using built assets and the services they provide to society. CDBB published in May
2020 the Pathway towards an Information Management Framework report, which proposes three building blocks to form the IMF:
The Foundation Data Model – a consistent, clear understanding of what constitutes the world of digital twins
The Reference Data Library – the particular set of classes and the properties we will want to use to describe our digital twins
The Integration Architecture – the protocols that will enable the managed sharing of data
By setting out a framework for connecting digital twins, the IMF will reduce the overall cost of point to point connections (bespoke,
localised data-sharing connections between digital twins) and will improve the quality, consistency and security of data-sharing
across sectors with greater resilience and agility. The Information Management Framework is a work in progress and CDBB invites
you to help collaborate on its development.
Stakeholders
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Ecosystem of connected
digital twins
Figure 2. Digital twins will realise their real potential when we ensure people are part of the process and digital twins are
connected in a secure way, such as through the Information Management Framework
The applications of digital technologies in their many forms can deliver unexpected
results. To help make your DT journey a success, we recommend to:
Align your aspiration and reality: your organisation needs to understand what the technology can and cannot do
Understand the impact that the technology will have on organisational processes
Communicate the goals of the project across the business chain and ensure there is sufficient leadership in place to achieve
‘buy in’ for the technology application
Mitigate the risk of competing centers of power and finance which have differing objectives
Recognise the roles that the supply chain and customers will have in a successful deployment
Ensure the supply chain has the right level of digital development to undertake the required participation
Prepare your infrastructure for the adoption of the digital technology and make sure that the associated cost, complexity
and the time to make ready are understood
Organise and equip employees with the right skills and mindset
It’s important to bear all of this in mind so you are best equipped for your DT journey.
II.
Use Case Framework
Investing in a digital twin is rarely a single, one-time effort. It involves setting up a digital asset that can evolve and grow to
answer new questions that arise over the lifecycle of the thing(s) it represents. The starting point is the original purpose of the
digital twin, the use it is being developed for. The toolkit team examined a wide range of digital twin use cases and narrowed
them down to three high-level use case areas.
Optimisation – future
Safety and resilience
Predictive maintenance Managing
Assurance • Certification
assets • Fire safety
Operations – current
• Calculating resilience levels
Control of autonomous systems
Digital twins may be developed to inform government policy, an organisation’s strategy or to plan the construction of a new asset.
For example, a local authority might need information about the current housing stock and infrastructure to inform decisions on new
housing developments. Developing a digital twin of the region allows them to incur minimal environmental impact and to plan for
augmented infrastructure services, such as water and sewage, electricity supply, broadband coverage and transport connectivity.
Or a private company considering a merger with another company would need to identify what the benefits and costs could
be. This use case area focuses on the system level view and may use multiple data sets spanning multiple organisations to piece
together the system level view.
Such digital twins support multi-criteria decision making, looking for trade-offs in the face of different values and preferences. It
is a collaborative decision-making tool, exposing a range of optimum choices for interested parties to consider. For a corporation,
they might consider the impact across a whole enterprise. For a government, across a whole region. They reduce uncertainty to
a level that makes forecasting trusted and meaningful. The time window of interest can be months, quarters, years or decades,
reflecting the different pressures on affordability, technology & data readiness, social-economic impact and the environment.
These are more than digital planning tools. They exploit operational feedback from a range of data sources to continually update
and improve the cost and benefit estimates of different options.
B. Managing assets
Digital twins may be developed to improve the performance, availability and safety of assets, processes and enterprises. These
digital twins consider how assets are used and degrade over their lifecycle, supporting different approaches to maintenance, repair
and overhaul. These are typically used to support ‘capital versus operating’ expenditure decisions, balancing cost and future revenue.
There are two approaches that are typically taken in developing these digital twins, either bottom-up or top-down.
Bottom-up is starting with particular assets and building up to a more comprehensive whole. Top-down is starting with the whole
and breaking it down into the particular assets over time.
Optimisation Operation
C. Assurance
Digital twins may be developed to provide assurance for the safety and resilience of an asset, process or system. For example, digital
twins may be able to provide certification of levels of safety for buildings to comply with building regulations.
These digital twins normally rely upon physical models and strong probabilistic methods to forecast expected behaviour with
a high level of certainty. The forecasting window may be months, years or decades, with certainty reducing over time. This use
case has tremendous importance in periods of great technological, social and environmental change. It is also important when
seeking life extension of high value assets that are used in critical applications.
Such assurance digital twins are used in aviation. Detailed 3D models of aircraft are created and used for a variety of uses including
manufacturing, assembly and validation and verification for certification. Physical testing is used to verify the simulations and then
real time data from the in service aircraft is used to update models which can impact on the aircrafts safety, projected life, model
changes or replacement. The digital twin is continuously enhanced along with the aircraft.
A digital twin of a regional electric vehicle (EV) charging network might cover all three use case areas:
Managing Assurance
assets
It is likely that a digital twin will align to a primary, intended use case area based on business drivers, however, it may indirectly cover
other use cases. For example, in managing assets for life extension purposes, there will be assurance and compliance benefits.
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Ecosystem of connected
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Figure 6. Defining the use case and the data required is essential to developing a digital twin that helps to solve
the problem identified
Feedback from asset owners on the digital twin use case framework
A group of Chief Data Officers and Senior Data Leaders across look at resource optimisation to aid strategy and operational
a number of different organisations and sectors discussed the decision making; energy consumption and optimisation
Use Case Framework, alongside the planned and implemented contributing to better decision making around utilisation and
digital twin use cases within their businesses. There was general carbon emissions; and the optimisation of assets through their
consensus that the Use Case Framework resonated with each lifecycle to enable more efficient operation and maintenance.
organisation. A useful extension talked about space (a hierarchy
from asset to ecosystem), time (days to decades), and certainty A key component that touches on all aspects of the Use Case
(greater with better data and high fidelity) which helped to frame Framework is how we as humans interact with the environment.
where both individual and connected twins play their part. What role do people play at different stages in the lifecycle, for
example people who are creating, planning and operating.
Whilst most organisations represented are on their own ‘digital Modelling and understanding this behaviour will enable better
twin journey’, there are examples of digital twins in operation that societal outcomes.
When explaining the purpose of a digital twin, we find that it is helpful to start with one of these areas to set the context before
drilling down into the detail. We set out the following use cases to demonstrate examples:
Use of water and waste Exploit a flow model between sources & destinations to identify hotspots across the
network models (plan for future network in which there is an actual or forecast likelihood of leaks, standing water
investment) and water quality problems. Feed the model with data from sensors embedded in
water treatment plants, sub-stations and elsewhere on the water network in order
to adapt and keep the model current. Target investment in maintenance and new
capital equipment based upon the forecasting from the digital twin over different
investment periods.
City wide digital twin for Optimise traffic light sequencing to reduce congestion and journey times in the
transport modelling context of normal and disrupted roads.
Data sharing for infrastructure Combine and sequence work when roads are partially or fully closed to minimise
construction / co-working in disruption. Optimise the number and duration of closures in an area.
same location
Optimisation and resiliency Consider the likely outcomes and associated economic & political capital costs
planning for scenarios (e.g. of policy choices and interventions.
post-COVID, public outrage)
Land use policy / density Combine historical and current data (ONS etc) to forecast profitability,
capability productivity and environmental impact of different land use choices to support
collaborative decision-making from a range of interested parties with different
values and preferences.
Impacts of climate change Create a regional map of the UK. Superimpose historical and projected climate
information and weather data. Characterise state and behaviour of industrial and
residential areas in the context of local environmental conditions. Use this digital
twin to forecast risk and change and evaluate mitigating interventions.
Managing assets
Predictive maintenance / stress Create digital twins of expensive and critical assets that use available real-time
testing of existing assets / performance data as surrogates for monitoring degradation and residual life. Exploit
optimisation of assets this data to manage a condition-based repair, maintenance and overhaul strategy
that is specific to individual assets.
Monitoring real versus virtual Create a digital twin of a construction site and update on a regular basis using
construction / development images from fixed and drone-mounted cameras and other data sources. Use the
DT to adapt daily plans for the site, taking account of deliveries to the site (such as
cement trucks), demands upon critical equipment (such as cranes) and deviations
from planned activities.
Balance supply and demand Exploit a digital twin of the transmission and distribution power networks that
of power networks / curing includes generators, storage and consumers. Incorporate models of the behaviours
and reducing outage(s) of the different consumers to help balance the supply and demand.
Maintenance of key and critical Develop a coarse system model of the infrastructure with high fidelity modelling of
infrastructure key and critical assets and components, fed with data from sensors, inspections and
simulations. Exploit physics, empirical relationships and probabilistic approaches
to create a trusted picture of the condition of the infrastructure and safe timing of
maintenance to deliver acceptable performance and availability.
Cross pollination of various data Exploit a digital twin based upon knowledge graphs that map the relationships
sets (e.g. weather); scenario between physical and abstract things (such as an asset and an event) in order to
planning make sense of different data sets. Physical or empirical models, where available, are
incorporated to reduce the uncertainty.
Assurance
Health & Safety / regulatory Use digital twin of an asset or process to explore the likely outcomes of a range of
compliance of asset (and different operating decisions and conditions in order to collect a body of evidence
changes required to maintain to support a comprehensive safety case. Real and simulated data can be combined
compliance) to provide evidence faster and more cost-effectively, provided the digital twin is a
trusted representation of the real asset or process in all important respects.
Golden thread / risk Maintain an enterprise-wide digital twin that forecasts outcomes and trends over
management / future-proofing medium to long term horizons, but permits drilling down in more detail in local
areas of activity to predict likely behaviour and risks. The golden thread is the base
modelling and data feeds that underpin the digital twin and on which other real
and virtual data may be associated.
Product failure / fatigue and Establish a digital twin that considers long term failure modes, such as fatigue, creep
early stage diagnosis and corrosion, and relates measurable or inspectable quantities to likely residual
life. The digital twin may be used to establish degradation in the face of changing
operating conditions and duty cycles and so provide the basis for life extension or
performance change decisions.
Pipe burst / leak detection / air Exploit digital twins to interpret data from surrogates, such as weather data,
quality water temperature, gas sensors, etc. to detect unwelcome deviations, and hence
deterioration, from acceptable norms.
Virtual training; on the job VR / Use digital twins to permit people to make decisions and interventions, and observe
AR etc the outcomes and potential costs, in a safe environment. The digital twin can
operate in parallel with the real assets and processes when not in use, to ensure that
it is kept up to date, and then operated offline for training purposes.
Common data / standards Use the digital twin to deliver standard metadata and metrics from different
assets and processes to enable comparisons and benchmarking across and
between enterprises.
III.
Case studies
In the appendix we set out an overview of a smart energy digital twin. Please see the DT Hub case study register for the
full case study.
IV.
Business case
You have established the purpose of your digital twin and you have some
examples to show this is possible and worthwhile, but how do you examine
the costs and benefits of developing the digital twin and consolidate this
into a business case?
The HMT Green Book five case model is an effective guide, outlining how to build your case. We suggest also using the
‘desirability, feasibility, viability’ approach when framing the need for a digital twin:
Desirability is strategic case and fit. This is the use cases and the reasons for change.
Feasibility is the financial & management considerations, such as affordability and practicality. What needs doing, and in what
order, and at what cost, to deliver the value.
Viability is the socio-economic & commercial factors. Value for money & achievability. Achievability includes, amongst other
things, considers the issue of identifying and securing sustainable access to the data and algorithms required for success.
Quantifying value for money is a crucial step in justifying the investment. After all, the digital twin can be an expensive asset
delivering value over a number of years. The 5 Capitals Model offers a template for profiling value1:
A prerequisite for developing the detailed business case may be getting buy-in from the rest of your organisations or from
specific teams.
A Microsoft Word Template (Appendix 2) has been developed to help you put together the business case for your digital twin.
V.
Recommendations for the DT journey
The easiest digital twin journeys start with good information management. Implementing the right changes now can cut costs in
the long-run. If you’re relying on your own organisation’s data, then the old adage of garbage in, garbage out applies. An integral
step is aligning with the standards and “rules of the game” set through the Information Management Framework. The National
Digital Twin programme will set out further steps organisations can take to ensure they are adhering to best practice. For now, it
is helpful to bear the Gemini principles2 in mind that digital twins should have purpose, trust and function, and be based on high
quality data.
Most organisations will have multiple potential use cases for digital twins, some of which are more important, urgent or feasible
(or indeed all three) than others. To make a solid business case for investment, it is important to first prioritise the use case that
the business case is built on. This is even more pronounced for a digital twin (or federated digital twins) that represents a whole
system, where the needs of multiple stakeholders must be balanced (and therefore some stakeholders may only address their
second or third priority use case). Prioritisation of use cases requires an assessment framework that considers a range of metrics.
One such framework was published recently by the Connected Places Catapult3, which includes five relevant criteria.
Criteria Description
Decision support times Will the use case demonstrate the ability to support decision making within operational
timelines?
Efficiency Will the use case demonstrate viability/efficiency gains in existing processes/operations?
Data availability Whether the relevant data exists or to enable testing the use case
Strategic Alignment Does the use case align with key imperatives – levelling up, net zero or post-COVID recovery?
The key use case(s) will inform the technical features of the digital twin itself; but there are several overarching features that
make any digital twins more attractive for investment. The same report by Connected Places Catapult considers six criteria for
assessment of the digital twin itself:
Criterion Description
Data exchange Does it have the ability to ingest real-time data to enable the use case to be tested in real-time ?
Prototype Is it easy to prototype and incrementally develop through Technology Readiness Levels?
An important consideration, which is rarely part of the business case, is “will my digital twin be connectable with other digital
twins?”. The business case may address this for connecting digital twins within the organisation and although that is to be
encouraged, it may not consider whether the digital twin is connectable with external digital twins and what the benefits
of that may be.
For example, if a digital twin of a communications network is ultimately connected to a digital twin of the electricity network and
the EV charging network then the benefits of doing so (the communications network facilitating the efficiency of the EV charging
network and the electricity network enabling energy to be available where it is needed for both the communications network
and EV charging network) will not be captured in the original business case, so the original business case underestimates the
value of the DT to the organisation and to other organisations.
Digital twins can be used for different purposes and the level of sophistication required will depend upon what you need the
digital twin for. Here we present an overview of the levels of sophistication.
What is happening to
Capability Key questions Considerations
the data?
Descriptive
Informative
Generating Why did it happen? Data analytics using Quality and completeness of data, especially
insights through advanced digital when fusing multiple data sets. Fused data will be
aggregating & techniques as good as the lowest-quality input (if not a little
analysing data worse), so consistency of quality is almost more
important than quality of any one dataset
Predictive
Real time What will happen? Data science & machine Same as previous considerations, plus:
monitoring & learning
prediction Is it appropriate to the use case?
Prescriptive
Prescriptive What should I do? Predictive Simulation, Bias in datasets needs to be recognised and
analytics optimisation & AI based corrected for
to propose learning
interventions
Run ‘ what if ‘ scenarios IP ownership – if the DT uses proprietary
and measure against true algorithms based on closed data from different
outcomes. organisations, who owns the insights?
Cognitive
Autonomously What actions can be Decision automation Large data sets to learn from, Robotic Process
taking some of taken automatically, based upon prediction Automation / Business Process Management to
the actions & within defined (ML, DL & IV) push data in to operational context
interventions boundaries?
People, Processes and Technology combined to deliver
This roadmap can be used as a checklist to guide you along the main steps of the digital twin journey. It is not yet the definitive
guide to developing digital twins and we welcome your feedback to improve this version.
1. Define your digital strategy at the Executive digital strategy definition setting vision
organisational level and understand your level of success
of organisational information maturity
Operational strategies
Cultural acceptance
2. Understand the problem you want to solve Knowledge harvesting and evaluation
and describe the use case(s). Use the use case
framework to help identify the potential use Use case(s) ideation and prioritisation
cases. Engage with the right people to help
identify the use case (e.g. internal and external Outline of the data and information requirements to
stakeholders). Make use of the prioritisation inform the business case (these will be developed
framework outlined above. Define the specific further at a later stage)
use case you want your digital twin to focus on
Understanding organisation / project environment
and your high level information requirements
and establishing key project outcomes and priorities
3. Define the type of DT needed: descriptive, Can be one or all types depending upon level
informative, predictive, prescriptive and/or of sophistication required, see sophistication
cognitive level diagram
5. Define the project plan and KPI baselines Project plans and KPI baselines
(What could we do?)
Corrective action, escalation and team communication
plans
Potential barriers
8. Appoint Team and make roles and Data ownership & Access Rights (internal and external
responsibilities with respect to the data to your organisation)
clear. Define what will be provided by
whom and when. Liabilities
9. Sort out the design and architecture of the See type of DT developed (descriptive, informative,
model of the real system. Use data to train, predictive, prescriptive and/or cognitive)
validate and verify the model.
10. Apply data aggregation, data analytics, See type of DT developed (descriptive, informative,
machine learning, predictive simulation, predictive, prescriptive and/or cognitive)
run what if scenarios, decision automation
depending upon what type of digital twin you
are building.
11. Establish performance and condition metrics See type of DT developed (descriptive, informative,
for assessing the outcomes of interventions predictive, prescriptive and/or cognitive)
This is where the magic happens. Sharing data across departments, organisations and sectors will yield benefits we cannot
even imagine at this point in time. This makes it harder to make a complete business case, as the up-front cost may not be set
against the full range of benefits that can be expected. Once those benefits do become apparent, you should revisit your original
business case. Some will be internal to the organisation and some will be public as we all benefit from better information, better
decisions and less waste. Just imagine how your digital twin can contribute to the realisation of net zero targets.
The National Digital Twin programme sets the vision for the National Digital Twin as outlined in ‘Data for the Public Good4’ where
data can be shared securely across organisations through an ecosystem of connected digital twins. The ongoing development
of the Information Management Framework sets out the common language and standards for data to connect digital twins. Over
time, aligning your approach to data and information management with the Information Management Framework will enable
you to seamlessly but securely connect your digital twin with other digital twins.
G. Legal guidance
There are legal considerations in developing a digital twin which should not be ignored. The following list is not exhaustive, but
provides an idea of what you need to address:
Do parties’ contractual documents contain express clauses or content that deal with the following as a minimum:
1. Responsibility: What are the main activities/roles/responsibilities - have these been allocated? (For example, responsibility
for checking and updating content/data, responsibility for the frequency of such updates and quality of the content/data,
responsibility for storage/back-ups/security, what are each parties’ roles in setting up and inputting to the digital twin and for
how long)
2. Liability: Make a list of what could realistically go wrong – has all the potential liability been allocated and/or appropriate
caps on liability inserted? (For example, liability for consequences of errors in the data, corruption of the data and/or gaps in
the data within the digital twin; liability for accidental or wrongful sharing of data or the digital twin)
3. IP Rights/Copyright: Who owns the data within the digital twin, and the digital twin itself? Do other parties have sufficient
rights/licences to use the data, and when should these rights cease (For example, should the project team’s rights cease on
project completion but the client’s rights to all data continue in perpetuity)
4. Data Restrictions: Will there be any personal data stored/potentially contained within the digital twin and connected data,
and what data laws need to be complied with? Does the client or other parties have any restrictions/requirements on data
location which limits where the digital twin and data can be stored, e.g. are there requirements for data to remain within a
certain jurisdiction?
5. T
echnical Specifications: Have appropriate minimum hardware and software requirements been specified to ensure all
parties can participate without delay throughout the process, including any storage and security requirements? This includes
considering obligations to update software/use updated versions of software to avoid interoperability problems of parties
using different software versions. Are there requirements for parties to maintain the necessary cloud platform or other
appropriate licences to access the selected data storage platform?
6. Security and Integrity: When do parties’ responsibility for the data cease, e.g. who is responsible for unintended
amendments, alterations and/or corruption of the data, and have processes been put in place to record/evidence if and when
such amendment, alteration or corruption takes place? Who is responsible to ensure the data remains secure, including
during upload or transfer (For example, should all parties be obliged to implement certain cyber security procedures and
should there be specifications on the secure storage systems to be used)
Have the parties set up/will they be setting up the following processes to facilitate the efficacy of the contractual framework:
1. A
re there sufficient processes in place to keep records of data issued and maintain backups?
2. W
ill all relevant staff receive sufficient training in advance, and will there be processes for knowledge sharing, update reports
and lessons learnt reports between the project team and client?
3. Is it clear who will have access to the data and systems/platforms? What processes are in place to prevent/avoid wrongful
access (For example, avoiding sharing of usernames/passwords and removing access as soon as an employee or party leaves)
4. H
ave all parties checked their insurance cover with their brokers to confirm their participation is covered by their professional
indemnity insurance?
Discuss all the above with your professional advisers to ensure your contractual framework deals with the new issues arising from
digital twins, to avoid misunderstandings or differing expectations.
DT Project Governance
Project governance needs to be positively managed throughout the digital project from the strategy creation to implementation.
This is necessary due to the potential complexity, cost and impact of the digital implementations throughout the organisation.
Key requirements:
Formal buy in for plans and hard Go/NoGoreviews with remedial action planning
Creation of a communication plan for the full business chain with feedback reporting and action planning for issues
E arly determination of the IT/OT interfaces, choice or platforms, linkage to existing systems/review of existing systems
capability,etc
Training plans
Early determination of supply chain and client capability and involvement in the project
VI.
Next steps
Whilst this toolkit won’t generate a digital twin for you, it will hopefully set
you on the right track to developing a digital twin.
This report has been produced as a collaboration of diverse minds across the Digital Twin Hub to bring together guidance on
how to get started. Like any toolkit, it makes sense to start with the basics and add in more tools as we go along. We need people
to test this toolkit, improve it and to take it further. Please contact us at [email protected] to get involved.
VII.
Glossary
This section lists key terms mentioned in this report and their acceptance in the
context of the DT toolkit:
Asset: an asset is any resource of value to an organisation. Assets can be physical, such as buildings, machinery and equipment,
or digital, such as software, databases and IT systems.5
Business Case: a business case is a structured future-looking proposal, aiming at justifying the future implementation of a
project / solution. As set out in this report, a business case:
Sets out value for money by quantifying expected outcomes (benefits and costs)
Case Study: a case study is a backward-looking description of the implementation of a solution. It outlines the initial
expectations and potential triggers to launch the project, the journey (steps taken, blockers encountered, enablers), the solution
itself (data, technology involved …), the learnings, and final outcomes (costs and benefits). A case study may be referred to as a
use case scenario and may reference use cases.
Connection (between the asset and digital twin): the connection between the asset and digital twin is a flow of data which can
travel in both directions. Data from the asset is sent to the digital twin, while insights generated by the twin can be fed back to
facilitate improvements to the asset. The latter connection may involve a human-in-the-loop. For a digital twin to provide up-to-date
information about the asset, the connecting data stream should be regularly updated to reflect the asset’s current situation.
Data readiness: An organisation’s preparation towards implementing effective data solutions. This means ensuring the
completeness, integrity and accessibility of company data. Data readiness can also include changes to an organisation’s data
culture, and employee engagement or education.
Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability (DFV) Model: a business analysis strategy that considers the ideal innovation process
at the intersection of desirability, feasibility and viability to assess the value of a business model; desirability refers to providing
solutions that customers really want and need, a feasible solution is one that builds on the strengths of the organisation’s current
operational capabilities, and a viable solution is one which comes up with a sustainable business model.6
Digital Strategy: a digital strategy focuses on improving business performance through technology and information
management. This could mean utilising new technologies, or upgrading existing digital assets.
Digital Twin: a digital twin can be described as a realistic digital representation of assets, processes or systems; what makes it a
twin is the data connection between digital and physical.7
Digital Twin Hub (DT Hub): the CDBB has established the Digital Twin Hub (DT Hub), a community to foster communication,
connections and collaboration between digital twin practitioners within the built environment dedicated to exploring and
unlocking the potential of digital twins.
Five Capitals Model: a sustainability framework that allows an organisation to develop a vision of what sustainability looks like
for its own operations, products and services. The vision is developed by considering what an organisation needs to do in order
to maximise the value of each capital.8
Five Case Model: the HMT five case model provides guidance to support the development of a holistic and compelling business
case covering the strategic, economic, financial, management and commercial cases. It helps the owner to systematically
consider and present the impact of the new technology.9
Gemini Principles: the mission of the National Digital Twin programme is to enable the National Digital Twin, an ecosystem
of connected digital twins that will deliver better outcomes from the built environment. The Gemini Principles are the ‘conscience’
of the National Digital Twin: nine guiding values, to build consensus for the development and ongoing evolution of the National
Digital Twin. The principles create alignment within the programme and keep the focus firmly on the overall objective which
is to deliver genuine public good. The Gemini Principles have been welcomed around the world, as they provide a framework
for ensuring digital strategies and digital twins have clear purpose, are trustworthy, function effectively and also consider
future connectivity.
Information Management Framework (IMF): The mission of the National Digital Twin programme is to enable the National
Digital Twin, an ecosystem of connected digital twins that will deliver better outcomes from the built environment. The
Information Management Framework currently under development will be the underpinning structure of the National Digital
Twin, defining a common language by which digital twins of the built and natural environment can communicate securely and
effectively to support improved decision taking by those operating, maintaining and using built assets and the services they
provide to society. CDBB published in May 2020 the Pathway towards an Information Management Framework report, which
proposes three building blocks to form the IMF:
The Foundation Data Model – a consistent, clear understanding of what constitutes the world of digital twins
The Reference Data Library – the particular set of classes and the properties we will want to use to describe our digital twins
The Integration Architecture – the protocols that will enable the managed sharing of data.
Interoperability: It is the ability of two or more systems to exchange information and to use the information that has
been exchanged.7
Predictive Maintenance: The practice of actively recording and analysing data incoming from an asset, with the view to
detecting potential anomalies or defects so that maintenance interventions can be performed prior to failure.
Real Time / Right Time (connection between the asset and the digital twin): A concept stating that how often the data
connection between the asset and digital twin is updated, should be at the ‘right’ time, focusing on the use case sought, and
therefore does not necessarily need to be real time.
Use Case: A use case defines the purpose of a digital twin. It includes the description of the problem an organisation is seeking
to address and of the outcomes an organisation aims to achieve through the implementation of a specific solution. A use case
outlines the motivation to use the solution.
Footnotes
1
Construction Innovation Hub (2020) “An Introduction to the Value Toolkit”
2
Bolton, A. et al. (2018) “The Gemini Principles: Guiding values for the national digital twin and information management framework”.
Centre for Digital Built Britain and Digital Framework Task Group
3
Connected Places Catapult (2020) “Place-based Digital Twins: use cases”
4
National Infrastructure Commission (n.d.) “Data for the Public Good”
5
Gürdür Broo, D. et al. (2020) “Four Futures, One Choice: Options for the Digital Built Britain of 2040”. Cambridge: Centre for Digital Built
Britain.
⁶ Jayakumar, T. et al. (2019) “Design thinking: a working strategy for the third sector”. Journal of Business Strategy, 40(5), pp. 28-38.
⁷ Burgess, G. et al. (2020) “Flourishing Systems: Re-envisioning infrastructure as a platform for human flourishing”. Cambridge: Centre for
Digital Built Britain and Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction.
⁸ Forum for the Future (2018) “The Five Capitals Model: a framework for sustainability”
⁹ HM Treasury (2020) The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation
VIII. APPENDIX 1
Overview of a smart energy digital twin
The key purpose was to address the challenge of heat decarbonisation, thus minimising the reliance on households’ use of gas and
oil for heating requirements. It is also to explore alternative efficient energy technologies such as ground source heat pumps, air
source heat pumps, use of mine water as a centralised source of heat, and decentralised energy systems including hybrid systems.
Buro Happold methodology for the development and deployment of digital twin solutions is based on seven integrated modules
of Data and Information governance, data warehouse, automation, computation and analytics, visualisation, data integration and
interoperability, and technology infrastructure including software. The core of the modules is data and information governance
and data warehousing. Through the data governance framework, we use a hierarchy of data and information governance layers
that includes global data laws and standards e.g. ISO19650, GDPR, organisational data principles, values, and data governance
pillars. The governance pillars encompass data dictionaries, taxonomies, and ontologies including requirements for the energy
domain, data security, protection and confidentiality, versioning, data retention and archiving, etc. As such, any smart energy
project data specifications are routed through the governance framework to manage the data in a data warehouse in which the
other modules revolve.
IX. APPENDIX 2
Business case template
A Microsoft Word document has been developed to help you put together the business case for your digital twin. This can be
accessed via Resources on the DT Hub Website. Sign in or register to access this template via the DT Hub.
L @CambridgeCDBB
i Centre for Digital Built Britain