This leads to a rising need in the construction sector for the definition of processes and instruments devoted to overcoming the current digital approach, towards a more inclusive vision. The introduction of these changes, however, must not dramatically increase the required efforts in terms of time, costs and competencies with reference to the personnel involved in the process. One of the key points for the successful introduction of IT systems is indeed the alignment between the competencies of the personnel and the requirements of the IT \citep{Enkovaara_Heikkonen_Tapionen_1998}. This brief paper presents the main line of our Ph.D. research project, exploring the high-level architecture of the system which development represents the final goal of the research and providing the achieved results and the future activities of the project. In particular, the paper follows the progressive steps that have contributed to the definition of the actual vision of the project. Thus, we present the architecture of the system in the simplest case of one project environment. Then, starting from this first approach we present a wider vision and the real objectives of the project describing the use of the system in a multi-project environment and introducing the possible extension of the project in a multi-country environment.
RESEARCH METHODS
The main aim of our research is to establish and develop a Digital Collaboration Platform including the related components, with particular reference to rules and specifications. The high-level structure that is defined in this first study has been defined through a progressive development approach, starting from the fundamental needs and then enriching the structure with additional components. The paper follows this process illustrating the embryonic schema of the platform and its evolution during these years of research. Starting from this high level of abstraction, the research is structured in different tasks related to the development of singular homogeneous parts of the system, namely the CDE of sharing, the Privacy Layer, the Layer of Deconstruction and the Digital Collaboration Platform Figure \ref{564422}, including also possible interaction rules between the different parts. Defined all the component of the platform, the final task concerns the unification of the rules in a global structure with established specifications and processes.
SINGLE-PROJECT ENVIRONMENT
Starting from the model in its native form3, it is possible to deconstruct the database that constitutes the model itself extracting all the data referred to the elements contained. For example, any standard relational database can be transformed in a graph schema \citep{DellaValle_Celino_Cerizza_2009} as already demonstrated with the IFC-RDF translator \citep{Pauwels_Oraskari_2015}. This process can include the reorganisation of the extracted data creating a new database that results more effective and efficient. The new database can work without a graphical representation of the data contained (even if there are several studies devoted to the inclusion of geometrical information in different structures, e.g. RDF schema \citep{Pauwels_Krijnen_Terkaj_Beetz_2017} ). Furthermore, it can follow a different structure that is not bounded to the existing ones proposed by actual software (traditionally a relational database with a complex and inefficient structure). This procedure can be performed through the introduction of a “layer of deconstruction” (Figure \ref{853156}) able to explode the model extracting, deconstructing and then reconfiguring all the data in it contained. In this first analysis, it will be assumed that the process works in only one direction, from the model to the data environment and not vice versa. The study of a structured turnover has been omitted because of the focus of the platform that in this first form is about the analysis and the use of the data provided without altering the data itself. Figure \ref{593360} shows a composite schema where the introduction of a sharing environment allows the data exchanging in a single-project environment.