The German ZEB is an example of the practical implementation of the general BIM approach described in the BS 1192:2007 and ISO 19650:2018 standards for monitoring and managing road infrastructure data. Both the general information management requirements formulated in these regulations (e.g., deriving the requirements for condition data from the organizational goals of the operator) and technical solutions (such as CDE) are used here.
This also follows an important principle of digitalization that is highlighted in several places in ISO 19650, namely an approach that is as broad as possible and not limited to large projects. It is namely expected that the solutions applied always correspond to the dimensions of the respective project. Considering this basic principle, scaling both the ZEB process and the data management requirements is not only possible, but necessary. Thus, the CDE/OnKo solution could be successfully applied for large projects on federal highways with over 30,000 lines-km as well as for small and micro projects on county, municipality or concession level with a length of a few hundred kilometers.
The high flexibility of the ZEB approach due to the central position of the GEO raw data and the simultaneously flexible and service-oriented architecture of the CDE/OnKo platform made it possible to implement this platform into the IT environment of the existing database systems of different operators after completion of the ZEB project. Thus, CDE/OnKo could be used as a platform for the intersection and visualization of condition data in the combination of inventory, traffic, measures and other data not only in Baden-Württemberg, but also by road infrastructure operators in other countries such as Austria (ASFINAG), Portugal (Infraestructuras de Portugal) or China (JSTI).
One of the principles of modern asset management is the need to continuously validate the technology and, above all, to verify that it is in line with the current objectives and strategies of the operator's organization. This, and also the need to reflect the current state of the art, results in the requirement to continuously improve the respective solution, even if it is working error-free at the moment. This is only possible in close and cooperative partnership with the client (operator), who is responsible for implementing the operating strategy.