SharePoint for BIM

Overview: Building Information Modelling (BIM) Enterprise Document Management Systems are expensive.  I decided to use SharePoint instead, as we already have SharePoint licencing, security is approved, and it works with Entra MFA.  SharePoint offers great API's and is well-known and easy to manage.  Lastly, I got much better performance from SharePoint than the other two dedicated Doc Mgm Systems I evaluated.

Concerns:

• BIM version, numbering, and workflows: No issues seen; merely need a simple workflow
• Web Viewer for CAD files

Advantages:

• Part of the Microsoft ecosystem
• Free, as we all have E3 licences
• Users know how to use and manage SharePoint, so no training is required
• SaaS is running and is part of our business SLA, with 99.9% uptime.  SharePoint has an active-active architecture, built-in backups and data is stored in multiple locations
• Reduced setup and no external 3rd party requiring contracts and approvals.  No supplier has nearly as many compliance assertions including ISO27001, SOC1, SOC2, SOC3, GDPR, 
• Security is already ready with the client Entra userbase with MFA.  DLP and sensitivity labels.   Great built-in data residency, audit logs and retention policies.  File Sync is super helpful in working with large CAD files, especially in remote locations.  All data is encrypted at rest and in transit.
• SharePoint is widely used in construction projects.  Customers and third parties can securely access SharePoint Online for central collaboration.
• Mobile-friendly, tool-friendly, management-friendly approach to BIM.

<ProjectCode>-<CreatedDivision/Partnercode>-<DocType>-<Discipline/Category>-<IncrementNo>

BLD123-MACE-CAD-ELE-00001

HLD Architecture Designs for Finding SharePoint File data

 SharePoint data source using Microsoft Foundry to build an Agent

Edge Computing Notes (IoT)

WIP

Edge Computing is where computing is done close to IoT devices and machines/PLCs.  Basically, if it happens on the "edge" of your network.  The processing occurs on local devices, gateways, or edge servers near IoT sensors, cameras, or machines.

Low Latency: Ideal for applications like autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, and AR/VR.

Bandwidth Efficiency: Only relevant data is sent to the cloud, reducing costs.

Reliability: Systems can continue functioning even with intermittent connectivity.

Over the past few weeks, I ordered a Raspberry Pi, which I intend to use for processing data from remote IoT sensors, namely Cameras, LiDAR, and temperature.

MQTT is the programming language to ...

Node-RED provides a web browser-based flow editor, which can be used to create JavaScript functions (Wikipedia)

Azure IoT Edge is a cloud-to-edge computing platform that extends Azure services and custom logic to IoT devices. It allows you to deploy containerised workloads (such as AI models, analytics, and business logic) directly on edge devices, enabling local data processing and reducing reliance on continuous cloud connectivity. This improves latency, bandwidth efficiency, and resilience in offline scenarios.

IoT Edge Modules are Docker-compatible containers running Azure services, third-party apps, or custom code. Examples: Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Machine Learning models. [learn.microsoft.com]

IoT Edge Runtime must be installed on each edge device. Handles module deployment, security, and communication between modules, devices, and the cloud.

Includes:

IoT Edge Agent: Deploys and monitors modules.

IoT Edge Hub: Manages messaging between modules and cloud. [learn.microsoft.com]

Azure IoT Hub is a cloud service for managing IoT Edge devices, configurations, and monitoring.

Playwright Agents in VS Code

I started looking at the latest version of Playwright late last night. The Agents add-in for VS Code is amazing.  I can't stop improving my code, my tests, and my automation.  It is highly addictive.

Playwright 1.56.1 includes the new Playwright CLI, which has the test agents as shown in VS Code above:

Node: v22.21.0
npx: 11.6.2
Playwright test package: ^1.56.1

Federated and Event Driven Architecture

WIP Complete - important to clarify in my own mind: 

Event Driven Architecture: System components interact with each other by producing, detecting and reacting to events.

distributed, event-driven architectures

Event Mesh

Conflict-Free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) - provide strong eventual consistency

Federated architecture allows each system to flexibly interact with other systems while remaining independent, so it can be easily extended, and individual pieces (a system) can be replaced relatively quickly.

Thoughts: Like Cross cutting concerns where you build IT runway to perform specific tasks and then call them, Federated Architecture, each system does a job so for instance, there is a standalone system that can be replaced or extended for Requesting a Room (1st system), this allows the user to reserve a room using the booking system (2nd system), this in turn calls the communication system that handles email, teams meeting with reminders (3rd system) and then calls the communication systems (n services/systems)

Events are facts; they are loosely coupled to the booking system.  This approach allows for the reuse and easy creation of highly customised business processes.

Thought: Choice is between an Event Mesh and a Federated Architecture.

Medallion Architecture in Fabric High Level Organisation Design Pattern

Microsoft Fabric is excellent!  We do still need to follow good practices we have been using for years, such as making data accessible and secure.   Possibly the most used architecture for Big Data is the Medallion Architecture pattern, where data is ingested normally in a fairly raw format into the bronze layer, then transformed into more meaningful and usable information. Lastly, the gold layer exposes data relationally using semantic models to reporting tools.

Overview: This document outlines my attempt to organise enterprise data into MS Fabric using a Medallion Architecture based on Fabric Workspaces.  Shortcuts are better than imported data, but it does depend on factors such as what the data source is, what data we need, how up-to-date the data is and performance requirements from the systems involved.

The reports and semantic models can get data from other workspaces at any of the medallion layers.  This architecture lends itself well to using the new Direct Lake Query mode.

Summary of a Design used by a Large Enterprise:

Medallion architecture using Fabric Workspaces.

Microsoft Fabric High-level architecture

Overview: Microsoft Fabric is an end-to-end analytics platform that unifies data movement, storage, processing, and visualisation. It integrates multiple services into a single SaaS experience, enabling organisations to manage their entire data lifecycle in one place.  One Lake is at the core of MS Fabric.

Image 1. One page High-Level Architecture of MS Fabric.