Apurba Technologies: Building a Construction, Energy and Transportation Taxonomy (XBRL-CET)

Alumni Supported Interoperability R&D Center at CSU Chico to Improve Access to Surety Credit for Small and Emerging Companies

July 31, 2014 12:00 PM EDT | Source: Apurba Technologies Inc.

Sunnyvale, California--(Newsfile Corp. - July 31, 2014) - A team associated with CSU Chico and supported by Apurba Technologies, announced today that they have submitted a prototype software dashboard for performance measurement to demonstrate the potential of open standards and interoperability to a contest hosted by the US Department of Energy titled "Apps for Energy Contest - Data by Design".

"Our goal at CSU Chico", said Rovane Younger, Chair Construction Management Department, "is to engage students in efforts that produce better graduates and contribute to the communities we serve. The contest submission is just one of our contributions to help foster open standards in construction, and to establish CSU Chico as a national R&D resource for developing interoperability with improved efficiencies in construction".

Led by alumni Dixon Wright of Wells Fargo, Paul Thompson of West Bay Builders and Jim Bruschera of Trico Construction the goal is to create a financially self-sufficient university based educational program that has students engaged as a resource to address industry issues, such as surety requirements being a barrier to opportunities for small business.

"The dashboard project for the DOE contest", said Wright, "is in collaboration with XBRL US, the standards organization for financial reporting to the SEC, to formally establish construction related ‘Data Sets' that allow stakeholders to exchange information as easily as a Microsoft® Outlook® address file. Much like the initial DOE Green Button data set for energy usage, we are developing the ‘next green button', a data set for building the nation's energy infrastructure, from financing, insurance and surety through construction".

"The construction performance dashboard is simple", continued Wright, "but the collaboration to have universally identified and adopted ‘Data Sets' required development of a taxonomy consistent with XBRL and for that we are fortunate to have XBRL expert Fuad Rahman, Founder and CEO of Apurba Technologies mentor the students and to build the XBRL Construction Energy Transportation (XBRL-CET) taxonomy".

"We worked closely with XBRL US and relevant stakeholders in developing this prototype CET taxonomy", said Fuad Rahman, "and we are glad to see the models of interoperability built into the XBRL technology applied to other industries beyond corporate compliance for which it was initially designed".

The efficiency gained by interoperability will substantially decrease the cost to administer surety programs while improving underwriting information, thereby making small companies more profitable to have as clients.

"We are always looking for ways to have small and local companies participate on our projects", said Paul Thompson of West Bay Builders, "and helping to improve access to surety credit translates to more subcontractors being qualified, a win-win. We are working with public entities like BART along with private companies like KB Homes and we all look for ways to improve efficiency. Anything that helps reduce the redundant manual processing of data between systems is worthwhile", said Thompson.

"Performance measurement tools to help manage subcontract default risk is important", said Jim Bruschera of Trico Construction, "and we too are looking for ways to build smarter. Having the collaboration at CSU Chico to foster open standards and develop industry solutions helps everyone".

For More Information:
http://apurbatech.com/AGC_Surety_connection_project.html
http://energychallenge.energy.gov/
http://www.xbrl.us
http://opendata.apurbatech.com/

Mr. Rovane Younger Mr. Jim Bruschera
Chair, Construction Management Department Trico Construction Co
California State University, Chico 981 Howard Street
400 West First Street San Francisco, California 94103-4108
Chico, California 95929 jim@tricoconstruction.com
530-898-5216 (415) 543-2100
RYounger@csuchico.edu
 
Ms. Michelle Savage Mr. Fuad Rahman, Ph.D.
Vice President, Communication Founder and CEO
XBRL US, Inc. Apurba Technologies Inc.
1050 Connecticut Ave NW 440 North Wolfe Road
Washington, DC 20036-5369 Sunnyvale, California 94085
917-747-1714 (408) 457-8444
michelle.savage@xbrl.us fuad@apurbatech.com
  www.apurbatech.com
 
K. Dixon Wright Mr. Christopher G. Irwin
Surety US Department of Energy
Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc.   DOE Lead Federal Green Button Team
45 Fremont Street, Suite 800 Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
San Francisco California 94105 100 Independence Avenue SW
415-717-1092 Washington DC 20585
Dixon.Wright@wellsfargo.com 202-287-5165
www.wellsfargo.com Christopher.irwin@hq.doe.gov
  www.doe.gov
Mr. Paul Thompson
President  
West Bay Builders Inc.  
250 Bel Marin Keys Boulevard  
Building A  
Novato, California 94949  
(415) 456-8972  
pault@westbaybuilders.com  
   
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