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When “IDL” Confused the Trades, CannonDesign Brought in an MSI and Forced Scope Clarity On Their Own Chicago Office Build
CannonDesign designs buildings for a living. But when the firm built out its own Chicago office, it ran into the same integration and trade coordination friction many of its clients face.
CannonDesign added smart building scope, including an independent data layer (IDL), after bids were in and the GC was selected. The IDL was intentional: in a prior office, integrations were embedded in the landlord’s BAS, and when they broke, CannonDesign, acting as the tenant, had no control. That move to own the data layer is what started to shake the job.
“We’re barreling down the project, bids are in, the GC’s been picked. Suddenly, everyone is asking, what do you mean we’re doing smart buildings? What is this IDL?” said Brian Green Carson, CannonDesign’s building automation SME, describing the reaction from trade partners.
Cannon Design, acting as both owner and designer, brought in OTI, a Master Systems Integrator, and drew what Carson called “clear lines in the sand.” OTI owned Division 25. The GC and its subcontractors owned everything else.
Communicating the responsibilities alone wasn't enough. Meetings were forced to become tighter. Notes were distributed for accountability. For even a simple connection between two MSA routers, Carson’s team documented exactly every piece of scope and who was responsible for what actions.
It still wasn’t perfect. “Even when you're at your best, you can still have scope gaps,” Carson said, pointing to a late-stage AV implementation issue where no one owned provisioning of equipment.
For service providers, the lesson is less about IDL tools and more about delivery discipline. Integration scope that lives only in drawings will not survive handoff. If Division 25 and data layer integration aren’t structurally separated and documented at the task level, confusion arises at implementation and turnover.
CannonDesign set out to dogfood its own smart building playbook, ended up experiencing the same trade coordination friction its clients do, and had to solve it in real time.
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CannonDesign designs buildings for a living. But when the firm built out its own Chicago office, it ran into the same integration and trade coordination friction many of its clients face.
CannonDesign added smart building scope, including an independent data layer (IDL), after bids were in and the GC was selected. The IDL was intentional: in a prior office, integrations were embedded in the landlord’s BAS, and when they broke, CannonDesign, acting as the tenant, had no control. That move to own the data layer is what started to shake the job.
“We’re barreling down the project, bids are in, the GC’s been picked. Suddenly, everyone is asking, what do you mean we’re doing smart buildings? What is this IDL?” said Brian Green Carson, CannonDesign’s building automation SME, describing the reaction from trade partners.
Cannon Design, acting as both owner and designer, brought in OTI, a Master Systems Integrator, and drew what Carson called “clear lines in the sand.” OTI owned Division 25. The GC and its subcontractors owned everything else.
Communicating the responsibilities alone wasn't enough. Meetings were forced to become tighter. Notes were distributed for accountability. For even a simple connection between two MSA routers, Carson’s team documented exactly every piece of scope and who was responsible for what actions.
It still wasn’t perfect. “Even when you're at your best, you can still have scope gaps,” Carson said, pointing to a late-stage AV implementation issue where no one owned provisioning of equipment.
For service providers, the lesson is less about IDL tools and more about delivery discipline. Integration scope that lives only in drawings will not survive handoff. If Division 25 and data layer integration aren’t structurally separated and documented at the task level, confusion arises at implementation and turnover.
CannonDesign set out to dogfood its own smart building playbook, ended up experiencing the same trade coordination friction its clients do, and had to solve it in real time.
Register for the next Nexus Labs event
Sign up for the newsletter to get 5 stories like this per week
This is a great piece!
I agree.