CONSTRUCTION INTELLIGENCE / INFORMATION TAKE-OFF
Automated information take-off (ITO) for EPC estimating
Information take-off (ITO) is the step where an estimating team extracts from the engineering documents everything an estimate needs: the quantities and the attributes attached to them, so each one can be priced and checked. Mirage automates it on your own engineering documents, with every line traced to the sheet it came from.
Takeoff agents in production at John Cockerill and OCBM.
DEFINITION
What is information take-off (ITO)?
Information take-off (ITO) is the step where an estimating or engineering team extracts from the engineering documents everything an estimate needs: not only the quantities, but the attributes attached to each one, such as line number, size, material class or spec, pressure rating, insulation, tag and sheet reference. The attributes are what let a quantity be priced, and the sheet reference is what lets it be checked.
This is the working definition used on this page, not a published standard: companies name the step differently. On an EPC project (engineering, procurement and construction), it is what the estimate needs first once the engineering documents are issued, whatever it is called.
How it relates to MTO and BOM
- ITO, information take-off
- Everything the estimate needs, read from the documents: quantities, attributes and the sheet each one came from. The input to the two lists below.
- MTO, material take-off
- The materials and quantities to buy and cost, grouped by item, size and spec. Built from the ITO.
- BOM, bill of materials
- The list the fabrication or construction team builds from, broken down drawing by drawing. Built from the same information as the MTO, organised for the shop instead of for purchasing.
The documents it reads
- P&ID
- Piping and instrumentation diagram: the schematic of a process unit, with its lines, equipment, valves and instruments, each carrying a tag.
- ISO
- Isometric drawing: one pipe line, or part of one, drawn as a three-dimensional view on a flat sheet, with its dimensions, its components and usually its own material list.
- Line list
- The table of every pipe line with its size, spec, design conditions and insulation.
- Piping layout
- Plan and elevation drawings showing where each line and each piece of equipment sits in the plant.
An example, on an illustrative line from the table further down: the ITO records that line 3"-ST-2110-C1 runs 18.2 m in 3 inch pipe, spec C1, Class 300, with 50 mm of insulation, drawn on sheet ISO-2110-01. The MTO adds those 18.2 m to every other 3 inch pipe in spec C1 on the job, to buy and price them. The BOM puts the line back on its drawing, with its welds, for the fabrication shop. For piping specifically, see AI piping takeoff.
THE REALITY
Every quantity in an EPC estimate has to arrive with its size, spec, rating and source sheet, or it can be neither priced nor checked. Collected by hand across P&IDs, isometrics and line lists, that work starts again at every revision.
IN EPC ESTIMATING
Where ITO sits in EPC estimating
Engineering issues the documents
P&IDs, line lists, isometrics and layouts, at whatever stage of design the estimate is made.
Information take-off
Every quantity is read with its attributes and its sheet. Conflicts between documents surface here, before anything is priced.
MTO and pricing
Quantities are grouped into the MTO and priced in your estimating system, against your catalogue, your rates and your supplier quotes.
BOM for fabrication
Once the job is won, the same information is reorganised drawing by drawing into the BOM the shop builds from.
Each revision of the documents sends the work back to the information take-off. It is the step that repeats, which is why it is the one worth automating.
WHAT MIRAGE DOES
How the information take-off is automated
Reads the documents as one set
P&IDs, isometrics, piping layouts and line lists are read together, so a valve on the P&ID is matched to the isometric that shows it and to the line list row that specifies it. PDF, DWG and IFC, scanned and vector sheets, in one pass, with no 3D model required.
Keeps the attributes and the source on every line
Each line carries its line number or tag, size, spec, rating, insulation and the sheet it was read from. Where two documents disagree, both values are kept and the line is flagged for the estimator; where the reading itself is uncertain, a confidence flag says so.
Feeds the MTO, the BOM and your estimating system
The same information take-off produces the MTO for costing and the BOM for fabrication, exported to Excel, to the import format of your estimating system, or written into your cost database.
WHO DOES WHAT
What is automated, and what stays with the estimator
Automated by Mirage
- Reading every sheet, scanned or vector, as PDF, DWG or IFC.
- Extracting each quantity with its line number or tag, size, spec, rating and insulation.
- Checking each isometric against the P&ID and the line list.
- Tracing every line to the sheet it was read from.
- Flagging conflicts, missing information and uncertain readings.
- Producing the MTO and the BOM in your formats, and the list of changes when a revision comes in.
Kept by the estimator
- Deciding what a flagged line should be.
- Allowances, contingency and the scope assumptions behind them.
- Prices, labour units and supplier choice, in your estimating system. Mirage does not maintain a material catalogue or a labour database.
- The sign-off on every number that goes into a bid.
THE OUTPUT
Quantities with their attributes and their source
An illustrative example of the ITO format, not client data: six lines from one piping package, two of them flagged because the documents disagree.
| Line / tag | Item | Size | Spec / rating | Insulation | Qty | Unit | Source | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3"-ST-2110-C1 | Pipe, carbon steel, seamless | 3" | C1 / Class 300 | 50 mm | 18.2 | m | ISO-2110-01 | None |
| 3"-ST-2110-C1 | Elbow 90° long radius | 3" | C1 / Class 300 | 50 mm | 5 | EA | ISO-2110-01 | None |
| 2"-ST-2111-C1↳ The line list gives 40 mm of insulation for this line, the isometric 50 mm. Both values are kept and the line goes to the estimator instead of being priced on one of them. | Pipe, carbon steel, seamless | 2" | C1 / Class 300 | 40 or 50 mm | 9.6 | m | ISO-2111-01, line list | Attribute conflict |
| PSV-2112↳ The valve tag is on the P&ID but on no isometric in the set: either an isometric is missing or the valve was removed. Flagged before the quantity is priced. | Pressure safety valve, flanged | 2" x 3" | C1 / Class 300 | None | 1 | EA | P&ID-211 | Not on any ISO |
| 8"-CW-2104-B2 | Pipe, carbon steel, welded | 8" | B2 / Class 150 | None | 36.5 | m | ISO-2104-01 | None |
| BV-2107, BV-2108 | Butterfly valve, wafer | 8" | B2 / Class 150 | None | 2 | EA | ISO-2104-01, P&ID-210 | None |
PROOF
Takeoff with a source on every line, in production
Two deployments where every quantity comes back with the drawing it was read from, and an engineer reviews it before it is used.
John Cockerill
80 to 90% less time spent on piping takeoff
Fabrication BOM ten times faster
Separate MTO and BOM outputs, each traced to its drawing
OCBM
3 agents in production
100% of quantities traceable to a source drawing
0 quantities without a source reference
Send us a drawing set from a live estimate
P&IDs, isometrics, line lists: a set you are pricing now, not a sample. We reply within two business hours, run the proof of concept on your own documents one week after the first meeting, and walk you through every line we flagged.
How a deployment runs: Observe, Map, Build, Run, Expand. See the method
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a call
FAQ