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

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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".