Home / Partners / Digital twin deployment tooling
Digital twin deployment toolingMost of a building automation project is overhead. We turned it into software.
In a conventional controls project, labour is 50-75% of the cost: engineering, programming, graphics, commissioning and the paperwork around them. With Bisly the partner describes the building once, as a digital twin, while selling it. The quote, the bill of materials, every device configuration, the building's operating system, the BMS and the tenant apps are generated from that twin. Nobody writes code, in an office building or an apartment block.
The Sales Configurator: functions switched on per unit, with the guided walkthrough.
Where the money goes in a conventional project
In a conventional project, work-hours make up 50-75% of the cost. The hardware is the smaller part. Most of the money goes on people re-entering the same building data in different tools, programming on site, and travelling to site to fix faults.
Quoting by spreadsheet
Every quote is a manual take-off from the drawings: device counts, cable runs, panel sizes. It takes a senior engineer days, and the mistakes come back later as change orders.
The building is typed in 5 times
Sales, design, programming, the BMS and the handover documents each rebuild the same rooms, points and names in their own tool. Every copy is another chance for a mismatch.
Programming in the last weeks
Controller code is written per project and tested on site after every other trade has finished, when the handover date can no longer move.
The BMS is a second project
The head-end is a separate product with its own licence, often priced per data point. Points are exported, mapped, named and drawn into graphics again before anyone can run the building.
A laptop at every panel
Point-to-point checkout by a specialist on site. Commissioning alone costs a median $0.82 per ft² in new buildings, and faults found late mean return visits.
Every fault is a site visit
After handover, finding out what is wrong usually means driving out. Owners and operators carry about two-thirds of the cost of poor interoperability in buildings, most of it during operation.
One dataset from the first offer to daily operation
The partner defines what the building should do, room by room. Bisly turns that into everything else, in 5 steps.
- 1 SellSales Configurator the digital twin, the quote and the proposal.
- 2 WinOperations Configurator the twin becomes the project.
- 3 GenerateFrom the digital twin the building's operating system, generated, not programmed.
- 4 InstallInstaller App scan-to-connect and the site acceptance test.
- 5 Operatebisly.cloud the BMS, the tenant apps and the whole fleet, run remotely.
Sell: the digital twin is built during the sale
The partner does not need to know our hardware. They describe the building (buildings, floors, apartments, offices, common areas, plant rooms) and switch on the functions each space needs. The structure is read from floor plans, uploaded from an Excel template or entered in bulk. From that the configurator generates the bill of materials, cable lengths, network topology, installation hours, the price and a proposal in the client's language. No take-off, no forgotten device, and little technical knowledge needed.
Bisly AI Studio
Describe the project in plain language or upload floor plans or the filled Excel template. The AI drafts the configuration: the unit mix, the functions and the I/O behind them. Prefer to build by hand? Every step also works manually.
Review the digital twin
The analytics table is the digital twin of the building: unit types, quantities and the I/O per unit. Check it against the real project before going further.
General details
Project name, country, city and contact flow straight onto the proposal. Country and city set the regional defaults; the partner's pricing level and any discount are set here.
Functionalities
Switch on what the building gets: heating, cooling, ventilation with CO₂, lighting, shading, access, metering and the Bisly Hub. Defaults apply to every unit and can be changed per unit. These switches drive the bill of materials and the price.
Building structure
Add each building with its floors and entrances. Cabling and routing are worked out from this structure later.
Units and common areas
Fill the floors in bulk from presets, or add single units and common areas. Each unit takes the default functions, and its hardware, installation and total price update as you go.
Building systems
Shared infrastructure is sized automatically: the Bisly Server, router and PoE switches, access controllers, M-Bus gateways, garage doors and number-plate cameras.
Installation
Labour rates and installation times per device turn the hardware into a turnkey price. Cabling is a pass-through estimate at cost.
Price quote
The full bill of materials with live totals, as a summary, a detailed view and the network topology. Export the BOM and the unit split to Excel or PDF.
Proposal
A client-ready proposal in the client's language, as PDF or Word or a live link. A quantities-only version goes to installers and procurement.
Revision history
Every save is a snapshot. Compare versions and restore one while the price is being negotiated.
Win: the twin becomes the project
When the partner wins the project, the twin moves to the Operations Configurator. Buildings, floors, units, rooms and their functions are already there, generated from the sale instead of typed in again. The project team adds the detail only a live project has, such as heating zones, ventilation units, meters, automations and plant-room data points, and accepts the twin.
Area management. Every building, floor, unit and room, generated from the Sales Configurator, with project and heating-zone indexes. Sample data; names changed.
Heating and cooling Each room's heating or cooling system, valve type and Modbus details, with the live status next to it. Sample data; names changed.
Ventilation Every ventilation unit with its gateway, CO2 sensor, demand control and fan speeds. Sample data; names changed.
Zone control Heating zones per room with setpoints, floor and air temperatures and the current state. Sample data; names changed.
Meters Every M-Bus meter assigned to its unit, with the latest reading and status. Sample data; names changed.
Automations Doors, lighting and scheduled actions per building, with run state and history. Sample data; names changed.
Plant room The plant schematic with its data points placed on the drawing. Sample data; names changed.
Generate: the building's operating system, without code
Once the twin is accepted, the operating system of the building is generated by software. Nobody writes controller code, and every building gets the same data architecture: the same structure, names and points. That is why analytics, Adam and the next building work out of the box.
Why it matters
- No hand-typed point lists, so no naming errors
- The same structure in every building, so one person can run many
- Changes go into the twin and are generated again
The method is protected: PCT application WO 2024/201440 and German utility model DE 21 2024 000 249 U1.
Install: scan, connect, test, hand over
The devices ship QR-coded to the partner. The technicians mount and wire them, scan the room and then the device, and the configuration is downloaded from the server and the cloud. Default settings for the building type are applied, every point is tested before the installer leaves the room, and the site acceptance test is concluded from the app.
For certified partners and their electricians.
Operate: the BMS and the tenant apps are already there
The BMS is built from the installed hardware, the integrations and the twin: floor plans, plant schematics, meters, alarms and trends are there on day one, so there is no separate BMS project with its own I/O mapping and integration. Tenant apps and the Bisly Hub are live per unit. The facility manager adjusts schedules, alarm rules and recipients to their needs, without programming.
Air handling unit. A live schematic for every AHU, with measured values, setpoints and alarms. Sample data; names changed.
Rooms and spaces Every room's temperature, setpoint, CO2, humidity and connection. Sample data; names changed.
Meters Consumption per meter and month, ready for billing and export. Sample data; names changed.
Active alarms. Alarms with level, location, threshold and who acknowledged them. Sample data; names changed.
Auxiliary systems Fire panel, lift, pumps, smoke hatches and leak sensors, each on its own card. Sample data; names changed.
Trends Any data point over any period, overlaid and exported. Sample data; names changed.
Run the fleet: 99% of issues solved remotely
Every building runs the same architecture, so every building can be supported the same way. Each device reports its status, faults show up with the room and the device named, and 99% of issues and configuration changes are handled remotely. Updates go out over the air. No empty site visits, and customers who hear about a fix before they notice the fault.
Device status in the BMS: every fault with the room and device named. Sample data; names changed.
How the work is done elsewhere, and how Bisly does it
| Conventional BACS | Device-by-device systems (KNX-style) | Bisly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quote | Manual take-off from the drawings by an engineer, often days | Device list compiled by hand per project | Generated from the digital twin: BOM, cabling, installation hours and price; budgetary quote in under 30 minutes |
| Engineering and programming | Controller logic engineered per project in the vendor's tools by certified integrators, using libraries | Every device parameterised one by one in the engineering tool | Functions chosen per room; device configuration generated, no code |
| BMS | Separate product and licence, often priced per data point; points exported, mapped and named again | Visualisation from a third party, set up separately | Generated from the installed hardware, the integrations and the twin; no extra mapping |
| Graphics | Drawn per project | Built per project in the visualisation tool | Floor plans, plant schematics and dashboards generated; adjustable |
| Commissioning | Point-to-point checkout with a laptop at the panel | Laptop with the engineering tool on site | Scan-to-connect with the Installer App; every point tested before the installer leaves the room; SAT report generated |
| Tenant apps | A separate project, if at all | App from the visualisation vendor, set up per project | Live per unit at handover |
| Data structure | Depends on who engineered the site | Depends on who engineered the site | The same data architecture in every building |
| After handover | Fault finding usually means a site visit | Fault finding usually means a site visit | 99% of issues solved remotely, updates over the air, one fleet view |
The large BMS vendors also offer libraries, templates and commissioning apps. The difference is where the work happens: on site and per project, or once in the twin.
What it means for your team
automation work-hours on a typical project, down from 1,100 h (indicative)
or less to a budgetary quote from the digital twin
lines of controller code written per project
of issues solved remotely after handover
Less specialist knowledge, fewer errors, faster quotes and more projects with the same team. The customer and the service contract stay with you.
Questions partners ask
Do my people need to learn Bisly hardware?
No. In the Sales Configurator they choose functions per room; the devices, quantities and cabling follow. Electricians install with the Installer App and need no programming skills.
Can we start from floor plans or a spreadsheet?
Yes. Upload floor plans or the filled Excel template to the AI Studio, or enter units in bulk from presets.
What if the building changes during construction?
Change the twin. Prices, the bill of materials and the configuration are generated again, and every version is kept in the revision history.
Can the facility manager change things later?
Yes. Schedules, setpoints, alarm rules and recipients are set in the BMS, without programming.
Is it the same for commercial and residential buildings?
Yes. Offices, schools, stock offices, apartment blocks and build to rent use the same toolchain; the building type sets the defaults.
Does it work in existing buildings?
Yes. Wired, wireless or hybrid, the twin and the generated operating system are the same.
Sign up for a quick demo
30 minutes, online. We build a sample building in the Sales Configurator with you, take it through the Operations Configurator and show the Installer App and the BMS it produces.