THE FRAMEWORK
How the assessment works
The Planaletix AI & Intelligent Automation for Engineering Maturity Assessment (AIA) evaluates an AEC firm's ability to apply AI safely and valuably — and to automate the engineering workflows it runs every day — across twenty dimensions in two parts. Part A measures AI readiness: strategy and executive leadership, engineering data readiness, AI in design and analysis, documentation and knowledge work, project delivery and site, sustainability, the technology foundation, talent and fluency, the use-case pipeline, and responsible AI, liability and client confidentiality. Part B measures intelligent automation: automation strategy, process standardisation, computational design, drawing and deliverable production automation, QA/QC and compliance automation, document control workflows, business process automation, data exchange automation, automation governance and value measurement.
Three-quarters of practices now use AI, but only one in six says their work is better for it. The gap between using AI tools and running a governed, measured AI and automation capability is where value, liability and competitive position are decided. The AIA measures that gap — including the shadow AI your dashboard does not show — and what to do about it.
20 DIMENSIONS · 200 QUESTIONS
Explore the dimensions and maturity levels
WHO IT IS FOR
Built for AEC leadership teams
The AIA is designed for the leaders accountable for how an AEC firm adopts AI and automates its work:
- Managing Directors and Partners deciding how much to invest in AI, and where
- Digital Directors, Innovation Leads and Heads of Digital Transformation
- Design Directors and Technical Directors accountable for the quality of AI-assisted output
- BIM and Computational Design Managers building the automation capability
- Delivery Directors evaluating site AI — progress monitoring, safety analytics, prediction
- Risk, legal and quality leaders concerned with liability, confidentiality and professional standards
- Developers and owner-operators applying AI to the work they commission and oversee
- Cost consultancies automating quantification, estimating and document workflows
The AIA evaluates the firm as an institution — not one pilot, one tool or one enthusiast. It applies to developers, design consultants, construction contractors, EPC contractors, owner-operators and cost consultancies of any size, in any country. At the start you select your firm type — or several — and the assessment automatically presents only the dimensions applicable to your selection, renormalising the scoring so your result is comparable and fair. Questions carry design-side and delivery-side examples throughout, and every question is answerable whether the firm authors designs or commissions and manages them.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
Mapped to the standards you work to
Every dimension of the AIA framework maps to the instruments and evidence shaping responsible AI adoption in engineering:
- NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0 — govern, map, measure, manage
- ISO/IEC 42001:2023 — AI management systems
- OECD AI Principles and national AI strategies (UAE AI Strategy 2031, Saudi SDAIA)
- Professional-body guidance including the RIBA AI Report and the AI Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work
- RIBA AI Report 2026 — 74% of practices using AI on most projects, up from 59% in one year
- Space AI State of Construction AI 2026 — 45% of large contractors with AI in production; data quality the top barrier cited by 58%
- Autodesk/Deloitte State of Design & Make 2026 — 98% of AECO organisations use at least one AI tool
- ISO 19650 information management context for automation of naming, status and workflow compliance
WAYS TO TAKE IT
Self-assessment, validation or a full programme
THE FRAMEWORK AT A GLANCE
AI & Intelligent Automation for Engineering: all 20 dimensions
Part A — AI Readiness (50%)
- D1 AI Strategy & Executive Leadership — risk gate
- D2 Engineering Data Readiness for AI — risk gate
- D3 AI in Design & Analysis
- D4 AI in Documentation & Knowledge Work
- D5 AI in Project Delivery & Site
- D6 AI for Sustainability & Performance
- D7 AI Technology & Compute Foundation
- D8 Talent, AI Fluency & Ways of Working
- D9 Use-Case Pipeline & Value Management
- D10 Responsible AI, Liability & Client Confidentiality — risk gate
Part B — Intelligent Automation (50%)
- D11 Automation Strategy & Leadership
- D12 Process Discovery & Standardisation — risk gate
- D13 Design Automation & Computational Design
- D14 Drawing & Deliverable Production Automation
- D15 QA/QC & Compliance Automation
- D16 Document Control & Workflow Automation
- D17 Business Process Automation
- D18 Interoperability & Data Exchange Automation
- D19 Automation Governance & Centre of Excellence
- D20 Automation Value Measurement & Scaling
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
We already use AI every day — do we need this?
Usage is exactly why. The assessment measures whether that use is governed, verified, confidential and delivering measured value — the difference between a capability and an exposure.
What is the difference between the two parts?
Part A covers AI — learning and generative systems whose output must be verified. Part B covers deterministic automation — scripts, rules, workflows and RPA that behave the same way every time. Most firms are unbalanced between the two; the report shows which way.
We are a developer, not a design firm — is it for us?
Yes. Select "Developer" at the start and the assessment scopes itself to the dimensions a developer is accountable for — AI strategy, data, documentation, delivery oversight, responsible AI, workflow automation — and skips production dimensions like computational design.
Who should answer the questions?
The person accountable for digital or AI adoption — typically the Digital Director, Innovation Lead or a Managing Partner — ideally after consulting design, delivery, IT and commercial leads. Answers save automatically.
How long does it take?
150–180 minutes for the full 20 dimensions; less where firm-type scoping reduces the set. It can be completed over several sessions.
Is our data secure?
The report is generated in your browser. Answers and scores are stored in Planaletix's secured assessment record for your engagement and are never shared.