What is BIM collaboration breaking down the barriers

An essential guide for managing BIM projects

What’s inside?

Welcome to your essential guide for managing BIM projects, helping you explore the challenges and benefits of BIM.

Introduction

Introduction What is this guide all about?

The promise of BIM Richer information, greater value.

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects 5 tips for BIM success

Let’s be clear about BIM What is BIM and how does it help your business?

The BIM Boom The facts don’t lie, BIM is fast becoming the industry standard.

It’s (still) all about collaboration BIM is as much about the process as the technology.

Common challenges on BIM projects What stands in the way of successful projects?

Believe the hype about better projects The real benefits for your business.

5 tips for BIM success How to effectively break down the barriers to BIM.

1

Introduction BIM is the process of generating and managing building or other physical asset data during its lifecycle.

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects 5 tips for BIM success

Over the past few years, BIM (Building Information Modeling) has been one of the hottest topics in construction. So many articles, books, blogs, and webinars.

So many points of view.

Although many agree about the benefits, there remains confusion around what it actually means to “do BIM” and how to make a BIM project successful.

This guide aims to cut through the noise and focus on the fundamentals.

In producing this guide, we’ve applied statistics from the Aconex online collaboration platform – the world’s most widely used system for construction and engineering project information and process management – to identify important BIM trends and issues.

If you take only five things away from this guide, we hope that they’re as follows:

1 3

BIM is nothing new. But its time is now, and it’s changing our industry.

Audit trails of discussions and approvals are critical for a BIM project.

2 4

BIM is about a lot more than just 3D design.

The biggest between BIM and non-BIM projects is that BIM projects end up with an interrelated, cross-referenced set of data.

5

BIM is part people, part process, part software, and all collaboration.

Next Let’s be clear on what BIM actually is

2

Let’s be clear about BIM Because its use is evolving and growing, many people – including those that use it day-to-day – can find it difficult to define BIM. So here’s what we’re talking about.

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects 5 tips for BIM success

BIM is a process

Probably the most common misconception is that 3D design equals BIM, but that’s only part of the picture. In fact, BIM technically doesn’t need to involve a 3D model at all.

BIM is primarily a process. It’s a way of creating, interrelating and managing all of the digital information on a project – before, during and after construction. The output of that process is the Building Information Model – the digital description of every aspect of a project. That information is often, but not necessarily, navigated and interrogated through a 3D visualization.

BIM is much more versatile than its predecessors – containing a wealth of information which is useful and relevant to the teams that interact with it at every stage of the process. Importantly, there is no endpoint to BIM. The Building Information Model will continue to be updated for as long as

the building stands, and possibly even longer. BIM is a powerful tool for every aspect of project management - even after handover. In fact, the handover of a complete and accurate data model for a building or other physical asset is arguably the real “promise” of BIM and where the most value lies (see Chapter 5).

The “I” is central to BIM

Part process

Part people All collaboration

BIM is all about information – how it is captured for the entire lifecycle of the asset, and how it is made available to the project participants that work with it.

Because it relies on common processes and the controlled sharing of project information among team members, BIM is a deeply collaborative process.

Effective collaboration is essential to a successful BIM project.

Part software So…how to describe BIM? BIM is part process, part people, part software, and all collaboration.

Next Find out about the BIM explosion

3

The BIM Boom: 2,600% growth in 3 years In one form or another, BIM has been in use for decades – particularly in industries such as aerospace and oil and gas.

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects 5 tips for BIM success

Over several years, the uptake of BIM within the construction industry has been increasing rapidly. Without question, we’re now seeing the tipping point.

This becomes abundantly clear when you analyze the volume of BIM files being stored on the Aconex collaboration platform. Aconex is the world’s most widely used system for the storage and management of project information such as drawings, documents and correspondence.

A look into the past few years of project data on the system offers some interesting insights.

In 2009, hardly any BIM models were being managed on the platform – less than 10,000 in total. In 2012, there were 270,000 BIM models stored on the Aconex platform – representing 2,600% growth in three years.

In a relatively short time, BIM has gone from an emerging trend to a fixture on almost a third of the projects that use Aconex – both large

and small, commercial as well as infrastructure. BIM has now moved from the early adopters to the mainstream.

It’s not just that more project teams are adopting BIM. A closer look at the figures shows that the size of the models has almost doubled over the past five years. The average file size is now 54MB, up from 28MB five years ago, and the largest is 870MB, up from 426MB in the same period.

Average

92% %

54 MB

Maximum

104%

870MB

Explosion of BIM Models stored on Aconex

300,000 250,000 200,000 Number of model files

Introduction

150,000 100,000 50,000

2009

2010

2011

2012

The statistics tell the tale. Project teams around the world are boarding the BIM train, and the train is gathering speed. But does BIM really deliver that much value?

Next Learn about the benefits of BIM

4

Believe the hype about better projects Although the industry is still learning about the far-reaching potential of BIM, some real benefits for organizations and their projects are already becoming clear.

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects

Time savings

Leading firms have reported that using BIM to achieve consensus on design concepts early in development can yield up to 50% time savings on a project.

Smoother handover

The provision of detailed information about every aspect of the building continues to deliver benefits after handover.

ROI

A BIM model allows virtual construction prior to physical construction, eliminating clashes of model components. This saves both time and money.

A McGraw-Hill Construction report, “The Business Value of BIM”, found that 87% of expert BIM users have seen positive returns – mainly from enhanced collaboration, streamlined processes and increased productivity.

Improved productivity

Competitive advantage

Clash detection and avoiding rework

There are productivity gains across the project team, resulting from less error and rework and fewer RFIs for owners and contractors to handle.

In the same report, more than half of BIM users said that ‘offering new services with BIM’ was a significant advantage.

The longer-term outcome of these benefits is higher-quality projects – projects that are better designed and delivered faster, with lower risk and fewer disputes.

A footnote to this is that some of the obvious and early savings come during the design and construction phases of a project.

This low-hanging fruit seems to be what is driving firms to adopt BIM. But buyers and users – especially governments around the world – are starting to appreciate that the real benefits of BIM come through effective, complete and accurate handover – leading to significant cost savings in managing facilities. This is a key point worth further exploration.

5 tips for BIM success

Next The “promise” of BIM

5

The promise of BIM: Better lifecycle management As we’ve seen from the previous chapter, the payoffs of BIM can be considerable. However, the real promise of BIM is something that often eludes project teams – full lifecycle management.

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects

Information leakage

Typically, information on a project is accumulated with limited cross-referencing or linkage of the data. As the information is passed from team to team through the phases of a project, there is often information ‘leakage’. For the owner, this leads to pain points such as, “Is my handover data complete? Is it accurate? Can I use it?”

Seamless transition

When a linked data set is created and passed from team to team as a project progresses, no data is lost, and maximum value is delivered. Since only about 10% of the lifecycle cost of the physical asset is in construction (the other 90% being in managing and maintaining the asset during

its useful life), maximizing value through the longest and most expensive phase makes business sense. Collaborative BIM promises to ensure that all information is seamlessly transitioned from one phase to another, resulting in an asset with a set of information far richer, and of far greater value.

Lifecycle management on BIM project Information Captured/Lost

Introduction

Typical project information management

Time

Design

Construction

Operations

5 tips for BIM success

Next The importance of collaboration

6

It’s (still) all about collaboration The business benefits of BIM are clear. What’s also becoming clear is how central collaboration is to successfully running a project with BIM.

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects

An article in Architectural Record magazine, “BIM Lawsuit Offers Cautionary Tale”, underlines this point. The article focuses on a lawsuit over construction of a new university building in Denver, Colorado. The project was designed under the assumption that ‘doing BIM’ was nothing more than model creation and management – but communication and collaboration were apparently poor.

This assumption that BIM alone would somehow cover collaboration proved costly.

When things went wrong, the contractor sued the owner, the owner sued the architect, and the insurer involved the MEP engineer.

Everyone ended up spending out of pocket – to the tune of millions of dollars.

In this regard, little has changed. BIM projects, like any other, still need an audit trail of every exchange, every decision and every approval. That’s why BIM is as much about process as it is about technology.

“ That’s why BIM is as much about

process as it is about technology.”

5 tips for BIM success

Next The common issues on BIM projects

Common challenges when managing BIM models Before jumping in with both feet, project teams should be aware of some of the common challenges that companies face when creating and collaborating around their BIM models.

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects 5 tips for BIM success

Based on Aconex’s discussions with BIM users around the world, here are the most common issues:

1

Managing the large file sizes “BIM and 3D files are huge, often greater than 50MB. Email can’t handle this and FTP doesn’t provide the control we need. We need to be able to move these files securely and efficiently among parties.”

2

Approvals, audit trails and milestone sign-off “How do we keep track of the hundreds of decisions made around the model over its life? How do we get approval of a model that is generated by different authoring tools and constantly changing from every angle?”

3

Long review cycle times “How do we reduce cycle times on clash resolution?

Reviews take place on set intervals, but between those intervals there’s a lag. That’s where our risk lies. We need more real-time resolution of clashes.”

4

Problems linking models to other project data “We have lots of other information outside the model, like 2D drawings, RFIs, spec sheets, and manuals. How do we link these documents into the model so we can hand over a more complete model?”

5

Publishing slices of models from different authoring tools “The 3D model is great, but we still need to publish, distribute and track lots of 2D floor plans, elevations and details. How do we do that? People don’t carry around 3D holographic projections!”

6

Archiving point-in-time models from joint compilation “We know individual 3D software tracks all changes.

But we have an overall model that has been generated from different authoring tools, and we need to save point-in-time models for sign-off and approval purposes.”

7

7

Viewing part of a model “How do we give a subcontractor a view of a particular part of the model for him to comment on it or resolve an issue?

I don’t want to send a 450-megabyte file.”

8

The handover hangover “How can I be certain that what I’m handing over to the client is adequate to satisfy my obligations so I can move on to the next job? I need them to have all the information they require to start running the asset.”

By considering these challenges early, all participants will increase their chances of delivering a successful BIM project.

Next Tips for BIM success

8

Five tips for success with BIM So, having read all about successfully managing BIM projects and the benefits it can bring to your business, here are our top 5 tips for BIM success.

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects

1

Set your standards BIM is changing the way construction projects are delivered.

For all of the benefits of BIM, there are also new information management challenges that add complexity to projects. How do you share and distribute these very large BIM models? How do you manage reviews and approvals across many different parties? What about clear, structured communications with a reliable audit trail? Addressing these challenges with processes and standards – and making it easy for all parties to adhere to them – is critical to BIM project success.

2

Do your research on systems and tools They will need to work together as an integrated solution to allow collaboration, communication and workflow management – and provide an audit trail. Where possible, select programs and platforms that are compatible with each other and support full interoperability. This will save you and your IT team a lot of stress.

3

Think about collaboration Establishing an effective collaboration environment among team members should be your highest priority, and it won’t just happen. Comprehensive collaboration and integration of processes among parties is central to BIM project success

4

Don’t get overwhelmed You don’t need every last bit of technology – or even the latest technology – to win with BIM; just make sure you have the fundamentals covered.

5

If you’re not doing BIM already, just get started BIM users around the world are seeing positive returns, while non-BIM users are being left behind.

Like any other process, BIM is all about measurement and learning.

Get going at a basic level, or on specific small projects, and see how it works for you.

Good luck!

5 tips for BIM success

Next Find out more

Find out more

Introduction

Let’s be clear about BIM The BIM Boom Believe the hype about better projects The promise of BIM It’s (still) all about collaboration Common challenges on BIM projects 5 tips for BIM success

Blogs on BIM and Collaboration -

All Things BIM BIMx BIM Aficionado CAD vs BIM BIM Blog BIM Boom Debunk the BIM Extranet Evolution

About Aconex

Aconex provides the #1 cloud solution to manage information and processes for the world’s largest construction and engineering projects.

Founded in 2000, Aconex has 40 offices throughout the world, including headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and San Francisco, California.

Aconex gives owners and contractors project-wide visibility and control between the many different organizations collaborating across their projects.

If you’d like to talk to us, visit aconex.com/BIM

With more than 500,000 users and over US$1 trillion of project value delivered in 70 countries, Aconex is the industry’s most widely adopted and trusted platform.

The company’s global customer base includes nine of the top ten engineering, procurement and construction (EPC/EPCM) firms, 23 of the 25 largest global design firms, and nearly all Fortune 500 construction and engineering companies.

©Aconex Limited 2014