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Transitioning to BIM pt2 About the author Shaun Bryant is an Autodesk Certified Professional with twenty-six years total industry experience using AutoCAD and Revit.
Introduction This is the second in a series of three articles about making the move to BIM (the first part appeared in the March / April 2015 edition of AEC Magazine). Using the scenario from part one of the series A medium sized, multi-disciplinary CAD practice, involved in architecture, structure and services, which often works with external contractors. Based in London, UK, it has fifteen core users, with anywhere up to twenty-five users when contract CAD personnel are brought in to make up capacity. A CAD manager is in place who acts as liaison between management at director level and the users in the CAD team. The team is currently using Autodesk AutoCAD for all of its work and is up to date with the latest version, due to an active Autodesk subscription agreement. The practice has decided to use Autodesk Revit as its BIM tool of choice. There is a need to manage both the implementation and training required to make the practice both effective and efficient. The article is written from the CAD manager’s perspective.
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May / June 2015
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Sean Bryant gives more practical advice on how a CAD manager in a medium-sized, multi-disciplinary practice can help smooth the path to collaborative Level 2 BIM.
Addressing the Revit implementation
Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
CAD manager to director level “Revit is now our tool of choice. We need to invest in our IT and server capacity to ensure we have the server space to handle our Revit central models, and make sure that our users have enough local space to work with local worksharing models.”
CAD manager to director level “We will need to ensure that all Revit users undergo a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to assess their training needs and requirements. This will give us a picture of exactly what they need and allow us to use the training effectively and get the most out of our incumbent training provider. It is imperative we allow the team to work with their strengths but also get trained up on areas of weakness, so that we have fully rounded Revit users that are effective and productive.”
CAD manager to the CAD team “As we move forward with Revit in the practice, we will be working with much more capacity, both locally and on the servers. However, this does not allow us to be lazy. We will have to implement new strategies that allow us to be economical with this new space provided, as we will be working with much larger file sizes than we were with AutoCAD.” Revit project files (RVT files) are bigger files. The CAD manager is making sure that the CAD team is aware that new working practices will be needed to manage this on a day to day basis, and that at director level, they are fully aware that investment is needed in the IT infrastructure. On an operational level, this has to be managed to ensure effective use of the IT infrastructure, to maintain Revit productivity. The last thing the CAD manager wants is a heavy Revit server that slows down local models and hinders the CAD team’s productivity on live projects. From an IT standpoint also, the IT department managing the servers do not want slow servers overloaded with repetitive Revit data, hence the new working practices must include suitable housekeeping policies that keep the servers quick and lean, so as to handle the Revit 3D models.
CAD manager to the CAD team “We need you all to undergo a Training Needs Analysis (TNA). This is to assess your existing Revit knowledge (if you have any) and what areas you need to work on to make sure you are fully trained on every aspect of Revit you need to perform your role within the practice effectively. We need you to make sure that you include everything in your TNA so that we can get the best training for you from our training provider.” Effective training on any CAD product is imperative. The CAD manager is using the TNA to ensure each Revit user is trained to their strengths and that any areas where their product knowledge is weak is thoroughly assessed and appropriate training given. The TNA is done individually per user to make sure that each user gets training tailored to them. It also provides the user with the reassurance that with the new CAD product, in this case Revit, they will be fully trained and prepared to use the product on live projects that the practice is, or will be, working on.
www.AECmag.com
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