ThinkSpace

The BIM Episodes: Episode 9

EPISODE 9: BIM STEPS

This post is about BIM Steps, those micro changes needed to implement Building Information Modelling within an organisation and then - by osmosis - throughout the whole industry. But before we introduce BIM Steps and in response to feedback received, I’ll partially revisit the BIM Stages topic (Episode 8) in an effort to invite more discussion.

BIM Adoption: Stages and Steps

The adoption of BIM by an organisation will not happen unintentionally and definitely not in a single giant leap. In fact, it will be deployed through intentional decisions passing through major milestones referred to as BIM Stages. These stages – if well defined - are very useful to understand BIM concepts and visions but are - on their own - not usable in implementation. Further subdivisions are needed: smaller incremental changes that each organisation can make to reach each major Stage, mature within it and then attempt to reach another. These ‘feetstones’ or micro objectives are called BIM Steps. The difference between BIM Stages and Steps is that stages are radical or transformational changes while steps are incremental/evolutionary changes or maturity levels.

But why do we need to define stages to start with?

BIM News Bits - Interesting Developments

I try not to to blog industry news but sometimes it feels 'irresponsible' not to do so. However, I'll follow the three BIM Nodes logic in my reporting:

On the Technology front: the emergent Microsoft Live Mesh technology deserves some attention... Would an enterprise version enable a different approach to BIM Integration (Stage 3) alongside Model Servers and what I term BIMaaS (BIM as a Service - read this and that)? It's too early to tell but its a space worth monitoring with wide-open BIM eyes.

On the Process side, I've been invited to have a look at the Build London Live effort. I'm personally not into grand gestures but I do think such efforts play a valuable role in promoting BIM Thinking within a decreasingly skeptical industry. In fact, I would love to include a couple of clients in a BIMStorm™ if it hits the Asia-Pacific!

On the BIM Policy front, an excellent effort by the AIA and I couldn't but reproduce the news:

"On May 15th 2008 the AIA released two new model agreements for integrated project delivery. The documents follow concepts in Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide, and provide two levels of design and construction integration. One is a transitional agreement for those less familiar with IPD; the second, a “single purpose entity”, offers a fully integrated way to deliver a project. Get more information about the IPD documents at http://aiacontractdocuments.org/ipd/."

In summary, the above three bits vary in importance but are all equally welcome BIM News. To achieve integrated project delivery, integrated design solutions or whatever you want to call the BIM climax, a great number of technology, process and policy steps are needed...Which reminds me, I need to upload Episode 9: understanding BIM Steps sometime soon...

BIM and the Process Improvement Movement

It gives me pleasure to introduce a guest author to BIM ThinkSpace – Sohail Razvi. Through the wonders of web-based professional networking, I met Sohail and we started a discussion that continues to date. This is Sohail's first web contribution into the topic and I'm delighted he's chosen BIM ThinkSpace for his well-thought piece. The below article explores a new angle into BIM Framework generation as Sohail argues how it could develop around a set of well established, measurable and institutionalised framework, the CMMI…You can download this 8-page article as a PDF file (317KB) from here.

BIM and the Process Improvement Movement

Building a case for a combined BIM-CMMI Framework

Introduction

The Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) industry is almost certainly the only functionally-critical (and highly regulated) industry that builds its prototypes live on the production line. This is mostly still done without the benefits of digital modeling, prototyping and simulations as many peer industries have done (think of the car and aerospace industries for example). The consequences of working without such models are apparent, at times painfully, to anyone who has financed, built, owned, designed or operated a piece of built environment of any size or function.

Other major industries have quickly recognized the immense power of constructing and testing a virtual prototype of their product designs through digital techniques before ‘going live’. This ‘prototyping behavior’ has required an immense amount of effort by these industries to get their act together yet allowed their services and products to be repeatedly delivered to clients with dependable quality, timing and cost. In so many industries, the ability to manage and control an increasingly complex ‘product’ throughout its lifecycle is dependent on highly systemized processes and efficiencies acquired through digital technology.

The BIM Episodes: Episode 8

Episode 8: Understanding BIM Stages

Many industry discussions affectionately expand on BIM’s far-reaching deliverables: seamless collaboration, construction sequencing, shareable databases and fully integrated project delivery. While all these possibilities are foreseen today and are becoming more readily accessible as we speak (type), it is important to understand the deployment road ahead. Such an understanding will help us focus on the task at hand, better allocate available resources and prepare for the BIM-flavoured future.

The previous episode has described the 1^st dimension of the BIM Framework – ‘horizontal axis’ representing AEC players and their deliverables. It is now time to introduce the 2^nd dimension – ‘vertical axis’ of BIM adoption. This episode intends to identify deployment milestones or ‘stages’ that AEC players pass through on their way to fully integrated practices. There are three stages/milestones:

·         BIM Stage 1: Object-based modelling

·         BIM Stage 2: Model-based collaboration

·         BIM Stage 3: Network-based integration

Note that each of these stages is further subdivided into sequential steps. What separates ‘stages’ from ‘steps’ is that BIM Stages are transformational or radical¹ changes while BIM Steps are incremental² ones within them. In this post, we’ll focus our attention on identifying the transformational stages within BIM Nodes. We’ll do that after briefly describing the Pre-BIM status which insistently prevails within the AEC industry.

The BIM Episodes: Episode 7

Episode 7: Understanding BIM Nodes

The confusion in BIM discussions and implementations can be dramatically reduced by systematically analysing the larger-than-life concept. We’ll do that by subdividing Building Information Modelling into its basic components and then relate them back to each other in a – hopefully – meaningful and useful way.

As discussed in BIM Episode 6, there are three dimensions to every BIM discussion. The first dimension is what I term BIM Nodes – BIM circles if you wish – and it’s responsible for identifying industry’s stakeholders and their deliverables. The other two dimensions, BIM Stages and BIM Lenses, will be discussed in following posts.

So what do these BIM Nodes represent and why are they needed?

The BIM Episodes: Episode 5

Episode 5: BIM Data Sharing Methodologies

BIModellers can share little or much information available across desperate industry domains. The optimal BIModeller would have the ability to display, calculate and share all data necessary between disciplines without loss or workflow conflicts  This ability, or lack of, is a function of the technology used, the process deployed and the parties (knowledge workers) involved.

The BIM Episodes: Episode 4

Episode 4: BIM vs. Partial BIM

Adopting the graphical language of Figure 3.1 (Episode 3), a Building Information Model is sprung into digital existence whenever the object-based model includes different data colours; inter-disciplinary information generated in two or more disciplines or domains. That lacking, the model can only be labelled as a partial BIM.

The BIM Episodes: Episode 3

Episode 3: Focus on Information

"Architecture does not create buildings but creates information that creates buildings"
An elaboration on a quote by Robert Sheil, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London [1]

The BIM Episodes: Episode 2

Episode 2: Focus on Modelling

Not all models or modellers qualify as BIM.  Although there are neither clear definitions nor umbrella agreements of what constitutes a Building Information Modeller, researchers and software developers alike allude to a lowest common denominator.

The BIM Episodes
Exploring the boundaries of Building Information Modelling

We all may have read various definitions of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and most do not provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolving term. This article is no different; it is yet another attempt to define and understand the ever changing boundaries of the BIM concept as well as the ever expanding digital landscape of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. What I hope to achieve in these blog episodes (posts) is some coverage of BIM’s conceptual and practical bases. I have already pre-written a few and will be posting them consecutively.